No, I don't expect you all to read all of this, but since we're being open, this is the (original) background. Age is being down-tweaked a little, and location info will need to be tweaked -- he was set up for the Redmond Barrens and access to the Rat's Nest region. I'm going with 90k starting resources (10 points) since that's what I had when I first made him. Summary for those who don't want to read the next several paragraphs if backstory -- He's (probably still) a rigger (this was originally to bypass problems with handling RC cars and mini-copters in game and give him some scouting abilities -- could be dropped). He plays with toys that look like weapons and weapons that look like toys. He hates racists and will attack anyone displaying racist behavior irrationally (though not necessarily openly -- he's into sneak-attacks). He's very small and could easily be mistaken as 5-10 years younger than he actually is (depending on final age, probably 15-17). He has a younger sister, no parents. He has agoraphobia. He'll probably be the techie and if I can keep it in, he'll know some chemistry and demolitions. He is not good in a stand-up brawl and tends to run when given the option.
I don't mind feeding ghouls anyone we kill in the normal line of work, but I'd rather not have us going out to kill random people. Gang fight -- sure, anyone we take down we bring over. Someone bothers one of the people we protect, we kill him and he goes to the ghouls. But no go out and find some random innocents to frag just to have some fresh meat to bring over. I'd prefer to do the neighborhood protection racket, possibly low-key drugs and BTLs, maybe some security, maybe some sabotage/harrassment/distraction shadowrun-style work (you know, the stuff 'Runners hire gangs to do for them).
-- Background follows
Gunter Spielzeugmann (Yes, the last name is literally Toyman...) has had a comparatively easy life in the Barrens. By easy, I mean he hasn't been beaten on daily. His family was poor, with his mother dying shortly after the birth of his youngest sister and his father being a drunk with very few jobs prospects. Because of this, Gunter got very little in the way of food during those critical years of growth, and has ended up staying fairly small. He barely tops 4 feet and has never been one to command the attention of room with his physical prowess (from a reasonable distance, he still looks like a young boy). Instead, he survived by running and hiding most of the time.
Since he never fully grew up, it isn't surprising that he still loves his toys. Those toys are all he's ever had in life, and he protects many of them as fiercely as he does his remaining sister (subject to GM approval
), who also happens to be about the only person he actually gives a damn about. The rest of his family died in a fire set by one of the local Humanis offshoots because most of that building was 'contaminated by meta-human filth'. He and his sister had been out at the time, and Toyman arrived back in time to see those responsible shooting those who tried to run from the inferno. He plotted his revenge, but it was stolen from him by an all Ork gang who had lost a few buddies in the blaze. An all troll group once chased him into a large parking lot, surrounding him and giving him no path to escape, no place to hide. After being badly beaten, he managed to grab a grenade off the belt of one of the trolls and used it to blast a hole through which he escaped into narrow alleys and finally hid from the trolls by crawling through a series of partially collapsed buildings. These events conspired to leave him with a slightly damaged psyche... He now wishes to get revenge on all racist groups, and even those who don't meet up to his own personal code of decent behavior, desiring to burn them as they burned his family.
The scars of his past manifest in other ways... Toyman has trouble interacting with many adults, though he is unusually good with kids. He also seeks his escapist world of games, online personas and well-behaved robots whenever he has the time available. In fact, when he cannot enjoy his games every day he gets agitated and will often get distracted just thinking about what he'll do next time he gets to play. Additionally, his experience in the wide open of the parking lot left him witha mild case of agoraphobia. This distracts him whenever he feels there is no place where he can run to hide. Therefore, a normal street with alleys running off is fine, but a spacious hanger might trigger his discomfort. Essentially, any wide-open region may cause him to panic (I made this an uncommon phobia, since it isn't likely he'll end up in, say, the desert, and there aren't too many giant empty parking lots or fields around the Barrens). Whenever given the option, he will automatically avoid these regions as much as possible, and in fact he knows many alternate routes that allow him to remain in smaller alleys and allow him to crawl through various buildings. This fear doesn't seem to apply, however, when he is not present in the location physically (it does not manifest when he plays games, or when he is rigging a drone or enclosed vehicle in parking lots).
Shortly after the run in with the Trolls, Gunter picked up with the gang (or at least the beginnings of it, or a similar gang, depending on other backgrounds and how they mesh), his intelligence allowing him to rapidly pick up many of the tricks of the trade. When he wasn't on the street dealing BTLs, one of the gang's contacts, a street chemist known only as Powderkeg, taught him to mix explosives for the gang in exchange for also mixing for him as well. Powder keg is a large man with a long fuse but an explosive temper (hence his moniker). Gunter still keeps in touch with Powderkeg and buys most of his chemical supplies through him.
One of the first times his psychotic break evidenced it self occured a month or so after he joined the gang, and was probably one of the few truly good things to happen in Gunter's life. One night closer in to Touristville he saw a go-gang of six humans run a car with a dwarf and his two kids off the road. Getting off their bikes, they pulled the dwarf from his car. Instead of walking away, Gunter snapped. He crept forward while the dwarf fought to protect his children, and got up to the bikes without being seen. By now the dwarf had been overwhlemed, though the punks had all taken a beating. The children were also pulled from the car and three of the humans held them up against a wall. The others stood back as the leader took careful aim and shot the father in the leg, just above the knee. The man crumpled and his children sank into whimpering piles. The ones holding backed off now while Gunter tried to find anything useful... inside the bike's saddle bag he found his salvation, a grenade and a machine pistol... The leader shot the father's fore-arm when he tried to push himself up, and then aimed at one of the kids. Gunter rose up and threw the grenade into the pack, which blasted all of them badly and completely incapacitated 4. He opened up with the pistol, taking out another but ran out of bullets in the attempt. The final one had risen and began running away. Gunter got on the bike and rode him down, smashing the bike into his back.
When Gunter returned to the dwarven family, the man thanked Gunter for his help. He also introduced himself as Erik Werner, a mechanic. He gave Gunter his business card and told him to stop by in a few days, if he could, but to leave before DocWagon and LoneStar showed up... Gunter took off, but did go to meet the man later. The dwarf thanked him again and offered his services as a mechanic at a low rate... Since Gunter didn't have any sort of vehicles yet, he declined. Not put off, Erik asked if Gunter would help out until his hand had healed. Gunter agreed (extra cred was always good) and began to pick up all sorts of useful skills for vehicle repair. The two became fairly friendly until his hand healed, and he has been willing to help Gunter ever since.
Erik is now a more distant contact, but still offers Gunter his services as a legal mechanic to obtain a lot of parts without Street Index for him. Since his shop is in Touristville, Erik runs a side business as a Shadow-Mechanic and has equal access to items that are not so legal. He also arranged for Gunter to get the VCR installed, along with the other cyberware. He initially got a chipjack to help him with his chemistry and to aid him with his B/R skills (he knew how to move his hand to screw things together, but not where necessarily). He has since outgrown the need for these in most cases, but often uses Memory Chips as data/knowsofts (ones that can be erased and have new info downloaded) with designs in them when he works on his toys.
When Gunter has free time which is spent with his sister or making toys, he often tries to get out to the Rat's Nest to find spare parts. On one of these forays he met and befriended anouther scrounger who goes by the name Chu. His real name is Matthias Schumacher, but his nickname came from some of the japanese scroungers who think he looks like a mouse. He usually can find what Toyman needs fairly quickly, since he spends most of his time in the Rat's Nest. He also often knows when people who aren't regulars are poking around the Nest.
Gunter still plays with his toys (as previously mentioned). In fact, he's been known to treat large portions of life like a game. Many of his weapons resemble toys (and are usually even usable in that fashion). The Toy-Weapons he has had in the past include:
Aerodynamic Frisbee Grenades (Treat as regular aerodynamic, I guess)
Hand-Coptor Flash Grenades (Treat as regular for distance, grenade hangs in air longer than usual)
Bouncy-Ball Concussion Grenade (the rubber acts like gel rounds such that the overall effect is the same as a standard grenade. Range can be increased by bouncing the grenade at the cost of increasing scatter as well. All grenades of this type are timed only)
Plastique Soldiers (They're not dolls, they're action figures! And don't stick them in a power outlet...)
Caltrop Jacks (played with bouncy ball grenade)
Rechargeable Flash-Pak Matchbox Cars (sides flip open to reveal strobe lights, can hold 2 sides down for a directed hand-held effect. It can continue rolling after being activated and th eeffect can be timed or near-instant, allowing it to be rolled into a room before it starts flashing or simply held up and flashed. Recharge takes 1 hour hooked into a standard outlet. New bulbs are needed (half-cost of full flashpak) every X uses).
Metal Playing Card Throwing Stars (hold the hand you're dealt carefully...)
Poison-Soaked Nerf Balls
His affection for his toys has spread to the local kids as well. He now has a few who regularly visit him to have toys repaired, get new toys and to just hang out. He occasionally goes out and plays with them. They also bring him interesting items they find, and are usually willing to part with information after a little prodding.
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Feel free to suggest additional toy-weapons.
