Full Version: New Weapons Spec
| QUOTE (Sabosect) |
| As it stands, I don't want to play with a group that views security guards as so expendable without a good reason for it (like, say, the group is playing UCAS Special Forces). |
Even if they were easier to kill doesn't mean expendable. Besides why bother put a huge amount of work into prepping guard for battle when the players just bypass him instead of starting a fire-fight with him because they don't want to create a corpse trail?
Dude, it isn't remotely a huge amount of work.
~J
~J
Besides, if you are looking in SR4 or some other reference for NPC archetypes, you either are using them as a reference to build your own NPCs (when you have plenty of time), or you are trying to quickly look up some stats for a quick encounter (when you don't have time). I'd say the latter situation is a more likely use for in-book NPCs.
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| Dude, it isn't remotely a huge amount of work. ~J |
But it's work. And paper. That just won't do!
| QUOTE (blakkie) | ||
Even if they were easier to kill doesn't mean expendable. Besides why bother put a huge amount of work into prepping guard for battle when the players just bypass him instead of starting a fire-fight with him because they don't want to create a corpse trail? |
You don't. You just stat up the average guard for that place and use it for all of them. In most cases, you just modify the sample guard in the book a bit.
You would be surprised how many tricks like this you learn from DnD.
Hell, it isn't even paper.
Average security guard, team of 5:
All: Datajack, radio, armored jacket
Body: 4
Quickness: 3
Strength: 4
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 3
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, Heavy Pistol
Pistols 4
Body: 2
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 3
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, Heavy Pistol
Pistols 3 (his pistol 5)
Body: 4
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 2
Karma Pool: 1
Heavy Pistol
Pistols 3
Body: 3
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 3
Magic: 6 (geased)
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, talisman, heavy pistol
Shaman (coyote/other non-totem-mod)
Pistols 3
Sorcery 5
Conjuring 4
Body: 4
Quickness: 5
Strength: 2
Intelligence: 5
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 4
Karma Pool: 2
Heavy Pistol, Machine Pistol with EX rounds, Form-Fitting Body Armor
Pistols 6
Leadership 3
Well under a minute to think up, and I wouldn't have had to write them down if I weren't telling you about them. I know I'm comparatively experienced, but it's a similar process—new players could drop Charisma, Leadership, and similar as long as they're able to come up with them if the players interact with them that way.
~J
Average security guard, team of 5:
All: Datajack, radio, armored jacket
Body: 4
Quickness: 3
Strength: 4
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 3
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, Heavy Pistol
Pistols 4
Body: 2
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 3
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, Heavy Pistol
Pistols 3 (his pistol 5)
Body: 4
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 2
Karma Pool: 1
Heavy Pistol
Pistols 3
Body: 3
Quickness: 3
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 3
Magic: 6 (geased)
Karma Pool: 1
Smartlink, talisman, heavy pistol
Shaman (coyote/other non-totem-mod)
Pistols 3
Sorcery 5
Conjuring 4
Body: 4
Quickness: 5
Strength: 2
Intelligence: 5
Willpower: 3
Charisma: 4
Karma Pool: 2
Heavy Pistol, Machine Pistol with EX rounds, Form-Fitting Body Armor
Pistols 6
Leadership 3
Well under a minute to think up, and I wouldn't have had to write them down if I weren't telling you about them. I know I'm comparatively experienced, but it's a similar process—new players could drop Charisma, Leadership, and similar as long as they're able to come up with them if the players interact with them that way.
~J
This is not really a change in attitude, IMO. SR3 and previous encouraged simultaneous rolling and generic stats. Guards were treated as grunts.
The use of tactics and back-up is in no way altered by "group grunting". That's how I've run it for years simply to speed up play. One INI roll for all the NPCs with individual reactions added on. So this is a "no-change" in my book.
The use of tactics and back-up is in no way altered by "group grunting". That's how I've run it for years simply to speed up play. One INI roll for all the NPCs with individual reactions added on. So this is a "no-change" in my book.
I don't remember SR3 encouraging simultaneous rolling, but it definitely didn't consider them unimportant enough to combine their physical and stun tracks.
~J
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| I don't remember SR3 encouraging simultaneous rolling, but it definitely didn't consider them unimportant enough to combine their physical and stun tracks. |
No, that's more a suggestion pulled from the first edition DMZ, used to speed up combat (you know, the slowest part of the game, the part that easily gets bogged down in numbers). This actually frees GMs up for more tactics by stepping away from numbers.
Still, in the end, it requires some looking at numbers. A GM with a good memory is always going to have to look less often than one with a bad memory.
| QUOTE (blakkie) | ||
So you like to, or at least are willing to do the paper work created by putting all NPCs in the "prime runner" catagory. It is the proto-typical GMing style choice what you include as mooks and what you fully flesh out. *shrug* |
I don't make mooks.
That's what drones are for.
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