Dumpshock Forums > Help on streamlining a playboy hacker character

ShadowSpy

Aug 17 2009, 12:43 PM

So this coming fall, I'm playing in my first Shadowrun game. I could use some tips/advice on streamlining the character, a few ideas for his last name and names for his contacts and maybe a few tips on how to play a hacker. We're using the standard 400 BP character in 4th edition.

[ Spoiler ]

Notes:
-Hopefully, from the history, Blakely's personality comes across as being spoiled and self-indulgent, but with an amicable personality.
-Blakely has a very interesting mix of cool (sports car, seduction) and geek (RPGs, hacking, forums). That might be tough to roleplay. Any tips?
-I think I may be shooting myself in the foot by not buying any weapon whatsoever. But it would be terribly out of character for him to have a weapon at this point in time.
-Furthermore, I think I'm going to screw myself over a little more at the beginning by role-playing Blakely as the newbie shadowrunner who makes some stupid mistakes.
-But that's why I have 5 Edge
-For those who are checking my BP totals, my GM has a few house rules. He allows us to break up a skill group at character creation, and he gives us extra BP for contacts.
-One of the other players suggested that Blakely also double as a getaway driver, which is why I have a few points invested in Pilot Groundcraft. Should I spend a little more on that, or is it fine for now? I want to focus mostly on hacking.
-Would paper-and-pencil RPGs still exist in 2072? I know it wouldn't be the exact same form, with character sheets and paper, but I do think that paper-and-pencil RPGs offer a vastly different experience than other RPG games or MMOs; they would still be around in dystopian 2072, right?
-Is Square-enix still around? I don't know if my "Firaga" reference would fit into the campaign.
-Blakely is the type who doesn't like working underneath anybody. If he must be in a corporate ladder, he would have to be at the top. Though Blakely doesn't have any long-term plans or goals at the moment, I plan on him eventually getting his act together and starting his own business. My goal? Turn his business into a AAA.
-I can see Blakely having to give up his High lifestyle a couple sessions in and crashing at a fellow shadowrunner's place. I foresee amusing roommate mishaps and sexiling.
-Please help me come up with a last name, and names for his four contacts (his father, his sponsor, his D&D friend and his hacker contact)

Thank you for helping!

Bugfoxmaster

Aug 17 2009, 06:18 PM

Hey. This is the Mafia Elf...
Since people can send and receive messages practically instantaneously wherever they go, and can speak sub-vocally to one another over their commlinks, I think pen and paper might not really be how they're played any more - no need to meet up if you can just play even while at work or at home, with nothing more than a commlink and subvocal mike, right? Or people could stay at home and meet up in VR, and play there! With the added bonus that they could tailor their icons to look like their characters (since you can modify an icon to look like pretty much anything...), and that the GM could show them what people and monsters look like in 3D (though AR might offer that option too...
In terms of last name, you should probably handle that (it's really your call), though one trick I use is to go online and find lists of family names of the ethnicity my character's supposed to be, and use one of those.
I'd also suggest the name 'Max Fizzbach' for the hacker or gamer, just because it's awesome. But YMMV on that one.

ShadowSpy

Aug 17 2009, 11:09 PM

Well, I didn't literally mean pen and paper...I figure that any stats or character data would simply be stored on the commlink, grids and representations could be laid out in AR, or even enacted through VR, and most dice rolls would be through some shared reliable number-generating program (one that all players can trust so that they know the rolls are fair).

And yes, the GM might be able to show the players what the actual setting is like and what the monsters look like, but from my read-through of Unwired, it seems like sculpting a VR image or setting takes a lot of TIME. And since stories in paper and pencil RPGs can go in a totally unexpected direction, a GM can't possibly be prepared to show all settings, monsters and characters that occur in a gaming session. A bulk of the gameplay will still be left up to a character's imagination, I should say.

And Max Fizzbach? Where in the world did you come up with that?

Bugfoxmaster

Aug 17 2009, 11:15 PM

Hehe... Fizzbach was just a moniker I used for several years while playing Starcraft. It made me laugh. I then transferred it over to Warcraft III and WoW. I just added 'Max' because it adds to the hilarity, at least in my deranged head.
I just decided it was time for that name to see th elight of day again.
More ideas for names: Well, one more: (First Name) Snarkhoefer
And also, as the name for a building or location: Shuck's Crump.
I'm having all sorts of great ideas!

Andinel

Aug 18 2009, 05:56 AM

Heh, the 3 people who have (now) posted in this thread are 2 of the players (including the OP) and the GM (me) for this game.

Okay, now for some character tips.

You might want to consider dropping Aptitude (Hacking). It's 10 BP for the potential for 1 extra die, which you aren't even using right at the start. Since you're maxing your Hacking skill, it's going to be 14 karma to buy it up by 1 point, which might be better spent on other things. There are plenty of ways to get extra dice on hacking, most of which are in Unwired (which you should read).

Are you classifying flowers as common or uncommon for your allergy? Keep in mind that in 2072, especially in Seattle, flowers are relatively uncommon, except in very limited places like the few parks that are still around.

There's no need to take a lingo for English if it's your native language.

What exactly do you mean by "fully decked out commlink"? It would be nice to see the stats and what programs you have running on it. If you can afford it, agents, IC, and program options are your very, very good friends here.

Don't slave your dummy 'link to your real one. That practically ensures that if someone even tries to call your dummy, they will be rejected. Remember that slaving a device to something else makes the slave reject all incoming connections that aren't from the master. Instead, try buying a proxy server. I think the rules are in Unwired. Also, it provides a very nice way that other people can trace your real comm if they know your dummy.

Something like a simsense accelerator module (Unwired p.198) or simsense booster cyberware (Augmentation p.36-7) would be very useful, especially if you plan to ever get into cybercombat. That 4th or even 5th Matrix Initiative Pass is much more valuable than the nuyen you'd put into buying that gear. It also helps if you ever plan to do anything involving rigging.

Judging by the character's age, would there be any reason for him to even have a datajack? By the time he would have been old enough to get the surgery himself the wireless Matrix would have already been around for a couple of years. Trodes might be more useful and make a little more sense here.

About the RPG thing, I'd think that reality sculpting in the days of simsense and trids wouldn't be incredibly difficult, probably similar to setting up something over OpenRPG or MapTool, where you can import premade maps or make your own. I'd imagine that a lot of flexible pieces already exist for things like "tabletop" RPGs, and virtual tabletops are the way to play.

Bugfoxmaster

Aug 18 2009, 06:19 AM

Man, this thread makes me laugh.
What about an implanted Simsense Module? Wouldn't that replace the trodes?
Or even an implanted commlink, thus going even further on the 'think and be rewarded' path...
Still, matrix isn't my specialty - I only know enough to get by. You're better off listening to the GM here (considering he played a Technomancer for a year...)

Andinel

Aug 18 2009, 06:32 AM

An implanted commlink would definitely do the trick, but just the simsense module wouldn't quite cut it (what do you control your comm with?).
@ShadowSpy: In fact, it may be to your advantage to max out what you can with your commlink's hardware and just get it implanted. That way it can never be stolen from you, and since you have cybereyes you don't ever have to worry about not being able to use it. Unless, of course, somebody rips out your cybereyes, but then you'll have bigger problems to worry about than not being able to hack. Like not being able to see.

Bugfoxmaster

Aug 18 2009, 06:52 AM

And being at the mercy of someone who just ripped your eyeballs out?

ShadowSpy

Aug 18 2009, 10:27 AM

QUOTE (Andinel @ Aug 17 2009, 10:56 PM)

Heh, the 3 people who have (now) posted in this thread are 2 of the players (including the OP) and the GM (me) for this game.

Haha, seems like my intro post was a little tl;dr

QUOTE

Okay, now for some character tips.

You might want to consider dropping Aptitude (Hacking). It's 10 BP for the potential for 1 extra die, which you aren't even using right at the start. Since you're maxing your Hacking skill, it's going to be 14 karma to buy it up by 1 point, which might be better spent on other things. There are plenty of ways to get extra dice on hacking, most of which are in Unwired (which you should read).

I suppose that's true. I originally chose Aptitude because it seemed to fit in with the character.

QUOTE

Are you classifying flowers as common or uncommon for your allergy? Keep in mind that in 2072, especially in Seattle, flowers are relatively uncommon, except in very limited places like the few parks that are still around.

I remember asking you this question and we agreed that flowers would be common. If they're uncommon, I guess that's fine too--I could just drop the allergy entirely and use the 10 BP from Aptitude (Hacking) instead.

QUOTE

There's no need to take a lingo for English if it's your native language.

Ah okay. So I've got an extra Knowledge point I should put somewhere. By the way, do the categories for my knowledge skills seem right? How often are Knowledge skills used in-game anyway?

QUOTE

What exactly do you mean by "fully decked out commlink"? It would be nice to see the stats and what programs you have running on it. If you can afford it, agents, IC, and program options are your very, very good friends here.

Here's the information for Firaga:

[ Spoiler ]

QUOTE

Don't slave your dummy 'link to your real one. That practically ensures that if someone even tries to call your dummy, they will be rejected. Remember that slaving a device to something else makes the slave reject all incoming connections that aren't from the master. Instead, try buying a proxy server. I think the rules are in Unwired. Also, it provides a very nice way that other people can trace your real comm if they know your dummy.

Ah, makes sense.

QUOTE

Something like a simsense accelerator module (Unwired p.198) or simsense booster cyberware (Augmentation p.36-7) would be very useful, especially if you plan to ever get into cybercombat. That 4th or even 5th Matrix Initiative Pass is much more valuable than the nuyen you'd put into buying that gear. It also helps if you ever plan to do anything involving rigging.

Yeah, that's the plan. Simsense accelerator is Availability 14, so I don't think I can get it just yet. Simsense booster is doable though, but I'd have to juggle some more nuyen around. Maybe I could keep the allergy.

QUOTE

Judging by the character's age, would there be any reason for him to even have a datajack? By the time he would have been old enough to get the surgery himself the wireless Matrix would have already been around for a couple of years. Trodes might be more useful and make a little more sense here.

And if I had the commlink implanted, how much would that cost? Of course, I'd want to max out the commlink's stats beforehand as well.

QUOTE

About the RPG thing, I'd think that reality sculpting in the days of simsense and trids wouldn't be incredibly difficult, probably similar to setting up something over OpenRPG or MapTool, where you can import premade maps or make your own. I'd imagine that a lot of flexible pieces already exist for things like "tabletop" RPGs, and virtual tabletops are the way to play.

Yeah, that's the way I see it. But how drastically different would it be? You would still have one person making up a story and the others playing characters.

Mäx

Aug 18 2009, 10:43 AM

QUOTE (ShadowSpy @ Aug 18 2009, 01:27 PM)

Yeah, that's the plan. Simsense accelerator is Availability 14, so I don't think I can get it just yet. Simsense booster is doable though, but I'd have to juggle some more nuyen around. Maybe I could keep the allergy.

Since your ditching the aptitude, you could get 5BP resricted gear quality for that accelerator.