Alright, Shadowrun has hit a point for some of my players where we've gotten to cardboard cutout syndrome, as one friend put it - Johnson calls, we go in, get paid, never spend the money and rarely use the Karma. There's not terribly much invested in character success or failure, and there's not very much of a plot to go on to make it fun. Great ideas lead to great disappointments - Why run for Nuyen when you have plenty of it, and why risk one's ass when one is living high?

My idea to balance this was something partially yanked from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and partially from the nature of Barrens, Anytown: Each PC has a small gang they control and they vie for territory.

Now, the way this works is simple enough - To reflect the lower-level nature of the game, characters are only given 100 BP and are given 50 Resource Points. The 100 BP is just for chargen, and the usual rules apply - This will prevent one of my game's classic anamolies: all characters having scores of 6 in everything practical.

The Resource Points are where the system gets interesting and experimental. I'm thinking that each point should be worth 1,000 nuyen. Resource Points can also be applied toward hiring personel; One RP might get a typical dude with low stats, two might get a good trooper, 3 might get you a "Sprawl Ganger" and four might get you a luitennant. Five might get you a "Boss," or an 80-BP character to back you up (and some of his own gear, to boot.)

The idea is that the PCs fight it out, and any "Hand of Gods" burn one KP and you wind up the "Boss" of the guy who beat you. Attacks can be launched at will, and you don't necessarily have to run them.

This has a few considerations, beginning with the players ability to GM. I run online chatroom games, so this is great in the sense that many know how to GM. Not all do - And as the head GM, I'd have to keep track of a lot of paper work.

Any thoughts? Has anyone tried this before?

Interesting concept. Is it your intention to play it like Risk meets SR?

I've played teams agianst each other, but it was a lot of work, and a lot of running between groups. I guess online most of the paperwork is settled.... it could work as long as you are able to recognise the tactics that each team is using and adjust everything accordingly

i have had great fun letting a player run a character after the group. or the character the group is after.

i posted this once befor, but here goes...

My friend was running a game with 4 friends. I rolled up an phyAdept with katana. Useing a few non-fasa resources i ended up with a super samuri, but that is not the funney part.
the others were already on a run, forget what it was.
The GM Gave me a Run. Kill the other 4 players. Mwhahaha.
My first and Best hit was a cybered out troll. He was easy to find because we was a bouncer for a day-job. I followed him when he got off work.(we were both on bikes) He sptoed me following him, and used his eye-zoom X3 on his rear view mirror to get a better look at me.
well. it was decided he needed to make a drive check to see if he could stay in controll of his bike while doing this. BOTCH! He layed his bike down on the freeway. Took a M for his effort. it was a good enough of a wrech to draw a small crowd.
I pulled up and anounced that i was an off-duty paramedic. I did a decption check and rolled well. they believe me, Yay!
I tolled the battered up troll "i'm a paramedic, just yay down" as soon as he layed down I pulled out a HE offencive granade, pulled the pin, let the spoon fly, and shoved it down his pants. Rolling quickenss i rolled aou of the blast best i could. I took a L after all the dice. He had no success on his soke. he died. i got out of there.

I ended up killing two others, and then i got nuked by the mage.

And just so you all know everyone in that game agreed that it was one of the best runs ever.

IMO, the idea sounds like it'll take tons of work and massive amounts of GM-player coordination to make it fly. It'll be easier if you just intended for them to duke it out arena style, but any sort of long-term roleplaying is going to be tough unless you can organize everything really well.

I think it'll be an awesome ride if you can pull it off though.

Well the obvious problem with arena is "what kind of arena." We all have done the Mage V Adept/Sammie game before. Mage may as well not roll initiative, because the Adept/Sammie goes first and lights him up like a christmas tree.


Yeah, the idea would be Risk-Ish. Considering the city would be Anybarrens, Anynation, random maps could be drawn up and players randomly assigned locations. Then, boom, whoever you're near is your enemy unless you can negotiate a team work; but alas, they are in the Barrens, not much Money or armaments floating around. Occasional external trips, say to the local COSTCO for food...That's quite funny when Lone Star might not want you to leave.

Plus the low-powered nature of the game allows for character development; Making a 6 to a 7 is hard, but making a 3 to a 4 isn't.

Playing regular SR, I can't seem to go through a game without getting killed, robbed, turned into the feds, sold for parts, etc. by a team member. How are you going through so many game sessions without getting any of that?

That, and the fact the player's ultimate goal IS to destroy their teammates?

Every PC has his 100 build point ganger and his 50 resource points. Then its open season. Its like Risk in that they can make alliance, launch attacks, and as time goes on get more resource points to hire more gangers.

The GM? He basically plays the role of a Dynasty Warriors Gate General. *Nodnod* Never-ending hordes to be killed. Maybe.

Wow. Thank you for saying I don't give a damn. I do most of the GMing on the net, by the way.

...The problem is, the PCs haven't gotten a huge investment in the characters BECAUSE we don't play every othre day. Furthermore, while we enjoy a good story most players would rather have fun and flash than serious drama and a bunch of headaches. With every run essentially transforming into "Okay, you get a call on your cell phone," everyone either having to take the job or not play (a lame coercion at best) and in the end a payoff of money they rarely use other than to upkeep their lifestyle, its silly.

I'm sorry Frost - I can be rather blunt sometimes when I get heated about something. Also, I'm kind of a dick.

I take my GMing pretty seriously. I work had to immerse my players in a world with 3 dimensional NPCs and plots within plots that the players may never even know, but suspect are just beneath the surface.

OK, enough stroking myself. The point is that I have played in those "Fun and Flash" games before, and much like your group it eventually bored me. The formula of "Fight Monster, Kill Monster, Collect Loot, Repeat" just gets old, no matter what RPG system you're playing. I quit RPGs completely for about four years, then came back to it with what I think is a more mature attitude, and I'm having more fun now than I ever did before. That said, RPing means different things to different people, and we always are seeing arguments on these and other boards about what is the "Right" way to roleplay. The only answer is "The way you want to." because the bottom line is that these are games, and games are supposed to be fun.

The reason why I went off about your GM (you) is that it sounds like the players aren't having the fun they are supposed to be having. Don't let it get stale! The possibilities really are endless. Try a Lone Star campaign, or Docwagon. Mix it up a little!

Also, here's a little help with that money problem:

Blackjack's Law Of Having Money Without Spending It On Anything

I like Blackjack - he's kind of a Dick too.