New Karma Pool Rule, Yes, I ripped this off from White Wolf |
New Karma Pool Rule, Yes, I ripped this off from White Wolf |
Apr 2 2004, 10:59 PM
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#1
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
I was just thinking of ways to spice up the Karma Pool, when it occured to me that instead of thinking of an original idea, I could just steal an idea from another RPG, and tweak it a bit. Specifically, the willpower pool system from White Wolf's world of darkness. I think people should have some control over how fast they regain karma pool, rather than having it ambiguously refresh after every "adventure" or "scene." In World of Darkness, every character has a nature and a demeanor, which are basicaly personality types which describe what motivates a character. A character's nature is their true personality, while their demeanor is how they try to get others to view them. For instance, if your nature is a "monster" and your demeanor is a "healer," you would seem very gentle and helpful, but actually be a total villain when no one is watching.
My idea is that shadowrun characters have natures and demeanors, and refresh their karma pools by roleplaying them.Every time you do something that fits with your nature, you regain a karma pool point. Every time you get a full 8 hours of good sleep, you regain a karma pool point if and only if you spent the last "day" in which you were awake succesfully maintaining your demeanor and not revealing your true nature to people who know you (revealing it to strangers you won't me again is fine). This would not only make the karma pool more dynamic, it would also encourage good roleplaying by offering immediate rewards for good method acting. This is especcially useful in one-shot runs or short campaigns in which karma awards aren't a good motivator. Players would have to be careful to follow their nature without letting the other characters know that your demeanor is just an act, in order to gain both of these benefits. GMs would have to be fairly strict about awarding karma pool points, so a "monster" shouldn't get one every time he insults or bitch-slaps someone, and a "healer" shouldn't get a point every time he slaps a stimpatch on someone, and should never get any for healing himself. A monster would have to do something truly evil, and a healer would have to heal at least a couple boxes of physical damage. What do you guys think? |
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Apr 2 2004, 11:15 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 409 Joined: 9-March 04 Member No.: 6,140 |
That sounds pretty neat. I am not fond of white wolf because of the terrible combat rules, attributes that work on a 5-point scale, and miscellaneous vague rules, but it is very good in terms of role-playing. Another thing I like about it is that attribute ratings affect the utility of linked skills. I actually am balance-testing a conversion of that rule to SR. I also like the 9 attributes, although I would get rid of appearance, because it doesn't deserve to be considered as important as stuff like strength and intelligence.
The way my attribute-skill conversion works is simple: All skills have their effective rating increased by 1/3 of the linked attribute, rounded down. So if your quickness is 3-5, your gun skill increases by one, if it's 6-8, your gun skill increases by 2, and so on. The attribute cannot add more points than you have in the skill itself, so with rifles of 1 and quickness 10, your effective rifles skill would still only be 2. This applies when using a skill or defaulting to another skill, but not when defaulting to an attribute, as it doesn't make sense for an attribute to augment itself. This rule would do more to differentiate between characters with the same skill rating, but different attribute ratings. |
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Apr 2 2004, 11:18 PM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 216 Joined: 27-January 04 Member No.: 6,025 |
Cool ;) White Wolf tends to lean more towards the conflict of life and the pain of it all Stupid goths. Shadowrun on the other hand deals more with the corruptibility of the human spirit, how far will you go for that extra nuyen? By default every character I've played has been a monster, not caring who he hurts to get paid. For instance, killing several innocent guards because they were in his way. Stealing a prototype from a company thus causing it to go bankrupt and put thousands out of work. Extracting a scientist from a good paying job and a loving family only to turn him over to a cold hearted corp who will lock him in a cell and beat him if he refuses to work. It's how I play my games. so your idea wouldn't work for me but that doesn't mean it's no good at all. Try it see how you like it then let us know |
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Apr 2 2004, 11:45 PM
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#4
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Traumatizing players since 1992 Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,282 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Las Vegas, NV Member No.: 220 |
I equate this too much with forced Alignments. I think human beings cannot be pigeonholed that easily.
I think that 100% of all of us are all monsters, it just takes the correct stimulus to bring it out. Niska: "come, let's meet your true self." |
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Apr 3 2004, 09:35 AM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 413 Joined: 20-November 03 Member No.: 5,835 |
Unless your character's nature and demeanor are the same: I don't really care that everyone knows I'm a jaded mercenary, who is hard pressed to findanything but apathy when faced with the gritty life on the Seattle streets. I know, kindof cliche' -- but I have never had a character whose nature and demeanor were very far off. I mean, my deckers have always been pretty much like me -- interested in the thrill of discovery, solving problems, finding clever solutions (which is basically what decking is nonstop), and it's pretty obvious that as a decker they live for that. |
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Apr 3 2004, 07:43 PM
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#6
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
NO offense, gut you're building a token economy there. Players should want to roleplay b/c they WANT TO. Not because they get a treat. :)
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Apr 3 2004, 07:58 PM
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#7
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,049 Joined: 24-March 03 Member No.: 4,323 |
Umm... was that blatant contradiction intentional? |
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Apr 3 2004, 08:41 PM
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#8
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Traumatizing players since 1992 Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,282 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Las Vegas, NV Member No.: 220 |
yeah, I didnt make clear than nearly 100% of us think that we are not. I think we all have the capacity for that no matter how we see ourselves.
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Apr 3 2004, 09:38 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 1-April 04 Member No.: 6,211 |
I've played lots of WW and I've never, ever been a fan of the Nature/Deamenor thing.
I've never seen it used correctly in game, which I'm kinda thankful for. The last thing I want to hear when I'm rping is that "you're character wouldnt' do that, he's anarchic" then I have to have a ten minute conversation explaning the nature of my characters view on anarchy.. sigh... The simple truth is, WW hates gamers, and have put rules like this into their books to try to educate us into be proper gothic actors. No thanks, I'll skip |
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Apr 3 2004, 09:44 PM
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#10
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,047 Joined: 12-November 03 From: Perilously close to the Sioux Nation. Member No.: 5,818 |
As much as I think it's a decent idea, I'll pass.
I have told players before "as I understand it, your character would never do that." Even when i played :eek: DnD I ignored the alignment system and went with a more holistic sort of an "alignment" system. If the team troll who stands for Goblin Rights starts beating a ork for his money, I'm gonna start asking questions. Then again, I tend to be fairly free with my karma poll refreshes, so it's not much of an issue. |
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