Lok1 :)
Oct 9 2009, 02:04 AM
I'm not sure if this has been done yet but I'm sure all you shadowrun giants* out their have quite a storehouse of advice to help build a commen thread filled with tactic ideas, axems, and geniral advice.
So if your an old vet or a the new kid on the block feel free to bring your ideas to the table.
Just a few pointers before you start
1: This thread is for ANY kind of idea, a tactic that works great, a uniqe trick that creats a good effect, a peace of gear every runner should have or at least think about buying, ways to keep johson from screwing you in the end. Anything, this includes in character actions and ways to use the rules in creative ways, and just about anything that can make the run go smoother and keep your runners alive longer. Feel free to be creative or use examples from your own runs.
2: This thread is not a place for dragged out discussions about rules, or ideas. If you would like to say how you think something could be done diferntly than someone else or if you see a flaw in someones idea thats fine. But Dumpshockers have a tendancy to diverge into long debates about something offhand, I have nothing against this but that isn't the purpose of this thread.
That said Go Wild!
*Read geysers
Lok1 :)
Oct 9 2009, 02:20 AM
Well to kick things off I'll put out a few off my own.
1. Need a distraction? One or two kilos of explosives are increadibly cheap, and ecspeialy effective if placed under a unattended vechicial. Great way to creat a red herring entrince or mask the sound of a sniper rifle.
2.Its a given that non-lethality is a good policy. Stun dammage is one way, but putting a gun (or blade) to someones head is always another. Nothing better than a hostaged guard who can open the gate or tell you where the cameras are before you take him out of the way and subdue him.
3. Its a known fact that whoever was smart enough to set up snipers ahead of time always wins. Always, check. Even if they don't know your comeing johson dose. I once did a run where we were hired to extract someone from a medical phisicialty, turns out johson was another runner team that had been hired to kill him. We got him out and then they sniped him and left us with the body and the blame.
milk ducks
Oct 9 2009, 02:20 AM
I'm pretty new to SR, so threads like this are great for me. Looking forward to reading it.
-milk.
Marwynn
Oct 9 2009, 03:25 AM
- Laes cigarettes (Arsenal p. 64) are a cheap and easy way to erase memories.
Empathy Software (3000
for Rating 6) adds that much dice to your Social Skills. Load a camera into a small drone, or disguise a sensor as part of your ensemble and you have a nice and easy source of social dice. (Arsenal p.60-61, the software there is useful.)
- Demolish RFID spell removes pesky tags, even for those Security and Stealth RFIDs. Great for stealing stuff or making sure something you ate isn't giving you away to corpsec. If it's going to be an issue you might as well be prepared.
- Form-Fitting Body Armour is your friend most of the time. But if you're wearing it underneath other armour or clothes don't put Thermal Dampening on it, okay? Unless you plan to strip that is.
- When carrying a gun that cannot be detected by MAD scanners (like the Morrissey Elan) do not load it with regular ammunition. Use Hi-C PLASTIC rounds (Arsenal. p34). Talk with your GM about hermetically sealing the clips too, and buying plastic or ceramic clips.
- Have only one Initiative Pass? Pick up Automatics and maybe the SMG specialization and lay down Suppressive Fire. If someone has that covered in your team then pick up Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launcher) instead, or pick up Automatics (Assault Rifle) with it and go to town with the Ares Alpha. You don't have to shoot as well as the shooters to make a difference.
- A timely grenade (Gas, Smoke, Thermal Smoke, Flash or Flash-packs) saves lives. Your life, your team's, and corpsec's. Less heat means shorter downtimes means more runs.
overcannon
Oct 9 2009, 04:09 AM
1. If you are worried that a room might be an ambush point, toss in a grenade first.
2. It is always better to double cross than to be double crossed.
3. Explosive, caseless rounds cut down on identifying marks.
4. Capsule rounds with neurostun.
5. Portable doors. Look 'em up.
6. LEBDs are awesome drones.
7. A 55 gallon drum of pressurized flamethrower fuel can serve as eradication type demolitions in most situations.
8. Tasers are not even regulated.
9. You don't have to reload swords.
10. The Ares Alpha is the best assault rifle in the game bar none. Don't even try to be cute with something else.
11. Hacking programs are cheap at rating 3, common use programs are cheap all the way up to rating 6.
12. With pistols, it is technically quicker to draw a new gun with quick draw than it is to reload.
13. The best armor is not getting shot.
14. Have more than one plan to accomplish the objective.
15. Have more than one escape route.
And since no one else has said it yet:
[ Spoiler ]
"Never Deal with a Dragon.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, avoiding Dragons would be it.
The long term dangers of associating with Dragons have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience...I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your tres chic clothing; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your clothes until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at wanted posters of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You're not as fast as you imagine.
Don't worry about the Awakened World; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to summon a spirit by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that are 2 metres tall and want to blind you on a Tuesday at 4am.
Do one thing everyday that scares the neighbours.
Shoot straight.
Don't be reckless with other people's heavy machine guns, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Conserve Ammo.
Keep up with SOTA; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind; the race is long, and in the end, it's what keeps you alive.
Remember the secret pay data you retreive, forget the loused up runs; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old cyberdecks, throw away your old credsticks.
Stay Low.
Don't feel safe if you don't know what you want to do with that hot merchandise, the most wanted people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their illegal wares, some of the most dangerous 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of soykaf.
Be kind to your knees, they're expensive to replace.
Maybe you'll goblinize, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have HMHVV, maybe you won't, maybe you'll retire after 40 runs, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th ;what ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your survival is half chance, so is everybody else's.
Enjoy your Ares Predator, use it every way you can; don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own..
Deck, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
RTFM, even if you don't understand it.
Do NOT read Slashnull, it will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when you'll need some extra cash from them.
Be afraid of your criminal record; it's the best link to your past and the thing most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that Johnsons come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the money.
Live in Seattle once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Chicago once, but leave before you turn into a bug.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, the weirdness will increase, runners will sell out, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young the streets were normal, runners were noble and elves were trustworthy.
Never trust an elf.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a stolen bank account, maybe you have a wealthy Johnson; but you never know when either one might be eaten by insect spirits.Don't mess too much with your wired reflexes, or by the time they're 40, they will be out of warranty. Be careful whose BTL's you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the Dragons.
Lok1 :)
Oct 9 2009, 05:17 AM
16. Always assumm the johson knows what you know about him.
17. Never underestimate the human compultion to obay orders from above. Sending bogus orders to a securty guard can be better than an illusion spell and a bullet to the head combined.
18. Securty hackers have days off, and they have vices. Exploit them and your hackers can have there job praciticly done for them. (I'm not saying wait untill the spiders offline, they'll have another guy on the shift. I'm saying take advantage of the nerd while he's off duty.
18a. Combine this with laes cigarettes and a bogus credstick and you can "bribe" them easy.
19. Even though it takes quite alot of work and a geniun credstick to forge Nyune. All it takes is a decent amount of knowledge with hardwear and a blank credstick to make a credstick LOOK like it has a tun of Nyune on it. Even though any attempt at a transaction would show the scam. Just think what you can do if someone THINKS you have a million Nyune.*
20. DOS is your friend.
21. Docwagon is not your friend. (If the other guy has it that is)
22. Malware is expensive and hard to get. But it can defintly be worth it.
23. If you get a lowe level access to a highly secure system, sometimes you can download trojans and other malware to make your life easer. Ticker, Proxy, Inerta, pacifist, RAT, and a host of others are all good candits.
24. Exploit is good, but sometimes getting a passcode or tricking/forceing a ligit user to get in can give you more freedom and stabilty. (This depends on your GM to some extent.
25. Dead bodys with body armour are good for tamping explosives. So are vehicles.
26. Sometimes fake bombs are just as effective as real ones.
*Is this possible?
Khyron
Oct 9 2009, 08:04 AM
27. The loud crazy team member no one likes makes a great distraction
28. If a team member dies, don't forget to loot all his stuff back at his house. He won't need it anymore. There's a good chance you will.
29. Longhaul is a wonderful drug, it'll keep you up for days, perfect for a long run.
30. The old grade 10 tranq patch handshake trick is hilarious and fun.
31. Just because it's not in the books doesn't mean it doesn't have a use. Superglue for instance.
31A. Superglue one of your many empty Ares Preds into the hands of some nobody and push them out the front door for the cops to meet. It'll buy the team a few minutes distraction time.
31B. Superglue in the spider's datajack. Nasty and cruel.
32. Salt Water still shorts out electronics as well as it does today.
The Stray7
Oct 9 2009, 08:20 AM
More fun with superglue! (and, BTW, there's an item called a "gluesprayer" in the equipment section...)
31C. Superglue + Monofilament grappling line = instant tripwire! (won't last long, but it should buy those precious few seconds of warning, and, if your GM is genrous, perhaps one guard down)
31D. Then there's always the standby of gluing the door shut behind you...or putting some glue on the floor as the security teams close in.
31E. Superglue -- the new zip tie!
Karoline
Oct 9 2009, 09:30 AM
So I'm going to take a step away from giving advice and instead ask some questions/clarifications for other advice.
QUOTE (Marwynn @ Oct 8 2009, 10:25 PM)
- Form-Fitting Body Armour is your friend most of the time. But if you're wearing it underneath other armour or clothes don't put Thermal Dampening on it, okay? Unless you plan to strip that is.
What's wrong with thermal dampening on an under layer of clothing? Your body is what produces heat, so as long as the dampener is somewhere between you and the thermal vision you should be fine.
Careful with the superglue folks. Nothing tends to leave a better fingerprint or grabs more DNA samples, and you really don't want your glove stuck to something either, as that is just as good for the corp to track you down.
All water will short out electronics unless it is pure (No, I don't mean purena, bottle water is nothing close to pure), this includes rain, tap water, bottled water, and basically any water that doesn't come from a special tap in a science building.
Traul
Oct 9 2009, 10:13 AM
QUOTE (Marwynn @ Oct 9 2009, 05:25 AM)
- Demolish RFID spell removes pesky tags, even for those Security and Stealth RFIDs. Great for stealing stuff or making sure something you ate isn't giving you away to corpsec. If it's going to be an issue you might as well be prepared.
Don't forget your Detect RFID spell to go with that. If you can't see it, you can't cast a spell on it.
Adhoc
Oct 9 2009, 10:44 AM
Strategy:
- You need something inside a building, but can't get in? Make someone inside take it out (fake rumors about potential theft and have sec remove it from the building).
- You need to kill somebody, - trick someone else into doing it (same if you need to plant something somewhere); they may think that they are planting something else.
- Think holistic: every day life is full of opportunities; - use them (even a cyberzombie will have a hard time surviving being pushed in front of a moving train; a car can kill most people; so can a falling elevator).
- Stealth is king. If they don't know that you were there, they won't look for clues.
- Think long and hard before you act. Always contingency plan.
- Gravity is your friend (a 40 stories drop will kill anybody that can't fly; and it'll get the flyers if they are unconcious).
- Violence is the last resort of the incompetent (and the first resort of the psychopath); be prepared for it, but don't use it in your planning and avoid it in action at all costs.
- Poison is easy, quiet and effective.
- Knowledge is power; there is no such thing as too much or irrelevant knowledge. Never let anyone comprise your chances of obtaining knowledge (if the johnson needs is done now and this means you won't be able to obtain knowledge (do stake-outs etc.), say no to the job (that is: if you want to live).
- Always payback. Effective & consistent payback will deminish the chances of people f*cking you over in the future.
- Dikote all bladed weapons.
A.
Marwynn
Oct 9 2009, 01:21 PM
QUOTE (Karoline @ Oct 9 2009, 05:30 AM)
What's wrong with thermal dampening on an under layer of clothing? Your body is what produces heat, so as long as the dampener is somewhere between you and the thermal vision you should be fine.
Thermal Dampening works by keeping heat inside and making your surface temperature equal to the surrounding air. It's not a perfect system so the layer between your clothes and the FFBA with Thermal Dampening is still slightly warmer (say from your own movement, or even slight physical contact, bleed through of heat, etc), and of course your clothes as well can be warmed by other things.
It does the first part well keeping your heat in, but it doesn't blend you into the background as easily.
A Lined Coat with Thermal Dampening works well for instance, as you wear it as the outer layer.
QUOTE (Traul @ Oct 9 2009, 06:13 AM)
Don't forget your Detect RFID spell to go with that. If you can't see it, you can't cast a spell on it.
Ahh yes the LOS. Catalog works too, sorry I assumed a magical thief would have that along. Just remember to set your commlink to record what you're saying out loud too. Gotta beat OR of RFIDs though.
The alternative to this is a boosted Pulse spell that can target Stealth and Security RFIDs too.
Karoline
Oct 9 2009, 01:45 PM
QUOTE (Marwynn @ Oct 9 2009, 09:21 AM)
Thermal Dampening works by keeping heat inside and making your surface temperature equal to the surrounding air. It's not a perfect system so the layer between your clothes and the FFBA with Thermal Dampening is still slightly warmer (say from your own movement, or even slight physical contact, bleed through of heat, etc), and of course your clothes as well can be warmed by other things.
It does the first part well keeping your heat in, but it doesn't blend you into the background as easily.
A Lined Coat with Thermal Dampening works well for instance, as you wear it as the outer layer.
Well, I'll just have to agree to disagree. If all your body heat is trapped by the first layer of clothing, none of it will escape to further layers, and friction between layers of clothing isn't going to be enough to show up on thermographics. Also, the lined coat lacks a hoodie, so your head will still stick out, so be careful of that. I won't comment again about this, don't want to derail the thread.
33? Don't do drugs
34. No wait... do drugs, they are super helpful, just be careful not to get addicted.
35. Drone + Packed explosives = expendable suicide bomber.
36. Slave your nodes, all of them, makes them basically impossible to hack
37. Don't forget to run in hidden mode.
38. Clustering your cyberware can give you a decent node to work with.
ravensmuse
Oct 9 2009, 02:41 PM
I'll toss a few in the pot -
Players:
+ Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. Never trust a dragon (or an elf, for that matter).
+ The more things change, the more they stay the same.
+ The scariest words in the world are, "it'll be easy."
+ Nothin' to fear if you got the gear (and contacts, and a Doc Wagon Gold account)
+ If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a bug. Kill it with fire.
+ It's a trick. Get an axe.
+ Once you pull the pin, Mister Grenade is no longer your friend.
+ Geek the mage first.
+ Always let the sasquatch win.
+ When happy cat has run out of happy, it's time to leave.
+ Cardio!
+ Shoot 'em in the head! SHOOT 'EM IN THE HEAD! ("His axe is on fire! He killed your parents!")
+ Likewise: boom boom boom. Three in the head, you know they're dead.
+ Everything is better with NERPS!
GMs:
+ It is your game. But these people have come to have a good time. Remember this.
+ Play up your strengths.
+ Play to your player's strengths.
+ But make 'em
sweat.
+ A good GM borrows. A great GM steals. A superior GM does it while they're looking.
+ Always keep your influences at hand for quick reference.
+ Prepare.
Prepare.
Prepare. Extra character sheets, player / gm cheat sheets, maps, npcs, locations, books, random notes you jotted down at 3am and you have no idea what they mean but hey, toss it in there anyways ("hampster nipples? WTF is so funny about hampster nipples?"), funny voices, quotes, extra food & soda.
+ "Three are three outcomes to any Shadowrun scenario: the two you came up with, and the third the players implement."
+
Don't be afraid to wing it. But never let 'em know you had to.
+ Follow the Rule of McNinja: Is it awesome? Throw it in there!
+ One I learned from SR Bootcamp last year: Minmaxing is a player's way of saying, "Hi! Fuck with me!" (paraphrased).
+ +1 / -1 is a good shortcut...wait, wrong game
+
The Golden Rule: Have fun. Everything else is trivial.
Marwynn
Oct 9 2009, 03:20 PM
I don't think we're really disagreeing. My view is ust that Therm. Damp. traps the heat inside but the outer layer also has to fade into the background, else you're just a cooler spot. I think of it as a two-step thing, keeping your heat in so you don't bloom in thermographic, and blending into the air's temp. Thermal camo. But yeah it's an interesting topic, let's discuss it in another thread maybe.
- Commlinks are cheap, Fake SINs are cheap. Use them like toilet paper.
- Make friends with hackers. Do favours for them. They'll make your life easier.
- Tasers aren't restricted. A lot of melee weapons aren't either. Carry them openly, just don't brag about your cool stun baton.
- A few microdrones flying around can do wonders for surveillance and trailing. But there are also spy drone hunters. Make use of both, just remember to let them play nice.
- Chemicals are your friends. But bring a respirator.
Screaming Eagle
Oct 9 2009, 03:55 PM
- You are never too 'leet for "Food Fight"
- you are never too n00b for "Food Fight"
- Blood mages want to cut you for 2 good reasons - magical power from hurting you and targeting you with ritual sorsery later - DON'T LET THEM CUT YOU
- A good game is ready for twists turns and excitement - a great game is ready to break for food because everyone is too on edge from all of the twists turn and excitment, a perfect game has pizza.
- Tazers are amazing - period. Bring 2.
- Start the game early and play the game late, all of my best experiances in roleplaying happened in and around hour 4-8 of the game. I know this can be difficult to manage but every once in a while it is mint.
- GM's - Never hesitate to try to kill the group if you feel they have earned it, you would be suprised how much fun it is to watch them win dispite your best efforts and your prime runner kill teams.
- Background counts are gross, its like concentrated hate in magic land, use them often if you feel like weakning the mage (or because you hate them)
- They will always find the way you didn't plan for - so plan for the run less, prepare the location more - create a place with little thought of how they will break in/ win, make security you believe and name the staff members and give them quick write ups. You'd be amased how easy it makes things when the group desides to do something insane.
EDIT - nothing has ever made me laugh harder as a player the the Catalist Stick - it's cheap an anything, tiny and turns Steath Grapple lines to dust in seconds. This is hilariuos when throwing off pursuit, espesially the kind of reasonably high end pursuit that can afford stealth grapple line. Sure it only came up once, but once was enough.
Tyraxus
Oct 9 2009, 04:45 PM
I'm another SR newbie (played our first run last week) so I'm glad to see this.
QUOTE (ravensmuse @ Oct 9 2009, 09:41 AM)
...+ Cardio!
Rule number 1!
Amen to the cardio rule. You can't be a shadowrunner if you can't run. It won't come up often, but eventually the ability to run 6 miles through a traffic jam, with all your gear, in Denver, will save your life.
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 05:18 PM
This is useful for players and GMs alike. For GMs, more with recurring characters.
Keep a notebook, a computer folder, -something- on your character. Put biographical stuff in there, character developments...Keep notes on your character, in short. From what actually happens in-game to (clearly delineated) scribbles and thoughts and stuff. Initially it seems like a lot of work. It is.
After a while, though, having all that info goes a long way in keeping stories straight and bringing a character to life. I've found that even newbie roleplayers, if they do this consistently, can make characters really come together well.
Roleplaying is a lot like acting in that regard: There is a strange element of...craft, I guess, to it. Research into your roles pays dividends. Whether this means books from the library, devouring SR sourcebooks (the novels are less helpful in my opinion, but YMMV), movies...Whatever works.
Playing your role over time also matters - I'm about to retire a character after 4 years of playing him, and I'm finding that even as I get ready to retire him from active play, I'm still learning about him. He still surprises me - to an extent, living quite independently of his creator. (Makes me incredibly sad, to the point of RL tears, to think of retiring him, but the admin of the MOO I play him on is right - there comes a time for every character to exit active play. His time is approaching, as it inevitably must.)
That didn't happen straightaway, though with this character it happened quickly because I learned to do the research. It happened after dozens, hundreds of hours of play that he started to grow into a fully realized character.
Warlordtheft
Oct 9 2009, 05:31 PM
If you have more guns on you than arms. You might be over dressed.
If a panther cannon is your weapon of choice-live in the barrens.
If you can go around town with no weapons and still kill someone-carry a weapon in to the barrens. Otherwise you will have to kill someone.
Multi layered matrix systems for the players are useful. Multilayered matrix systems for the GM-priceless.
Sometimes rolling or consulting the rules is pointless (eg: getting swarmed by 20 heavily armed and armored corp sec goons in an open field with drone, sniper, and mage support). Indentify those siuations and just ask the players if they feel lucky (IE they got edge).
crizh
Oct 9 2009, 05:51 PM
If you're going to get a Nano-hive, get a Lower Cyber-arm and put it in that. Even Second-hand you will save a ton of Essence and you'll save a fortune on the hives.
Karoline
Oct 9 2009, 06:05 PM
QUOTE (crizh @ Oct 9 2009, 01:51 PM)
If you're going to get a Nano-hive, get a Lower Cyber-arm and put it in that. Even Second-hand you will save a ton of Essence and you'll save a fortune on the hives.
I get how you save essence, how do you save nuyen? Oh, you mean by getting the hive second hand. Good thinking
Lok1 :)
Oct 9 2009, 07:48 PM
-If your GM will let you, have a gernade or small explosives placed in the handle of your gun with a radio detonator with an off switch. (Signal can't be sent untill you've turned it on manualy) This works great if you find yourself in a tough spot. Drop your gun, kick it across, hands on your head, you know the drill. Than when he picks it up blow him to kingdom come and have your secondary pistol with a hidden arm slide up and start running.
- Explosives like the banaglor torpedo are great for ruining pavement, makeing it harder to be driven over.
- Lightning bolts deal phyiscal as well as stun wich means big pentlys, but a stunball will take you at allot quicker.
- Don't min-max all this will bring you is a dead character
-I'm not suggesting tagging your johson, sneaking into his house at night, sedateing him and haveing a cranial bomb implanted than putting him back in his bed. I'm just saying its an option.
ccelizic
Oct 10 2009, 12:19 AM
-Make friendly with the team face. Saves you money when it comes to hunting down gear if they can do it withotu going through contacts.
-Make friendly with contacts who do stuff the team can't do. When you hire'em tip heavily.
-Make friendly with contacts who stand to gain by crossing you. Tip heavily.
-Ok, make that a general suggestion, Tip heavily.
-Never underestimating the guards assuming nobody would be THAT crazy.
-Just don't be the guy to "capitalize off of that" convince someone else to.
-The matrix is cheap and easy to get involved with. Never hurts to have rudimentary computer skills and gear. Just.... don't hot dive unless you are built to take heat.
-A mage usually has high willpower and therefore makes a surprisingly good matrix "tank" if kitted out with a good commlink and gear.
-That hacker is usually using cracked warez which means he can copy it to multiple systems, get him to toss you a copy.
-If you are going to meet a johnson on the matrix kit all the non-hackers up with bots that way if things go south everyone has heat.
-Shape shifters regenerate, let them go first.
-Shape shifters are gullieable, make it seem like it's a great thing that they go first.
Marwynn
Oct 10 2009, 12:37 AM
- A Force 5 Spirit can affect a Body 10 Vehicle with its Movement power at half the normal strength. Meaning it can only make it go 2.5 times as fast. That includes most common cars.
- Movement can also slow vehicles down, that same Force 5 Spirit can slow a vehicle down by 2.5 times.
- The Accident power can force a crash test. Combine it with Movement deliberately increasing your opponent's velocity and the Accident power and you have one ready made crash.
- Spirits of Air have it baseline, Water spirits can select Accident as an optional power.
Makes those car chases much more interesting. Of course, there's probably added notoriety for having that Lonestar squad car ram through a market instead of following you...
ravensoracle
Oct 10 2009, 03:27 AM
- Remember this is a game where you can "Shoot people in the face for money," or not. It's your choice.
MikeKozar
Oct 10 2009, 08:13 AM
QUOTE (Marwynn @ Oct 9 2009, 04:37 PM)
Makes those car chases much more interesting. Of course, there's probably added notoriety for having that Lonestar squad car ram through a market instead of following you...
[while they are driving around in the shopping mall with 2 police cars on their tail]
Elwood: Baby clothes...
Jake: This place has got everything.
- Make a list of everything that you can think of that might go wrong. Check it frequently.
- Play a character that is fun for you. Don't let the team talk you into suffering for them.
- Play a character that helps the team. Know your job, do it well, and often.
- Don't confuse role-playing with an open invitation to be a dick. Let everybody else have fun too.
- Sympathize with the GM. Help him out, suggest fair compromises when the rules are unclear.
- Metagaming can be used for good. Know what your GM's vision for the game is, and you can flow with it instead of against it. You'll be astounded at how much it helps.
- Don't split the party, but don't bunch up.
- Your Shadowrunner is part of a community of frighteningly talented and largely amoral mercenaries with little regard for the odds of surviving a job. Subcontracting, while not expressly forbidden, is considered 'unsporting'.
- It's still sometimes worth %15 to bring in a GMPC for the gaps in the party's skillset.
- If you can't put the grenade where it needs to be, give it to someone who can.
- Low-tech works.
- Vision Magnification is 100Y and can negate a -3 penalty. No excuses.
- Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
- Don't bring a gun to a spirit fight.
- Your vehicle needs handling more then speed. Sad but true.
- Laser weapons cut your armor in half. While you're wearing it, generally.
- If you're taking Restricted Gear anyway, mod that sucker up to 20F.
- Common Sense may be the best 5 BP you spend.
- Be nice to NPCs. You know what you call a homeless dude yelling at his imaginary friends? Awakened.
- The number of retired runners in the service industry is directly related to the PC's tendency to stick up diners for a quick buck.
- The corp wageslave isn't scary by himself - but he tends to have thousands of other wageslaves on speed dial, some of which have Assault Cannons and Powered Armor. Let him have the taxi.
~Mike
Deadmetal: You, Sir, are a Dick GM.
Saint Sithney
Oct 10 2009, 11:00 AM
-If you don't have the drugs or the magic, a serious concussion will erase anyone's short term memory in a pinch.
-On the flip side of that, Cyber eyes and ears have built in recorders. No one expects you to run backup of that info into a data lock, least of all that wiz fragger with his slick little spells.
-You can never have too many recon drones.
-Consider taking a 1/1 chump contact. Nothing keeps the heat off your ass like a fall guy.
-If your backup plan doesn't involve explosives, you just got yourself a backup backup plan.
-"Senseless shooting" can become "drug-related death" real easily.
-Always get building specs. City planning commission should have them publicly accessible.
Whipstitch
Oct 10 2009, 11:46 PM
A non-lethality policy is great and all, but never forget that not everything actually takes stun damage.
MusicMan
Oct 11 2009, 07:38 AM
Putting the fear of death in someone is not the same as killing them... just because you're not going to kill someone does not mean you can't let them think you will.
1 shot on target is better than 100 in the dirt.
Swords don't have to reload, but guns measure their range in meters/yards--not feet.
The right tool for the right job. Shotguns aren't hold-out pistols, hammers are not wrenches, and contacts are not allies.
Neraph
Oct 12 2009, 07:57 PM
QUOTE (Lok1 :) @ Oct 9 2009, 02:48 PM)
- Lightning bolts deal phyiscal as well as stun wich means big pentlys, but a stunball will take you at allot quicker.
- Don't min-max all this will bring you is a dead character
How so (where does it say
Lightning Bolt deals physical and stun?)? And I strongly disagree with #2. If you min-maxed and died, you did it wrong.
EDIT:
Many. many of the last posts are ridiculous. For instance, a 1/1 contact is -not- going to take a fall for you knowingly; you should bring a gun to a spirit fight, if the gun has SnS ammo; and Common Sense is only a good quality if you yourself don't have it and your GM does (or: if your GM and you both don't have real world common sense, you're burning 5 BP).
To contribute though:
- Use a splash grenade with Slab and Laes in it. This is many times more effective (and expensive) than Narcoject, but Narcoject is potentially lethal if you end up overflowing. Slab is not.
- Pepper Punch is not regulated. Neither are gas grenades. Neither is the Super-Squirt. All are cheap.
- Physical Wall + road + car chase = crash test. Use it behind you as you pass a location.
- Infected + Sustenance = food. You won't need to feed on people, and you can hide your condition much easier this way.
- K-10 + Capsule Rounds + Sniper Rifle = Good distraction. Use on guards.
crizh
Oct 12 2009, 08:25 PM
QUOTE (Neraph @ Oct 12 2009, 08:57 PM)
- K-10 + Capsule Rounds + Sniper Rifle = Good distraction. Use on guards.
I lol'd.
Were you talking about using Physical Barrier in a car chase?
I can't imagine it being any more effective than a pile of empty cardboard boxes. It's one of the most useless Manipulation spells in the book.
ravensoracle
Oct 12 2009, 09:26 PM
QUOTE (Neraph @ Oct 12 2009, 01:57 PM)
- K-10 + Capsule Rounds + Sniper Rifle = Good distraction. Use on guards.
We used K-10 + DMSO + Gas Grenade when we had to take out a gang that was reaking havoc in the neighborhood. Just locked them in thier own warehaouse and let the carnage ensue. Fun times
Lok1 :)
Oct 12 2009, 09:54 PM
If you Min-Maxed to obviously with some of the GMs I've had you'd be dead way before the guy who had to struggle to get his pool over 10. trust me
As for lightning bolt, it deals physical dammage that has the secondary effect of electric dammage. Check pages196-197 and 154 of SR4 if you don't beleive me. (can someone give me the page numbers for SR4A)
That said while were on the topic of electricty just a few things you can do with this brand of magic.
- Screw up equipment (pritty standerd)
- Activate plastic explosives. (Yes their resistant to heat, but not electricty)
- Make someone think they were struck by real lightning. Its the awakened world, and most likely seattle. Great way to get docwagon called. (Why you would want to I have no idea)
CanadianWolverine
Oct 12 2009, 10:10 PM
While I may be short on experience, there is one thing I think would be useful for others to know:
- While Stealth may be King, Perception is Queen.
- If you obey your King & Queen, you should be able to be the one doing the surprising rather than failing the surprise test. They can't even use Reaction against something they aren't aware of, let alone Dodge but remember neither can you if surprised.
- Considering the above, fear the GM's hidden sniper. As another has said, setup your sniper support first.
- Just because it is a sniper doesn't mean it needs to be lethal or even a live target. Aimed Shot (full bonus) plus Called Shot can do some pretty interesting things.
I would need some help understanding perception with regards all things Matrix and Astral, but I am pretty sure Stealth and Perception are pretty important as skills and concepts in those areas too.
JaronK
Oct 13 2009, 01:23 AM
QUOTE (crizh @ Oct 12 2009, 03:25 PM)
Were you talking about using Physical Barrier in a car chase?
I can't imagine it being any more effective than a pile of empty cardboard boxes. It's one of the most useless Manipulation spells in the book.
At least in SR3 it was awesome for that. Force 4 Physical Barrier with 4 successes is actually quite solid, enough to destroy a car very easily. Even better is Limited Physical Barrier: Computers which will completely strip the car of all electronics (including Autonav, Sensors, and most controls) without problems. Might even blow someone's head off if they've got the wrong thing in their head.
JaronK
Ustio
Oct 13 2009, 09:49 AM
- An illusion of half a dozen or so slowly moving red dots on someone is a great way to negotiate.
- Capsule rounds loaded with barrier foam = instant bobble head (more fun with full auto).
- When rolling a hacker/tm/rigger remember that whilst Log doesn’t add to your rolls all those goodies that add to logic linked skills do.
- Never underestimate people's willingness to let you enter their home if your polite, well dressed and claim to be from the authorities™.
- Security will more often let you in if you seem to be delivering something big and heavy (like a fridge) rather than something small and light (like flowers) - please note the empty fridge box is also great for taking large things (like people) out.
- Home made explosives are easy and cheap, but are about as stable as your team mates.
- When in a pursuit dont try to hack their car hack a nearby car and use them to block the way.
- The general public know squat about network security - exploit (get it?) this when you need an access ID to blame
MikeKozar
Oct 13 2009, 08:05 PM
QUOTE (JaronK @ Oct 12 2009, 06:23 PM)
At least in SR3 it was awesome for that. Force 4 Physical Barrier with 4 successes is actually quite solid, enough to destroy a car very easily. Even better is Limited Physical Barrier: Computers which will completely strip the car of all electronics (including Autonav, Sensors, and most controls) without problems. Might even blow someone's head off if they've got the wrong thing in their head.
JaronK
I have a friend who used to have a barrier against living things, permiable to inanimate objects. You know, so you couldn't walk through it, but bullets could pass through? Apparantly used it in a car chase once.
QUOTE (Neraph)
Many. many of the last posts are ridiculous. For instance, a 1/1 contact is -not- going to take a fall for you knowingly; you should bring a gun to a spirit fight, if the gun has SnS ammo; and Common Sense is only a good quality if you yourself don't have it and your GM does (or: if your GM and you both don't have real world common sense, you're burning 5 BP).
Kid, you're picking fights in a humor thread, and I'm a little annoyed at being called ridiculous. Maybe your runner rolls with a taser, but in my neighborhood you don't load goofball rounds in your assault rifle standard. Anyway, the proper weapon to bring to a spirit fight is a friend who rolled a mage. As for common sense, I'm going to skip the obvious potshot and just say it's very valuable when you can't read your DM's mind. Sometimes he thinks something is obvious when he writes a scenario and at 3AM you don't pick up on the subtle warnings. It has saved my dwarven bacon when I didn't understand the situation I was in; it's absence nearly necessitated a
TPK. I stand by my "Common Sense may be the best 5 BP you spend" - if you don't need it, great, but if you ever do need it, it will probably save your character, which is well worth 5 BP.
JaronK
Oct 14 2009, 08:43 AM
QUOTE (MikeKozar @ Oct 13 2009, 04:05 PM)
I have a friend who used to have a barrier against living things, permiable to inanimate objects. You know, so you couldn't walk through it, but bullets could pass through? Apparantly used it in a car chase once.
Our group was demented enough to use Limited Physical Barrier: Brain. And yes, that one's for car chases, though it also works in a lot of other situations. Also, Limited Physical Barrier: Testicles. Sounds silly and juvenile, until you realize that almost all of our party is female. Our party runs through the barrier just fine but our enemies get dropped out of the fight very quickly, and there's almost no way to actually destroy either of those barriers with mundane resources. Extremely handy.
JaronK
ravensmuse
Oct 14 2009, 11:17 AM
QUOTE (JaronK @ Oct 14 2009, 03:43 AM)
Also, Limited Physical Barrier: Testicles. Sounds silly and juvenile, until you realize that almost all of our party is female. Our party runs through the barrier just fine but our enemies get dropped out of the fight very quickly, and there's almost no way to actually destroy either of those barriers with mundane resources. Extremely handy.
JaronK
You know, that's pretty clever.
Dahrken
Oct 14 2009, 11:37 AM
I'm not sure this kind of spell could work the way you used them. If someone throwed some anatomical spare parts at you, then yes, they would have been stopped because those would be separate items.
But as long as they are part of a live metahuman I don't think they could be targeted specifically, the same way I would not allow the use of a "Wreck cybereyes" spells to blind you foes with minimal drain.
Cardul
Oct 14 2009, 02:32 PM
Remember: if you can do, so can the Corps/GM..
If it ain't cool, it was probably a bad idea.
Just because it's cool, does not mean it is a good idea.
No matter how many times someone does it, Lone Star/Knight Errant never seems
to include aquatic units for when the submersible, amphibious get away car
drives off the pier into Puget Sound....
Neraph
Oct 14 2009, 03:22 PM
QUOTE (crizh @ Oct 12 2009, 03:25 PM)
I lol'd.
Were you talking about using Physical Barrier in a car chase?
I can't imagine it being any more effective than a pile of empty cardboard boxes. It's one of the most useless Manipulation spells in the book.
The game goes like this: Did you hit something? Crash Test!
It doesn't take into account the hardness of the object, just how fast the collision was.
Neraph
Oct 14 2009, 03:24 PM
QUOTE (Lok1 :) @ Oct 12 2009, 04:54 PM)
As for lightning bolt, it deals physical dammage that has the secondary effect of electric dammage. Check pages196-197 and 154 of SR4 if you don't beleive me. (can someone give me the page numbers for SR4A)
It uses the secondary effects of electrical damage, not all of the effects of electrical damage. The primary effect of electrical damage is stun damage, the secondary effects are the "tazer" effects.
ravensmuse
Oct 14 2009, 06:18 PM
QUOTE (Dahrken @ Oct 14 2009, 06:37 AM)
I'm not sure this kind of spell could work the way you used them. If someone throwed some anatomical spare parts at you, then yes, they would have been stopped because those would be separate items.
But as long as they are part of a live metahuman I don't think they could be targeted specifically, the same way I would not allow the use of a "Wreck cybereyes" spells to blind you foes with minimal drain.
I'll be honest here, I would definitely okay this if my players ran it by me.
I'm just saying.
Lok1 :)
Oct 14 2009, 06:48 PM
QUOTE (JaronK @ Oct 14 2009, 09:43 AM)
Our group was demented enough to use Limited Physical Barrier: Brain. And yes, that one's for car chases, though it also works in a lot of other situations. Also, Limited Physical Barrier: Testicles. Sounds silly and juvenile, until you realize that almost all of our party is female. Our party runs through the barrier just fine but our enemies get dropped out of the fight very quickly, and there's almost no way to actually destroy either of those barriers with mundane resources. Extremely handy.
JaronK
Wow, nice. Thats all I can say.
Pendaric
Oct 14 2009, 06:53 PM
Platlett factory and chemical gland means you never die of thrombosis.
Wacky
Oct 15 2009, 01:53 AM
Thrombosis: (Greek θρόμβωσις) is the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot, because the first step in repairing it (hemostasis) is to prevent loss of blood. If that mechanism causes too much clotting, and the clot breaks free, an embolus is formed.
Wouldn't having platett factory be more likely to
cause this problem rather than prevent it? In the original biotech handbook they had a fluff mention of a runner with this bit of bioware that got his nose punched in a barfight and it clotted too much preventing him from it (had to become a mouthbreather) until a bloodthinner could be applied.
But to add to the thread's ideal, I like to gauge the run to know the gear level that I should bring along with. If you're going to be doing something that doesn't break the law (too much) don't bring gear that is illegal.
Recently I was playing a gnome whose group was hired to kill a man. Turns out the guy is a pedophile and my character looks like a human child. Guess what everyone decided to have me do?
Anyway once I'm in the room I taser the guy in the face so his limited armor can do nothing to resist and he drops to the floor. The second shot is enough to push him past his threshold and he's out.
Another player (playing a pixie who went invisible) casts turn to goo and we drop him over the balcony. He splatters while the pixie ends the spell and the pedophile is no more. But I had technology that was perfectly legal so no one stopped me from having it.
Oh, and how did I sneak the taser in past security? I ducttaped it underneath a cyberpet that another player bought from some bizarre reason. It covered the electroinics in the weapon and didn't look out of place with some kid.
I named the cybercat "Mr. Flufflykins".
Sign--
Wacky
Traul
Oct 15 2009, 10:36 AM
QUOTE (Wacky @ Oct 15 2009, 03:53 AM)
Wouldn't having platett factory be more likely to cause this problem rather than prevent it? In the original biotech handbook they had a fluff mention of a runner with this bit of bioware that got his nose punched in a barfight and it clotted too much preventing him from it (had to become a mouthbreather) until a bloodthinner could be applied.
That's the point: have the chemical gland synthetize the bloodthinner. That's a bit too expensive for me.
Neraph
Oct 15 2009, 03:50 PM
QUOTE (Traul @ Oct 15 2009, 04:36 AM)
That's the point: have the chemical gland synthetize the bloodthinner. That's a bit too expensive for me.
Wouldn't that simply negate the Platelet factories? You spend money and lose essence for nothing. A couple of vampire hookers will get you the same effect, and at least you'll have a fun memory.
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