[Ragin Cajun]

Does anyone ever sit down to make a character and just stare blankly at the computer screen because they have no idea what they wanna play? What do you do to jumpstart your brain into making a decision on an archetype? Any tips are appreciated as  I am currently debating slamming my face into the keyboard till an idea presents itself.

[BrysenBlue]

Not really. I will typically start with a gimmick or a theme, then try to figure out how to "crime" with it best.

For example, my latest character is called "Lightning Horse" and he is an Equine Shapeshifter that (you guessed it) shoots lightning out of his eyes. He has no real understanding of ownership or human society and is being taken advantage of by the criminal element. He possesses phenomenal strength and speed, as well as the ability to disrupt electronics with an EMP pulse. He can create wallls of force that he can use as a bridge, double jump and fall about six stories before taking damage. Essentially allowing him to turn into a "get away vehicle" if the rest of the crew don't have one.

He's not the best "Shadowrunner" in the world but he is a useful asset to the other players and because he is SINless and does not understand human technology or rules, he is forced into the seedy underworld.

My primary character is "Brysen Blue" (see Avatar) who is an Elven Changeling with a convoluted and mysterious past (that I am sure you don't care about) and was PC Principal before he was on South Park, constantly complaining about the persecution of the "Blue Race" and social injustices that are largely imagined (but have on occasion turned out to be truthful because of some funny GM twists).  Brysen was raised in an orphanage, and because his past is steeped in mystery he does not know he is an Elf, and has rounded ears like a human (Human Looking). So, he never had a real chance of fitting into society either, so instead he turned to shadow running as a way of "sticking it to the man" and fighting for "Social Justice."  Despite being a parody character, he has been a lot of fun to play and has proven to be an excellent conman by playing on people's desire to appear politically correct.

I think the "key" is deciding what kind of crimes you enjoy committing in game, and then making a character good at that, while still not being so "Clockwork" that you'd rather saw off your hands than interact with that person during a run. Get a gimmick and then build off that. once you've got a strong starting point it is usually pretty easy.

[Dinendae]

Does anyone ever sit down to make a character and just stare blankly at the computer screen because they have no idea what they wanna play? What do you do to jumpstart your brain into making a decision on an archetype? Any tips are appreciated as  I am currently debating slamming my face into the keyboard till an idea presents itself.

Have you looked at the Life Module character creation method from Run Faster (with additional modules appearing in books that came after that)? Specifically, the descriptions with each module can give you a decent basis for coming up with an idea. I've always had an issue with wanting to try everything at one point or another, so I tend to see what everyone else goes with and then try to fill in the gaps. If the basics are already covered, or you don't know what everyone else has (such as when playing Missions games), then check out those module descriptions and see if something clicks.


Sometimes I come up with a name first, and then see if that triggers a specific archetype in my mind. A good website for Shadowrun names is: http://shadowrun.itemcards.com/.
Also, you could try a website that gives a random name and brief description: http://www.enklave-23.de/WTF/  Just refresh either of those webpages to get new ideas (or just click the link on the WTF webpage at the end of the description).

[Reaver]

Whenever I set out to make a character/NPC (mostly npcs these days as I GM more then play.) I always start with the back story. Stats and skills are just numbers to me. Numbers that support the backstory, so it all starts there.

And when I can't come up with a back story? Well, then I creative write. I litterally write out a small short story in the SR Universe, usually in the 3rd person perspective and where it takes me.... they usually are only 3 to 5 paragraphs long.... but they get the 'juices' flowing and give me something to work with...

[Shaidar]

Television and movie characters are always rife for an SR treatment to start an RPG character from.

[FST_Gemstar]

Sometimes just looking and character concept art can be inspiring.

I sometimes go on Pinterest and search for: "Cyberpunk" and "Fantasy" or something like that. You can play with the search, but a lot of the character art can be useful inspiration to a shadowrun setting .

[Teknodragon]

Sometimes I get a hook from browsing the rules and seeing if I can max out a niche. Then I tone things back to give enough resources to the character in other areas and work out a good story as to why they're like that: Redline, the fastest mundane; Pockets, who has that bit of gear.

Sometimes it is the style: Dino-butt (street name given by fellow players), the so-so rigger/decker.

Sometimes, I look at what the GM or official play rules say can't be done with specific character options and either try to accomplish a character with a similar look (to others) or feel (to me); or come up with someone with the skills and resources to be a counter to such: an anti-Drake project, where a research group had tried to either duplicate or counter Drake abilities with cyber/bio-ware.

Last I can think of is how something in the Sixth World might affect a person causing them to not function well in corp-drone society: I've had an idea for a while of a somewhat cracked shaman who has, or thinks she has, Dragon as a mentor spirit and is gradually adding 'ware and making cosmetic changes to be more like her mentor. Other Awakened people could have less drastic but also isolating responses to what they can perceive: acting in line to what their mentor spirit wants/acts; avoiding nastiness that mundanes are blissfully unaware of (such as a possible background count in the corporately cheerful Big Box Store).

A character's background, abilities and flaws also tell the group and GM what part of the Sixth World you want to explore. Do you want to check out High Society by posing (or being, while the pay holds up) one of the Upper Crust? Do you want to see how the ignored masses deal with being one of those statistics swept under the rug? A suburbanite who discovers how fragile the plaster shell of their lifestyle is? There's environments, too. Sprawl experts are a dime a dozen, and how's the dollar to the nuyen these days. Woodsman, perhaps; an expert hunter can turn their skills to more humane pursuits, if a pun may be allowed. Water, arctic, desert, tropical are other environment specializations.

I hope these ramblings help! 

[Beta]

Sort of.  I often sit down and discover I have ten vague ideas, none of which are even half a full character idea and many of which are not really compatible.  Then I struggle to extract one idea out of the lot.

For example, I’ll jot down:
-   From tropical Sri Lanka, just arrived in rainy Seattle
-   Dwarf face, just because
-   Cyber leg with water jets and an internal air tank
-   Rancher who has been bought out of his/her share of the ranch with a trust fund, not planning to sit around and do nothing now.
-   That negative quality where you always have to be in disguise
-   Uses a bicycle to get around (physical adept? Summoner?)
-   Former minor-league baseball pitcher.  Can knock out with normal objects.
-   Someone really fast for a change, tired of having less actions than others
-   Has a small boat (Otter), and a squatter lifestyle based on the boat (as well as something better).  Sin/fake-SIN for Salish-Sidhe, so can motor across and land there OK.
-   Non-lethal shooting.  Called shots expert?  Dart guns?

Jumbling that around, there are opportunities for several different characters that use two or more bits of that, but they certainly don’t all fit into one character.  Figuring out what one character I’ll play that scratches as many itches as best as possible often first results in me staring at the screen blankly for a while.

[Thanael]

I love random generation systems, start fresh or with an idea, roll randomly and fudge if you want to. Sometimes an idea emerges..

Examples:
https://wrathofzombie.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/shadowrun-background-generator.pdf (Adapted from CP2020)
http://shadowrun.plasticwarriors.org -->Life History (d6 based older CP2020 adaption)

I found a random life module table to somewhere.

Plus there is always Paul Jaquays awesome mind boggingly complicated sometimes controversial (esp in light of authors personal history)  but fun Central Casting books. Heroes Now! or Heroes from Tomorrow both work. Im not sure which one I preferred.

Bonus points if you use two methods for the same character and try to fudge-align them.

[AJCarrington]

Some excellent comments and ideas here. For me, I tend to find the most inspiration from artwork and miniatures. Visualizing the character, literally, is a huge plus. I tend to troll Art Station, Tumblr, DeviantArt and miniature forums 😎

[fseperent]

There's two things that can drive my character process.
What part of the Shadowrun world I would like to learn more about, and what haven't I tried before.
I can't just read something and have it click.

So many of the characters I have used have been to understand the Shadowrun world.
Others, like Silver Tongue, were because my interest was peaked at the idea.
Pity what happened to him.

If all else fails, I have a stack of books.
I flip to a random page, and use that as a prompt.

[GloriousRuse]

I tend to go thusly to create interesting characters on the "it a better character if it seems more real" philosophy. You don't always have to do this, but sometimes it's nice to just think up a character instead of a pile of splat with flimsy character work ins.

1) When in doubt, use a mundane, core book character. Because if you're desperately trying to think up something cool-io, you're probably going to end up with a travesty of a special snowflake. Besides, less than .01% of 6th world is a Magic 6 whatever. It's always nice

2) What seems like a super common background for this sort of character? A well played "I was with the KE/Star, but got fired because of downsizing, or maybe I tried to skim off the top and it didn't work" or "I was an IT guy at a startup, it went under, the part time job as a fast food cook wasn't paying the bills, and lo...someone offered me a way to make money real fast" seems a lot more likely than "I escaped from a bio-lab for genetically altered test subjects who are the most awesome at awesoming". It also lets you focus on being a rel breathing, living, metahuman with a personality rather than a backstory or cultural stereotype.

3) Layer on a personality. Maybe three to four guiding principles. No more than two should stand out as unique. The others should just be things you would find in normal people.

4. You can do the crunch now.

[Teknodragon]

GloriousRuse, you hinted at a very important character hook in point #2: What is the character *bad* at doing?

While the 5E Incompetent negative quality is too broad for the hooks I used it for in yesteryear's edition, ask yourself why your character doesn't know how to do something (regardless of whether normal metahuman, wiz mage, or an uberchangeling). Perhaps they don't have the Blades skill because they cut themselves badly once, still have the scar, and are too careful with sharp things to fight properly. Maybe they drive like a little old lady on her way to church, or are too busy using their comlink to pay attention to the *crunch*. Survival, wilderness knowledge? Everyone knows you get food from the Stuffer Shack.

There's also odd quirks, things the character just won't do. I once played a character who absolutely refused to give up more than 3 essence to 'ware, even though she was mundane.

Also, what does your character believe about the Sixth World? Take a glance at some of the Shadowtalk or Jackpoint peanut gallery; who would they agree with, who would they disagree with?

What does your character do for fun? Would they rather dine at a five-star restaurant with the cream of society, sprawl at home with a Trid Dinner while watching a show, sit at a 'kaf shop with a good book, or roast something over a fire in the woods?

[Novocrane]

When in doubt, use a mundane, core book character. Because if you're desperately trying to think up something cool-io, you're probably going to end up with a travesty of a special snowflake.

While I find that's good advice to begin a character on (ie; understand the person you're creating before you lose them under / define them by uncommon options), I think the push to avoid 'snowflakery' does more damage to crafted personalities than it avoids.

[YellowJester]

I typically build my characters up from a piece of gear, spell, or other mechanic I find interesting. For my current character, Shark, I just started with wanting a shiny cyberskull. Then I realized I couldn't obtain one at chargen...unless it was used. From there, the background blossomed: who would actually use a preowned cyberskull? (Probably a ganger) How would they wind up needing one? (Motorcycle accident, maybe leading to Gary Busey-esque unhingedness) What does it look like? (Cracked but patched up, just like his personality)