Black vs. Chrome, Shadowrun, A game of Two Views Options

[Spike]

I have noticed a recurring trend in discussions about Shadowrun, and finally put my finger on the exact nature of the trend.

There are two poles on a spectrum of play that are both valid, but largely incompatable.

On one end you have the 'Chrome' play, all about the wizbang toys, the attitude, the action. Runners are 'heroes' of their own Hollywood Action Movie, Adepts are Ninja, Wizards blast stuff, are inscrutable, and can control minds at a whim. The Runners don't have to worry about equipment breaking down, or looking professional, they just have to worry about looking cool and being 'the best'.

At the other exteme you have the 'Black' play, all about the quiet professionals. These guys only deal through cutouts, never get personally involved, and look for the money/rep option. They dress like corporate commandos, suits for infiltration, janitors for after hours jobs, and occasionally black bodyarmor jumpsuits for raids. They don't want to look cool, they want to succeed. Their gear doesn't necessarily provide the best bonus, but it is the most reliable, and possibly disposable item on the market... and you can garauntee they absolutely need it for that op. Black players don't carry gadgets for the sake of having cool toys.


Now, first of all, this is a spectrum, not a binary observation. Second, either option is somewhat modular. Its perfectly possible to play a stylized Chrome 'ultimate professional' who uses disposable gear and does everything 'black'....but cooler.

Second of all, this doesn't require any modification of the rules. Individual players could go 'chrome' or 'black' even in the same group, though we could assume that everyone playing to the same level of C or B is preferrable.

How does it look in play, though?

Well: Chrome players probably have insanely high dicepools in more limited feilds, you'll see players pulling revolvers because they are cool, or because they do the most damage. There is probably a lot of casual carnage, lots of nameless guards shot or stabbed or simply smooshed by the troll in the course of the average run. Characters will smacktalk the Johnson, double deals are common (the GM can ride the spectrum as well as any player...), you may even have jet setting runs in exotic, but totally sweet, locations like embassies, Monte Carlo, or what have you. Runs may not even involve much in the way of planning.

Black players will have high dice pools, but will have wider ranges of skills, less uber specialization. While each character might have an area of expertise, a totally black party will have several characters able to do the same job to various levels of ability. Preferred weapons will be assault rifles and SMGs, with pistols used only on 'undercover' work. The characters will work to minimize violence in the job, and probably spend a great deal of time in planning and legwork. Johnsons will see very little facetime, and be treated as customers or employers, and will probably only meet the designated 'face' of the party, if the GM is in on it, double dealing and dirty tricks will be limited, though that doesn't mean the Johnson plays it totally straight either, just that the characters might never know if/how they got screwed.

[ThreeGee]

It's perfectly possible to have both types, and any of the myriad greys in between, in the same party.

[nezumi]

I completely disagree. There's no relation between being 'uber cool' vs. being professional and being a specialist or a generalist, being politically draconian or straight, being a money-rich campaign or money-poor, international or local, violent or non-violent. I've seen highly violent professionals and very non-violent showy characters.

That said, Johnsons double crossing you should happen at every level regardless.

[Stahlseele]

[mfb]

i think it works better to view 'black' and 'chrome' as a set of traits, which can be mixed and matched in any given character. having large, specialized dice pools is a 'chrome' trait; disposable gear is a 'black' trait. a given character might be extremely chrome in some areas and extremely black in others.

[Stahlseele]

problem is, i'd love to play a chrome-monster . . but SR System/Setting actively punishes such characters through things like the 'Distinctive Style' Flaw . .
Even if i am playing a Troll, i will not use any obvious cyber AT ALL . . if i use Dermal-Tech, i pay more to have it look like heavy case of natural armor . . if i Use Horns/Fangs i pay extra to have them look like the natural teeth/horns and so on . . i pay extra to have retractable eye-shields instead of the usual ones, i don't wear anything that looks all black-ops or street-punk style . . i wear things like the Victory industrious Winter . . Overalls/work-Clothes and hidden Armor and the such . . i don't wear any large bladed weapons(god's it is close to impossible to actually use an Pole-Arm with Dikote for example) . . i don't even use the usual knuckle-duster and instead pay good money for a pair of gloves that looks like ordinary cheap synth-leather but consists of an shock-glove and an hardliner glove . . et cetera, et cetera, drek-cetera to paraphrase Dirk Montgommery . .

[mfb]

i'm not sure what you're trying to say; if your post is a response to mine, i'm not sure how your response relates to what i said.

one thing i will note--i don't see that the distinctive style flaw is a punishment. if you want to play a distinctive character, take the distinctive style flaw. if you don't, the only thing you really need to change is to take the flaw off of your char sheet.

[Spike]

I just want to point out that I do attempt to cover both the spectrum of Black/Chrome as well as the modularity of the various attributes. I expect pure versions of either to be nearly impossible to do.

I originally had in mind to use cultural examples of both, but had a hard time isolating elements. Mission Impossible seemed a good 'Black' sort of movie, but was very flashy and gadgety at times, True Lies had some black Intel ops but then had rocket launchers, helicopter bridge chaces and all sorts of whacky over the top stuff.

Pure Chrome might be easier to find in Hollywood, but even Crank, as over the top as it was, seemed to deal with a very grounded underworld with a veneer of cool... from a certain point of view. But then you bring in gritty chrome and cinematic black and the whole thing becomes useless..... :eek:

[Stahlseele]

doesn't work like that x.x . . our GM's hand these things out as if they were pamphletes at a political gathering x.x

[HappyDaze]

[mfb]

[Stahlseele]

nobody might really remember the troll . . sure, people might remember that there WAS a Troll . . but if that Troll is sporting a pink mohawk and has 2 obvious cyber-arms and an balance tail and was carrying a pole-arm two times as big as an orc, people tend to remember those things. THAT's what i mean. it ain't really the distinctive style flaw, but sure as heck feels like it most of the time.

My Group does not really like the Black Ops Style thingamingie. My Group just likes to play such ultra cool silent assassins, such cutesy elf sluts, a mix between athlete's way and invisible way adept and mages with inproved invisibility, silence and levitation. They just like that kind of Characters, so that playing style is more or less the only available angle at first. Sure, they complain about my 3m tall heavy weapons plattform every time, but in the end, they fuck up and i get to do what i du best . . HULK SMASH!

[Grinder]

[Fortune]

[Grinder]

We speak of the 2XS guy, don't we?

[Stahlseele]

[Homme-qui-rigole]

Chrome is king!

[martindv]

[crash2029]

Street level superheroes...ooh rah! Let's hear it for the Dystopian Dynamic Duo! We just gloss over the fact that with the abilities these people have there's no way they would be in the shadows. Still, superpowered is the only way to go baby!

[Stahlseele]

With Trolls, Super-Powered comes built in . .
And why would the Dynamic Duo be mentioned in that regard? O.o
I mean . . Batman and Robin(quiet, or papa spank) are usual humans with some athletics/unarmed fighting and gadgets or am i missing something?

[martindv]

[D Minor]

Fulltime Killer Has the contrast your looking for.


Tok Vs. O ......Pure sweetness

[Catharz Godfoot]

[mfb]

[Mercer]