PC Backgrounds, Are they making this too easy on me? Options

[SpellBinder]

Yes, there was. Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV (she made it up herself), a.k.a. Ed, Radical Ed, & Françoise.

Added: See previous post.

[Wuerfelwerfer]

If she's already in her teens, she might bring a boyfriend home one day - which might be kind of awkward if the whole team is there, preparing guns for a run.
But a shadowrunner acting as a protective dad in normal situations should be fun enough. If she's younger he might have to figure out how to keep some eight-year-olds from bullying her at school. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Draco18s]

Don't forget the "Perfect Roommate" positive for advanced lifestyles, too. Though said dependent could be rather needy of your attention and nuyen, he/she could also be one hell of a homemaker as well (among other things).

Reminded me of this comic I found last night (and the next strip for why).

Yes, the little girl has a tail. Yes the one guy was on the ceiling. There's a reason the comic is called Sorcery 101 (it's not half bad of a comic).

[CanadianWolverin...]

If she's already in her teens, she might bring a boyfriend home one day - which might be kind of awkward if the whole team is there, preparing guns for a run.
But a shadowrunner acting as a protective dad in normal situations should be fun enough. If she's younger he might have to figure out how to keep some eight-year-olds from bullying her at school. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Your post reminds me of how I once got into a chat about being a new dad, then someone pointed out that one day she would be all grown up one day, so I say "So?" and so it was highlighted that it would mean she would one day experience "dating". Suddenly I found myself considering the logistics and tactical scenarios of a date and how I could do such a thing without her knowing I was tailing the situation as a hidden chaperone, as well as training her in quick first response self defense. "Wait a second, did you just tell me your daughter was going to have sniper support on her first date?"

I blame my active imagination and paranoia. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[iamZebulun]

Well, I really won't have to worry about who this girl is anymore. The player who was going to be responsible for her apparently isn't fit to run the shadows.

After about a week of playing, he expressed to me that he doesn't want to work for scumbag after scumbag, and won't be convinced that it hasn't exactly been the case. Furthermore, he just seems like he is only capable of seeing everything in blacks and whites, without the many, many shades of grey that lie between. Don't know if this is a form of naiveté or a product of lame games that have a defined alignment system. Oh well.

Guess if the runners ever decide to help with local bake sales and other legitimate fund raisers, I'll call him back.

[Tachi]

That's too bad, you had an opportunity to stat out an 8 year old Cally O'Neill.

Demolitions:4
Firearms:4

just to start with.

[Draco18s]

Well, I really won't have to worry about who this girl is anymore. The player who was going to be responsible for her apparently isn't fit to run the shadows.

Sucks to be him. Apparently "You're a criminal who shoots people in the face for money" didn't quite permeate his brain when you explained the game to him.

[iamZebulun]

Sucks to be him. Apparently "You're a criminal who shoots people in the face for money" didn't quite permeate his brain when you explained the game to him.

Sadly, I was that blunt in my description. He suggested that we go back to some other games, and I straight up told him, "Nope. I'm running Shadowrun. Bye."

[Whipstitch]

Honestly, I wouldn't blame the player or even other settings. There's nothing wrong with heroic games when compared to more dystopic settings. They're just different. The latter tends to be more focused on culture clash and moral gray areas by definition, but ultimately they both offer different forms of escapism, and not everyone wants to spend their free time playing characters they cannot relate to. It's really about what kind of mindset you want to bring to the table, and not everyone enjoys adopting any and all mindsets equally. For example, as a GM, I make up all sorts of disgusting characters and I enjoy acting out pink mohawk npcs. But I don't really relate to them quite the same way I do when I play a particular character over a long period of time and so my own PCs tend to be or eventually become realists and ice cold pros that lean a bit towards of the white hat end of the scale-- ultimately, they do have a few things they value more than nuyen, even if it is just their own rep-- because that's the kind of attitude that I personally respect or can at least understand. I can play an utterly ruthless merc and I've enjoyed a few relatively short arcs where I played one, but ultimately I still gravitate the guys who care about their teammates whether they admit it or not.

Parting ways is definitely the right move though. After all, the players are no more obligated to play than the GM is obligated to GM.

[MatrixJargon]

I read that backwards at first and thought you said the player wanted to have a little girl as their PC. Those "Kick-ass" advertisements are getting to me.

[Saint Sithney]

Shame when a person can't learn to be more flexible. Dealing with scenarios outside of your normal area of comfort and using that to grow in your understanding of the human condition is the true benefit of this type of gaming. Playing the big, tough, straight-ahead hero in some chipper fantasy isn't going to help anyone mature emotionally or in their faculties of critical reasoning.

[Whipstitch]

Neither does stroking your ego over your ability to play a murderer. I mean, let's be reasonable here-- Functioning in society is largely about sublimating your feelings when they do you no good and embracing the things that both allow you to help out others while gratifying yourself personally. Whether you can do that or not is hardly affected by the way you game.

[Draco18s]

Neither does stroking your ego over your ability to play a murderer. I mean, let's be reasonable here-- Functioning in society is largely about sublimating your feelings when they do you no good and embracing the things that both allow you to help out others while gratifying yourself personally. Whether you can do that or not is hardly affected by the way you game.

Of course...you could think about it another way...

[Whipstitch]

EDIT

Couldn't tell that was a link on my teensy itty bitty netbook screen.

[Draco18s]

Couldn't tell that was a link on my teensy itty bitty netbook screen.

The forum's link differentiation style sucks. It's a pale, pale blue when we're reading white text on a black background. I can't see links sometimes on my 22" widescreen (though its better than my laptop as it's got higher brightness and contrast).

[Saint Sithney]

Whether you can do that or not is hardly affected by the way you game.

Well, society is based in compromise, and learning to compromise what you want with your options is a constant exercise in RP. When all you want is to kill the bad guy and take his stuff, I feel like that's selling yourself short.

[toturi]

Well, society is based in compromise, and learning to compromise what you want with your options is a constant exercise in RP. When all you want is to kill the bad guy and take his stuff, I feel like that's selling yourself short.

Some societies are based on compromise. However, when you play a game, some people try to get away from that. Killing the bad guy and taking his stuff is playing a role you often do not indulge in society.

[Saint Sithney]

In society? Not so much, but it's a fantasy so common it hardly requires such a specialized avenue for gaming in order to satisfy it...

[EuroShadow]

So, I'm getting ready to run my first real attempt at a Shadowrun game. I expressed my wishes for my players to have a pretty decently filled out background, which so far they've done pretty well. Thing is, they've left some major holes open for me to take advantage of.

One of them is set on having a dependent NPC, in the form of a little girl. I'm meeting with him tonight to roll up the character and have him explain this further. Aside from the obvious getting her kidnapped or endangered in some way, I'm looking for some other out-of-the-box methods of using this. Also, does anyone know of a quality that he can use to represent this, or should we just keep it to his background and roleplaying?

The other one isn't as big. He just has a brother who is a big time hacker and fixer. Still, any ideas with this one are helpful, too.

I say don't use the player's effor to create interesting/realistic characters with automatic exploitation of that. Use it to enhance the play, and use them only in time of reasonable need: if players screw up big time and someone comes after them, then they may come also after pc relatives/close people...

[iamZebulun]

When all you want is to kill the bad guy and take his stuff, I feel like that's selling yourself short.

I like this explanation. It sums up the whole reason that I moved away from games like D&D and gravitated more towards storytelling games.

[MikeKozar]

I was just flipping through a copy of Fields of Fire that I inherited, and I highly recommend picking up a copy of the PDF to address just this issue. The opening section is an essay by Shadowtalker Matador on working as a mercenary and still maintaining a code of ethics. Great read.

Seems like a Runner who has issues with what he's being asked to do is a great opportunity for a savvy GM to build some character-driven drama. Remember 'Scarface'? It wasn't until Tony decided he couldn't kill a little girl with a carbomb that his life went to Hell... Find out what the Player is willing to do: Vice? Wetwork? Warfare? ...and work around it. You could always run a game where the runners are cops. ...or where they start out as cops... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Saint Sithney]

Just the difficulties of a moral man having no option but to work for scumbags in order to take care of his little girl is a good scenario to work with. That is an excellent character concept which could have made for a good game if the dude had stuck around.

But, then again, working for slimy assholes in order to feed a family is already close enough to most of our realities..

[iamZebulun]

I really was looking forward to the idea. When we actually worked on fleshing the girl out, we came to the conclusion that she's a sixteen year old who's awakened and wants to run the shadows. She wasn't the character's daughter, but he was still responsible for her. It was a lot of fun running her the few times I did.

On the other hand, though, I probably won't be gaming with this person again. Not necessarily because we disagree on the types of games we like, but more because when he expressed his opinion he felt the need to question mine and another player's morals (which there is nothing wrong with, we just play Shadowrun) and saying that it's thinking like ours that is why the world is going downhill.

[Draco18s]

Ask him if he's seen Ocean's 11. Ask him if George Clooney has fucked up morals because he robbed a fake Vegas casino as an actor.

Voila.

[The Jake]

Simple fact is that not everyone gets a buzz over playing that sort of role.

One of my players has taken a reduced interest in the game and that is ultimately the largest reason behind it. If he can't play Neutral good or Chaotic Stupid, he loses interest.

- J.