 20th Century Hobbies, Why? Why? Why? |
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 Sep 14 2004, 04:36 PM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 42 Joined: 7-March 04 Member No.: 6,130  |
Is it just me or does almost every SR group have at least one character with the knowledge skill;
"20th Century ______" fill the blank with anything apropriate, music, films etc. |
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Sep 14 2004, 04:41 PM
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#2
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Target Group: Members Posts: 55 Joined: 7-September 03 From: Holiday,fl Member No.: 5,595 |
Its just you. lol
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Sep 14 2004, 04:47 PM
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#3
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Target Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: 26-February 02 From: DC/NOVA, USA Member No.: 80 |
Probably for the same reason every group of gamers has at least one person who's a member of SCA, or does their own chainmail, or LARPs with padded swords, or can recite Klingon poetry by heart...
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Sep 14 2004, 04:53 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 |
It's just you, and none of my players have anything like that.
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Sep 14 2004, 05:12 PM
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#5
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
On of my characters had 20th Century Comic Books as a knowledge skill. I had the team hired by a Johnson representing a private collector. The team was to recover and present to the Johnson and his emplyer a manuscript of rare quality and value. They tracked it down over the 'net using a number of shadow fixers and they needed to break into an old mansion to collect the manuscript. Well, it was a volume one copy of a comic book and only that knolwedge skill let them verify the authenticity of the true manuscript vs. the copies made to protect the original. See -- they can be useful, you just have to create a run around that exact skill :) |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:13 PM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 1-September 04 Member No.: 6,621 |
Makes it easier to roleplay :) If you have that skill, then it is perfectly ok to claim your character likes to imitate Bogart or something similar. Not all groups do, but I've seen it on a number of PC's. |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:38 PM
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#7
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
Its proabably because most players don't know many detials about the Urban Brawl Legue as they might know about, say....20th Century Role Playing Games. So its a little easier to RP something you know. |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:40 PM
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#8
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Target Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: 22-July 04 From: East Lansing, MI Member No.: 6,506 |
I see that kind of thing a lot with the people I play with. I chalk it up to laziness because instead of picking something that would make sense for the time period and having to think about it a little bit, they go with what they already know.
-Joe |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:42 PM
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#9
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Target Group: Members Posts: 37 Joined: 9-September 04 Member No.: 6,640 |
Not to hijack, but speak of urban brawl. is there anything aside from vague refrences to this in any of the books?
I'd like a list of teams and such if there are any.. Also the combat bikers thing was cool too, what ever happened to it? |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:47 PM
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#10
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,754 Joined: 9-July 04 From: Modesto, CA Member No.: 6,465 |
I thought i'd be fun to have someone with "20th Century Movies". They'd constantly be saying what 90% of us say while when we throw grenades and say "Asta La Vista, baby".
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Sep 14 2004, 05:49 PM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 1-September 04 Member No.: 6,621 |
Of course, if real life were an RPG, my character sheet would include 19th Century Warfare and Elizabethan Theatre knowledge skills, which is no weirder than a 206x person having 20th Century flatvids and 20th Century Rock and Roll as skills... |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:52 PM
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#12
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
It makes perfect sense for the time period. I know lots of people that can quote battles, dates, and military unit statistics from World War II or even further back. There's nothing lazy about it. In fact, I'd argue just the opposite. You'd actually have to use the knowledge you had (or looked up) versus saying "I make small talk with the guard about the Screamers..." |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:52 PM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 749 Joined: 22-June 02 From: Parts Without Member No.: 2,897 |
By "20th century x" I think most folks are refering to the latter half of the 20th century. Given that many folks who certainly weren't alive 50 years ago enjoy 50's movies, oldies music, WWII trivia, etc. I don't think it's too unusual for a well-concieved character to have an interest knowledge skill or two in "20th century x." I mean, I'm a real viking history buff, but I don't think it's "out of character" for me to be knowledgable about life a thousand years ago. It's all a matter of the character's interests.
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Sep 14 2004, 05:56 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 114 Joined: 24-November 02 Member No.: 3,638 |
It's simple- to allow roleplaying.
If a character is a movie buff, you have two options. Give her twen-cen movies as a knowledge skill, and then you can quote movies that all the players know and know the context of the quote for; or you can, every time you want to quote a movie, make up a new quote from a "modern" movie, and take a break from the game to explain what the subtext of that quote means. Or, more likely obviously, never ever quote anything from the current time period. In game we usually explain it as one character starts with it and over the time they run together the others get into it. |
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Sep 14 2004, 05:59 PM
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#15
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
Exactly. Very put, BTW. |
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Sep 14 2004, 06:25 PM
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#16
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Resident Legionnaire Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,136 Joined: 8-August 04 From: Usually Work Member No.: 6,550 |
Seems like every PC in our group has "Gang Identification"
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Sep 14 2004, 06:37 PM
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#17
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Target Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: 26-February 02 From: DC/NOVA, USA Member No.: 80 |
Both Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life and the adventure module A Killing Glare (both OOP) feature rules for Urban Brawl, and mention a list of active ISSV teams circa mid 2050s. Some of this was updated in SOTA 2063 as well, with some mention of Combat Biking and the new sport Drone Football (which started league play in 2061). Now, to un-hijack the thread :), usually only one character picks up a 20th century trivial background, out of a group of four to six. I'm betting that if you pick any four to six co-workers or friends, at least one of them has some special category of useless trivia from 40 years ago and beyond.. Plus, it allows for some amusing character quirks. Even though Shadowrun can be gritty and dystopian, there's got to be some funny to each character, they don't have any depth otherwise. Perhaps the decker has a fascination for the Pacman series of games, or the rigger has skimmer drones shaped like miniature Millenium Falcons and calls himself Solo... |
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Sep 14 2004, 06:51 PM
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#18
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,754 Joined: 9-July 04 From: Modesto, CA Member No.: 6,465 |
LOL, so do mine. I think it's cause there isn't a real list of knowledge skills in SR3 so alot of runners just see what the pre-made toons have on them. I try to impress on them, its what defines you when you aren't shooting, killing or otherwise being shot at. |
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| Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
Sep 14 2004, 08:39 PM
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#19
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Guests |
Wow, that actually sounds ... logical.
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Sep 15 2004, 12:38 AM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 1-September 04 Member No.: 6,621 |
If you lived in 206x Seattle and didn't live in Corpland, don't you think you would learn at least a little about identifying the various gangs and their turfs? I grew up in South Oak Cliff, and I know I used to be able to id at least a few of the local gangs. Of course, that was twenty-something years ago, but it was a survival skill. |
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Sep 15 2004, 02:48 AM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 293 Joined: 27-January 03 From: Kentucky, USA Member No.: 3,958 |
See I happen to prefer: Motion Pictures (German Expressionist Cinema) 3/5. Gives me that nice knowlege about film movies in general (ie. pre-simsense), and a particular genre as a specialty. "20th Century Films" is just too generic, since films didn't start until the early 20th century, and simsense replaces film in the mid 21st century.
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Sep 15 2004, 04:31 AM
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#22
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Target Group: Members Posts: 90 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Germany Member No.: 2,102 |
I have an adept with "20th Century HK Action Movies". When he was a kid he wanted to be like the heros in the films. As he got older, his Talent developed and expressed in Powers that let him make stunts like Jackie Chan etc.
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Sep 15 2004, 07:09 AM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 858 Joined: 25-August 03 From: Braunschweig, North German League, Allied German States Member No.: 5,537 |
While you are right with A Killing Glare the other book presenting Urban Brawl rules wasn't NAGtRL but ShadowBeat. |
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Sep 15 2004, 07:24 AM
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#24
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Target Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: 26-February 02 From: DC/NOVA, USA Member No.: 80 |
ARG! I always get those two mixed up... :oops: Worst part is, I was just running a scenario based on Urban Brawl -- IMG, the 2061 Super Brawl came down to Denver and Ares, and the team runs in Denver, where the game was to be hosted. The ISSV saw fit to make sure the four prospective "urban arenas" in Aurora were cleared of any prospective "paid relocatees" before they would have to be compensated -- with minimal casualties, preferrably. The PCs were hired for one of those zones, and...well...at least the roughly 8 block by 12 block area they accidentally destroyed wasn't part of the zone they were supposed to clear... :D Still, you'd figure I'd remember which book had the rules in it... :spin: |
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Sep 15 2004, 08:02 AM
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#25
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,073 Joined: 23-August 04 Member No.: 6,587 |
I like to take a hobby that will continue to exit. For example my current character flyes ultra light aircraft as a hobby. No deck, no VCR just the stick between his legs and a GPS with a map soft. Of cause according to rigger 3 the class of plane doesn’t exist but I can talk the GM into letting me get one later.
Edward |
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