Merli Basmi Reloaded - Another Re-statted Character from the Night City PD Campaign

So seeing as the Winter post was such a huge hit.  I decided to get off my but and re-stat Merli, Winter's partner and fellow SIFT-Div detective.  For those of you were awaiting this and you know who you are.  There you go I'm a man of my word.  For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, I refer you to this link here.  So without further ado let me tell you about Merli.

I think Merli's player would appreciate the humour in his
character being portrayed by Will Smith.

Merli Basmi was born into a large Corporate family of Brazilian origin.  His parents worked for Biotechnica, and died when he was a child.  They were smart though and made sure that their children would be provided for in the event of their demise.  Merli and his siblings were raised in a Corporate creche for the rest of his childhood.  (In fact he became incredibly attached to one of the nannies working there seeing her as something of a surrogate mother.  She remains an important part of his life even though he is now an adult).  Merli possesses a genius level intellect and a doctorate.  Yet he chooses to work as a Detective for the Night City Police Department.  You read that right, not as a Forensics Specialist or Pathologist as a Detective.  He routinely does his own autopsies and lab work, rather than pushing the work onto the already overworked NCPD Crime Lab.  Needless to say he's regarded as something of an eccentric.  Nobody doubts his skills though, as he has proven himself a capable investigator in both Narco and Homicide.  He was a natural choice for a special unit such as SIFT-Div.

Merli has an interesting origin in terms of character creation.  Instead of playing a pre-gen since he was a first timer Merli wanted to generate his own character.  I remember it took up most of the first session of the campaign (and is partly the reason I now have a Session 0 policy), and took many a strange turn.  It started with me reading out the available roles for Cyberpunk 2020.  (This was before I stopped using the roles, and switched to more free-form style).  I figured he'd seize upon a Solo or a Cop, you know a combat role since that's what most first time RPG players want to do.  Is just kill stuff.  Nope, he decided he wanted to play the party's healer.  In this case that meant playing a MedTech.  Yeah it kind of threw me for a loop.  How do you explain a MedTech being part of a police unit?  It's not like they're Edgerunners who can't afford to explain to the hospital how they got shot.  It's a question that never really got answered and I just rolled with it to save myself the hassle.  The stuff about him being a Pathologist was more an explanation Winter's player and I came up with in between games.  That we never really remembered to share with Merli's player.  Everything about Merli was odd.  He actually had a +9 in Driving, why?  Your guess is as good as mine the player just wanted to invest the points that way.  He also didn't originally have any Cybernetics (due to the player wanting to actually play before the session was over).  The player actually ended up creating his own personality type for the life path for Merli.  Intelligent and outlandish.  It fit his as well as the jumpsuit he wore over his corporate business suit.  Like I said Merli was an odd guy.

Whoever made this poster could've made it about Merli's
work situation with SIFT-Div.

Yet in spite of all of that.  He was the one sane man in SIFT-Div.  May sound hard to believe but it's true.  His partner Winter was an ex-cyber criminal, not much better than a spoiled brat.  Who was so obsessed with Johnny Silverhand that she would've abandoned Merli if someone offered her a chance to go to a Samurai concert.  (An event that never came up in game, and for that I'm somewhat grateful).  Then you had the leader of SIFT-Div (whose name escapes me now) who was a Machiavellian schemer.  Who basically used SIFT-Div as his own personal hit-squad.  And was only able to get the unit because he blackmailed the mayor of Night City.  In hindsight Merli may have been crazy but you know compared to his colleagues he was the voice of reason.  Now while I said he was the voice of reason, that doesn't mean he didn't do some pretty dumb things in his career.  The crowning achievement being practically kidnapped by a drug-dealer and then being beaten by said drug dealer's cook with a rolling chair.  Now to be fair Winter was supposed to keeping an eye on him so she could tail the drug dealer and Merli after they left Club 404.  But that's a story for another time.

I'm actually quite happy with how Merli turned out this time around.  Other than some adjustments to his Social stats (COOL, ATTR and EMP) to fit his personality more and a boost in Reflex.  He's pretty much the same in terms of Stats.  As it turned out 2 Luck was the correct amount for him since he had a bad habit of getting the short end of the stick.  He was Murtaugh to Winter's Riggs.  I've also taken the liberty of giving him the Cybernetics he was missing in his first incarnation.  Which I gotta say was kind of hard to do.  Since R. Talsorian seemed to make Cyberware more with Solos and Netrunners in mind than MedTechs.  His skills have also been adjusted to better suit his police training.  Most notable being the addition of the Rifle skill.  Much to my regret Merli and Winter were issued a shotgun for some additional firepower which was constantly being left in the stake-out van.  Due to the fact that neither of them had the skill to use it.  As I mentioned before he's gotten a little bump in his Reflex stat so he'll be a bit more combat effective.  Since more often than not he was the primary combatant in the partnership.  Largely due to the fact that the person who planned to play a Solo dropped out before the first session even started.  I've also given him the Nightmares disadvantage to reflect an event on his life path regarding an accident he had.  An accident that I don't remember ever being specified.

Merli Basmi

INT: 10  REF: 7/7 TECH: 8  COOL: 7  ATTR: 8  LUCK: 2  MA: 6  BODY: 5  EMP: 7

RUN: 18  LEAP: 4.5  LIFT: 200  SAVE: 5  BTM: -2
DAM: +0  REP: 3 (Just an eccentric Cop trying to do his job)

Alienation Check: 7  Skill Points: 62

Skills: Awareness/Notice +5, Biology +6, Bureaucracy +3, Chemistry +4, Diagnose Illness +6, Drive +3, Education & General Knowledge +4, Expert: Forensics +3, Handgun +5, Human Perception +5, Interrogation +5, Know Language: English +8, Know Language: Portuguese +8, Library Search +2, MedTech +2, Persuasion & Fast Talk +5, Rifle +2, Streetwise +2

Advantages:
Bilingual Background 4 SPs

Disadvantages:
Close Personal Tie (Former Nanny) -2 SPs
Nightmares -2 SPs

Cybernetics:
Cyber Optics (with Image Enhancement, Micro-optics, LowLite, Infrared) 3  2430 EB
Chemical Analyzer                                                                                         4  200 EB

Gear: 
Concealable Armoured Vest (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
Shoulder Holster
Armalite 44 Semi-automatic Pistol (equipped with 911 chip, cookie cutter and gun cam)
Street-tech "Burst"
2 spare magazines of 12mm ammo
Badge, Police ID (Acts as a marker for NCPD cookie cutters)
Officer in Distress Button (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
2 sets of Plascuffs
Evidence Kit
Notebook
Medkit

Anyways that about wraps it up.  I'm very happy and proud of my work here.  I feel so much better about this version of Merli compared to how I felt when we first rolled him up.  Lately I've been thinking about re-statting and roughly detailing some NPCs as well as the first adventure from the NCPD campaign.  Which I ran Merli and Winter's players through.  If you'd like to see that be sure to +1, re-share, follow this blog and comment down below.  Until next time have a nice day and may you roll many crits.

Winter Hyland Remastered - A Re-Statted PC from Night City PD Campaign

So today I thought I'd do something different.  Rather than a writing about a campaign idea I may have had or character concept I'd thought up.   I thought I'd tell you about an old Campaign I once ran and one of the PCs that was involved in that game.  It was back in High School I had just left my first gaming group and struck out on my own.  With the intention of playing games other than Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.  I'd run a few games of Boot Hill (which was my first non D&D love when it came to Tabletop RPGs) but those had been poorly received.  Clearly the group I started out with enjoyed Roleplaying for different reasons than I did.  So I made the decision to start my own group and run games with them.  Not an easy task at a Catholic High School in a small town in Canada.  It wasn't exactly a breeding ground for players.  Somehow I did manage to get something that resembled a group together.  Though a large part of the recruitment was done by the one friend I'd been able to talk into playing with me.  The rest of the group was made up of co-workers and acquaintances of hers.  In the end it ended up only being her and one of her co-workers that actually played for long.  (One actually left after character creation and never came back, the other never showed up to character creation and proved to be a problem player when he did finally show up.  The single friend from high school who I'd recruited's brother showed up for one session.  Only to get his character's arm blown off by his own grenade!)

This is basically what I had in mind when I was thinking up
this campaign concept.

Now what was the campaign you ask?  Well around this point of my life I was watching a lot of Countermonkeybard videos.  Specifically the ones about Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun.  The idea of playing augmented cyber-criminals intrigued me.  Of course as you may have noticed I never do things the easy way or the way it was intended.  Also around this time I really into Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (I didn't see the Film until my later teens/early twenties).  It was pretty much the only contact I'd had with Cyberpunk as a genre.  And if I'm honest it's kind of a bad starting point.  Since now being more educated on the subject I'd call the GITS franchise more Post-Cyberpunk.  But I'm rambling, point is I decided that I wanted the campaign to be about Cyber-cops rather than Cyber-criminals.  Specifically a special task force within the Night City Police Department known as SIFT-Div.  (I no longer remember what SIFT was supposed to stand for).  It was supposed to be kind of along the lines of a unit that didn't get tied down by red tape and got results.  I actually had a plot line in mind that never got explored about how the NPC head of SIFT-Div (the PCs' boss) had gotten dirt on the Mayor of Night City and blackmailed him into approving the creation of the unit.

While this image looks nothing like Winter
it does pretty much sum up her approach to
life.  Being a bratty, angst-filled college
drop-out, know it all.  Poking her nose
where it didn't belong.

I'm getting side-tracked again, sorry about that.  I'm supposed to be talking about the character not the campaign overall.  So the character was Winter Hyland the daughter of a Microtech technician.  With a promising future awaiting her in the field of Computer Science when she graduated.  What happened you asked?  She tired of paying off her tuition with money earned tutoring dumb Corp kids.  So she turned to a life of Cyber-crime, stealing money from various places on the net.  She built quite a reputation for herself as the Hacker known as a Lady Cypher.  So-called because of her avatar's appearance as a Victorian era aristocrat with a face of ever-shifting green code.  In hindsight Winter really wasn't much of a hacker, her reputation owed mostly owed to her prolific activities and pure dumb luck.  Her crowning achievement was infiltrating the ZetaTech data fortress.  Her last crime before she was picked up by NCPD's NetSec Department.  She was looking at jail-time if the head of SIFT-DIV (who was in need of a computer specialist) hadn't stepped in to place her under his authority.  It was either work for the NCPD or go to jail, some choice.

Back when we first started this campaign Winter's player didn't know anything about role-playing.  So the approach to character creation went something like this.  I gave her the campaign pitch and told her what kind of roles I had in mind for the SIFT-DIV team.  Then gave her the option of calling dibs on one of the roles listed.  She immediately went for a Netrunner/Tech hybrid.  (Back then I was using the Interlock Unlimited from over at DataFortress 2020.  Which allowed for hybrid role characters.  I've since done away with the Role System in my campaigns).  Rather than rolling the character herself she left that in what she referred to as "your capable hands".  I went home created a character then came back the next day and showed it to her.  She was instantly in love.  I actually wrote up a little biography for Winter which I'm still very proud of.  If you're interested I managed to dig out the original document from my files and upload it to my GoogleDocs.  Despite the fact that I imagined her as sort of a Cyberpunk version of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  (The Lifepath results for look & style as well as a personality of moody and rash were really pointing towards it).  The character sort of took on a life of her own when the player got ahold of it.  She developed into a huge Johnny Silverhand fan.  (After the player read some quotes by Mr. Silverhand in the Core Rulebook when she finally got around to reading it).  In hindsight Winter probably would've worn a bunch of Silverhand and Samurai patches on her leather jacket.  Proudly displaying her allegiance, not unlike what a metalhead friend of mine calls a battle jacket.  Her fascination with the Rockerboy came to the point of obsession.  (She very easily could've gone the direction of obsessed fan that every musician lives in fear of).  She once actually only went out with a guy because he could get tickets to a Samurai concert on very short notice.

Anyways all this reminiscing about the old days got me going back through the old files.  And I realized how much of a mess Winter was in terms of stats.  I clearly had no idea what the hell I was doing when I made her for her player.  (Keep in mind I was 17 and new to Cyberpunk).  Now that I'm older and have my gaming style a little more established.  I thought it'd be fun to go back and revamp the character a little.  Using the character creation method that I currently use for my campaigns.  (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I refer you to this link).  Overall I'm quite happy with how the new version of Winter turned out.  She's a great deal more rounded out than when I first built her.  (She actually has a believable level of training in firearms for a Criminal turned Cop in a special unit.  She can somewhat handle herself in a fight with minimal skill.  And she has enough skill in Drive to have a license.  Something she lacked when she was first built).  She also has social stats more in keeping with her personality.

Winter Hyland

INT: 9  REF: 6/6  TECH: 9  COOL: 4 ATTR: 7  LUCK: 7 MA: 6 BODY: 6  EMP: 6/5

RUN: 18  LEAP: 4.5  LIFT: 240 SAVE: 6  BTM: -2
DAM: +0  REP: 7 (As Lady Cipher persona), 1 (as plain old Winter)

Alienation Check: 27  Skill Points: 58

Skills: Athletics +3, Awareness/Notice +2, Basic Tech +9, Brawling +3, Composition +4, Cyberdeck Design +4, Cybertech +2, Driving +2, Education +3, Electronics +6, Fast Talk & Persuasion +3, Handgun +5, Human Perception +2, Interface +2, Know Language: English +8, Programming +6, System Knowledge +2

Advantages: Computer Aptitude 4 SPs, Technical Aptitude 4 SPs

Disadvantages: Compulsion (Johnny Silverhand Groupie) -4 SPs, Criminal Record (Paroled) -4 SPs

Cybernetics:
Neural Processor                            2 1000 EB
Interface Plugs                                1  200 EB
Universal Link                                 4 400 EB
Chipware Socket                              2 200 EB
Cyberaudio Basic Hearing Module 3 500 EB
Phone Splice                                    3 150 EB
Wearman Stereo Music System       7 100 EB
Wide Band Radio Scanner               5 100 EB
Total Alienation: 27, Cost: 2,650 EB

Gear: 
Concealable Armoured Vest (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
Shoulder Holster
Armalite 44 Semi-automatic Pistol (equipped with 911 chip, cookie cutter and gun cam)
Street-tech "Burst"
2 spare magazines of 12mm ammo
Badge, Police ID (Acts as a marker for NCPD cookie cutters)
Officer in Distress Button (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
2 sets of Plascuffs
Evidence Kit
Notebook
Used Cyberdeck (All she could afford on a student budget).
Tech Toolkit
Electronics Toolkit

Interface
Commands: Detect/Conceal +2, Locate +2, Infiltrate/Login +2, Query +2, Edit +2
Targets: File/Database +5, System +5

Anyways that about wraps it up for me.  If you liked this post be sure to +1, comment below, re-share and follow this blog.  Who knows if things do really well I may re-stat Winter's partner Merli Basmi. Until then have a good day and may you roll many crits.

Update: Came back and edited a few things that I left out and forgot the first time around.
Update #2: For those of you waiting for Merli's re-statting, rejoice.  It's here.