Shadowrun Play > Character creation and critique

Super Shadowrunners

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Pure Mongrel:
Having only recently returned to paper and dice RPG after a 15 year absence (damn that makes me sound old  :o ) Shadowrun has become my game of choice.

The players I have are mostly returned players as well, but like me, this is their first time playing Shadowrun. While I have been madly reading and typing out ideas and scenarios, I have watched my players struggle with character creation ... or more to the point character concept.

Some have had a hard time letting go of the Elf, dwarf, orc and troll fantasy types, while all have found the world setting a struggle (so much to know: back story, technology, abilities, etc.) This is due to the fact that we all work, have responsibilities, etc. and time to "just read" is limited.

We have had two game sessions now, and we have all learned a lot during those games relating to the character abilities, the game mechanics and the world (our runs are set in Australia), but because the players are all so focused on learning the rules their characters are still very "bland".

To fix this, I have challenged my players to think of their characters in "Super Hero" terms. While I have no plans to make our games "Super" based runs, the abilities and technology available makes most Shadowrunners super human compared to today's mere mortals  ;) This is just a way to get the players to focus on a theme for their characters and to get them to understand the importance of contacts and knowledge skills.

After all, a person who can control vehicles and drones with his mind, a wired cyborg, or a magic wielder could easily present themselves as a super hero (or villain) in our day and age. The players have taken to the challenge I am happy to say and some of their initial ideas hold much promise and many surprises. This has allowed me to create runs better tailored to the their play styles.

I thought it would be fun to present this idea here and see what Super themed character ideas you guys could come up with. Would you adapt an existing comic book character, or come up with a unique hero / villain?  ???

Glyph:
Having seen a bazillion "make a superhero" threads, I would say that the best method, to make an actual playable character, is to either use an existing hero/villain as a starting point, or make your own (semi)-original concept. 

In other words, instead of simply trying to make Wolverine, take what you like about the character - and make a street samurai with partial amnesia who was used as a guinea pig by a corporate lab, is incredibly tough, and fights a battle between his bloodlust and the idealized samurai-style honor that he aspires to.  And give him twin cyberspurs if you want the classic Wolverine weapons.  But most people who try to do Wolverine get way, way too hung up on trying to duplicate his healing factor.

The other problem with trying to exactly duplicate an existing superhero is that the character will rarely, if ever, match up to the comic book version when planted into Shadowrun, where characters can lose intimidation tests, glitch and fall flat on their asses, or get hospitalized by one street punk with a lucky shot.  And it doesn't help that superhero comics are chock-full of supposedly ordinary human types who can rip out steel bars, shatter walls, block bullets, and do other things that a street samurai full of deltaware or a multi-initiate adept could only dream of doing.

bedlam:
@Pure Mongrel- I once had a GM in 2nd Ed that created Johnny Blaze (Spirit tied to a shotgun that produced force 6 flamthrower spell and still worked on SA).  The main problem with this was the Characters were alway second best to his NPCs.  I'm not suggesting that will happen in yours, just mentioning a trap that another fell into. 

I prefer things like Bladerunner, Matrix, Sleepdealers, 13th Floor, Ghost in the Shell (series and movies), Boondock Saints, Constantine, Fallen, Ghost Dog, Doll House, and Inception.  These all come together for me as inspiration. 

Pure Mongrel:
I see what you guys are saying. (and sorry for bring up what seem to be a recurring theme  :-X)

So scratch what I said at the start of this thread. Instead I need some advice on how to motivate / inspire my players to make playable and interesting characters.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

@ Bedlam - Bladerunner is my all time favorite film. I see what you are saying regarding those films. Thanks for the input  ;D

Glyph:
You're... kind of on the right track, actually.  One of Shadowrun's main themes is transhumanism, with people either wielding magic or augmenting themselves, to become far more than human.  But Shadowrun isn't all shiny, though.  It is cyberpunk - think less that 80's fiction, and think more of near-future/somewhat dystopic sci-fi, atmospheric noir films/novels, and urban fantasy, all thrown into a blender.

So you have characters with superhuman abilities, but the magical ones are alternately idolized, feared, or bitterly envied by the people who don't have their gift.  And the augmented ones get their superhuman boost by selling bits and pieces of themselves, becoming stronger and faster but losing some of their essential humanity in the process.  And these misfits are set in a gritty world of graft, corruption, and balkanized corporate states waging covert wars against each other.  They make their living doing dirty, dangerous jobs, working under the table, trying to hold on to a few tattered shreds of integrity, and trying to make a difference even when it seems that they are fooling themselves, and they are just cogs in the machine that they hate.  Also, for these covert operatives, there might be a bit of a Mission Impossible feel, but often it can be more of a gritty, cinematic action hero feel.

If you want them to make characters that are less bland, remind them that the game enforces its transhumanism theme by making magic and augmentations that give cheap, easy boosts to characters.  Any mundane, unaugmented character should feel in over their head, like Deckard in Blade Runner - this is not a system flaw; this is by design.  The system also encourages teams by making specialization very effective compared to generalization.  High dice pools are one of the driving things in making an effective character.  So they shouldn't be making Bob the generic criminal, they should be making characters as if they are trying to create one of the members of the A-Team.  Maybe one of them is a techie kind of guy, another is good at social interactions, and another one is an absolute monster in combat.  I'm not saying they should be able to do one thing and nothing else, but they should have some kind of specialty or niche.

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