My Main Problem with SR4, I miss my exploding d6! Options

[Union Jane]

Used to be, I'd meet some dodgy NPC and realise straightaway that he was easy meat. After all, he was only rolling a single die for initiative, right? And here I was, tossing out three at a time. I was bound to gun him down before he ever got off a shot.

Well, sometimes that wasn't true. More than once, I'd watch in horror as my GM rolled the goon's initiative . . . and that d6 would roll a 6, and then another 6, and before I knew it, I had a serious fight on my well-manicured hands.

These days there are no surprises. I know exactly how many times I'm going to act each round, and when I gauge an NPC to be a zero threat, I no longer fear that he'll end up with more actions than me. Where's the fun in that?

Sigh.

With every target number a 5, gone are the days when I clung to a prayer that I could somehow hit that target-number 17 on two small dice. I liked that suspense. Everybody always had a shot, no matter how distant. The exploding d6 added an element to the game that I dearly miss.