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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Some thoughts about karma

Posted by: Dog Jul 12 2006, 09:21 AM

When I'm the GM, I am prone to rewarding players for coolness. An original idea, doing something in character (even if it means bad news), being funny, that kind of stuff. With some players, this means low karma yields per game because they are careful and meticulous about "getting the job done."

My current GM... I can't figure out what he rewards. I think he just predetermines what we'll get based on how challenging the run he made up is.

Other GMs I know will reward based on "goodness" or something like it. Good moral choices lead to karma rewards.

What about you guys? GM's, what do you like to reward? Players, what do you think you should be rewarded for?

Posted by: MacMoney Jul 12 2006, 09:38 AM

It depends pretty much on how much the players get done and the level of danger they are in (even if they don't perceive it or through sheer luck make through it without a hitch). I usually reward good RPGing with a point or two and exceptional ideas with a point (or two if really mind-blowing, but I don't think that has ever happened).

Although I appreciate it, I usually don't reward funny stuff with anything and I certainly don't reward doing the morally right thing.

Posted by: Vaevictis Jul 12 2006, 09:41 AM

Usually, there's a base karma award for each objective in a run; by meeting certain objectives (some of which are optional or hidden), the karma value of a run will increase.

There's also a "standard" set of bonus karma points available:
1. Being entertaining for the group.
2. Acts of heroism.
3. Major contributions towards completing the run -- ideas, knowing just what to do at the right moment, etc, etc.
4. Good roleplaying.

There are others. Usually, the "bonus points" max out at 2-3 per run, and the runs themselves range from 3-6.

Recently, it's been almost limited to 5 though, sadly. Very harsh on us mage characters, especially as the runs are getting exponentially harder with lots of cash... which is of limited use to mages

Posted by: James McMurray Jul 12 2006, 01:18 PM

Pretty much the same as everything else. Runs will have objectives, and each objective is worth X karma. Survivial is worth X karma, depending on the danger level. The remaining karma award conditions are listed in the book. No book handy, but I believe Vaevictis's list covers it all except for right place right time.

Posted by: Platinum Jul 12 2006, 01:23 PM

What no one else offers extra karma for sex?

Posted by: Jrayjoker Jul 12 2006, 01:27 PM

I have always felt the "by the book" awards were about 50% too low. Our current GM is apparently of the same mindset, because we are getting about 10 Karma per completed run (which includes the bonus points, where applicable).

Posted by: James McMurray Jul 12 2006, 01:35 PM

I forgot to mention that we also award 1 karma for bringing food or drinks.

Jrayjoker: depending on the length of the run 10 karma might be just right. There are official printed adventures that award that much, and sometimes even more.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 12 2006, 01:39 PM

I award karma based on what I feel the players have achieved. If they slog their way through a nightmare run, I'll award them a fair bit of karma. If they complete the run easily due to some simple path that I'd overlooked that somehow still didn't require cleverness in either planning or execution, they'll get a little karma. If they complete the run easily due to some path that catches me completely out of the blue and is brilliant, they will swim in karma swimming pools.

A bonus point is awarded here and there for saying or doing the right thing at exactly the right time, whether for dramatic, comedic, or tactical effect.

~J

Posted by: Jrayjoker Jul 12 2006, 01:41 PM

Well, The runs we do are probably a bit less intricate and backstabby than the published modules, so ten seems a bit high if you are basing the comparison on the "by the book" awards. Most of our runs are the result of the GM having a loose outline and letting it play out.

Of course we are an amalgam of old RPGers (non-SR), old RPGers (SR almost exclusively), new RPGers (non-SR), and one total noob playing SR4 and still trying to figure out the rules, so any Karma is a gift at this point.

Posted by: stevebugge Jul 12 2006, 03:18 PM

I find that when GM'ing I give the standard 1 for surviving, 1 for completing each major objective (usually this ends up being 1 point but sometimes 2 or 3), and 1-3 based on difficulty. I give out bonus points for good RP, making the group laugh, and particularly brilliant plans. I also will deduct from the award for Rules Lawyering, metagaming, and incessant whining. We typically are only able to play 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours a session so wasting time is a big no-no for our group, however converesly if an indvidual run lasts more than two sessions on it's own I'll toss in some extra karma to make up for taking a long time. I find that 4-7 is about typical for most runs.

Posted by: Jrayjoker Jul 12 2006, 03:22 PM

Yeah, that sounds like it is pretty by the book, except for the penalties. That would never fly with my group as our RP sessions tend to be a lot of BSing with intermittant flashes of role playing.

Posted by: Grinder Jul 12 2006, 03:33 PM

There are other ways to spend a role playing evening?

Posted by: Sahandrian Jul 12 2006, 06:49 PM

If I penalized my players for incessant whining, the ninja adept and rigger would never advance at all...

Posted by: stevebugge Jul 12 2006, 07:44 PM

QUOTE (Jrayjoker)

Yeah, that sounds like it is pretty by the book, except for the penalties. That would never fly with my group as our RP sessions tend to be a lot of BSing with intermittant flashes of role playing.

That happens with our group on occasion and isn't always a bad thing and I wouldn't penalize my group for that, especially if we all had a good time. Just when we aren't really on task and that's the reasom a game spills over it isn't going to be eligible for extra karma for a long mission either. I don't typically penalize players for wasting time (unless it's in game and should have in game consequences like blowing a job deadline). The three things I penalize for Metagaming (where out of character knowledge of rules or setting that a character wouldn't reasonably know is used in determing a characters actions), Rules Lawyering (Arguing with the GM over a rules interpretation, especially if it's in support of a munchkinous character or action) or incessant whining (particularly over this challenge doesn't play to my characters strengths) I'll penalize for. To be honest I merely had to annouce that these were things I would penalize for and it pretty much stopped, I have yet to actually penalize the group in several years of playing.

Posted by: Lindt Jul 13 2006, 04:37 AM

I usualy do it be how well they do. Completation point style.

You alive? 1 (If it dosent kill you...)
Everyone else? 1 (There is no I in team)
Mission Acomplished per outline? 2 (Did you get the McGuffin?)

Usually another 2-3 points assessed on how they went about things, worked contacts, roleplayed well, made good choices and followed them thru, ect ect.

Posted by: Telion Jul 13 2006, 10:36 PM

typically I use the system as a guide. I have a hard time awarding some of their extras and tend to only use them occassionally, if they make a plan good for them, did it work good for them. I usually scale the adventure karma based on the difficulty of the run. the more the players worked for it the more they learned and the more karma, its a sliding scale.

I typically give karma as the following,
1 they sat there - at least they showed up to the session right?
2-3 they did some work
4-5 completed the run of moderate difficulty
6-7 it was intense
8-10 for those runs that should have been 2 seperate adventures, or you killed a dragon.

other categories I use are, is it online x1.5 or x2 for karma due to the slow nature of the game, also do the same for cred etc...

I suppose the biggest problem I have is deciding what really constitutes a good plan, etc.. good <insert here>

do I penalize players for being disruptive, yeah, they'll earn a -1 karma award for annoying the gm, or slowing the game down, for online games I deduct a karma for every other missed post, but will make it up if the gm misses a post, fairs fair and the game must go on.

also if I feel people have had fun I might boost the scale, if they haven't then its time for me to look at what happened. also even if the adventures get harder, I don't see myself giving out more karma even if the money is greater, sams have a larger bill in order to upgrade, and besides your more elite so you should get that extra pay. karma is awarded on difficulty to you, not to a beginning character.

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Jul 13 2006, 10:42 PM

I used to try and give karma as outlined in the SR3 BBB but this lead to really high karma awards because of all the categories which would result in a +1 karma award. Now, I simply try to keep awards as low as I possibly can.

Posted by: Thorn Black Jul 14 2006, 07:48 AM

I get my players to justify their karma award at the end of a game. They get the out of the book ones, 1 for survival etc. but then I ask. What did you do smart? Whad did your character learn? etc. They tend to nominate other characters as well as their own with
"don't forget you did X, that was pretty brave!"

and then I have all of my players vote for another player for a bonus player vote. It seems to work out at about 5 to 10 karma a run and I am pretty happy with that.

Posted by: Calvin Hobbes Jul 14 2006, 07:50 AM

Our karma rules are located at http://kwgames.pbwiki.com/karma .

In a really intense game, a character can earn about 10 karma, but we average 5-7.

On the other hand, we use different rules for training times, so our group tends to have a large karma stockpile and very little time to train so we can spend it.

Posted by: Moon-Hawk Jul 14 2006, 04:58 PM

I give awards on a team basis, so everyone gets the same amount, with one caveat. I generally give out 2-3 extra points for RPing, whichever character contribured the most, etc., but the players vote on who gets those awards.

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Jul 14 2006, 06:56 PM

See, I used to give out ~10 karma per adventure but that rapidly spiraled into large karma pools that made the game too easy IMO.

Posted by: Jrayjoker Jul 14 2006, 08:20 PM

I suppose if you are able to play every week, and finish a thread of your advenure every week, and award Karma every week, you are going to end up with some major players in a very short amount of time. But if you are limited by how often you can meet and how much you can reasonably complete in any gaming session then higher awards will make it feel like there is progress being made.

Posted by: Jrayjoker Jul 14 2006, 08:20 PM

For the characters, not necessarily the game.

Posted by: Crossfire Jul 17 2006, 11:25 PM

Hey Dog! You should tell us how you award karma in your games... I wanna how I can earn more

When I GM, I usually give team karma and individual karma.

For team karma, I basically follow the standard procedure (like everyone else said). However, I put the emphasis on TEAM. So I tend to be very generous if EVERYONE participated equally (if it was possible) and had fun. I especially encourage (and reward) players trying to involve other players in the game (like a new player, riggers or deckers). I think some archetypes have a harder time sometimes to get an equal share of "time" (read: fun).

For individual karma, I tend to be very generous, putting the emphasis on roleplay and game involvement. I believe you can roleplay even during an action scene or during a fight (maybe I played Exalted a lil bit too much lol). Creativity and integrity to the game are of the utmost importance. I also reward a player's contributions to the game: taking notes, bringing munchies at a game, taking care of initiative during combat and make sure to keep a good pace (harder than it looks...), cleaning the map after the end, reminding the other players to stay "in character", etc.)

Also, I tend to give random karma like during Xmas, someone's birthday or everyone with a clean character sheet after a couple runs (harder than it looks also lol).

I probably give an average of 5 or 6 points per game session and the players usually have a fast progression. However, I use a different system for karma pool that goes like this (so characters won't have a karma pool of 10 after 2 months...). I need to point out that I'm tough on skill improvement (so you want to improve your unarmed combat from 7 to 8? You've heard of a kung fu master who could teach you but...)

karma points* Karma Pool*
0 -------------------------- 1
10 ------------------------ 2
30 ------------------------ 3
60 ------------------------ 4
100 ---------------------- 5
150 ---------------------- 6
210 ---------------------- 7
etc.

* I use the same for humans and metas

Peace!

Crossfire

Posted by: Beaumis Jul 18 2006, 12:24 AM

When I DM, the biggest chunk of karma I tend to give is for people staying in character when it's hard to. For instance when a player ignores the tactical decisions made at the table because his character is too distraced in meele combat to hear them he qualifies for boni. Or when a player ignores all his knowledge about shadowrun mechanics and still does what seems logical to his character despite the fact he "knows" it will screw up his life.

I rarely give Karma for combat even though particular smart tactics can yield some. But I feel surviving and/or winning the average gunfight is more of a requirement to get the job done than something to give Karma for. (Kinda like school, beeing there alone doesnt yield any grades. Its required to obtain the knowledge to earn grades)
I usually determine some Karma for the run's objectives and some more for sidequests. (I tend to build in mini stories in order to keep the game interesting and to give my NPCs a breath of life instead of just statistics. Naturally this means players have more options. The amounts usually reflects how big the risk is to finish one of these.

a quick example. I once let them run against Ares. A simple prototype theft of some new rifle. (Which later turned out to be the HVAR) During the preparations I dropped the rumor that there is a power struggle between the two leading scientist. (I tend to drop rumors in batches, so there is some difficulty in figuring out whats true and whats not.) One of the players followed up and figured out that whoever would get this final problem fixed first would be up for promotion. He also found out that one was much closer than the other. So when they broke in and stole they didnt just steal it but also left a copy of the better scientist's work with the worse one. Then they left a trumped up trail to the better scientist ensuring the worse one would get the promotion. Since this one knew he had to thank the runners for this he made sure the inquiry went quickly and not too thoroughly so noone would find out where his edge came from, effectivly helping the runners stay in the shadows.

Stuff like that yields bonus karma in my book.
I also award coolness Karma and Fun Karma along with the usuall stuff thats in the books.

Posted by: Dog Jul 20 2006, 02:09 PM

I am happy to announce that Crossfire earned an extra point of karma from me for some cleverness yesterday.

As to other rewards: Make me laugh. Rescue a buddy. Pusue your character's goals. Be a hero, or an anti-hero. Oh, and don't be so loud playing dice while Charlie and I wade through decking rules.

Posted by: Crossfire Jul 20 2006, 03:17 PM

Sorry Dog, my bad We won't play dice anymore when another character is decking... We'll just have to endure those "fun times" (makes me think of a new thread...)

Sleeper should have been rewarded a point of karma too (I don't remember if you gave him one). For those who weren't there (i.e. all of you lol), the player thought of listening to a fallen security guard's cell phone's voice mail to imitate the guard's voice with his social adept. It was pretty clever in my opinion and helped us a lot later during the run...

Peace! (and looking forward playing a pirate in your next campaign!)

Crossfire

P.S. Fight global warming, become pirates...

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 20 2006, 03:28 PM

My question is, why aren't you playing while the other player is decking? Was there really nothing else you could do until they'd done their job? If not, could they really not start their work until you'd run out of things to do that didn't depend on them?

~J

Posted by: eidolon Jul 20 2006, 03:39 PM

I do by the book plus a bit for character story advancement. I also tend to reward bits of fantastic role playing. Typically, I give out anywhere from 4-7 for a "normal" day of play. More for an extended session or one in which the players excel. Usually, I try to give blanket karma with no individual awards, but sometimes they're warranted.

I personally feel like the book recommendations give too much karma when you play fairly often (say a long weekly session), so if I'm playing with a regular weekly group, sometimes I'll lower it a bit. It depends on the players and whether I think doing so will result in more griping and whining than I can tolerate.

Posted by: Crossfire Jul 20 2006, 03:40 PM

Well, you see, we all entered a facility and the decker started doing his thing with the GM (inside the building, right next to us). The other players (including me) couldn't really do anything else in the game because we had to wait for the GM and roleplaying "in character" was out of question as we had to be unnoticed... Feel free to continue this discussion on the new thread to bring interesting ideas!

Peace!

Crossfire

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 20 2006, 03:55 PM

The discussion in the new thread isn't the one I'm trying to have, though. What about what the decker was doing precluded your characters from doing things (was he opening the door you were standing in front of? Deactivating the security cameras you were just about to come into view of?), and why did he wait to start it until you were inside the facility waiting for whatever he and only he could do to happen?

~J

Posted by: James McMurray Jul 20 2006, 03:59 PM

IF it mirrors the situations I've seen:

QUOTE

What about what the decker was doing precluded your characters from doing things (was he opening the door you were standing in front of? Deactivating the security cameras you were just about to come into view of?),

A combination of the above, plus doing his best to grab as much control of the security system as possible.

QUOTE

why did he wait to start it until you were inside the facility waiting for whatever he and only he could do to happen?

Because any security system worth it's salt will not be hackable from outside.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 20 2006, 04:07 PM

Two responses there:

1) Crossfire specified that the decker was in the building next door.

2) So somehow it's possible to reach the jackpoint without having to avoid any security systems, but no further?

~J

Posted by: James McMurray Jul 20 2006, 04:11 PM

1) I missed that, but it doesn't really change anything. The security system is just hardwired across several buildings instead of one.

2) Where was it said that no security systems were encountered prior to the decker "doing his thing"?

Posted by: eidolon Jul 20 2006, 04:12 PM

Do you really gain anything from nitpicking the way someone else runs their game?

I can see your tack if he had said "I don't like the way this happened, can you give me some advice on changing it?" But he didn't. He's not the GM in this situation, either.

(Not just trying to be an ass, it's just that threads that take off in the "you did that wrong" direction when it hasn't been requested get really lame. Unless someone asks, it's a fair bet that they're okay with how their game is going.)

Posted by: Dog Jul 20 2006, 04:16 PM

Time to help derail my own thread...

1. Crossfire's first language is not english. He meant to say that the decker was inside the same building next to the other characters. It was one of those situations where they had to deck from a specific facility in order to incriminate certain people once the activities were investigated.

2. The jackpoint was the goal. They broke into the place so that they could access the jackpoint. (And bypassed the relevant security stuff on the way in.)

3. Crossfire and co. were being nice. They know I hate GMing decking runs and that I don't know the rules well, so they were trying not to do anything to distract me. Just sucked that we were all in a little room and they were getting bored.

Posted by: Platinum Jul 20 2006, 04:42 PM

We all suck at the start ... but as you get better, it is an element of the game that is really worth learning. It adds realism, complexity, and a difficulty factor. Another thing that I forgot is keep the system hard but simple. If your decker has to crawl through 2-3 subsystems it adds time. The point of getting in onsite is to avoid subsystems. Read the idiots guide to the matrix, and keep your charts handy. It tells you what all the rolls are.

Good on ya, for integrating decking.

Posted by: Crossfire Jul 20 2006, 05:56 PM

I'm sorry about the error, I added a coma in hope it'll be clearer... (not sure lol)

Dog, I think you did a good job with that matrix run. We (the other players) were lacking some "player's etiquette" there. That's why I decided to start the new thread. And thanks for backing me up, I know English is not my first language .

Thanks for those who were kind enough to move to the other thread (so we can leave Dog's karma thread alone lol).

Peace!

Martin

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 20 2006, 09:51 PM

QUOTE (Crossfire)

I'm sorry about the error, I added a coma in hope it'll be clearer... (not sure lol)

That comma makes quite a bit of difference

QUOTE (James McMurray)

2) Where was it said that no security systems were encountered prior to the decker "doing his thing"?

It wasn't, but barring the jackpoint being the goal (which, as it turns out, it was) that would mean that the rest of the team would be able to keep doing their thing while the decker worked.

QUOTE (Dog)

3. Crossfire and co. were being nice. They know I hate GMing decking runs and that I don't know the rules well, so they were trying not to do anything to distract me. Just sucked that we were all in a little room and they were getting bored.

Understood. With a little experience it'll all come much more easily, as will avoiding the lulls--just remember to throw something in for the other players at the same time (be it shoring up defenses, talking passers-by out of going into the room, stealing stuff, or planting small thermonuclear devices). It's easy, really

Posted by: James McMurray Jul 20 2006, 09:55 PM

I was picturing something along the lines of "sneak in a bit to find a jack point, then wait for the hacker to clear the electronic defenses before moving on." You certainly don't want to keep exploring while your buddy is still busy turning off the Grimtooth traps.

Posted by: SL James Jul 20 2006, 10:19 PM

QUOTE (Dog @ Jul 12 2006, 03:21 AM)

What about you guys? GM's, what do you like to reward?

Since I only game online, I usually give extra points for really good writing (and I hold the bar relatively high since it's not that hard to write something, at the very least, good).

An example for which I gave extra karma is this:

[ Spoiler ]

"Oh no."

"My city...."

Glass and steel and fire rain down to the street. The towering skyscrapers burst into brilliant flowers of destruction, spewing their metal and plastic guts to the ground below in deadly showers. Jacinda's automatic defenses spring to life, unbidden; a large barrier about her, and a second one covering her body. But only the first few shards have struck the outer barrier before she's instinctively tearing a hole in the pavement, narrow and deep. One moment she's moving at full speed; the next moment she is swallowed up by the earth.

She travels down, past the level of basements and sewers and even the Ork Underground. Down and down.

Down, until at last she is sitting in a little pitch-black chamber, held only by magic, some eighty meters below street level. The rock and earth is cold; it has slumbered here for some three million years without being disturbed, and it is slow to warm and greet visitors.

Jacinda pulls at astral space, forming a little fuzzy gray blob out of the cold. "Check the university, make sure it isn't damaged. Then go to Irina and make sure she is okay. If she has a message, bring it back to me here. Go. Hurry!"

The chamber shakes and shudders as rubble falls. Jacinda has dreaded this moment for two years now, but from the Wetaris. This isn't them; the city would already be awash with spirits if it were. But this destruction is exactly what she had been working to avoid, and here it is. She has failed. Failed to protect her city. Hopefully the damage will be limited to the billions of nuyen of infrastructure destroyed by the first attack and not extend further to thousands or millions of people, to the hundreds of other buildings in the city, to the institutions that make Seattle livable.

Uneven breaths echo through the chamber. Her own. Jacinda forces herself to slow her breathing; it changes from shallow and irregular to deep and steady. All right. This is unanticipated. The first step is to determine the scale of this attack and the party behind it.

Jacinda's little fairy-watcher finally arrives in the chamber. Just in time.

"Tink, survey the damage and tell me what has been destroyed and how badly. If you see any big, far-away, fast-moving objects in the sky heading for downtown, come back and tell me immediately. If you're attacked, lose the attackers--fight them only if you have to--and then come back here when you're clear."

Jacinda's fingers tighten around the pendant around her neck. For some, this might be a sign of faith. But Jacinda's pendant is not a cross; it is a ball of black obsidian trapped within an iridium cage and engraved with orichalcum runes. It is a focus, imbued with as much power as Jacinda knows how to invest in a single object. The instinct, when violence is used against those things one holds dear, is to strike back with violence, to strike back immediately with equal or greater force. That instinct is unhelpful here. It is strong, but it is unhelpful. Jacinda tucks the pendant back beneath her blouse.

They say knowledge is power. She will wait for her watchers to bring her power.

[ Spoiler ]

Jacinda looks out her window. Waiting is not one of her favorite things to do. It takes time and accomplishes nothing. The campus seems reasonably calm, as it should. Universities are not typically tactically relevant targets during a coup. They can be sources of protest and unrest, but that's a concern during an occupation and when inacting incredibly unpopular legislation, not when it actually comes to physical combat superiority.

It used to be that universities were tactically irrelevant since there was nothing at a university that was dangerous or could be used as a weapon. Now, however, universities are tactically irrelevant since there is almost nothing that can be used as a weapon except for mages who can be directed and herded approximately as well as cats, but who might scratch you if you mess with them directly. So now it's not only useless but useless and stupid to put universities on the top of your hit list. Jacinda doesn't normally trust in a lack-of-stupidity, but it appears that in this case the stupidity is at least being applied elsewhere.

If the New Revolution supporters manage to take control of Seattle but fail to take control of the UCAS, Seattle will be attacked by the rest of UCAS to regain it. Since the NAN will likely survive and also be upset with the New Revolution folks, they might even cooperate and allow the attacks to take place (as long as military assets take carefully prescribed flight corridors away from anything important). If the New Revolution supporters take control of UCAS and Seattle, Seattle will probably come under attack by the NAN and/or Tir Tairngire, as they won't want to have a second possible front and staging outpost for a group that seeks their violent overthrow. Either way, the New Revolution having control of Seattle is bad, unless the Corporate Court intervenes. But if the Court takes a wait-and-let-them-fight (just-don't-bomb-our-assets) approach--as opposed to simply denouncing the New Revolution--Seattle still will be a center of military conflict for quite some time. The only way to minimize the damage, it seems, is for the New Revolution to lose. There isn't apparently enough organized resistance right now to defeat the armed forces that are under the control of New Revolution sympathizers. But matters won't be helped any if the resistance members are rapidly killed. So the course of action is not so mysterious after all. Acting unilaterally isn't feasible or, likely, useful. But she can act as support to the resistance within Seattle, at least to keep people alive.

Now the question is: does she go as herself, or does she adopt a disguise? As herself, she's a little bit more familiar to the local police forces, and since they're part of the resistance, that's a mild advantage. In disguise, she'd avoid recrimination should she end up on the losing side in the end--but it seems overwhelmingly likely that should she be on the losing side she would want to leave Seattle anyway. (I hear that Auckland is nice this time of year....) So she's going as herself.

The final thing to do is to get ready. She opens up one of her drawers and fetches a pair of slender, elongated handguns that look vaguely melted. Although her magic is her primary weapon, guns have a couple of advantages: it's not so exhausting to use them, and they're pretty good at damaging vehicles with the right ammunition. Jacinda lifts up a false bottom in one of her desk drawers. Underneath is boxes of ammunition, some of which is definitely the right type. Jacinda loads it all into a pack she keeps around for that purpose; if she's going to engage in open resistance, she's going to work out of a safehouse, not her university office. She makes sure that everything is in order, and then heads out.

Within another ten minutes, after updating instructions of various watchers and dropping off the bulk of the ammunition at a safehouse (and picking up a helmet that can withstand small arms fire), she's heading back for the city center, looking for areas where there is still ongoing conflict. If she can meet up with the group of Lone Star officers who she first encountered, all the better.

It kind of loses something out of context, but the first one especially was pretty striking to me as a GM - probably the most emotive post I've had a player write - following an act of terrorism that was, quite simply, horrific.

Posted by: Kyoto Kid Jul 21 2006, 04:27 AM

QUOTE (James McMurray)

I forgot to mention that we also award 1 karma for bringing food or drinks.

...that's one I use as well. If someone makes dinner (meaning more than popping a frozen pizza in the oven or a couple of burritos in the nuker) they get 2 in addition to the one for bringing the food.

We also give an instant Karma for a good line or joke (puns excluded) even if it is said out of character. Mind you it has to be good and make everyone laugh, not just the GM. One of my GMs also awards a Karma for showing up before the scheduled start time (lateness is kind of an issue in our group).

As I mentioned in previous posts I also have "hidden" Karma awards for figuring out clues and solving mysteries planted throughout the campaign.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jul 21 2006, 04:45 AM

I have an almost-strict rule against giving out karma for non-game-related reasons. The only two exceptions I grant are one karma point for a birthday, a second karma point if the birthday is on a game day and you still attend the session. Other than that, what your character does is what your character does, and what you do I may thank you for profusely in the real world, but it won't make your character more experienced.

~J

Posted by: SL James Jul 21 2006, 10:31 AM

The only time I gave someone 1 extra karma for humor was for a post that literally made me spray water out of my nose all over the keyboard and screen.

Posted by: Kyoto Kid Jul 21 2006, 07:44 PM

QUOTE (SL James)

The only time I gave someone 1 extra karma for humor was for a post that literally made me spray water out of my nose all over the keyboard and screen.

...that could get spendy on keyboards.

I accidently splashed a bit of wine on my notebook keyboard one session & it went nuts for 15 min. Definitely a lightweight. since it was a Fume' Blanc I was drinking.

Posted by: Platinum Jul 21 2006, 08:34 PM

you need to invest in one of these http://www.sigma-apo.co.jp/

Posted by: SL James Jul 21 2006, 08:51 PM

Eh. I treat my computer like shit. It treats me like shit. We have a comfortably antagonistic relationship.

Posted by: Kyoto Kid Jul 21 2006, 09:11 PM

QUOTE (Platinum)

you need to invest in one of these http://www.sigma-apo.co.jp/

...hmmm,I think left my Japanese linguasoft at home today.