Yeah, character creation can be a bit daunting at the beginning.
It helps to adhere to the steps in the book:
1) Establish priorities. For beginners I'd suggest to go A or B for Attributes for all. Bad attribute placement is quite often the reason a character concept doesn't work. That way your players have enough points to compensate for inexperience.
2) Qualities: A lot of those sound nice, but don't do what you think they do. If you want to accelerate creation, you can skip them entirely and let them buy them later when everyone had time to get to know their character.
3) Skills: Everyone should have Perception, one or two combat skills (one ranged one melee), one Social skill and their specialty group. SR 5 rewards specialists, so get your main skills high and buy low skills with Karma.
4) Knowledge Skills: Those can be added later on too if you want to save some time.
5) Gear: That's the hardest part since gear-porn is a very integral part of SR. Run and Gun does have ready made equipment packs and there are also some to be found on this forum.
A runner needs a weapon, armor a commlink and a SIN or two. At least one of them should have a car.
A while ago I made a list of useful item packs for the core rule book. Maybe that will help you to get that part over a bit quicker:
[spoiler]
Totally legal:
All Ways On Com: 5820¥
Transys Avalon 6 5000¥
Sim module 100¥
Trodes 70¥
Subvocal mic 50¥
Satellite link 500¥
Micro-transceiver 100¥
A handy comlink to guarantee at least some basic protection against hackers and missing calls while being stranded in the middle of the ocean...
Defense 101: 550¥
Defiance EX Shocker 250¥
Laser sight Top 125¥
Quick-draw holster 175¥
It's cheap, it's silent, it's highly effective against drones and critters alike. And above all, it's totally legal to carry for everybody!
Emergency Response Uniform: 6615¥
Armor jacket 1000¥
Chemical Protection Rating 6 1500¥
Fire Resistance Rating 6 1500¥
Helmet 100¥
Image link 25¥
Flare compensation 250¥
Low-light vision 500¥
Thermographic vision 500¥
Spatial recognizer 1000¥
Sensor tag w. ultrasound sensor 40¥ +200¥
Standard issue for any paramedic or fire brigade member in the bad parts of town. Legal and a nice disguise if the run necessitates a bit of arson...
Ye Old In And Out: 2530¥
Survival Kit 200¥
Rappelling gloves 50¥
Gas mask 200¥
Microwire 200m 100¥
Medkit (Rating 3) 750¥
Monofilament chainsaw 500¥
Gasgrenades (Pepperpunch) 180¥
Antidote patch (Rating 6) 300¥
If you need to get in and out fast and have no time for niceties, a monofilament chainsaw is just unbeatable. Not subtle but technical legal...
License required:
Power Suit ®: 3250¥
Actioneer Business Clothes 1500¥
Nonconductivity Rating 6 1500¥
Shock Frills 250¥
You may look, but don't touch... when the business meeting goes sideways and the security starts stunning you are ready to return the favor.
Ghost ®: 3450¥
Chameleon suit 1700¥
Thermal Damping Rating 6 1500¥
Gecko tape gloves 250¥
It's not invisibility, but sneaking camouflaged along the ceiling can go a long way...
Cool Shades ®: 7150¥
Glasses Capacity 4 400¥
Flare compensation 250¥
Vision enhancement Rating 3 1500¥
Contacts Capacity 3 600¥
Smartlink 2000¥
Low-light vision 500¥
Vision magnification 250¥
Ear buds Capacity 3 150¥
Audio enhancement Rating 3 1500¥
Those shades not only make you look like an agent, but give you their abilities...
Bad Ass Longcoat ®: 3850¥
Lined coat 9 900¥
Insulation Rating 6 1500¥
Hidden arm slide 350¥
Knucks 100¥
Katana 1000¥
Surveillance is boring, but it doesn't have to be cold. Also, there is lot's of room to hide surprises.
If combined with the cool shades, the Katana becomes compulsory...
Zimmer FLAK ®: 750¥
Ruger Super Warhawk 400¥
Smartgun system, external Under 200¥
Concealable holster 150¥
If you have to draw a gun instead of a taser, at least draw the big gun.
Merc's Special ®: 2000¥
AK-97 950¥
Smartgun system, external Top 200¥
Gas-vent system Rating 3 Barrel 600¥
Shock pad 50¥
Bipod Under 200¥
Why would you even look at an FN HAR? Four to six points of recoil compensation for a very reasonable price and availability.
Fitting ammunition:
Extraction ®: 100¥
Spare clip 5¥
38 Gel rounds 95¥
When killing is frowned upon, a full clip of gel is your friend
Drone Begone ®: 309¥
Spare clip 5¥
38 Stick-n-Shock rounds 304¥
Slightly more expensive, but invaluable if there are also a lot of drones around the target
08/15 ®: 79
Spare clip
38 Regular ammo rounds
Cheap and efficient. Nothing to see here...
Lights Out ®: 250¥
Chem patch 200¥
Narcojet 50¥
Rating 10 stun patches are hard to get. This combination is a bit more expensive but readily available (GM call: Only works if the patch uses DMSO rules from previous editions)
Strictly illegal stuff
Infiltration 101 (F): 11350¥
Autopicker Rating 6 3000¥
Keycard copier Rating 6 3600¥
Sequencer Rating 4 1000¥
Cellular glove molder Rating 4 2000¥
Hardware Kit 500¥
Tag eraser 450¥
Area jammer Rating 4 800¥
Tamper proofing is a lot less useful if there is no one the lock can reach through all that noise. More subtle than the monofilament chainsaw, but also very, very illegal...
Greetings Afar (F): 4100¥
Remington 950 2100¥
Silencer/suppressor Barrel 500¥
Smartgun system Under 200¥
Imaging scope Top 300¥
Low-light vision 500¥
Thermographic vision 500¥
Not every encounter has to be close and personal. Without the suppressor it's just a nice little hunting weapon. With it, it's a nice way to express your feelings towards dangerous or hard to reach people...
Red 'n Black (F): 137¥
2x Speed loader w. 50¥
6xGel rounds 15¥
6xAPDS 72¥
(Loaded alternating)
Use the smartlink on your Ruger to spin the chamber for a good old game of "You die, you live..."
Panzerknacker (F) 461¥
Spare clip 5¥
38x APDS 456¥
[/spoiler]
