Introduction
Creating a character is always the most important part of playing a role-playing game. Through this character, you will experience the world in which your character lives. Depending on how experienced you are as a role-player, what kind of character you make, and how much fun you have will largely determine how good your gaming experience is. Long before you sit down and start writing down your character's statistics, you should start out with a sketch of what kind of character you would like to have.
Unlike other role-playing games, which have very specific "classes" that characters fall into, Shadowrun has generalizations that your character may fall into. While there are numerous "archtypes" for Shadowrun, there are a few fields that most characters fall into. In no particular order, here they are:
- Mercenary: Mercs are militaristic characters that know everything there is to know about waging war, tactics, and so on. They are the electronics guys that can build bombs from scratch. While they may have some cyberware, their focus is more on skills than anything else. Mercs are the muscle of a group.
- Street Samurai: Street Sams, also known as Sammys and Sams, are kind of the flip side of a merc. Guns-for-hire, Sammys will typically go all out on the cyber and focus on combat skills and physical attributes. It used to be that the Street Sam would have a code of honor, and some still do. Sams tend to focus on money so that they can buy as much weapons and cyberware as possible. Sams are the muscle of a group.
- The Face: This is the negotiator of the group. Like the mercenary, the Face focuses on skills rather than anything else. These skills will always be towards the more social aspects of the game, such as interrogation, negotiation, etiquette, and so on. Typically, the lowest priority will be attributes, as the Face will need both skills and money to maintain their lifestyle. The Face is, get this, the "face" of the group.
- Rigger: The first of the specialized archtypes, the Rigger has cyberware installed in their head that allows them to control vehicles and drones with nothing more than the power of their brain. This direct neural interface (DNI) allows the rigger to react far faster than a normal person would. Skills to control multitudes of vehicles, and money with which to buy those vehicles, are the focus of the Rigger. The rigger is the getaway driver and the heavy weapons guy.
- Decker: Deckers are the hackers of the future. Using an illegal cyberdeck, the decker is able to fly through the Matrix and break into systems, gaining information for the team, shutting down alarms, scouting installations, and so on. Deckers tend to focus on money and skills, so that they can buy their decks and programs, and also have skills high in the abilities of hacking and computer and program construction. The Deckers is the brains of a group, getting all prelim information and shadowing the group through the Matrix to stop alarms from happening.
- Hermetic Mage: There are two schools of thought in magic. The first is the Hermetic Mage, who goes through college and learns the "rules" behind magic. By learning formulas, rules, rites, rituals, and spells, the Hermetic Mage learns the ins and outs of magic and becomes more powerful. Hermetics have the ability to both perceive the Astral Plane and to actually travel there. Hermetics can summon Elementals, powerful spirits which embody a particular element. Summoning an Elemental is a long and costly process, but Elementals are often powerful enough to justify it. Hermetics must select Magic as their first priority. Hermetics are the magical muscle of a group.
- Shamanic Mage: Shamans, unlike hermetics, come by their talent through instinct. They are chosen by a Totem early on and learn through their Totem about the world of magic. Like Hermetics, they can both perceive and travel the Astral Plane. Shamans can summon spirits with a thought. Magic is the primary selection of Shamans. While physically less powerful than Elementals, Spirits have many powers which make them useful. Shamans are magical muscle.
- Adepts: While not as magically talented as either Shamans or Hermetics (above), Adepts have some talent which displays itself in very specialized way. Where a true mage can cast spells, conjure spirits, go astral, and so on, an Adept can only do one of these things. They are specialists. Thanks to their priority of magic being second, an Adept can have greater skills or attributes than a true mage. Adepts fill the same niche as Shamans and Hermetics, but are specialized and not quite the jack-of-all-magical-trades.
- Physical Adept: Like the Adepts above, a Physical Adept uses their magical talent to focus on physical abilities. Through use of their magic, a Phys Adept can focus their abilities to make them every bit as dangerous as a street same. The beauty is that they have no cyberware to give them away. Physical Adepts tend to be the quiet muscle.
- Gang-Banger: Not a common player character, the Ganger is the street-wise muscle of a group. They tend to focus on attributes and skills instead of money and magic. Gangers tend to live on the streets or low lifestyles. They are often physically gifted, but lacking in other areas. Their lack of money means what little cyberware they have will rarely be the "good stuff."
Read through the descriptions above. Through that, at least one of those should have interested you. Also, don't rule out combining things. A merc/decker or a merc/physical adept are plausible, as is a rigger/sam or rigger/decker. Keep in mind that if you split your abilities, you won't be as good as someone who focuses on just one, however.
You should also read through the history and see how the world got where it is now. Keep in mind that if you pick a non-human player, there is racism out there and it may make your character a target regardless of what they're doing or who they are.
The most important question you could ask is: "Why is your character running the shadows?" This is a huge question: why would your character choose a life of crime? What was the defining moment that made your character say: "I will kill people, steal things, blow things up, etc. for money?" This is a very important question and should be the first thing you ask yourself as you begin to draw together the thread that will weave your character.
The next step will go through twenty questions to help decide what you are looking for. If you know all this, or words bore you, you can go ahead and click on any of the sections below. Otherwise, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Continue."
- Twenty Questions: This section will ask a series of twenty questions to you that will let you better figure out what kind of character you want and what motivates them.
- Character Priorities: This section will go through the basics of creating a character in Shadowrun and will explain some of the finer details.
- Human or Meta?: This section goes into details on the races outside of humanity and their advantages and disadvantages. It also talks a bit about racism in the 2050s and beyond and what your character will be dealing with while your character is moving around. Racial limits are also included here.
- Contacts: Part equipment and part something else, this section will tell you a bit more on contacts and how and why they are important.
- Pulling it all Together: This section will show you the important things on a character sheet and let you fill out one of your own. I've included a link on this page to a series of character sheets made by another Shadowrun Fan.
- Improving Your Character: As your character goes on runs, they will gain "Karma." Karma is what your character uses to increase their attributes, skills, and buy spells (if they are magically active). This section will tell you about how you can use Karma and what you can do with it.
- Archetypes: This is a series of characters that I have made with the above rules for use as player characters. While there is a wide range of characters under this section, it is far from all of them. The best idea is to find one you like and then personalize it. Once you get the hang of them, you can make your own.
- The Character Matrix: This section will ask a series of questions that will walk you down the path to the type of character you want to play. It will end up on one of the archetypes listed above.
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