Post by Mace Parshath on Jan 19, 2007 17:32:14 GMT -5
Basic Runner Types:
Faces: Charismatic individuals- they may be good looking, smooth talking, quick-witted, or just have a great force of personality. The face is usually the front-man at any meet and handles negotiations with Mr. Johnsons, dealers, info-brokers, and situations where legwork and networking is necessary. A face may be all natural, but more often than not they're augmented by bioware such as tailored pheromones.
Magicians: They use their force of will and the power of their beliefs to manipulate magic and control spirits. Magicians who have similar beliefs often gravitate to one another, adopting schools of thought known as traditions. Magicians of all traditions are able to cast spells and summon and bind spirits. Most can also perceive and project into the parallel mystic realm of astral space. Two magical traditions are common: Hermetic Mages and Shamans.
-Mages (Hermetics Magicians) are known for using thaumaturgical abilities in a scientific manner. To mages, magic is about knowledge and structure.
-Shamans are magicians to who magic is attunement with the forces of nature.
Adepts: They are the modern-day ninjas and berserkers, using to enhance their body's abilities. Adepts tend to be athletically oriented, with good stealth and combat skills.
Hackers: Characters that specialize in computers, accessing and manipulating data via the Matrix- Either using augmented reality or going full-bore and using virtual-reality to help them do their dirty work. Most hackers use customized computers called commlinks, often with personally written programs that manipulate the Matrix in ways beyond any sysop's intention. While illegally logged into the Matrix, hackers can search and sift through information of all kinds, tap phone calls, and disable and enable other systems at will. Most hackers are experts in cybercombat-a battle of skills and programs against other hackers or intrusion countermeasures (IC).
Riggers: A subset of hackers who focus on using and manipulating modern vehicles and drones. Many riggers are adept at controlling multiple drones at once and using them as "eyes and eats." Others excel at "jumping into" vehicles through full virtual reality, effectively operating as if they were etensions of their own bodies. Similarly, security riggers-typically known as spiders-interface with the sim-enhanced security systems built into the buildings and facilities. From this "web," the spider's reach spans the entire building, allowing him to see through sensors and mentally control security features like locks and hidden weaponry. For riggers looking for work on the sly, good smugglers are always in short supply, and piloting a T-bird across hostile borders or running BTL (Better Than Life) chips up on and down the coast can be profitable shadow-ops. If getting down and dirty with the classical and electronic guts of your ride is more your thing, you can take tech-wiz jobs to modify vehicles according to a client's )probably illegal) desires-a lucrative biz that also requires less travel.
Street Samurai: Physicallt-enhanced combat monsters. With implanted cyberware, bioware, and combat skills, they attempt to be the quickest, meanest, and strongest killing machines on the streets. Many of them cybernetically boost their reflexes to increase their action and reaction speeds, or boost their strength so that they can inflict more damage. Many are also lethal with firearms, and almost all have a smartlinksystem installed for increased precision in shooting. Some fight for honor, some because they get paid for it, and others because they're insane enough to go up against anything. Street Samurai is a catch-all term-some characters may identify themselves as bodyguards, mercenaries, assassins, or with similar labels, but in general a character based around physical skills and non-magical augmentation can be called a Street Samurai (or Sammie)-even if some of them don't like the implication.
Note: The basic runner types are just the tip of the iceberg and are not meant to define a set of character classes. Players can create many varieties of characters using the character creation rules. For example: a detective character who relieso n charisma and skill as opposed to cyberware, or a covert operations specialist who has all the gear and cyberware necessary to penetrate electronic defenses.
The Big 10 Megacorps:
Ares Macrotechnology
Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan, UCAS
Ares is sitting pretty after swallowing up a big chunk of former AAA Cross Applied Technologies following the Crash. Run by wealthy playboy Damien Knight, the corp has a reputation as a very "American" outfit: Gung-ho, militaristic, patriotic, and individualist-Mom and apple pie, in other words. Don't let that fool you-sure, they're one of the better megas to work shadow ops for, but keep your eyes open, because they're as underhanded as the rest.
Aztechnology
Headquarters: Tenochtitlan, Aztlan
If you've bought any kind of consumer goods recently, chances are you've contributed to Aztechnology's bottom line. This Aztlan-based megacorps produces everything from snack goods (60% of the goodies you find at your local Stuffer Shack come out of their factories) to chemicals to trideo-game software to military goods and magical supplies.. They've got their fingers in more pies than just about any other mega around (including the strategically important Nicaragua Canal, which took up the slack when Winternight trashed the Panama Canal), and their public relations campaigns are second to none. They've got a great rep-everywhere except in the shadows, that is. Too many years of association with nasty things like blood magic and evil conspiricies have seen to that.
<will add more later/>
Organized Cime:
Mafia: Stationed in every major UCAS city, they work in shipping and smuggling, extortion, laonsharking, hijacking, and gambling. Plus other less-than-legal activities.
Yakuza: Japanese criminal organization, the Yakuza demands unswerving loyalty from its members and punishes transgressions harshly. Its members-almost always male, Japanese, human-are usually identified with extensive tattoos on their bodies and missing pinky fingers (minor way of paying for failure). The Yaks mostly go for prostitution, gambling, drugs, and chips.
<will add more later/>
Gangs: Later.
Faces: Charismatic individuals- they may be good looking, smooth talking, quick-witted, or just have a great force of personality. The face is usually the front-man at any meet and handles negotiations with Mr. Johnsons, dealers, info-brokers, and situations where legwork and networking is necessary. A face may be all natural, but more often than not they're augmented by bioware such as tailored pheromones.
Magicians: They use their force of will and the power of their beliefs to manipulate magic and control spirits. Magicians who have similar beliefs often gravitate to one another, adopting schools of thought known as traditions. Magicians of all traditions are able to cast spells and summon and bind spirits. Most can also perceive and project into the parallel mystic realm of astral space. Two magical traditions are common: Hermetic Mages and Shamans.
-Mages (Hermetics Magicians) are known for using thaumaturgical abilities in a scientific manner. To mages, magic is about knowledge and structure.
-Shamans are magicians to who magic is attunement with the forces of nature.
Adepts: They are the modern-day ninjas and berserkers, using to enhance their body's abilities. Adepts tend to be athletically oriented, with good stealth and combat skills.
Hackers: Characters that specialize in computers, accessing and manipulating data via the Matrix- Either using augmented reality or going full-bore and using virtual-reality to help them do their dirty work. Most hackers use customized computers called commlinks, often with personally written programs that manipulate the Matrix in ways beyond any sysop's intention. While illegally logged into the Matrix, hackers can search and sift through information of all kinds, tap phone calls, and disable and enable other systems at will. Most hackers are experts in cybercombat-a battle of skills and programs against other hackers or intrusion countermeasures (IC).
Riggers: A subset of hackers who focus on using and manipulating modern vehicles and drones. Many riggers are adept at controlling multiple drones at once and using them as "eyes and eats." Others excel at "jumping into" vehicles through full virtual reality, effectively operating as if they were etensions of their own bodies. Similarly, security riggers-typically known as spiders-interface with the sim-enhanced security systems built into the buildings and facilities. From this "web," the spider's reach spans the entire building, allowing him to see through sensors and mentally control security features like locks and hidden weaponry. For riggers looking for work on the sly, good smugglers are always in short supply, and piloting a T-bird across hostile borders or running BTL (Better Than Life) chips up on and down the coast can be profitable shadow-ops. If getting down and dirty with the classical and electronic guts of your ride is more your thing, you can take tech-wiz jobs to modify vehicles according to a client's )probably illegal) desires-a lucrative biz that also requires less travel.
Street Samurai: Physicallt-enhanced combat monsters. With implanted cyberware, bioware, and combat skills, they attempt to be the quickest, meanest, and strongest killing machines on the streets. Many of them cybernetically boost their reflexes to increase their action and reaction speeds, or boost their strength so that they can inflict more damage. Many are also lethal with firearms, and almost all have a smartlinksystem installed for increased precision in shooting. Some fight for honor, some because they get paid for it, and others because they're insane enough to go up against anything. Street Samurai is a catch-all term-some characters may identify themselves as bodyguards, mercenaries, assassins, or with similar labels, but in general a character based around physical skills and non-magical augmentation can be called a Street Samurai (or Sammie)-even if some of them don't like the implication.
Note: The basic runner types are just the tip of the iceberg and are not meant to define a set of character classes. Players can create many varieties of characters using the character creation rules. For example: a detective character who relieso n charisma and skill as opposed to cyberware, or a covert operations specialist who has all the gear and cyberware necessary to penetrate electronic defenses.
The Big 10 Megacorps:
Ares Macrotechnology
Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan, UCAS
Ares is sitting pretty after swallowing up a big chunk of former AAA Cross Applied Technologies following the Crash. Run by wealthy playboy Damien Knight, the corp has a reputation as a very "American" outfit: Gung-ho, militaristic, patriotic, and individualist-Mom and apple pie, in other words. Don't let that fool you-sure, they're one of the better megas to work shadow ops for, but keep your eyes open, because they're as underhanded as the rest.
Aztechnology
Headquarters: Tenochtitlan, Aztlan
If you've bought any kind of consumer goods recently, chances are you've contributed to Aztechnology's bottom line. This Aztlan-based megacorps produces everything from snack goods (60% of the goodies you find at your local Stuffer Shack come out of their factories) to chemicals to trideo-game software to military goods and magical supplies.. They've got their fingers in more pies than just about any other mega around (including the strategically important Nicaragua Canal, which took up the slack when Winternight trashed the Panama Canal), and their public relations campaigns are second to none. They've got a great rep-everywhere except in the shadows, that is. Too many years of association with nasty things like blood magic and evil conspiricies have seen to that.
<will add more later/>
Organized Cime:
Mafia: Stationed in every major UCAS city, they work in shipping and smuggling, extortion, laonsharking, hijacking, and gambling. Plus other less-than-legal activities.
Yakuza: Japanese criminal organization, the Yakuza demands unswerving loyalty from its members and punishes transgressions harshly. Its members-almost always male, Japanese, human-are usually identified with extensive tattoos on their bodies and missing pinky fingers (minor way of paying for failure). The Yaks mostly go for prostitution, gambling, drugs, and chips.
<will add more later/>
Gangs: Later.