Does taking the Hunted flaw mean the PC is only going to last a run or two? A borrowed time flaw with a specific enemy instead of a cortex bomb or mortal disease?

I see it more like they are really motivated to find the PC. I look at the stats for the enemy the Hunted flaw applies to (some have argued it applies to all your enemies, but that doesn't make sense when using the game mechanics.) They have Power, Motivation, Knowledge concerning the PC.

Power refers to physical or economic resources that can be used against the PC, things like that. Knowledge refers to what they know about the character and his whereabouts. Motivation seems misnamed to me and may be why the there is confusion concerning the hunted flaw. It does not mean how badly they want the PC. It refers to the degree of retribution they desire.

So in the case of a PC taking the extra enemy flaw and applying the 6 point hunted flaw to that enemy, it doesn't have to mean the NPC even wants the PC dead. Applying the +3 to the new enemy could give it stats of Power 3, Motivation 4, Knowledge 4. The enemy wants to beat the PC to an inch of his life, can barely manage to do it by themself, and has only the city the PC calls home.

What if the enemy is a jilted lover? Maybe Power 1 or 2, Motivation 4, and Knowledge 5. They have almost no resources to bring against the PC, they want to do the PC the way the PC did them, and they know just about everything about the PC.

Unless the PC assigns the enemy a Motivation of 5 or 6 (or explains it as such in his background), the mechanics call for less than death being able to satisfy the enemy. Only at rating 5 or 6 does the description for Motivation even sound like motivation, but it never mentions the level of violence. It is probably death, but not certain death, maybe something as bad or worse. But it never says.

indeed. in the case of the jilted lover, there might not be any 'master plan' at all. the psycho hosebeast is just always on you--trying to prove that you got her pregnant (the fact that she expects to get court-approved child support from a guy whose job it is to break the law just proves it was a good idea to drop her), putting the word out that most of your cyberware is second-hand, telling her muscle-bound new boyfriend about how you abused her, etcetera.

edit: er. actually, i was thinking about Enemies, not Hunted.

Well, it wouldn't be that limiting if all they really wanted to do is find him, and then just beat on him a little.

When players I have take hunted, they get crazy bastards who just want them dead or ruined. Like Eddie Brock and Spiderman.

I've have a runner that's being hunted by some triads. Every couple of sessions, they'd make a move on her. After a while it started to heat up to every other, than a whole session just dealing with it as the conflict got more intense. The player called in all of her favors, and barely made it out alive. By that point, the triads had already gunned down one team member to get to her.

But now they've been of her fora while,but are coming back soon. And hiring other runners/assasins to help out!

Fun!

I'm not really sure what you're asking...

How does Hunted give you enemies? A 6 point flaw gives a rating 6 enemy, who can have 2 6s and a 5 in attributes.

I actually just did it by roleplaying, not mechanics. They were trying to get back something she stole. So she killed some triads, so they tried harder, so her team killed triads, and things escalated.

The way I see it, a lot of how it goes depends on the circumstances, and how many points they got for the flaw. 6 point flaw, watch out. You didn't just piss off the triads, somehow you pissed off Lung! I mean geex, borrowed time, the one where you die in 6 months, that's 6 points!

A lot of it I leave up to the PC instead of mechanics. She picked what the problem was ("I want to have stolen something from someone, and I have no idea what it does"). "something" became a magical amulet (she's mundane), and somebody became a low level triad boss that was going against her Vory family (which was killed off in her character history. She stole it to get even). Problem was that they followed her when she moved to Seattle, and some of the local triads got into the action.

I guess I'm not helping much, because you're looking for a cut and dry system, "x" makes "y" happen, when I try to start with "x", and jsut start loading all sorts of crap onto it from the game. I like to think of it as dynamic, but that's just me congratulating myself.

My only real suggestion is to just look at what makes sense, and what would be the most fun. Then find a middle ground.

As a GM, I rather think its a cop out to allow them to choose the add 3 option unless it results in an enemy of a greater calibur than the base option. If you dont follow that piece of common sense, the flaw is pretty abusuable.

For example, a character with a rating 2 enemy can take this flaw at level 3. They then have a choice: keep the rating 2 enemy and gain a rating 5 enemy, or choose to add 3 to an existing enemy and wind up with a single rating 5 enemy. Logically there really isnt much of a choice there, itd be foolish to not take the second option.

Thus we only allow the add 3 option if it will result in a single enemy that is of a higher rating than the either the given one or their already existing enemy. So a character with a rating 3 enemy could choose to add 3 and have 1 enemy at 6, or gain a new enemy at 5 and keep the exisiting one at 3. That at least puts some kind of trade off into the equation.

As far as how this flaw impacts the characters lifespan, it depends on how the player writes the enemys up in the background and how they play it out. This flaw is decidedly NOT borrowed time, nor is it a cranial bomb, or anything else with a finite period of life to it. It gives the character a greater and more motivated enemy than someone in the characters position should have. They simply ticked off the wrong person somewhere along the way, or acted out of line. And that action is coming back to get them. Every runner makes enemies, hunted characters made more than their share.

The section in the SRComp on the subject covers the topic well. An enemy doesnt garuntee death or tradegy for the character like another flaw might, it means they have someone *hunting them down* to fulfill their own objectives. The flaw clearly states their life never gets easier only harder, and they should always be on the run from something even if its looming only in the background. Theyre being tailed by someone on a level they can never shake, thats how the flaw is meant to be played in my mind. Why and what happens if the hunter succeds is left to the details of the enemy and the character involved.

Why do you even feel the need to rely on mechanics in the first place?

There is much more to enemies than just rank. The add 3 point option can sometimes be used to great effect.

For example, a player decides that his character's ex-girlfriend didn't take the breakup well and is a level 1 enemy. She is Data entey technition who does temp work for Mitsuhama. She has no infuance and few resources.

He decides to get the hunted flaw and add one point to her. Now, she slept her way to position where she can make his life a living hell. She spends most of her time ordering gay cimporn in his name to his credstick which just happens to have been issued by a Mitsuhama-owned bank.

Deciding that he needs four more BP the player changes his mind and makes her a level 4 enemy. She still has a decent job with Misuhama and some resources, but she is far beyond tormenting him juvinile pranks. Now, she wants to get back together with him. She wants to have his baby. Also, she's Good Merge Mantis.

Technically, she's only a rank 4 enemy but...

it's not just about writing a story, though. it's about playing a game, which has rules. should the rules always override the story? no, but neither should the story override the rules. this isn't an either/or situation; no rules can cover every situation, but at the same time, if you're throwing the rules out the window every time you decide they're getting in the way of the story you're trying to create, you should put the dice down and just go write a novel.

I'm not saying it is an either/or proposition, and I realize that game style is the largest determinant of how you approach it (a casual game run like a CRPG, for example, is pretty much defined by strict devotion to the rules). That doesn't really change my position that in most cases, the mechanics for creating enemies are cumbersome, clumsy, often used as GM crutches, and entirely unnecessary. The flaw description gives a pretty good idea of what you're up against and a good GM will write an interesting set of appropriate antagonists infinitely better than a GM trying to calculate precisely how bad opposition will be when you add 2 to the enemy level.

i don't think the cops and robbers analogy is good, either. shooting someone's pretty straightforward--much more so than the motivations and activities of a major NPC.

If I were the PC with the enemy, I as the player would explain the relationship and stat out the enemy as far as their Power, motivation and knowledge. I'd probably also base it on a sample character or contact and make any needed adjustments.

As GM, if the player neglected this (silly player), I'd do it for them based on info they gave. Less info, more freedom to design.

I've used the hunted flaw in various ways for several characters. In my opinion, it doesn't always represent someone wanting to kill the character, just wanting to get their hands on him for whatever reason. I base the point value on the power and size of the organization after him, not on their motivations.

For instance, my psionicist character that I'm playing in the "Earth's Dawn" game here on DS has Hunted at -2, representing the UCAS Army. He went AWOL from them after a really traumatizing run-in with a blood spirit. For this guy, they just want to bring him in, preferably alive so they can court-martial him.

However, my cyber- and bioware-equipped character I'm creating that I based off The Punisher has Hunted at -6, representing several organized crime families and a bunch of street gangs. In this case, they will almost assuredly be trying to kill him, seeing that his mission in life is to wipe them all out or die trying.

In my opinion, it all depends on the story.

Yea at level 6 the enemy involved should be a serious threat to the runner. Threat doesnt mean death sentence though. In the above example, simply capturing the punisher-esque character could provide one crime family with an edge over its competitors, as he surley has information on all the families activities. Maybe theyre willing to capture him, interrogate him, and even let him go as long as he doesnt attack them. He still gets to fight crime, they get a leg up on the competition. That threatens the characters operation, and probably reputation since striking a deal with the enemy wont be smiled upon. And not that any of that would happen with the personalities involved if theyre close to the characters theyre based upon. But its *one way* of turning the above into a non-death-sentence scenario that has some plausibility. Im sure there are others. Simply assuming level 3 hunter is a deathsentence is bad form.

Typically, if I pick a hunted flaw, I will sketch out the nature of the hunting enemy and their motive, but I'll leave the actual stats to the GM - I know there are guidelines, and I trust the GM to be reasonable about it (and before you say that's foolish, any GM who can't be trusted to be reasonable about the level of opposition isn't a GM I would want to play with).

Example: In the character I just submitted for Tisoz' new forum game I took the Hunted flaw at -2 (more looking towards the extended game he was discussing). I described this person as Elisa DuPont, the protege and lover of a traitorous UCAS Intelligence officer that my character helped bring down, who is looking for vengeance on the person who did it. I've left the stats to Tisoz, along with enough variables (I feel) that it could make a good story. Does DuPont know who I am yet, or will I get clues that someone is coming after me by her investigations? What kind of Intel agent was she? Will she come after me in person or will she pull strings to get me targeted? How will the Hunted flaw interact with the UCAS Intel contact I have?

I appreciate plot hooks in a PC, and put them in when I'm designing one. The Enemy/Hunted flaw is a classic, imho.

I think the need here is not for a hard mechanic for everyone to follow, but for the player and GM in question to both understand what is meant by the flaw in that particular game.

As a player, I also like to give my GM plot hooks from my character background. One reason is I think it makes for a more interesting and realistic character. Another is that my GM may not feel the need to come up with his own evil ideas if I’ve provided some.

As a GM, if a player doesn't give me enough information, I always give them a chance to tell me more. Should they still leave things vague, or tell me Ares is their enemy, I let them know that "bad things" will happen. That way no one is surprised when they come home after a particularly bad run and find the cyber-zombie sitting in their favorite chair.

In a previous game, I was one of four PCs who were Hunted. Three of us took 2 point enemies.

The shapeshifter was being hunted by a lone, but highly skilled big game hunter who wanted an awakened tiger pelt on his wall.

My physical magician was being hunted by some former Tong members, who in turn were being hunted by their former Tong. My PC still moved from Hong Kong to Seattle.

The voodoo mage was being hunted by the Haitian secret police, which is why he had moved from the to Seattle.

In all cases, our Hunters wanted to kill us (though that may have been optimistic on my and the voodoo mage's part), but due to our PCs actions and the way we'd defined our Hunters, their odds of finding us were small, and the numbers they could bring against us were small.

One player took a 4 point Hunted Ares and Dark Secret. He was a former Ares black ops type who had faked his death and disappeared, knowing a lot of things about various illegal ops they had done.

But with 7 points of flaws that could kill him, this PC was doing less than any of the rest of us to avoid our 2 point Hunters. Even though he had green skin, horns, fangs, and a tail he decided to lay up in a nice High Lifestyle apartment after taking 9 boxes of damage on the last run. The run where said highly subtle character had been spotted by Ares, so they knew he was alive. And he didn't bribe building security to not notice him or even check who building security was.

Knight Errant was so pleased he'd offered himself on a silver platter.

I personally think the Hunted flaw needs to be addressed as a personal issue in the gaming group, to predefine what the flaw means and the implications for the game. The way we interpret the Hunted flaw, the GM has the right to bring the Hunter in on a gaming session at any time during any session. This definitely throws a monkey wrench into the works, and probably will make the Hunted character unpopular in the group the first time a run is screwed over because of the Hunter. Both of the characters who had the Hunted flaw (mind you, for good background reasons) ended up dying before they hit 50 Karma, so I guess the point is moot.

If any GM has a 1 or 2 player game out there, give this a try:

Start with the points system, using high-level rules from MJLBB.

Make sure the player grabs:

-Hunted 3
-Dossier on File
-Borrowed Time
-Mysterious Cyberware

Throw in a buxom corporate secretary (would have to be second player ), and if that doesn't make for a high-action spy flick waiting to happen, I don't know what will.

I agree with Arethusa, most of the hunted flaw can be handled with out actual mechcanics. I also contend, and I think he'd agree, that the game mechcanics are guidelines-not carved in granite rules. They're to help you as a game master be "fair". (Relatively, obviously.)

I handle Enemies and Hunted a lot differently than any game masters I know personally. (Which are few to be honest.) I have the player outline what happened, and his side of the why, and the rest is up to me. A rating 2 enemy may easily evolve into something more if it makes sense-which is the guideline I use, it has to be acceptable at face value.

And I'd like to say both FrostyNSO and hahnsoo have great ideas here.