10 Character Backgrounds for Weird Cyberpunk Games

A glimpse of things to come! 10 character backgrounds for CHROMATIC SHADOWS, my in-progress weird cyberpunk RPG. (Photo by Drew Graham)

Urban Farmer

You’ve got a talent for growing things in the green places between the concrete and chrome. You’ve grown food on tenement rooftops, rigged auto-hydroponics in forgotten warehouses, and carved gardens out of abandoned lots. You’ve still got your little green patches tucked away here and there in the Sprawl. Any number of things could be ready for harvest at a moment’s notice.

• Skills- Survival, Mechanics

 

Scrapper

You’ve made a living by your skill at finding the most useful pieces of junk and crafting them together into something magnificent. Maybe you make fighting robots out of torn up forklifts and servo motors, or armored street-bikes from parts scavenged from nighttime junkyard raids. Your work is one of a kind, and you’ve built a loyal clientele that seeks you out to buy your latest creation.

• Skills- Mechanics, Perception

 

Street Chemist

You’re job was selling illegal chemicals to black market clients. Street drugs, toxic gas, hormonal cocktails--you’ve cooked it all in your back street lab. You have a good understanding of chemistry, lab protocols, and where to score questionable raw materials. You’ve still got enough equipment to stashed away to brew up a quick batch of amphetamines, HGH, or e coli.

• Skills- Science, Streetwise

Corporate Dirt Boy

You were an errand boy for the corporate masters, the scum at the bottom of the shark tank. When you weren’t fetching coffee, you were out scoring designer drugs,and high-end hookers for the next corporate party you weren’t invited to. The job was abusive and soul crushing, but they under estimated you. You’ve got a mental archive of inside dirt and plan on putting it to good use.

• Skills- Intimidate, Etiquette

 

Courier

In the age of instant data transmission there are still some messages that requires personal delivery. You were a courier, a highly trained information delivery agent skilled in navigating the urban maze. You’re trained in light modes of transportation that bypass busy streets, and urban obstacles. Boosted skateboards, hover-scooters, and light-blades are among the most popular. Whether your message was a letter, a data drive, or an intracranial memory chip, you guaranteed a fast and secure delivery.

• Skills- Athletics, Streetwise

 

Chop Shop Doc

Years of medical training and field work landed you in a back alley chop shop. You made a living peddling used cyberware and plucking the bullets out of hit men. Your practices may have been unethical but you were an essential service to the underground. When a runner or a gangster needed life saving surgery or just a quick limb replacement you were where they turned to first.

• Skills- Biotech, Knowledge

 

Media Influencer

Video pundit, simstim performer, social media celebrity– you’ve clawed out a career in the AR media hellsccape. You’re comfortable broadcasting your image, voice, and opinion across the matrix straight into the cortex of your fans. You’ve got a cult following on  the most cutthroat social media platforms, and have the inside track on the industry.

Skills- Perform, Etiquette

 

Rent A Cop

You were a roided up rent-a-cop who worked for a private firm. You might have busted up riots, patrolled a corporate facility or worked as a  bodyguard for a high-profile politician or exec. You have a solid understanding of brute force tactics, electronic surveillance systems, and security protocols.

Skills- Melee, Security

 

 

Failed Academic

You’re an ivory tower reject, who never get past the  elitist gatekeepers. You paid your dues teaching, researching, and writing but the university boards and publishers shut out your ideas and  shut down your career.  You still get your theories out through media back channels, and have made valuable contacts in underground intellectual circles.

Skills- Knowledge, Manipulation

 

Street Hustler

When it came to the cred-hustle, to the street game, you knew the score.  You got deep running cons,  and commiting fraud.  Maybe you landed with a hypergang, or a criminal cartel. Drug dealing, stim smuggling, theft, extortion—just a few of your many talents. It was a dangerous game. But you got out in one piece and left that life behind. Didn’t you?

Skills– Streetwise, Deception