Well, I got the concept pretty much down; going with a pretty kick hoop sammy type. But damn if I wanna at least try to break the mold.
First, an abbreviated background:
Born in Oslo to a Norwegian mother and a British father, the mother an investment banker, and the father a programmer for(corp yet to be decided). Stian(characters name), took an early liking to computers because of this(he'll have a higher than average comp skill for a sammy for sure). Always liked music, also. Father got good job offer in London, so the family moved when he was perhaps 15.
Ran in with the wrong crowd at about 16 in the London underground, a gang type who were all pretty much chip-heads. Perhaps ran into them at a local metal bar or something. Gang perhaps ran some rackets, did some 'neighborhood protection', maybe did some small time runs. Perhaps he didn't get too involved, until his father was killed in a car crash...after developing some new software for the corp...coincidently, others on the project also ended up accidentaly dying as well...(this I will leave up to the GM...wether it was indeed an accident or on purpose. Stian may end up poking his nose where it doesn't belong needlessly. Although he hasn't yet, too much...).
His mother moves back to Norway after this, Stian choosing to live in London on his own, perhaps working odd jobs while finishing high school...but his involvment with the gang got a bit deeper, and he started using BTLs quite often. No longer satisfied with plain chipping via deck, he takes some money left to him/that he saves and installs chipjacks, as well as a datajack...perhaps he can continue his decking interest.
Gang started to gain some ground...and started getting better jobs. However, they were a thrill gang...not very subtle, and began slotting ultraviolence BTLs during their runs for more bang. Beginning to let his computer intrest fall by the wayside in an attempt to begin learning the world of firearms and fighting(being in a gang doing this sort of requires that), he became addicted, worse and worse. The street doc, Dr. Hemingway(nicked for his resemblance to the classic author, introduced to him by the gang), said nothing, although he did worry a bit about the fellow. Saving money from their smaller time deals, he used this to A. better augment himself...the higher ups in the small gang saw a lot of potential in him, and B. buy more BTL, including some more dangerous variants.
This kept up for several years, til maybe about 22 years old...slotting, running, losing more flesh to the knife with the money to make him/themselves stronger to take even bigger jobs, to fuel his now raging addiction.(explains where he got his cyber/bio from. Hemingway was simply a street doc who would implant what people wanted him to; he didn't necessarily condone it, but it was his living).
Finally came to a head when he 'od'd' on a particulary violent night...next thing he remembers he was waking up in Hemingway's clinic, a mess, injured, barely able to think, bloody. Apparently the gang had trouble, most were killed in a run gone bad(he doesn't remember), and he himself managed to kill a few...of his own gang when the BTL he finally took drove him completely insane.
Next large chunk of time was used, with Hemingway's help(perhaps he now owes him a favor, or did, for helping to take care of him...maybe he helped him out also in the past? Would explain why perhaps they became friends), he managed to kick his addiction, but not without repurcussions. Has the Flashback and Sensitive Neural Structure flaws now...the flashbacks happen whenever he tries to jack in or slot a chip(well, gets standard Will roll of course), and with both of them, makes it kind of hard to continue his decking interest...and after he turned his body into a mass of combat cyberware/bioware, sort of dictated his path for him. His oldest contacts are probably Hemingway, and his fixer Nails(perhaps was popular in the London Underground, and good at aquiring things like hard to find ammo, ware, and the like.)
However now he behaves very much differently than he did then...being 27 or so now, he now actually behaves very professionaly...tries to complete runs quietly, with as little bloodshed as possible. He'll whip out the big guns if necessary, or if it's part of the run, but if it's supposed to be quiet, he wants to keep it that way, and his little to no patience with runners who ALWAYS run in with guns blazing, or who act unprofessional at meets. Perhaps leftover from his past of being one of those unprofessional street scum. I gave him excellent street etiquette and negotations skills to help this, and he's actually very charasmatic(5) for a 'sammy' type. Not quite as hard bodied as some of the monster sams out there(but still good health now natural 4, has augmentations..after the addiction passed), his Willpower he'd like to build up more(i have it at 3 now, average, but this is after five years of recovery), as he was left a mental wreck from the BTL.
Stat wise I have them worked out, as well as his skills, ware, etc. I have his appearance and personality, and what he does now totally in mind; i'll write this up here later on.
Well, I dunno. I like what i came up with for him, but I am wondering what else I can do with his background. Leave some more holes? Suggestions to help change stuff? He's got some pretty good top of the line ware...one or two pieces would be considered mil-spec stuff(but still legal at creation), perhaps his fixer and Hemingway managed to get ahold of it for him.
I can definately see him maybe helping Hemingway out nowadays as well, for the thanks for helping him in the past, maybe the contact had his own reasons for doing it.
Full Version: Some background suggestions?
I'll take a shot at this....
The death of his father is extraneous, and having family around who see him as just some loser who threw his life away to btl's may make for more roleplaying opportunities. At least leave some opening there for him to stay in contact with his mom. Leave the possibilities of siblings or extended family to your GM to decide in the future.
Had an interest in music? Maybe he was in a band, maybe he just wants to be. Could make for other contacts, or future motivations.
Give thought to the issue of his transition from punk to proffessional. How is he acheiving that? I imagine this guy on a cusp of some sort. He's too cool for the punks and the pro's think he's amaturish, maybe.
Perhaps he's harassed by his ex (?) dealers.
That's all I got time for....
The death of his father is extraneous, and having family around who see him as just some loser who threw his life away to btl's may make for more roleplaying opportunities. At least leave some opening there for him to stay in contact with his mom. Leave the possibilities of siblings or extended family to your GM to decide in the future.
Had an interest in music? Maybe he was in a band, maybe he just wants to be. Could make for other contacts, or future motivations.
Give thought to the issue of his transition from punk to proffessional. How is he acheiving that? I imagine this guy on a cusp of some sort. He's too cool for the punks and the pro's think he's amaturish, maybe.
Perhaps he's harassed by his ex (?) dealers.
That's all I got time for....
Good thoughts, thanx. Yeah, his mother I figure is maybe remarried and living in Tromsø, so he knows where it is...perhaps he has some issues with her being remarried, and she has issues with him being an ex chiphead ganger. But yeah, I'll let the GM have some fun with his family, whether or not she had another kid, etc.
The music interest, he listens to it very much, always goes to shows, in fact, one of his other false IDs is a writer for an Oslo based heavy metal magazine, underground but fairly popular in those circles. He gets into shows free from the bands he knows, trading off the fact he does security for them while the show is going on. Free show, free beer, and all he has to do is watch over and occationaly introduce people to the outside in a ballistic fashion. He's got a grounding(knowledge skill) in music theory, which is uses in conjuction with his programming computer specialization to write music software for some little company, for his second false ID. He'd like to maybe pick up an instrument, but with his shadow jobs he hasn't really found much time.
As for the transition, i see him more on the professional side by now...however, maybe he can overcompensate sometimes for his past follies of being a shoot or kick it first and ask later type. And with the whole flashback thing, he is very reluctant to plug anything into his head on a run, lest he have a flashback, and especially lest he have a violent one. If he needs to use chips, he'll download them beforehand in the safety of his own home. The GM can of course use this, maybe he'd be the only one in the group that CAN steal the data...they can't take the chip with them and he'd have to download it right then and there, which could make for some interesting oppurtunities.
Needless to say his background left him downright vindictive toward any sort of BTL dealers and manufacturers, and his more professional manners tend to be forgotten when dealing with such people...he hasn't quite worked all of that out yet. fter nearly driving him insane/killing him, being responsible for the deaths(indrectily and directly) of his past friends, he tends to overreact around them. Normal recreational drugs or alcohol don't bother him in the least.
The music interest, he listens to it very much, always goes to shows, in fact, one of his other false IDs is a writer for an Oslo based heavy metal magazine, underground but fairly popular in those circles. He gets into shows free from the bands he knows, trading off the fact he does security for them while the show is going on. Free show, free beer, and all he has to do is watch over and occationaly introduce people to the outside in a ballistic fashion. He's got a grounding(knowledge skill) in music theory, which is uses in conjuction with his programming computer specialization to write music software for some little company, for his second false ID. He'd like to maybe pick up an instrument, but with his shadow jobs he hasn't really found much time.
As for the transition, i see him more on the professional side by now...however, maybe he can overcompensate sometimes for his past follies of being a shoot or kick it first and ask later type. And with the whole flashback thing, he is very reluctant to plug anything into his head on a run, lest he have a flashback, and especially lest he have a violent one. If he needs to use chips, he'll download them beforehand in the safety of his own home. The GM can of course use this, maybe he'd be the only one in the group that CAN steal the data...they can't take the chip with them and he'd have to download it right then and there, which could make for some interesting oppurtunities.
Needless to say his background left him downright vindictive toward any sort of BTL dealers and manufacturers, and his more professional manners tend to be forgotten when dealing with such people...he hasn't quite worked all of that out yet. fter nearly driving him insane/killing him, being responsible for the deaths(indrectily and directly) of his past friends, he tends to overreact around them. Normal recreational drugs or alcohol don't bother him in the least.
Dog's already covered music, loosely; and I know you've answered some of it: in fact, you found one I didn't suggest here. But I'll throw quite a few possibilities, just to give some broad sense of all the possible directions you could go/have gone with this:
(For some reason probably related to min-maxing, those last two often seem to be overlooked
)
I'd also ask about your Music Theory skill. What I'd understand by this is structure of music and rules of harmonisation etc. -- but I don't think that's what you mean, here? With the strong interest in heavy metal, do you also have a Heavy Metal Bands KN skill?
With the magazine link, you could turn the combination reviewer/bouncer into a light Day Job flaw. (I think a PC could be getting more out of that arrangement than just free passes, especially after being established as part of the scene.)
Now to other things ...
What race is the PC? Does he ethnically look like he "belongs"? Is race or ethnicity tied into any of the directions he took in life?
What were his relations with his father and mother before he started drifting into the "wrong crowd ... in the London underground"? Did he have any siblings? aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents? (Me, real life, I grew up without any of these -- and I'm the only one I know who did.) Not addressing any of this -- or leaving all of it for the GM to have some fun with -- is a bit of a personal cop-out.
Related to this: what got him involved with the gang in the first place? Computer geeks sometimes tend not to be social enough to run with any crowd at all -- and by the sounds of it, the PC was involved with the gang long before the accident which killed his father, which might otherwise have made a good catalyst. (I'd have a better sense of questions to ask, here, if you'd posted which skills/attributes you had maxed out or close to it.)
By your numbers, Stian is around 16 years old when he "chooses" to stay in London after his mother moves back to Oslo. Since that's far below age of majority, there might have been something more extreme involved here than just choosing to stay behind -- and part of it might involve why his mother chose to move back to Norway. Heck, at 16 and starting to really be involved with the wrong crowd, I wouldn't put it past the character to have gotten repeatedly into the kind of trouble his mother tried to cover up and cover up until she just can't anymore. If part of that trouble is financial (quite likely, considering you mentioned the BTLs and the computer-related upgrades), there might be loan sharks -- after her. Did she return to Oslo? Did she just disappear one day?
A contact question: does Hemingway worry about all the members of the gang? or this kid in particular? or only those that have a chance of still getting out? How does the character know that he worries? (ie. you can only know other people through what they say or do: what has Hemingway said or done -- in the PC's presence -- to make Stian think this? or is this trait to be for GM knowledge only? -- in which case, anything the PC doesn't have direct knowledge of, might not necessarily be so )
You write absolutely nothing about how the PC met his fixer Nails, or anything about what the fixer's been like with the PC.
The rest of it is straightforward explanation of skills/attributes/'ware/toys -- and no one seems to have any particular problems with that
although anything mil-spec should definitely be explained in the character history.
On a game-mechanics note: Flashbacks, linked with jacking in, is an extremely dangerous flaw. You didn't mention whether or not you took Vindictive (wrt what you wrote about BTL dealers), but I'd not let you take the flaw for that alone. As a flaw for which you get points, Vindictive is toward everyone.
- just listening to music? what kind? how passionate is he about it? (ie. every album ever released by a specific band, or just likes listening to a certain type, or likes music in the background, or it fills the silence?
- does he carry a walkman everywhere? or is music a refuge thing?
- does he follow the concert, or nightclub, or rave scene?
- does he play an instrument? what kind? what style of music? group or solo? did he always like it, or was he forced to practice, growing up? (Instruments are usually picked up long before the age of 16 if at all -- most children who play instruments start lessons around the same time they start school, and the family background supports that as a possibility -- so interference from the shadow jobs shouldn't have come into it.)
- did he play in a band? what kind of music? who were its other members?
- Does the PC have a Performance skill?
- Does the PC have any kind of music/music scene KN skill?
(For some reason probably related to min-maxing, those last two often seem to be overlooked
)I'd also ask about your Music Theory skill. What I'd understand by this is structure of music and rules of harmonisation etc. -- but I don't think that's what you mean, here? With the strong interest in heavy metal, do you also have a Heavy Metal Bands KN skill?
With the magazine link, you could turn the combination reviewer/bouncer into a light Day Job flaw. (I think a PC could be getting more out of that arrangement than just free passes, especially after being established as part of the scene.)
Now to other things ...
What race is the PC? Does he ethnically look like he "belongs"? Is race or ethnicity tied into any of the directions he took in life?
What were his relations with his father and mother before he started drifting into the "wrong crowd ... in the London underground"? Did he have any siblings? aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents? (Me, real life, I grew up without any of these -- and I'm the only one I know who did.) Not addressing any of this -- or leaving all of it for the GM to have some fun with -- is a bit of a personal cop-out.
Related to this: what got him involved with the gang in the first place? Computer geeks sometimes tend not to be social enough to run with any crowd at all -- and by the sounds of it, the PC was involved with the gang long before the accident which killed his father, which might otherwise have made a good catalyst. (I'd have a better sense of questions to ask, here, if you'd posted which skills/attributes you had maxed out or close to it.)
By your numbers, Stian is around 16 years old when he "chooses" to stay in London after his mother moves back to Oslo. Since that's far below age of majority, there might have been something more extreme involved here than just choosing to stay behind -- and part of it might involve why his mother chose to move back to Norway. Heck, at 16 and starting to really be involved with the wrong crowd, I wouldn't put it past the character to have gotten repeatedly into the kind of trouble his mother tried to cover up and cover up until she just can't anymore. If part of that trouble is financial (quite likely, considering you mentioned the BTLs and the computer-related upgrades), there might be loan sharks -- after her. Did she return to Oslo? Did she just disappear one day?
A contact question: does Hemingway worry about all the members of the gang? or this kid in particular? or only those that have a chance of still getting out? How does the character know that he worries? (ie. you can only know other people through what they say or do: what has Hemingway said or done -- in the PC's presence -- to make Stian think this? or is this trait to be for GM knowledge only? -- in which case, anything the PC doesn't have direct knowledge of, might not necessarily be so
)You write absolutely nothing about how the PC met his fixer Nails, or anything about what the fixer's been like with the PC.
The rest of it is straightforward explanation of skills/attributes/'ware/toys -- and no one seems to have any particular problems with that
although anything mil-spec should definitely be explained in the character history.On a game-mechanics note: Flashbacks, linked with jacking in, is an extremely dangerous flaw. You didn't mention whether or not you took Vindictive (wrt what you wrote about BTL dealers), but I'd not let you take the flaw for that alone. As a flaw for which you get points, Vindictive is toward everyone.
Whew!! Thanks for the big input there. 
Well, ok now. Lemme start breaking this down: Oh, keep in mind, I didn't post EVERYTHING up. I do have in the background how he met his many contacts...hell, I might as well type that too. Here goes!
Well, ok now. Lemme start breaking this down: Oh, keep in mind, I didn't post EVERYTHING up. I do have in the background how he met his many contacts...hell, I might as well type that too. Here goes!| QUOTE |
| just listening to music? what kind? how passionate is he about it? (ie. every album ever released by a specific band, or just likes listening to a certain type, or likes music in the background, or it fills the silence? does he carry a walkman everywhere? or is music a refuge thing? does he follow the concert, or nightclub, or rave scene? does he play an instrument? what kind? what style of music? group or solo? did he always like it, or was he forced to practice, growing up? (Instruments are usually picked up long before the age of 16 if at all -- most children who play instruments start lessons around the same time they start school, and the family background supports that as a possibility -- so interference from the shadow jobs shouldn't have come into it.) did he play in a band? what kind of music? who were its other members? Does the PC have a Performance skill? Does the PC have any kind of music/music scene KN skill? |
He listens to music quite often, whenever he's at home, or out at the bars or his favorite club(the Castle of Pain...it's a london based club that's more home made up but stuck into the city. I mean, there has to be SOME room for a club not in sourcebooks). Yeah, heavy metal...think the dark/black metal, bands like Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Darkthrone, etc. Not the most popular bands, and he actually has an old collection of these archaic shiny things called 'compact discs'...he even has a few of these wierd black plastic round doohickeys.
But i purchased a good sound system, portable music player, tons of chips, etc. Thank you, Shadowbeat, one of my favorite sourcebooks.He carries a walkman around, not on jobs of course. Has a nice sound system in his car as well.
He's been dabbling in drums(yes, a performance skill), and has tutorsofts to help that. He started young, but then sort of neglected it when going thru his more turbulant years.
He actually has a few musical knowledge skills...music(dark/gothic metal), clubs(underground metal), music theory. ANd yeah, as said, he's always visiting his favorite bars and nightclubs at night...one for the company and the music, and two, he knows a few people from around there, and club regulars are good sources of info.
Ok, next:
| QUOTE |
| I'd also ask about your Music Theory skill. What I'd understand by this is structure of music and rules of harmonisation etc. -- but I don't think that's what you mean, here? With the strong interest in heavy metal, do you also have a Heavy Metal Bands KN skill? With the magazine link, you could turn the combination reviewer/bouncer into a light Day Job flaw. (I think a PC could be getting more out of that arrangement than just free passes, especially after being established as part of the scene.) |
Well with Music Theory, I took a bit in school, it deals with learning about composition, structure, etc. It's not a massive knowledge but it gets him by at his little shadow side job. And as said, he does indeed have the music knowledge skill, i specialized him in the black/gothic metal bands, because he does listen a little to some other types. The skill is 3(5) in fact so i didn't skimp there. (off topic, the ongoing joke is that I apologize to the other players for 'wasting' roughly 10 or 11 knowledge skill points on stuff like music, alcohol, tattoo parlors and horror movies.
)I never thought about the day job thing. Even if he writes under a false ID, and has the bouncing thing...hmm. An idea there.
Next:
| QUOTE |
| What race is the PC? Does he ethnically look like he "belongs"? Is race or ethnicity tied into any of the directions he took in life? What were his relations with his father and mother before he started drifting into the "wrong crowd ... in the London underground"? Did he have any siblings? aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents? (Me, real life, I grew up without any of these -- and I'm the only one I know who did.) Not addressing any of this -- or leaving all of it for the GM to have some fun with -- is a bit of a personal cop-out. Related to this: what got him involved with the gang in the first place? Computer geeks sometimes tend not to be social enough to run with any crowd at all -- and by the sounds of it, the PC was involved with the gang long before the accident which killed his father, which might otherwise have made a good catalyst. (I'd have a better sense of questions to ask, here, if you'd posted which skills/attributes you had maxed out or close to it.) By your numbers, Stian is around 16 years old when he "chooses" to stay in London after his mother moves back to Oslo. Since that's far below age of majority, there might have been something more extreme involved here than just choosing to stay behind -- and part of it might involve why his mother chose to move back to Norway. Heck, at 16 and starting to really be involved with the wrong crowd, I wouldn't put it past the character to have gotten repeatedly into the kind of trouble his mother tried to cover up and cover up until she just can't anymore. If part of that trouble is financial (quite likely, considering you mentioned the BTLs and the computer-related upgrades), there might be loan sharks -- after her. Did she return to Oslo? Did she just disappear one day? |
He's a human, stands about 193 cm tall, 95kg cybered. Not massively built but you can tell he's had a good decade of keeping himself in shape(even when chipping the gang stayed tough, after all, at that level you sort of rely on your own fighting skills and small arms). He's pretty fair skinned(british and scandinavian decent), naturally dirty blonde hair dyed black, as his his small goatee worn only on his chin. Hair worn long, past his shoulder, and straight. Tattoos all down right arm, halfway down the left, going onto his chest. Has a couple piercings in his lip, and ears, which are taken out when doing a professional meet. Casual wear includes(typically all black) leather pants, jeans, or cargos, full height combat boots with some metal adorning them, modified to have a retractable spike in the heel, tank tops and an armored leather jacket, with a studded or bullet belt. Eyes have yellowish green irises, cyber(chose the color after I found a picture of a musician online actually that sort of fit what i had in mind for him, he happened to be wearing these freaky looking contacts and i was sold.) He usually wears black eyeshades in public. When running he dresses for whatever is needed, with gloves, swat mask, extra armor vest, etc..during meets he has no problem switching to fine or tres chic clothing and a Mortimer greatcoat. At his favorite club on weekends, he looks like every religious maniac's version of a heavy metal nightmare, complete with makeup and spikes, leather, perhaps some chains. Depending on what band he plays security for, they sometimes ask him to dress like this during the show, as it can be a nice threat.
As for ethnicity, he is proud of his roots, especially the Norwegian side, because he lives the first 15 years of his life there. He's not particulary racist or anything like that, he more or less knows that idiots come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the ol Norwegian pride is found mixed into the sleeve of tattoos he has, mixed in there things like a Thor's hammer, some runes, etc.Actually, he got along pretty well with Mom and Dad until Dad died and he started falling further into the wrong crowd. Both of his parents worked, but with two parents around, he got a little more attention. After it was just his mom, she kept working, while getting paid well as an financial expert, it ate up a lot of her time for sure, perhaps sort of leaving him to fend for himself...which as is known in real life, can have bad concequences. I'm sure he has a couple aunts or uncles around England and Norway; dunno how involved i want them to be yet, gotta give that some thought. No siblings...unless Mom had another kid after she remarried.
As for the computer geek type...he maybe wasn't a TOTAL geek, just liked what he liked, and still liked visiting all ages clubs at that point for the music...perhaps that is where he met the gang at. For his stats, His current attributes(we build with the 123 point system from SC...123 was a good average we figure, the sample characters use it, and as pointed, it is the average for most of the SR3 sample chars. ) natural anyway(current) are Body: 4(good health again, but a little lower than your typical tough as nails ganger or sam), Quickness 5(typing builds up manual dex, and after he hit the streets this is important for survival) Strength 5(when relying mainly on the ability to throw people out of a door for bouncing, or administer the odd curb stomping back in his gang days this is important) Charisma 5(the guy, even for his metalhead appearance, is very likable, has a forceful personality, and can just say the right thing at the right time), Intelligence 5(lots of time reading as a kid, and naturally bright), Willpower 3(and he's lucky its average after what he did to himself). Modified some of these are higher, between his cyber/bioware; he got the ware that he thought would increase his chances of survival after he got his headware. His only maxed out skill is Unarmed Combat, having practiced it for about ten years. His other skills are in the 3-5 range, with higher ones being negotiations, etiquette, pistols, SMGs. He does have a good Computer skill, as well as decent stealth and athletics, rounding it out with car and the performance: drums. His knowledges range from aformentioned music/interest skills, to club locations(metal), to safehouse locations, shadowrunner haunts(london underground), cybertechnology(clinics), european gangs(btl), and a touch in european corporate hosts(after he moved up in the world). He speaks fluent English and Norwegian, with a touch of Swedish.
Hmm...ya know, maybe his mother did choose to move back because Stian was just starting to be too much...not hating him, or WANTING to abandon him, but realizing sometimes you have to save your own hide sometimes...financial burdens could have been the cause, or one of them...he started gettting his more expensive ware with money from his ill gotten gains, and early gang underground runs as well, but at first, i can totally see him doing a few bad things to the family account. Especially with his computer knowledge. I think his mom would have told him she was moving back...but perhaps she sort of didn't give the WHOLE reason why...perhaps she used a 'job relocation' excuse or something.
Next up...
| QUOTE |
| A contact question: does Hemingway worry about all the members of the gang? or this kid in particular? or only those that have a chance of still getting out? How does the character know that he worries? (ie. you can only know other people through what they say or do: what has Hemingway said or done -- in the PC's presence -- to make Stian think this? or is this trait to be for GM knowledge only? -- in which case, anything the PC doesn't have direct knowledge of, might not necessarily be so ) You write absolutely nothing about how the PC met his fixer Nails, or anything about what the fixer's been like with the PC. The rest of it is straightforward explanation of skills/attributes/'ware/toys -- and no one seems to have any particular problems with that although anything mil-spec should definitely be explained in the character history. On a game-mechanics note: Flashbacks, linked with jacking in, is an extremely dangerous flaw. You didn't mention whether or not you took Vindictive (wrt what you wrote about BTL dealers), but I'd not let you take the flaw for that alone. As a flaw for which you get points, Vindictive is toward everyone. |
Hemingway, having worked in more run down clinics for most of his life, hmm..perhaps he lost a son or daughter to drugs long ago? and working in shadowy clinics lets him see his fair share of run down, young gangers. Perhaps he saw something in Stian..he's particulary intelligent and charasmatic, like the doc...maybe they just got on well. Hemingway, though, doesn't really think its his duty to flat-out interfere with people's lives...he can just give suggestions, if they take them, it's up to them. Definately met in his gang years then...i guess Hemingway saw his potential and took a liking to the fellow. Perhaps some personality traits were that of his dead kid.
Nails is an ork fixer who also works in a run down arcade in the lower side of London. He's been known to give out free games to the kids who happen to keep their eyes peeled and 'see' something if they can't afford to play. For years, though, he was involved in things like weapons smuggling, ware aquisition, etc. Having his own contacts based in the more merc operations, this is where he can come across the odd piece of mil spec stuff. However, he's not the best at finding magical gear, contraband, and the like. They met in the bar next to the arcade years back...perhaps thru the gang, and maybe he helped Nails out with some 'neighborhood problems', better sealing the friendship.
Looking over his ware, his only real mil spec rating stuff is the high level muscle augmentation and bone lacing. Everything else is either flat out legal or a rather low availability, mostly headware, jacks, smartlink, eyes, etc. I figured a couple of pieces, helped aquired via Nails and implanted by Hemingway after saving a lot of his gains is cool; GM doesn't have a problem with it. Besides that, even his weapons aren't mil-spec.
I didn't take Vindictive because it is only for the BTL dealers...that's just a role playing thing. And yeah, the flashbacks one is pretty dangerous...but as said, he isn't a decker(his specialization is in programming), and he doesn't have the know how too well to actually plug and play with the Matrix. And plus, it just fits him...and can be a problem, as said, in those situations. What if he needs to download that Japanese soft NOW...
WHEW!!
Well, i do have to say you touched on many things there!!! Damn, we could use a player like you, don't happen to live in Finland do ya?
As for other things, I would maybe like to look into the whole Day Job thing, it could be interesting. He's already pretty flawed, what with sensitive neural structure, flashbacks, and distinctive style(the dude is easy to spot, and yeah, I know that one is a lot more trouble than one might think, but again, it fits.) Day Job would be interesting though, between that and the distinctive style, makes having two other fake identies(with credsticks attatched) very, very useful to say the least.
EDIT: Forgot to write in how he met his other contacts...but i'll get around to that
. His full name is Stian Darren Nilsen, nicknamed Skald.
It's much harder and longer writing it up than saying it. It's even harder writing it up when it's in a second language. (Suomi is almost the only European language I can't understand in the slightest!)
| QUOTE |
| (off topic, the ongoing joke is that I apologize to the other players for 'wasting' roughly 10 or 11 knowledge skill points on stuff like music, alcohol, tattoo parlors and horror movies. ) |
There's also another aspect to this, and you've got a strong enough background that I suspect maybe your GM might know how to make use of it without unbalancing the whole: even in a non-wired world, shared knowledges also potentially give shared social background. (What else is Dumpshock, after all?) People with whom you can talk "music" and who have the same interests are much more inclined to be friendly toward you than if you're just looking for something. It creates the equivalent of a small network of potential contacts, within whatever social niche those knowledges tend to be valued.
Those are some comfortably high attributes
One last question: with a CH that high, why didn't Stian gravitate to some type of leadership role in the gang? Even with the BTL addiction, he's got no obvious reasons not to be. (Hmm ... this raises some interesting questions about that last fight he can't remember.)| QUOTE |
| It's much harder and longer writing it up than saying it. It's even harder writing it up when it's in a second language. (Suomi is almost the only European language I can't understand in the slightest!) QUOTE (off topic, the ongoing joke is that I apologize to the other players for 'wasting' roughly 10 or 11 knowledge skill points on stuff like music, alcohol, tattoo parlors and horror movies. ) There's also another aspect to this, and you've got a strong enough background that I suspect maybe your GM might know how to make use of it without unbalancing the whole: even in a non-wired world, shared knowledges also potentially give shared social background. (What else is Dumpshock, after all?) People with whom you can talk "music" and who have the same interests are much more inclined to be friendly toward you than if you're just looking for something. It creates the equivalent of a small network of potential contacts, within whatever social niche those knowledges tend to be valued. Those are some comfortably high attributes One last question: with a CH that high, why didn't Stian gravitate to some type of leadership role in the gang? Even with the BTL addiction, he's got no obvious reasons not to be. (Hmm ... this raises some interesting questions about that last fight he can't remember.) |
For the first part, minä ymärren vahan Suomea. Minä puhutekko vahan Suomea. Minä puhutekko Englantia.
Suomi isn't my first language, it's basically my second: I was born and raised in America. And anyone in my SR games that wants to gain this language quickly, I require a special tutorsoft. It's a terrible language!
I am still far from fluent, i basically said i understand a little finnish, I speak a little finnish, enough to get by in my bar job, but i speak English first, tho there are words im beginning to forget and mispell ive been here so long.Back to Stian: Yeah, I thought about that about the skills...i recall in the SR3 guide they used the Troll Thrash Metal Bands as an example. Definately, when one finds others with common interests, it's much easier to talk to them. Tattoo Parlor knowledge stems from how he has many, and likes to know where to go for the good artists. Alcohol...well, he likes to party on weekends and i splurged nuyen at the start to buy a bunch he keeps at his house along with his cartons of grey lung menthol ciggs.
Yeah, his attributes are quite high, 27 points, but it didn't seem too out of place for someone with a rougher life at the start, and i wasn't trying to go too twinky with him. I also thought about the leadership thing...I am still kicking around the idea of giving him that skill, even if its not even that high. I am sure he might have wanted to gravitate toward a more leading role...perhaps he made lieutenant or something, but he had no want to usurp the 'leader'. Then again, much of this gang is gone now, after that final bad run where the OD finally happened. And yeah, I wanted to work with the GM that he was responsible for the deaths of some of them. But he doesn't rememeber this. There might be some survivors still around splintered off...
Another thing i was trying to think of is that the guy does have some edge points to spend. I was going to perhaps use them for some extra BP/skill points, cause i am trying to figure out just what edges would go. I did take Natural Immunity to belladonna(1pt)...but not any manmade derivatives of this of course, that'd be a bit too out there. But it's a nice club trick with the big metal guy eats some and experiences no ill effects. I am sure it would come in handy for something else as well. I considered the example Good looking and Knows It edge...but while he's attractive as well, he doesn't flaunt it really, and it would more or less be in HIS circle...some cheerleader walking down the street would find him a little scary, so I nixed this one.
But i could see the Leadership skill on him, if anything, i can see him being the leader type in shadowruns, given how he tries to make the run go smoothly and without having to unholster the gun. Unless, of course, that's what the boss wants.
Oh yeah, i recall in the 20 q's...spiritually he's a pagan(old style) politically he's socialist. He misses what he knows about old Socialist Scandinavia. Worked better than the freakin' megacorps taking over everything.
| QUOTE (ElfFenrir) |
| Oh yeah, i recall in the 20 q's...spiritually he's a pagan(old style) politically he's socialist. He misses what he knows about old Socialist Scandinavia. Worked better than the freakin' megacorps taking over everything. |
Don't know if you own SoE, but he ought to hook up with the Project Sigurd group at some point if he ever goes to Norway. BTW: Tromsø was left out of SoE, but if you look at the map it's marked of as Trollebotn. In the Helix material it will probably be quite screwed. Maybe Stian's mother should live somewhere else?
I sadly don't own SoE yet, I read a bit about the Northern area but not to an extent. Sad, I live here, I like running in Europe but i havn't splashed for the book et...tho i will before gaming starts for sure. It's the number one sourcebook on my to buy list at any rate. (i thought the Erika corporation was golden. Living in the North nowadays you see just how much Nokia and Ericsson are everyfreakingwhere. Matter of time before they combine )
Hmmm...so Tromsø is sort of kaput...well, there is always Bergen, Trondheim...somewhere other than the biggest city, Oslo.
Sigurd project? Well, he does have a residence in Oslo as well(he has three, Middle lifestyle in London, Low in London, just a safehouse, and a Low lifestyle apartment in Oslo, when he visits there.), and a couple contacts there in addition. He does love his original country and goes there just to visit, to meet with the magazine folks occationaly, and takes jobs there as well.
)Hmmm...so Tromsø is sort of kaput...well, there is always Bergen, Trondheim...somewhere other than the biggest city, Oslo.
Sigurd project? Well, he does have a residence in Oslo as well(he has three, Middle lifestyle in London, Low in London, just a safehouse, and a Low lifestyle apartment in Oslo, when he visits there.), and a couple contacts there in addition. He does love his original country and goes there just to visit, to meet with the magazine folks occationaly, and takes jobs there as well.
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