I'm sure this has been done before, but I'm curious what everyone thinks about Deckers and Otaku. Pros and Cons of each?

I prefer deckers simply because they have less inherent baggage, and I just don't get into the otaku mindset very well. I find it difficult to integrate otaku due to their tribe mentality, although the Resonance can be a useful tool. Deckers have the drawback of needing complicated decks (I always build my own rather than using a stock deck, which would make things simpler), but it is easier to roleplay.

Deckers, definitely.

Otaku are only good for one thing-- running the matrix. Admittedly, they've very good at it, with advantages most deckers can only dream of.

However, you can easily make a decker-anything, while combining otakuhood and anything else is problematic. A decker-mage is easy to do, while an otaku mage is flat-out banned; the same holds true for decker-adepts. I mean, you only need a datajack and a computer skill to be a decker. A decker/sammie is very easy (the combat decker archetype in the BBB can easily double as a light samurai) while an otaku/samurai is nearly impossible.

Eerily enough, the best otaku combinations are Otaku/rigger (you can get the VCR installed later) and Otaku/Face (the high charisma really helps).

Deckers because they're multi-functional. I'd never dream of playing an Otaku for the same reasons I'd never play a full-Decker. It ruins the game IMHO. I'd actually try playing a Decker/Rigger with a Gun.

Sphynx

While deckers are fun and all, I think an Otaku offers a lot of plot hooks that would be great to play out. One of my current pet ideas is an Orkish Otaku from a very small and ultra-poor tribe of metahumans who gets elected as their "face" and sent out to make the money or connections that they so desperately need. He might not be good at much, but he has to learn fast. Etc.

Of course, it all depends on the GM.

For me it has to be Otaku.

Simplier for me they have a much cooler element fot them.

Or it is because i played Cyber Gen and love anime?

i can honestly say i don't care either way--i'll play a damn rating 3 blaster IC, as long as i get my Matrixin'.

that said, i tend to slightly favor otaku because they're so damn sneaky. the average starting otaku has a DF higher than the best a starting decker can come up with, which means an otaku can stay in the system for a lot longer. of course, the downside is that an otaku needs that extra time, because his channels suck, and it takes some major investments to raise them. once an otaku gets some karma under his belt, though, he's hard to beat.

Well, it depends ...

Not to deflate anyones ideals here, but in a long running campaign the decker is the guy easiest to overlap with other people. Most people have a datajack, after that its pretty much one skill (computer) plus skills at least someone has already (electronics, etiquette, etc) plus cash. Heck lots of people have computer 3 or 4 just to deal with all the tech in the 6th world, and to do minor computer tasks anyhow. Which means the big difference is that deckers can devote ALL their resources (cash) towards decking, and probably actually bump their computer skill to 8.

Compare to the Otaku, who can start with computer 8, and do things no one else can unless theyre another Otaku. And all he really needs to do this is time and experience (ie, doing runs). The trade off is that fitting a kid into most teams takes some work, and can be difficult even at best.

So, there kinda isnt a preference. Id probably do a decker because I could mix it with some other elements, and dont think I could roleplay the kid mentality over an entire campaign, but if the team needed a hard-core hacker and had the other bases covered, otaku is the way to go.

Otaku make deckers practically obsolete.

As to all the decker/mage types... the ones I've seen are those that focus on magic, then develop computer abilities, I'm not sure how fair it is to call them 'deckers'. (insofar as it's probably not going to be they're defining ability)

That's just it, though. How many computer programmers are *only* computer programmers? How many of them define themselves solely through their ability to code?

Otaku are excellent if you want a single-track character. They are matrix gods, no two ways about it, and they can easily outstrip most starting deckers in Matrix abilities. However, a decker/anything can be a great deal more versatile than an otaku. Sure, that otaku can give you hell in the matrix; but in the meat world, your wired-1 and smartlink will chew him to bits.

Otaku do not make deckers obsolete-- they make pure deckers a weaker option, but deckers still have their role, particularly in the combat decker areas. I mean, who'd you rather have on your side, if you need to hack an matrix-isolated facility: a kid who's great with the computer, but damn near useless otherwise; or a guy who can shoot almost as well as the sammie, who has dozens of tech skills, and can handle a computer competently?

It really depends on how you want to play your matrix-oriented character, your GM, and the "team" you will joining.
I would only try an otaku character with a large team where my responsibilities were clearly the matrix and not a support-combat role or electronics and gadgetry.
An otaku character is (IMO) simply not worth playing without support from the other shadowrunners on their team.
Deckers, on the other hand, have more flexibility and although their primary responsibility should always be to act as the team's matrix resource, they are capable of filling more than a single team slot and capable of additional responsibility. A good decker/drone rigger can be a valuable character and an interesting role.

I voted for otaku, because other than a combat decker, an otaku is IMO an easier charactor to play. Yes, that role is limited and sometimes very restricted but, not very much more.

I was running a campaign with an otaku tribe and a street gang. The street gang guarded the jackpoints and the otaku shared a cut of their proceeds.

I think the idea of otaku are niffty...But I am still one that thinks if your whole shtick is that I can do something that take hgours of real time, that i need to leave other gamers to what hey want in order to make my chartcer useful..Wll that is just bad.


The Otaku only being children, **** that ****** ****. I mean really. It is magic in the machine. I get the fact that children see the wold from diffrent eyes than grown ups, but at the same time the matrix was made 30 years ago... Do shamanslosse their magic at 21?

Lastly there is little reason to jusifie the rule with role playing. Any rule system canbe fun with the right players,and goood role playing can make up for bad rules.

Otaku aren't all children. There's one in his 30s-40s that shows no sign of fading. Of course, how he got that way is pretty mysterious.

Ah yes forgot about him. Psychotrope i think it is. He got they lower part of his brain blown to crap. I also think he has a move-by-wire now as well.

"Faded" (sung to the tune of "Jaded" by Aerosmith)

AI-Created otaku are a completely different matter, and IIRC Red Wraith ia AI-created. They're also not legal starting PCs.

Well, it's "Suggested" that they not be PCs. Of course, the question of AI otaku vs. Deep Resonance Otaku gets into what you think the Deep Resonance is.

I prefer deckers. Partly because of their old-school feel -- my first ever SR character was a decker, who almost always decked "naked." Deckers were there when the game started, y'know? One of the holy trinity of Ghost, Sally, and Dodger. Deckers have always been a part of SR, not like these fancy newfangled kids.

Secondarily? I have issues with Otaku purely due to their age (which adds to their one-dimensional usefullness). I understand there's the mystic blah blah blah resonance or whatever behind it, and that they aren't supposed to be normal children. But, really, how are they supposed to act? Are they all uber-mature adults stuck in kid's bodies, transformed by their link to Whupty-the-Fuck-Ever? Or are they still immature twelve year olds who happen to be Matrix demigods?

If the former (they all act and think like adults), what's the point in having an age limitation? If the age limitation isn't there because they're supposed to be teenagers, why is the age limitation there? Just as a sort of "time limit" for them? Why not just called it a borrowed time, then, and let anyone of any age develop the ability to do Otakustuff, but knowing they'll lose the ability in a few years? If they're all artificially mature, why say they've got to be kids?

If the latter (they all act and think like kids)... well...isn't that a little retarded? What self-respecting SR team is going to take an eleven year old with them on an Ares raid? What Johnson is going to want to give someone of that age and maturity level several thousand nuyen and trust them to get a job done? If they aren't artificially matured (emotionally), what kid that age is going to be any good at the light touch and careful planning good Shadowrunners need?

Either way, I think their age requirement lends them an aura of absurdity, in a gritty bullet-dodging Shadowrun game.. and just leans things a little bit more towards an Anime feel (where there's always a spunky kid, who manages to be really good at something, that tags along with the rest of the group).

The thing about the Otaku is that they aren't just normal kids of that age. If nothing else, the tribal mentality many of them have adopted has changed them from average kids to something more along the lines of Lord of the Flies (or Children of the Corn, possibly). I wouldn't make an Otaku runner aged less than 16 or so. And I'd make ganger PCs of that age, too, so it all seems to fit.

Of course, most games I've played in didn't exactly revolve around a team of hardened professionals. The game where the shaman's highest force spells were Fashion and Makeover comes to mind...

I dunno, deckers are a ton of fun, but hey, wouldn't it be weird-as-hell to have to re-enact puberty as an otaku? I mean, sure, some deckers have professionalism, but what happens when the Deep Resonance and hormones collide?

Maybe it's just silly speculation on my part.

That's an easy one. Bogie happens.