pentaj2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> OK.
>
> After posting the topic at
> http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=15312,
and reading
> responses there, I'm left with a pressing
> question.
>
> Why the heck would anyone become a shadowrunner?
>
> That character, I grant, is meant as a version of me, idealized in
> that he didn't screw up college (I'm scraping through with a 2.x GPA)
> and doesn't have any disabilities or the effects thereof on
> personality/outlook. (I basically start characters like this, which I
> acknowledge are versions of me (named after me, even), by
> asking "change x parameters. What sort of effects would that have on
> the development of personality, etc?" They're usually meant to (re)
> introduce myself to a setting, in this case Shadowrun, which I haven't
> really roleplayed in for years.)
>
> So I built from, basically, my cir***stances. Sent him to college, and
> figure he'd do rather better. (If you looked at my HS grades, even
> freshman year of college, you'd figure me for a 3.0+ GPA student. Not
> what happened.)
>
> So, he becomes a cop...With KE, not the Star, because KE pays better,
> KE just plain feels more professional. (I imagine LS as being 1950s-
> 60s era "professional" cops; Not necessarily educated, mostly relied
> on intimidation, not really involved in the community. Whereas KE is
> 1980s-current style cops; Better educated, more likely to be
> proactive, using things like community policing and so forth. Reason
> LS has more contracts is that KE's style of doing things costs more.
> However, KE is more in favor in middle-class places and higher, and
> even some whole cities, because of the difference in approach.)
>
> He likes patrol, has some success as sort of the informal "juvenile
> cop", with a lot of community policing stuff. But there's a bit of an
> adrenaline junkie in him, so that (plus the prospect of being posted
> closer to where he grew up) pulls him to SWAT.
>
> And....here's where I have trouble.
>
> I can't see this character going dirty. So the way I figured it, his
> SWAT unit got nailed in an audit because the commander, who was
> basically my character's mentor, was bending the funding rules. Not
> embezzlement, just not following every subclause of the budgeting
> regulations. Everybody does it, normally it's a slap on the wrist, but
> this Lt had made an enemy out of a junior exec type; bit of a
> maverick, see.
>
Another way to see it is if while on duty he harmed the "wrong" person,
maybe he saw someone attacking someone else and intervened. The only
problem is that the person had a lot of pull, much like the child
molester in Sin City, and got the character thrown off the force and
maybe prosecuted. He didn't do anything wrong but now he has no job, no
way to get another legitimate job, and still has to live.
> So they're all split up.
>
> I pause here and ask: Does this make sense?
>
> My character, unfortunately...He's 30. He's the new kid, only been on
> the unit about a year or two, maybe 3 years, tops. Everybody else has
> influence they can use to pull themselves to another job in KE; He has
> none. No enemies, but no friends besides those he served with, really.
> So he's the victim of attrition during a cutback in 2070.
>
> OK, so he's jobless. Separated on good terms, but still.
>
> But, still. Why would he become a shadowrunner? (I know, maybe it
> means I should go with another character concept, but...Eh, I dunno.
> Something in me feels stubborn.)
>
> Why would *anybody* become a shadowrunner, actually?
>
>
>
|
