Statblock Discussion, Since Grinder asked Options

[ravensmuse]

-- Well, cost-effective gear packages for military/paramilitary NPCs was mulled over a long time ago. The problem being that this doesn't necessarily make the NPC as good as he should be "on paper" since it adds an additional layer of complexity for the GM with regards to tracking down rules references and effects (and Shadowrun has material spread over a lot of books even in 4e). Maybe this could be solved with a better short-form summary or going purely 'effect based' like the D&D 4e monsters? Also, you have to remember that some of the 3e material was written as a reaction to the "so badass we don't even give them stats, you just DIE" stuff from 1st and 2nd edition when it came to anything with the barest whiff of "military" on it and that toned-down assumption appears to have carried over. Maybe next edition will see every UCAS trooper running around with exoskeletons and drone packs?

One of my biggest complaints with the Corebook is that the provided NPC statblocks are worth bunk. They aren't useful, they require looking up rules, and, let's be honest, don't stand up well against optimized players (which I'm thankfully not "blessed" with).

I realize that it's quick mental math to figure out dicepools, but they should already be in there. I shouldn't have to look up armor and damage for weapons. There should be more than one adept, one mage, and one decker (at Professional Rating 2, I think it was?) archetype. All of this adds up to me either having to bog down a game by checking page after page, or write down the statblocks the way I need them to be when I play (which I've done).

Personally? There should be more NPC stats in there in general, and that includes contacts. Contacts and NPCs are the lifeblood of Shadowrun, as much as figuring out how much to pay players and how to set up runs is. Shadowrun is an amazing game, but it needs to be more useful to GMs in general.

ETA:

Maybe this could be solved with a better short-form summary or going purely 'effect based' like the D&D 4e monsters?

I realize most of the folks around here would burn me for heresy for saying this, but this would actually be really useful. But I realize that the Shadowrun community is built more towards the 3.5 crowd than the storygaming crowd, and such effect based (instead of mechanic based) statblocks would probably really bother folks.

Hey, that would work for me, but it would likely drive up the prices of the physical books a bit (more word count results in more page count). Should not have too much of an impact on PDF's, though. *shrug*

So, Grinder asked us to move this discussion out of the Land of Promise thread and into its own. So who am I to argue?

Personally, statblocks need to be useful. They can't just be a paragraph of numbers and abbreviations, all lined up to be "referenced" as they're used. That is counterintuitive; I shouldn't have to be performing mental math or cross-referencing multiple books in order to do things. But I also realize that there isn't a great way to do that without making things either tough on the writers or their wordcount.

I'm also a fan of, as Tzeentch put it, effect based statblocks, like D&D4e used; IE, "Shoot gun, 5, 5P/-1" or something to the like. Thinking about it this morning, that could get redundant quick, though I don't know if I agree with Tymeaus that it would increase wordcount much.

For reference, here's how I format my own statblocks -

Ghoul

BOD 7 AGI 3 REA 5 STR 6 CHA 1 INT 4 LOG 2 WILL 5 MAG 1
Initiative 9, IP 1, Armor 6/4
Stun Baton 6 (6s(e)/-1/2 AP), Ares Predator 5 (5P/-1), Claws 6 (4P)
Assensing 3, Infiltration 7, Perception 7, Dodge 7

It's an abbreviated form of it, since that was from notes for last week's game.

Agree / disagree? Share how you format?