[Mathan]

Note: Some background. This character is intended to be part of a 'for hire' group used in low player games. Information presented may include things from my 'Grand Rapids Sprawl' custom setting. All of the rules, items and abilities are standard and from the books, while the house setting specific information is kept to a relative minimum. The group consists of inexperienced teen runners who still have enough skills due to their lives prior to qualify for 'seasoned runner' builds. As such these are not street builds, but are also intentionally left sub-optimal to reflect the characters.

That said any input is appreciated and I would be more than happy to answer questions anyone may have.

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Chery PIt

History:

    The west side of Michigan is a very different beast from the east, especially where you get into the nature of the sprawl. The GR sprawl is like so many others, and yet most people seem to arrive simply thinking it’s a clone of the far more powerful and prestigious Detroit. It has its own flow, its own spirit. A more up-tempo kind of devil may care hopelessness in contrast to what many gangs feel under the shadow of Ares Macrotech. Instead the crushing air of neo-bohema flows out from Kalamazoo to the dregs and stragglers of society. This is especially true of the gang culture. A point of pride particularly for young gang members.

    Jenny Pryce exemplifies this to a T. She comes from the hard strip, an odd shaped sliver of barrens curving around the west end of the sprawl before it hits raw wilderness. Here you have gangs like the Dead Shells and the Bronz running the show. Go-gangers and drugged up mounds of chrome who carry out heavy street wars mere miles from the safely gated artificial suburb of portage or the forced neo-bohemian wageslave paradise of Kalamazoo proper.

    The Sour Cherries are one of those gangs. An old and once powerful gang now long out of favor, the Cherries spent generations as the benchmark by which all other gangs were measured. Pit was born into it, as were her parents. Free spirited vagabonds and roguish champions of the streets who could play off the wanton murder and abhorrent criminal behaviors they carried out with a wink and a smile that, in their minds at least, made it all ok. That was decades ago though. Now the gang sits in near disarray. Relics of a bygone era in rooms flooded with twenty year old tech they just don't have the skill or manpower to use properly. Clawing and biting just to stay alive.

    Pit is the younger of two sisters. Her older sister, Green Cherry, took over for the previous leader when Pit was six. The takeover was not bloodless and Green did it mainly to fulfill their fathers wishes and help keep the gang out of the pocket of the Penose. The dutch Mafia that had been slowly dragging in the local gangs and putting them under thumb. This genrally started with gangers taking out loans and doing jobs for chrome, but ultimately becoming little more than disposable resources for the bigger fish. Jenny grew up watching her sister fight a losing battle to keep the dignity and respect of her gang in tact. A difficult task on its own, not helped by the erosion of morale and growing aggression by other gangs.

    In the summer of ‘75, Green and Pit led their gang against the Bronz’ in a protracted turf war. Jenny saw how the cunning and resourcefulness of her older sibling helped them gain ground on the other gang. That was until the pawns showed up.

    Green got ten years. Pit would later learn that this was part of a plea deal to help keep her from getting anything worse than a minor vandalism charge. It seemed that the authorities figured the Cherries would crumble without their leader and took the deal on the condition that the younger sister was beholden to a social worker and still gain a criminal SIN. That hasn’t stopped Pit from taking over where her sister left off though. She’s determined to make sure her sisters dream comes true.

    Unfortunately the gang clearly needed the leadership. Cherry tradition dictates that the gang take a collection and give it to the new leader upon initiation so that he or she can get a new set of Chrome. This time, however, the group was so eager and enthusiastic about their new leader that they did the one thing the old one wouldn't’ forgive. They got a loan from the Penose. When Pit found out she was horrified and enraged. She has spoken to the shark holding the loan and made sure it was known she is the one personally responsible.

    With few options and the mods already in her body, Pit turned to anyone she could find who was looking for muscle. Eventually she found a couple of seemingly foolish teens looking to attack a deepweed processing house held by the Bronz'. A suicidally stupid move, but it got Pit her first taste of running. A chance to put her years of fighting to use striking a small blow for her own honor and the honor of her gang.

Personality:

    Orks and teenagers are both heavily stereotyped subgroups. Pit lives up to both of these stereotypes while also managing to subvert them. She’s brash, hotheaded and violent. Possessed of a conviction that only exists in those dumb kids made immortal by willful ignorance.

    Yet for all of that Jenny is a far smarter and more complex person than most might give her credit for. She has a strong sense of honor. Her desire to fulfill her sisters wishes is paramount in her mind and yet does not stop her from fulfilling a promise she made to her case worker to make weekly visits. She has no problem eliminating scores of foes, yet has forbidden her gang from attacking anyone at their point in the poverty line who isn’t in a rival gang or who didn’t start it. Her honor also shows in more subtle ways.

    She is fiercely loyal to those she sees as family and painfully stubborn. Most are shocked when the medkit comes out and even though she may not be the best with it, Pit has apparently put far more time into learning the basics of first aid and field medicine than one would expect from a chromed out junkie with a shiny spear.

    Like many gangers around her sprawl Pit has adapted to a subculture known as ‘critter culture’. The practice generally involves identifying with animals in much the same way totem shamen may and using everything from costumes to prosthetic and gene mods to gain animal ears, tails and the like. In truth Pit is still largely a poser compared to many others. The culture originated from a gang called ‘the Paws’ who apparently had quite a few awakened among them and who were eventually betrayed by their leader in 76. The other gangs wear the trappings as a show of solidarity against outside influence. Though PIt is slowly warming to the finer nuances of what was initially a morale boosting stunt. The fact that she has a growing affinity for animals, and her long term fascination with the sprawl Zoo has shown she can feel a deep and abiding compassion even if she tends to cover it with a violent sadistic streak

Appearance:

    For an ork, Jenny is rather toned. Athletic far more than bulky. Those who have never seen a hobgoblin even mistake her for one. This is likely due to the age. She is tall and has the build of someone who spent many years in hit-and-run skirmish fighting. Her eyes are a chestnut brown most of the and she has stringy brown-black hair dyed with various awkward colors with some allowed to go into dreads and braids.

    The suite of chrome she sports is a tad eclectic. A balance tail she’d gotten soon before her arrest is the most distinctive feature and that is generally wrapped in some moderate-quality faux fur animal tail sheath. The mods in her cyber eyes usually display random geometric shapes and lines in the irises to help give the illusion she is constantly processing data. The partial cyberskull is quite apparent and is framed by a small sea of dreads giving her head a very pronounced asymmetrical look.

    While she has some street cloths and one set of ‘fancy’ club cloths, most of the time Cherry will be armed and armored. Her chainmail is somewhat ornate and has many of the links in greens, reds and bronze colors to help signify her gang colors in full. She wears a special ballistic mask that the Paws used to favor which shifts patterns and some shapes to look like a Japanese mask for whichever animal she feels like ‘emulating’ that day. Often she will wear this mask sideways to cover her jack inputs when not in combat. She keeps the Boss Glave strapped to her back and her Ares Crusader II at her hip, wearing a pair of fake ninja pants and knockoffs of expensive running shoes for mobility. From what tattoos are visible on her arms and neck some people have suspected she has extensive tattoo work done, though that is largely speculation.

Attributes:

Body: 8
Agility: 6
Reaction: 5
Strength: 7
Willpower: 3
Logic: 3
Intuition: 2
Charisma: 3

Edge: 3
Essence: 2.74
Nuyen: 65

Qualities:

Quick Healer
Revels in Murder
Solid Rep (Sour Cherries)
Will to Live 2

Driven
Ex Con
In Debt 8
Sinner (criminal/UCAS)

Skills:

Armoror: 1
Athletics Group: 5
Automatics: 5
Blade: 5
Con: 3
First Aid: 2
Intimidation: 6
Leadership (Inspire +2): 3
Perception: 3
Pilot Ground Craft: 2
Pistols: 2
Unarmed Combat: 3

Gang Culture (Street): 6
Military history (Academic): 1
Organized crime (Street): 2
Critter Culture (interest): 1

English N

Augments:

Bone Lacing, Titanium (Omegaware):

Fidgets (-1 on social limit for non-intimidation checks)

Cybereyes (Vision Link, Smart Link, Vision Enhancement 1)
Balance Tail (alpha)
Partial Cyberskull (Data Jack, Radar 2)
Hand Blade (Alpha)
Orthoskin 3

Weapon:

Ares Crusader 2

Base Cost
3X Extended magazine 2
Custom Look
240 regular rounds Rounds

Boss Glaive (polearm):

A pole arm made from scrap, complete with chain wrap near the head and a re-purposed half-broken Carbon Fiber sword blade. Sign of leadership for the sour Cherries.

Base Cost
Custom Look

Armor:

Chain Mail

Critter Mask (Ballistic Mask):

A staple of the Critterboi/girl subculture. Looking much like traditional JapaneseMasks only with a blank default white face. The mask shifts based on the animal tail cover Pit is using that day.

Customized
Electrochromic

Matrix:

Renraku Sensei

4X Metalink (Burnrs):

Gear:

AR gloves
Used Gym Bag
Trashy Crittergirl outfit
Fancy Crittergirl Duds
Earbuds
Medkit 2
5X Stimpatch 6
Trauma Patch
5 tabs kamikaze:
10 used video games

4X Critter Tail Sheaths

Popular in certain subcultures. Basically synthskin/fur sheaths replicating the basic look and some feel of various animal counterparts. Because they have to be specially ordered they are not cheap, and generally come with small repair kits.

Cherry has four different ‘for combat’ tails she keeps with her. A wolf, A fox, a Rat and a Ferret.

Social:

Maybe it's because her parole officer is one of the few good eggs who really thinks she can help Pit. Maybe she just doesn't care if she goes back after how badly her gang messed up. Pit runs her life off of the SIN that KE gave her and treats it as a badge of honor. As is befitting of her status she gets the nicest room in the burned out hovel her gang shares. She has a bus pass and even a monthly paid membership pass to the Zoo. more than anything this is actually one of the biggest forms of recreation for her. Something about watching the animals living in the relatively well kept spaces and enjoying a sense of near 'normalcy' walking along the same paths as the wealthy aristocrats and stuck up wage slaves who keep her and her gang down is simply too pleasing to pass up. It is on record that she has done volunteer work passing out fliers for the zoo more than once.

Name: Jenny Pryce
Criminal SIN
Low Lifestyle 2 Months
Patron of the arts (John Ball Zoo)
Private Room
Public Transportation

Ashley Brooks (Case Worker):
1/4

Choppy (cyberdock):
2/1

Sour Cherries (gang):
Connections: 3

[drakir]

You say these characters are for low player games.

1. Are they to be played as NPCs (GM decides actions) or as extra characters so each player runs more than one character?

2. Are they hired for 1 run at a time or are they permanent members of a runner team together with the players characters?

In any case, I wonder why the focus on backstory? It shouldn't come up that much, because focus should be on the player characters. They should also be proficient in their area of expertise and in theory only do what the player character can't do themselves. These are a bit weak mechanically.

If these characters are more a "I had time and I like to come up with characters" thing, I say good job! The characters are interesting and are more thought out than I usually do even on my own characters.

[Mathan]

Probably should have clarified both of those, but didnt' think to. Thank you very much for asking.

1. Yes, they are player-run NPCs. However how they grow will be influenced, at least in part, by the actions and choices of the player/players. These characters more so than others. I'll still control them. But, for example, a player who is kind and who encourages her more to at least back down a bit on her more violent nature might influence her to dump points into qualities and skills to help with medicine and first aid. While on the other hand someone pushign her to be a combat monster might see her just flat out dumping her cash into chrome until she hits Cyberpsychosis. Or they could push her in any number of other directions.

2. That's going to be the plan. At most I'll have 1 or 2 players for this particular campaign and normally when that happens I put in a single dedicated DM/GM character. With shadowrun, and this time in particular, I'm instead going to let the player hire out NPCs with a list of options and allow them to interact. So the player will end up with more or less favored runners from my roster and eventually, potentially, build something akin to a close knit crew. Maybe a couple of them.

As for the rest? Well, that's kinda how I GM

The focus at the end of the day is always on the player. But my philosophy is that the player has a better time if they feel like part of a living world. I put in a good deal of time thinking up backstory and how all of these different individuals and factions and systems work so that the players don't just get that semi-solopsistic feel that, when they are out of the room the world of the game stops. They are the focus because the story is aroudn them. But the world does not stop for them nor are their characters the center of everyones lives.

If you don't hire PIt, she isn't just sitting there doing nothing waiting on a character select screen. She's off at the Zoo or getting high with her gang or trying to figure some street hustle to help pay off her debt. Or maybe pestering her 'scion' teammates to hang out a bit because she's the one with the least social baggage about that kind of thing.

The same will go for all 20 of the characters I plan to offer up. 15 normal, 5 prime. Many of them admittedly being brought up from 4th, or refined from my first attempt to bring them up from 4th while going though another depression bout. And yeah I do admit most of the time my characters are usually at least a bit less than Optimal. I may post my slightly gary-stuish character on here some day, the one I used to pick my screen name here. That one could be hilarious considering how not-optimal he is.

At the end of the day I prefer to build to fit a personality rather than mechanics. These characters are intentionally a bit hobbled at the gate and will be able to shine as things go on. As of now they've done one run as a group so you'd hire them in part or in whole and it would be the start of their actual career save for one string of missions that would probably count as a super lethal Sixth world 'goonies'.

And yes, I do confess that while I have use for them, these and most other characters I make are made because I have free time and I like coming up with characters.