Your Family

A shadowrunner's family can mean a lot of things. It can be a dependant (as in the flaw), it can be a source of contacts (or a pirate family edge), or it can be a complication. It should be all of the above.

First of all, is your family still alive? Many PCs take the easy route and say no, they're all dead. But I'll have some possibilities here for GMs and PCs for the players to leech off their families.

Benefits

Contacts: Your family is easier to maintain as a contact, always accepting time as a method of payment. They can still be level 1 contacts (cousins and such), though parents and sibligns are usually level 2 or 3.

Favors: Family will eventually cut you off, but is usually willing to help you out, whether it's for a free squatter (or better) lifestyle as you live at their house, or even with some small short term loans to help you get by with the rent.

Missions: Families might (on purpose or not) provide missions for you. Perhaps you hear a rumor from your sister you want to follow up on, or your dad just "wishes someone would take care of that barking dog next door". Maybe your family supports your shadowrunning or does it themselves and they can provide advice or actual missions to go expore, or even introduce you to their johnsons. (Bring your daughter to work day is very popular in the shadowrunning community- she's Daddy's little Assassin!).

Complications

Favors: Families need (and expect) favors like anyone else, and this can be inconveniences (they borrowed your car without asking), nuisances (they dropped by your house while the mob was there) or missions (they need help getting their house out of foreclosure).

Leverage: If bad guys can't get at you, sometimes your family may be easier to find and get at. Especially if they're unaware of your past.

True Lies: Keeping your shadowrunner identity hidden from your family (especially wives and children) can be a fun level to the game, and put extra pressure on you to not get arrested. (I'm talking to you Dexter Morgan!).

Immersion: Having family characters show up and BS every once in a while can add immersion to the campaign (especially when another PC starts dating your sister and you need to have that "talk"- with bullets!).

Another one of those things that gets often ignored by PCs and GMs alike.