How do you GM's handle the Hand of God rule in your games? In the past I have always gone by the book and allowed the players to have a single HoG instance that perm burns all Karma pool, and unallocated karma. The players are able to induce this ruling when they feel appropriate.

I wonder if anyone plays with HoG being at the GM's discretion . A good exapmle would be if you had a player who caused trouble for the rest of the group. If the HoG rule was only GM enforcable then this player could just be killed without a chance of redemption.

Another way could be for the GM to roll a die when the player wanted to invoke the rule, if it comes up 6, then the player is saved.

Or, maybe, the rule is disallowed altogether. What is everyone's take?

I run it as printed in the book...

There is always the HoG. But you only get to use it once per character, IIRC. IT comes at a hefty price, if you ask me. A price that is justified.

If you really have a problem with just one player, like I said, talk to him. Seriously. Especially if he's the one that is ruining the fun of the other players. If you let it go on for too long, eventually your players will try to "solve the problem" on thier own.

Good luck!

And welcome the 'Shock.

I run it straight out of the book. There've only been a couple of times that its even been necessary to use though.

I run it straight ot of the book but its never happened yet.

kevyn668: He said he could, not that he wold. He even said he hated the idea. I think people are giving him less credit as a GM than he has shown. He has twice said that he didn't play i that way, and yet people keep telling him he's wrong for playing it that way.

So what's it called when a high-level enemy NPC skates out of certain death? Hand of Satan?

Why? All's fair in love and death. As far as I can tell, NPCs should use ALL the karma rules, including Hand of God.

That's it, I'm bringing back Janus Moriarty! My group will hate me.

The only situation which I would not allow HoG is if a character is in a situation that obviously would kill him, like being drawn and quartered or standing next to ground zero of a tactical nuke. And even then, I might allow them to HoG, in a cloned body with an experimental consciousness transfer by Universal Omnitech or something silly like that, if the player really really wanted to continue playing as that character.

So, why don't you just have a talk with the player in question?

Never kill to send a message. Kill because that's what the killer would actually do.

You are the GM, you are the NPCs. You help make the game fun. So, if a player is taking away the fun, talk to them out of the game. If they still refuse, dock karma from their earnings. Give them bad reputation. Set the Star on them. Just don't kill them because that character is "unbalancing."

Remember, as a GM, you have the right to tell a player no. In fact, it's almost expected. Do that at chargen. Tell them "No way, Jose." Mark an "X" on the sheet. Do something. Don't just let it fly and then kill them off. They'll just make another PC like the last.

Not to mention it seriously pisses the player off.

Question: why is he still invited to game sessions if every GM has had problems with him and he doesn't listen to talks?

Screw the hand of god. I wanna use the Hooper Nelson rule!

Hmm, sounds like the player has you by the balls then. So no one is backing up the stricter... ahem, standard play mechanics of the game then because its this guy's house you're playing at? Feh, I would just run the game the way you see fit and if the bloke dies, so be it. Have him continue to make new characters while everyone else is progressing along. That'll get him to shape up after a while.

I actually wouldn't recommend the stealing of items thing. That isn't so different than singling the guy out for potshots from NPCs for no other reason than to "school his ass".

I had a player once who wasn't one of my regulars. He would come every fifth or sixth session, always had lost his character, always had to make a new one, always was a subtle pain in the ass. The kind of guy that had "lime-lightus" disease ("Hey, look at me everyone!"). No one liked his style of play, regardless of the fact that he was a mutual RL friend to everyone. Kind of a hard spot for everyone involved... didn't want to offend our friend, but also didn't like how he played consistantly.

So anyways, I throw a red herring element into a run once that involved two piasma. The core group veered away from the critters and continued on with the run, while the rebel gamer decided that his newly created physad could solo both of them at once. Everyone let him run off and do his own thing. Well, I swatted him off a cliff by one of the bears. Didn't kill him, but put him out of commission for the rest of the game. As it was, the event turned out to be a big wake-up call for the guy as he didn't get to play one of our cooler games. He just had to sit there, licking his wounds.

*nods* You are going to have to have that discussion sooner or later, if you guys really want to stay friends. One way to facilitate this is to get the group together and have an open forum, asking what they want out of the game and what everyone can do to improve the game experience. That way, it's not just about that one person... it's about the whole group. GMs should do this anyway, because the best way to improve is to listen to your players, and feedback sessions are a must.

Great ideas, thanks guys! I guess I'll see what happens this weekend. The way I see it, if this guy has to go through a couple characters before he "gets it", then so be it. I hate to say it but maybe this will just require a strict enforecment of rules and gameplay mechanics, at least concerning him or anyone else who act out of line too much.

The problem I see is that the players need to have freedom, so at the same time you have to try to corral them into situations that you set up for them, but let them feel as if they arrived there on their own accord. It is certainly a tricky thing to find that balance.

I know I've got it with about half my group, who I've GM'd for in the past, all the way up through the Arcology shutdown. Now, however, I've got about three people who I've played with plenty, but never GM'd for, so I will have to reassess my practices to fit in with this group's mannerisms.

It never hurts to ask them if they had fun with the run. The worst response you'll get is "it sucked ass." Outside of that, you'll probably get positive responses or negatives with suggestions as to how to make them better.

However, for that guy, if you can resolve it without killing his PCs, do it. Show up early and have a chat with him about how he plays and how it's ruining the fun the others are having. Do something out of the game first, then in game if it cannot possibly be avoided.