OK everyone, I am really thinking about writing a piece of crossover fan fiction and since Shadowrun has almost no representation in this arena, I thought I would give it a try.

I want to use my changeling combat medic mage (the one with 2 points of cyber/bioware) as the protagonist, but I want him strong enough to be believable, but weak enough that he isn't a Gary Stu. One way I was thinking about is having him being a generalist. His main skills would be, medical skills, enough Mojo to be competent, but not lugging around a "I WIN!!!!" button, and finally some hand to hand with cyber implanted weapons (hand razors in his left hand and a shock hand in his right).


How much karma would you want to have a go at a Deep Metaplane Quest? I'm figuring about 100 Karma, but I may be wrong.

Also, about how much money would you reasonably expect for someone of this power level to have. I ask this because I want him to have his cyber/bio as betaware. Delta is too much of a "GM wants to frak me 20 ways from Sunday" for my taste. Besides you can BUY betaware, but you can't get delta just by walking into a clinic.

In my opinion, crossover fan fiction should be purged by fire. There's always too much of it.

This being said, my rule of thumb for money to karma is 2500 Nuyen per point of karma the character possesses. Betaware is entirely reasonable, but it depends on the stuff you want to upgrade to beta. If it's forbidden military ware, I'd think twice about it. If it's a datajack or something other completely, just go for it.

Deep Metaplanes usually require a guide and even then your character could suffer from evanescence similar to the effect Shedim suffer from on the main plane. At least according to the little explanation we have on the deep metaplanes. I'd keep that in mind.

I wanted to write a crossover because I find them more interesting than straight fan fiction.

Considering that Synaptic Booster 2 is only Restricted and not forbidden, I believe it is not mil-spec gear... just meant more for police/private security forces.

And good luck with your writing
I realize that this is purely a matter of opinion, so what I don't like is interesting for you.

Synaptic Boosters on Level 2 are also very expensive in Beta
What I'd do, is make a character concept, from start to finish. Create the character as new, then give him 100 karma or so, and money accordingly. Maybe add some dice rolls for random results.
Then upgrade ware, skills, attributes, initiation, etc. Get some bound spirits. Add connections. Maybe pick up some flaws, get rid of some positive qualities?

The most important thing to avoid the Gary Stu / Mary Sue effect is to not treat your character as a super hero. Not everone will like him, not everyone will be swayed by his noble way of thinking ... wait, it's SR, avoid nobility! And so on. Make his motivations believable. Why a deep metaplanes quest? Random fluke or planned excursion? You get the picture

Thanks for the encouragement. Also I wanted Synaptic Booster for the character because I find the idea of using a Sustaining Foci to be... impractical. If you want to get past wards, you need to shut down the foci, then you have to power it back up... also in a mana void, you're SOL. a Synaptic Booster ALWAYS works, it's self repairing, and practically undetectable. Expense be damned when it's my character's ass on the line.


That is exactly why I asked how much Karma and money would it take for the character to go on a Deep Metaplane quest and be believable. As for bound spirits... where I want to send him has a different magic system than Shadowrun, so it would break any bonds to spirits.


He was trying to initiate, but something happened. It is connected to events in the other universe. I also want it to be a one way trip. He's going, but NOT coming back. No "Magic got me here, it can get me out." and no "You've done your work, now be a good pawn and go home." This is permanent.

There will be a little blurb in the story about how everything he wanted to accomplish was just flushed down the shitter.

As for being noble... he's not noble... he has shot people in the face for money, but neither is he a raving psychopath who likes to shoot people in the face for money.

I can't really say whether the character would be a Gary Stu or not, with only half of the picture. In the Shadowrun universe, he certainly wouldn't be - there would be plenty of people at his level of ability, or higher, and he would be an established, but not quite prime, runner.

But where is he going? If he is going to NYPD Blue or CSI Miami, then he will be a superhero in a world of normals. If he is going to Dragonball Z, then hopefully he can cook or type or something, because he sure won't be kicking anyone's asses any time soon. I can't really judge his power level, without knowing what I am comparing it to.

It's not a mundane world like NYPD Blue or CSI. I find the idea of a crossover with those shows... distasteful. As for "Drag on Ball Z"... I hate that show with a passion. It's all about stupid people grunting and groaning and powering up for 20 episodes before fighting... and those are the quick fights.


The reason I'm not saying is that I don't even know if I'm going to write this or not. I'm still in the planning stages. I just wanted some prelims done before I start.

Whatever you decide on, it will affect how comparatively powerful your character is. You also need to decide how his abilities will work compared to a mundane person's, when other universes have unaugmented characters who do things that would boggle a multi-initiate adept or cyberzombie.

But while you should try to avoid being a Gary Stu, power level is only a small part of it. Indeed, if he is a visitor from another universe, he should have abilities that are unique, and be in a position where he can really shake up the status quo. The dreaded Gary Stu happens when the character is always right, and is liked by everyone except either the cardboard-cutout villains, or the hero who is wrong about the character and eventually sees the light. The Gary Stu usually triumphs with little effort, angsts about things that are not really his fault, and has an aura of smooth that draws in all of the females of the series into his orbit. As long as the character has others react to him realistically, and experiences genuine problems, you should be okay.

Thank you for your kind words. I will most certainly keep them in mind if I write the story.

When I first created my medic mage, I wanted a "real" person. I wanted someone who had flaws and was not a optimized killing machine.

For this story I want a character than you can pick up and go "Yeah, I saw where he started and where he is now and I can believe it. I may not agree with having a mage with that much cyber and bio, but it is believable for his background."

Not sure how much of a "market" there is for your fiction, but best of luck. I too am a wannabe writer, and might be posting a character background story up real soon, so please check it out and give (preferably constructive ) feedback.

A few things to bear in mind:
1) Why Shadowrun crossover fiction?
In terms of readership going either vanilla Shadowrun or cyberpunk fantasy would probably be better. Don't get me wrong, if your concept is interesting Shadowrun folks might dig it, but bear in mind that the further you go from the Shadowverse they know and love the more they will be turned off by it.
2) Both character and story must be interesting.
Fairly self-explanatory, and you seem satisfied with the character part of the equation. Now you gotta think about the story you are going to put them through. Are they a major protagonist, or just an unwitting pawn caught up in events larger than they are? How did they get to where the story began, and what is going to happen from there?
3) What flavour are you going to write in?
Me, I am a fan of film noir gumshoe-type writing, but what sort of voice are you going to write in? It needs to be rich, and it needs to be convincing.
4) A deep metaplanar quest? Really?
Has been done before, so you probably want to either do it well or put a unique twist on the trope, or preferably both. Is the quest part of the story, or the whole story? Also, a big danger of going down the Gary Stu path with this sort of story idea, tread carefully!
5) Remember it's fiction, not the gaming adventures of your character.
You don't need the entire character statted out to begin with, but want an idea of what they can do, and how well they can do it. Think too much about dice rolls and the story gets clunky, so make sure you stick with it as fiction, and be prepared to give them new skills and/or spells as the story demands it (without being superhuman about it, natch).
6) Originality
Most Shadowrun fiction that sticks into peoples' minds is highly original concepts such as Kid Stealth (which led to the statting out of Raptor Legs in the game). Are you gonna give your character a unique background/'ware to give them that unique fictional edge?

The above points are meant as words of caution, not of discouragement. Good luck!

My Little Pony: Shadowrun is Magic?
*hides*

I putting a Shadowrunner into another universe (not yet ready to divulge which universe yet) because if you search fanfiction.net you'll find almost nothing. I want to try to represent a Runner who is a real person thrown into extraordinary circumstances.



The character is going to be a major protagonist. There was one thing I had to tweak to fit in the bioware I was wanting for the character. I had to change the Olfactory Booster to delta grade, but that is the only piece to be delta. The rest is straight up betaware.


I'm going for drama/action adventure. I'm going to try to write from two different perspectives. When the Runner is involved, it will be in first person. When he is not involved in the scene, then it will third person.

This is the only way I can think of yanking a character from 6th world Earth to where I want him to go. Maybe an exploding Artifact. That might be a better way to make damn certain it is a ONE way trip.

I gotcha! I just wanted to stat out the character to make sure that he's believable! I also will do my damnedest to not need Deus ex machina except to get the character to the world I want to send him to. If I can't realistically solve the problem without it, then I'll rewrite that part. I've read so many stories that have plot holes the size of the Death Star... I want to avoid those at all cost.


No unique 'Ware... to me that path leads to Gary Stu. His betaware gear will give him plenty of advantages
Thank you for the encouragement.

If you have the right author, then even this will work. You just have to make the pony world darker.

I was thinking more along the lines of:"Pinkie found the way the Shedim went"