Okay, so I've made a bit of a mess. I know it. I joust don't know how to fix it and want to get it fixed before the game starts in earnest. Thus I am asking for assistance from the board, as you guys know more about the game than I do (I'm really good at describing the world and ran a decent game just off of that).


Here's my attempt at my first character ever:
His background:

So what if I was born in Bumfuck, Yucatan? At least that's what my aunt said.

What's her name? Cynthia Domin. Anything else?

What? You think I was born in some GGW lab out in Eastern Europe? Okay, you're screwed up. Get out. No really.

Besides, even if I was, do you really think I'd blab it to the whole world? A place like that, the men in white coats would be here to take me away inside of a few days and then lock me back up where I'd never be able to see the light of day again.

He shivers at the thought, almost as if you could see him remembering the lab and the cell he was locked in for the first two decades of his life.

You want me to talk about my life after I was born. Mommy and daddy were dwarves, yadda yadda, moved in with aunt Cynthia after my parents died. Hit sixteen and decided to take it on the road. Yeah, that's a bit young for a dwarf, but all my buddies were playing their respective fields and making their way in life, so I rolled with it and struck out for the California Free State.

This hellhole of a life? Good money, good life, full of adventure. I did a few odd jobs and built some pretty nice drones. Love the drones, man. So pretty. Shiny little things. Blow your head off if I told them to, what as they do as their told, unlike some morons that don't follow instructions and hang around after their welcome has worn out.

No, I don't mean you. The idiots I'm talking about tend to be given a nice incentive and an extended vacation plan with lots of reasons to take off for a nicer place with sun and fun.

I've been to Germany, nice place. France is a bit snobbish, but they play a good game of football. Not like the crap they play here. Real football where you use your bloody feet. England has a few good things about it. Ask me tomorrow and I might be able to get you a list of them.

Scotland has log tossing, golf and some good urban brawl leagues. No sense running around in skirts in the winter, but the stupidity must be contagious. Oh, you're Scottish. Sorry, but I stand behind my opinion.

Ireland is a blast. Lots of beer, decent looking chicks and some pretty wiz tech. Glossy as all hell, not so much on the lethal stuff for their police. Gardai, they call them. Nice fellas, but they know their biz when they need it. Yeah, the nutters up North still like blowing stuff up. Stuff, people, things I'm not sure are really people anymore. Big blast they have.

C.A.S., U.C.A.S., both pretty much the same. Hicks on one end, crumpet munchers on the other. Slums in the East, arcos in the West. Tech in the sky and trash down below. kind of like Seattle.

Aztlan? Nooooo. I'm not going there again. They like the pretty boys and are into the blood-letting until you stop moving. Then they rip your heart out, feed it to their little gods or eat it themselves, fucking bloodmages. I'm not a masochist, nor am I suicidal.

Yes, the jobs are dangerous, but that's why I have T.D.F. here.

The Damage Fairy, that's her name. Her, the S.W.A.R.M., the S.E.C.T.S., D.U.T.C.H., F.L.O.W. and Gigabot.

You want to know what all the letters stand for? Suck it and use your brain for once.

Yeah, I mean that. Get out of here now. And while you're at it, go suck on an Enfield.

I decked out my gear, buffed up a little, got a memory sack, blew a load on ammo of course and nearly stuffed Gigabot full of sensors to notice everything going on within a half a kilometer.

WHAT? *insert a string of cursing in Japanese*

I am not from a North Sea lab and my name is not Edward Yarvis! It's Tarvallis. Tarvallis Rollins. Got that? No, I haven't went and got my face all screwed up to look like someone else, dumbass.

Yes, I make things go boom. Occasionally I make people go boom, but that's neither here nor there and I don't tend to do that if I don't have to. It's all about the nuyen.

Don't call me a hitman, I'm a rigger, I just have a side job making things explode. Simple as that.

Security measures? I can handle those, no problem. Politics? I'm not that interested, but I know my way around if I need to.

Shoot stuff, blow stuff up, build new stuff, fix old stuff, learn stuff, drive stuff. Yup, I drive stuff. Gigabot, DUTCH and FLOW are my rides. Big, little and airborn, that's the way to mix it up. Sneaking? Sneaking?! Not sneaking! Sneaker? Bite me.

Oh. Sorry. Yeah, I've read those books. Nice read. I'm into history, myself. History and how the big ten work. Keeps you alive.

I can talk to people all polite if I need to. I just don't need to right now.

Screw you, I'm not happy with you asking all of these questions and trying to make me out as some messed up lab clone gnome.

Why don't you get the frak out of here, if you know what's good for you.

Yeah, I moved on to Denver. Why? Because I got a job here and then got stuck here.

Hmm. I guess I do have the funds to take off, but I've built up a bit of a life here and it's nicer than the Cali Free State. Less gunfire, I guess.

Well, have a nice fraking day, you reporting bastard.
Oh, before you go, one last thing. I told you to leave three times and you didn't go. You know that's rude, right.

Sound of a pistol blowing a hole in the reporter's head.

Stupid idiot probably wouldn't have kept his mouth shut about me anyway. And I don't need General Genetic Worldwide tracking me to Denver. Corps are not someone to pal around with, especially if you're one of their pet projects, especially when they don't give a damn about the Corporate Courts. I'm just glad they keep my profile out of the system. Gonna have to figure out how a street reporter got my number though.


And here's his sheet (it's on PDF, but I had to do it inline to get it here):

Alias: Trill
Name: Thadeus Garrow
Total Karma: 0
Current Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Current Edge: 4
Attributes
Agility: 3(4)/6(9)
Body: 4/7(10)
Reaction: 4/5(7)
Strength: 5(6)/8(12)
Charisma: 2/6(9)
Intuition: 4/6(9)
Logic: 5/6(9)
Willpower: 4/7(10)
Edge: 4/6
Essence: 4/6
Magic: 0/6
Resonance: 0/6
Initiative: 6/11(16)
Astral Init: 8/12(18)
Matrix Init: 4/6(9)
Init Passes: 1
Composure: 6/13(19)
Judge Intent: 6/12(18)
Lift/Carry: 6/15(22)
Memory: 9(11)/13(19)
Walking Rate: 8m/turn
Running Rate: 20m/turn
Swimming Rate: 4m/turn
Lift w/o Test: 45kg
Overhead Lift w/o Test: 15kg
Weight: 25kg
Height: 100cm
Sex: Male
Age: 33
Lifestyle: High
Metatype: Gnome
Points Spent (450 BP by GM)
Gnome: 25
Attributes: 200
Skill Groups: 110
Skills: 58
Knowledges: 2
Qualities: (P)35/(N)30
Resources: 50
Qualities
Gnome (25)
Arcane Arrestor (gnome)
Neoteny (gnome)
Thermographic Vision (gnome)
Positive:
Erased (5)
Escaped Clone (5)
Human Looking (5)
Blandness (10)
Quick Healing (10)
Negative:
SINner GGW (+5)
Flashbacks GGW (+5)
Records on File GGW (+10)
Wanted GGW (+10)
Items
Alpha Muscle Augment 1: 14,000
Alpha Muscle Tone 1: 16,000
Mnemonic Enhancer 2: 15,000
General Gear (see notes): 22,050
GMC Everglades (see notes): 26,950
Weapons: 4,975
Armor: 8,000
DocWagon Basic: 5,000
Drones: 78,825
Learning Stimulus Nanos Lv.2: 8,000
Lifestyle (high): 10,000
Skills
Mech Group: 4
Firearms Group: 3
Influence Group: 2
Stealth Group: 3
Demolitions: 3
Perception: 3
Pilot Aircraft: 3
Pilot Groundcraft: 4
Knowledges
Chemistry: 5
Airframe&Powerplant Engineering: 5
Security Procedures: 3
Architecture: 3
European History: 3
Seattle Politics: 2 (Supposed to be Santa Barbara Politics)
Denver Politics: 2
Aztechnology: 2
Language (English) Natural
Language (Japanese) 3
Armor
Chamelion Suit 6(B)/4(I): 8,000
Weapons
817 regular bullets
250 shotgun shells
Cavalier Scout w/ Smartlink & Adv. Safety: 775
Fichetti Executive Action w/ Smartling & Adv. Safety: 1,100
Ares Crusader: cost included on F.L.O.W. Drone
Ares MP-LMG: cost included on T.D.F.
Enfield AS-7: cost included on T.D.F.
Contacts
Eddy Kizera (Denver Fence): Loyalty 4/Contact 4
Sammy the Slug (Santa Barbara Fixer): Loyalty 2/Contact 3
Identities
Edward Yarvis (real SIN)
Tarvalis Rollins (28 year old dwarf): Rating 4
Tarvalis' Aero Pilot's License: Rating 4
Tarvalis' Driver's License: Rating 4
Tarvalis' License to Possess Armed Drones: Rating 4
General Stuff
Transys Avalon Commlink (r4, s4) 5000
Response booster +2 750
Signal booster +2 50
Custom OS (f3, s4) 7,200
Bio Reader (retinal) (device 3) 250
Subvocal Microphone 50
Satellite Link (device 3) 500
Goggles (Flare Compensation, Image Link, Smartlink, Vis-Enhance lv. 3, Vis-Magnify) 1025
11 OMC datachips 11
Datasoft (European History lv. 6, Info on the big 10 AAA corps lv. 3 each) 360
VR Games (SimCiv, U. Mario, EuroWar 2032, MageCraft MMO) 200
Virtual Pet (swarm of robo-dragonflies) 100
E-paper 20
Medkit (lv. 6) 600
3 Glue Sprayers 450
5 Stim-patches 750
3 Trauma patches 1500
Foam Explosives (lv. 5, 3kg.) 1500
Fake License for possession of armed drones (lv. 4) 400
Fake DL (lv. 4) 400
Fake Pilots License (lv. 4) 400
Fake SIN 4000
Vehicles
GMC Everglades (Gigabot): Sensor Cap. 10/12
CyberDesigns Dragonfly (The SWARM) 5 anti-drone, 5 anti-vehicle: 25,000
Ford LEBD-1 (FLOW) modified to fit pilot w/ Ares Crusader mounted: 5,000
MCT Fly-Spy (The SWARM) 10 drones: 20,000
Shiawase Kanmushi (SEKTS) 10 drones: 10,000
Lockheed Optic-X (TDF) w/ Ares MP-LMG(Box fed) and Enfield AS-7: 3,325
Daiatsu-Caterpillar Horseman (DUTCH) w/ Drone Rack: 16,000
GMC Everglades has Atmosphere lv. 3, Camera on turret, Cyberware scanner lv. 6, Geiger, Directional & Laser mic, MAD scanner lv. 3, Motion and Radio Signal scanners = 26,950
I forgot to label the level on one of the sensors on the GMC Everglades, but I paid for level 3.
Customized Transys Avalon Commlink: Response 6, Signal 6, ECCM 6
Custom OS: Firewall 6, System 6
No Programs
No Magic or Resonance, so nothing related to them
Implants (Total Essence Cost: .58)
Commlink: .1 Essence (half charge for being the lower of Cyber/Bio)
Alpha Bioware Mnemonic Enhancer Lv. 2: .16 Essence
Alpha Bioware Muscle Augment Lv. 1: .16 Essence
Alpha Muscle Tone: .16 Essence
Learning Stimulus Nanos Lv. 2: 0 Essence


It's not too much of a wreck (I hope), but I'm sure I have some glaring errors.
I was told I need programs and my drones have off the shelf hand weapons as I couldn't locate the drone weapons.

So, any help would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

I can offer a few suggestions:

- Get Gunnery for firing weapons yourself, or improve Resonance on the drones (better autopilots).
- Strength 8 doesn´t do much for a Rigger, Willpower 3 would do the same as Willpower 4. Consider starting with high Charisma instead, so that you can pass of as a human child easily.
- I would increase Perception at the cost of mechanics, IE Mechanics 3 / Perception 4 / Gunnery 1 (Ballistics +2)
- Personal preference again, yet I would start with more augmentations instead of a bootload of drones, reflecting the "pet project" history of your char. A Trauma Damper comes to mind.

Dice pools for rigging are
Jumped IN - Drone Response + Rigger Skill
Autonomous - Drone Pilot/response + Drone/Pilot Skill
Remote COntrol - Rigger Command Software + Rigger SKill
And not the least, physically driving - Reaction + SKill

Pick two to be able to do sufficiently.

Depending on which way you choose, boost what's needed to be good. Rigger skill works very well for most.

Buy up vehicle response for autonmous and pilot operations and Jumped In.

Make sure you have EW skill, you will need this just to scan and sniff.

Most likely you will need Command software as well. ECCM is vital too.

So, few quick things I notice are:

Why the alpha grade bioware? It's a fairly decent price hike considering you don't gain anything out of it. You aren't exactly running low on essence or anything. I'd suggest dropping them to regular and sucking up the .04 essence you're saving on each one.

Also, why the high strength? You're not going to be using it for anything at all, and to be honest I think a gnome with a 4(5) strength is going to have serious trouble passing as a child "So.... how many steroids have you're parents been putting in your more steroids?". You're going to be about 2.5 feet and be much stronger than the average human adult. You'll look like a midget body builder.

Keep in mind that nanites degrade at 1 rating per week, so unless you plan on doing some serious studying, the LS nanites aren't going to help alot without a hive (Also remember they are only good for knowledge skills, not active skills)

I'm sure there are more things, but I don't feel like looking real hard right now.

It's ridiculous even without that taken into consideration, considering he's listed his height at 100cm and 25 kg. He's more like a mini-fridge than a child.

So lower the Strength, raise the Charisma and get rid of the nanites.

I have an ECCM of 6, so that's covered and I need programs (I want custom programs to get a good rating, but don't know how to build them). Probably need to change a few skills around too.

Oh, and drop the Alpha grade to Standard.

As well as drop the muscle enhancement (toner is fine) since you don't really need the strength.



Hmm, that is rather large for a gnome and heavy for a child.

100cm puts him on average height with a 4 year old, and 25 kilos puts him on average weight for an 8 year old. That is rather mini-fridge like. So yeah, I suggest dropping your weight down to about 15 kilos. Still rather tall for a gnome though. This might be handy for figuring out height/weight and what age you might pass as.

I'll knock that down to 18.
It's a bit on the bulky side of 4, but due to his natural build, it should be fine.

With a (natural) body of 4 and a strength of 5, I don't think he can fit the body proportions of an human child - which considering the age should be 2 at most.

This guy has the strength and natural resilience of an above average adult human. Even with some metagenetics tossed in the salad, it's a lot to put into a pint-sized bowl.

Note : his natural stat are average for a gnome, it means he should be somewhat around the average gnome's height and weight. Which is definitevely on the blocky side. And seriously at odd with what an human child is built like. No way the charade can hold at close range.

Note : considering the 'blandness' and 'human looking' qualities. I don't think they fit. I'd rather use 'dwarf-looking' if you want to keep the blandness. which would make the character look like a fairly normal teenage dwarf arther than a seriously odd human kid.

Okay, altered Attributes:
(+1) Agility: 4(5)/6(9)
(-1) Body: 3/7(10)
(+1) Reaction: 5/5(7)
(-2) Strength: 3(4)/8(12)
(+1) Charisma: 3/6(9)
Intuition: 4/6(9)
Logic: 5/6(9)
Willpower: 4/7(10)
Edge: 4/6
Essence: 4/6
Magic: 0/6
Resonance: 0/6
Initiative: 9(10)/11(16)
Astral Init: 8/12(18)
Matrix Init: 4/6(9)
Init Passes: 1
Composure: 7/13(19)
Judge Intent: 7/12(18)
Lift/Carry: 7/15(22)
Memory: 9(11)/13(19)

I removed the Learning nanos and the Alpha status on the bio-implants.
So, I need programs (not sure which programs), I need to change how my drones are set up and Ryu mentioned a Gunnery Skill, so I put his idea into the sheet (-1 Mech, +1 Per, +1 Gunnery, +2 Ballistics).

After I get all of the programs set up and the drones made properly, I'll dump the rest of it into augmentations (I'm going strictly bio on the lab enhancements).

I currently have 64,200 left to spend, with Lifestyle (high), vehicle, DocWagon Basic, weapons, armor, ammo, drones and basic augmentations already taken.

You need autosofts for your drones, Edit to play with sensor feeds, Analyse for technical work, a solid Firewall and Encryption to delay matrix attacks, agents to take care of matrix combat, Stealth to avoid that, Command for drone control. While you´re at it, Browse is great for information gathering + can be used by agents...

I'm not sure a microdrone can handle all of those being on it.

Load them when you need them.

Sure it can. Everything has infinite storage capacities, including your clothing. No reason you couldn't have every program in the book loaded onto each of your drones just in case they ever need it. No reason you couldn't also put a backup copy into each pair of socks you own.

Personally I'm not super fond of the 'infinite storage and download speed' idea presented by the book. It talks about how 'even if your commlink doesn't have room to store all the data, it will pull up extra storage space from the nearby toaster' and so on. Which brings up the rather serious question of what happens when you get cut off from the matrix at large (Going into a wireless proof building)? Do you suddenly lose your exploit program because it was stored on your fridge back home?

But yeah, as per the rules, you can fit as much software onto a drone as you want. How much it can make use of simultaneously is another question.