So I'm going to contribute every now and then with some setting junk. Stuff I came up with off the top of my head, for use in the game. Perhaps much of it will get folded into Eric's setting canon, perhaps some of it will get documented and tied together later.
Today, we'll look at My Character, a Face Man/Decker:
Name:
Jun Ohshima ("Jun")Nickname:
Corvo, also has handles on the net as "
Islander" and "
Chapel_VF_4024".
I built him in, well, not too long at all on our first game day. Probably the fastest Shadowrun character build ever (I've made about 5 characters for play in my life), but that's about 25% due to the fact that I wasn't planning on buying any cyber gear other than a datajack. The other 75% was because of the streamlined buying guide that Eric made. And yet, I still found about 80% of the time I was spending shopping for stuff. Which is awesome, because in doing so I totally defined my character.
Frex, I decided after a minute of thought to not go for the latest and greatest decking gear, rather going for "above average". In turn, I bought the "Low Life" lifestyle rating at 25k: It has no real game effect, but I thought it said something about my character; his status, what he comes from. That, plus a 5k contact == "... ... ...Oh, I'm Yakuza!" And starting running with it from there. Bike. Sword which I own, but can not use. Honor, face, camaraderie, shame, I'm buying into the whole works.
(I've been on a big yakuza kick lately, having just completed both Yakuza/Ryuu ga Gotoku games for the PS2, and just general interest in and knowledge of that subculture (I can even speak "Yakuza-style Japanese", which is pretty fucked up for a white boy). Crazy enough, my wife's father's family has all sorts of bizarre yakuza ties, but they're hardly "movie yakuza cool", though. Anyway, I've got an interest, and I'm dragging Eric the GM along for the ride, I guess (^.^; ).
As I was thinking about my character, I started penning out possible other NPCs that Jun interacts with in the city, giving Eric a stable of NPCs to bring into the picture if needed, rather than having him need to make each and every encounterable character. I'm hoping to take on the role-playing of some of these characters when they appear. All these below are presumably "Shadowrunners", next I'll need to make up a stable of "non-leet" NPCs that we can regularly meet.
Note how I left the races blank for now. Also, I sprinkle in Portugese for flava:
Other people that Jun knows from the biz:
Shiro the Straightjacket : She's a street samurai I worked with for a
few jobs back in the early days. Now I avoid anything that he's
involved with. Talk about "needing to get your gun off", this gajo
can't be satisfied stealing a book from a library without a
double-digit body count. Foda-se.
Sluice : Sluice is a Korean kid, like twenty years old. Walks around
with his eyes always glazed over. Not really very lucid, like he's
stoned, distracted, and on three hits of acid. Never seen him not
hacked in to, like, three networks at any point. Rides low everywhere,
like he's always laying in bed. But man, if he's with you you will
Win. If he's against you, you will not crack their servers. Make sure
you know where he is at all times.
Marisa Karasu : This chick knows her shit. Infiltration specialist. I
heard she was Brazil special forces or something, trained by some
ex-Seals or something. I never met a gajo who could walk into the
lobby of a building and know, KNOW, the location of doors, exits,
security cameras, choke points. She guessed at the location of
security devices on floors we weren't even on, and was right. Can't
hack, but damn can get past just about anything. Really expensive to
work with, but if you can afford her on your crew, she's the best.
Very professional without over-compensating.
Legendary Fist Maximus : Ever see a trickster shaman kung fu master?
Gajo's great at parties or in a fistfight (I saw this gajo punch
through an inch of steal, swear!), but kind of unhinged. Always makes
people call him "Legendary Fist Maximus", not "Fist" or "Max" or
whatever. Crazy.
