Disadvantages you'd like to see as a GM Options

[Smokeskin]

Unrelated to the fourth wall thing, but I've long thought that it's a bit odd that there isn't a Roger Murtaugh Memorial "I'm Too Old For This Drek" flaw of some sort. Nothing major, mind you, just a tidy li'l flaw that demonstrates how trading blows with the Triads in pitched rooftop firefights doesn't feel any easier once you're pushing 50. After all, as far as I know, Infirm and Progeria are the only qualities that specifically mention aging as a rationale for their effects, but well, those flaws are just plain vicious and don't really fit what my players have been looking for when they asked about building middle aged runners. Personally, I just houseruled one in by using the rules for the Biosystem Overstress flaw sans the bioware requirement.

Nice. Reminds of the Dark Knight Returns comic series, where Batman is 55 and often panting for breath. One of the best comics of all time btw.

[Sixgun_Sage]

Nice. Reminds of the Dark Knight Returns comic series, where Batman is 55 and often panting for breath. One of the best comics of all time btw.

Agreed, and it really does give you the feel for what that sort of hard living can do to a person, physically and mentally.

[sunnyside]

Unrelated to the fourth wall thing, but I've long thought that it's a bit odd that there isn't a Roger Murtaugh Memorial "I'm Too Old For This Drek" flaw of some sort. Nothing major, mind you, just a tidy li'l flaw that demonstrates how trading blows with the Triads in pitched rooftop firefights doesn't feel any easier once you're pushing 50. After all, as far as I know, Infirm and Progeria are the only qualities that specifically mention aging as a rationale for their effects, but well, those flaws are just plain vicious and don't really fit what my players have been looking for when they asked about building middle aged runners. Personally, I just houseruled one in by using the rules for the Biosystem Overstress flaw sans the bioware requirement.

I can see that. Just a much more moderate version of the others, but it would only really apply for the sammy types.

[Sixgun_Sage]

I can see that. Just a much more moderate version of the others, but it would only really apply for the sammy types.

Constantly opening yourself up to the forces of the arcane, tweaking your system with hot sim or just keeping the hours and diets most runners do would definately have an effect, and it seems a good baseline, though I will admit to being AFB right now...

[Whipstitch]

One nice thing is that with Shadowrun medtech it's also pretty easy to talk yourself out of feeling obligated to take the quality just because you're making an older runner. For elves and dwarves it's pretty much a non-issue right out of the gate, and for everyone else you can just sort of assume that there's got to be some middle ground between present day preventative medicine and Leónization treatments. Even if the characters are roughly the same age it's not hard to imagine a former company man skipping the quality while the crusty private detective feels pretty haggard after a rough run. The Sixth World ain't fair.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

The Sixth World ain't fair.

It isn't? Damn, there goes my Innocence... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Sixgun_Sage]

It isn't? Damn, there goes my Innocence... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

Too bad, you could have traded it in at the bar for a bottle of tequila and a box of condoms.

[CanRay]

Too bad, you could have traded it in at the bar for a bottle of tequila and a box of condoms.

Whoa whoa whoa... You got CONDOMS for your as well?

Damn, did I get shafted!

[Sixgun_Sage]

Whoa whoa whoa... You got CONDOMS for your as well?

Damn, did I get shafted!

Ouch, I hope Bubba atleast used plenty of "essential oils" man.

[Hound]

actually I'd kinda like to see my players take the qualities for negatives they're going to roleplay. I've got a player who created a dwarf mage, I think with no negative qualities, then when the game started she decided that she was going to be extremely racist (bias negative) and only use touch spells (I can't remember for sure, but I'm guessing there's a geas that would cover this.) After several sessions she's stuck pretty hard to both of them (no non-touch spells and picked a fight with an entire section of the Ork Underground...) though she did recently let me know that she's tired of roleplaying an angry racist all the time and asked me to provide a storyline opportunity for her character to become more accepting. But still, she took basically two big weaknesses without any compensation. Basically the opposite of what this thread is about I guess, I just thought it was a funny note.

[Tyro]

actually I'd kinda like to see my players take the qualities for negatives they're going to roleplay. I've got a player who created a dwarf mage, I think with no negative qualities, then when the game started she decided that she was going to be extremely racist (bias negative) and only use touch spells (I can't remember for sure, but I'm guessing there's a geas that would cover this.) After several sessions she's stuck pretty hard to both of them (no non-touch spells and picked a fight with an entire section of the Ork Underground...) though she did recently let me know that she's tired of roleplaying an angry racist all the time and asked me to provide a storyline opportunity for her character to become more accepting. But still, she took basically two big weaknesses without any compensation. Basically the opposite of what this thread is about I guess, I just thought it was a funny note.

Sometimes you don't know what a character's going to be like until you actually play them. Perhaps we should allow provision for limited retconning shortly after chargen (with GM approval, of course).

[Tech_Rat]

Sometimes you don't know what a character's going to be like until you actually play them. Perhaps we should allow provision for limited retconning shortly after chargen (with GM approval, of course).

Sounds like a move I adopted from an old GM of mine. After the first, but before the second session, you can remake almost your entire character[with a loosely similar concept], after the second, but before the third, you can redo skills and qualities, and after the third, you can tweak some of your skills[one more point here, drop a point there, lower this one, boost that one]. Then you're done. It was mostly to help newer players get used to the system and optimize their characters a bit more for survival, as lethal a game it is.

[Whipstitch]

Sometimes you don't know what a character's going to be like until you actually play them.

Yeah, one time I ran a young but gifted magician who had the benefit of a pretty formal education at a great college. When I was writing his background I had thought of him as kind of a naive hands off type but nobody else in the group had much shadowrun experience but me and the GM, nor did anyone design a background that was really any more experienced than my magician. So I switched gears a li'l and played him as overconfident if anything. It really helped get the wheels rolling a few times and got a few laughs.

[Tyro]

And sometimes you write someone one way and just find yourself playing them another.