[X] My Assistant

[crash2029]

Heh, emotitoys. I have never given one of my characters one of these things for the same reason I never use bsut-a-moves or used cyber, I could never see myself using it. As far as I am concerned emotitoys are silly, bust-a-moves are annoying, and used cyber is gross.

Damn the numbers, torpedo the emotitoys!

[Ol' Scratch]

Hey, I like using second-hand cyberware to reflect some of my older runners. It's not literally second-hand, it's just getting old and way out of the SOTA curve. I also tend to take the Buggy 'Ware option with them, too.

But yeah, emotitoys are just dumb for the types of characters I prefer. Though I can see very specific concepts using them, like bubbly razorgirls or hackers of a certain disposition. How emotitoys function as described, however, is beyond me. I also don't know why a toy would need a rating 6 version of the Empathy program, or even anything beyond rating 1 or 2. But that's a different argument altogether.

[Saint Sithney]

Oh man, capacity type items are the best for used cyber.

Combine with Augmentation Addict and Vindictive for the backstory chuckles, and you've got a guy who, if someone has some shiny doo-dad in their limb, he will run spurs through their brain and stuff the used shiny in their bulging, overcapacity limbs.

[Cardul]

Why do people BWMC about things being broken? Because they are poor GMs.
Maybe the do not communicate with their players well. Maybe they do not look at the
rules as a whole. Maybe they try to deal with everything mechanically as opposed to
using the setting. Nothing is ever truly broken for a good GM. A good GM will go "So...
you built this combat monster with no social skills, but a really powerful weapon? When
I told you social skills would be important? First run involves infilitrating a catering team...
this should be interesting..."

[Ol' Scratch]

There's a difference between complaining/arguing/discussing broken rules on a forum and doing the same at the gaming table. I hardly ever argue with my players when I'm GMing because I try to cover everything with them before hand, and when issues arise I tend to have players that are totally fine with my judgements (mostly because they know I try to be fair when doing so; I'm definitely not a me-vs-them GM). In a nutshell, I'm one of them thar communicative GMs. I like to talk and work with everyone from the get-go, right down to coming up with concepts, creating their characters, and helping everyone build a team with similar goals and mentalities in mind.

I also argue rules quite a bit on this forum quite vehemently. I'm not sure how doing that makes someone a good or bad GM by default unless they specifically state that they're actually complaining about things that they let happen at their gaming table.

That said, there most definitely are things that are "truly broken [even] for a good GM." Being able to handle such situations when they arise is a mark of a good GM, but saying that broken rules are okay just because they're able to deal with it is kind of ludicrous.

[The Dragon Girl]

In my experience power level has nothing to do with good RPing or not. How you use what you have, the choices your characters make, making the characters have to work outside their comfort zone is more interesting, to me, than simple power esculation. So you have a combat monster sammy? ..Make him baby sit the kidnap victem whom he -has- to keep happy. (yay extraction work) get them to question and define their morals and work ethic, put those defining traits to the test.. and they -are- supposed to be very good at their individual specialites, thats kind of part of the point. Thats why people come to them with jobs, why they make money doing this.

I take some particular delight in using whatever comes to hand and some very basic equipment to get the job done, myself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) the most effective tool or weapon is always the mind.