|
Did I do dis rite?code:Also, is this character playable?? Like, is there anything he's missing? Any really obvious stuff I overlooked, other than contacts? I ask so I can help others make characters with basic competency.
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 06:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 16:07 |
|
|
Looks pretty good but I count 82 skill points, and rating 3 cerebral booster is Availability 18 (can only start with availability 12 items). As for playability: looks okay but this is a pretty strange character because you don't have a focus. He has elements of a face and elements of a hacker. As a face he'll be middling with about 8 dice to tests. Average 2 or 3 successes. You could boost this pretty cheaply with another point in the influence group and then pick up Tailored Pheromones, rating 3. And the First Impression quality is dead cheap at 5bp for +2 to social rolls in the first meeting. As a hacker, hmmmmmm. This is one of the things you either want to really focus on or not bother with at all. As it is, he has 6 dice for exploit actions (the most used hacking action, I reckon), and a stealth rating of 3. Check the sample device table on p214 to see what you might be up against. On average it looks like you've have an okay chance of hacking rating 3 devices, but you could get unlucky and set off an alarm pretty easily. And this guy will want to stay out of VR without much better skills. Overall, I'd drop his hacking skills and just take data search and an analyse program and maybe a few others. Use the extra BP to bump his face-ness. Lastly, since he's mostly a non-combatant, you don't have to worry, but anyone planning to live through a fight will need more initiative passes. It's not a mechanic I like (might even get rid of passes next time I run the game), but yeah, without extra passes you either get killed or you keep wasting your single pass on full defence  Anyway, this all varies based on the group, of course. If everyone else has 2 charisma and the Uncouth quality, your guy will start to look pretty drat face-ly.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 10:51
|
|
|
children overboard posted:Looks pretty good but I count 82 skill points, and rating 3 cerebral booster is Availability 18 (can only start with availability 12 items). children overboard posted:As for playability: looks okay but this is a pretty strange character because you don't have a focus. He has elements of a face and elements of a hacker. children overboard posted:Lastly, since he's mostly a non-combatant, you don't have to worry, but anyone planning to live through a fight will need more initiative passes. It's not a mechanic I like (might even get rid of passes next time I run the game), but yeah, without extra passes you either get killed or you keep wasting your single pass on full defence Thanks for all your help, though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 11:25
|
|
|
tendrilsfor20 posted:The 2 points you're getting are from the Artisan "specialization," which isn't a specialization, just a notation of his "art." Why I dumb  tendrilsfor20 posted:Also, where/what pagedid you find the "availability guidelines"? I told one PC "just go ahead and take anything that's not an "F" class item. This rule is tucked away on p84, under the Gear heading. It's up among the most forgotten rules with "dmg equalling body renders you prone" and "burst DV doesn't count towards armour piercing". As an aside, you can start with "F" gear, it's just you won't have a license for it. tendrilsfor20 posted:He's a pretty obvious tribute Bizarre! tendrilsfor20 posted:This is something I don't get about the combat: If you use one of your passes for full defense, does it last until the end of the full combat turn, or the next pass? Yeah, it lasts until your next action. So, example: 1: It's Turn 1/pass 1 and you only have 1 init pass. You take a full defence, then it lasts the whole round until Turn 2/Pass 1. 2: It's Turn 1/pass 2 and you only have 1 init pass and you've already shot someone! You can take a Full Defence as an interrupt action, but it uses your next turn. Which for you is at Turn 2/pass 1. So you eventually get to act again on Turn 3/pass 1. hosed, eh? 3: It's Turn 1/pass 2 and you have 3 init passes. You go on full defence. You can act again on Turn 1/pass 3, and the full defence wears off then. tendrilsfor20 posted:What about for a generally low-combat game? (My policy as a DM going into the game is "If you're in combat something has gone horribly wrong.") Well, it's partially about survivability and partially about "sitting around doing nothing while the dude with 3 passes tears poo poo up". In a low combat game you could probably live okay with just 1 pass, but you might get bored. I really don't like the init passes as a mechanic for balancing tiers of power. I reckon the combat-lite dudes should still get to act, but just have their actions less potent like every other game instead of having to wait around whenever a combat starts with more passes than they have. But Shadowrun sins on this point whenever someone drops into the matrix or the astral, too. The game's not good at keeping everyone at the table active. The GM has to really work on that. Anyway, judging from that wiki page your character will use lots of init-enhancing drugs like Kamikaze and Jazz and Cram so maybe you'll be able to keep up that way.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 14:21
|
|
|
children overboard posted:This rule is tucked away on p84, under the Gear heading. It's up among the most forgotten rules with "dmg equalling body renders you prone" and "burst DV doesn't count towards armour piercing". As an aside, you can start with "F" gear, it's just you won't have a license for it. children overboard posted:Bizarre! children overboard posted:Anyway, judging from that wiki page your character will use lots of init-enhancing drugs like Kamikaze and Jazz and Cram so maybe you'll be able to keep up that way.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 14:36
|
|
|
The initiative system does seem a little wonky, but it is a pretty good balance for the high-end of the game. A properly cybered combat monster with uzis for fingers is all well and good, but seasoned magic users are devastating powerful and are only hampered by the number of actions they can take (and drain). At the level of game my friends and I are playing there's rarely anything as powerful as a properly placed stunbolt or spirit. Even with the Improved Initiative spell those casters rarely get the same number of actions (and only one caster ever took I.I. anyhow). The initiative system also allows the game to cap NPC initiatives for things like spirits, vampires and the like which allows for quicker play and a limitation to some of the more powerful aspects of the game. Vampires, sadly, have been limited in a variety of ways and I think are suffering a reaction from how powerful they were in 3rd Ed. God, it's so easy to kill vampires in 4th Ed.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 15:01
|
|
|
Hmm... obscure rules, let's see (keep in mind some of these might only be obscure to me because of my brain problems). If you have bioware and cyberware installed, whichever has the lesser essence cost total is halved This rule is on p301. Yes, I missed it for a long time When spirits are summoned they appear manifested, not materialised While manifested they are visible and audible on the material plane, but they can't affect anything. They first need to spend a complex action to materialise (and only after the mage has spent a simple action to command them). This may seem finicky, but spirits are VERY powerful and super versatile and they need these checks in place. A force 5 earth spirit (that the average summoner will be have double the dice in summoning) has 19 soak dice and attacks that don't exceed 10DV don't even harm it. And spirit of man with its influence power and innate spell is just crazy, so you might find yourself relying on this rule to limit spirits being summoned one after another in a fight. So summoning a spirit to a fight looks like this: Action 1: Mage uses a complex action to summon, spirit appears manifested. Action 2: Mage uses a simple action to command spirit, spirit uses a complex action to materialise. Then on the spirit's next action it hurts things. The book doesn't say whether it counts as one of the spirit's actions to manifest. Recoil accumulates over the pass, not for the individual shot This means if you have an uzi with Recoil Compensation 2, then you can take one short burst (-2 to your shot) without any recoil, but then you've used up all the compensation for the pass so the second shot in that pass attracts recoil as normal (-1 for a single shot, or -3, for a short burst in the second pass). This was confirmed in the faq, here: http://www.shadowrun4.com/resources/faq.shtml#3 You don't have to spot an invisible enemy to attack them Only mentioning this because it's different from D&D. Attacking an invisible figure just means you take -6 to your shot, and you use intuition instead of agility. I don't think it's possible with standard races, but should the bizarre situation ever come up where you have 1 agility and 8 intuition, you should definitely close your eyes before you shoot people. Shadowrun has Attacks of Opportunity! See "Intercept", p151 That's all I can really think of, not including all the squillions of modifiers that you shouldn't worry too much about looking up in the middle of the game.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 15:21
|
|
|
PierreTheMime posted:The initiative system does seem a little wonky, but it is a pretty good balance for the high-end of the game. My complaint with init passes is not about balance, it's more that I don't like that it's possible for players to be sitting around the table not doing anything. Combat can take a long time to resolve, and if you're the one pass dude who just went on full defence... well... go make tea or something, we'll see you in a half hour when you can act again.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 15:24
|
|
|
children overboard posted:My complaint with init passes is not about balance, it's more that I don't like that it's possible for players to be sitting around the table not doing anything. Combat can take a long time to resolve, and if you're the one pass dude who just went on full defence... well... go make tea or something, we'll see you in a half hour when you can act again. That is true. I haven't seen many casters go on full defense though, especially since most don't even have Dodge. To avoid boredom of this kind though, as a GM it is important to include your players in the narrative (if possible--dont force it) so that they still feel attached to the event and other characters. This problem is common in a lot of gaming systems, like how some characters in D&D get 2 more actions than others based on their BAB. In the end it's all about good storytelling.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 17:18
|
|
|
tendrilsfor20 posted:OK, so I'll be starting my own Shadowrun (4e) game soon with some goons and a few others. I have never played or DM'd before, and none of the players have played 4e, and only some have played 3rd (others are totally new). Luckily, I had three experienced GMs playing PCs. They had run everything from Paranoia to Star Wars D6. Their best advice to me? Lie. If something awesome can happen, fudge the dice rolls so that it can. This is an amazing thing if you can get used to it. Because of a fudged dice-roll, I had a PC stop a mag-lev train by turning off the power supply to the tracks, sending it crashing to the ground. After every session ended I asked the players what I could have done better. Their answers helped me figure out what they wanted, and in what direction to nudge the story. Finally, remember that it's your table. You're a new GM, you might not know all the little rules. gently caress it. If you don't know something off hand and it would slow down the action to look it up, make a ruling on the fly and then come back to the rule later. The story is more important than the rules.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 17:54
|
|
|
Looks like a pretty good character. I agree with children overboard that he's not concentrating in any one area, but as far as I'm concerned there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact it might lead to better roleplaying interactions. And it stays somewhat true to Spider Jerusalem. When it comes to GMing, I completely agree with Hotdog In A Hallway: the story takes precedence over the dice. If you're following what the dice say and things are getting pretty boring, there's no reason not to start interpreting the dice more creatively. They're a rough guideline for you, not a strict rule. After all, you're the GM so you can make up whatever roll modifiers you think might apply. Overall, you want the game to be memorable and fun. Similarly, don't be afraid to modify your plans for the game session on the fly. If the rolls are really working out in favor of the team, feel free to throw in a couple more complications that you hadn't pre-planned. Maybe they manage to sneak past whatever number of guards you had planned for the facility, and the game session is going to be over an hour or two faster than you wanted just because there have been no real complications for the team. That's when you decide that it's just hit shift-change time, and the number of guards in the facility is going to double for 15 minutes or so while the new shift clocks in and the previous shift clocks out. Those first two bits of advice can apply to GMing any RPG. My final bit of advice for right now is more Shadowrun-specific: don't let hacking slow down the game. This was a real problem in 3rd and 2nd editions, and they've improved it vastly for 4th but it's still not always perfect. Assuming the team's hacker has a not-insignificant Stealth program, let him move through the target's system with relative ease. For example, don't bog him down with having to fight a half-dozen ICs before he can shut down the security cameras, because then the rest of the team has to wait and do nothing until he's done. McGravin fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jul 30, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 18:27
|
|
|
Hotdog In A Hallway posted:Lie. If something awesome can happen, fudge the dice rolls so that it can. This is an amazing thing if you can get used to it. Because of a fudged dice-roll, I had a PC stop a mag-lev train by turning off the power supply to the tracks, sending it crashing to the ground. I cannot stress how important this is. You, as a GM, are not playing a game. You are telling a story that others throw their own bits into along the way. Whenever you GM, your game should flow and evolve. Never plan exactly how a game should go--have a beginning, cool bits to toss in, and an idea for an end. Gaming "by the book," especially in Shadowrun which is much more open-world than some of the fantasy games, is not a good way to go. I cannot tell you how many times players have killed or been killed by enemies behind the GM screen only to live because its more dramatic that way. In the end, GM whatever you feel is fun. And what you think will be fun for everyone else too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 18:35
|
|
|
UGh, remind me never to sit at Hotdog In A Hallways table. Sometimes a run going smoothly is awesome, othertimes the poo poo hitting the fan, two runners down with the rest of the team dragging them offsite to Doc Wagon on the street corner is awesome. Please, please let my actions and the dice rolls determine this. Especially when it comes to character death. For some people, it's just no fun if you cannot die. Shadowrun is a gritty world, and death should be a constant fear, but there's no fear if the DM won't let it happen.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 19:24
|
|
|
The General posted:UGh, remind me never to sit at Hotdog In A Hallways table.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 20:11
|
|
|
In that case, maybe it's not so bad. I just don't agree with the "The GM can ignore rules and rolls if he likes" mentality. Why even bother rolling if you're going to ignore them anyways? Ahwell, sorry to derail.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 20:20
|
|
|
Nobody said anything about ignoring rolls. We said fudge them. If only one or two hits makes the difference between something interesting happening or nothing happening at all, the GM has every right to make up the difference with a modifier thrown in after the fact. This is half the reason they invented GM screens.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 21:09
|
|
|
McGravin posted:Nobody said anything about ignoring rolls. We said fudge them. We have different ideas on how to run a game 
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 21:47
|
|
|
The General posted:We have different ideas on how to run a game If you sit down at the table and ask your players what kind of game they want, and then do your best to make it as interesting for them as possible, you can't really fail.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2009 22:24
|
|
|
Ehhh, I don't like to roll a dice and pretend something else came up. If there's absolutely a need for something to be fudged, I'll just straight up tell the players I'm not rolling, it just happens. That way when I do roll dice they know for sure that the results are straight. Anyway we should get back to more Shadowrun specific things because this is a general GM style issue and we only have one thread for this wacky game One thing that came up recently in one game I run and one I play in was how crippling it can be to have Forbidden cyberware when you need to go somewhere likely to have scanners-- pretty much any time you cross borders, or enter a corp building or even a patrol car can have ludicrous-ranged sensors attached quite cheaply. By the mechanics they could drive down the street and pick up every sammy with a metal skeleton. And a metal skeleton isn't like an illegal gun you can just toss into the sewer. But I don't really like a character's body being 'illegal' (and honestly the Forbidden cyberwares aren't that powerful anyway) so I came up with the 'brown bag' policy: law enforcement don't specifically search for cyberware. Fluff reason? They'd pull in too many police veterans and retired servicemen with phoney arms and their stats would look horrible. Plus, there'd be an element of police complacency since when you're a cop with 3s for stats, do you really want to pick a fight with every heavily-cybered thug on the streets? But on the other hand, if Lone Star pull you in on another charge and discover you with wares, they'll use it to trump up the charges. How do other people handle this? No scanners at the borders? Or do you make your PCs take illegal routes if they have wares?
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 02:17
|
|
|
children overboard posted:How do other people handle this? No scanners at the borders? Or do you make your PCs take illegal routes if they have wares?
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 03:19
|
|
|
I haven't ran Shadowrun for a while, and am not sure how I'd handle casual police scanning, but definitely scanners at the borders and in high profile/high security locations. One of the big themes of the gameworld is about living off the grid, and if somebody wants the benefits of shiny black market toys, that means they either have to be constantly vigilant of discovery, or else being seriously beholden to a corporate patron. In general, I would look at security assumptions in terms like our own world in a major urban area, only notched up a couple of levels (both in terms of available tech and social unrest/paranoia). That definitely includes travel across borders being a complicated proposition to ANYBODY who isn't a SINner on the up and up. I wouldn't go out of my way to punish players for cybering up, but I'd talk to them ahead of time to make sure they understand that this stuff isn't like a D&D magic item that just gives a bonus, it also comes with a bunch of implicit limitations (aka story hooks) that warrant taking a different approach to things.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 03:21
|
|
|
I think you're handling it fine, children overboard. I'd say illegal cyberware is a lot like a burnt-out tail light: they're not going to pull you over or chase you down on the street just for that, but but if they're already nabbing you for some other crime, why not throw another charge on your docket?
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 04:36
|
|
|
It makes the run high profile too if one of the runners decides to frag the target with something that a civilian shouldn't have in that country. Authorities take notice when people are using illegal weapons or cyberware, makes it easier to track the user as well. Getting a gun for instance on the black market is one thing but when you get especially illegal and rare stuff that only special military units and corp special teams have access to, it's easier to track down the source and the buyers because of how rare it is. Just because life is rough in the Awakened World doesn't mean everyone is packing heat, it's still a big deal when a fire fight happens in a normal part of town or even a gun being drawn for that matter.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 05:16
|
|
|
Yeah, I'm more strict with forbidden weaponry. Cyberware just gets a little bit of leeway because it's something you're stuck with and not a choice a character can make run by run (and honestly I'd be more inclined to play up the posthuman-horror aspect of implants if physical characters didn't absolutely need every ounce of cyberware to have a chance to keep up with the mage and his summons, but as it is... yeah, it gets a bit of a blind eye). For example, recently my players needed to cross into Salish-Shidhe lands. They knew their cyberware probably wouldn't be scanned, but they sure as hell weren't getting across with that Assault Cannon. So they ended up paying a shady smuggler and bringing the big guns and we'll see what happens next (probably explosions).
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 05:47
|
|
|
I tend to try to come up with a ruling on a case by case basis, which is pretty much what you need to do since the legality ratings are for Seattle and the UCAS only anyway. Skeletal Lacing I've treated as being illegal to privately acquire (or attempt to acquire) the components for or to install but not illegal to possess once installed due to the difficulty of removal- but not having a good explanation for its presence or a record of where it was acquired on your SIN is going to get you looked at very closely and in most cases will get any potential assault charges upgraded to assault with a deadly weapon/attempted murder. Things like retinal duplication and the various cyber hand weapons are just out and out illegal and will usually be either disabled or removed after arrest, while most of the illegal bioware that isn't obviously dangerous will either be treated like bone lacing or subject you to arrest and a fine and then either jail time/deportation/forcible removal of the 'ware if you can't demonstrate its removal, disablement or legitimate medical necessity (good luck) within X number of days. It's kind of arbitrary, but I'm happy to let people know what the local situation is before play starts (and I try to make it favorable for them) and it's a trivial data search check to find out this information before going into a new jurisdiction. Sometimes a particular choice of SIN origin will let you get away with having otherwise illegal 'ware but tends to have other consequences that can be as bad or worse. Lonestar may not want to press the issue, but the local intelligence services are drat sure going to wonder what an active-duty soldier from another nation is really doing going on a holiday while loaded up with a rating 3 Move-by-Wire system. Usually that's exactly the kind of attention a Shadowrunner most wants to avoid attracting. And most of the above is assuming you're in a situation where you've accidentally been picked up by a government with some level of concern about civil rights- in other situations detection of this stuff can get you harshly interrogated/tortured and then forcibly removed from the territory or just shot and left in a ditch somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 06:00
|
|
|
LGD posted:And most of the above is assuming you're in a situation where you've accidentally been picked up by a government with some level of concern about civil rights- in other situations detection of this stuff can get you harshly interrogated/tortured and then forcibly removed from the territory or just shot and left in a ditch somewhere. They'd chop you up and sell the cyberware. And recoverable bioware. And any organs in good working order. And, depending on where you are, possibly the rest of you too 
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 06:17
|
|
|
Zereth posted:Shot and left in a ditch? That's ridiculous, they wouldn't do that. There's always a local ghoul mob looking for a fresh bite.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 06:19
|
|
|
Hotdog In A Hallway posted:True. I like my games to be kind of like an action movie, whereas most Shadowrun GMs either choose Pink Mohawk or Ice Cold Pro. What do the terms Pink Mohawk and Ice Cold Pro mean? The General posted:We have different ideas on how to run a game Speaking of you, would you like to attempt writing that matrix rules for dummies? I'll help out as best I can!
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 13:49
|
|
|
Tias posted:What do the terms Pink Mohawk and Ice Cold Pro mean? Regarding security within society, I tend to GM it assuming (unless the character is unintelligent) that they have some level of professionalism and avoid most standard measures normally. I also assume that many security companies are on the take with a variety of cybertech and biotech firms, as well as certain megacorporations that regularly employ illegal technology in their members. As a result, illegal implants are often overlooked unless they are tracking a wanted individual, in which case it becomes a useful tool.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 15:57
|
|
|
Tias posted:Speaking of you, would you like to attempt writing that matrix rules for dummies? I'll help out as best I can! I didn't get a chance this week as I had to read Tribe 8 books for a game I'm starting up. This weekend is a long weekend and I plan on being drunk from the moment I get off work saturday morning until sometime monday morning. After that though we're cool. If you have AIM (Threxofthamasa) or MSN (Horsepool(at)gmaail.com) add me and we'll figure it out togeather 
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 16:07
|
|
|
So am I the only one who hates the new Running Wild book? It seems like a huge letdown compared to the Paranormal Animals of X books the old editions had, it's like 9/10ths useless fluff "Oh wow corps use guard dogs? No way!" and 1/10th a pretty decent Monster Manual.
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2009 17:12
|
|
|
The General posted:I didn't get a chance this week as I had to read Tribe 8 books for a game I'm starting up. This weekend is a long weekend and I plan on being drunk from the moment I get off work saturday morning until sometime monday morning. Check mang I have the busiest vacation in the world (activist), but I'll do my best to be here.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 02:29
|
|
|
PierreTheMime posted:I cannot stress how important this is. You, as a GM, are not playing a game. You are telling a story that others throw their own bits into along the way. Whenever you GM, your game should flow and evolve. Never plan exactly how a game should go--have a beginning, cool bits to toss in, and an idea for an end. Gaming "by the book," especially in Shadowrun which is much more open-world than some of the fantasy games, is not a good way to go. I cannot tell you how many times players have killed or been killed by enemies behind the GM screen only to live because its more dramatic that way. I KNEW I KILLED THAT SNIPER ON THE BOAT! I'm in Pierre's game and yeah, he's been really good about this. Your group will ALWAYS surprise you and go in a direction you weren't expecting. Learning to roll with the punches and having a quick enough wit to say "Aha! He was a robot all along!" Are the best tools you can have as a Shadowrun GM. One of my favorite moments GMing Shadowrun is setting up a run, having a good idea how it's going to go, then watch as the team plans something completely off the wall. "The run is to kidnap this old man." "Well we're going to need a blimp." Then racing to re-write the adventure so it's still a challenge for everyone. God I love Shadowrun.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 04:32
|
|
|
"We're going to need a blimp." is always Step #1 in any good plan for Shadowrun. Fun fact for players and GMs alike: the Renraku Stormcloud is a cheap blimpdrone that's easy to outfit with downward-facing grenade launchers. Great as a distraction, for smoke grenade deployment, or for when poo poo really hits the fan and you need to rain down some destruction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 04:59
|
|
|
In a 3rd ed game my group trolled the hell out of our GM doing something like that, it was our first mission together, and the GM made the mistake of saying purely as fluff 'this is where reputations begin'. So our little easy mission was 'kidnap this mid level manager of a megacorp (I forget who) because he has info that is compromising', simple mission, break in, stun, get out, right? Well as we were planning, our Shaman goes 'wait, reputations begin, we need to do something to show we're not just a normal group!' So thus began the plan we like to refer to as 'Operation No, gently caress YOU' where instead of going after him, we messed with his family and friends, draining bank accounts, kidnapping only to let them go in another part of town, generally messing with them in harmless (mostly) ways. Why? Because before this our Street Sam hijacked a local citywide broadcast to publicly tell our target that we will kidnap him without ever touching him, and every day that he doesn't turn himself in to a location (where we would then call our boss to) another family or friend gets 'pranked'. Our GM was torn between laughing so hard at the insane tactic or throwing his dice at us for going totally off the grid. It was probably the best SR game I've ever played too, since with a good GM poo poo like that is a valid plan, not just 'how can we gently caress with the GM today' stuff.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 06:33
|
|
|
OK, just finished up my first-ever game running 4e Shadowrun. Here was the outline:quote:The party's fixer is going to clue them in to a Johnson looking for a team. The problem is, a baseball player in a "clean" league pissed hot (Preformance-Enhancing Drugs), and the Urine is at a lab being processed overnight. The team separately tested him and knows its going to be bad, so they reprocessed it to be clean, and have a jar of it. They stole the air hockey table (because air hockey is hella fun), and since they'd already broken the locks on a bunch of doors, they also stole a plasma-screen trideo off the wall, busted the soda machine, and used some gang knowledge to spraypaint a gang sign on a wall to make it look like a random act of violence (and distract from the piss-swap). Then they escaped and had a breakdancing contest with their fixer, an elf running a skillsoft chip for breakdancing, and the party's dancer glitched so he fell on his face and the rest of the club laughed at them. Some questions we had:
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 08:25
|
|
|
tendrilsfor20 posted:How do 1's work, exactly? Like, say Runner A was shooting (AGIL+Pistols, 7 dice) and he rolls 3 successes and 1 "1." Does he have 2 successes? tendrilsfor20 posted:We basically went with "Roll more 1's than hits = Glitch, Roll more 1's than ½ your dice pool, Critical Glitch, which I think is rules-as-written. tendrilsfor20 posted:Can someone show me a sample firearms combat round? Because I don't think that we did it right at all. tendrilsfor20 posted:Mages are hella broken. Especially insane players may use weird ways to stealth around while commiting magical acts. These players often get away with things because they just go above and beyond the norms to avoid danger. My eco-terrorist eagle shaman used to use Critterform (Eagle) and mask himself to fly around as a normal large bird and acheive great horrible warcrimes. He did, however, have to strip naked every time and he hated technology so he refused to use any type of comm headset while flying around.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 12:37
|
|
|
Nah, mages are hella broken. There's really no disadvantage to using magic other than a limited opportunity cost and it takes a level of magical power to really oppose a mage. They *do* have hazards of their own but any group with magical support will tend to run roughshod over any group without barring ambush scenarios. Mages can wear armor and protect themselves from physical harm just as well as mundane characters, but they can also be made to summon street-sam equivalents, throw stun blasts around that are nearly impossible to resist and only generate trivial strain, have insane scouting abilities from the astral realm, circumvent a lot of physical problems via levitation, etc. A lot of stuff that is threatening to magic users is so simply because they are (correctly) perceived as being a much greater danger than other people. Mundane characters can be effectively opposed by both normal and magical means, while a good mage can really only be halted by magical effects and is less vulnerable to them than his normal counterparts. It's just an accepted part of the game and Shadowrun doesn't really strive for "balance" in the sense of having equally effective characters at the same BP/Karma level, but there's no sense in denying the obvious. Oh and as written Glitches only happen if you roll more 1's than half your dice pool, and a critical glitch will only occur if you Glitch and roll no successes whatsoever.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 12:54
|
|
|
FutureBoy posted:One of my favorite moments GMing Shadowrun is setting up a run, having a good idea how it's going to go, then watch as the team plans something completely off the wall. "The run is to sneak across the border." "Poisoned fried chicken." Or my favorite, the corporate building I had taken some pains to lay out the defenses for. The run was to grab data from a researcher. So the team jumps the guy in the parking garage on his way home.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 16:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 16:07 |
|
|
LGD posted:Oh and as written Glitches only happen if you roll more 1's than half your dice pool, and a critical glitch will only occur if you Glitch and roll no successes whatsoever. IMJack posted:"The run is to sneak across the border." "Poisoned fried chicken." "We have to get across the Aztlan border." "Hide inside sex-toy furniture." I think my favorite improvised solution someone had so far was to when half the team had been rendered unconscious due to either heavy damage or stun spells while battling a powerful magical entity during a rescue attempt in the Nether realm. The mage of the group levitated a torture rack over to the group, the remaining strongman hoisted the unconscious onboard and they all rode the underside of it through a portal to the plane of Water Bedknobs and Broomsticks-style. The mage passed out as they fell through and the only reason they didn't drown was due to them having released a captured free water spirit during the same event. Comparing horrible Shadowrun ideas is fun! It really is amazing what insane plans people will think up on the fly.
PierreTheMime fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Aug 3, 2009 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2009 16:39
|
|