Houseruling the Runner's Companion, Tweaking advanced character options. Options

[Cain]

I'm curious to know why these changes are being houseruled - I just got runner's companion and I've not run any of the variant character types yet.

You don't need to run something in game to know it's broken.

[KCKitsune]

Here's our list:

CODE

BP Race Bod Str Agi Rea Wil Cha Log Int Edg Racial Abilities & Disadvantages
30 "Furry" 6 (9) 6 (9) 6 (9) 7 (10) 6 (9) 6 (9) 6 (9) 6 (9) 5 (7) Satyr Legs, Balance Tail, Unusual Hair

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/question.gif) Wouldn't this be covered under SURGE Level 3 which costs 15 pts?

Positive would be 35 pts (Improved Metagenic Trait [Reaction], Balance Tail, and Satyr legs) and the negative would be 20 (Gene Freak, Unusual Hair, Impaired Attribute [Edge])

Normal SURGE III characters have to take 30 positive & 15 negative, the extra 5 is balanced out by the Impaired Edge. Even then the Edge is impaired too much.

[Glyph]

You don't need to run something in game to know it's broken.

Some of the options presented, such as infected, free spirits, and AIs, could potentially be unbalancing, but the metavariants don't seem broken to me. If anything, some of them are overpriced.

But house rules aren't only for "broken" things - GMs tweak build point costs and metatype traits to get them closer to how they envision them for their games (such as the ogre tweak to make ogres resemble Shrek more).

[HentaiZonga]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/question.gif) Wouldn't this be covered under SURGE Level 3 which costs 15 pts?

Positive would be 35 pts (Improved Metagenic Trait [Reaction], Balance Tail, and Satyr legs) and the negative would be 20 (Gene Freak, Unusual Hair, Impaired Attribute [Edge])

Normal SURGE III characters have to take 30 positive & 15 negative, the extra 5 is balanced out by the Impaired Edge. Even then the Edge is impaired too much.

Yep! That is precisely how it was built. It's basically just a form of SURGE that breeds true, in the same way that the Nartaki are. Did the math come out wrong?

[KCKitsune]

Yep! That is precisely how it was built. It's basically just a form of SURGE that breeds true, in the same way that the Nartaki are. Did the math come out wrong?

Unfortunately it did come out a little wrong.

SURGE level 3, which costs 15 pts, gives you 30 positive metagenic traits points and 15 negative metagenic traits points. Since your positive traits are 35, but your negatives are 20 that balances out, but you also have Edge two points less than baseline human.

Now one rank is easy (and covered), but two ranks is kinda harsh. That's most likely a 10 pt flaw* there because while the first one is cheaper, the second one hits a lot harder.

* = for the loss of the second point

[Cain]

Some of the options presented, such as infected, free spirits, and AIs, could potentially be unbalancing, but the metavariants don't seem broken to me. If anything, some of them are overpriced.

It's not just single things, often it's a subtle combination that allows for huge abuses. I believe you were the one who pointed out that since metavariants are better than free under karmagen, a dryad Pornomancer becomes a game-breaking reality.

You're right that house rules are for more than fixing broken rules, but one purpose of them is to mitigate the effect of combinations that make the game no fun for everyone. I discovered that a social adept with Commanding Voice was not much fun, so we unanimously banned it. It wasn't that Commanding Voice itself was broken, it was that it made the game no fun.

[kzt]

I knew someone who had a champions character he'd give to players who complained that their characters were too weak. He had every stat and power in the game at 100 points zero endurance and skills at 26 or less on 3d6. (Except stretching, because that was too weird (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ). Enemies surrendered when he showed up, he solved the most baffling mysteries with effortless ease, the most powerful attack in the game bounced off him. All in all, he was incredibly boring to play.

[JFixer]

Don't forget that you can't /heal/ while you're at work, so downtime for healing doesn't apply for that day, they can't get away with any kind of extended tests for that period of time, they don't have time to go out shopping, get gear fitted or repaired, or any of those other 'all day' activities, including initiating, having Cyberware installed, and others. If they lose the job, take out their lifestyle while they're being harassed by the company to repay their debts, reposess cyberware, and generally continue to track and harass them until they buy it off. Turn Day Job into a slightly less violent 'enemy' flaw.

[Cain]

If they "lose" their job, but are able to pay their lifestyle costs anyway, then you can't really take away their lifestyle. They can also refuse to go to work while healing, or doing other things. And many of the activities you list as "all day" are really only a few hours, or can be accomplished on the weekends.

One problem here is that if they lose the job, they get away scot-free. You can make them pay off the flaw; but if you do that, they'll still be earning the income until the karma is paid. It's a flaw that gives you money, after all. If you have to suffer part of the flaw until you pay it off, you have to suffer all of it-- or, in this case, get rich off of it.

But the biggest problem I have with the flaw is this: Sure, you can restrict a character's actions through use of the flaw. But that ends up punishing the *player*, since he is forced to sit on his thumb while others get spotlight time. No flaw should do that. That's simply not fun, and is part of the reason why I simply ban it rather than try to cope.

[hyzmarca]

Personally, I allow Distinctive Style to add it's bonus to Matrix searches. Why? Google "sasquatch" and "metal spikes" and "machine gun" and you end up with just five hits. Google just sasquatch and you end up with two and three quarters million hits. I'm thinking that it would be slightly easier to find info on a specific metal-spiked machine-gun-wielding sasquatch than it would be to find information on a more ordinary dude.

That presumes the character has the SINner edge, or at least a good fake one, for the job to be attached to. Then, when someone tracks you SIN, they can find out where you live and what you do. I've recommended that people take Dependents instead, with a tweak or two to make it work.



Many of those extended tests are measured in hours, not days. Availability tests for pricey gear and programming are the major ones I can think of, plus Spirit Binding. And, as far as programming goes, you can run your programming suite while you work your day job as a Microsquish tech. The same applies to most any job that's defined under what the character wants to do.

Also, you're presuming no Long Haul or Sleep Regulator, or even a Suprathyroid. Any or all of those could remove the need for sleep. Heck, addiction: stim patches can work-- I drink too much caffeine, so I'm up at this godsawful hour, playing on Dumpshock.


I'm not sure how to enforce it fairly. That's why I disallow it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Long haul and sleep regulator have their own drawbacks. Day job is a downtime management flaw, first and foremost. It directly limits the stuff that you can accomplish during downtime. Sleep reduction methods increase the around of stuff that you can do during downtime, so the two balance each other out if they're going that route. Remember that a dude with a sleep regulator and lots free time can do more than a guy with a sleep regulator and a 9 to 5 can.

Second, and most importantly, it is a plot hook flaw. I treat day jobs the same as enemies and contacts. I flesh out what the job is, why the character has the job, who the boss is, and the coworkers. This may just be minimal names and archtypes, or more. Either way, it gives the GM something to play with beyond the standard "your fixer calls with a job offer" . Maybe coworker Bob is being extorted and asks the PC for a favor that he just can't refuse or maybe the PC himself is targeted for an involuntary extraction because of his job skills and finds himself on the wrong end of a shadowrun.

And one thing to remember about the Day Job is that the PC cannot be fired. It is a flaw, meaning that it must be bought off with karma. If he comes into work late for the fifth day in a row, after missing two weeks because he was in a Panamanian POW camp, well that's just fine. The boss is never going to take him aside and tell him that he isn't right for the company and has to be let go. He could piss in the bosses coffee, while the boss is watching, and he wouldn't get fired. But, he can still be shat on, metaphorically, of course, though I suppose that they could also go so literally if it were that sort of job.

Consider, for a moment, all the ways that a boss can make a person's life hell. Pick three. Then, tell the player that his character's boss has imposed those sanctions on his habitually tardy character. It doesn't matter if you actually RP it or not and it doesn't matter if they have any in-game effect or not, if the player has a sufficient emotional investment in the character they'll still sting. And if he doesn't have sufficient emotional investment, you can always RP it.

On the most extreme side of things, you can turn it into Dilbert the RPG. Stat up all of his coworkers and hand teh character sheets to the other players with instructions to make the PC as miserable as possible throughout the simulated workday. It's cruel, but it's fun.

[Tyro]

Does anyone know when/if they plan on putting out an errata to this book?

[Cain]

And one thing to remember about the Day Job is that the PC cannot be fired. It is a flaw, meaning that it must be bought off with karma. If he comes into work late for the fifth day in a row, after missing two weeks because he was in a Panamanian POW camp, well that's just fine. The boss is never going to take him aside and tell him that he isn't right for the company and has to be let go. He could piss in the bosses coffee, while the boss is watching, and he wouldn't get fired. But, he can still be shat on, metaphorically, of course, though I suppose that they could also go so literally if it were that sort of job.

It's a job where you can play hooky for three weeks, and expect to not get fired. And until you pay off the karma, you continue to get a paycheck. You gain BP's and cash for taking the flaw, just like In Debt, except no one is going to come after you for not showing up at work.

On the most extreme side of things, you can turn it into Dilbert the RPG. Stat up all of his coworkers and hand teh character sheets to the other players with instructions to make the PC as miserable as possible throughout the simulated workday. It's cruel, but it's fun.

That just makes the problem worse. I'm sure it might be fun, but now the stupid flaw gives the player extra spotlight time, instead of less. I don't stat up all the minor NPCs the other players encounter and force the other players to run them for their downtime bits, why should I single out one guy for special treatment?

[Cain]

Does anyone know when/if they plan on putting out an errata to this book?

The errata will be bundled with the PDF release of Shadows of Latin America.

[kzt]

That's the second monday after never?

[darthmord]

It's a job where you can play hooky for three weeks, and expect to not get fired. And until you pay off the karma, you continue to get a paycheck. You gain BP's and cash for taking the flaw, just like In Debt, except no one is going to come after you for not showing up at work.

That just makes the problem worse. I'm sure it might be fun, but now the stupid flaw gives the player extra spotlight time, instead of less. I don't stat up all the minor NPCs the other players encounter and force the other players to run them for their downtime bits, why should I single out one guy for special treatment?

One thing you can do is let them be fired. But in the same vein, that flaw gets replaced by a series of flaws that are appropriate for the character and situation. Wouldn't be the first time a flaw gets plreaced by something else due to in-game actions.

Flaws should help define, not benefit more than hinder you.

[HappyDaze]

Elf (Metatype)
Low-Light Vision
Metagenetic Improvement (Agility) 1
Metagenetic Improvement (Charisma) 2
Movement Rate 10/25

Satyr (Elf Metavariant)
Impaired (Willpower)
Low-Light Vision
Metagenetic Improvement (Agility) 1
Metagenetic Improvement (Body) 1
Metagenetic Improvement (Charisma) 2
Movement Rate 15/37.5 (including modification from Satyr Legs)
Poor Self Control (Compulsive Lechery)
Satyr Legs
Unusual Hair
Vestigial Tail

Once again, I've decided to make a thematic change and thus my Satyr is not an Ork metavariant but is instead an Elf metavariant. The Unusual Hair describes what would be typical for a 'hairy human' - but in an Elf such body hair is quite unusual. The Satyr also has small horns, but these are entirely cosmetic. Despite these cosmetic oddities, a Satyr tends to be as attractive as a typical Elf. In my world, Satyrs are exclusively male and Dryads (which will also be modified) are exclusively female.