I despise, and disallow the following in my games:
- full amnesia (the big points version; others are very dependent on your character concept)
- photographic memory
- borrowed time (even if it's a one-shot...especially if it's a one-shot)
- vindictive (because I hate how people play it)

Several others are highly dependent on character concept. I dislike characters twinked out for numbers when there's no reasoning behind it.

A few I don't use, because I don't use the mechanics behind them or that use them, like "Extra Enemy" (I don't like the mechanical enemy system.)

Several faves are
- dark secret (gives the GM fun stuff to work with)
- dependents (same reason)
- friends abroad
- friends in high places
- hunted

Man, swap the "despise" and "favourite" labels and just about got me covered (though I don't disallow things usually, at least not in the general case). What's your problem with photographic memory?

~J

Man, vindictive is the best. It means (in my experience) that the player character in question essentially assaults all sorts of powerful NPCs who are rude to him. This leads to endless hilarity.

i don't like Borrowed Time, as written, because i don't think that's the sort of thing the player should have control over. unless the player and GM are both cool with the character just slumping over in the middle of something one day, this flaw makes strong demands on what kind campaign he can run. if the GM intends to run a race-against-impending-doom campaign, that's one thing, but trying to insert something like that into some other campaign type doesn't seem fair to the GM.

compare that to the Amnesiac flaw. even the 5-pt version doesn't necessarily require the GM to do much extra work--just whip up some stats and go. you can go the entire campaign and just never find out who you used to be. the GM can introduce plot elements that reveal your former identity, but he doesn't have to. with Borrowed Time, the GM is forced to either come up with a way for your character to get out of it, or accept that you're going to end up rolling a new character in the middle of the campaign.

eh, that's why god invented karma.

Vindictive is good if played subtly. There are plenty of extremely vindictive characters in television who get revenge for the tiniest slight and a passive-aggressive but extremely devastating manner.


Borrowed Time works best as GM imposed as part of the story rather than one chosen by the PC. It is kind of lame Orbital Cow otherwise. I mean, it essentially says that the GM can kill the character at any time without warning. The GM can already kill the character at any time without warning. All Borrowed Time means is that the player doesn't have the right to complain about the Bovine Bombardment. And just because he doesn't have the right to complain doesn't mean that he won't complain.

Full Amnesia is great for a creative GM because he can easily fit the PC in question into the story in some bizarre and interesting ways. A whole party full of Full Amnesia characters makes an interesting campaign.

No, actually, Borrowed Time doesn't say that at all. What it says is that the GM must kill the character at a single, random and predetermined time (that is concealed from the player). It also says that the GM must give the character a dramatic death scene, so at the least it has to be a well-described Orbital Cow.

~J

... it's a dikoted orbital cow!



Vindictive is a good flaw, but I imagine it gets more than its fair share of abuse by munchkins - a lot of whom could also take impulsive, combat monster, and bad reputation and merely be be playing their normal characters.

Borrowed time and the higher end of the hunted flaw should both undergo GM scrutiny, since they have the potential to derail the campaign.

I like all of the amnesia flaws - they have so much potential for a devious GM. Especially the 5-point version.

Good-looking and knows it seems cheap at first glance. However, one point of good reputation, which gives a flat-out bonus on all social skill tests, is a better deal than one that is only good for first impressions. Also, this edge involves using your good looks to get your way, so it takes some roleplaying to "work" it, and you can expect your character to get propositioned more, at the very least. Pretty balanced. I would rather have good reputation, or even friendly face (which is less obvious in use), but of course most faces will pick up all of those edges.

It should be noted that, in a manner analogous to Good Reputation, GLaKi provides no limitations on when it can be used (interesting, in light of the fact that the player convinces her GM that the edge isn't worth 2 points by saying that it only applies to first meetings)—a character with GLaKi will get a -2 TN on social tests with members of the opposite sex even if all dealings are over a pure-text interface from different continents.

~J

Can we make an edge that says that you know how to convince people you're a sexy female over the Matrix when in fact you're a monstrously fat and foul-smelling decker of 57 years?

i've never need an edge for that. er, that is, i would never do such a thing!

...(ritual Levitation Spell?) But then it wouldn't serve it's primary function, flattening PCs.

It has a drag chute that it drops off at around 500 feet.

edit: Parser error

Parser failure.

~J

Blimey, what an interesting set of comments !!

1) For good guidance on Flaws [Disadvantages] and Edges [Advantages], can I draw people's attention to HERO..
..Which has been covering this sort of thing for many a year, with much hilarity about powergaming and some very good points on how to enjoy them in a game.

But the golden rule is that Flaws should cause problems for characters, and Edges should give benefits.


2) Although everyone enjoys different sorts of games, and everyone plays in different ways, I do find it rather sad that Shadowrun has apparently degenerated into a violence-fest, where everything is solved with a gun and any sort of non-violence is considered a bad thing.

Anyone who's read the SR novels will see all sorts of ways to play SR, from pacifists [disarming a security guard by making his trousers fall down] to quiet intrusions, to doing things in relation to honour or making people's lives better.


A world where it's ok for fully armed people to walk around without any problems, is not the majority of people and places. As such, the SR world is a rarity and not the common. It may appear to be a world of violence, death and cheap lives, but that really is only the tiny part that shadowrunnners live in.

Anything else would pretty much mean that people would be dead before they get to do much - like goto work, have families, go on holiday, etc.

But then maybe I'm one of those seemingly unusual people who wants roleplaying, interaction, danger and development in my games.


Just my thruppence..

As far as Borrowed Time goes, I created one character with it. It was my famous Speed Sammie, who had an initiative of 30 + 4d6, before you added in the drugs. My logic was that he was doing the Juicer thing from Rifts-- living so fast, he was burning his body out. The GM and I agreed that it fit together so nicely, we'd let it happen. The campaign ended before his time ran out, but I was actually looking forward to it.

...Synner667, I am with you on this. As a player, I have been in a number of "shoot-fests", and more recently, "spell-fests" (a real drag when you tend to play mundanes), and find it getting old. Yeah violence is a part of the SR world, but I also believe intrigue and espionage are as well, especially when you have all these political entities, from Corps, to Organised Crime, posturing to be King of the Hill.

Currently I am running a campaign set in Europe, where the shadows are a lot different than they are in the good ol' UCAS. Here national governments are something to be wary of (look at the LPO, The Swiss Confederation, or the Vatican).

For example, in the UK (where my campaign is currently set) the general populace is still disarmed. If any place is dark and Dystopian, in Shadowrun it is the UK. Here, an unregistered mage can be arrested for casting a healing spell that saves someone's life. Gone are the "quaint" London Bobbies, replaced by the National Police which is a paramilitary (and well equipped) force to be reckoned with. More dark and sinister is a branch known as the Triple-O. When they come knocking, people tend to disappear. Shooting up a pub or nightclub here gets noticed pretty quickly. Even in the D and lower rated areas, (including the Lambeth Zone - sort of London's version of the barrens) you make a big noise and the NPs will show up & they aren't reluctant to chase you into a Z-Zone like the Star is because it is "not in their current contract".

The players in the campaign so far are learning there are other ways to accomplish their objectives without resorting to simply gunning down the oppos every time. Proper and exhaustive legwork has become extremely crucial, and trust is a very important commodity. Instead of bullying forward, they are looking for clues and picking up the most seemingly insignificant item they find at a given scene and wondering where may this fit in? Yeah, for the trigger happy it may not be the perfect cup of tea. which is why I stressed brains over bullets when we sat down to work up characters. Yes, it tends to be a bit more weighted on the "Role" as opposed to "Roll" play aspect. The campaign I am running is just one aspect, one angle to approaching the SR world.

Bringing up Hero games really takes me back. As you mentioned, Hero (actually Champions - The Super Role Playing Game®) was the first successful RPG to break from Random dice roll generation and include character Advantages/Disadvantages, which part of what attracted me to it (also saw the notion of playing a costumed crimefighter kind of cool in the days when most RPG offerings were Archaic Fantasy or "Skiffy" Space Opera).

When Shadowrun Companion (SR2) was released I felt it was a huge improvement. Now, here was a more flexible "customisable" Chargen system that included Edges and Flaws. You were no longer locked into "X" for Skills "Y" for attributes and "Z" for resources as the Priority system dictated. You wanted to be an adept, or a meta, and have 400,000 in resources, you could. In this way I feel it expanded the enjoyment of the game.

I believe it is up to the GM to accept or nix certain Edges/Flaws, based on the campaign. Before we even sat down to work up characters I posted a list of Flaws to avoid to all the players. For example being Hunted, having a Day Job or Dependent would seriously cripple the character's ability to operate. Likewise certain of the physical flaws would pretty much make a character useless. On the other hand, Edges like Blandness, Friends Abroad, or Friendly Face fit right in to the feel of the campaign.

Er? You can get arrested for having Heal or Treat above Force 2 in the UCAS, too.

~J

...It also depend on the group as well.

I am fortunate in that this time around I have players who like dealing with the subtilties and piecing things together. This not to say that there will never be combat, one misstep or talk to the wrong person and things can get hairy right quick. Granted we have the luxury of playing on a Saturday afternoon when minds are a bit fresher (about the only thing I could muster up the brain power to run on Friday night is Shadowrun the TCG) and save from myself, everyone in the group tends to drink stuff like Coke & DP instead of beer. With only four players it is also easier to give everyone in the group my attention so they all stay involved.

Before pen was put to character sheet, I met with the players during which I outlined the type of campaign this would be. This gave them the choice to "come aboard" so to say or look elsewhere (in a sense, kind of an interview process). True this is again more effort than many GMs would care to put into a game, But I wanted to make sure it would be enjoyable for everyone including myself.

@Cain: ...I find the extra time in creating a character, particularly for an extended campaign not to be all that excruciating, particularly when there are programmes like the NSRCG available. Again, it comes to personal taste, I prefer a character that is a bit more thought out. For me, fast and simple is fine for that one shot "pick up" session or building grunt NPCs.

@Kagetenshi: ...but I have never, ever seen it enforced, and with the way the Star and KE have oft been described here on DS, they most likely wouldn't go out of their way.

Slight thread necromancy, but I don't feel like starting a new one, and it's more or less on-topic.

Based on the results of this scratch test I had done yesterday, what Allergy flaws do I have?

Based on the Key, only the numbers with a "+" after them them indicate a true positive reaction correct?

So based on that you would have:

A Moderate Allergy To Dogs with maybe a light allergy to animal dander in general.
A light Allergy to Soy
A Light allergy to Mucor

I am not sure how to interpret the other numbers if they indicate a true sensitivity or not. If you suffer from seasonal have hay fever then I would say pollens as well. If you suffer from Asthma like symptoms in the home, then the dust & mites might be a true allergy.

In the Shadowrun world I would say then you have the following:

Allergy Common/Moderate: Dogs
(related) Allergy/Common Light: Animal Dander?
Allergy Common/Light: Soy products
Allergy Common/Light: Mucor

If the other numbers do indicate a reaction this would then also include

Note: there was no "+" after them as noted in the severity key - this could have been an oversight by the attending physician or have a significance. Not sure on the interpretation.

Allergy Uncommon/Moderate: Pollen (Due to seasonality).
Allergy Common/Light: House Dust
Allergy Common/Moderate: Mites
Allergy Uncommon/Moderate: Tomatoes
Allergy Common/Moderate: histamine

I believe that the + in the severity key means 'or greater'.

...however 2 is greater than 1 and 3 is greater than 2. There are no fractional or decimal values listed. I was looking at the "+" meaning 1 Positive (Slight Allergy). 2 positive (Moderate allergy), & 3 Positive (Severe Allergy). The other numbers not having this symbol afterwards may indicate a reaction to the sample, but one that is not necessarily an actual Allergic reaction, just an irritation.

Any allergists about to clarify this?

I might lump all of that into a nice 40 BP catchall ''Mild Allergy: Outdoors''.


Don't worry, im pretty munchkined out too in flaws. I also have Phobia: Severe(Centipedes). One phantasm of Centipedes on me and you'd have me utterly disabled the rest of the fight.

You know, it DO find it very amusing that we real-life people would be considered horrible munchkins in a game with the amount of allergies/phobias/pacifism/etc that some of us have. Most GMs would take one look at our character sheets and tell us to remake ourselves.

I honestly think, because SR, while being not ''real'', is pretty realistic, i tend to be real lax with some of the flaws. If they affect a character, im cool. In real life, plenty of us have more than 35 BP worth, after all.

Yeah, my GM:


''Severe Phobia: Centipedes?? Mild Allergies: Pollen, Mold? Moderate Allergy: Erythromycin? Pacifist? Incompetence: Intimidation and Con? You twink!! Go remake yourself now with less twinky disadvantages!! And only take 6 points worth this time!!''



I dont know why, but my centipede phobia knows no bounds. Even the word looks creepy to me. Centipede. *shudders* And they are like, the world's angriest insect. They just run around and LOOK angry. Arrrrrrgh!!!!! [/random tangent]

You can't have a random tangent from any given point, but you can randomly choose amongst the points (and thus tangents) available.

~J

Excluding the +'s was more a matter of convenience and keeping me in pain as little time as possible. It's either - or X for nothing, +/- for a maybe, or a number for positive reaction and severity.

Ignore Histamine, by the way. It's a control test. Know how you take antihistamines to control allergies? Yeah, this is the opposite - it simply causes you to break out regardless.

And the rash from the grass scratch still hasn't faded entirely.

Tsk tsk tsk. There are no pacifist gamers. Don't you know that games desensitize you to violence and make you ready to pull a Columbine?