So an interesting situtation came up at the table last night. A mage cast Control Thoughts on a PC and was successful. The description of the spell allows for very broad interpretation of "actions", so I used the PC (who was also a mage) to cast a spell and also to tell one of her spirits to attack another PC. Did I cross a line?

Except the general line of mindrape? Not really.

Not something I do unless I try to teach my players to invest into certain stats and not use them as dump stats but every group is different.

But its good to diversify your portfolio and keep the players on the edge. For a really big laugh you can make the bad guy mage tail the group stelthily and do minor control toughts on random player jus for shits and giggle. just small pranks and minor annoyances. if they think in IC proper they will soon start to feel paranoid about their buddies and distrust everyone... good way to divide and conquer if the group is too strongly bonded before you make a major attack on them also if an NPC has a crush on a female runner (if you have one, or male if your players are mature enough for homosexual content in the game) and he/she is 'tight' with another runner from the group then use these pranks and things to divide them in their personal lives and move in for the rebound

Just be carefull though. Lover kind of content can wreack havoc OOC. A mate of mine brough his wife for few games and one of the female NPCs that was working as security at a gate was flirting IC with my mates player as he was trying to gather some intel on a warehouse/job ..you know typical legwork stuff..
So as he flirted back and played along his RL wife got so fumed up she blew up at him at the table. There was such a stunned silence for what seemed an hour. I was embarassed because as GM i initiated the encounter thinking nothing of it but when she called him every name under the sun (she puts truckers to shame with her mouth) i was feeling the heat too but was too scared to say anything for few minutes while they we having a verbal diarhoea slinging match for few minutes.
Eventually i got the shits with her so i just made her to roll her ettiquette roll which she reluctantly did and luckily got enough successes to tell her "your outburst that played out in your head seems like a good idea until you realise you are not at home and blowing his cover will cost the lifes of both of you and possibly the rest of the group who are scattered arround the premises. you just dont know how well they managed to not look like they are with you."
i was told to go an.... lets not dirty this thread with retarded people's emotions...so lets say the family feud finaly spewed onto me and i had to call and end to the session as i told the player "she is yours you HAVE to put up with that crap..but i dont.. muzzle her or dont bring her next game."
was an interesting experience i do not wish on any GM or group for that matter. so be very very careful when you are playing tricks and disturbing inner party dynamics RL has alot more pull in games that most people would like

I try and avoid my NPCs from doing it too much. That being said I recently used something similar to get the group hooked up with a new contact, starting a nice little plot hook fully of fun and excitement...and possibly death.

Also: Yikes, KamikazePilot!

KamikazePilot, honestly, you let her go too much. As soon as she started bitching IRL, I would have interrupted and told her to calm the fuck down because it is only a game. If she can't separate her real life from the game then she should not be playing.

Yes, I would have cursed at the bitch.

/agree, - cursing. Sounds like they had other issues.

aparently she was very insecure and had to keep him on a leash. i mean keeping a nerd on a leash come on. he is lucky to have ONE let alone play the field
hence the reason she tagged along. He was away from the game for almost 6 months about 5 sessions and then i think he grew balls and started coming by himself again.
I've seen her here and there on gatherings and parties but she never appologised so we are on non speaking terms with her.

as for swearing. i tried to keep thigs civil since the other 4 players were freaking out when the fight erupted. i think nerds have natural fear of confrontation.

the other reason i avoided fully confronting her is i know when i cross my threshold i go into throwing mode and i heard from him before she was a thrower too. so i did not want any of my TVs and pictures and even gyprock/walls cuffering when the glasses started flying arround (after that session i always bought plastic drinking glasses for the games..just in case...)

No, I mean I agreed with KCKitsune, but my version would not have swearing in it.

As for nerds being able to play the field... it's not unherd of. Our very own Tyro here has at least two women in a relationship with him, in the open, and personally I have very good (bad...) luck with women, excepting the fact I've promised my wife that I'll be faithful to her. I've passed up a lot for her. Of course, I myself am more of a "ninja nerd," meaning you wouldn't take me for someone who once knew (I'm a little rusty now) the names, in order, of all 250 pokemon, what level/how they evolved, and what levels they gained notable attacks, where to find certain TM/HMs, and how to navigate the dark tunnel (I forget the name) without Flash and only like 2 trainer battles; or knowing most of the maps for World of Warcraft/EverQuest. Or a lot of other things.

"Ninja-Nerd" is not a term that I would associate with you in the least, even having never met you in person... But then, Most nerds can recognize other nerds without too much difficulty... Would that be Nerdar?

Heheheh...

Not Nerdar. its called Google Nexus-S with near field communication. when you pass near a nerd it shows up on your screen and your try to hack each others comms kinda like hello without words which is the prefered nerdy greeting

Gotcha... My Mistake...

If all these actions occurred in the same IP, then yes.

If it went as follows, then no.

Pass/Turn 1:
Evil Mage - casts Control Thoughts.

Pass/Turn 2:
Evil Mage uses Control Thoughts link to command Runner Mage to cast a spell.
Runner Mage takes the Complex Action dictated.

Pass/Turn 3:
Evil Mage uses Control Thoughts link to command Runner Mage to order spirit to act.
Rummer Mage takes the Simple Action dictated.


So, to break that down for you,
1) the controlling mage can't make the victim do anything on the turn in which the spell is cast.
2) casting a spell is a complex action and ordering a spirit is a simple action, so these must be done on separate turns.
3) the controling character must take a simple action to order the controlled character, so the controlled character can not act more than the controller's # of IPs or their own, whichever is lower, and the controlling mage forfeits his chance to cast because he doesn't have enough actions left after ordering the victim around.

[derail]
I had a reverse experience. I was GM, and my wife's PC became engaged in flirting with another player's PC (both of them very much in character). She was quite good at it. It carried on to the point of PCs (not players!) consummating the foreplay. They sat on either side of me and the repartée carried on over top of my notes. I was ... uncomfortable... but had to reward them for good role playing.
[/derail]

I think that in that situation you were probably more professional and mature about it that I would have been.

When guys look at my wife I start feeling very violent tendencies come to the fore. This is bad since I've been training martial arts for 17-ish years. Thank God for the self control I've learned in those same years.

In all my games, anything intimate like that happens off screen.

In one game, the team sniper ended up getting sloshed at a troll strip club and ended up going home with Yvonne, the troll stripper (the team payed her to take him home with her - and tape it). He ended up turning that one night stand into a stable relationship as a cover for his shadowrunning sniper life. As a bonus, they got serious enough so he moved in with her, so he ended up getting a lifestyle out of it. Also, the teammates took the recording, edited it, put it to music, and started a little revenue off of a vouyer-esque simple porno.

I still have her stats too. She's no pushover either.

Did you cross a line rules-wise? I don't think so. In my gaming group, however, that crosses a very serious line. Taking direct control of a character's actions away from the player has always been a big taboo at my table. I'm not saying it can't be used to dramatic effect, just that my particular group of players won't stand for it.

In the tables I run in, it is not uncommon for PCs to MC PCs. One of the favorites in D&D is using Dominate Person against someone who's sleeping and giving them an order like "Act like yourself until I tell you not to."

EDIT: For this idea to work out well though, the mind-controlling mage has to know of all the spells the PC mage does, kind of like a Ditto trainer. If you order the mage to cast Powerbolt but the mage doesn't know it, then he'd just sit there confused for a turn, doing nothing.

I think the biggest key with this spell is to still allow the player some sort of choice. Not in what they are doing, but in how they are doing it. This way the player dent feel like you just stole his spotlight. Personally, in any game that has any sort of tc or mc I've done it by "suggestions", or emotions.

Player 1 successfully casts on Player 2, wanting player 2 to shoot player 3.
GM: player 2, you notice player 3 looking at you very strangely. Player 3s eyes seemingly track your every movement. You feel yourself filling with an uncontrollable hatred of player 3. You are certain that if you don't take matters into your own hands immediately player 3 is going to kill you the moment you turn your back.
Player 2: invariably takes this opportunity to try and kill player 3, while player 1 watches and laughs.

Really the trick is,
"You want to cast mind control on the gun bunny? Ok, roll surprise and initiative. He beat you and shot you in the face. That sure was a laugh. Find something else to do while we finish playing."

Magic is noticeable, and combat has rules.

I would completely agree if it was control actions cast instead of control thoughts.