Yeah, yeah. We all know street samurai. Chromed up orks with wired reflexes and smartlinked machine pistols. They're a Shadowrun staple.

But have you or your friends ever played a "real" street samurai? Someone who is not just a fighter, but a poet, a musician? What were your experiences like?

Did not really change anything. One of my samurai was a pizza connoisseur and baker himself. Basically downtime only effects.
The other used his built in cyber blades to cut up cans of all kinds of drinks and made origami out of the aluminium when bored.

Not really actually… Most of them appeared to have not much interest in such things. Just guy who kept up trained and ready to do jobs and would crash drinking beers at home or in bars during downtime.

I don't know what you mean by "real" though. Does the real street samurai is a poet or a musician? I guess this come from the "samurai" stuff, but I don't really remember seeing such as being the majority in the books. That's even a little contradictory with the idea that losing essence kind of reduces your humanity…

It does indeed come from the samurai stuff.

A fan of Ghost Dog by chance?


It depends a lot on the table and the campaign.

Some tables with limited players or time constraints meet to just do the run, so outside of being on the same side, the runners don't associate much in their downtime. More of a Fade to Black and then cue next session.

Other tables with a longer ongoing campaign or players with more time to spare often have a more organic touch, so you may see some of the other sides of the characters.

Always Beware "The Bird Man" Sendaz...