Suriel

All too true, what you all say. And I understand Psycho´s and Hanns approach to the problem.

When I was a teenager I got cornered once in a subway station in Hannover. I pulled a knife then (yes, we all liked to carry knives back then...) and told the leader of that small group of four, that they´s definitely finish me, but that I´d be ready to take at least two of them with me.

All the while hoping the adrenaline would keep me up.

And it did! The train arrived, I got into it without further trouble and me being an atheist (...or pagan?), I thanked my knife.

That second time I mentioned, I had no knife with me, and it wouldn´t have done me any good. I had read a book at a far away bus station in Leipzig, they cornered me, the sent me to hospital for a week.

Knocked one of them rather badly, but, well...

I don´t kill PCs often, but I don´t want them to get the feeling their characters will always be spared. They must know the world out there IS dangerous in itself, not because THEY are wandering the streets.

If and when they die, they die of their own stupid acts. You draw a gun, you can exspect others to react in kind. You p*ss off a gang boss or a high level corporate, some guns might get pointed at you.

Hm. The cruelest thing I did to a character... There was an Aberrant campaign, where the players were newly awakened Novas. It was at the beginning of the campaign. All characters were in a radical Mullah Iran, were Novas were treated as children of the devil. They were given drugs that suppressed their super-powers and after a nice trial they were shipped off to a high security prison. There to spend the rest of their days. (Until the Nova-Terrorists they later joined freed them). For one particular scene in the prison I had all the characters make appearance checks.

The lucky winner with some 4 successes was dragged off and raped by a security guard. Possibly not the worst I ever did as a GM, but the face of that player, I´ll never forget it.

Happy smile turning into absolute horror...

Some thoughts on Combat Sense and other special skills:

Combat Sense, I just leave it as it is. Players can´t buy it any higher than 3 at the beginning. Cops and Security guards do not get it. Why? ´Cause the Solos ARE somethings special. And if that something special unbalances the game too much, the game is possibly focused onto too much fighting. I also limit the number of Solos in my campaign. "Solo of Fortune" and other Cyberpunk add-ons leave me with the impression that these guys aren´t that special, that they are some kind of social club or something. Well, they are special in my campaign. Anyone can be a hired killer, but there are some guys who´ve got that extra kick.

Besides, I´ve noticed in some groups I played with, that the main trouble of all this "Super Solo" talk stems not from hyper-standard Solos, but low-standard way of handling a fight and  the tendency of some Storytellers/GM to unbalance the game themselves.

Example: I played a Netrunner in a single-shot adventure at a con. The GM told me in advance that my character would have a central role in the scenario. He had! He was everyone´s big laugh, trying to dodge all the superbly accurate bullets, knives, etc.. Damn, even the cook at the Sushi bar was aggressive AND had a throwing skill of at least six. Or Reflexes 10. Not to mention the security guards. You really NEEDED a solo then to save your butt. No wonder the four other players had solo characters.

Normally one can balance such stuff with military characters  having high firearms/SMG/rifle skill in comparison to those around them. The skills alone can reflect military expertise, but not with every citizen being Buffalo Bill.

Second thing about the Combat Sense special skill is, many GMs tend to treat gunfights as they would melee action in AD&D.

"Yes, guard#3 is down now..."

But a gunfight is much more complicated than that. There are snipers, too far away for even a Solo to sense, or if he does sense him cause of that "prickle in his neck" or whatever, it won´t much help him.

Yes, some of the other SA need some refreshing changes, but I don´t wanna bore you with too many details. Basically one of the most dangerous skills can be Resources, as far as I can see, if cleverly used. I changed the cops authority SA a bit. It doesn´t reflect a cops skill to intimidate someone into cooperation, it´s more an indication of the cops standing within his own department and the police force as a whole, meaning how much backup will arrive if he calls for it, can he exspect fast results from the lab, etc.. Law-abiding citizens are mostly cooperative enough and those shady others aren´t impressed with a badge that easily. I know that´s mostly what the book says about that skill, too. But I´ve seen too many campaigns were the cop comes to the boosters, flashes his badge at them, makes a roll and suddenly the wolves turn into sheep.

Hm. Anyways. I think the roles aren´t exactly necessary, but I can´t see any reason against there being special characters.

There are people who are above standard even in the real world.

Like: Mendez, Drug Baron in Columbia (Fixer), The late leaders of the War Angels and Hells Angels biker gangs (Nomads, and damn, did they have a family!), CCC Hackers (Netrunners), etc..

[No, I won´t come up with the old Bill Gates (Corporate)]

All these guys have resources and backup and skills I don´t have, nor will I ever get them...

Roles may be unrealistic, but I think they can be fun... With mature players and STs, that is.

Good Night!

I cannot but agree: Shadowrun books are a waste of good paper.

Most of the RPG based fiction is. It´s not only that they use bad authors, but also that the timeframe is very strict, it must fit into the world´s scenario (meaning: Can we make a new supplement out of this? Does it support one of our existing supplements?)

White Wolf: World of Darkness  are using "mercenary" writers for their novels a lot.

They are even one of the better companies to work for, as far as I´ve heard, but I wouldn´t like to write within those strict boundaries.

As far as I remember he had some beautiful girls, too. To imagine Monica Le... No, I won´t.

George W. Bush? No, I won´t say anything against him, he might bomb MY house next, then label me a terrorist and Geneva is far away. Nonono. He´s such a great president! We Europeans can learn much from his attitude. And I want the Prezel industry promoted, too!

Well, Spudfairy, at least one to judge me younger than I am.

The short stories are a lot tighter, as short stories often are. I liked "New Rose Hotel" very much. I also liked the Voodoo Gods in the net idea.

It´s Gibson´s style of writing that I´m in love with, I guess. The way you learn of Case having murdered several people, but you start to feel for that guy just because it feels totally appropriate for him to do so on the background of the world Gibson describes.

Would be easier for me to decide if I liked the "Hobbit" or "Lord of the Rings" better. Lord of the Rings. And, yes, I like Tolkien, too.

Life sucks. Has always, will always.

Basically to survive we´re forced to kill other life. Plant life and animal life. Even vegetarians can´t get out of that cycle fully. The fields to grow our crops on are territory lost for other animals. But it has always been like that.

Sociology and Psychology are just trying to hide the fact that we´ve incorporated much of this basic law of nature into our society.

Ok, we´ve polished us up a little. Most of us don´t have to kill anymore, others do that job for us.

And yes, lawyers are the worst! You need a translator to tell them you´re right or have done ####? What kinda concept is that?

"Yes, I killed that guy in self-defense!"

"Oochi, oochi, don´t you tell them that way. But §1211,3B could save your ass!"

Then again we´ve got almost everything, a full table most of the time. And ####### printed paper to worry about. So we eat and drink and get fat and miss something...

And we humans are "civilized" now! We don´t stick sharpened metal into each other anymore. We got guns and bombs instead. We´ve also stopped being so childish as to call other people "evil", knowing that would be a simplification. Oh, is that the US president and our chancellor speaking?

And if you go out in the wild on a survival trip, because you feel pissed off by your fellow human beings, that´s childish too! At least they say so in the press and in psychology. It means you can´t face modern reality and run away from your problems...

Hey, who are you guys? Why that straitjacket? HEEELLLLPPP!

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Disclaimer: No, basically I think the world ain´t perfect and never has been. I think we´ll just have to cope with it the way it is and do our best to change it. Every man is like a raindrop in a lake and though the ripples he casts are tiny, he´s touching the others some way or the other.

That was PC and Zen, wasn´t it? Now let me go...

(Never post before my first coffee again!)

Works just fine with DSL and now I know why I never became a Solo again...

Yeah, we´ve got DSL.

Used a 56k modem before or went to university for fast transfer. I LOVE IT!

Berlin... So strange! Every time you think you´ve seen it all, you get to know of something new. I definitely will have to take a look at that club!

Great Info!  

Oh, sorry I didn´t know we´re not supposed to use the s... word here...

Actually, yes, he tried to. He even went so far as to have archaeologists plant false evidence at the Externsteine. It´s a lovely place, that´s true, but it never was a big pagan sacrificial site. The archaeologists went with the plan, though.

Still a shame on our profession...

But then again, many a country did the same #### for different reasons.

There are a few factors you forget about getting into a fight WITHOUT you wanting to get into a fight:

1. THEY choose you. Meaning, they usually are bigger than you.

2. THEY normally are more than ONE person. Meaning, you can´t pin them until police arrives (unless you´re an octopus) and you´ll have to use very fast techniques, if you really want to disable them. Normally one can´t afford techniques that require one to bow or spend much time on a single opponent.

Ever did the trick with everyone in the Dojo slashing at you with a belt? Then you know what I mean.

You probably did roll a 10  No, the running away option doesn´t always work, as I found out when I got cornered by a group of drunken nazi skinheads a few years back. Neither does accessing the situation. You don´t have the time and it´s not written on their faces either.

IF there is the option to run, I would, if there was no risk for my friends or other people.

I agree with you, but then again... Could you take a Tom Clancy novel, rename one or two arms and high tech military gear and call it a Cyberpunk novel? I´d say "No".

What exactly IS this darkness of characters? I know what you mean, it´s just very hard to define it.

Personally I like Ghost in the Shell better than Akira.

Akira´s end spoils the whole movie, but I think the whole story of Ghost in the Shell is superior.

This is probably the same old story of comparing "Pulp Fiction" to "Natural Born Killers" both of which were perfectly good and very different movies, but always ended up compared to each other in my circle of friends.

The Cyberpunk Genre. It´s always hard to bring any genre to a point. Someone here brought up greek philosophy. Well, Platon´s dialogues always ended up unsolved, for he said that true philosophy can never be really grasped written down, but only through true, live discussion. The same is perhaps true about defining what Cyberpunk really is. Or Film Noire.

One could say of course that anything that includes both Cybernetics and Punk culture is automatically Cyberpunk. And most of you would disagree, as would I. (Even "Emergency Room" could possibly qualify for that... Cyber-Clooney)

Cyberpunk often includes Noire literature and movie aspects. Just like blues and jazz and bebop are somehow related.

What about Raymond Chandler´s novels? Are they noire or crime novels? Both?

Enough of that, I think Cyberpunk is a feeling as well as a genre. Only my opinion, but there are things labelled Cyberpunk I wouldn´t call that (Shadowrun[in it´s intended crossover form], some novels...), then again some things are very Cyberpunk, but don´t use it as a TM.

Damn it. What else to do if you can´t sleep?  

Before Psycho skips in here: Yes, I could as well read a book.

My first instructor told me: If you´re about to get into a fight, try the following options: 1) Run 2) Try to clear a path, so you´re able to run 3) Try to grasp the situation. Will you be better off if you just get a few bruises? Will they try to kill you anyway or are they happy with inflicting some pain? 4) If all else fails, fight dirty and without remorse.

Yes, I know there are many ways to lock/break a wrist. Problem is I don´t know the proper english terms for them, nor do I care much about the japanese ones.

In any case our fighting styles will differ. I´m not as big as you, I´m just quite fast.

I´m also quite sure you know which technique I actually tried to describe.

The story with the brittle bones intrigued me. Interesting!

I made an Interview with a german Cyberpunk author the other day and she gave me the script of an interview she had done with Gibson.

I´ve read many Gibson interviews and in this one he states he doesn´t even want to have an email.

He´s definitely not a net junkie, I´d say.

But a friend of mine told me Gibson once owned the domain idoru.com.

Has anyone seen it, when it was alive?

It´s not that way at all. Perhaps my description was a little misleading.

I had ´bout seven years of Jujutsu on my ass, when I first realized the original intention behind some of the moves. Could be it took me so long, because I´m dumb, or because I never actually thought about killing someone.

With "Old Style" I didn´t refer to a "Master Mikado had it all right back in 1667, you MUST shout Boop-iiiieee before you attack."

But my new Dojo and style has a rather pragmatic approach to fighting. And our instructors teach us the deadly techniques, but also show us how to modify them, so they can be used in tournaments or to just disable an opponent.

Best example is the good old wrist-breaker. Many forms teach it, but you can break a wrist with one hand without any problem. The other hand, controling the motion and force, so that your opponent is forced to the ground, was added to the technique much later.  Better even: Neck breaker. No-one in his right mind wants to break anothers neck in our modern society. So instead of breaking it with a snap, you control the motion and put him to the ground, slowly.

And as I stated, at least here in germany, certain Judo techniques were banished, because they were "too violent".

Now ok, with some techniques like kicks and punches it doesn´t really matter. If they hit, it´s good. Though until recently I missed detailed training on where to hit a human.

Well, ok, all said I guess. Still as unclear as before.

The bester Hacker style game I ever played. A definite MUST for Netrunner players and all those who like to live with heart attack risks.

Sorry, guys, my tracer shows they are about to nail me.

I did my fine share of MA myself, and I cannot but agree with manu. Many of the techniques themselves have been modified these days so they can be used in tournaments, not life ´n death fight.

Many techniques that were originally used to break your opponent´s neck now are taught in a way to get him to the ground... And the modified technique is both slower and more complicated.

Countless techniques from Judo are no longer taught in the Dojos.

I don´t mean MA are ineffective. But my first trainer was right when he said, that if you want to learn to fight, you´d better go out on the streets.

Very recently I´ve been able to find a Dojo that teaches both the old and new form of it´s style.

To be fair, I think it´s a matter of where did you grow up, in a Cyberpunk world. Did you grow up in a ´nice Corporate neighborhood, proud to add to the medals on your wall? Or in some slum, where you had to count on your skills.

To get these facts into game terms would probably be too complicated. Anyway, who cares about realism as long as all have fun?

I played in a campaign with an AI as our employer once. I liked the campaign, but the moment our mysterious employer contacted us (even though through agents) my first thought was - yep, an AI.

In my campaign I turned the tables a bit. There are two rather powerful AIs and some of the characters even consider themselves friends of these AIs. Sometimes - to plant a few red herrings - I let the AIs do the usual ´evil construct´ stuff.

The characters are so used to the AIs, they don´t mind they are not humans anymore. One day the veil will fall, and they´ll get to know that true evil ain´t the worst thing one can face.

In my current campaign the characters are really stuck in their low-life conditions. So, yes Cyberware and Bioware does come up. Their high-society friends&enemies from the CorpZone have it... It´s another point for me to play out both the unfairness of them being treated as second class humans and the need for them to come up with good ideas instead of meat hacking, if they want to fight against the Corps and State Institutions.

If they want Cyberware themselves they´re bound by what nice Doc Steeley or one of the other illegal traders got in stock. Much of this Cyberware is faulty.

So far this has worked out fine and nobody has complained. Most characters got Cyberware when they lost a limb. I once played out the Pirates capturing a transport for BioTechnica-Bayer, and suddenly the docs had their stocks full of exotics.

I wanted to see, would the characters run for it, or were they just not interested into Cyberware that much.

Some chars were, some not. Gave me a nice chance to play out an incident, where the newly cybered-up Gunslinger came home to his all-but-forgotten girl friend. Who was suddenly afraid of him... He had lost much humanity, he just couldn´t hide the effects of his reflex booster, and so, after a week or so they split. THAT was one of the nicest things to play out in a solo session I ever experienced.

That´s true. Most good Netrunner players I played with had some understanding of today´s computers, too. There are exceptions, of course.

The idea with the software that does not want to be deleted is great! I know a netrunner, who´ll be deep into trouble, soon.

Hm, it´s very hard to find a way to describe the Matrix.

Personally I favor the LoTek approach, something like in the Uplink game.

Then again, Super-realistic cyberspace appeals more to most of my players. They just love their programs to be terrifying demons, Giant Hands, or whatever.

So I integrated a system of two different interfaces, like using an old Linux browser or IE.

So, the information you can get via these is basically the same. But some of the boards/modems in my campaign just aren´t able to cope with the huge amounts of data that come with the hyper-graphic interface.

So what does my Matrix look like in Graphics Mode? One wouldn´t like to have an Interface that throws one into a turbulent city. Also, the idea of Real Life locations and Web/Matrix Locations being appr. the same is bullshit. Hell, even my domain stretches over several continents.

The basic Matrix is a system of gridlines and you use a connection program to get to your destinations.

The Data Fortresses are constructs of various size and varying reality grade.

Size ain´t important. I liked the idea of the matrix being 3D, though, so high safety Domains are located on higher grid levels and unreachable for the normal user without a password...

I also know I should not post that late in the night, so I´ll continue my ramblings about the Matrix another time.