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> Some questions from a new GM
spookybarn
post Dec 6 2011, 05:19 PM
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I'm fairly new to Shadowrun, although we've been playing for a few weeks now, and I've been lurking around these forums and learning a lot. There are a couple of things I continue to struggle with, so I'm wondering if you guys can provide any insight.

For context, we're a mostly "mirrored shades" group currently in the middle of On The Run... getting on towards the end, and I'm not sure where I want to take things from there... either another module or letting them drive themselves a bit and trying to keep up. Open to suggestions there, as well, but here are my questions:

1) Hackers in Combat:
I've seen a few references and explanations here about how hacking cyberware is not really much of an option, unless you are up against the dumbest of gangers with no mind for security. If that's the case, what are good options that hackers have in combat?

2) Legwork:
My group didn't take much in the way of contacts, and none of them have ANY social skills. (One of them has an Intimidate of 1, actually, but that's it.) Legwork seems to boil down to the hacker making a few matrix search rolls with his 16 die or whatever while the rest of the party waits for the 5 minutes it takes him to figure out almost anything. Occasionally there will be things that wouldn't be accessible online, I guess... but even that seems like a stretch. I can find out almost anything on the net NOW, much less 60 years from now. Is there an elegant way to deal with this that isn't a copout? The "5 minutes of searching then new scene" formula seems like it will get stale fast, and doesn't let the other players do much.

3) Social Interaction:
As mentioned in #2, my party has ZERO social skills. We were expecting to have one more player that might work as something like a face, but he dropped out. This leads to RPing everything at the table with players that are much more persuasive than their characters ought to be. Our hacker took "uncouth" even, and ended up being the front man in what was supposed to be an etiquette challenge meeting the Triad. I ended up giving them a pass based on not having a good idea of how else they could move forward. I don't know if this is really a "problem" per se, but does kind of undermine the value of social skills and lets them get away with things they didn't spend any points on.

Thanks for any input you might have!
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Paul
post Dec 6 2011, 05:30 PM
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First let me say none of the suggestions in this thread you are almost sure to get will mean jack dick if you don't do one thing first: Sit down and discuss this with your players. Explain why you think it's a problem, and see how they feel about it. With out players there is no game, so you need to be prepared to meet them at least half way, if not further. This isn't to say you can't find work-arounds or ways to effect change. Just that you need to play it smart chummer!
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Paul
post Dec 6 2011, 05:43 PM
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QUOTE (spookybarn @ Dec 6 2011, 12:19 PM) *
1) Hackers in Combat:
I've seen a few references and explanations here about how hacking cyberware is not really much of an option, unless you are up against the dumbest of gangers with no mind for security. If that's the case, what are good options that hackers have in combat?


I'm willing to bet most of the answers you'll get here will be that Hackers suck, and most of the time they're probably right. That however doesn't help you very much. I'd say find ways for the hacker to interact with the environment-traffic signals, AR over lays, comms, drones-etc...In a way this can help your other problems. If they discover that with a little research they can find weak spots they can exploit-obviously not easily, and not with out danger.

QUOTE
2) Legwork:
My group didn't take much in the way of contacts, and none of them have ANY social skills. (One of them has an Intimidate of 1, actually, but that's it.) Legwork seems to boil down to the hacker making a few matrix search rolls with his 16 die or whatever while the rest of the party waits for the 5 minutes it takes him to figure out almost anything. Occasionally there will be things that wouldn't be accessible online, I guess... but even that seems like a stretch. I can find out almost anything on the net NOW, much less 60 years from now. Is there an elegant way to deal with this that isn't a copout? The "5 minutes of searching then new scene" formula seems like it will get stale fast, and doesn't let the other players do much.


Start by giving them contacts. Contacts don't need to be this mystical thing, nor do they always have to be super useful. Use them to plant bread crumbs for them to follow. Make some things accessible to Hacker-but make somethings only viable face to face.

In every game I plant multiple seeds, and multiple hooks-not all of them are even discovered. It won't be easy because it sounds like a fundamental shift in how your group thinks, as you describe them, but try to reward them for following up on hooks, or breadcrumbs. Don't punish them for not following your clues-but rather give specialized rewards and reactions to people who

QUOTE
3) Social Interaction:
As mentioned in #2, my party has ZERO social skills. We were expecting to have one more player that might work as something like a face, but he dropped out. This leads to RPing everything at the table with players that are much more persuasive than their characters ought to be. Our hacker took "uncouth" even, and ended up being the front man in what was supposed to be an etiquette challenge meeting the Triad. I ended up giving them a pass based on not having a good idea of how else they could move forward. I don't know if this is really a "problem" per se, but does kind of undermine the value of social skills and lets them get away with things they didn't spend any points on.


Well obviously the solution is to not "let them get away" with stuff. Have actual consequences for social interactions. Force them to default to attribute minus modifiers. This can be another way to feed them contacts. You tried buying this gun from this guy and failed, but you've heard of this other guy who's kind of unsavory and sells the same gun but at a mark up...Eventually someone will say "Gee maybe we need someone who can talk."

These shouldn't result in punishment, but rather be ways of complicating things. Keep it fun, be fair and realistic with them. Communicate. Don't be afraid to throw them a bone here and there, but make them work for it.
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spookybarn
post Dec 6 2011, 05:45 PM
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All my players are new to the game as well, and I've tried to keep up communication between sessions to make sure everyone is enjoying things. We've already talked about these questions without really coming up with anything.

Once we finish On the Run, I do plan to have a one-on-one with each of them to figure out what they like and don't like, and what they'd like more or less of, etc...

Thanks though! I'm just looking for some tips from the vets. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
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Warlordtheft
post Dec 6 2011, 06:30 PM
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In response to 1:Hackers are great for EW purposes, disabling cameras, and other things. Like an oppenent's comms. Usually though, given the 9 second combats (3 combat turns) shooting is a better option to disable your oopnent barring reinforcements or drones.

In response to 2: Would the corp keeps the top secret plans for its newest drone online and available. Also, what he finds on the matrix may be a lead planted by the opposition, someone who is wrong, or it might be grossly out of date. THe big problem with the matrix, is the amount of information and disinformation and sorting through all of it to find something useful. YMMV-but I usually limit the extent of the information on the matrix to general background information that points them in the right direction.

As to starting contacts, give everyone the same fixer. It makes the first run more convenient.

In response to 3: If your group is really into combat over non-combat challenges, that's ok. However, combat in SR is downright deady if done right (or wrong). I would walk them through a couple of combats just to get an idea of the lethality.


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Halinn
post Dec 6 2011, 06:35 PM
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A lot of information, while possibly online, is not easily accessible. It could for example be behind a paywall, or only existing on an internal node, with a small access point. While you can have your programs filter through the SR equivalent of google and other databases like that, some things aren't up there. I doubt that you could find my address or phone number online if I gave you my name and country of residence, for instance. And this is in spite of my having typed them into various databases a fair amount of times.

So those matrix searches might just reveal things to the tune of 'X knows Y. Player N seems to remember his fixer having talked about meeting with that person once.' Then if you get more information to work with through that angle, your hacker can use that to refine the search.

Edit: and hackers in combat can work some cyber on the opponents if they hack the comms. If they have cybereyes or even a smartgun, they would probably need to have access to the matrix through the comm to see AR, for instance.
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Bearclaw
post Dec 6 2011, 07:03 PM
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To 1. I'm playing a hacker in my current game and I tend to dominate play, even though I try hard not to. If we're not running a gang fight in Redmond, there's stuff to hack. It's a lot easier to get into the basement of the office building if there's a scheduled fire extinguisher check that evening, including the names and photos of your B&E expert and your face. Firefight with security? Kill their comms so they can't talk to eachother or call for backup. Then start shutting down cyberware and comm links. There's ways to protect yourself from that, but it usually involves skin link or DNI connections only. Which, if you've hacked their comm link, you beat. And when all else fails, I've got a control rig, a set of skill wires, a pilot helo 4 and gunner 4 chip, and a rotor drone with an LMG.

To 2 and 3. Assuming the we are playing actual shadowrunners, everyone has to play shadowrunners. As in, everyone should be able to hold a conversation, climb a fence, sneak past a dozing security guard, spot a security camera and shoot someone. You don't have to be good at it, but you have to know how to do it. At least 4 dice to throw for infiltration, etiquette, perception, a firearm and the athletics group. Of course if you're a mage you have other ways of doing things but still, you need to be able to get over a fence, drop a security guard from a distance and get someone to do something for you.
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spookybarn
post Dec 6 2011, 07:42 PM
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Thanks for all the feedback so far!

The Matrix info stuff makes a lot of sense. It sounds like I need to start getting more creative with how I parcel out information. Part of the issue is just with On The Run, which isn't really delving very deep into secretive material.

It also seems valuable to try and create more interesting environments to fight in (or not-fight in), with more for the hacker to do.


... and they REALLY need a Face. Perhaps murder is the answer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)
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Bearclaw
post Dec 6 2011, 08:04 PM
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They do need a face, but EVERYONE needs at least a couple of points of etiquette.
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Paul
post Dec 7 2011, 01:10 AM
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QUOTE (Bearclaw @ Dec 6 2011, 03:04 PM) *
They do need a face, but EVERYONE needs at least a couple of points of etiquette.


And everyone, technically does. They just have some default penalties, and some situational modifiers to overcome...(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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fistandantilus4....
post Dec 7 2011, 02:10 AM
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On the Run has got some rough reviews because of some of the scenerios it presents, but it should at least give a good chance for varying rules. If you follow some of the pre-made modules, there will definitely be times they will need to change up their tactics. Don't be afraid to challenge them with different scenerios where weapon caliber isn't a factor. But Paul hit it on the head. Start by talking to them, get an idea of their expectation and what everyone is looking for, including you.

I hesitate to ask, but what's the average age of your players? In my experience at least, younger guys especially tend to play towards shooting first, taking it more like a video game approach. If you're looking to get a little more involved with the setting, try adding more interaction and build the world up a bit for them. Make contacts more than just something on a character sheet. Make them characters worth knowing.

If you want Hacking a little more involved, have someone try hacking them in their next drawn out gun fight, and see how they handle it.
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spookybarn
post Dec 7 2011, 03:04 AM
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In response to your question, we are all in our 30s.
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kzt
post Dec 7 2011, 03:54 AM
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Generally, hackers in combat shoot. We had a hacker who was also the heavy weapons guy in one game, that worked pretty well. We mostly went to NPC hackers because the computer and hacking rules are a morass.

If you let everything be on the net then a hacker can do anything. However, every corp security guy knows what a skilled hacker can do. How are they going to protect a $350 million project from a hacker? Yup, it's not going to be on the net for your hacker to find.

The other thing to be kept in mind that the people who hire and equip corp security guys are pretty smart themselves. They should be played that way. They know about and use things like biomonitors, skinlink, firewalls, agents, subscription lists, encryption, jammers, etc. If you succeed in cutting their signal off their biomonitor drops off-line and alarms go off and people start looking for them on cameras while drones and spirits get sent out to find them.
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Midas
post Dec 7 2011, 05:45 AM
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Welcome!

1) Hackers in combat
Hackers tend to sling bullets as well as bytes in my game as well, even if it is just surpressive fire to support the sammie's charge against the goons. All the same, try to throw him some drones to hack some of the time as well. A Doberman costs less than 1 month of a security guard's salary, so drones should be a fairly big part of most corps defences.

2) Legwork and Contacts
As has been noted, there is a lot of data that just can't be got on the net, and if the www of 2011 is anything to go by there is much more disinformation than useful information out there. You can certainly give the players a few contacts as they go along, and perhaps offer the odd bonus karma award for characters that work on developing and using their contacts until everyone realizes what a good idea it is.

3) No social skills
As Paul suggested, leaving rewards in cheaper gear or whatnot for characters that develop social skills will get everyone realizing that at least one member of the team should branch out in this area.
I would also suggest that you don't be afraid to penalize them when the script calls for a situation the PCs have to shcmooze their way out of. For instance with your triad example, perhaps the leader could see a situation to exploit, and if the PCs bodge their default rolls could say something about their ill-manners and then reluctantly offering them the info they need to move onto the next stage of their mission for a hefty price, say 2,000 new yen. That should provide incentive for at least one team member to invest ...

Finally, as Paul said, you might want to discuss these points with your players and get their input so you can run a game they all enjoy! Happy running!
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post Dec 7 2011, 09:22 PM
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There have already been a host of good points made on this thread, so I won't rehash what has already been said. Now, some of my thoughts...

Bear in mind, while I have looked at a friend's copy of On the Run, I don't own it or remember much about the overall storyline or scenarios.

Regarding the meeting with the Triad: Penalizing the players is not what you want to do, but having your NPCs act accordingly to what the players do will only help immersion in the game and reinforce their role in it. If the person acting as the face at the time completely botches the entire situation, without glitching hopefully, the Triad members might decide to stick a tail on them and see what their up to, or give some allies/people owed favors to some background information on the PCs just to try and get a little something extra out of the encounter. If the player glitches on the other hand, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to thrown down right there and start shooting, even Triad members might show some restraint and wait until the PCs are out of earshot before turning to some cronies and saying "Go teach them some manners." That kind of situation could run from simply threatening the PCs with hostile action, possibly beating them up (if they can) or head straight to a firefight. There is always a lot of different ways you can tweak a situation depending on how the PCs come across, even the skilled Face character might draw some repercussions if they succeed at dice rolls but act like a complete jerk while doing so. Just take a close look at things in context and respond accordingly.

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Seriously Mike
post Jan 2 2012, 02:56 PM
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One question: what's the difference in varying Force for healing spells? Everything else has pretty much spelled out how increasing Force works (ie. extends range of Detection spells, is required for Increase Attribute spells, etc.), but there's nothing about it for things like Increase Reflexes (I houseruled it to require Force equal or higher than the higher of Reaction or Intuition), Heal, Cure Disease and Antidote.
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Ears
post Jan 2 2012, 04:03 PM
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Force limts hits. If you get 10 hits on a Force 2 Heal spell, only 2 hits count and you heal nothing...
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Ascalaphus
post Jan 2 2012, 04:52 PM
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QUOTE (spookybarn @ Dec 6 2011, 06:19 PM) *
1) Hackers in Combat:
I've seen a few references and explanations here about how hacking cyberware is not really much of an option, unless you are up against the dumbest of gangers with no mind for security. If that's the case, what are good options that hackers have in combat?


There's three ways you can go. The one way is to be a backup gunman. Just because the Sam is way better at shooting than you doesn't mean that you (the hacker) have to be useless. Let him handle the really tough targets, while you give him some breathing space by taking care of the easier targets. Take a skill from the Firearms group, add a Specialization, Smartlink, TacNet and other gewgaws, and you've got 8-10 dice to shoot with, enough to force enemies to take you seriously. This doesn't have to cost more than 10BP to add to your character sheet.

The second way is to add rigging to your skillset. It's not a big distance from hacking, to add some combat drones and the ability to use them. It's more expensive than option 1, but has more growth potential.

The third way is trickiest. Think like a hacker: look at the world, at all the systems, and figure out ways to make them do what wasn't intended. Manipulate traffic signals, jam enemy communications, seize control of automated gun turrets, all that: basically you're changing the battlefield to your advantage, or at least causing chaos to the dismay of your enemies. This is the hardest way for two reasons: first, because hacking tends to take some time and a combat may be over before you've hacked anything. It's bad when you bump into enemies, but it can work if you've got time to prepare. And second, you depend on there being an environment that you can manipulate. It takes creativity, improvization, and a GM who's flexible enough to go along with it.



QUOTE (spookybarn @ Dec 6 2011, 06:19 PM) *
2) Legwork:
My group didn't take much in the way of contacts, and none of them have ANY social skills. (One of them has an Intimidate of 1, actually, but that's it.) Legwork seems to boil down to the hacker making a few matrix search rolls with his 16 die or whatever while the rest of the party waits for the 5 minutes it takes him to figure out almost anything. Occasionally there will be things that wouldn't be accessible online, I guess... but even that seems like a stretch. I can find out almost anything on the net NOW, much less 60 years from now. Is there an elegant way to deal with this that isn't a copout? The "5 minutes of searching then new scene" formula seems like it will get stale fast, and doesn't let the other players do much.


A popular house rule is to give everyone Charisma x 2 BP to spend exclusively on Contacts.

As has been said before, the Matrix doesn't hold all the information, and a lot of disinformation. Part of the reason you use Contacts is to consult people with expert knowledge, who can tell you what's actually true. Also, you can ask them to go looking for information they don't yet know, but could gain access to. Like a police officer checking a license plate.


QUOTE (spookybarn @ Dec 6 2011, 06:19 PM) *
3) Social Interaction:
As mentioned in #2, my party has ZERO social skills. We were expecting to have one more player that might work as something like a face, but he dropped out. This leads to RPing everything at the table with players that are much more persuasive than their characters ought to be. Our hacker took "uncouth" even, and ended up being the front man in what was supposed to be an etiquette challenge meeting the Triad. I ended up giving them a pass based on not having a good idea of how else they could move forward. I don't know if this is really a "problem" per se, but does kind of undermine the value of social skills and lets them get away with things they didn't spend any points on.


Everyone probably invested in combat skills because they understand that you can die in combat, therefore it's important to be skilled at it.

Explain that social skills resemble that: badly failing at social skills can be deadly. To the whole team. For example: your team is carrying forbidden heavy explosives and stopped by the police, who are suspicious. While the Face can try to fast-talk them, the other team members might still fuck up. For example, the troll with Uncouth might run his mouth at "the pigs", making them angry enough to search the vehicle. Or the dwarf is so bad at lying and just shutting up that his nervousness tips off the cops, no matter how hard the Face tries.
In such a case, I'd ask for the Face to make the hard social check, but everyone else just needs a single hit on a Con or Etiquette check not to fuck up, which should be easy enough for normal people.

Evidently, they didn't build characters with social challenges in mind, but if you do want to inject social challenges now and then, then explain this to your players, and allow them to do some revising their stats so that they won't have to be so woefully bad at them, just because they misunderstood CharGen before.

After that, I say let them feel the consequences. Failure isn't always bad, it's a good teacher.
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Seriously Mike
post Jan 2 2012, 07:18 PM
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QUOTE (Ears @ Jan 2 2012, 05:03 PM) *
Force limts hits. If you get 10 hits on a Force 2 Heal spell, only 2 hits count and you heal nothing...

Are you sure it's not a house rule/optional rule from SM? I can't find anything about it in the SR4 (NOT ANNIVERSARY) corebook.
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Falconer
post Jan 2 2012, 07:57 PM
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Actually hackers can be of use in a lot of fights... but a lot of their utility is non-combat or environmental. Bypassing doors, tricking security, etc.... For example... a hacker might spoof out a fake police report (assuming the gangers are smart enough to run a police scanner... which I'd bet they are and you're not in the barrens or similar area with no police presence).

Also don't forget that there's a lot of very nasty things you can do as a decker. Lets just give a simple example... round 1 fight breaks out... move out of sight, maybe fire your gun once to keep the side honest. Generally as a hacker, you won't have multiple meat combat passes... so that limits your abilities there. (if you really need them now and then, look into an inhaler with a dose of a combat drug for 2 passes now and then when it's necessary). Or spend an edge for a 2nd or 3rd pass..

It's very easy for hackers to end up with 5 virtual passes though. And an inventive hacker can do a lot of very nasty things. Example... a fight with gangers just broke out. After taking a round to get out of sight... maybe fire a shot and go full VR... (or using an edge to gain a 2nd pass to go full VR once you're out of immediate danger)... you can then very easily say hack that parked car across the street... then use it to do a hit and run :). (ramming rules are reasonably brutal).



Heal spell:
Heal is kinda special since it's drain code is unique... any mage will generally only cast it at one of two force levels. Force == Magic or Force == 2x Magic. Why the drain is wierd... it's the targets physical damage -2... so a troll could very well sock you with 8 drain no matter what force you choose. So if you cast it at force... that drain is only stun and you can eliminate it with a few hours rest.

There's a related spell called 'awaken' which is just sustained, but allows the target to ignore stun penalties. But has a similar drain code. There's been a few times I've used that spell to create a force 10+ wrecking ball. (if a ward and a spell are in opposition each rolls 2x force... and the loser shuts down. Since the drain on the spell is nearly nothing, you can cast it at your maximum force... and turn something into a wrecking ball... like throwing a cat down the elevator shaft with it to take out the ward on the elevator shaft. (evil kitty had it coming).

A lot of people also miss the second part of this rule. If your non-combatant mage has a solid healing focus (health mentor, specialization... etc.). He can toss enough damage to heal 1-3 points of damage nearly instantly. (each extra success reduces healing time), I've used this in the past to pull the equivalent of a DnD cleric. Street sam trading shots from the corner of a building... I'm standing beside him out of sight... he gets hit soaks most of the damage... each round I then proceed to instantly heal the 1-2 points of damage. (permanent spell... sustain duration must be == drain... drain == damage -2... 0 turns, or 1 turn sustain for 3point.. etc. normally heals 1 point per combat turn (not pass), however extra successes decrease this by 1 turn each... so it is possible to instantly heal light PHYSICAL wounds).
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Falconer
post Jan 2 2012, 08:07 PM
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QUOTE (Seriously Mike @ Jan 2 2012, 02:18 PM) *
Are you sure it's not a house rule/optional rule from SM? I can't find anything about it in the SR4 (NOT ANNIVERSARY) corebook.


P171 "Force".

Force limits successes/hits (not net hits...).

The only argumentation occurs in the last bit... if edge is used... this limitation doesn't occur for edge dice... what are edge dice?! If you apply edge before the roll all the dice are subject to the rule of six and could be considered 'edged' (in fact I've commonly heard this referred to as edging all the dice). After the check rolling only edge dice seperate?! Only the dice added to the pool originally from edge... Most people I've seen simply just go with... if you spend edge on the casting roll the force limit doesn't apply anymore.

There's really very little reason to do this except lets say if you're trying to be stealthy/subtle. (if your magic score is already low... then the amount of drain you'll get from overcasting and your tiny dice pool is unlikely to matter much) TN to notice someone casting a spell is 6-force of the spell. So you could edge a force 1 casting of something like influence or alter memory... and make it very hard to notice (5 successes on the perception test).
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Seriously Mike
post Jan 3 2012, 08:06 AM
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QUOTE (Falconer @ Jan 2 2012, 09:07 PM) *
P171 "Force".

Force limits successes/hits (not net hits...).

Yeah, great way to write rulebooks. If they at least repeated it in the "casting step-by-step" sidebar, I might have caught it. It also shows how stupid it is in relation to, let's say, Heal spell. I got a shot-up guy with 8 boxes of damage. I have exactly the same dice pool and drain value regardless of what Force I use, but if I overcast (and there's no way I could get 8 hits without using Edge) I'm gonna go splat and if I don't, sticking to 5-6 Force (a good mage doesn't go below 4), I'll just eat a fuckload of Stun damage.
'tarded.
And one more thing: Increase Reflexes. There's no need to cast it with Force higher than 4. Even more 'tarded.
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Cain
post Jan 3 2012, 08:23 AM
Post #23


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1) Deckers in combat don't have to just run Matrix tricks. They can shoot, they can rig, they can do anything that anyone else can. The old combat decker archetypes looked suspiciously like light sammies in a firefight. Rigging drones is probably the easiest way to add combat utility, though.

2) In SR4.5, deckers do dominate legwork. I've noticed that a lot of time is spent searching out details on the Matrix. What you can do is have some information only available through face-to-face meets. The decker does the data search to figure out who would be a good person to talk to, then the team goes to see them.

3) Don't forget about defaulting. Assuming a decent Charisma, there's no reason why people should even roll for normal social interactions. Now, if your entire team took Uncouth or dump-statted Charisma, then you've got a slightly larger problem. They'll need to invest in social skills and Charisma, plus social-boosting tricks, of which there's a ton.
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Seriously Mike
post Jan 3 2012, 12:19 PM
Post #24


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QUOTE (spookybarn @ Dec 6 2011, 06:19 PM) *
3) Social Interaction:
As mentioned in #2, my party has ZERO social skills. We were expecting to have one more player that might work as something like a face, but he dropped out. This leads to RPing everything at the table with players that are much more persuasive than their characters ought to be. Our hacker took "uncouth" even, and ended up being the front man in what was supposed to be an etiquette challenge meeting the Triad. I ended up giving them a pass based on not having a good idea of how else they could move forward. I don't know if this is really a "problem" per se, but does kind of undermine the value of social skills and lets them get away with things they didn't spend any points on.

One of my players rolled an Elf Shaman. I helped her with the numbers - softcapped Charisma + 1 rank in Influence group and boom: instant 8 DP on most social rolls (6 on Intimidate). Doesn't look like we'll have a dedicated Face, so she'll have to do. Apart from that, she can stunbolt pretty much anyone into oblivion in one shot, and shrug the overcast off.
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Darquewing
post Jan 3 2012, 01:45 PM
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I've been GM'ing SR4 for a while, but only this year did I get to start running face-2-face games so I thought I would share some things I noticed.


1) Hackers are always wanting to do something cool in the Matrix. So, when planning out locations and NPC's and such, it's often good to have physical info handy, it is also good to have some Matrix info ready to use. Also, cyberware tends to be slaved off to a persons commlink and /or skinlinked. Either way, if you can hack the commlink, then you may have an in to it. This is more common than turning off wireless to cyberware, because it is harder to run diagnostics or maintenance without it. Chances are though, in a combat situation, the only time your hacker will get to do cool stuff like this is when you are facing people you can't take down in a single round. Now, this stuff is great for getting eyes on to an area with no cameras (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Or with just CCTV.

2) I often view legwork as more than just "where is the fight?" or "where is the heist?". Sure, the hacker can do a lot like , figure out where the guards at the front desk live. But it will take others to bribe him, or to "borrow" his passkey. Schematics on the Matrix can out of date, or just plain wrong (This tactic is used by secure installations in real life). Someone might want to crawl in and check the ventilation shafts to be sure. Astral security would need to be reconnoitered by the mage. If you need equipment, someone has to pick it up. Sometimes these events don't got to plan. If the hacker is doing all the legwork, then there isn't enough action involved in the legwork. Often legwork can involve "mini-runs" just to set the stage for the main event.


3) Contacts and NPCs are for more than just information. They get you your gear. They are the street docs who patch you up. They are the cops who can make physical evidence disappear. They are gangers who can run diversions, or smugglers that can get you into Aztlan or across Sioux territory safely. Even get you into a fancy club that would otherwise be off limits. Now if something is required for a mission, then there will always be another way to get it. For much steeper costs. Of course this can lead to Noteriety, or inability to pay for living expenses. Sometimes, they may not be able to re-coup losses from the run.


Just a few ideas (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Good luck with your group!






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