Are we all old teenagers? Hmmm... I feel like I'm getting old. Recently turned 30. From Quebec, Canada. I speak French, English, a tiny bit of Korean, and a few words of Spanish, Latin and Japanese. I've studied a bunch of things and have a master's in economics. I currently work as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea.

EDIT: I'm a guy. French roots, although my family's been living in Quebec for centuries.

Alright, let's chip in.
I'm a 29 year old guy currently living in Frankfurt, Germany. Finished University a year ago and am running a night club right now. Speaking german, english, some spanish, french and indonesian. ProbablyHopefully moving to Paris soon for a job at a research facility.

Playing this game since im 12 or 13 and I am currently active in 3 irregular SR groups and another one playing Vampire. Used to play miniature games, but quit a few years ago mainly due to time and money reasons.

Its crazy, everyone on here is about 30 years old. i mean, theres some exceptions, but still, pretty interesting

Male, Austrian/German, 39, married/father of 3 (Ages 10 months to 17 years) and long time employee of local hospital.

Live in the U.S. North Central Pa the woodsy part.

Been gaming since 83 (Club in high school, they handed me my first set of dice and we started making charecters and somthing clicked inside. It was like finding you had a destiny after all. Been running games ever since.)

Played and or own dozens of games but only a few last beyond there introductory phase. Shadowrun was one of the few and somthing I've been running since first edition with a long break during third edition.

Political views: Jaded
Religion: Irony

Currently 27 but my age has been known to change over time.

French Canadian living in Montreal, though I speak about 50/50 english and french most of the time. I'm married to an extremely hot polish-canadian girl that I adore, which is basically my greatest accomplishment. My second biggest accomplishment is my career. I'm a Software Engineer working as Senior Consultant for an IT consultancy firm, specifically working with ERP systems (Netsuite to be very specific). Through my time as a consultant, I've learned accounting, business management, inventory management and enough stuff to basically tell you how a company works from a to z. Internally, I partially manage a growing team of 5 consultants. I'm basically a social geek, really.

My hobbies are writting, Shadowrun (I play no other RPG, except I now have an interest in Eclipse Phase I intend to develop), reading, XBOX, capoeira and I've recently rekindled my interest in Warhammer (bought an empire army. Ebay is my new god). I'm involved with the Shadowrun Mission gang and got to wrote part of the Manhattan e-book, which was an awesome experience. I love to cook. I do NOT bake. I have a partial interest in fashion - when I buy clothes, I buy nice shit, but otherwise don't think too much about it.

I'm a 26 year old Australian - of Irish descent, but I was born on a military base in Malaysia which causes endless problems. I speak english and schoolboy french, but I've been told before that I sound like Steve Erwin trying to speak french when I do try I did an IT - related degree at the Australian national university, but I do not enjoy programming, so I've been trying to change careers.

I live in Canberra, which is a small country town.. and also the capital of Australia so full of public servants and the primary industry is government. I cannot stand doing one thing for protracted periods of time, so I currently work for a Big 4 accounting firm doing management consulting. Obviously I work mostly for government clients. I play computer games competitively - TF2 mostly, working on getting a Heros of Newerth team together.

I'm Cynthia Celeste Miller and I live in Parsons, Kansas (the cultural armpit of the universe). I'm the president of a small press game company called Spectrum Games (responsible for such games as Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 and Slasher Flick). I also do freelancing as a graphic designer and game designer. Another major activity I partake in is playing drums in a thrash/death metal band called Slayground.

Hobbies include RPGs (duh!), miniatures games, terrain building, ghost hunting, death metal music, pro wrestling history (1890s-1980s), vintage comicbooks, 1980s action cartoons, H.P. Lovecraft and watching horror movies.

Just turned 39 and currently living in York, PA USA. I'm Canadian and have been living in the US for the past 2 years with my wife, 3 girls, 2 dogs and 3 cats...yep, pretty much working on my own version of the ark.

Senior management with international corp.

Cut my teeth on classic Avalon Hill games such as Squad Leader and Panzerblitz and was introduced to RPGs back in middle school. This lead to miniature games. Have been playing and collecting games/miniatures pretty steadily since the mid-80s. Have played/followed Shadowrun since 1st Ed - still think that it sets the standard for integrating fluff/setting/rules.

Currently time is my biggest nemesis - never seem to be able to balance family and work well enough to find time to hook up with a regular gaming group - will eventually connect with a PbP game or two.

AJC

I'm 29 and currently living in the middle of the woods near Fredonia, KS (Not to far from CelesteCM in fact. And I do agree this is the cultural armpit of the world.) I live with my gorgeous wife, 3 girls (all knockouts, Dad's worst nightmare let me tell you. ), 2 dogs, a cat and about twenty dear living somewhere on the property.

I've currently gave the finger to the rat race and moved to the country about 6 months ago. I used to work as a field service engineer on medical imaging equipment; meaning MRI's, CT's and various other devices that make you glow in the dark. But I sold the house in the city paid off all the bills and debt. Now I live a comfortable country life in early retirement, paying the bills working as a part time handyman. I get to enjoy volunteering time to help out other disabled Vet's like myself and all my numerous hobbies.

Of which, my hobbies include riding my motorcycle, taking the boat out on the lake, playing with the kids, hunting, fishing, just started blacksmithing, rebuilding vintage electronics, computer games, reading any book I can get my hands on, and Roleplaying.

First gaming experience was GM'ing a old Mage game. Then I moved on to GM'ing an assortment of others including 2nd thru 4th ed SR. I have only rarely been allowed to actually be a player in any game, but my favorite is SR.

Well... Here goes...

I am 42, 6'1" and 205 pounds... Blue Eyes... Would have blond hair, but I still maintain my High and Tight Flattop from my military days... I live in Aurora, Colorado, in a lovely house with my lovely wife (of 8 years), a 4 year old son, 3 cats and 3 dogs...

I started gaming in 1987 durign my 8 year stint with the US MArine Corps. Traveled throughout the world, spent time in Great Britain, Europe, Japan, Korea, Phillipines, Central America and various other places...

I am of Scott/Irish descent (not sure how I ended up with Blond Hair and Blue Eyes... seems more German to me), and I speak English with an understanding of Latin, Spanish, Japanese, and a little Korean... at least enough to get in trouble with anyway...

I am an avid Gun Nut and have been shooting since I was a wee lad of 3... have experience with all sorts of weapons, up to and including small missile systems, mostly learned in the Marine Corps. I have been trained in Hand-to-Hand combat of various styles, demolitions, Honed my weapon skills (Mortars, machine guns, sniper, pistols, sword, bayonet, Knife, etc), Communications technology, Counter-terrorism, Mountain Climbing and Mountain Warfare, wilderness survival (including Jungle, Cold Weather, and Desert Survival), and a various multitude of ways to kill someone (I was a very diversified Grunt in the Corps)...

I spent a year as a Security Guard in Texas after my release from teh Marine Corps before I went to University.

I spent many years at the University of Texas in San Antonio (where I grew up) studying for my BA in Humanities with a Minor in Computer Science (God I hate programming and Math)... and I currently work as a System Administrator for a Leading Payroll AA MegaCorp...

Other Hobbies include an avid interest in COmputers (have been tinkering with them since 1981) and a one-time obsession with photography (any and all types, but specifically in figure and nude studies)...

I have played games from 1st Edition D&D through Starwars, Rifts (love the World, Hate the System), Hero (Champions and their Ilk), White Wolf OWOD (1st Edition through the End of Days), White Wolf NWOD (Changeling, Vampire, Hunter and Werewolf), and currently (when it is my turn) run variations of either NWOD Vampire, Feng Shui (Star Wars Adaptation), or a D&D/Black Company Fantasy Customized Campaign that I have bneen running since 1990... I have been into Shadowrun since its inception and currently LOVE the new edition...

I tend to play twice a week... Shadowrun on Fridays (withouth my Wife) and Earthdawn on Sundays (with my Wife)... after the Footbal Season (when the current GM on SUndays switches), I will again take up the mantle of Gamemaster on Sundays for either the Vampire, Star Wars or Fantasy Game, as we have been switching off GM's every quarter or so over the last 2 years...

Keep the Faith Everyone...

I'm a 23 (24 next month) year old scrawny white kid who, aside from lack of acne and copius amounts of facial hair, still looks like he's in high school. I've got green eyes and short brown hair. I have zero tattoos and zero piercings. I'm 5'10 and ~130lbs. If most of you saw what I ate on a weekly basis, you'd hate me.

I'm shocked at that lack of Canadian representation (I saw two others that live in Canada, and another two that grew up/were born in Canada and moved). I live in 'the other London', in Ontario, with my girlfriend, two cats: one fat + grumpy cat and the other friendly and playful (almost to a fault). I'd like to get a bearded dragon in the near future.

I'm a roadside assistance provider - I dispatch tow trucks - in a call centre. I hate it only slightly less than I hate school. Ideally, I'd like to be selling cars.

I started roleplaying D&D 3.0 when I was 14 - a guy in my homeroom told me some stories about a few of his buddies playing D&D 2.0 and I switched them over to 3.0. I still to this day do not understand D&D 1 or 2. I started playing online shortly after meeting one of my best friends in real life (from Osh Kosh WI) the following year. This core group followed D&D from 3 to 3.5 to 4 where we realized D&D 4 was.. not good. Somewhere in there one of us stumbled across Shadowrun 4E and a few of us started playing that. It was about this time that I realized D&D was just not as good a system as Shadowrun. I'd like to thank Shadowrun for thoroughly ruining D&D for me.

(as a side note, I typically visit my American friend two-three times a year where we play 'weekend' games - if anyone in the Milwaukee area is interested, you could PM me)

I joined here some two years ago and was relatively inactive. I played in a short lived game my current GM was running then (well, it was short lived for me) and went dormant for 18 months or so. My thirst for roleplaying was never satisfied, and I've come back - now more active (I mainly just read threads).

I don't have any fascinating Shadowrun applicable skills, except for the fact that I have a good understanding of how a vehicle runs (internal combustion engines and hybrid systems). I speak English well and high school French poorly. I eat, sleep and breath hockey despite the fact I can't skate (I do play ball hockey in a league).

I soon plan on getting a car (again) so I would travel for an IRL game.

I'm a competition junkie and cannot stand losing to cheaters. I don't mind losing a fair game.

I enjoyed real time strategy, racing and first/third person shooters.

Other random facts:
- favourite color is orange
- I love Nibs
- I don't understand fads
- I can't cook but I can bake (I make delicious chocolate chip cookies)
- I love sleeping
- I hate getting wet and I positively loathe snow
- I think Pepsi is superior to Coca Cola and I can tell the difference

Talk about diversity... i really should read the whole thread.
well then, i'm 23, male, single and turkish (or rather, istanbulian, considering the city is larger than a small european country). 1.77 meters long with 74 kg mass. that should be one inch shorter than 6 feet and ~150 lbs? freaking imperial units...
brown eyes, brown-reddish hair... usual stock options really, aside from the fact that my hair is really long (reaching towards the waist area).
I'm an economics major and still in school (mba). i worked as an accountant for a year, and i really hope i won't need to be an accountant ever again. i can speak english pretty well, understand some german, fake french and imitate japanese.
i got conned into playing when i was 15 (they said it was very similar to diablo) with d&d 2nd edition, continued with 3rd. then came university years and i learned that there actually are other games/systems/worlds out there. then my curiosity overtook... after years of research, conventions and lots of forcing peo i can count around 30 seperate systems (name&concept only) on top of my head. i played planescape, dark sun, forgetten realms (peer pressure), ravenloft (mask of the red death)alternity and star wars from the d20 family, every single old WOD games (funny thing, all of them were convention games = i played once or twice each), all sorts of GURPS, Toon, Battletech, Arcanum (home made system), Fallout pnp, Shadowrun (4th only), Legend of the Five Rings. Jack of all trades, master of some i can gm generic d20, planescape, fallout, gurps, feng shui and shadowrun. i'm pretty new to feng-shui and shadowrun. feng-shui is pretty easy but shadowrun... oh boy.
before you say anything, yes, i have a life. works like this: borbag come across interesting game. borbag like. borbag download. borbag read some. borbag find suitable victim. borbag markets game. borbag troll the victim until he/she gms the aforementioned game. unfortunatelly most of these games are short-lived, hence the list. still, better than nothing.
right now i'm playing legend of five rings, and recently started playing shadowrun (i'm the GM).
now comes the fun part. back in 2007, i played my first (and only) shadowrun as a player at a convention. that particular gm somehow vanished, and other than him there are no other GMs. no. one. whatsoever. as far as i know, I'm the only Shadowrun GM in Turkey. If anyone knows about shadowrun, that's because i told them. the good thing is, i can make up rules because no one knows anyway
i believe frp is a game rather than a reality simulation; any rule that takes more time than the action itself (like doing math for 5 minutes for tying shoelaces) should be ignored; irrational behaviour should have consequences, violance can be pretty awesome if sufficiently roleplayed(don't say "i hit with my sword", get creative!) and gms with god complex should be reminded that players exist in real life and are perfectly capable of beating the crap out of said gm.
also, i would rather roleplay a lizard brain in a jar than spend the whole session rollplaying.

QFT.

I've lurked here for quite awhile, figured I'd actually register an account to post here (So, hi).

I'm from Pennsylvania, USA, and compared to the rest of you I'm quite a youngster, only 18. Been player paper/pencil RPGs since I was twelve (Yeah, really).

Currently I'm in college doing a double major of Philosophy and Computer Science. I actually have a good deal of SR-related skills and background knowledge - hotwiring, lockpicking, reverse engineering, exploit development, programming (I would totally be the team's combat hacker), and something I'll save for later on in this post.

I'm quite a (post)cyberpunk junkie - I've read both the Sprawl and Bridge trilogies by Gibson, along with Snow Crash and Diamond Age, and I love Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, Ergo Proxy, the entire Matrix Trilogy, Blade Runner, and a good amount of mildly obscure movies (Avalon, Brazil, Cypher, etc). I usually GM, and probably due to me starting out in 4e and having a Postcyberpunk background, I tend to not view or run the SR world as a dystopia.

Here's a fun fact: in terms of spirituality (and I would like to note this is one of the few places that will actually have some idea of what I'm talking about) I follow chaos magick with a Qabalistic slant.

I might as well raise the average age a bit. I'm 56, and started playing the first Dungeons & Dragons (before it got 'advanced') 31 years ago. I've played many, many RPGs and found none I like better than Shadowrun, which I have played all of its 20 years. I am a Canadian, and have lived most of my life in Southern Ontario (yes, including London). Toronto is my home, in many senses of that word, but currently I live in Whitecourt, Alberta, 2 hours by car northwest of Edmonton, in the middle of the forest where it gets really, really cold in winter.

I've been in the military. I've done martial arts. I was a computer programmer for many years, but my heart was never in it. I made the big mid-life realization while sitting by a cold stream in the Andes mountains. I went back to school when I was 42 to study Archaeology. Undergraduate Anthropology, Master's in Bioarchaeology, and I'm just finishing my doctorate in Archaeology now. The doctorate will be my fifth post-secondary degree. No more school. Ever.

My first role playing character was a Fighter named Trund. He made it through the cavern system and out the opening with one hit point left. Yes, I have lived that legend: a falling rock killed him. The DM was my first wife. A college counsellor with an uncanny ability to see into people within minutes. Except me. We have a daughter, a fine percussionist who is in Liverpool, England and is about to start her doctorate in Popular Music Studies. Awesome.

My second wife writes magical fiction for young adults. She made the most complete, compelling and thunderingly alive world for AD&D I have ever seen. Best acting I ever did was in that game. You guys in Shadowrun HQ could use a talent like hers. Her daughter, my stepdaughter, is in Victoria, British Columbia. She writes, too, and has a great job writing story lines for video games. More awesomeness.

My third wife and I live in Toronto, except for the latest bit in Alberta. She plays Shadowrun... because I do. She likes it fine except when a game drags on for hours and hours. Four is her limit of tolerance. After that, I start paying, in blood or worse. She knows half the jazz musicians in Toronto. She has a doctorate in Education and is testing her theories out on unsuspecting teachers in Whitecourt. Last time I whispered sweet nothings in her ear, she said, "Fuck off. Get a job." This one is a keeper.

I spent the summer and continue now into the fall writing my too-long delayed dissertation in a cabin in the woods on an island in Georgian Bay, part of the Great Lakes. All by myself except for our two border collies and the innumerable rodents in the forest around us. The dogs chase rodents all day long, and I am getting some good writing done. Soon... soon it will be over. Then I will be back to the adventure: climbing mountains in Peru, finding lost cities where my satellite photos say they are. Now if only my knees hold out long enough.

Manitoulin Island? I grew up about an hour south of the ferry launch, in Southampton. (again, the one in Ontario - *shakes fist* stupid unoriginal names! lol)

No, Christian Island. One of the biggest islands in the Great Lakes, but hardly anyone knows of it. Just off the peninsula with Penetanguishene and Midland. I've been through Southampton.

EDIT: Hey! This post made me a Neophyte Runner! Woohoo!

Oh my god, Slasher Flick. Your company drove my old roommate and I NUTS when Slasher Flick came out, because he'd developed a game called Slash-o-Rama that was essentially the same game. I always pushed him to make the rules better and release the game, and he never did. And now he feels unable to, because of Slasher Flick.

It's good stuff, props to you and your company!

Hello hello.

My name is Robin, and I live in The Netherlands. I'm 18 years old, and a student. I'm planning on ending up becoming a Game Developer/ Programmer. I've done most sports out there for about a week or more. I consider myself a gamer because its probably what I do most. I play a LOT of computer games. I've taught myself how to draw, because I always wanted to impress people (read: impress girls). And how better to impress a girl then to quickly draw her a rose? Lately I've picked up writing short stories, which I enjoy a lot. I feel that Shadowrun has helped me develop my creative writing skill.
I've started Shadowrun a few months ago. Before that I played a small roll in a DnD campaign. Boths games were/are run by my brother, Dennis (Dv8).

I'm 31 male married (to a gamer no less) enjoy a ton of rpgs, boardgames, video games etc. I live in Seattle Washington USA. I'm a Contract Network Administrator for the Government.

@tete
*Holds up fingers in a cross*
Back G-man! Back I say! Damn, never have a stake and mallet when I need one.

I'm 33, married, no kids, I'm the lead trainer for an organization that offers support to people with developmental disabilities, and I live in Missouri.

I'm not the guy who reads your email

he is the decoy, the one in uniform thats there to grab your attention while the plain clothes dig up everything from favorite foods to sexual habits, and archive it all for future social discredit should you ever make a stink about their activities...

Yeah, yeah, likely story.


*Looks around suspiciously, starts eying everyone in civvies. Hand starts creeping toward gun.*
Then... which one do I shoot in the pinkie toe? I don't have enough ammo to shoot everyone in the pinkie toe.


*Warning, emoticon overload eminent.*

Sweet thread!!! Really makes me feel a bit more connected.

I'm 34, 6'2", and 400 lbs of awesome.

I work in a freezing server room for the State of Utah.

I've been playing SR since 1989 when my friend stole his first roleplaying game.

I was shut in as a child and I developed all sorts of social related issues. Worked through most of it but crowds still freak me out.

Christianity screwed me up as a kid so I'm agnostic now. If you want to be agnostic too Google "The Brick Testament" and "The Skeptics Bible". See you in hell!

I got a girlfriend (over 6 years now). Guess we're common-law now but I'm not going to 'fess up to it.

I was once one of the best computer repair techs in Utah till my store closed down. Now my skills go to waste. So sad.

My arm/hand nerves are fried, RSI and a bunch of other related issues. Hurts to type but I still do it. I had my nerve surgically moved, helped a bit but still jacked. Can't play the guitar or bass anymore. Can't play computer games anymore (I was a hell of a sniper) but I can still play the 360.

I'm 30, male (and although I'm straight, a lot of my friends say I'm a "lesbian." Make of that what you will), and an IT technician from Ohio (birthplace of aviation, yo).

Been playing SR off and on (more off than on, I'm afraid -- hard to find a group nowadays) since about 1994. And as you'll probably gather from the reasons listed down further, I've GMed pretty much every SR game I've played except for one. It was nice to sit on the other side of the GM screen for a change. The GM was new to SR, and although he had GMed many other RPGs before, he just couldn't get into SR and dropped the campaign altogether after only one session.

Like Ayeohx, I'm also agnostic (as atheists say, "An agnostic is just an atheist without balls") and for the same reasons, and my cohabiting SO and I are going on 8 years (at my brother's wedding and my grandmother's funeral, my mother still insisted on introducing the SO to our relatives as my "friend" ).

I do a lot of (novel) writing in my spare time. I've finished 8 novel manuscripts (none of them published yet) and am working on my 9th; one of them is very SR-influenced. Once, I even started writing a Shadowrun novel proposal and submitted it to FASA (they were actively accepting proposals at the time). I still have the postcard they sent, acknowledging receipt of my proposal, which said they would get back to me within X months, even if my proposal was rejected. I sent a courteous letter about 3-4 months after the expiration of the very latest of when they said they would get back to me, and I never even got a reply. I've always considered this silence to be my first actual "rejection letter" as a writer. At any rate, a lot of the characters and scenarios from the novel I managed to work into my campaigns as NPCs. I also had a good story for the RPG RIFTS. Their current rulebook said to expect "RIFTS novels" coming soon, and 2 years later, there still weren't any, so I sent them a letter as well. They replied (with a hand-typed, hand-signed letter, even), saying they weren't interested in publishing novels at the time due to downsizing in the RPG industry (they blamed CCGs for the damage *chortle*) and had to decline as a business reason, not because they didn't like my story. But imagine my surprise when I found a RIFTS novel a year or two later on the shelf of my local comic/game store. Doubletalk, or just bad timing?

I may sound bitter, but I'm not, not really. It's just amazing what you forget when you get older, and writing this intro brought back a lot of fond (and not so fond) memories.

I know what you meant but I still gotta cover my ass (or balls it seems). I feel that if an atheist chooses to believe that a god doesn't exist he is still choosing to believe in something that cannot be proven and in that sense he is actually worse off than those that choose to believe. But we'll save this discussion for personal email if you'd like.

Carry on folks, I'm enjoying this thread a lot.

What's funny is most of the atheists I know used to be Catholics, and most of the agnostics I know came from Protestant stock.

BTW, the Brick Testament is fantastic. One of my personal favorites is the story of Onan. Two round, white Legos on the ground. LOL.

I'm a Dane (as in, from Denmark).
I'm 19 years old and only heard of Shadowrun a few years ago. Started reading SR fiction about a year ago and now I'm starting in my very-first campaign.

I'm a student (English, German and Psychology) hoping to become a sign language translator. I work at a coffe shop for now and come August, I'll be serving in 8 months in my nations military

25, male, white, fat, grew up in the American midwest, though my wife and I moved to the Baltimore area this spring.

BS in Computer Information Science, BA in German, working as a software engineer for a large soulless corp.

Ron Paul libertarian, Catholic

No kids, but there is a cat and a dog. I play violin well, and guitar so-so.

My reading habits are all over the place. What I'm reading right now:
Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks
The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Been playing SR4 for about 2 years now (still play with my group from back home via Maptool and Skype), with a short detour into Microlite20-flavored D&D. GMing Ghost Cartels starting tonight (a bit nervous about that. wish me luck!)

Good luck! The GM can have lots of fun with it!

Born in '73. Started 'running in '90. Average height, average weight, brown hair, green eyes. Dude.

Grew up in PA, moved to VA, moved back to PA, moved to MN, looking to move back to PA.

BA in Mathematics, Webmaster by trade, jack-of-all-trades by design.

Mistook Glyph for a bloke called Eric b/c they both have the same icon. Ignore this stupid post.

Omaha, Nebraska. 19, Student.

Ive played RPGs since I was 12, my dad got his roleplaying start in the military and brought home the books to teach all us boys how to play. That classic DnD structure is still very close to me, but in my quest to get my friends to play SOMETHING on a tabletop, I found they just can't get over the flavor of SR so here I am. I live in the dorms at University of nebraska omaha and am studying management information systems (I'm in your office yelling for you to upgrade your software). I don't have a standard job but am paid to judge high school speech tournaments on my free weekends.

I'm VERY two-sided when it comes to my games. I'm either in the extremely competitive such as street fighter or starcraft that I like to go to tournaments with (no pro player, just like to compete). Or it's freeform and/or cooperative like tabletop rpgs.

When I do something, I need to do it fast right then and there or I'll lose interest and it won't ever get done. I have stacks of half finished books, half watched TV shows, half played games all over the place, don't even remember what lead up to that point most of the time. So my favorite things are often movies, 1-season animes, individual books, etc.

Stevenage, UK (for another couple of weeks) then Toulouse, France.

23, student in aeronautic and space engineering.

Been playing RPG for the last 5 years, DD 3.5 essentially. I fell in love with SR when I discovered the game 5 years ago, but never find a GM worth my hopes for the game, so unfortunately never played it much.

24 for years old male IT-student in Lahti University of Applied Sciences trying my hardes to graduate during next year.
Fluent in Finnish and English, can speak only a little of Swedish, which is a big trouple for my graduation as its a mandatory class.

Woah impressive thread necromancy!

I am: M, 35, UK, Married, 3 kids, Programmer / Game Developer.

I'm 19 and a junior at University of Maryland. I study international business with a minor in Japanese. I went to a science and tech high school, and spent one of those years in a country town in Japan. I work on campus doing scheduling, room set-up, short tours, and reservations for Chinese University and Administrative Officials, for the low low price of minimum wage. I'm 6'4 and skinny.

My hobbies include Brazilian Jujitsu, wrestling, drinking heavily, DJing, obsessively collecting music, Dwarf Fortress, and tabletops. I got my first taste of Werewolf: The Whateveritis at 8, then D&D at 12, returned to D&D for a short period of time at 17, and started running about a year ago. I enjoy mind-altering substances on occasion. I speak English and Japanese. Next Thursday I'm going to be moving to Tokyo, and attending Aoyama Gakuin U for a year.

I've grown fond of legwork-y types who throw around bribes like candy.

hey all, I am 40. I live in the USA (North East PA).
I do workforce management for an insurance company.

Been playing RPG's since Star Frontiers and Marvel Heros. Went through the obligatory Car Wars and Ogre phase in the mid 80's. My current group is moving away from RPG's (unfortunately) and into Boardgames (which is ok).

Been playing Champions Online and SC 2 recently.

32 male, CEO and part owner of a 1.5 billion $ real estate investment company, never finished university but did a smattering of business, math and computer science classes, before that army recon nearly-sergeant (discharged with permanent knee injury a few weeks before graduation). Hobbies are mostly strength training and hunting (deer and bird), previous hobbies are parachuting, hardball, climbing, krav maga, muai thai. I have a 19 month old son, 2 whippets and 2 cats.

Ok my turn I guess.

I am 39 years old. I am one of 'those' people. I believe in God, Country, and family. I was born in New York, raised all over the United States, by a patriotic and Christian family. I am not racist, I am not a bigot, I am no more of a hypocrite than the rest of the world. I am also not a legalist, tight minded, dork and I don't beat people up for not believing what I do. At the same time I do not let people beat me up for believing what I believe. Meek in no way is weak. Also I am ok with your beliefs - we'll all find out who is right about 1.5 seconds after we die.

I lived all over the United States, 4 years in Germany, 2.5 years in South Korea, and have had the privilege of travelling the world over. My father was a patriot the kind that serves his country in really cool ways that most of us can only dream of or try to simulate in Shadowrun. He taught me to love God, serve my country, and respect all people regardless of creed, race, color...probably the biggest weakness I have there is getting angry with people and their politics in my country.

I studied Soong Moo Kwan HapKido in Seoul Korea for 2.5 years. Achieved my 1st Dan when I was 14 years old. I later moved back to the United States and took Tae Kwon Do and achieved a red belt. I was the Texas State Heavy Weight Champion Full Contact karate in 1989...I had my own martial arts school when I was fifteen years old.

Years later I studied Aikido at the Sunset Cliffs Aikido school in San Diego which was interrupted as I transfered from Submarine Warfare training to my active duty status on the USS Grayling SSN646. I served six years on Submarines - did my duty...survived a world famous collision with a Soviet Submarine in the Berents Sea in March of 1993...you can find a little about it on the web - that was Red October for real and my 15 minutes of fame...got married had two boys. Then divorced - because as everyone else in the world I am not perfect, flawed, and made mistakes.

I worked high crime housing as a sort of advanced renta-cop...we called ourselves 2.5 instead of Five-O. But we did building sweeps, urban tactical deployment, domestic violence and everything a real cop and SWAT team does with the exception of traffic stops...as we were confined to large housing and government facilities which did not have public streets usually. That paid little to nothing and I got shot at twice. Exciting...but not worth it.

I have owned four businesses of various types; Overwatch Security (Private Investigation and Security Company), Future Computer Concepts, and General Retail Business, three of which have failed...one of which is going strong.

Tower of Games LLC in Chesapeake is the coolest game store. I have two business partners one of which is a long time friend who talked me into the idea of a game store. My other partner is my awesome brother who runs the business for us and is getting married in two weeks to my wife's sister...yeah I know it sounds old fashioned...and wierd to me too. Tower of Games does everything games, its clean, sharp, and we do airsoft, military simulation right along side of video games, RPG's and everything else gaming. I would like to point out that I had to work for every dime of my businesses started from scratch with my own money, no loans, and no hand outs. I learned from each failure and moved on to try again...

I have since remarried now have five children, a wonderful wife who is a lot like me, live in Chesapeake Virginia, have an AAS in computer science, and my day job consists of Commercial Medical Programming and Analyst which I've been doing for about 8 years. Its much more lucrative then all of the other more interesting jobs and careers I have tried before. Someday I want a chain of super mega game stores from the Tower and can spend my retirement playing all of the games I do not have time for now.

I run a Shadowrun RPG on Sundays each week with eight awesome players, I am an avid fan of Airsoft and Military Simulation Gaming - we have a new club in the Chesapeake area that is pushing 22 members now and twice a month meeting to shoot the crap out of each other in a military simulated environment...at a tremendous local field known as Ballahack Airsoft.

I still love God, what my country stood for (not the current nightmares going on), I love gamers and gaming and hanging out, my oldest son is 16 and headed to the Marine Corp to do his duty, like his fathers and grand fathers before him. I have a 12 year old son about to hit puberty (thank God), 12 year old daughter who is a beautiful ballet dancer for many years, a 9 year old son who is still learning to tell the difference between his head and a hole in the ground, and a 3 year old daughter who breaks my heart every day with, "Daddy don't leave me..." before I go to work.

I consider it a privilege to contribute to dumpshock, share ideas with others who love this game and have followed SR since 2nd edition, collecting every book I can get my hands on.

Idle question: Why do folk defend their faith to those who don't even ask about it?

Just seems like a...strange thing, I guess.

On topic, 29, journalist and accountant by education, fantastic lover by experience and gentleman adventurer by happenstance. Currently whittling my days away by arguing Shadowrun rules, playing various video games and exporting more beer in a day overseas than any of you will drink in thirty years.

I enjoy swimming, cooking, various arts both aesthetic and martial and collect hats. Next on the list is a straw boater so my costumer friends can finish out a few Roaring Twenties-era costumes that I could use it with. Need to finish out the Victorian coattailed suit as well.

Answer...to above:

Because it is such an integral part of who we are and what we stand for that we feel its neccessary to let people understand what we believe. No different then describing your sexual orientation or your list of careers of what makes you who you are right now as you talk about yourself.

I'm more bothered by all the guys bragging on their incredible martial arts training and abilities. I think it's a funny/weird thing to talk about on Internet forums.

online anyone is 5 style black belt with several kinds of assault rifles in the closet.

It reminds me of a class reunion.

@Sharkman: I get that it's integral to who you are, but you come across as defensive when you spend as much time talking about your love for God and being one of 'those people' and go on to explain what you aren't when it comes to a sterotype I'm not entirely sure very many people on DS ascribe to.

As I said, idle thought, slight confusion.

Exactly. The people who talk about it are the ones I imagine are lying. All the badasses I've known in real life have been humble. You would ask them how good a fighter they are and they would simply shrug. They would certainly never make an internet forum post about it.

edit: perhaps lying is not the best way to put it. They may fully believe in their training and abilities. But, Many dojos are in the business of selling belt ranks & false confidence, so I'm not one to put a lot of stock in someones belt rank or self-assessment.

Fair enough.
You chose to respond to it the way you did as I chose to write it the way I wrote it. The OP did say "Exposing the diversity of dumpshock..."

The same as everyone else who responds to things...like martial arts experience...or what have you. I happen to know that not everyone on the internet is a liar or has any reason whatsoever to misrepresent themselves.
Also for those of us who actually enjoyed martial arts as a student or a teacher ...it isn't some mystically cool thing that fits into the hollywood humble warrior concept. Its a competitive sport that was a whole lot of fun! Why would I not talk about it? Its common ground for a lot of people. Tons of people have done it. I never said I was a super ninja but I did show up, I did teach and I did compete. I also played football all the way through high school...soccer in middle school....yada yada, but I doubt anyone would have attacked that statement...I'm curious as to why?

I want to ask you - what's up with the hat collection? Why did you mention that? I find that very interesting...I have friends who despise hats and make fun of people who wear them and it irritates me because I like hats...I don't own too many but I like fedoras and such...

Eh, what the heck.

31, male, Detroit. I've been table-topping for about 20 years now, and I've worked my way through a significant percentage of the games out there. Up until about 6 months ago, I GM'd for 3 groups of players: D&D 3.5, Rifts, and Shadowrun. Sadly, RL seems to be conspiring and they've become really sporadic =/ Thankfully, I've started as a player in a SR 4A campaign, and that seems like it will be a nice change of pace, since I haven't been able to be a player in ~10 years. I also play a fair amount of WoW when I'm in the mood.

On a non-gaming note, I have a master's in Political Science with some post-grad work and spent a year in law school before circumstances beyond my control forced me to drop out. Basically, I'm a giant dilettante, between my addiction to reading and my habit of switching jobs and industries every 6 months or so, I have a wide range of knowledge and skills. In the last few years though, I've settled down, and now I work as a freelance writer, which is pretty much the only job I can get But hey, it pays the bills, and I've found I enjoy it way more than anything else I've ever done.

Hmm, let's see, I'm married (if you want to call it that), I'm a huge nerd, have no life, and love arguing on the internet.

I think that sums it up.