IF we aren't going to punish people for style, then we really should go all the way. We need to have only a single type of weapon. Firearms, rockets, grenades, melee weapons, and unarmed combat should all have the same range, area of effect, and damage code as a matter of fairness.

Just to be fair, we should take the best of all worlds. Every attack, including an unarmed punch, should have the range of a scoped sniper rifle, the damage code of an anti-vehicular rocket, and the area of effect of a fragmentation grenade. Just to be fair.
All armor should be equal in rating to the most powerful vehicle armor available, just to be fair, including no armor. A person who chooses to walk around skyclad should not be penalized for his style when a person who chooses to drive a Citymaster is given bonuses for his.

Should probably remove attributes and skills too, or you're punishing someone for choosing the Pistols 6 style over the Pisotls (3) style.

You know, there are major stylistic differences between RPGs, too. Just look at the style and power differences between a veteran runner and a 20th level sorceror? Maybe we should simplify all RPGs to the flip-a-coin system.

Sorry, it was just so absurd I just had to jump on board.

If you use rock-paper-scissors instead you just might manage to bring whole generations of White Wolf LARPers back to the table.

Meh. I frequently larp in jeans and a t-shirt. Maybe I'm not doing it right.

In order to LARP Vampire, you need to be wearing black t-shirt and jeans, black eyeliner, white full-body makeup, you must have black hair (can be dyed), and you must have a supply of clean razorblades so that you can cut yourself and let other people drink your blood (The other LARPers will do the same).


Back to the point. Being different with different costs and different advantages is not a bad thing. Move by Wire has very large bonuses but also a large essence cost. Wired Reflexes has a large essence cost but is very cheap and easy to obtain. Synaptic Accelerator is very expensive but doesn't cost much essence. Its a choice.

I think the bulleted point here is that choice unbalances the game and should be removed. From now on, everyone has to play the Bounty Hunter archetype in the main book. All the NPCs will be the Bounty Hunter archetype as well. If the PCs ever have to fight anyone, there will inevitably be an equal number of combatants on either side. Tactics, also, are not allowed, because tactics represent choice and of course that is unbalancing.

Wow. I'm definitely doing it wrong then

True LARPing story: so I was playing a live action game of vampire and talking vampire politics with some associates in one of the standard meeting areas. And in walks this young woman dressed in nothing but a nightgown singing a lullaby to herself. Nothing wrong with that, and I naturally assume that this shoeless waif is a Malkavian that I haven't met yet.

So I start up a conversation with her and it is obvious that:

1. She's totally batshit insane (good roleplaying!)
   and
2. She's totally in to me and wants in my pants (awesome).

So before it gets too far someone who actually knows her walks in and patiently asks her how old she is. Her response will haunt me forever:
"The cops think I'm seventeen."
:facepalm:

Turns out she was 14, and the reason that she was running around late at night without shoes and singing to herself is because she has some long tragic life story filled with abuse and not because she was affiliated with the game in any way. Gives me the jeeblies to this day (note: at the time I was 18, so hitting on "highschool girls" wasn't as messed up as it would be today).

-Frank

No, no, you've got it all wrong. Choice is OK, so long as there is no significant difference between the choices. Like coke vs. pepsi, democrat vs republican, Visa vs mastercard, The best choices are those between two things that are functionally alike. You can have any color you want, so long as it's black.

Tell that to my Paw. He lost his arm to a diet coke/mentos explosion in the cola wars. Don't act like coke is all vannilla and cherries. Both sides commited the same atrocities against each other. That's how I know the difference is superficial.

Ah, I see. Alright, everyone has to use the bounty hunter archetype, but they're allowed to call it whatever they want. "Street Shaman" for example, would be a good choice.

Only if what they call it has no effect. NPCs shouldn't react differently based on what name you've chosen for your archetype.

Is it time to get out the Diceless RPGs yet in the thread?

Karma to Sable Sort (who seems anything but) and Platonic Pimp (who just might be) !

Always Coca-Cola! Alwaaaays!