Jackie

More spare change from my junk drawer...

I once heard the following as the description between a physicist and an engineer.

The physicist can and will think of all the possible outcomes to a problem.

The engineer can and will figure out all of the reasonable possible outcomes to a problem.

The difference is the how to part of the process. Both people

are very brilliant, but the mind set is different. A scientist or

in punk parlance and INT person will think of a wide range of

problems and solutions...some might not be very practicle in

application. They do however often hit on very unique and

creative solutions that would not otherwise be found.

An engineer or a 'Tech' person is more apt to find more

reasonable and less pie in the sky solutions to a problem.

They don't tend to have the bredth of outlook a scientist

type would have, but they're alot better at making do with

what's on hand..or at least trying to.

The other common explaination I've heard is that your

Tech folks...want to know HOW something works or doens't

work. Your INT folks want to know WHY something works or

doesn't.

Anyway..there's my 2 cents worth

J

Been away a while..so here's my quick 2 cents worth.

Everyone, you , me, the chap sleeping on that steam grate,

has alot more skills than we often acknowledge. Alot of those

come from a variety of 'education'. To that end I make great

use of the unsung hero in any punk campaign, the General

Education and Knowledge.

People have mentioned Cooking... Pop a quick 2 point diff

multiplier on it...mabybe 5 if they don't have a cook book

and make it a Gen Ed check. If your talking your day to

day goodies... If you want the chic cuisine of the week

you'd better have expert 'chef' or some such. I'd make

your typical kibble/nukable a dif 10, something resembling

actual food..maybe a dif 15..then modify accordingly.

I've got 3 skills all of my players have learned are just too

damn useful to live without.

1.  Education & General Knowledge

2.  Athletics

3.  Human Perception

Why? Simple they cover the gambit of 'how in the heck' do

you do something. From 'people' skills, to various how to bits,

to running, jumping, climbing trees.

The danger in any skill based RPG is to get stuck in 'very'

specific narrow skill sets. Unless the game is really dumping

alot of skill points out there to accomodate skill lists into the

hundreds..its better to scale it back and group them into a

few broader categories, with the odd specifics for focused

events like combat/net running/ etc.

Anyway..that's my 2 cents...

J

My quick 2 cents worth,

 My groups both use a standard no skill at -4 to the

die roll. Effectly knocking Sally Genious from her 10

to a base of 6. However, we also will pip a skill if the

situation warrents it, like lots of reading on a specific

topic. The purpose of that pip is to void that -4 to the

roll because of some very narrow specific knowledge

specifically studied for. Cause while Sally sure doens't have

background in chemistry, her 5 in library search, 2 hours

worth of time, should get her what she needs to know

to arrange a specific chemical reaction. On the fly she's

going to have problems, but with a laptop and some time

to read, she'll do fine. Anyway that's my quick 2 cents

worth.

Jackie

Umm... Battle Lords of the 25th Century....

Woo Hoo... Go Ram Python attorney at law!!

only 1/2 a cent this time

Jackie

Well in my games we run the gambit, depending on where

people are going to be, going to do...what have you. Stuck in

suburbia...heavy armor/weapons are the classic Shoot

Shoot..shoot again...'Stop or I'll shoot'. If your going road

tripping to Mexico...Armor, armor, armor is the rule of the day.

My pc's vary everywhere armor wise from sp8's and 10's to

what I'd sadly say are munchkins at sp25-28.

It can be difficult to find a happy medium where its possible to

un-Uber some of the solo's, my own personal tact has been

to teach by example. The examples I use tend to fall into the

following brackets.

1. If you want the spiffy new thing...probably the otherside does too.

2. Hardware is expensive, people are cheap... 8 Billion people

on the planet will prove just how cheap they really are.

3. Actions have consiquences, even if its just forgetting to

strip down after being in the sharp end of some nastiness.

By the same token I'll pretty much allow my pc's anything they

can think of, providing they're willing to RP the contacts and

aquasition of said item. They'll even have it long enough to

have 2 or 3 scene's where its 'very cool' before the opposition

gets a clue and then buys 2 or 3 of them...which suddenly

makes that cool thing seem uncool. My personal GM tact is

to try and make people think about what they want and

what the consiquences of that desire might be.

anyway my 2 cents worth...

J

a 1 cent addendum:

Forgot to put it in my previous post:

When during the course of the session I go looking for the

"Did the pc's get lucky" type rolls...I also use 'present' luck

meaning if they've been pushing it and spending it...well

they're running out of luck.....

J

Well my very ultra quick 2 cents....

First a caviat...the punk games I run/play in should be classed

Cina-Punk...ie they hopefully get that movie feel to them.

We've been using the 'luck deck' from I think it was the

BlackHammer site..and it works like a charm. If we start

running low on 'subplots' or even 'major plots' I toss back in

the 'plot' cards from that deck..when I think I'm full up I pull

them and go from there.

Anyway... that's my quick 2 cents

J

Ok..my quick 2 cents

I always assumed that the 'be suppressed' boiled down to a

character choice. By that I mean the system was set up more

to indicate a hit chance than dictate action/reaction.

The idea being that if your hosing alot of rounds through a

narrowed area that you'd have to be, nuts, high, lucky, or

suicidal to toss your body through that same area when its

under fire. For my 2 cents worth if I find the PC's generally

ignoring what's soposed to be supressive fire, *which hasn't

been a problem for my players*, I'd instigate a cool check to

perhaps penalize other actions while 'under fire' and 2 I'd

likely bump up the 'hit ratio' for supressive fire, after a few

grave, or nearly so hits they'll be have better.

But that's just my 2 cents worth....

J

Well here's an off the cuff 2 cents worth,

I think it could work, but needs some serious book-table

making to ferrit out a balanced, please don't kung-fu me to

death you mini-max munchkin, system. Also in addition to the

'IP' advancement you'd want to also have a solid idea how to

'build' at character creation. My quick off the cuff goes sorta

like this.

You've got a hand-to-hand skill with a sliding Ip multiplier

Levels 0-3 IP multiplier of 1, Levels 2-4 (2) 5-7 (3) 8-9(4)

Plus you set a limit of maybe (Level*2 + 3) in 'bonus' traits

the + to strike etc etc etc. The last fomula is an off the cuff

probably needs some specific revision to balance it..but should

work alright. Some scheme along this line would let you keep

the IP spending and creation system pretty much as is. It

would also let them 'design' forms that are more unique to

their purpose..perhaps to show learning tidbits from many

different places...et al. I'd probably keep a cap on + per

category into the +3 to +4 range. There is a finite limit on

how good you'll get at something.

Something along that line at any rate...quick 2 cents worth

J

Quickie back for 2 more cents...

Even some really caustic acid rain...frankly isn't that caustic.

And while yes, some of the materials are going to

be 'resistant' to common sulfuric or even hydrocloric acid,

very little is 'proofed'. Much like nothing is truely water 'proof'.

If rain ever gets that caustic..Living becomes a problem..as it

will KILL you. Cloths or no clothes....

There are a number of acid's that are perfectly 'organically'

safe. By which I mean..they're only contained in plastics, or

other long chain organic molicules, but when exposed to

metals, or other inorganics it goes to work. That's one reason

that in most countries hydroflouric acid is a controled

substance..why...you could load a nice laytex ballon with it,

and spatter folks...doesn't harm the skin a whit...however it

will eat your bones and is very very hard to combat once it

sets in...and that's just one example. The other thing to

remember specifically with acids, its not the volume, but the

molar concentration of them that does the real trick. Sure you

end up with a volume problem eventually..but how big a whole

do you really need, when the servo's start to short?

In the original Alien book, they do go so far as to explain a bit

more about the type of acid and its 'concentration level' which

as I recall was fictionally very high...in excess of 20

molar..which frankly is definitely not GOOD to be on the wrong

side of.

Anyway there's more 2 cents worth

Oh oh..more change from the pocket.....

I think I read in on the of early Interface's about a sigificantly

different idea to look in on cyberpsychosis. That being Joe Beaver's neighbor,

who gets this little impant to better his odds for a performance based bonus,

and later that's not enough and gets some extra storage...maybe an eye with

a camera to get 'leverage' on his competition for a promotion and in a real way

nickles and dimes himself into homicidal tendancies. Til the best avenue for

promotion is to eliminate the other Joe Beaver's...this is the psycho I think, is alot more

prevenlent to in contact with the beavers. Also the ones that the Inquisitors

are likely to be effective against.

Having been to several Con's here in the states, I've had an

opportunity to visit with some of the creaters including

Maximum Mike. Alot of my take on the these boys comes from

talks with them...and after thinking it over, there's no reason

that they need be comic relief at all. Anyone who's tactically

smart, and has enough numbers lets say 50..should be able to

toast most punked out borgs, providing they:

1. Choose the battleground

2. Prepare the battleground

3. Act in uniform ways to maximize effect

4. Know what/whom they're dealing with

To me that means doing homework...shadow the target...do a

profile on them...once you've got their number..push the

buttons and put them down. Wonder 9's are pretty wimpy vs

your average borg..vs Joe Beaver with every add on psycho

they might be effective. However, acid works well against

both targets with surprising ease.

Metal may be better than meat...but brains are better than both.

J

2 cents on the run,

I've always envisioned the Inquisitor's as a highly educated,

highly educatated, and motivated bunch. A group you really

didn't want to tangle with at any price. As for the why's of

their philosophy, I've always used the religous bend, mostly

because it makes them seem a bit more 'other' than most

of your booster gangs. Not only that you can then toss in

lots of odd things from Zen koans to other western scripture.

Lets you use the 'scene' from Pulp Fiction with amazing cut

and paste ease.

Anyway there's 2 cents worth....

Jackie

Well, I asked for 2 cents, and thanks for it!!

My paticular scenario involves my actual running of 2 different

campaigns taking place in the same time line. The failure I was

concerned about wouldn't so much be one that results in

'death' but helps to futher both plots. Acting as a driving force

for the 'failed' pc's and as a plot device in my other campaign

by allowing something to escape causing a nice 'chase'

sequence.

As a general rule I'm apparently with the majority, who seem

to be able to set some low, and some high difficulty projects

for the PC's but let them develope as play goes on...

Sometimes finding the PC's brilliant, other times..well spent

lightbulb comes to mind. I also think its very handy to once

in a while 'rope a dope' them by setting up several easy

projects, one after another, to then toss them in a real

meat grinder and watch the spatter hit the walls.

But that's me...

J

Looking for 2 cents here,

Do any of ya'll ever 'set up' your PC's to fail. Meaning the

objective they've been given is nearly impossible? As a counter

point to the typical nearly impossible projects PC's take on, I've optioned to give them something which advances the plot

more if they fail than succeed. Any thoughts on this as a

periodic game ploy?

J

2 Cents:

To answer, I tend to play 'fast and loose' with the rules to

keep tempo up.

Will players do the unexpected...Yes...will they catch you the

GM flatfooted...everytime.

The trick to dealing with them is either having a random system worked out like the Baron points out, or to use an

other simple system. Mine is a indirect rewards system, there

are times that the PC's are very helpful to the plot and work

with the GM nicely...there are times when its more of a struggle. As much as I hate to say it..if I'm in a good mood

things are working well...I tend to be pretty positive during those flatfooted moments. On the otherhand if I'm stressed or

unhappy...well break out the torches and pitchforks.

Mind you I don't always do that, some times I've got a fair idea about the 'persona' of various folks and can pretty quickly

get a fix on how they're going to react based on that. More

often than not having a handful of 'descriptive' words for any

given NPC even if its nothing more than that, lets you get their reactions down good. Its not untypical for me to have:

Goon1: Huge, Strong, Good natured, resigned, quiet

Goon2: Small, Quick, mean, aggressive, talkative, twitchy

From those simple descriptions I tend to flesh out the NPC

pc' interactions. Its hard to do it with alot of the 'unintended'

NPC's that as a GM we're forced to make up on short notice, but generally speaking you can extrapolate on a handful of

arch-types and get by quiet well.

Anyways...there's my 2 cents worth...

J

2 Cents time....

Things to keep the pace going, the big two have been covered

pretty cleanly I think. Time limits, and party *group* leaders.

Blissfully I both play in, and run a game where there's a good

deal of roleplay history, so finding a party leader isn't an

issue. It even changes somewhat depending on what our

present project is...generally falling to a given PC's strength

area. It helps alot to have someone to can 'right or wrong'

make up thier mind to 'do something'. Time limits, both overt

and covert have a wonderful effect on how things play out,

and can go along way to keeping our PC's quick witted.

One thing that's the nature of most RPG's is combat is a

whisker on the slow side. Part of it is mechanics, part of it is

the same 'what to do'. Most CP ref's don't have a problem with

it, but other games do. Do run with a system that seems to

work pretty well, alotting a fixed number of real seconds, for

every initiative 'number'. I think for more novice CP'ers it might

help induce a bit more combat stress, and heightens the

anxiety for them a bit..which is the name of the GM game for

combat.

The dreaded party split...for CP its worse than most because

it can involve PC's doing varied items in the "Real" world, or in

"The net". Which both operate on different time constraints.

The only good solution I've ever found to it I owe to my own

groups and their blissfully wonderful RP skills. As a GM when

they split up, I can get my various PC vectors working on

what ever it was they were going after, and let them tinker

with that, while starting others up, different inter-party talks,

lessons, and other RP goodness generally results..as a GM

you've got to 'bop' between vectors quick...put in a little

input and move on...by and far the most frantic work most

GM's have to deal with. Anyway...that's my 2 cents..

J

Well here's 2 cents worth...

I think what works best for me, varies depending on the mood

I'm trying to set. There are times that a very minimalist

approach works best, other times you need to give Mickey

Spalane *cheesey detective novels* type descriptions. If I

had to offer up a universal suggesion it would be to keep in

mind that there are alot more senses than just sight. In fact

two that are often over looked in alot of gaming situations are

the two strongest with regard to memory and impact, and

that's smell and touch.

For example, you could go into a great deal of description

covering a romp in sewage infested waters, covering all the

material there is to see and hear, but you could probably

manage a better one describing the fetid cloying air, sicky

sweet with the stench of decay, and the oily grease feel of

the water as it seeps in over the top of the pc's combat

boots.

Always keep in mind a strong image of what you want the

PC's to 'see' in their mind's eye, and build descriptions that

coax that out of them. Having a good grip of some diverse

vocabulary will let you keep scene's from coming mundane

and dull. For example....

1. The yellow sun shown from behind smog clouds.

2. The jaundice orb glowered from behind acidic folds of smog.

3. The sulfurous sun seared the tops of the dense toxic smog clouds, shedding a sickly glow.

Anyway...that's my 2 cents worth...

J

Back in the change purse again....

I think the common solution is being overlooked. I concur with

the notion that alot of the 'effective' material for most combat

can be learned and is probably learned in some of the more

'basic' stripped down versions of MA's, for CP that might be

Arasaka Te, Boxing, Wrestling et al.

My simple solution if your really running into problems, simple

easy..remove entirely Brawling as a skill. Let them take a

point or two in boxing, wresteling, Te, and melee...and let

it go at that.

Just my 2 cents worth....

J

In the words of the our father repeat after me....

"If I'm going to drop crap on my PC's from great height I

 shalt just drop huge panes of tempered glass"

Why you ask??

Who needs a fracking gernade...a 10' x 4' glass plate dropped

10 stories would be like the worlds biggest and ugliest frag

gernade..and here's the topper..some buggers have alreay

totally encased their building in them. I can't claim credit for

the thought.. I stole it from a book, the author stole it from

the news...glass is scary stuff man.

a quick 2 cents...

J

Ok its been a while since I was able to dig in and offer up my spare change...so here goes.

Ok First off...my general take on most vehicle stuff for punk...

Toss out MM and pick up a version of Carwars...a little rules

fiddling and you've got yourself a workable idea on how to

manage armor, speeds, weights, et al.... But that's just my opinion I could be wrong.

If your not liking that idea....

1. Sounds like you've got a good handle on what the present day weight ratio comes in at...I'd say keep the ratio about the same...maybe make the varience a bit broader to explore

new composite materials so a stripped tooled down model might be squashable by even as much as 100kg. for the same type of reductions.

2.  Not a lot of difference between the too, just some of the more common sense trade offs with regard to speed, maneuvarability et al.

3. Again weights...a best bet is to use common sense, just like

when things are violently under/over priced..you change them so your brain stops screaming...

4. Hover bikes....I'm not sure what I'd do with that truth told.

I'd be torn with how class them, but without knowing what sort of 'tech' level your working with its hard to say how effective tehy could be...they've have to chew CHOO like a mad man keeping anything aloft and moving at any real forward speed...very ultra short distance being the problem.

5. Eventually they'll get real live working Osprey's, there are

some design problems with them in some applications, but on the whole they're a good concept. Tilting a jet...won't happen...what you'll get is exactly what the Harrier is, fixed wing, but with a changable thrust vector...big reason being that for serious maneauverablility you need the wings to delta configure and that works counter to standard 'tilt' for wings.

Aerodyne is how I'd make that assumption.

6. Any of the cross purpose cars probably could fit to a couple of different definitions, cargo space being traded for

passanger space, or vice versa. My suggestion would to be pick and choose depending on configuration which is most likely. That would take in to account any types of modiciations to enhance 'performance' with regard to the design.

Lastly, if I forgot to mention it... I think Carwars makes a wonderful suppliment for any Punk GM who does alot with vehicles, chases, crashes, and the like.

Anyway..that's 2 cents worth...

Jackie

Time Dialation: I'm not suggesting that we're discussing 'time'

travel even on the data scale. However, there are serveral

experiments which at a quanta level seem to consistantly

return effect preceeding cause. As the level of technology

advances, if you don't think someone's not going to try and

succeed at finding a way to turn a buck on that little quirk

your nuts. What I'm more suggesting is that the time to

solution will vastly get shorter as some of the interm steps

seem to 'solve' themselves before they are a problem in need

of solution. Even in this type of example, your not dealing

with some of the excessively wierd concepts that some have

put forth with regard to quantum level phyiscs applications.

Lets not forget *I assume ya'll saw it* that in a lab in

Austrailia not long ago some bright guys managed to teleport

a photon about 3'...consistantly, over and over....and think  

in 3 -5 they'll be able to do that on an atom by atom basis.

My thinking for the DNA machines is even several steps futher

along, specifically with how 'complex' you can code the

molicules involved. Alot of folks assume that we'd be working

off the same 4 base pairs that render you, me, the plants,

the fish...etc.....but what about 10 base pairs or 100??

How about more complex bound forms involving multiple helix

compounds that can unzip as needed yielding many many

times the computational power of the standard base 4

machines. The computational ability difference between

silicon and dna could be, and probably will be vast, over limited

applications. Different readings produce different results, but

anywehre from 10 to 100 levels of magnitude difference. For

me, as a punk ref...that's scary...cause that's alot of power.

-- Halo:

      Sure the good guys can have it, and probably will, then

again...who are the good guys? Do they where white hat? or

maybe spiffy threads of some kind? *grin* I'll quote from a

book I recently read "We spy on them, they spy on us. There

are no friends among nations, just interests." Punk is all about

interests....

my 2 cents

Jackie

Quite specifically for both instances I was considering the vast

amount of parallel power shown in both applications. One for

data mining, another for encryption breaking, and lastly for methods of creating very adpative AI's capable of alot more of the parallel thought process that go on in the human brain.

Likewise for the quantum machines the time dialation that could be possible in some instances with regard to effect preceeding cause.

.... 2 cents...

Jackie

Having recently done a bunch of reading on some of the

computer tech that's floating out there near the horizon, and

at the risk of tipping my hand to my players, I was wondering

if anyone had made use of either DNA computer technology or

maybe even quantum computer technology in their

campaigns?? Its certainly an area in my mind worth exploring

considering the apparent 'vast' computational difference such

devices offer over even souped up silicon.

Looking for 2 cents....

Quote

p.s. Is it just me, or does any NPC wearing a longcoat automatically come under suspicion of carrying enough firepower to start a small revolution whenever you GM? I have had a couple of amusing situatins where jumpy PCs have gotten very nervous around such individuals.

--------------------------------------------------------

Well I think that's what GM's refer to as 'Rope a dope'.

2 cents worth.

Jackie

Well, I guess I'm still hunting down 2 cents worth...

Taking a look at the various schemes for hardening objects (generally buildings and internal subsystems) vs HEMP I'm

forced to wonder how on earth do you actually shield cyber?!

Most of the shielding process are horribly bulky which would

preclude use in implantation, or are based on redundancy

principles of acceptable functional lose while the whole continues to operate. In the case of cyber this would mean having 2 to 3 items of every variety installed, to assure acceptable function vs emp discharges. Both immediately

expensive, and not to mention tricky to get all implanted.

After doing alot of reading its clear the 'foot' print of your average emp gernade is going to be lucky to get a 5m spread. (A quick estimation would have to have the device explode about 2m in the air to gain an acceptable foot print for the device of upto 5m. Footprint being defined as surface area of the shadow of effect.) In alot of cases you'd be better off with a directional microwave device.  Just futher musing, it would seem that effective emp devices are going to be bigger than your average gernade can manage, but horribly effective vs a technologically bases society, especially one with heavy use of cybernetics.

And that's 2 cents worth...

Jackie