I think a good model for a Street Samurai is Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. Mike is a former Marine and street cop, so he knows all the tricks from both sides of the law. He's not flashy, but a meticulous professional, with many skills and lots of patience. His personal code is pretty simple: "You can be on one side of the law or the other. But if you make a deal with somebody, you keep your word. You can go home today with your money and never do this again. But you took something that wasn’t yours. And you sold it for a profit. You’re now a criminal. Good one, bad one? That’s up to you."

I only recently started playing Shadowrun (5e) and my first ever character is a Street Samurai (an Elven one at that, pretty old too, over 100). Speaking of Street Samurai and what makes them, the code is definitely it. That makes them unique and that is something I approached, when making mine. Limited Chrome, but what Chrome he has, it's upgraded to the max. They know martial arts, different forms of gunfire, bladework, all around, very well rounded with what they are very good at and what they aren't, as they are a bit on the stand-offish side. Gave them a specific Quality: "Code of Honor" and detailed it with the GM on how it'd work. My character is essentially John Wick, before meeting Helen, that's the best I can describe him. He is a hired gun, an assassin, a martial artist, a mercenary, someone you bring in to finish a job often started by others. Assassination? Sure. Extraction? Ok. Data gathering, ok, he'll watch the tech people's backs. Milk run? Sure, he could use the spare Nuyen. BUT! He has limits. And they are specific. Anyone, who doesn't wield a gun, magic or any means to attack him, he will spare. If you come strapped and actively try to separate him and his allies from the mortal coil, he will separate you. So best not reach for it. Basically, no defenseless individuals. No one, who didn't choose the life. It's been tricky playing this off, as I am not generally one for Combat junky type characters leaning on the super gray morality scale, but it's also been fairly fun, as it's been telling a neat story so far. Actions, consequences, etc.

I tend to think of street samuai as a rather nifty example of world-building, a startlingly believable example of an artificial demotic culture. Seattle, possibly due to influence by Japanese megacorps, was clearly undergoing a huge orientalist binge - Japanese food was a preferred option, kendo was televised, everyone slept on futons etc. Bushido (actually a very nebulous and controversial set of ideas in Japanese culture) would naturally catch on in the shadows, where people would be searching for some sort of alibi for a violent, amoral lifestyle. Hence a subculture of outlaws whose modus operandi involved the use of physically coercive leverage styling themselves "street samurai" just as militarists evoked bushido to motivate/justify Japanese imperialism in the 1930s. What I think the street sam subculture represents is a rather nifty aestheticisation of orientalism, deliberately casting some of the characters as a bunch of - to use a slightly inflammatory term - borderline weeaboos clutching at romantic foreign ideas as they try to structure and justify their (not necessarily constructive) role in the bewildering Sixth World. It was a while before I thought this through enough to suggest my players think this way; whether any of them did not not, I couldn't say. If that infantilises the chromeboys, I think that was the point. Shadowrun isn't Cyberpunk 2020 with elves; it's a depiction of human beings frantically treading water during an abrupt, earthshaking shift in its relationships, not just with each other, but with the universe around them, both seen and unseen. In an earthquake, people will grab anything that seems to be holding still, and martial honour fits that bill...particularly if you can use it to justify killing three S-K mooks whose only crime was drawing guard duty on the storeroom on the night you were hired to jack the secret prototype being kept there. Casting Shadowrun's equivalent of fighters as people striving to be paladins evokes the uncertainty of the Sixth World, the sense of a society teetering on a fulcrum between utopia and dystopia, integrating them into the mythos in a peculiarly effective way. As such it's a prime example of how the game got its disparate elements gelling so effectively - something a lot of RPGs really struggle with.

If it's still out there, the 2nd Ed "Cybertechnology" book had the story of Hatchetman's evolution. Great stuff.

I have this Troll Street Samurai with a chormed out Left arm, He Lost his original arm protecting an Elven Child. He wielded an Axe and a Grenade Launcher. Hes very protective of the Downtrotten.

1🇺🇸🌈🎄🍔💪🥷🏽🏈🗼 THE GUY THAT GOT PART OF HIS HEAD BIT OFF BY A ZOMBIE HULK!?!?

I definitely think what separates true street samurai from wannabes, thugs and muscle is some type of personal code that they live by. Could be a simple code or a complex one, but they've got some rules that they will not break (or try very hard not to break) that they believe is what separates them from common criminals and thugs. Their background story will form the basis for what code they live by. I also have my players answer questions about what to their character us willing to do and if their contacts know of those limits, which then translates in-game as to how they get referred to by same said contacts. A steet samurai has a code of some kind and is usually referred to as such by contacts and those with no real rules or morals are simply called muscle (or thugs) by their potential employer, it all depends on what type of rep they've cultivated. Usually at the beginning of any campaign my contacts and employers refer to all "street samurai" as muscle until they prove what kind of person they are going to be. Getting the job done to spec, being honorable and dependable in my campaigns gains my player's characters the right to be called street samurai by their employers because they earned it.

“Molly was a razor girl.”

Street Samurai ! Cool in "neo-retro futurism" and on paper, not so cool making TikToks in the backyard.

I gotta say if a Street Sam is about the chrome then it's not, it's about WHY the chrome? Why so much? And how to live with it.

Sam is about code of honor sets them apart from the street thugs

I don't know exactly where the difference is between a street samurai and a razorkid is, but much like art, I'll know it when I see it.

To me a street samuri has to have some kind of code my samuri always had a code . Most don't do wet work obviously they kill people but they will always try to do minium casualties. Won't kill innocents and is very protective of anyone called a friend .

I have played this Archetype from both sides using the same base. A chromed up ex-military man trying to adjust to 'civilian' life and survive on the mean streets with slitely outdated gear and cyberware as both versions had been left for dead. The first version was the moral one, simply trying to make up for some of what he had done in the service, the second had gone totally, little more the a machine which enjoyed mayhem and violence.

Personally I don't think a street same has anything to do with chrome or even a creed . A street sam is a warrior of the 20xxs . May or May not include chrome but most importantly they fight and win due to their knowledge and experienc to survive and sometimes even conquer.

Code? Mmmh. There is meta races and professions all set in the shadows of a fallen dark future society. Both have better and worse matches based on the special talents and attributes of the meta races and the needs of the job creating modern platoon based operations as e.g. the CIA clandestine department would do, if they would have survived the downfall of society making it into the 6th world of Nostradamus. So, Troll and Rigger is not that good, while Troll and Street Samurai can be. Human and Rigger goes well and a fully chromed out human Street Samurai that got old for a reason will have an easy time with a Troll Street Samurai double his size and natural strength using his smart gun connection and tactical upgrades except getting arrogant. The kick of Shadowrun is that you can kinda see your very own deep self, like Picasso would paint you, in a world in which you only want to be on paper, but in a tactically and strategically incredible realistic way, if the game master is a good one well preparing the scenario creating a theoretical war game on a special forces military level training, like CoD on difficult, taking not one extra live, ignoring the unlimeted amount of mags. #cyberpunkcoltoure PS: Shadowrun is biblical. You are what you do and so will you be judged. Dam bro...that guy was in the alley down there jumping with big bad ass sword onto a fucking orc who was creating a green beam and maaaaan that was freaking. That was a Street Samurai and a ... mmmhhh...Wizarmagican...I guess. What is a wizzidama??? FOX Hole 19 news said they are a manace to society. And what is a manace? Mum said Dad is. Ohh...So dad can make green beams?

Im think that a street samurai live by a code

Sorry if i disturb you but can you please do a search on Shadowrun manga?

To me it was always a code of honour, they would always respect the contract.

Chrome. Lots of chrome.

To me the chrome isn't what makes a street samurai. In my opinion, the troll that is too poor to afford any chrome, but is a walking arsenal of weponry with the skills to use them is just as much a street samurai as the barely (meta)human cyber ninja.

Do you think Glory (dragonfall) is a street samurai?

There is a difference between a razorkid and a street sam