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[Zyano]

Started playing a Face recently a Troll Face...

Literally...

But anyways... was hoping to get a little bit of insight from others that may have played a Face in general...

GM has me as the groups Corporate Liaison it seems but I have no real ties to anyone other than a promise of a cut if the group succeeds and an even bigger cut if I directly help them out...

Other than trying to play some sort of mediator any other angle I might try and look down to maybe add some character to my Troll?

[Ingo Monk]

Welcome to the Pub! 

A face is one of my favorite types of characters to play.  You may not be the best at everything, but you can sure get yourself out of a jam!  I would recommend you read up on Templeton "Faceman" Peck from the show The A-Team.  In fact, if you can find some episodes somewhere give them a good viewing too. 

As far as playing a face, I cannot emphasize Etiquette enough.  On top of high Charisma you must of Etiquette skills.  You can even specialize in certain areas of Etiquette (corporate, street, mafia, etc) if you wish.  Having background info will help in situations as well (corporate, security, gang, etc.). 

To have the most fun, you'll need to step away from "Roll Playing."  That is when you tell your GM "I'm going to convince the security guard to let me in" and roll some dice.  Instead, get into character and speak with the GM as the character (and the GM should respond back as the guard) and have a discussion.  You'll still need to roll obviously, but if you do it well enough the GM may lower the threshold... or maybe even not require a dice roll.

Good luck!
-Ingo

[kv]

First of all, welcome to the Pub!

Okay, so Face characters are a special kind of monster- a troll face is a difficult one to play, especially if your GM is using any of the normal shadowrun biases- anti-metahuman prejudice; especially when people see all trolls as bullet sponges, despite background- difficult, but not impossible to surmount.

I'd recommend a set of knowsofts, specialized software/cyberwear that can give you an edge in any negotiation where you're out of your depth. Everyone wants respect- but you show it differently to a Yakuza oyabun than you would to a mafioso, and both of those are quite different to a gang leader or a corporate suit.

Having the right set of manners for a situation can mean the difference between a deal or a dark hole.

Ingo's right on the money with Templeton Peck. You can also watch the new A-team movie, and get a sense for his role in the group- secondary decision maker, deal maker, information gathering- these are all duties that your face can fulfill in the group, too.

I would second what Ingo said about being willing to roleplay your smoothtalking- no GM wants to hear "I'm going to convince him... ooh, five successes, he totally does what I want!" Ask your GM for clues- ask if he's bored, or has a livefeed of a local sports team- asking a guard something like 'what's the score?' is the easiest way to break the ice and get through the door. Don't abuse it- there are times when talking just won't work, so I'd recommend having a backup plan; mine is a plastic throwaway stun gun- make sure you make skin contact before you squeeze the trigger.

A face character can be a lot of fun, but if you're not having fun with it, don't worry about it- Shadowrun is a great game for figuring out what makes the game fun for you- most people enjoy playing street samurai right out the gate, but maybe you're one of the lucky few who gets it right the first time. Please, let us know if our feedback is/was helpful.

  -kv

[Zyano]

After two games already some of the group thinks I talk IC little too much for the character but GM is really enjoying it given the extra Karma he has granted for my performances.  Already our adventure has us assaulting a burning building to find this unique glove and I decided while the more armed members went farther down in the facility I would loot some computer hard drives to try and sell later.  Technomancers sprite however took literal words and messing up all electrical devices in 5 block area.  Which did not halt the fire and lone star from showing up.  I was left to roll a difficult con against the Lone Star wanting my SIN which is legal. XD Thankfully the GM likes some umph with his rolls so 6's as he says exploded and depending how many sequential 6 you get gives your actions some flair.  Needless to say I ended up talking the 8 foot female troll sgt leading the assult into my limo for some much needed comforting for me the lowly new employee of the company trying to save company assests.  Got a really good contact out of it... just hope the rigger does not hook into the Limo to see where the hell im at. XD

Anyways, but yea Templeton is character I thought of since hes always there rubbing elbows.

SO my question is... how do I account for specifics with character build...

ie

I have a dice pool of 15 given add in all my intial bonuses how would I account for say Mafia Etiquette I seen something like that with the Gunslinger Adepts Luanguage skills (+2 street)

Does it effect the overall build ie I reduce DP to say 12 and have +3 Mafia?

Thanks for the info btw really is helpful.

[Zyano]

Amazing what I learned about tweaking Shadowrun at my fathers 1 year cancer free mark.  I had been wondering about that subspecialization as I now know it as being just at a cost of 2 Karma a bonus specialization bonus to the stat ie English 3 (Street +2)...

Oh the possibilities...

And officially GM is probably going to off me or ask me to self the character for another...

The draw backs for being like my father in the nit picking and tweaking of characters for an overpowering solution to problems XD

[Ingo Monk]

Specializations are great, they really help flesh out what a character is good at.  However keep in mind you're only allowed one specialization per active skill.  If you can specialize in 5 forms of English, they wouldn't really be specializations anymore, would they? 

[Zyano]

Be tripping over my tongue then... XD