Slot and run, chummers!
The Game: Shadowrun Fourth Edition
The publisher: Fanpro, and now Catalyst, I guess
Degree of familiarity: My brother and I made characters, I think, back in Toledo, and then I recently played in an aborted campaign. Might have been different editions, though.
Books Required: Just the core. I have a book on magic...wait, I had
a book on magic, didn't I? Where the heck did that go? Oh, well. Having
played a shaman in the above-cited game, I'm not going to make one now,
so it's moot. Could've sworn I bought that Street Magic book, though...
Like I said, I played a shaman once before. This time around, I'd kind of like to play an ork. I couldn't say why. They just kind of appeal to me, as presented in SR4. In fact, I really like the notion of playing an adept, because I like the art on p. 95 of the Gunslinger Adept. So maybe we'll go that way.
The game doesn't start with a series of conceptualizing steps, it pretty much says "If you want to just start building with points, do that, if you want to conceptualize first, do that." I can dig it. I picture my character as being "proud to be ork." T'kor (non-orks called him "T") is from a large family - 10 brothers, four sisters, and he's right in the middle. His parents both earn respectable livings, but it's a lot of mouths to feed, and they don't object when he comes home with money that he doesn't want to account for.
Somewhere along the way, he hooked up with a charismatic ork shaman named B'nai (I don't see any information in the book about how the Or'zet language is structured, so I'm making it up). B'nai saw magical potential in this young ork-turned-thug, and steered him away from what he was doing (beating people up for money). He awakened T'kor's potential as an adept, and other members of B'nai's following (you could call it a "cult" and not be unfair) trained him in real combat. B'nai probably intended for T'kor to join his faction full-time...but T'kor is a family man, and his family kept him a bit more grounded than that. He left B'nai's "church," and he's been on their list ever since.
But not "hit list," per se. B'nai wants him back.
OK, enough backstory for now (and anyway, a large part of this game is the group of runners - I can see T'kor having trouble fitting in with non-orks, but I think I'd play it for drama and entertainment rather than being a cock about it). Numbers!
Being an ork is 20 of my 400 BP right there. The Adept quality eats 5 more. Oh, and this part is mathy. I am, however, using this neat thingie to help with that.
OK, Attributes. I put my Agility up to 6 because I want my guy to be a badass with guns of all types. I put Body at 6 as well, but that's not quite so pricey because it starts at 4 (since I'm an ork). My Reaction is 5 (need to be quick on the draw), but my Strength stays at the minimum 3 (T'Kor is skinny for an ork - his hands are strong, though). Charisma goes to 3 - I don't want to play a complete social loser, after all. Intuition is at 5, and I might raise it later; T'Kor should be able to trust his gut. Logic is only 3 (never great at schoolin'), but Willpower is at 5 (headstrong). I don't raise Edge, but I do jack Magic to 4 so I have Power Points to play with later.
Letting the computer do the work for me, that means 275 points spent on Attributes. Now, Skills!
I know I want the Firearms group, so I just go ahead and blow the points to put it up to 4. I also buy Blades at 2 and Unarmed Combat at 2; I figure B'Nai's people taught T'Kor how to fight with things besides guns (though he'd prefer to shoot). I take a point of Escape Artist (for when the Man gets you down), Heavy Weapons and Throwing Weapons.
I put 4 into Dodge - a successful gunfight is one in which you don't get hit. I put 1 into Pilot Ground Craft (he can drive, he just doesn't much). One into Climbing, 2 into Infiltration with a Specialty in Urban, 2 into Assesning, one into Computer, 2 into Perception.
For my Languages, I take Or'Zet as my Native and 2 points into English. I put 3 points into Street Knowledge - T'Kor knows the ork section of town quite well.
And now, on to Qualities. I already have Adept. I take Home Ground (ork-town) for another 10. And it seems like there's no "Enemy" negative quality - wtf? There sure should be. Well, that in mind, I'll make one up! You figure that if having a SIN is worth 5 points, having a gang of orks who would like to brainwash you should, too. I'll do that, and take Sensitive System (T'Kor reacts bad to cyberware). Going along with that, I take Simsense Vertigo. T'Kor is at his best in the real world, with a gun in his hand. Last negative one: I'll take a Mild Allergy to Seawater. I think this ties into the thing with B'Nai - T'Kor never had this problem before he left the cult, and then afterwards, the sea just fills him with dread. (I took this as a Common allergy since I'm assuming Seattle, but if we're landlocked, I'd just change the focus of the Allergy but keep the backstory.) One more positive quality: Ambidextrous. John Woo, baby.
OK, now Connections. T'Kor is chummy with an ork gang leader named Lucky Strike Mike (named because that fucker can throw a knife from across town and hit a target). T'Kor doesn't really like Mike all that much; he's a little too human for T'Kor's taste. But they get along OK, and Mike is no fan of B'Nai and his loonies. I put his Loyalty at 3 (Acquaintance) and his rating at 4 (he's a gang leader, but he's not the only one or even the most important).
Gear: Hoo-boy. I have 8 points left. I'll dump it all into money so I can buy some cool shit. That gives me 40,000 nuyen. I flip to the appropriate section to go shopping!
I buy 3 months at Low Lifestyle (because I live with my folks and give them most of that money), first off. Now, weapons. I buy five shuriken because they're quiet and look cool. I'll buy two Fichetti Security 600 pistols (900), and one Yamaha Sakura Fubuki - you know, the Cherry Blossom Storm (2000). 2 Ares Predators (heavy pistols - 700), one Ceska Black Scorpion (550) and one AK-97 Carbine (400).
T'Kor hasn't had much call for longarms yet, but he's got a Mossberg AM-CMDT for special occasions (1000). He's got his eye on the HK XM30 with all the trimmings but he hasn't been able to afford it yet.
Now, accessories. I want the Concealable holsters for all of the pistols. That's 75 each, no problem. I love Taxi Driver, so I'll buy the Hidden Arm Slide for the two light pistols (700). I'll buy silencers for the pistols, too (1200 total). Ooh, clips. I'll dump 200 into spare clips (they're cheap) and 2000 into ammo.
I'll buy a Lined Coat with Nonconductivity (1300 total) for armor. Good 'nuff.
I need a Commlink, but as T'Kor isn't crazy about Matrix-related stuff, I'll keep it cheap. I'll get a Sony Emperor (700) and a Reraku Ichi OS (600). I definitely want a subvocal mic (50).
Contact lenses (50) with the image link (25), the smartlink (500), Vision Enhancement 3 (300), Flare Compensation (50), and Ultrasound mods (1000). I could do all that with cybereyes, but I'd also be fucking myself, since that would eat into my Essence.
Finally, I'll sink 14000 into a Mercury Comet Sedan. That leaves me 5175 nuyen left, which is good walkin' around money.
OK, last not least, I'm doing Adept powers. Rule! I have Magic 4, so I get 4 points to play with. These are fun!
I'll take Attribute Boost 3 (Agility), Improved Ability 2 (Pistols), Improved Reflexes 1, and Rapid Healing 1. That's my 4 points, then.
And that's it, in fact! Wow, spending money takes a long time.
