Full Version: To all GMs ... please help me out ...
| QUOTE |
| People have been known to survive such actions. People do survive parachutting accidents and there's a stewardess I heard about who hit some snow drift and survived a fall. |
There's already a mechanic for that. Hand of God. No new rules needed.
| QUOTE (BitBasher) | ||
There's already a mechanic for that. Hand of God. No new rules needed. |
Then there was that park ranger that survived 7 lightining bolts. Link.
Guess the GM was ultra nice with the Hand of God idea.
he must have had quite a few Nonconductive armor mods...
| QUOTE (BitBasher @ Apr 15 2004, 05:25 AM) | ||
There's already a mechanic for that. Hand of God. No new rules needed. |
Or just GM fiat, which is more transparent to the players and resultantly more immersive. Toss in some fake rolling to mislead your players and it goes from cheap way out of a bad situation to heroically providential success in the face of overwhelming odds. All about good storytelling.
The rule is: when in doubt, make them roll. Since a fall caps out Deadly damage, there's always a chance that a character can roll well and live. If they don't, that's when you invoke Hand of God.
| QUOTE (Dashifen) | ||
ROFL! Does the monkey have to roll to fling poo? |
I'm sure that any competent artist of Simian-fu (and let's face it, how many monkeys are? ALL of them!) have enough ranks to be able to use the Stinky Faceful From a Distance maneuver quite well. I imagine that it's quite an integral part, really.
Simian-Fu 6
w/ maneuvers { Grapple-with-feet, Fling, Slap }
Thrown Weapons (poo) 5 (7) ?
| QUOTE (Sunday_Gamer) |
| A vicious wing slammed into him from behind as he started his fall and it slammed him into the building and throught he window... he was hurt, but he walked out of that building. |
Bleedin' awesome. =)
whew, didn't expect this thread to get that long.
it turned out that one of our players doesn't have no more motivation to play shadowrun anymore.
fine for us. our group is one person less as of now. ;-(
sad ... but it's better that way. in two years of playing shadowrun with him, this guy haven't even read one SR novel. not even a rulebook...
he's gone.
it turned out that one of our players doesn't have no more motivation to play shadowrun anymore.
fine for us. our group is one person less as of now. ;-(
sad ... but it's better that way. in two years of playing shadowrun with him, this guy haven't even read one SR novel. not even a rulebook...
he's gone.
It's always a bit sad to lose a friend when playing, but I'm sure you're all gonna have more fun playing now.
Wait, we have to have read one of the novels in full to be a good player? Dammit. I always suspected I sucked, now I know.
| QUOTE (A Clockwork Lime) |
| Wait, we have to have read one of the novels in full to be a good player? Dammit. I always suspected I sucked, now I know. |
hehehe ...
I know you're mocking him, but ... I think his point was that the [player in question never seemed to make an effort to get to know the SR universe, to asssimilate its world view, to learn How Things Work.
I admit, that had I not read the online novel thingy I did (something about Owen Glendower and the Lost Boys (?) that I haven't seen in a long time but was really good), I would not have had NEARLY as good an understanding of the runner's mindset, or the concepts of "professionalism". Well, I would hjave, but it would have been aquired later in my playing career.
| QUOTE (gknoy) |
| I know you're mocking him, but ... I think his point was that the [player in question never seemed to make an effort to get to know the SR universe, to asssimilate its world view, to learn How Things Work. |
With new players i think it is a must. I mean if the read the good ole "And so i came to pass..." is great, but i dont think they understand the way people behave, and this if you are not careful can ruin the style of SR. Im not saying that charactes should be put in a box, but a Troll that grows up in the Barrens knows the area. I prefer it when people add to the game, like when they quote or refer to a good scene in a book....
Even though this thread is long dead, I wanted to say I actually did the fake death thing in my game; It worked out great. The newbies got a taste of how deadly SR was, without losing their characters.
I highly recommend doing a fake death with a group ... assuming you can do it without being cheesy.
I highly recommend doing a fake death with a group ... assuming you can do it without being cheesy.
| QUOTE (Mardegun) |
| Even though this thread is long dead, I wanted to say I actually did the fake death thing in my game; It worked out great. The newbies got a taste of how deadly SR was, without losing their characters. I highly recommend doing a fake death with a group ... assuming you can do it without being cheesy. |
...already did that to one of my own PCs. Cost a cool half million plus and 6 months being out of action to get right - including full Phenotypic Alteration (down to the base genetic level) a very credible "death", and the best forged SIN on the market.
Still got shafted in the end though, so the character is now in the ranks of the "retired".
Never, Never even think about messing with a dragon, let alone cut a deal with one.
| QUOTE (Mardegun) |
| For f#$@ sake, I write all of that and all you have to say is <insert geek voice> excuse, but on page 123 it clearly states that ...</insert geek voice> If you want to state how you view the rules fine, but at least have something to say about what I wrote ... christ |
Well it's a very important point. It makes a huge difference in gameplay and risk.
| QUOTE (dandy) |
| whew, didn't expect this thread to get that long. it turned out that one of our players doesn't have no more motivation to play shadowrun anymore. fine for us. our group is one person less as of now. ;-( sad ... but it's better that way. in two years of playing shadowrun with him, this guy haven't even read one SR novel. not even a rulebook... he's gone. |
Tango down!
Kill the character if and when the situation dictates that he should die. don't do it because the GM is always right, you're ticked off that a plot went askew, or you had a bad day at work and need to blow off steam.
I know the issue's already been resolved, but I thought I'd throw my $0.02 in...
Let the dice fall where they may. Sometimes, it even helps to make important rolls in front of the players, so they can see the dice themselves.
If the dice say you die, then that is it. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Don't fudge target numbers, don't fudge the dice results. Just make sure you apply all the rules equally to everybody, and it makes it a lot harder for players to claim that you are treating them unfairly.
Just remember, this also works both ways. There will be times when the PC accomplishes the impossible, and completely ruins everything you had planned. You might be upset when the PC kills your favorite NPC with a lucky headshot, but once you start using GM fiat to save or kill certain characters, PC or NPC, it gets a lot harder to defend the outcome.
My worst fear is a game where the dice no longer matter, and all decisions are decided by GM fiat. By that point in time, you might as well just give up and go read a novel, because you are no longer playing a game. You are now just a minor background character in an interactive story-telling session, where the GM is the author, and has complete control over everything.
As long as you follow the rules, and apply them equally to everybody, the dice actually mean something. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you had a chance...
Let the dice fall where they may. Sometimes, it even helps to make important rolls in front of the players, so they can see the dice themselves.
If the dice say you die, then that is it. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Don't fudge target numbers, don't fudge the dice results. Just make sure you apply all the rules equally to everybody, and it makes it a lot harder for players to claim that you are treating them unfairly.
Just remember, this also works both ways. There will be times when the PC accomplishes the impossible, and completely ruins everything you had planned. You might be upset when the PC kills your favorite NPC with a lucky headshot, but once you start using GM fiat to save or kill certain characters, PC or NPC, it gets a lot harder to defend the outcome.
My worst fear is a game where the dice no longer matter, and all decisions are decided by GM fiat. By that point in time, you might as well just give up and go read a novel, because you are no longer playing a game. You are now just a minor background character in an interactive story-telling session, where the GM is the author, and has complete control over everything.
As long as you follow the rules, and apply them equally to everybody, the dice actually mean something. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you had a chance...
another .02 
:
When you present a player with a problem, try to phrase it as an opportunity. I would've suggested (had I gotten to this thread in time) that you mention to your player that his character (not the player) was acting rashly, and that it would be a cool dramatic moment if the character were to realize the danger of his choices and choose to mellow out a bit. You'd be giving the player an opportunity to save face, a way out, so he can change (fix?) his behaviour and chalk it all up to good roleplaying.
Having said that, I've lost a number of players under similar circumstances to Dandy. I've probably got a better group for it.
:When you present a player with a problem, try to phrase it as an opportunity. I would've suggested (had I gotten to this thread in time) that you mention to your player that his character (not the player) was acting rashly, and that it would be a cool dramatic moment if the character were to realize the danger of his choices and choose to mellow out a bit. You'd be giving the player an opportunity to save face, a way out, so he can change (fix?) his behaviour and chalk it all up to good roleplaying.
Having said that, I've lost a number of players under similar circumstances to Dandy. I've probably got a better group for it.
Had a player like that.
If someone attacked him "they deserved to die!"
This included Joe Smith who swung a bat at him as the player invaded his home, and the other players K.O.ed with narcojet. The professional Opposing Shadowrunners, Police who where returning fire, ect.
When consequences cropped up, "I was picking on him."
When his character died (and for some reason I let him bring in another) It was his brother who had constantly talked to his original character.
When I denied that he brought in a cousin, and dispite having little to no knowledge about the goings on eventually wanted to exact revenge for his realitives.
So finally I realized that some gamers never grow and are constantly stuck in whatever phase he is in.
The Last run he was in a Johnson paid the party 300K plus expenses to distroy the characters family line. Didn't ask if he wanted to play after that.
If someone attacked him "they deserved to die!"
This included Joe Smith who swung a bat at him as the player invaded his home, and the other players K.O.ed with narcojet. The professional Opposing Shadowrunners, Police who where returning fire, ect.
When consequences cropped up, "I was picking on him."
When his character died (and for some reason I let him bring in another) It was his brother who had constantly talked to his original character.
When I denied that he brought in a cousin, and dispite having little to no knowledge about the goings on eventually wanted to exact revenge for his realitives.
So finally I realized that some gamers never grow and are constantly stuck in whatever phase he is in.
The Last run he was in a Johnson paid the party 300K plus expenses to distroy the characters family line. Didn't ask if he wanted to play after that.
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