7/23/2019 zeros20qs

1/7

1. How does your Character appear? How would you describe your character? Are theyfat, thin, tall, short, average? What color are their eyes? How do they carrythemselves? Are they overbearing, quiet, observant? Are they insensitive? o they cryat the drop of a hat? How do others perceive them? How tall or short are they? Arethey human?

Before you ask, yeah Im half-Japanese, half-Irish. Physically, as you can probably tell, Imnot exactly an action star. Not the tallest or the biggest guy, but dont underestimate me.ro!ing up different doesnt exactly make you popular in school" I guess !hat Im trying tosay is# I can still take a punch.

I generally !ear business clothes. I dont see !hy !e ha$e to dress like criminals %ust causeya kno!& uh& !e are criminals.

!. How does your character live? What lifestyle does your character en"oy? o theylive on the streets or in a penthouse apartment? o they live in a nice area of a badneighborhood or a bad area of nice neighborhood? o they live in the slums? #he rit$?id they rise or fall to their current station or were they born there?

'ell I gre! up in the (itsuhama arcology here in )eattle. I li$ed there *til I !as +.No! that I$e gone off to school I li$e in the ni$ersity istrict near ub. Its a pretty coollittle apartment, the areas pretty safe, the management doesnt care too much if I turn up the$olume on the trid" not like Im li$ing the high life though.

Im in pretty decent shape on finances, got a little money in the bank. Im not really /in

it0 for the cash, but hey making some really big money and li$ing large& !ell, that doesntsound terrible either.

%. &s your character educated? id your character ever go to school? High school?College'university? id they graduate? Were they good students? id they (now a lot?Were they the nerd of their class? #he class clown? #he cool (id? Where did they go toschool? Were they from an educated family or were they the first?

1eah, Im taking some computer science classes. 2hey kind of suck though" they %usttrain you to be a good little I2 drone. 2hat is not!hat Im looking for. nfortunately, due to

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

2/7

circumstances outside my control, I kind of ha$e to continue my education. It isnt all badthough, I guess. I mean the uni$ersity does ha$e resources and cool research. Plus, it gi$esme an opportunity to sho!-up these so-called professors, most of *em couldnt hack their !ayinto a )tuffer )hack node. h& )peaking of !hich, I$e recei$ed a fe! disciplinary actionstaken against me. /Not respecting faculty0 3rolls his eyes4. 'hy should I respect someoneclearly inferior to me5

). Why is your character running the shadows? #his is the big one. Why is yourcharacter choosing a life of crime? While they*re brea(ing the law, why are they doingit? &s it the adrenaline? #he money? #he fame? #he lifestyle? #o torque off the corps?Would they (ill people? When would they are wouldn*t they (ill someone?2he only !ay Im going to push my skills to the next le$el is running. 1eah, my courses teachme exactly ho! to build a good corporate matrix net!ork6from oh maybe ten years ago.2he corps arent going to publish their cutting edge security techni7ues and the only !ay Imgoing to see them is hacking into them. (ight as !ell get paid for my trouble, right5)omething to be said for hacking under the gun too--I mean sitting in the Burnt Bean drinkinga latte isnt exactly a high-stress en$ironment to do some electronic *breaking and enteringfrom. No! !hen the bullets are flying" thats !hen youre really going to see ho! good of ahacker you are.

+. Where is your character*s family? A character without a family is a bit unrealistic.Who are your parents and what did they do? Were you close to them? Were theydivorced or separated? id you have siblings, cousins, uncles, and'or grandparentsthat lived with you? id you get along with them? Where are they now and what dothey do now? o you (eep in touch? When and how?'ell my dad !as a (itsuhama exec" he transferred o$er to )eattle from 89 in :yoto in theearly *;2, so itmeant @ more years of me being an *outsider in the arcology.

. Who are your character*s friends? Who does your character hang out with when theyaren*t running? What do you do to wind down? Why do you hang out with those guys?o your friends (now that you run? What do they do for a living?

8a$ent exactly been a social butterfly since I came to college. (ost these guys are %ust idiotsplaying pretend at being *lAAt computer geeks. They dont understand data flow, they dontget the art of adapting dynamic protocols NOT just running some program scripts. 3sigh4eneral opinion seems to be Im an arrogant prick, but I %ust call *em like I see *em. I mean ifyoure gonna claim to be an expert, you better be at least marginally competent, other!iseyoure %ust a slot !ith a nice *link.

re! up along !ith my cousin ?kihito !hos an a!esome guy, hes definitely my closestfriend. ucky for him hes not a half-blood like me, so he !orks at (>2 no!. (o$ing up the

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

3/7

ranks fast too. uys got a gift for !ords and kno!s !hen to stay out and !hen to push in thecorporate politics game.

I got a fe! matrix buddies too. ?ndreis definitely my best *trix friend though, met him a fe!years ago !hen !e !ere teenagers, !e !ere both %ust dumb kids hacking matrix games andstuff, but !e$e been friends for like ; years no!. 8es actually out of Boston. uy can slice

through corporate net!orks like butter, s!ear its like he can smell paydata a node a!ay.ately, hes been !orking for the Cory. ont kno! exactly ho! that little arrangement !ill !orkitself out in the long run, but so far they seem happy to keep the nuyen flo!ing as long hegi$es them data they can sell.

-. What is your character*s interests outside of running? What does your character dowhen they aren*t blowing things up? o they collect art? o to museums? /uildweapons? o to truc( e0pos? /uy clothing or upgrade their cars? aintainrelationships with friends'family'contacts? amble? 2aint?

'ell I en%oy building tech stuff. I mean I$e been modifying commlinks and messing !ith all

the electronics around the arcology since I !as like +D. 8ilarious ho! much trouble you cancause o$erlaying feeds from the )eattle =oo !ith the secure camera feeds at the corp.1eah& luckily I ne$er got caught on that one.

Eb%ecti$ely, I dont ha$e a ton of interests outside the *trix, most kids in the arcology didnt!ant to be friends !ith the half-blood, so the matrix !as my escape. uckily, I kno! a lot ofcool stuff as result# I kno! the best matrix clubs on the !ireless, !here people hide theirsecret data, places to buy paydata people already *liberated, and lots of other neat little tricks.

ro!ing up in the arco, I kno! more than most about corporate !orkings, !hat the currentscore is bet!een the megas. Been talking to ?ndrei a lot about the Cory too, so Im getting a

better feel for exactly !hat it is those dudes do.

3. What does your character li(e? What does your character desire? Will runningsomehow achieve their li(es? o they li(e something tangible 4cars, beaches, etc5, orsomething that can*t be bought 4love, family, etc5? Are the things they li(e completelydifferent from what would be assumed?I !ant to be the best and I !ant the respect that goes along !ith that.

?nd heres the situation# Im not gonna be the best studying a bunch of dry texts aboutnet!ork design. 2he best spiders and *!hitehats the corps ha$e are the ones they recruited!ho broke through !hat !as supposed to be a *secure system. )eems to me# breaking thela! is the !ay to go.

No! youre not my psychologist or something, but yeah Im a little pissed at (itsuhama. Ikno! Id ne$er get any!here in the corp since Im half-!hite. ?ll the other kids, had %obs linedup right out of school, they kne! !here they !ere going to !ork and die. 2he teachers tookthis as a foregone conclusion for all of them6!ell all of them except me. I !as the top of myclass in $irtually e$ery sub%ect, but it still !asnt good enough6I still !asnt pure-blooded. Ifthey dont !ant clear talent, then I guess I ha$e to find someone !ho does appreciate myskills.

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

4/7

6. What scares your character? What is your character afraid of? &s it an idea? A typeof character? An action? A critter or animal? 7osing their status? Why does thatparticular thing scare your character?

Failure. If Im not the best, then all the people that ha$e doubted me %ust *cause Im /a littletoo !hite0 !ill ha$e been right.

18. What is your character*s biggest dream? What is the pinnacle of your character*se0istence? What is the one thing they want to do'have'achieve before they die? &s thedream obtainable?

Gight no! Im really excited about the possibility of hacking a real megas node. I$e been!orking on my skills for years. I$e got the programs to back me up and I feel Im finallyalmost ready. No! I kno!# hacking into a mega node is like !alking into an enemy army byyourself. If Im lucky, Ill only be outnumbered ten to one by corporate security. I think mytalents for creating chaos !ill ske! things back to a more of a fair fight. )poofing an attack ontheir secure email ser$er !ith one of my agents, rebooting a node and dumpshocking some of

their technomancers, reprogramming their ser$ers cpu fans not to turn on *til the core temp is+D

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

5/7

)ince the !hole >omputer )cience department has !ireless blocking !alls to pre$entunauthori=ed outside access, the only !ay to access the *trix is to go through the internalsystem. No! due to policy, !e arent exactly allo!ed to look at *academically-unrelatedmaterial during class. Not like I !as learning anything though. )o one day, I !as cruising atech blog and my professor in the middle of the lecture calls me out. ?pparently the professorcould access !hat !ere using the net!ork for !hile !ere in class. 8e could ha$e ignored it,

but he decided to be a dick about it and announce to the entire class that perhaps I shouldstop looking at ne! toys for my commlink and %oin his inane discussion about using bro!seprograms.

I !as going to get e$en. uckily, each of us had to gi$e a presentation and my turn !ascoming up# *Gesponsible (anagement of (atrix Gesources in the (odern ?ge. )o I startedout fine# talking about the 2ransysLHrika merger and the emergence of the !ireless. 2hen Imo$ed on to efforts by corporations, go$ernments and, of course, uni$ersities, to pre$entaccess to certain sites in order to impro$e producti$ity. I %okingly mentioned my o!ndifficulties !ith the temptation of accessing *outside material during class. )o I pointed out Iclearly needed a mentor and !ho better to teach me *responsible matrix use than our greatprofessor. ?t this point, I posted to ?G a huge list containing all the sites my professor hadaccessed !hile using the uni$ersity net!ork. I had diligently highlighted particularlyembarrassing spots including reading comparati$e re$ie!s on hemorrhoid cream and adisturbing amount of adult sites featuring d!ar$en *cheerleaders.

Needless to say, I recei$ed some disciplinary actions and someho! a $ery lo! pro%ect grade.1ou guessed it# KHGE.

1%. Has your character ever been married? Are they in a serious relationship? Havethey ever been? Are they divorced, separated, or estranged? What (ind of relationshipis it? &s this someone they care about? A support structure? An advisor? An anchor?:r someone that holds them bac(? oes the significant other (now that the characterruns? &f they do, what do they thin( about it? &f they don*t, how does your characterhide this fact?

3turns red4 hh& no I ha$ent& I dont ha$e a girlfriend.

1). How old is your character? Why is your character running at this age? What havethey lived through that influenced them? o they see themselves as teachers,students, or outsiders?

Im +@. ?bout time I got out and sa! the !orld, right5

1+. oes your character have a ;real; "ob? How does the character balance their ;real;life and that of a shadowrunner? What is their real "ob? oes it bring in money? Howmany hours do they wor( in their real "ob? What would happen if their secret life wasever discovered? Who are the character*s cowor(ers and how well do they (now yourcharacter?

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

6/7

)chool isnt a real %ob. I %ust ha$e to sho! up to a fe! re7uired lab classes and tests. Iimagine the ni$ersity fro!ns upon shado!running as an extracurricular, but heres to hopingthey ne$er find out.

1. What are your character*s beliefs? &s your character religious? Which religion, ifany? Why do they believe that way? How do they see the world around them and how

do they perceive the other races?

2echnology is the ne! religion. Geligion has been promising people understanding andpo!er since the beginning of time. 2echnology has actually deli$ered on these promises--!ith the !onderful added bonus of no spiritual mumbo-%umbo. 'ith the *trix I can learn all thefacts e$er disco$ered by science. 'ith *!are, a person can become smarter, faster, strongerthan any human in history.

1-. What are your character*s morals? Where does your character ;draw the line?;Who does your character defend and why? Who do they hate? What are they willing todo on a run? What would they do for money?

7/23/2019 zeros20qs

7/7

!8. Why should other 9hadowrunners want to run with you?

You want a guy who can hack any node you run up against? Ive been messing around MCT systems

since before the crash.

Looking for someone who can crack open a magock! te it Im the "# of operations and its time to

open up? Make the cameras think the pace is empty whie actuay were sogging it out with Corp$ec

or %&? I know hardware ike the back of my hand.

'asicay! I know I dont have rep as an e(perienced runner! but Ive been doing the same stuff that

youre going to ask of me for years now.