50 questions I found on somebody's sheet that seemed decent:
[ Spoiler ]
Hey guys meant to pass these along awhile ago. Don't feel compelled to answer all of them, it's mostly just a little thing to encourage a history to go along with your meat puppet!
1. What is your character's Sex?
Male
2. What is your character's physical size?
Hans' is about 5' 10", 160lbs with lanky limbs and a flatness about him that makes him seem wider, and more two dimensional than he simply should be. Normally prone to well kept hair and even the occasional manicure his black and gray streaked hair is now worn is a choppy home done cut and generally sports about two days beard growth unless he's about to intentionally insert himself in someone's home. His eyes are a light brown at the center with a ring of hazel tending towards green on clear days.
3. What is the color of the character's hair, eyes, and skin?
yup.
4. What is the character's general appearance (i.e., How does she dress, etc.)?
Non descript street clothes, or the explorer jumpsuit nowadays, a return to his youth while not entirely pleasing isn't out of his range to be comfortable in. That being said once or twice a week he'll pull out his fancy clothes, trim his hair and don a mild disguise to traipse into an art opening or simply sit at an auction house observing the goods of his passion and trade.
5. Where was the character born (City, State, Hospital Name)?
I don't know enough about Germany to place him in a specific town but he was born there then raised in the UK.
6. What is the character's date of birth?
That depends on what year we're playing, we'll call him a healthy 30.
7. What was the character's family life like?
Hans was supported by his family in most endeavors until his desire to turn to art school as a young adult kicked in and his father's protests that he was wasting his life created a rift that has yet to be reconciled, and at this point seems to be to the better. His mother continued to send him encouraging notes during his time studying art in France, but when he quit to move back to England with no forwarding address all contact ceased, this is a somewhat sore point for he has no brothers or sisters to console her.
8. Has the character begun her own family?
No, Hans hasn't really ever felt fully at home with the denizens of the art world as more than acquaintances, and his "double" life as a thief hasn't really made him comfortable enough to share it with anyone.
9. Where or how was the character educated?
Generally at decent public schools with a short stint at a Liberal arts college, after that it has been mostly self motivation that's moved him to learn.
10. Has the character ever done anything else for a living?
Sure he was a night guard at a museum for a couple years from in his early twenties and then worked at his own gallery when enough illicit gains made such a thing possible. Leaving "Ponder" as he called it and the artists he helped support through it is one of his larger regrets.
11. What are the character's political and religious beliefs?
Hans doesn't really subscribe to any particular part beliefs, its rarely interfered with his world, so a lack of interest in those affairs has led to a lack of real development in his views. Religiously speaking he finds exaltation in his movements which has led him to modify his body heavily to pursue greater heights but beyond that true allegiance to a deity doesn't figure into his daily life.
12. Describe the character's moral code. Include how mercenary she is, whether or not she'll kill innocents, etc.
Hans is merc only in the sense that he has no scruples about taking people's goods but their lives are generally safe. He's had to defend himself no doubt and make himself capable in that respect but takes no joy in it and will do his best not to harm an innocent, but things happen and he's not going to loose sleep over it right now, his life is on the line all day every day now. He tends to be unusually unlikely to kill/maim rent-a-cops, knowing what it is like to just be making a buck under a canvas cap and embroidered shield.
13. What are the character's goals?
Uh...good question, live to tomorrow right now? Getting some good cosmetic reconstruction done and a great cover. This is what he's trying to figure out right now. Mostly revolving around fixing the stew he's put himself in but how...that he's not sure about at the moment...
14. Why does the character run the shadows? (Why does she run the shadows still, rather than getting a "real" job?)
See running from his enemies across the pond has left him little other option at the moment and he's got some skill set for it.
15. What kind of personality does your character have? This should not necessarily be obviously stated in the background, as it is more important for actually playing the character, but it may color or add mood to the history.
Hans is mostly solitary ever since he realized he was never going to be a master of the arts he withdrew, from family, from social ties, from pretty much the whole world save the elegant, the absurd, the abstract world of canvas, sculpture and even architecture. He can get along with people fine that's not the problem, but he's never really been able to let people past his defenses, this has been exacerbated by his time in the shadows which suits him fine, he thinks. He quite simply prefers to be alone most of the time. He doesn't dislike people, he just won't actively seek them out and tends to fail to keep up contact with people unless they do more of the work than he does. The exception being artists he's worked with in the past and his fixer Jenn who he's developed an almost real friendship with. People he's worked with, well, it is work after all, and he'll do what he can to help save any one of them, sadistic he is not, self serving, to a degree but not about to leave anyone out to dry.
16. What special qualities does the character possess? This does not refer to skills, but rather to other things, such as how she gets along with people, whether she plans ahead, etc.
Hans is a quick study and improviser, planning is great, but being able to roll with the punches and pickup the changes has proved to be far more important in his life than counting on some foolproof iron clad plan of action.
17. Are there certain things that the character can't or won't do? Why?
Go back to the UK. Tell anyone his name. For obvious reasons. Assassinations may be a little hard for him to wrap his mind around but right now, he's a lost man recreating himself, or creating a new self, he doesn't have to be proud of that self, it just has to not be him.
18. What things, people, or ideas does the character hate?
Disposable culture mostly, he feels it cheapens the lives of everyone to be able to throw away everything.
19. What things people, or ideas does the character love?
Art naturally, artists and musicians are a particular type of siren for him, he's drawn to them because he knows when he sees something gorgeous and worthwhile, but knows just as well he won't be likely to create it himself.
20. What is the character's name? Give both full birth name, as well as nicknames, street names, etc.
Hans van Voreen, "Caper" will introduce himself as Terry Goodkind (his fake SIN) or Jeremiah Holstein (Other sin)
21. Determine what your character used to do, before becoming a shadowrunner (very important).
see above...
22. Decide why your character left her old job, if she had one (also important).
again...
23. Come up with a reason for why the character became a shadowrunner. (This very often will tie in with #22. This is not the same as #14, but rather why she started running the shadows originally. What led her to it?)
In the BG, started off petty crime, then graduated to orchestrated theft and eventually true heists. He now does it because he can't do anything legit.
24. How did your character come to know her contacts? Contacts are an important part of Shadowrun, decide how and why you know them.
in contact bios.
25. Does the character have a SIN? Does the character actually use it? Or is the character one of the SINless masses? This may be affected by the character's previous employment.
He is desperately trying to get rid of his original SIN.
26. Is the character a full-time shadowrunner? Or does the character lead a Batman-like double existence?
Full time baby.
27. Which person(s) or group(s) do you love the most?
Living? Probably none. If it came down to it if his parents came to be in danger he would be very upset over it but they are pretty old by now at least in their seventies. Other than that, meh.
28. Which person(s) or group(s) do you hate the most?
Trid Personalities, most pop culture, he's a little anachronistic.
29. Which person(s) or group(s) do you respect the most?
real artists, other athletes in the scaling/free running category.
30. Which person(s) or group(s) do you fear the most?
The resources of his former "employer" chasing him through the world.
31. What is your favorite colour?
Cadmium Yellow.
32. What is your favorite food and/or drink?
Strangely he looooves bar food, burgers, dogs fries and beer if he could live on it, but doesn't.
33. What place would you most like to visit?
Parks and Alleys for practicing running bounding and tumbling, Museums, although less so lately because he's afraid he'll be noticed there. Small venues playing jazz, or even folk music.
34. Which person(s) or group(s) are you most loyal to?
Right now...just me chummer.
35. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the most enjoyment?
He loves to scale buildings and find ways around the streets that people don't expect.
36. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the least enjoyment?
Pastime...having to be paranoid and disguise himself at all times and remember that he's doing it? Being in hiding?
37. What annoys you the most?
That he can't really decide why of all the things he's nabbed and fenced before these pieces finally made him flip. He's not even particularly fond of them. That and Metal drives him up a wall.
38. What (if any) is your favorite form of art?
Classic Oils.
39. What is your greatest goal?
Sink deep enough down that he can start building his own underground art trade organization again, its dangerously close to home if his enemies haven't been rooted out or bought off but, ya can't change what you love neh?
40. What do you think is your characters best quality?
Despite this outstanding fall from grace Hans is dependable and loyal when he takes on a job, he was just tired of having to drop the masters off with masters, being unattached to most anything else he will be unswayed from his task.
41. What do you think is your characters worst quality?
He's probably not paranoid enough considering his situation and is worried a little about himself mentally, perhaps all these years of being mostly alone have finally started to take their toll but this sudden foolish trashing of his life has left him a little unbalanced and unsure about anything around him at the moment and even his own motives.
42. What is the most important thing you have ever done?
He still believes this was opening his gallery and bringing otherwise unknown artists to the light.
43. Which religion (if any) do you follow?
nah.
44. What is your most treasured possession (and why)?
The few drawings that he was supposed to give away as loot to his employer. They represent his most boneheaded and idiotic choices to date and something deeper, some change about himself is hidden in them that he can't quite work out yet, but...time..if there's time he might.
45. What are your three most common dreams?
Being in a gallery dressed properly for once and a solid gleaming hand coming down on his shoulder inexplicably, then waking.
Strangely being on a yacht somewhere at sea on a beautiful day lying on the deck watching gulls swoop lazily around in the air.
running. just running.
46. What is the Character's current relationship with her family?
none.
47. If the character's family is still alive, what do they do, and where do they live?
His parents are alive, as far as he knows, but hasn't checked in years. They'd be retired, father an old engineer from SK and mother a suprisingly conventional housewife.
48. Where did the character learn her Skills?
Starting in school with track and other athletic events, more about security from his employment and less above board employment, as well as a dedicated group of "volunteers" that he first started running small b&e's with, Mr. Goodbar taught him a lot about how to avoid pitfalls.
49. Does the character have a good luck charm? What is it, and why?
Mostly just a bad luck charm.
50. What type of music does the character like?
jazz, folk, really any kind of free form music.
background:
[ Spoiler ]
Hans moved to France as a young man to follow the whimsical idea that he would become an artist, of course much against his parents wishes and probably rightly so, because after about a year of training and some hard revelations he comes to the conclusion that a master, he ain't. With that depressing thought in his mind he kind of drops off the radar of family and friends and ends up working security at a museum in England, the whole time living in a dump the only thing keeping him going are his late night runs through the alleys, streets and parks and his solitude in the museum during his evenings at work. Meanwhile he's making the "wrong" kind of friends who eventually pull him into some of their home invasions so that he can payback his lingering debt and maybe start a new career...or at least buy a car...which he never does. After a couple small b&e's he learns that he is actually quite adept at this work, and begins working more or less on his own for awhile slipping into antique shops and more upper crust homes and sneaking out their valuables and making a pretty penny doing it. After a bit of time working through a fence of less than sterling morals...well let's face it, that's a given, he starts taking larger and larger risks. He keeps his job at the museum throughout but every vacation he comes back a little "different" First came the feet for better late night running, then the eyes so he could keep from using lights on his forays into other people property and so on until one day his fence (Burgess) suggested he meet up with a couple of other "friends" and perhaps they could liberate some of that fine art that is so unnecessarily adorning the walls at the museum. Long story short a couple forgeries and a hoaxed fire later and group had a small fortune in one masterpiece and few drawings enough to let them do as they pleased. Such did Caper truly come to be born. Hans came to open up his own small gallery with the money he had started to accrue from the jobs he was continually pulling, promoting young artists most evenings, stealing old artists work in the others. The constant battle between giving up the trophies he looted to mana knows who finally won out one night after a particularly beautiful collection of drawings from de hooch, rembrant and assorted others convinced him to head to his safehouse rather than to the drop point. He knew he'd ruined his reputation and a phone message from his anonymous Johnson finally broke through that now, he needed to get out, not of the game, the country, his life, everything he'd "worked" so hard for. Liquidating funds was easy, Burgess was always around after all and he had a fair nest egg saved up from his years of work and a somewhat successful gallery. Moving into a small, secure, and while not quite squalid but certainly far below his now somewhat affluent taste apartment in Seattle has proved discouraging. When that happens he turns up the music and pulls the drawings from their hiding places, lays them out and admires, then throws on his jumpsuit and runs through the streets of gritty city like he was being chased down by the devil himself...
Attributes:
[ Spoiler ]
(190 BP) (10BP edge)
Body: 2
Agility: 5
Reaction: 5 (6)
Strength: 2
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 4
Logic: 4
Will: 2
Edge: 3
Initiative: 9(10)
IP: 1(2)
Essence: 3.5/6
Skills:
[ Spoiler ]
Active – (168 BP)
Locksmith: 2
Electronics (Group): 2
Con (Spec Impersonation): 3
Unarmed: 3
Perception: 3
Automatics (Spec SMGs): 2
Dodge: 2
Disguise: 4
Infiltration (Spec Urban): 5
Climbing: 4
Gymnastics (Spec Parkour): 4
Pilot Ground Craft: 1
Etiquette: 2
Knowledge/Language - (2 + 24 Free)
German: Native
English: 4
French: 1
Politics (Art World?): 2
Security Design: 3
Procedure (Security): 4
Art History: 3
Drawing: 1
Movies (Heist Flicks): 1
Antiques (furniture) : 2
Breaking and Entering Techniques: 4
Contacts:
[ Spoiler ]
(7 + 10 Free)
Jennifer Creswell – Fixer – London –L2 C4: Jen is part of the small group that Hans would work with in his former career. She is in reality an events coordinator with her own business in London catering primarily to corporate functions, but with a surprisingly open mind and lack of distaste for anyone. That, and a healthy desire to make ends pass each other she’s managed to cultivate an elaborate set of connections among all ranks of people. She met Hans while they were both attending a gallery opening admiring pieces and continually bumping into each other. A conversation was eventually forced upon the two when they lingered a bit too long on once piece, which unbeknownst to her at the time Hans had stolen and replaced with a forgery, unknown to Hans the original had passed through Jen’s hands to a new home. One off handed comment by Hans about masterpieces just not looking like they used to and the subject broached they filled each other in over the next few weeks and a useful exchange began.
Burgess- antiquities and oddities dealer- London-L1 C2: Burgess was the first person Hans ever sold any of his ill gotten possessions to and has provided a wealth of knowledge and a healthy disinterest in the history of items crossing his path for years. Hans has never learned the man’s last name nor tried to, the arrangement is purely useful to both parties and although the two share similar tastes and a respect there is no illusion in the relationship showing it to be anything other than an across the counter affiliation.
Koala-Mr./Ms. Johnson?-????-L2 C2: Johnson was a connection made through Burgess and an anonymous voicemail box number about four years ago. There his or her (the voice in the message changes each time and is actually what gave Hans the original idea to get his voice modded) generally leaves a short description of an item, a time frame and a price. Negotiations take place through this phone tag and eventually a drop is setup where any necessary hard copy info is dropped for Hans and again when the task is complete. The work has always been theft, detective work or scout for a larger group in heists. The two have never spoken directly and all Hans’ attempts to find more information about Koala from Burgess or the few people he’s worked with over the years have never yet panned out. Koala’s voice mail was the last call he made before his flight, the last message in the tones of an aged black man, “Run, run and disappear Briar rabbit…”
Mr. Goodbar-Spider-Matrix-Paris-L2C2: Goodbar is the nominal spider for a number of Galleries and a few small museums. The pair met while Hans was casing one of the small private galleries Goodbar oversees and warned Hans he knew what he was doing and would be wise to take his business elsewhere. Unabashed Hans probed the man for knowledge and quickly the two developed a working relationship with one as lab rat for new security procedures and the other font of knowledge about said practices. Goodbar doesn’t turn on Hans because he has made the man’s domains some of the hardest to penetrate lairs in the area, and Hans doesn’t attempt to share his inside information with anyone and stays out of the “test” areas he now knows so well.
Qualities:
[ Spoiler ]
(-15 BP)
Murky Link +10
Wanted -10
Enemy (3) -15
Gear: ( 188,820/190,000 : 38 BP)
[ Spoiler ]
Cyber/Bio: (110,900)
Vocal Range Enhancer (0.1): Can make any sound (part of ultrasound set)
Grip Feet (0.3): When barefoot +2 Gymnastics(non-tumbling)/Climbing
Echolocation (0.1): Part of ultrasound rig but also great for creating a mental map from bouncing sounds waves off surroundings. (for ultrasound set)
Smart Articulation (0.8 ):- +1 Gymnastics/Climbing ; +2 Escape Artist ; +2 Effective Body for Grapple Test
Retractable Climbing Claws (0.2): +2 Climbing (str/2)p as weapon
Synaptic Booster 1 (used std 0.6): +1 reac +1 ip
Cybereyes (RT:3 0.4) : Flare Comp, Low Light, Smartlink, Vis Mag, Vision Enhancement (3), Image Link/Recorder.
Cyberears (rt3 0.4): Balance Augmentor (+1 Climbing ) ; Datajack; Ultrasound Sensor (Ultrasound Set Check!) ; Sound Link/Recorder ; Spatial Recognizer; Select Sound Filter 3
Clothing/Armor:
Berwik Suit Jacket 3/2
Berwik Trousers 1/1
Berwik Shirt 1/0
Mortimer Greatcoat Suit 6/5
Form Fitting Body Armor (Full Suit) 6/2
Chameleon Suit (w/ Thermal Dampening Rt 6) 6/4
Urban Explorer Jumpsuit 6/6 (Concealed Holster)
3 x Street/Everyday Clothes
Regular Gear:
Keycard Copier (6)
Maglock Passkey (4)
Chisel
Grapple Gun
200m Stealth Rope
Catalyst Stick
Cellular Glove Molder (r3)
Autopicker (R6)
Monofilament Chainsaw
Climbing Gear
Rappeling Gloves
False Bottom Attache
Latex Face Mask
2x Nanopaste Disguise Small
Jammer Area (R4)
Plasteel Restraints
Ammo – 200 Gel Rounds – 200 Regular Rounds – 60 Shock Lock Rounds
5 x Clips for Pistol
5 x Clips for SMG
Atropine 2 Doses
Medkit (R6)
Fake License (R4)
Fake SIN (R4)
Fake SIN (R3)
Disposable Commlink
Gas Mask
2x Packs Scent-Masking Cigarettes
Comlink: Hermes Ikon - Novatech Navi -
Analyze 4 Armor 2
Browse 4 Attack 2
Command 4 Decrypt 2
Edit 4 Sniffer 2
Encrypt 4 Stealth 2
Purge 4
Reality Filter 4
Scan 4
Weapons:
Shock Gloves (5Se)
Ceramic Knife (2p)
2 Flash Paks
5 Smoke Grenades
5 Gas Grenades
Morrissey Elan (5c/sa/4p)
Internal Smartgun
Silencer Mod
HK 227X (28c/sa bf fa/5p)
Internal Smartlink
Internal Sound Suppressor
Retractable Stock
Ceramic Components 1 (-2 MAD Detect)
Chameleon Coating
Gecko Grip (+6 Dice grip)
Lifestyle:
[ Spoiler ]
Middle 2 Months (10,000)
Comforts 2
Entertainment 2
Necessities 3
Neighborhood 2
Security 4
Security Conscious 2
Starting Bux = 4d6 → [3,2,1,3] = (9) 900