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Name: Alex Ritter
Pools Active Skills Knowledge Skills Cyberware Bionetics Gear Vehicles |
Dr. Love
Real World History
Dr. Love was an experiemental Shadowrun character whoes primary use to his running team was his huge stable of contacts, high charisma and social skills. He also acted as a rigger and a journalist. He maintained over a dozen distinct alias personalities, asissted by his internal voice mask.
Dr. Love was used as my main character after Teak, through the first half of 1992, during school. The last run of the school year resulted in a huge score for the group, so I retired the good doctor when the summer hit.
He was created with Second Edition rules, but is presented here updated for Third Edition.
Personality
Alex is an easy-going man whom people find easy to get along with and talk to. He never talks about his past unless he is bragging good-naturedly about his wife, with whom he seems to have taken an inordinate number of "vacations." He has numerous affairs while away from his wife, but apparently, the two have an understanding about such activities and talk (or even brag) to each other about their extra-martial activities. Ritter goes out of his way to keep his shadowrunning days in the dark -- or, at least, in a shade of grey -- but he is very open and friendly about anything else.
Very socially active, Ritter knows people who know people who know People. He makes friends easily, especially with women, and still keeps in touch with a variety of people from his early life.
Ritter possesses one of those trivial minds and knows a multitude of irrelevant facts about a multitude of irrelevant topics. He has an extraordinary weakness for women, especially beautiful blonde ones. Even though he is no fool, this has brought him excessive trouble or more than one occasion. Even worse for a Shadowrunner, Alex is an abnormally deep sleeper and is slightly afraid of heights. He has doesn't really like handguns all that much, vastly preferring vehicle mounted weapons. Still, he carries a guy, mostly for its intimidation factor.
Over the years, Alex has amassed and spent a small fortune. He spends his money almost exclusively on his cars, his chrome, his lovers, and most of all, his wife. As well as a liking for blondes, Ritter has a love of things old, and spends some money on antique items, especially books.
Appearance
Handsome, intelligent and charming, Alex is fairly popular with members of the opposite sex and for some reason, elven women seem to find him especially attractive. He is a fashion chameleon -- sharp, suave and in tails one minute, drabby, rough-hewn and in leather the next. If given a choice, he will usually chose less flash unless it is a formal occasion, when he will seek to out-dress any man around.
History
Alex was brought up by a family of the ever-shrinking Chicago middle class. He showed amazing aptitude for academic pursuits at a very young age, so much so that he applied as was admitted to University of Chicago when he was 15 years old. However, while his mind developed quickly, his body did not; he did not go through puberty until he was 14.
By the time he finally got his hormones under control, he had been in college for a year. He noticed women and cars and decided that education could wait. He dropped from U of C on his 17th birthday and ran away to Denver.
Once there, Ritter fell in with a group of smugglers and began to make a name for himself doing Denver-Seattle panzer runs, calling himself Silverfox. When he was 20, a corporation contacted he signed a contract to smuggle just for them.
The corp brought Silverfox to the big league, sponsoring some of his cyberware, most notably his control rig and recording gear. Ritter eventually discovered that this corp was actually a front for the once great CIA. Intending to quit, he confronted his superiors with his knowledge. They simply upped his pay, gave him more chrome and used him as a dust-off man and corporate infiltrator.
It was during this time when he met Anne Beaubier, who soon became his wife. They worked together for a time, but Alex soon realized that he wasn't meant to be a spy. When his contract came up for renewal, he refused. He voluntarily repaid most of the cost of his cyberware back to the CIA, and told them to call on him if they really needed him. The CIA agreed, not only due to the repayment, but because they also realized that Alex wasn't that great an agent.
Although they didn't see each other often, Alex and Anne remained close. Given their occupations, they both decided that it was best if neither knew where the other was at any given time. Anne remains in the CIA as one of their most successful field operatives.
Alex moved to California and finished his philosophy degree at Stanford. Upon graduation, Alex had enough money to pay for some more cyberware and decided to try his hand at investigative journalism. He did some trashy exposés on some of the more decadent residents of Hollywood under the pen-name of Slug Bucket, but found that he made more money in the video field.
After some stunt driving for some trashy vids, he left California for Europe. He loved it, even though it was a mad house. He managed to churn out some ground-breaking, low-risk social commentary/documentary pieces, but he barely made enough money to eat. Back to North America; Seattle this time.
Deciding that tangling with corps was to dangerous, Ritter set his sights on the music/sim industry, digging up dirt, and some quite marketable interviews with some of the best in the business. His pen name, Hans vonVan, managed to gain some prestige in the musical underground, but he never made an appearance in the year he has been in Seattle.
Recently, Alex had a brainstorm to do one thing which nobody does anymore: write a book. He chose the shadowrunning phenomenon as a topic that seemed marketable, interesting, and above all, paid well.
Psyche
Ritter is very stable. He is very independent and feels at home just about anywhere.
Aliases
Alex has built a number of persona over the years, each with their own voice, manner, reputation and, in many cases, credit history. While each persona can be very different from the others, they are all acted. Alex is not a split-personality.
Ahab - A rigger specializing in helicopters. Claims to have trained as a mercenary in Africa. Tends to wear fatigues, beret, and a skull earring. Considered solid, reliable and a fearless flyer.
Al 'Shark' Allen - A video journalist, specializing in corporate exposés. Almost never appears on camera.
Azmodeus - A rigger, specializing in cars. Thought to be surly, competent, and trusted to do the job he is paid for, but no more. Clients tend to tell him only what they think he needs to know.
Barbara Allen - A writer of opinion/editorials. Never seen face to face.
Carol Danforth - An actress exclusively doing voice-over work. Never seen face to face.
Dennis B. Toll - A reclusive, hired-gun video editor. Rarely seen face to face, conducting most business on the Matrix. Known for fast, quality work and skill with altering images.
Dr. Love - A shadowrunner. This tends to be closest to Alex's real personality.
Hans vonVan - A well known by line in the music scene.
Hunter - A rigger known for his sloppiness and low rates. Any time this persona is hired, Alex assumes the mission is a set up or that the team is meant to be expendable. This often results in another persona investigating the client.
Jarvick Metzinger - An adventure journalist. Tends to be an obnoxious, high energy, safari tourist type.
Lisa Marie Shock - Alex's "secretary". It is this persona who always answers Alex's phone. This lets him know which voice to slip into.
Michael Collins - A fiction writer.
Peregrine - Alex's handle when in the CIA.
Scott Porter - A deep cover ID, with good documentation. Used any time Alex is doing anything illegal. Almost never uses this name verbally, just as a legal entity.
Silverfox - Alex's original rigger handle, known for runs around Denver. No longer active.
Strawberry - A poparazzi/gossip columnist for an on-line entertainment site.
Thompson - An armed courier for hire. Tends towards very corporate appearance and low-key voice and behavior.