Chougou: halfling (runt korobukuru?) rigger

This is the closest thing that I could find in imagining what chougou would look like, he is an orphan runt of a dwarf-type so I'm assuming korobukuru and he was taken in by a shop keeper that kept him in the back of his shop doing various chores for him until he discovered that he had a penchant for machinery. The shop keeper exploited his labor and kept him chained to a desk where chougou was kept for 10+ years.

Chougou isn't his given name, if he ever had one, chou meaning ugly (丑) and gou meaning dog (狗); this is just what the shop keeper called him. He hasn't spoken much to anyone in his time being imprisoned, but has found ways to connect to the matrix in forums (lol, like this one I guess) and eventually will have been rescued from there or broken out, but I don't know how that will have happened yet as maybe it's part of the story?

Anyway he has a love of all things mechanical and uses them to escape the inabilities of his body and dreams of making a mechanical suit for himself one day and doing good in the world as he really is very sweet at heart (if not too deranged from loneliness) and is very excited to be involved in anything in the real world.

I have never made a proper Shadowrun character and would appreciate any advice anyone has on making his stats! Other than that looking forward to playing with you guys. This world is very detailed and interesting, well done to our benefactor.

Jesse

Good start. I'll pm you on Facebook so we can get your rigger statted out. Check to make sure my message didn't get filtered out

Chougou's (long) origin story:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1teBwS6wabRD40iNv05YPfR-q7axpU627DlPVr2nFIds/edit?usp=drivesdk

Chougou's shortened origin story:

Abandoned as a baby, Chougou was picked up and kept as a pet by a violent man who owned an electronics repair store. Chougou knew only violence and bare subsistence until one day when his captor threatened to kill him once he caught him for some nonsensical infraction of the rules.

Chougou was deformed and couldn't run very fast, but his "owner" was very drunk and extremely mad. He believed that the man was going to kill him this time, or maybe throw him out on the streets to starve. He had to do something.

Chougou had watched him fixing things and could see how stupidly the man did everything. He started fixing things that night and got through more than he thought he would, eventually when the man woke up he made Chougou do the repairs again because he didn't believe he could have done it. He made him work all day. After that he fed Chougou cold noodles and it seemed like things were going to be looking up. Until the man locked him in the back room and forced him to slave for a living.

It was better than dying, but not much. Eventually after many years though, Chougou came to basically run the business through online avatars and robots up front, and was able to gather materials and money for himself using stolen identities and secret accounts. The man eventually moved away to a safer neighborhood after all the money that Chougou had made for him, but Chougou created a plan to become free. Tricking the man to go attack his ex-wife's new husband in a plan that he had stylized from his favorite trid shows about Shadowrunners, things went terribly wrong though and his captor died in the aftermath; and Chougou was free.

Chougou kept running the shop as though nothing had happened and forged an identity that "bought" the business from his previous master. He would travel the city through his drones, and even got himself a vehicle that let him drive around. He hired his skills out as a Shadowrunner and only ever appeared in drone form due to his minuscule stature, but never committed violence, mostly spying and delivering messages; occasionally making deliveries for local gangs.

Chougou's dream is to be able to have a mechanized body suit that will let him move around like a normal person. He also wants to create an orphanage to take care of those children that he sees on the streets. He has a visceral dislike for people that abuse their positions of power, but also has had to learn to play the long game from his years of captivity. He has an assortment of drones and weapons, as well as a van to transport the crew around. He would like to start coming on missions, but has to have someone willing to carry him if things go sour, he probably weighs about 45 pounds.

I already mentioned this privately but going to pop it here so we don't forget about/lose it:

As a bonus for the story, you get the high pain tolerance positive quality at rating 3 (p 74 from the main book) as Chougou is probably used to taking a beating by now.

I am also giving you 3 free contacts (feel free to come up with whatever names you like for them). The first one is the noodle shop owner who waved through the window (connection 2, loyalty 3), next is a shadowrunner/bike courier that he hired for that first run (connection 2, loyalty 1) and the last one is a prostitute who survived the massacre (connection 1, loyalty 1)

Going through your equipment and noticed you have full body armor. Can't have that because the availability is 14R and you can't have anything higher than 12 at character creation.

Also a minor thing, but the build/repair specializations are:
Armorer
Aeronautics Mechanic
Automotive Mechanic
Cybertechnology
Industrial Mechanic
Nautical Mechanic
(possibly others if you can think of some other thing you want to be able to build/repair)

Engineering is a knowledge skill, if you want it.

Ok makes sense. I really just chose it as a precursor to his full body suit (and that he would dress up in to feel rough and tough) so it would be especially fine to go without it since he can't really do anything if he wears it anyway.

Sent from Topic'it App

You can pick up other armor if you like. There is plenty of street legal armor that wouldn't particularly make you look like a soldier walking around town. When you pick it from the book, be sure to check the availability. If it is over 12, you can't get it. if it has a R next to it, you need a license to own it (which means security will probably hassle you over it), and if it has an F it is completely illegal to own under any circumstances. If it's 12 or less with no letter next to it, it is a common consumer item. Might take time to pick up in game as it gets closer to 12, but otherwise it is pretty easy to get a hold of. Most armor in the main book falls into the acceptable range as it is essentially clothing with built in armor.

As for being able to wear it, it is fine so long as you don't throw on too many extra things after your first piece. If it doesn't have a +, then it doesnt stack. If it does, then it starts to slow you down based on your strength.

Would it be unreasonable to have a chameleon suit and chameleon helmet? I was just thinking that being able to blend into surroundings would be very helpful for Chougou...

Sure. Just don't wear it around town all the time. It is restricted gear and so security forces will start questioning you if they see you wandering about in it. Obviously if you are sneaking into a facility in the dead of night, that is not a concern.

I rolled 3 1 and 1 for my starting cash, so that would be 5 x 60; 300 nuyen?

Galdrek it, I didn't notice that that one was restricted! X) Ok for starting then I will just get the haptic feedback clothing and the urban explorer jumpsuit for basic protection? There's a helmet with the urban explorer jumpsuit that I feel is important for his protection.

Restricted doesn't mean you can't own it, just that the police will check your licenses for it if you have it. If you have no license you might get fined and have it confiscated. Possibly some jail time if you give the cop a hard time about it or you are doing something suspicious with it. Obviously, you don't want to get the attention of cops so it's probably best to keep restricted gear hidden when you aren't on the job.

so I was going over your sheet and noticed that you actually have way more qualities than you should have at chargen. You can have at most 25 karma worth of positive qualities, and I am counting 40 (not including the free one I gave you).

Oh damn, I used the spreadsheet as a counter and it seemed to be keeping me on balance. I thought that I was only 3 off because off the characteristics that we added. I'm going to delve into it today and see what I can find out. Also some of my drones are illegal which makes sense because they are the baddest ones out there I have found out...

I might be doing the math wrong, but this is what I am seeing:

Positive Qualities
Analytical Mind 5
Chaser 4
Jury Rigger 10
Grease Monkey 8
Photographic Memory 6
Subtle Vehicle Pilot 4
Will to Live 3

=40

Negative Qualities
Distinctive Style 5
Social Stress 8
Quasimodo 5

=-18

40-18=22 out of 25, so wouldn't there be 3 left?

I just re-read what you posted above about restricted, I'm going to go over the drones and weapons again to make sure that they are just restricted and not forbidden or whatever F stands for...

Also could we go over how to calculate contacts connection and loyalty at chargen. Is it the loyalty and connection added together that are deducted from the amount that you can spend? I started with 3 points to use and I think I gave them too much loyalty maybe?

And then one last thing about skills, are skill groups used in this world? Also what does the rating on Knowledge skills do, and should I focus more on rigger type things there?

chougou wrote:Oh damn, I used the spreadsheet as a counter and it seemed to be keeping me on balance. I thought that I was only 3 off because off the characteristics that we added. I'm going to delve into it today and see what I can find out. Also some of my drones are illegal which makes sense because they are the baddest ones out there I have found out...

They aren't illegal, they are restricted, which means using them without a license is illegal. But if you have a license, it is fine so long as you aren't committing a crime with them. If you have an appropriate contact, you can get some fake licenses.

chougou wrote:I might be doing the math wrong, but this is what I am seeing:

Positive Qualities
Analytical Mind 5
Chaser 4
Jury Rigger 10
Grease Monkey 8
Photographic Memory 6
Subtle Vehicle Pilot 4
Will to Live 3

=40

Negative Qualities
Distinctive Style 5
Social Stress 8
Quasimodo 5

=-18

40-18=22 out of 25, so wouldn't there be 3 left?

I just re-read what you posted above about restricted, I'm going to go over the drones and weapons again to make sure that they are just restricted and not forbidden or whatever F stands for...

That's not how it works. The 25 karma on positive/negative qualities is a cap. Negative qualities don't negate the cap for your positive qualities, they just give you more karma to spend elsewhere. That part that adds up to 40 is supposed to add up to 25 or less. You can get 25 positive qualities and/or 25 karma of negative ones.

chougou wrote:Also could we go over how to calculate contacts connection and loyalty at chargen. Is it the loyalty and connection added together that are deducted from the amount that you can spend? I started with 3 points to use and I think I gave them too much loyalty maybe?

1 karma = 1 connection or 1 loyalty. The minimum a contact can be is 1/1 so that would cost 2 karma. Since you are probably going to get some extra karma from eliminating some of those positive qualities, your contacts will probably end up being fine. Might even be able to afford some new ones.

chougou wrote:And then one last thing about skills, are skill groups used in this world? Also what does the rating on Knowledge skills do, and should I focus more on rigger type things there?

There are no skill groups. I have just grouped skills together and made them regular skills, eliminating the need for skill groups.

Rating on knowledge skills do the same thing as ratings on active skills. They give extra dice on a check. Knowledge skills are rolled with either logic or intuition, depending on what type of skill they are. So Math 3 (which is an academic skill) would be 3+logic.

As for focusing, you seem to have what you need. Or did you mean on knowledge skills? Knowledge skills are meant to be whatever background stuff your character uses. Usually they coincide with whatever skills you have, but they don't have to. If your character is a comic buff, he might have a knowledge skill in comics. Anything is fine, really. how useful they are depends primarily on your ability to note when knowledge of said thing might be useful.

Ok cool, I think I have gotten all the gear that I can have (12R would still be ok right?), spent all the money except 5000 nuyen, and yeah taking those extra positive qualities away gives me 37 points of Karma to spend, I think I do want to invest it in contacts because that could be helpful to the team. Is there a point of diminishing returns on levels of loyalty and the contact rating? Like would making someone 10 or above be ridiculous?

After this is all locked in I think I'm ready to put it in whatever standard sheet you are using if you could let me know where to find that.

chougou wrote:Ok cool, I think I have gotten all the gear that I can have (12R would still be ok right?), spent all the money except 5000 nuyen, and yeah taking those extra positive qualities away gives me 37 points of Karma to spend, I think I do want to invest it in contacts because that could be helpful to the team. Is there a point of diminishing returns on levels of loyalty and the contact rating? Like would making someone 10 or above be ridiculous?

After this is all locked in I think I'm ready to put it in whatever standard sheet you are using if you could let me know where to find that.

At chargen, the R and F part don't matter so much as you are assumed to have somehow arranged to get it. It matters more when trying to get things in the game as it requires you to know people to get those things for you. Anything 12 or under is fine at chargen. If you are spending the money you just earned now, then rolls need to be made to see if you can get it or not.

As for contacts, starting contacts can't have a higher connection or loyalty than 6. In game it is possible to get a contact with connection as high as 12, but loyalty caps out at 6 (at which point they are basically your best friend). There is no particular diminishing return from high loyalty or connection per se, but having a wide selection of contacts gives you a wider net of resources to work with than a few good ones. But then a few good ones can be good if you need a really big favor.

As you wrote Chougou's background, I would imagine him to have a lot of contacts with low connection from his days working in the electronics shop. I doubt he would be knowing anyone with a connection higher than 4. Up to you how friendly he got with them but I wouldn't imagine he got THAT friendly with the customers judging by what you wrote. You can make up who the contacts are, but I made a list of example contacts that you can look through to get an idea of what a contact of connection x would be like.

Note that spending karma on contacts is strictly a chargen thing. Afterwards you have to earn them by meeting them. So you can't spend the karma you just earned from this mission on contacts, just the karma from chargen.