I assumed that whatever talking was going to be done happened before it became a topic on Dumpshock. Of course talk about it. Try to get everyone on the same page. If you can't, you're back to limited choices, and none of them good. So, before rage-quitting, try some low level manipulation.
If your etiquette isn't working, try negotiation, then con, then intimidate, then unarmed combat, then your automatics skill. Sometimes, IC or OOC, violence is necessary, but it should always be the last step in an escalation.

This is common behaviour on part of the player himself. The group currently plays 3 different game systems and campaigns and he behaves the same way in all of them. We've given up trying to rehabilitate him (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)


Ah, it was a situational thing really, though still kinda stupid. The idiot sam had wandered into the shop carrying a TV he scavenged earlier to get the shop clerk to 'check out' because he didn't know what was broke. When he shut the power he tried to taser her (in total darkness, no vision modifications at all on his part) and he obviously missed, striking the counter. Like any normal human being the clerk ducks under the table and grabs the gun under the counter. Idiot sam decides to lunge over the counter to grab her but he tips over it instead, face first into a gun barrel. He took 8P of damage in that fight while flailing around his monofilament sword while prone, trying to kill her. Sigh.


Uhm, I think they'll just take it as bad GM preparation rather than realise that its a whack at them. Not exactly a tactic I would like to employ though.


Wow. ouch. That'd soak right in (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The groups' ever only failed one job (I felt they had to, because unprofessional) but they were fairly bummed about it so I think they'll be slightly more careful about that.

I was thinking the other day of a job where they have to get into an Academy Awards type ceremony (they'll be 'invited as guests') and kill off a director onstage by making it look like an accident. No guns. Total utter discretion because national tv. If they manage it, much loots, but if they mess it up, they're probably going to have to skip the country (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)


I think a sitdown is already in order. Cause everyone's ideas of 'fun' are all over the place. I'll give 'em a talking to when we next meet.

And herding cats. Is that a thing? I like that phrase.

Ohhh, there's a story behind that. I wanna hear it.



Well, if the new guy requested a character rebuild, I sure hope you let him do it! Sometimes a player may find out that his character's build isn't working out for him, and unlike real life choices, we play these games to have fun, not to get the consequences of our choices rammed up our asses.

First question: Are the new players coming in at the same amount of Karma as the older ones? If not, there's part of your problem right there, same as if you tried to let someone bring a level 3 Bard into a party of level 7 Orc Barbarians and Fighters. (The other part would be letting anyone play a bard. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Second: What did the "Squishes" build? They're probably not going to get to act first if the combat monsters are, well, combat monsters, but you can always try throwing some more appropriate enemies at the squishies while the combat monsters are engaged with bigger threats.

Thirdly: Have the squishies offered a job that needs a subtle touch. Not the whole team, just the squishies. Tell them they're free to recruit whatever aid they deem necessary in whatever capacity is necessary, but that making a huge mess that draws attention to their actions will result in no payment.

For example: Mr. Johnson has a vested interest in seeing a specific line of soft drinks, which is due to test-launch in certain local markets for a two-month trial period, fail miserably. Mr. Johnson does not care about the body count one way or another - if everyone who drinks it drops dead, fine, if one out of ten cans contains a free dose of jellyfish stringers that puts everyone who drinks it in the hospital, fine, if the general public just thinks it tastes like shite and you literally have to pay people to get them to drink it, also fine. However, if the company knows about (and worse, can prove) tampering with the product (such as, say, the bricks beating in the door to the factory,) you're not getting so much as a single nuyen out of him.

The product line's success or failure will be measured by both public reviews that wind up on the Matrix and targeted feedback from those who buy it in the form of surveys sent to those who purchase them.


This is a nice, open-ended job with a lot of leeway for players to get creative on. They could sabotage the product at its local manufacturing point, they could sabotage it at its point-of-sale trial markets, hell, they could buy up the lion's share of the product themselves and write in evil reviews, or steal it in shipment so it never gets sold. However, if the company which makes it detects the overt attempt to sabotage the campaign, then Mr. Johnson walks away and nobody gets a single nuyen, so an overt assault on their factory is out, even if they taint the whole product line with ultralethal venom or blow the factory sky-high. However, there should be plenty for the bricks to do if the group goes with a more clever approach: a few hijacked Stuffer Shack trucks won't tweak the company's radar just because their product "happened to be" on those trucks.

Alternatively, the squishies could leave the bricks in the dark and pull a stealth job on the factory. It's up to them. But if the Bricks go off the handle and wreck things, they get no money.

I agree that the point is to have fun.
I always tell my new players that we will review the PC after a couple of sessions so nothing is written in stone.

PC can often end up totally different from what you were expecting.
Some times it is the needs of the team driving it some times the PC just ends up with a different personality.

I tell my players that as a team of Shadowrunners, their PC should complement the other teammates.
The whole should be greater than the sum of its parts.

Gives them a reason to work together until they have created enough common enemies that they don't have a choice. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Plus I like the negative quantities to reflect what the player is expecting to have happen to the PC, so I'm fine with adjusting them to match the history.

I'm actually waiting to hear from a player's perspective. Most of the time, here on Dumpshock, we hear from the GM. There's almost always 2 stories to hear.

I have seen several GMs say that their forbid their players from coming here hehe, whether they listen or not idk, but I think theres good reason behind it XD. whether or not its their right to or not.

Yeah I did (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) he's pretty happy with his build now, but I'll let him change it one more time if it still doesn't work out for him the next time we game cause he's new.

I give newbies coming in halfway about 50 karma to work with after creation so they can keep up with the rest of the guys, but ONLY if it's not a throwaway character. I don't like having too many of those around because it disrupts continuity =\

The squishies are two drone riggers, a medic and an Agent 47 sneaky type.


Heh I did the very same type of run a few weeks ago (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) the players bickered for about half an hour about how to get around it before settling on a plan which went pear shaped the moment they got to the factory, though they were asked to be as discreet as possible. They still got a bit of pay despite screwing up the 'run because they always ask for half payment first.


As far as I know only one of my players is registered on the forum, I don't exactly stop them from visiting but most don't do so anyway out of laziness (or so they tell me)

Before I turned to GMing this group we were under a different GM who pretty much had the same problems as I did: overpowered PCs. Him trying to stop the most powerful players resulted in the whole infection thing he threw at the group earlier this year. The thread is floating around here somewhere, but it got locked due to uh, some disagreements.


When they have personality to start with or grow one at least (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I would very much like to run a more RP and character centric campaign but meh, they're simply not the type to really enjoy that.

Thanks for all the ideas so far, I got a lot of stuff to work with (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Good luck.

I know how you feel.
And it sounds like are you stepping in to a situation which already has a lot of baggage.

I run my games Wednesday or Thursdays from about 06:30 PM to 10 PM.

Not really time to really get the ball rolling and let all players really get in to character.
By the time the ball is really rolling it is time to wrap up.
They are looking to let a little steam off and escape RL for a while.
I wish I could once in a while get a weekend game that lasted 6 hours or so like back in college, but scheduling is killer.

So I accept the limitations of the medium and keep things fast and simple.

I do try to lay it out to the players.
I tell players from the beginning that they need to expect to share the spotlight.
Don't step on another character's core concept don't hog the action.
The idea is that everyone gets some spotlight time and everyone has fun.

That means I expect the players to work together and take the other player's PCs in to consideration.
I also let them know what I'm looking for in the game.

Nice, I did the soda run too. My players skipped going to the factory entirely, completely blowing the time I spent laying out a floor plan and the security measures.

Pretty sure I cribbed the idea for an "open-ended but minimum notice" run from Dumpshock. Did your players solve the problem by sabotaging the stuff at the point-of-sale?

Yeah, they were hired to make a rival's soda launch fail in the test market. They looked at the factory in the middle of a corp zone and decided that stuffer shack probably had worse security. So they worked up an aerosolized spray of sickness and went around spraying the tops and sides of cans with it at various points of sale. I think they hit venting machines too. I don't remember what exactly the blend was, some ecoli, laxative, rat shit, and ipecac maybe?

Anyway, they hit about 10-15 locations (maybe more with the vending machines, they focused in the barrens) and then started posting on the matrix about how the new soda had made them super sick and pretty soon other people were reporting similar experiences. Eventually a news station or a health organization tested some of the cans and found the presence of rat shit. Needless to say, a PR nightmare for the company. And no shots fired.