1. How does your Character appear? How would you describe your character?

Are they
fat, thin, tall, short, average? What color are their eyes? How do they carry
themselves? Are they overbearing, quiet, observant? Are they insensitive? Do they cry
at the drop of a hat? How do others perceive them? How tall or short are they? Are
they human?
Before you ask, yeah Im half-Japanese, half-Irish. Physically, as you can probably tell, Im
not exactly an action star. Not the tallest or the biggest guy, but dont underestimate me.
Growing up different doesnt exactly make you popular in school; I guess what Im trying to
say is: I can still take a punch.
I generally wear business clothes. I dont see why we have to dress like criminals just cause
ya know uh we are criminals.

2. How does your character live? What lifestyle does your character enjoy? Do they
live on the streets or in a penthouse apartment? Do they live in a nice area of a bad
neighborhood or a bad area of nice neighborhood? Do they live in the slums? The ritz?
Did they rise or fall to their current station or were they born there?
Well I grew up in the Mitsuhama arcology here in Seattle. I lived there til I was 18.
Now that Ive gone off to school I live in the University District near UDub. Its a pretty cool
little apartment, the areas pretty safe, the management doesnt care too much if I turn up the
volume on the trid; not like Im living the high life though.
Im in pretty decent shape on finances, got a little money in the bank. Im not really in
it for the cash, but hey making some really big money and living large well, that doesnt
sound terrible either.
3. Is your character educated? Did your character ever go to school? High school?
College/university? Did they graduate? Were they good students? Did they know a lot?
Were they the nerd of their class? The class clown? The cool kid? Where did they go to
school? Were they from an educated family or were they the first?
Yeah, Im taking some computer science classes. They kind of suck though; they just
train you to be a good little IT drone. That is not what Im looking for. Unfortunately, due to

circumstances outside my control, I kind of have to continue my education. It isnt all bad
though, I guess. I mean the university does have resources and cool research. Plus, it gives
me an opportunity to show-up these so-called professors, most of em couldnt hack their way
into a Stuffer Shack node. Uh Speaking of which, Ive received a few disciplinary actions
taken against me. Not respecting faculty <rolls his eyes>. Why should I respect someone
clearly inferior to me?
4. Why is your character running the shadows? This is the big one. Why is your
character choosing a life of crime? While they're breaking the law, why are they doing
it? Is it the adrenaline? The money? The fame? The lifestyle? To torque off the corps?
Would they kill people? When would they are wouldn't they kill someone?
The only way Im going to push my skills to the next level is running. Yeah, my courses teach
me exactly how to build a good corporate matrix networkfrom oh maybe ten years ago.
The corps arent going to publish their cutting edge security techniques and the only way Im
going to see them is hacking into them. Might as well get paid for my trouble, right?
Something to be said for hacking under the gun too--I mean sitting in the Burnt Bean drinking
a latte isnt exactly a high-stress environment to do some electronic breaking and entering
from. Now when the bullets are flying; thats when youre really going to see how good of a
hacker you are.
5. 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 they
divorced or separated? Did you have siblings, cousins, uncles, and/or grandparents
that lived with you? Did you get along with them? Where are they now and what do
they do now? Do you keep in touch? When and how?
Well my dad was a Mitsuhama exec; he transferred over to Seattle from HQ in Kyoto in the
early 50s. Thats when he met my mom; she had been running from the crazy slot that went
down after Tir na Nog tried to kick the Catholics out. Now my dad wasnt exactly Mr. Popular
after they got married. The family was pissed, the corp wasnt pleased. I know here in the
UCAS yall are pretty much past the race thing, but MCT still holds to a little more traditional
viewpointnamely theyre kind of racist assholes. My dad kept getting passed over for
promotions, but I guess that didnt last long. They passed both my parents when I was
about 9. I really appreciate my uncle raising me though; unfortunately hes also at MCT, so it
meant 9 more years of me being an outsider in the arcology.
6. Who are your character's friends? Who does your character hang out with when they
aren't running? What do you do to wind down? Why do you hang out with those guys?
Do your friends know that you run? What do they do for a living?
Havent exactly been a social butterfly since I came to college. Most these guys are just idiots
playing pretend at being l33t computer geeks. They dont understand data flow, they dont
get the art of adapting dynamic protocols NOT just running some program scripts. <sigh>
General opinion seems to be Im an arrogant prick, but I just call em like I see em. I mean if
youre gonna claim to be an expert, you better be at least marginally competent, otherwise
youre just a slot with a nice link.
Grew up along with my cousin Akihito whos an awesome guy, hes definitely my closest
friend. Lucky for him hes not a half-blood like me, so he works at MCT now. Moving up the

ranks fast too. Guys got a gift for words and knows when to stay out and when to push in the
corporate politics game.
I got a few matrix buddies too. Andreis definitely my best trix friend though, met him a few
years ago when we were teenagers, we were both just dumb kids hacking matrix games and
stuff, but weve been friends for like 5 years now. Hes actually out of Boston. Guy can slice
through corporate networks like butter, swear its like he can smell paydata a node away.
Lately, hes been working for the Vory. Dont know exactly how that little arrangement will work
itself out in the long run, but so far they seem happy to keep the nuyen flowing as long he
gives them data they can sell.
7. What is your character's interests outside of running? What does your character do
when they aren't blowing things up? Do they collect art? Go to museums? Build
weapons? Go to truck expos? Buy clothing or upgrade their cars? Maintain
relationships with friends/family/contacts? Gamble? Paint?
Well I enjoy building tech stuff. I mean Ive been modifying commlinks and messing with all
the electronics around the arcology since I was like 12. Hilarious how much trouble you can
cause overlaying feeds from the Seattle zoo with the secure camera feeds at the corp.
Yeah luckily I never got caught on that one.
Objectively, I dont have a ton of interests outside the trix, most kids in the arcology didnt
want to be friends with the half-blood, so the matrix was my escape. Luckily, I know a lot of
cool stuff as result: I know the best matrix clubs on the wireless, where people hide their
secret data, places to buy paydata people already liberated, and lots of other neat little tricks.
Growing up in the arco, I know more than most about corporate workings, what the current
score is between the megas. Been talking to Andrei a lot about the Vory too, so Im getting a
better feel for exactly what it is those dudes do.
8. What does your character like? What does your character desire? Will running
somehow achieve their likes? Do they like something tangible (cars, beaches, etc), or
something that can't be bought (love, family, etc)? Are the things they like completely
different from what would be assumed?
I want to be the best and I want the respect that goes along with that.
And heres the situation: Im not gonna be the best studying a bunch of dry texts about
network design. The best spiders and whitehats the corps have are the ones they recruited
who broke through what was supposed to be a secure system. Seems to me: breaking the
law is the way to go.
Now youre not my psychologist or something, but yeah Im a little pissed at Mitsuhama. I
know Id never get anywhere in the corp since Im half-white. All the other kids, had jobs lined
up right out of school, they knew where they were going to work and die. The teachers took
this as a foregone conclusion for all of themwell all of them except me. I was the top of my
class in virtually every subject, but it still wasnt good enoughI still wasnt pure-blooded. If
they dont want clear talent, then I guess I have to find someone who does appreciate my
skills.

9. What scares your character? What is your character afraid of? Is it an idea? A type
of character? An action? A critter or animal? Losing their status? Why does that
particular thing scare your character?
Failure. If Im not the best, then all the people that have doubted me just cause Im a little
too white will have been right.
10. What is your character's biggest dream? What is the pinnacle of your character's
existence? What is the one thing they want to do/have/achieve before they die? Is the
dream obtainable?
Right now Im really excited about the possibility of hacking a real megas node. Ive been
working on my skills for years. Ive got the programs to back me up and I feel Im finally
almost ready. Now I know: hacking into a mega node is like walking into an enemy army by
yourself. If Im lucky, Ill only be outnumbered ten to one by corporate security. I think my
talents for creating chaos will skew things back to a more of a fair fight. Spoofing an attack on
their secure email server with one of my agents, rebooting a node and dumpshocking some of
their technomancers, reprogramming their servers cpu fans not to turn on til the core temp is
1200C: Now that just sounds like the best time Ive ever had.
11. Where is your character from? More than just a name, where was your character
born? Was it a rich area or poor area? Where do they consider themselves to be from
and what are their values? Are they from far away or nearby? If they live in Seattle,
which neighborhood?
Well I guess Im Seattle born and bred. Essentially, the arcology had everything we needed
shops, food, entertainment. Unfortunately, that meant we didnt exactly get out much. Hell it
took paperwork and guardian permission slips every time I left the arcology.
Oh yeah MCT taught us loads of values backed with loads of consequences were they not
followed. You know mom-and-pop, apple pie stuff: loyalty (to the corp), honesty (to the corp),
and bravery (in defense of the corp). And remember people: Loose lips sink quarterly profit
margins.
12. What is your character's name? What name were they born with and what are they
called now? Why are they called that? Was the name a joke, something serious,
something meaningful, something intelligent? Is their family name known?
Guess it wont hurt to be on a first name basis. Im Max, but recently the more common
nickname has been Zero.
Got the nickname my first semester at U of W. Got in a basic programming class that was
the most boring, remedial slot Ive ever suffered through in my entire life. The professor was
a complete idiot. He didnt even know how to make a script that can alter itself in response to
past user input. Despite a required attendance policy, I put up with it and I tried to respectful.
That is, until he was disrespectful to me.

Since the whole Computer Science department has wireless blocking walls to prevent
unauthorized outside access, the only way to access the trix is to go through the internal
system. Now due to policy, we arent exactly allowed to look at academically-unrelated
material during class. Not like I was learning anything though. So one day, I was cruising a
tech blog and my professor in the middle of the lecture calls me out. Apparently the professor
could access what were using the network for while were in class. He could have ignored it,
but he decided to be a dick about it and announce to the entire class that perhaps I should
stop looking at new toys for my commlink and join his inane discussion about using browse
programs.
I was going to get even. Luckily, each of us had to give a presentation and my turn was
coming up: Responsible Management of Matrix Resources in the Modern Age. So I started
out fine: talking about the Transys/Erika merger and the emergence of the wireless. Then I
moved on to efforts by corporations, governments and, of course, universities, to prevent
access to certain sites in order to improve productivity. I jokingly mentioned my own
difficulties with the temptation of accessing outside material during class. So I pointed out I
clearly needed a mentor and who better to teach me responsible matrix use than our great
professor. At this point, I posted to AR a huge list containing all the sites my professor had
accessed while using the university network. I had diligently highlighted particularly
embarrassing spots including reading comparative reviews on hemorrhoid cream and a
disturbing amount of adult sites featuring dwarven cheerleaders.
Needless to say, I received some disciplinary actions and somehow a very low project grade.
You guessed it: ZERO.
13. Has your character ever been married? Are they in a serious relationship? Have
they ever been? Are they divorced, separated, or estranged? What kind of relationship
is it? Is this someone they care about? A support structure? An advisor? An anchor?
Or someone that holds them back? Does the significant other know that the character
runs? If they do, what do they think about it? If they don't, how does your character
hide this fact?
<turns red> Uhh no I havent I dont have a girlfriend.
14. How old is your character? Why is your character running at this age? What have
they lived through that influenced them? Do they see themselves as teachers,
students, or outsiders?
Im 19. About time I got out and saw the world, right?
15. Does your character have a "real" job? How does the character balance their "real"
life and that of a shadowrunner? What is their real job? Does it bring in money? How
many hours do they work in their real job? What would happen if their secret life was
ever discovered? Who are the character's coworkers and how well do they know your
character?

School isnt a real job. I just have to show up to a few required lab classes and tests. I
imagine the University frowns upon shadowrunning as an extracurricular, but heres to hoping
they never find out.
16. What are your character's beliefs? Is your character religious? Which religion, if
any? Why do they believe that way? How do they see the world around them and how
do they perceive the other races?
Technology is the new religion. Religion has been promising people understanding and
power since the beginning of time. Technology has actually delivered on these promises-with the wonderful added bonus of no spiritual mumbo-jumbo. With the trix I can learn all the
facts ever discovered by science. With ware, a person can become smarter, faster, stronger
than any human in history.
17. 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 to
do on a run? What would they do for money? Under what situations would they kill
someone or let them live? Do they try to avoid death and destruction or do they thrive
on it?
A lot of folks just use moral systems to impede progressing in a way thats meaningful or
useful. Im not gonna walk down the street and shoot someone, but Im looking out for
number 1. I mean if I screw somebody over, but, you know, in a way that makes me a better
person or improves my skills; I think its pretty much the right thing to do. Philosophically, I
guess thats a brazenly hedonistic attitude, but, well, thats just how I feel.
On the other hand, I know who my friends are and Ill do anything for them. I do have a bit of
a trickster streak though, so dont be surprised if I pull a prank on someone who crosses me.
18. Would your character ever stop running? Would it take some horrific event? Would
they need a certain amount of money? Accomplish some task? Take out a person or
raise them to power? Do they have a higher purpose or will they always run?
Yeah, I would stop. I dont think anyone wants to see me at like 50 years old and trying to
outrun some security guards on a run gone wrong. I mean hopefully, Ill pull some big
dataruns and get a rep for being really fragging good. At that point, maybe some 6, 7 figure
offers to do some corporate security work, then its easy street.
19. Who would play your character in the Shadowrun Movie? Take into consideration
awesome makeup and special effects to make your character look just right.
Well not many half-Japanese actors out there, but I guess maybe Yu Shirota might be able to
pull it off. Hes half-Japanese, half-Spanish.

20. Why should other Shadowrunners 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 maglock, tell it Im the VP of operations and its time to
open up? Make the cameras think the place is empty while actually were slogging it out with CorpSec
or KE? I know hardware like the back of my hand.
Basically, I know I dont have rep as an experienced runner, but Ive been doing the same stuff that
youre going to ask of me for years now.