Step One: Concept
Seattle of 2075 is a bustling metropolis, filled with intrigue. I want a character who is one of the deniable, expendable assets known as a shadowrunner. Narrows down things a bit, but let's get narrower. The idea I have is a sniper, The Brat, neé Juliana Sophie Guerrero, the daughter of a corporate employee and a shadowrunner, putting her second generation. Juliana's mother was the paranoid sort, so she never trusted the corporate system to properly watch out for the kid beyond a potential asset. If I make The Brat's age at 17, that puts her birthdate in 2057, so Crash 2.0 will have wiped out her SIN.
The more I work on this, the more I realize that Juliana's mother was a decker/hacker, not a gun bunny, though deckers don't need to be the basement dwelling stereotype. Combat deckers do exist, and in both the 2050s and the 2070s, getting onsite and back off may require gunfire.
Back on track, two years prior, in 2073, Juliana's parents died. The authorities wrote it off as getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the middle of a turf war. Juliana, however, received a text message from her mother shortly before, warning her and giving her the address of an old contact. Two years later, Juliana is running the shadows under the street name "The Brat", given to her after the first question people had on meeting her was either, "Who's the brat?" or "Who brought the brat?"
Step Two: Choose Metatype
The next few steps involve the priority table. Each element - Metatype, Attributes, Magic/Resonance, Skills, and Resources - receives a priority from A through E with no repetition. One easy choice can be made now. Magic is used by Magicians and Adepts while Resonance is used by Technomancers, neither of which describes The Brat. Thus, Magic/Resonance gets priority E. Juliana is a human, one with no magic of any sort. Priorities A and B provides far more points for the special attributes (Edge, Magic, Resonance) than Juliana needs. That leaves C and D for Metatype. Priority C blocks a good chunk of resources, so I'll go with Priority D, Human, with four points towards special attributes. I'll reserve changing to C if it turns out I don't need that much in Resources later.
With Juliana confirmed as a human, next stage in this step is allocating attributes, which means I need to choose a priority for them. Priority A works for a healthy young adult with a chip on her shoulder. I spread the 24 points as follows, with the first point in each attribute costing nothing.
Body 4
Agility 5
Reaction 5
Strength 3
Willpower 5
Logic 3
Intuition 3
Charisma 4
Edge 5
The Brat has no Magic or Resonance rating. Essence starts at 6 but may go down later.
Step Three: Choose Magic or Resonance
Technically, I did this in Step Two. For the record, Juliana has neither. It's a matter of balancing the needs and the wants for a character. While magical types, including technomancers, need to use the higher priorities for their abilities, they don't necessarily need the breadth of skills or the massive resources. A mage can very easily use a combat spell instead of shooting a gun while technomancers have no need for cyberdecks or commlinks other than to appear to fit in.
Step Four: Purchase Qualities
Every character starts with 25 Karma, the Shadowrun system's version of experience points. The Karma can be used at any point to purchase something that helps make a character that character. Qualities, positive and negative, help define a character. If two riggers, identical other than one having Natural Hardening and an Allergy to soy and the other having Double-jointed and Scorched, the difference between them as characters becomes apparent. The latter is flexible but has a BTL* habit; the former is less likely to take damage because of a rogue hacker but forget about getting fast food.
A look through the Qualities to find something for Juliana leads to Natural Athlete. Part of Juliana's double life is being a student trying to get an athletic scholarship. Natural Athlete plays right into a possible cover for her; Juliana travels with licensed firearms on her way to and from practice, whether it's for her school's biathlon team or marksmanship team. Juliana has Olympic dreams! Natural Athlete costs Juliana seven Karma, leaving her with 18. None of the negative Qualities fit, so I'll leave them for now. If I need more Karma later, I can always get The Brat an allergy.
Step Five: Purchase Skills
The only priority I have left is B, giving Juliana 36 skill points and another 5 points for skill groups. I'll start with the skill groups. Page 131 has the description of the skill levels, to avoid typing them here. At level 4, Proficient, the skill use is enough to get a job. With skill level 6, Professional, characters can go freelance if they want. Level 6 is also the highest allowed in character creation without the Natural Aptitude Quality.
Starting with the skill group points, I put three into Athletics, consisting of Gymnastics, Running, and Swimming. The remaining two go to the Outdoors group, with Navigation, Survival, and Tracking. For the regular skill points, I spend them as follows:
Active Skills
Armorer 4
Athletics Group 3
Clubs 3
Computer 1
Con 3
Etiquette (Corporate) 3 (+2)
Longarms (Extended Range Shots) 6 (+2)
Perception 3
Pilot Ground Vehicle 2
Pistols 3
Outdoors group 2
Sneaking 3
Unarmed Combat 3
Going back to Juliana's concept, she's a sniper out for revenge for her parents' deaths. I put the maximum allowed into Longarms, then take a specialty to let The Brat shoot from a kilometre away. At the same time, Juliana is a shadowrunner, at least for now. She'll need to be able to use something smaller than a shotgun from time to time, thus skill levels in Pistols, Clubs, and Unarmed Combat. Armorer lets Juliana repair and alter firearms, useful to change the rifling of her guns after a run. Juliana can't just shoot her way everywhere, though. Con and Etiquette will help her be social, and Sneaking lets her avoid people. Computer and Pilot Ground Vehicle round Juliana out a bit more; the former lets her use a commlink better, while the latter means she's not relying on a car's self-driving ability.
With the Active Skills done, the next stage is Knowledge Skills, including languages. Every character gets one language as native; for Juliana, this will be English. For other languages and other knowledge skills, Juliana gets twice the sum of her Logic and Intuition, or twelve points. I'll spread the points over the following:
Knowledge Skills
Corporate Politics 3
Pop Music 2
Secondary Schools 2
Runner Havens 3
Weapon Designs 2
Language Skills
English N
It's a mix of interest, street, and academic skills. The Secondary Schools skill might be considered professional for Juliana; she spends time in one during the day. None are at the professional level, mainly because Juliana is still young. I still have Karma to improve and expand on what I've chosen.
Step Six: Spend Resources
Time to gear up. Back in Step Two, I mentioned that I wanted to hold off on committing to setting Resources at C if I can keep Juliana's costs under 50 000 nuyen. I can spend Karma to add more money, up to 20 000 extra for ten Karma. If I shoot over that amount, no changes will be made. Page 94 has a good checklist for what to purchase, from weapons to fake licenses to cyberware. The full list will follow, but I'll go through the thought processes now. First, weapons, as that's what comes up first in the gear list. While the weapons list covers everything from knives to pistols to assault rifles to missile launchers, Juliana's approach is narrower. She doesn't have the skill to use automatic weapons; the Automatics skill covers those. A GM may decide that she can pick up an assault rifle and use it in semi-automatic mode with the Longarms skill, but must default to her Agility minus one when switching to burst fire or full auto. As a GM, I could be persuaded this way, but the NPCs will also get to take advantage. That aside, whatever weapons she gets also need to fit her cover as a high school student. She could get away with a pistol and a sporting rifle, claiming to be on her school's biathlon and marksmanship teams. On the less legal side, Juliana needs a proper sniper rifle, though if the cost of one pushes me past 50 000 nuyen, I can drop it.
Next up, clothes. Juliana can't be naked when she shoots people. The idea is to not attract attention. Nudity is never the way to do that. Nudity also makes it difficult to hide anything except a small holdout pistol. Juliana isn't Captain Jack Harkness. Day to day clothes are covered by Lifestyle, but extras need to be bought. Juliana should get a few school uniforms, whether a proper uniform or a school jacket. She should also get armour; shadowrunners are known for getting into fights and The Brat needs something to prevent unexplainable gunshot wounds in gym class.
Third, electronics. A commlink, the 2075 version of a smartphone, is de rigeur. If email and access to social media is essential today, it's critical in the Shadowrun future. Everything is connected to the Matrix. Everything. Including weapons. The risk of getting hacked is outweighed by getting real-time updates. Tying everything into one's commlink can slow down a determined hacker. Thus, Juliana needs a commlink. She won't need a full suite of cracking software, but some games would be nice. To go with the commlink, a pair of glasses that let her read what's on the device without others seeing it. For combat situations, a pair of goggles, possibly with a smartlink.
Finally, wrapping a few things together, Lifestyle and tools. Juliana will need a place to live, ideally one where she can invite a friend over to study. She'll also need a place to store her tools, the armorer's kit that lets her maintain and modify her weapons. A Doc Wagon contract, the 2075 version of medical insurance, would also be nice to have. One the outside of nice-to-have is a vehicle. Juliana isn't a rigger, but having several cars around makes splitting up during an escape easier.
Gear
Middle lifestyle w/special work area, 4 months
Knife (Acc 5, Reach -, Dmg 4P, AP -1)
Extendable Baton (Acc 5, Reach 1, Dmg 5P, AP -)
Colt America L36 (Acc 7, Dmg 7P, AP -, Mode SA, RC -, Ammo 11(c))
w/Hidden arm slide, 2 spare clips
Colt Government 2066 (Acc 6, Dmg 7P, AP -1, Mode SA, RC -, Ammo 14(c))
w/Concealable holster, silencer, 2 spare clips
Ares Desert Strike (Acc 7, Dmg 13P, AP -4, Mode SA, RC (1), Ammo 15(c))
w/Shock pad, imaging scope (vision mag, flare comp), silencer, clip
Remington 950 (Acc 7, Dmg 12P, AP -4, Mode SS, RC -, Ammo 5(m))
w/Imaging scope (vision mag)
Defiance T-250 (Acc 4, Dmg 10P, AP -1, Mode SS/SA, RC (1), Ammo 5(m))
w/Shock pad
Ammunition
100 rounds regular (Light Pistol)
100 rounds regular (Heavy Pistol)
20 rounds APDS (Heavy Pistol) (AP -4)
50 rounds regular (Sniper Rifle)
50 rounds APDS (Sniper Rifle) (AP -4)
50 rounds slug (Shotgun)
50 rounds flechette (Shotgun) (Dmg +2, AP +5)
Armour Vest (AR 9) w/thermal damping 4
Synthleather Jacket in school colours w/insulation 2 (AR 4)
School uniforms, 4, all with electrochromic modification (AR 0)
Erika Elite commlink
w/Browse, Edit, Encryption programs and w/AR gloves, printer, subvocal mike
Datasofts: Firearms design, UCAS history, Shakespeare
Certified credstick, silver
Fake SIN 4 (Angela Carruthers)
w/4 fake licenses 4 (hunting, firearm possession, conceal carry, driver's)
Fake SIN 4 (Tina London)
w/3 fake licenses 4 (firearm possession, conceal carry, driver's)
Armorer tool kit, Armorer shop
Glasses w/image link, flare compensation
Goggles w/image link, vision enhancement 2, low light, flare comp
Climbing gear
Survival kit
Doc Wagon Gold contract, 1 year
Hyundai Shin-Hyung
After the purchases above, Juliana has 3960 nuyen left over, which can be carried over as starting cash. With her Middle Lifestyle, her starting money is 3960 + (4D6*100) nuyen, which cannot be spent on pre-game gear. Juliana's lifestyle would normally cost 5000 nuyen per month, but she has a workspace set up for her armorer shop that adds an extra 1000 each month.
Step Seven: Spend Remaining Karma
Juliana has 18 Karma remaining. She can only have at most seven carry over to the start of the campaign. Before I do start spending, there is one item to deal with - contacts. Juliana gets three times her Charisma rating in contacts when the game starts, plus more if she spends Karma. Each contact as a Connection and a Loyalty rating; the former to show how much influence the contact has, the latter to reflect the likelyhood of selling out the character. Juliana's Charisma givers her twelve points to spend, with no more that seven in any one contact.
Contacts (Connection/Loyalty)
High school friend (1/4)
Street samurai (3/3)
Arms dealer (2/1)
Juliana needs to spend two Karma to fill out the arms dealer, leaving her sixteen. The arms dealer is the person The Brat talks to when she needs a new, off-the-legal-record, gun. The relationship is based on money. The street samurai ran with Juliana's mother back in the day and is willing to help out on occasion. The high school friend doesn't know many people, but is someone Juliana can talk to without worries about being turned in for a reward.
Now's the best time to fill in some gaps. Juliana should know at least one more language. She pays one Karma to learn Japanese at 1, and two more to bring the language up to 2. She's not fluent, but she now knows the difference between, "SIN, please," and, "Don't move." For eight more Karma, she raises Clubs from 3 to 4. The last bit of spending is three points to raise Secondary Schools from 2 to 3. Juliana has two Karma leftover, which she'll save for the campaign.
Step Eight: Final Calculations
Last little bit of mechanics needs to be done. Juliana needs her initiatives and her inherent limits worked out. Of all the initiatives, she really just needs physical. She's not magically active, so no astral initiative. She's not a hacker and doesn't use hot sim, so virtual reality initiative isn't needed. With the inherent limits, because her attributes are human average at the lowest, her limits are higher than the regular Joe on the street. With no augmentations installed in her, Juliana is a personable young woman. Her social limit will start falling once she begins her upgrade cycle. Juliana also works out how much damage, in boxes, she can take. Shadowrun can be lethal. The Brat can easily kill someone with her Remington if she gets the drop on her target. Calculations are below.
Initiative 8+1d6
Matrix AR Initiative 8+1d6
Inherent Limits
Mental 5
Physical 5
Social 7
Physical Damage Track 10, Overflow 4
Stun Damage Track 11
Juliana now checks her Street Cred and her Notoriety. Street cred is based on Karma earned, so The Brat's starts at zero. Notoriety represents the flip side of street cred. Some qualities can add to or subtract from the score at the start. Juliana has none of them, though. As a starting character, The Brat is an unknown factor, which helps her in her search for her parents' killer or killers.
Step Nine: Final Touches
The last step covers fleshing out the character and getting GM approval. I worked out the background back in Step One and fleshed it out in the subsequent steps. Right now, Juliana is looking for a game. She's decent in a gun fight, but excels when she's able to set up her shots. Hand-to-hand is iffy, but she can defend herself. The Brat can slip past most cybernetic detectors since she has none. She needs a team, though; she's lacking hacking and magical skills.
Juliana didn't touch upon some of the subsystems, like hacking, rigging, cybernetics, and spellcasting. A second character may touch on one or more of those elements. In the meantime, here is The Brat's full sheet, Let me know if you use her.
Name/Alias: Juliana Sophie Guerrero/The Brat
Metatype: Human
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Nuyen: 3960+(4D6*100)
Total Karma: 2
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Attributes:
Body 4
Agility 5
Reaction 5
Strength 3
Willpower 5
Logic 3
Intuition 3
Charisma 4
Edge 5
Essence 6.0
Initiative 8+1d6
Matrix AR Initiative 8+1d6
Inherent Limits:
Mental 5
Physical 5
Social 7
Physical Damage Track 10, Overflow 4
Stun Damage Track 11
Active Skills:
Armorer 4
Athletics Group 3
Clubs 4
Con 3
Etiquette (Corporate) 3 (+2)
Longarms (Extended Range Shots) 6 (+2)
Perception 3
Pilot Ground Vehicle 3
Pistols 3
Outdoors group 2
Sneaking 3
Unarmed Combat 3
Knowledge Skills:
Corporate Politics 3
Pop Music 2
Secondary Schools 3
Runner Havens 3
Weapon Designs 2
Language Skills:
English N
Japanese 2
Quality:
Natural Athlete (+2 Running, Gymnastics)
Contacts (Connection/Loyalty):
High school friend (1/4)
Street samurai (3/3)
Arms dealer (2/1)
Implants:
none
Gear:
Middle lifestyle w/special work area, 4 months
Knife (Acc 5, Reach -, Dmg 4P, AP -1)
Extendable Baton (Acc 5, Reach 1, Dmg 5P, AP -)
Colt America L36 (Acc 7, Dmg 7P, AP -, Mode SA, RC -, Ammo 11(c))
w/Hidden arm slide, 2 spare clips
Colt Government 2066 (Acc 6, Dmg 7P, AP -1, Mode SA, RC -, Ammo 14(c))
w/Concealable holster, silencer, 2 spare clips
Ares Desert Strike (Acc 7, Dmg 13P, AP -4, Mode SA, RC (1), Ammo 15(c))
w/Shock pad, imaging scope (vision mag, flare comp), silencer, clip
Remington 950 (Acc 7, Dmg 12P, AP -4, Mode SS, RC -, Ammo 5(m))
w/Imaging scope (vision mag)
Defiance T-250 (Acc 4, Dmg 10P, AP -1, Mode SS/SA, RC (1), Ammo 5(m))
w/Shock pad
Ammunition
100 rounds regular (Light Pistol)
100 rounds regular (Heavy Pistol)
20 rounds APDS (Heavy Pistol) (AP -4)
50 rounds regular (Sniper Rifle)
50 rounds APDS (Sniper Rifle) (AP -4)
50 rounds slug (Shotgun)
50 rounds flechette (Shotgun) (Dmg +2, AP +5)
Armour Vest (AR 9) w/thermal damping 4
Synthleather Jacket in school colours w/insulation 2 (AR 4)
School uniforms, 4, all with electrochromic modification (AR 0)
Erika Elite commlink
w/Browse, Edit, Encryption programs and w/AR gloves, printer, subvocal mike
Datasofts: Firearms design, UCAS history, Shakespeare
Certified credstick, silver
Fake SIN 4 (Angela Carruthers)
w/4 fake licenses 4 (hunting, firearm possession, conceal carry, driver's)
Fake SIN 4 (Tina London)
w/3 fake licenses 4 (firearm possession, conceal carry, driver's)
Armorer tool kit, Armorer shop
Glasses w/image link, flare compensation
Goggles w/image link, vision enhancement 2, low light, flare comp
Climbing gear
Survival kit
Doc Wagon Gold contract, 1 year
Hyundai Shin-Hyung
* Better Than Life chips, the electronic version of drugs.
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