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Two Ways to Build a Runner Worth Remembering
Think about your favorite movie. Or book, or trid, or whatever it is you’ve watched way too many times (for me it’s a tie, and I’m not telling you between what). Now think about the hero. I’m betting they’re messed up somehow. Maybe a lot. The heroes that stick with us usually are, and I think that goes double for runners, because I can name you every broken runner I’ve ever played with, and I can’t remember a single one of the “perfect” ones. So I’m going to go over the two ways I like to build a broken character, and how to drop them into the Sixth World.
Formula 1: Personal Demons
This is the runner who is definitely not the good guy. They’ve got something ugly going on, like they’re greedy, or mean, or they’ve hurt people, maybe killed people, and either they’re going to get past it or it’s going to get them killed. This is like the oldest trick in the book, and it works because a redemption story only means something if there’s something to redeem.
Darth Vader is the best example ever. He is about as bad as bad gets, so really there’s only two ways his story can end. He dies a bad guy, or he dies a good guy. And I know, I know, “but he’s a bad guy, Charisma.” I’m not telling you to go play a Sith Lord (please don’t, my Johnsons are scared enough already). I’m saying it’s how far he goes, from where he started to where he ends up, that makes him so memorable. That’s the whole trick. How far they go.
Honestly, Shadowrun is kind of built for this. The corps treat people like inventory, and everyone on the street has had to do something they’re not proud of just to get by. So maybe your runner is a street sam who only cares about the nuyen, and doesn’t really care who gets hurt. Or an ex-corp wage-mage who did some awful stuff for a paycheck. Or a merc who’s only on the team because the Johnson’s paying, and they don’t even like anybody. Or maybe they don’t have a choice at all, because if they walk away it’s a corp holding cell, or worse.
Now, you can’t just decide your runner is redeemed in session three. It doesn’t work like that. What happens is the table happens to them. They make friends, they lose friends, a run goes totally sideways, somebody on the team takes a bullet that should have been theirs, and eventually they hit a point where they have to pick. As the GM, I’ll get you to that point. Which way you go is all you.
There is one thing you HAVE to have, though. We need to see something in there worth saving. Vader was a sweet kid who got used, and he was a dad, so we always knew there was good in him somewhere. Give your runner one soft spot. A little sister in the Barrens. A friend they’d never admit they’re loyal to. A line they just won’t cross, no matter how much the Johnson is offering. That’s what gets the rest of the table to care about them, and when the table cares, you’ve got a runner people remember.
A few I like: Han Solo, who wasn’t coming back for anybody, until he did. Jayne from Firefly, who learns loyalty, slowly (like, so slowly). Snake Plissken, who you know I love. And the runner who sold out their old crew years ago, and has been trying to make up for it on every run since.
Formula 2: Hindered Heroes
Okay, this one is my favorite to play. Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon is a great cop, a really great cop, but he’s also about one bad day away from losing it completely, and that’s why he’s fun to watch. Superman’s cool and all, but nobody is worried about Superman.
So I’m not asking for a super-character with one weak spot. That’s just kryptonite, and that’s not really roleplaying. I’m asking for something that makes your runner different, something where you can say “yeah, I’m good, but I’m even better because I have to work twice as hard for my nuyen.”
Axel Foley is a street cop who is way, WAY out of his jurisdiction. Daredevil can’t see. The Hulk has some anger management issues, to put it nicely. Robin Hood has the sheriff after him every single day. John Constantine is basically just tired of being alive. See what I mean?
Shadowrun gives you a ton of these for free. You could be a street sam with so much chrome that their Essence is running out, and their humanity right along with it. A mage who’s always one spell away from a really bad day. An ork or troll, which, in the Sixth World, means people judge you before you open your mouth. A decker who can’t quit their habit. Somebody SINless, with no safety net, nowhere to go. Or a runner with a burned rep and a corp after them that is never, ever going to let it go.
And yes, 5th and 6th both have Negative Qualities for this kind of thing, and you should totally take them, free karma is free karma. But it doesn’t have to be a rule. Usually it isn’t. Your runner could be a mean drunk. Or covered in really ugly scars. Or a little bit crazy. Or loyal to a fault (that one gets people killed, by the way). Even the power-gamers at your table should try this, because the hindrance is where all the good stuff happens. Just make sure it actually comes up. If it never comes up, it’s not really a hindrance, and nobody remembers the runner for it.
A couple quick things before you go make one
Tell your GM! Seriously. I can’t use something I don’t know about. If you give me the hook, I promise I will pull on it.
Let it hurt. If your demon never makes things worse and your hindrance never slows you down, then what was the point?
And your runner can be a jerk, but you can’t. Remember, it’s a group of five getting together to have fun, not four plus one.
Or, both!
If you really want to go for it, do both. I had a player once make a decker who used to work Renraku security, and part of her job was making a whistleblower disappear, and she got a bonus for it. She quit, they burned her SIN, and now she’s running with the same kind of people she used to hunt. Oh, and every month she sends an anonymous credstick to the whistleblower’s kid. I would have followed that runner anywhere. Well, maybe not anywhere. She was kind of a liability.
So pick your demon. Pick your hindrance. Or pick both, if you’re brave. Being the underdog has its rewards. Mostly bruises, but some rewards too. Wait, that’s not very encouraging. Oh well.
Image from Masahiro Miyagi.