Negative Qualities, aka: fun ways to further mess with characters Options

[Mickle5125]

What negative qualities have your characters been given by GMs? I don't mean minor crap like an addiction to BTLs... I mean crazy stuff like addiction: tentacle Porn. That was fun.

The most entertaining flaw my GM gave out, however, had to be Grim Servant of Death, which was given to the only character in our game who constantly sought nonlethal means to deal with the runs. Every time this character pulled out a weapon, something died. sometimes it was the target, sometimes it was a friend, sometimes it was the little old nun driving the bus full of orphans to the church. Granted, said character also developed a medium addiction to alcohol... ^_^

[CanRay]

Ah that ol' Deadlands Hinderance GSoD! I loved it! One group wanted everyone to have it!

Anyhow, "Signature" is one that I particularily love for Deadlands... Always gotta let everyone know who did it.

I love how the Cannon character, Kane, does it best!

[Mickle5125]

Signature... a 5 point negative quality, perhaps?

*plots and plans yet another character concept*

[Hatspur]

I was pretty bummed that there were no rules for "enemies" in negative qualities. It could be done so easily alongside your contacts. Instead of Loyalty/Connections it would be Hatred/Connections. You could roll dice equal to the contact's hatred at the start of each session and the number of hits refers to how badly he guns after the character this session.

Mind you, I could see this taken to the extreme. One character with 2 6/6 enemies would really detract from any plan the GM may have, but it would make an interesting chase game.

[CanRay]

Oh, another rule I have in game is that you can take the "Cortex Bomb" disadvantage (+20 BP), and it doesn't count towards the maximum amount of Negative BP you can take.

But you have no idea how it got there, no black outs, or memory loss, nothing... Just hit the friendly neighbourhood Alley Doc one day for a check-up, tune-up, and bullet removal, and (s)he asks, "Hey, when did you get the Cortex Bomb installed?"

[Stahlseele]

if they did not start out with the problem, my characters sooner or later got the mild common phobia of dogs . . 'cause i as a player can't stand them . . i ain't really afraid of them, but i HATE them with a passion . . i'm more of a Cat-Person . . it got kinda silly, when my Combat-Monster-Troll suddenly was afraid of a poodle . . but meh, there's more than flight . . there's fight as a response to fear too . . after i had shot the poodle with a called shot burst from an viper slivergun, the GM decided that critters were going to get armor no matter what . . so i switched to Savalette Guardian and ExEx next time ^^

[Muspellsheimr]

. . but meh, there's more than flight . . there's fight as a response to fear too . .

Humans have a Fight or Flight mechanism, just like most animals. One of my friends 'Flight' response happens to be broken.

[CanRay]

Freeze is also there, for camouflage.

[Stahlseele]

heh, i can relate . . combat monster ain't SR only . .

[Mickle5125]

I was pretty bummed that there were no rules for "enemies" in negative qualities. It could be done so easily alongside your contacts. Instead of Loyalty/Connections it would be Hatred/Connections. You could roll dice equal to the contact's hatred at the start of each session and the number of hits refers to how badly he guns after the character this session.

Mind you, I could see this taken to the extreme. One character with 2 6/6 enemies would really detract from any plan the GM may have, but it would make an interesting chase game.

Enemy

5-30 point negative quality.

Somebody, somewhere, wants you dead. Treat just like Contacts, except the enemy has hatred instead of loyalty. Every point of hatred is worth 2 points, and every point of connectivity is worth 3. Therefore a H1, C1 enemy would be a 5 point negative quality, and a H6, C6 would be a 30 point negative quality.

Only problem I see with this set up is that any enemies that aren't equally hateful and connected would have negative quality points that aren't divisible by 5. H3,C4 = 18, for example. Any ideas for better point dispersal? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/question.gif)

[Lionhearted]

Weirdness magnet.. nuff said

[Fortune]

The main problem with the Enemy Negative Quality is that it essentially turns into a Team Flaw™. Additionally, when a resolution is reached (read enemy is killed) , and it almost certainly will be, then the GM either has to go through logic hops to extend the flaw (or arbitrarily explain how the character 'paid off' the flaw with Karma after the fact), or the character basically gets free Build Points.

[Mickle5125]

The main problem with the Enemy Negative Quality is that it essentially turns into a Team Flaw™. Additionally, when a resolution is reached (read enemy is killed) , and it almost certainly will be, then the GM either has to go through logic hops to extend the flaw (or arbitrarily explain how the character 'paid off' the flaw with Karma after the fact), or the character basically gets free Build Points.

Ultimately, it's up to how the GM plays the enemy... a low connectivity enemy would probably die fairly quickly, but a high connectivity one might never actually be seen by the players. The Enemy flaw would give the GM a nicely sized plot hook to play with... *shrugs* it could just turn into a "GM handout only" flaw.

[Stahlseele]

Weirdness magnet.. nuff said

best "flaw" ever *g*
i wish my GMs were imaginative enough so i could actually earn such a thing ^^

[Daier Mune]

there's always the best quality from Fallout: Bloody Mess. people around you tend to die in the most violent way possible. i guess for shadowrun that doesnt mean much, since people are usualy sporting high-explosive machineguns and monofilament whips.

[Stahlseele]

heh, good idea . . i'll have to look into porting some of the Fallout-Things into SR3 *g*
but i am not sure if THAT particular one is an EDGE or an FLAW *g*

[Lionhearted]

best "flaw" ever *g*
i wish my GMs were imaginative enough so i could actually earn such a thing ^^

Had a guy in my last group that always picked that quality, and had Characters that themself could have qualified for showing up with that quality.. such as a Biker Satyr with an Elvis totem and a geas to sing Old Elvis hit's whenever he used magic, yeah he had a Alamos 20k biker jacket aswell "Even the devil has pointy ears" (Hey! that looks just like me!)

[Cain]

This *really* happened.

A player wanted to take a mild allergy, like cigarettes. But then, he wanted to take Addiction: Cigarettes as well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Individually, each of those may be too mild for the rules. But together, they should be worth a heck of a lot more. I thought that was a clever use of the Flaw rules.

[Stahlseele]

how did he want to get addicted to something that made him physically ill?
combining allergy common mild dogs and phobia common light dogs i can understand . . but that? O.o
or did he beomce allergic because he overdid it? best way to cure an addiction is probably getting sick of the stuff you're addicted to . .

[DreadPirateKitte...]

how did he want to get addicted to something that made him physically ill?
combining allergy common mild dogs and phobia common light dogs i can understand . . but that? O.o
or did he beomce allergic because he overdid it? best way to cure an addiction is probably getting sick of the stuff you're addicted to . .

I have a friend with lactose intolerance that LOVES ice cream.

She eats it often, and then has vicious cramps, and gets violently ill.

I dunno what to tell you. It happens.

[Daier Mune]

well, niccotine is an addictive drug, after all.

whiskey has gotten me sick more than once, but that doesn't make me like it any less (although it has made me be smarter about my drinking habits).

[Stahlseele]

yeah, liking something you don't accept is easy . . but getting ADDICTED to it?

[Daier Mune]

*shrug* people are dumb and routinely make poor decisions in thier lives?

[Cain]

I know people with athsma who smoke. Not to mention smokers with emphysema and lung cancer, but that should be obvious. *Shrug* It's an addiction, and addictions are usually harmful to you. As for the allergy part, I can see him taking a drag, then going into a coughing fit. That'd be worth all the negative modifiers. It doesn't need to be a strict according-to-Hoyle allergic reaction to count.

[Earlydawn]

But you have no idea how it got there, no black outs, or memory loss, nothing... Just hit the friendly neighbourhood Alley Doc one day for a check-up, tune-up, and bullet removal, and (s)he asks, "Hey, when did you get the Cortex Bomb installed?"

I laughed hard. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)