[Thrass]

I have ... of course... yet another method...


1: crawl through books untill I find an interesting mechanic that I want to implement...
 (this can be a rule exploit, loophole, minmax mechanic, ... but it dosn't need to be it can be simple like: I want to use a railgun with uwb radar to shoot thourgh walls or  I want to have quick reading + eidetic memory, I want to use mind over matter, I want to play a rigger solely working with optical cables...)
[1.5: check if it fits a niche with the group otherwise got to step 1]
2: think of a believable character that would use this
3: create stats
4: write down character background
5: maybe go back to stats to adjust for background
6: check with gm, if he dosn't approve go to step 1,4 or 5 depending on what the gm said

[JustADude]

and i do it totally different:
1- what does my team need that they currently don't have?
2- design char's stats, skills and gear to do that role very well, whilst adding flavour through secondary skills
3- create believe backstory to explain characters skills and motives
4- go play!

neither way is best, we all have fun!
for me, half the fun of shadowrun is in chargen. get a weird kick out of making a pretty solid character with a good story :-)

I have ... of course... yet another method...


1: crawl through books untill I find an interesting mechanic that I want to implement...
 (this can be a rule exploit, loophole, minmax mechanic, ... but it dosn't need to be it can be simple like: I want to use a railgun with uwb radar to shoot thourgh walls or  I want to have quick reading + eidetic memory, I want to use mind over matter, I want to play a rigger solely working with optical cables...)
[1.5: check if it fits a niche with the group otherwise got to step 1]
2: think of a believable character that would use this
3: create stats
4: write down character background
5: maybe go back to stats to adjust for background
6: check with gm, if he dosn't approve go to step 1,4 or 5 depending on what the gm said

I'm somewhere between these two, myself.

I also try to have an "RP Hook" to go along with the "Mechanical Hook," because without it I can't really bring the character to life. Some notable RP Hooks for me have been:

1) Main Battle Troll... With Class - Dresses in Mortimer Of London, drives a nice (and heavily armored) car, and enjoys the finer things in life. Also ready to break someone's knees at a moment's notice, and likes to hide a HVBR under his Greatcoat when expecting trouble. Think an old-school "Wise Guy," Trog Style.

2) Psycho-Pixie Magician - A borderline-psychotic little SoB by anyone's standards. Gleefully vindictive, short tempered, manipulative, and prone towards using mind-control when saying "please" fails. Also loves him some Force 7 Spirits. Tends to keep 7 of his possible 8 Bound Spirit slots filled at all times.

3) Native Ork Commando - A "burned" Black Ops type that grew up in the Barrens. Stone-cold, ruthless bastard whose major "flaw" is that he hates Humans, hates Whites, hates Rich Bastards, and doesn't care much for anyone else, either... except his (massive) family, and his few surviving Army Buddies. Them, he'd give his life for.

[Solo]

I initiated this thread so it feels right for me to close the subject (unofficially anyway) and to thank all of you for an interesting and stimulating read!

My original question was to work out whether players lose something through too much optimisation.
The short answer is no as characters (in SR4 anyway) evolve in a rough and tough environment and unless they hone their skills they will die. Hence the need for optimisation. This is better done with a background story as backdrop but a good background does not necessarily mean better role play.

Quite a few of you condemn or at least disagree with the concept of min/maxing (or however you want to call it, let's not argue about defining this term) where players super specialise their character for a very limited number of roles (sometimes one role) and  gimping completely their characters for anything else (the caricatural character being the sniper with 20+dice in longarms who can't run 100m because of his low body, can't talk because of his low charisma).

As a consequence to this thread, I will now pay more attention to the optimisation of my characters while ensure that it works with their background and open up interesting role playing avenues.

thanks again

[FastJack]

And, since the OP has ended the discussion, I'll lock it. Very interesting ideas on both sides of the fence.