Because they have/are smart enough and sadistic enough GMs to see that getting to write the backstory themselves is Christmas come early? The only thing tastier is Amnesia coupled with Hunted/Enemy.

Actually, I accidentally discovered that realistic allergies and phobias are frequently the most munchkiny. I had a character once with a Severe Allergy to Shellfish, and other than a few extra lines of dialogue in a few food-ordering scenes it never came up.

~J

I've got one of those in my game right now. It's a beautiful little set up, and doesn't even take over the game (though nothing less than taking the 6-point hunted flaw for every single megacorporation and large govornment in Shadowrun could take over this game)

Without the consent of the player, the GM has no more justification for writing the background of an amnesiac than he does for any other character.

It's right in the flaw description that when taking the higher level the GM makes up the whole character sheet, the player doesn't even know his PCs ABILITIES!

Who said anything about character sheets?

Besides, that's only for the 5 point flaw, which I doubt is the one being referenced in this thread. Not to mention that that particular course of action is by no means a mandate - it's only a recommendation for people with crappy players who can't be trusted to roleplay accordingly.

Seen players take common sense and then get upset when the GM tells them it is not a good idea to do things like, Steal the policeman's car.

With a good roleplayer, that difference should be minimal enough to have zero impact on game balance.

Who said anything about game balance? I'm talking about player experience here.

~J

Eh? Explain, please. As far as I can tell it's overpriced and either forbidden or superseded most of the places it would be worth it (vehicles get Vehicle Empathy for half the cost, social skills get Good Reputation for a quarter of the cost, firearms, magic, and decking is all forbidden…).

Edit: bugger all, got my threads confused.

~J

Game balance is the whole reason behind the existence of multiple Amnesia flaws with varying costs.

If you read it carefully, Firearms/Magic/Decking/etc are not "forbidden", just "not recommended" for Aptitude.

It's forbidden for firearms? I thought it was highly recommended you not take it, which isn't quite the same.

In melee combat, it could be a serious game breaker.

Highly recommended. GM discretion. Not forbidden, but told to the GM to not allow it unless there's a damn good reason and it won't unbalance the game.

Big difference between that and forbidden, but they basically end up meaning the same thing.

One character I play is actually a troll with a severe allergy to soy. He also has Symbiotes:3. Needless to say, this character's lifestyle costs are insane(+% for the symbiotes, and then the GM tacks on extra to make up for the fact he must buy 100% real food, all the time.). Ration bars even, I must get in the 'non soy' versions. This allergy comes up often, needless to say. I think it was even a bit MORE in lifestyle, cos some of this food has to be custom ordered to make sure no traces of soy is in it. I made the troll albino tho, so I thought this would be an interesting flaw for him(what with the sensitive systems some albinos have.)

Distinctive Style is a good flaw as long as it's RPd. For one extra point(or+5 under the BecKs rules), its not too broken, and its great to fit some characters. I have another character(a young man who is ex Military but now looks like a total heavy metal guy), who is rarely seen in anything but camo pants, massive boots, and random sleeveless death metal shirts(just look at some of the album covers for Cannibal Corpse and stuff.), a big leather jacket, hair long as hell and speaks Polish as his native language(english at a 3.) Also standing about 200cm tall and human. Needless to say, he's not hard to spot "hey, there was this one dude...he was really big, talked with a thick accent, wore camo and had this shirt with a flayed cow' ''right over there, man!'' *point*

But don't allow distinctive style for someone who says 'my character wears a Polo jacket.' ''My character is a man who runs around dressed like a member of Slipknot'' on the other hand, would be ok I think.

I guess Aptitude can be broken, but you can control it(dont allow it for combat or vehicle, or computer skills.). A character with Aptitude: B/R Pistols actually isn't so bad.

I dunno what the most broken is. A clever GM can come up with all sorts of things for stuff. Or just not allow stuff like 'Severe Phobia: King Tut's Mummy".

I find Impulsive get a bit abused at times...Ive seen it taken very well, and ive also seen it not followed, in this case the GM should just keep reminding the player 'no, I think your character really likes the idea of jumping into the middle of those Halloweeners...'

That's just asking for Survivor: Egypt - now with 20% more Shedim.

Keep in mind, she has the 2pt Amnesia, meaning she remembers little or nothing of her background. My GM also house ruled Amnesia to give him increasing control on the character's background as the point bonus increases.

According to the description, a Dossier on File is something that the character never sees. Night angel is played totally unawares that there even is one on her. It also can take the flavour of a hunted at GM's discretion. Angel's contacts that fall under the "Friends in High Places" (most of which are pretty paranoid themselves being in the espionage business) have divulged almost nothing to her about her background. When they do so she usually has a very hard time believing it and thinks their daft for saying such things.

So why do you feel it's a good idea to steal a Lone Star vehicle/

In Angel's case, it is inaccessible. Both due to where it is kept and her current confused, personafixxed, reprogrammed/deprogrammed state of mind.

The finest "5-point amnesia" story I could imagine would be "The Bourne Identity". Doesn't know who he is, doesn't know what he can do, all kinds of funky backstory that screws with his life. A GM could be proud to pull that off in game.

If either you or caramel frappuccino were players at a table i was GMing, or even just a playing at, i'd be reaching for the Rules Lawyer foamy bat if you tried that slide that one past.

The reasoning given for the Gamemaster creating the character sheet is so the "player character" doesn't know about any of the stuff that the -5 level says they aren't suppose to. Well guess what the character doesn't know about for -2? All of their past including who they are (EDIT: though usually they'll know some recent days or weeks or maybe even months depending just to make it easier to mesh them into the team). I suspect that not mentioning the Gamemaster writing up the character sheet for -2 is that there really isn't any space for "past"/background on the character sheet.

The closest thing is the Contacts, but someone with an Amnesia PC picking out and having listed Contacts that have anything other than an extremely short history with the PC?

Of course it's just worded as a strong suggestion, "should". So the GM may choose to pass on it. But i sure wouldn't, it's the little perks like that that can make all the hassle, work, and grief of being a GM worth it.

P.S. Oh, and for the -3 and -4 options? Well it doesn't actually say what amounts of memory loss they are suppose to represent. I've never actually seen someone select them.