All they can do is kill., and not subtly Options

[kigmatzomat]

Regardless of GM, sometimes there is a bloodbath. Heck, I've seen a really great group go into total overkill due to some completely rational misunderstandings. Somebody gets caught in a silence spell so they can't use their radio, the others assume the first guy got cacked, someone gets a bit careless with a fire spell around some aviation fuel and it all ends in tears.

Other times there is one guy who just can't keep from shooting somebody and pushes the thing over the edge. As players we tended to frag that guy in game, or arrange for him to frag himself.

[2bit]

I'm gonna agree with ShadowDragon8685 here. If they have a rep for extreme violence, come up with a job where the Johnson wants that, and make it particularly amoral.

If they continue on their path of self destruction, someone is going to set them up. An employer will decide that their bounty is more valuable than their services, and that will be the end of their careers.

If they get out of that alive and free, well, their careers are still over - now it's personal!

[Critias]

Why?

Why not just run the game the players seem interested in playing? Why punish them for playing the game they want to?

[2bit]

We're not here to debate what his players want, Critias.

[Critias]

No, we're here to debate/suggest what should be DONE to his players. And I think that's an unhealthy conversation, that's not good for a gaming group. He presented the situation, then asked what should happen next -- am I so wrong for my suggestion being something besides some colorful way to murder all of them? Sure, it's in keeping with the grittiness of the setting and all that (and I've done my share of player killing), but if they're having fun why put a stop to it?

It's not some intra-party conflict thing where one guy is doing his own thing and the rest of the group is moaning because of it. None of them are drawing down on one another or not having a good time. From all that we've heard, these guys are making a concerted effort, as a team IC and as a group OOC, to work together and do stuff (and seem to be enjoying themselves along the way).

So...naturally...the answer is a total party wipe, to teach them a lesson? I just don't see it. Why put a stop to their good time?

[2bit]

I think you're imagining things. :-P For one, I'm not saying your go-with-it suggestion is wrong, just because I agree with someone else. I don't think odinson should give his players a game they don't want to play. But I don't think we have enough info to know what it is his players want. Just because they've enjoyed their killing spree doesn't mean they won't also have fun fighting for their lives when the hammer comes down.

Ours is to suggest, his is to decide, right?
And for the record, how did you read "total party wipe" in my post?

edit:

[Rifleman]

Ah, the problem of breaking a group of it's previous D-n-D habits.

My suggestion is simple. Have them do a run, and then, after the blood bath, after they get to their target, have them realize it's not there. Have Sirens start going off in the background, and if they are listening to the police bands, have them hear the police calling for back up to stop the 'rogue runner team' guilty of 'mass murder'. Have them bring in air support and S.W.A.T, with Mage and Hacker support

If they look at the cameras or at the security records, (in the thirty seconds before World War III starts) Have them see the johnson sleezing through security and waiting to enter the vault until they trip the alarm. He opens the door and leaves with the rest of the screaming horde of Pedestrians. He's calling lonestar as he begins to walk out of the vault.

Oh, and of course he calls them about this time and says: "Thanks for the distraction. When you murders see Tommy, tell him I kept my promise."

You give them what they want (A huge fight), they get a lesson in humility (They won't get paid and you should kill at least half of them, proving they aren't supermen), and they should get the hint that they went a little too far.

Oh, and let them try to track the Johnson/Runner. The comlink was disposable and empty, and sin was ridiculously fake, and for some reason the contacts aren't willing to talk to the group about it. Seems like they've been blacklisted, so now it's time to start on the bottom...

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, see, I have no problem with runs ending with a li'l good ol' fashioned ultraviolence. I could even imagine overlooking the botched stealth rolls and generally sloppy play. But screwing the Johnson... That's never smart. If it's vengeance, that's one thing, but just pissing on the Mr. J is perhaps the only -real- taboo out there in the shadow world. You're not only hurting your team's rep, you're potentially hurting the reputation of the fixer that set up the initial meet to begin with. And if there's one thing I know for absolute certain in shadowrun, it is that nobody can afford to start alienating Fixers.

[Jack Kain]

You can also remind them that if they act like hired thugs. They'll be payed like hired thugs.

And hired thugs don't make as much as shadowrunners.