The untormented mundane.
Can it work

I was just reading a thred bout how good mundains ar and it got me thinking

Has anybody ever tried to play a mundane with little or no implants in a standered power level game? How did it go.

I think that covers the question

Edward

I've played a mundane in a normal game and it worked out pretty well. He had a good many skills, high attributes, and spent a good bit of his starting resources on contacts.

He worked out pretty well in the game. He was a face and skill monkey. He wasn't the best combat machine of the group by far, but could hold his own well enough not to be a liability. His out of combat abilities more than made up for it. An advantage to being an unaugmented mundane is that its easier to belnd in. You're jsut like most of the rest of the people out there. On a couple of runs he infiltrated corporate facilities by pretending to be a janitor.

It's been my experience that damn near any character can do damn near any job, so long as they get enough intel and make a solid enough plan. And I don't mean "In case of firefight, here's a weapon. In case of maglocks, here's a toolkit."

So, having built the mundane with sensitive system and five points of essence left after all is said and done, I can tell you that it goes well... *if* there's a solid plan and no one engages in jackassery or shinanigans.

My actual char is the face of the group with a lot of contacts and a lot skills (besides the needed social ones).
As an ex-cop he has some cyber (datajack, skillwires, headware memory and muscle augmentation), but isn't a combat master. so he try to make full use of cover, flash greandes and stuff. Worked out fine so far.

I've got a guy that is playing the unmodified human. (Err, I blew his arm off with an assault rifle, so now he has a cyber arm, but nothing flashy.) I think it can work if you play it up right. I would argue as a GM, that in my world, knowledge is much more powerful than being turned into a death machine. A non cybered human that spent a lot of money on contacts or data softs can make legwork or prep for a run much easier. It does take a very broad thinking player to be able to pull it off. There are still a lot of rules in Shadowrun that can keep you alive, taking cover, dodging, using guile and smarts over your fists and guns.

Since having a datajack counts as being unmodified for all practical purposes you can always be the decker. In fact the datajack would help you blend in better in any corporate environment. Take stealth, disguise, computer and etiquette (corporate) and be the corporate ninja.

I have a character that is primarily a linguist. We are in a kind of cross between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider type of campaign, and I am really enjoying it. Yes there is a powerful mage, a couple of up close sammies and a couple of cybersnipers, but I still pull my weight and have fun.

The first character I ever built and played for SR1 was completely untouched by cyberware or magic. Played him for a year and a half and ran up a grand total of 140 some odd good karma before he got nuked. There was another player that was also untouched, and we had a street sam as our third player. I think it worked out fine.

sigh... the golden days.

It's been done in my group.

Attributes A, Skills B, Race C (Elf), Resources D

Got himself a couple of Predators, a decent lifestyle and some contacts.

Then he became a lycanthrope (and, yes, the GM let him keep playing him).

I have never played an unaugmented, non-magical character. I may have to try this. When you think about it it makes sense that someone without mods or magic can be just as capable as a cybermunchkin or ubermage.

I like the idea of the face being unmodified because they can go anywhere and not set off the security sensors. Well, except for their gear.

Unaugmented. I would be thinking of MacGuyver.

Or Indy, or Lara Croft.