SnowDog

That's totally different then. But yes, I agree that it's best not to start to speculate when fetus is a baby...

SnowDog

Me, I'm just a Finn nothing exotic. To be more specific I am

50% hämäläinen

25% karjalainen

25% savolainen

Those are Finnish tribes.

SnowDog

That is really a good opinion but on the other hand who would be in that committee? Somehow I think there would be the same ... personalities that already say no-no to abortion and being in the committee would just make their job easier. Anyway I firmly believe that a woman should have a choice whether to keep the child or not but to use abortion as a means of birth control is just plain irresponsible.

About life. Actually an egg cell is already alive...

SnowDog

I think this was the first time I actually heard all the songs because I promised my missus    To answer the original question I have to admit that the song sucked (sorry about that) but otherwise it could have been political. Actually I was a bit surprised that England didn't get a single point.

What comes to Cyprus and Greece, I suppose that has been going on for a long time but what about Russia? They gave one point (I think) to Belgium or some other close rival and all the other (bigger) points went to countries that were not even near to their position. Very convenient. Good thing they didn't win. Belgium should have done the same thing as I kind of liked their song...

Oh horror, Finland will be there next year. Ah, the humilation.

SnowDog

The previously mentioned Sin City books and Shirow's comics are must reading for CP GMs. Actually I am a bit surprised that noone has already mentioned Gods in Chaos etc. by Enki Bilal. One more great series is Queen and Country from Oni Press that is nice espionage comic.

SnowDog

Yes, you are probably right. Thanks!

SnowDog

I am not so much a gunbunny as I would like or that I would know enough about the subject to be any kind of reference but after all you asked for opinion  

I remember that the teflon coated bullet was a subject of a long thread in Millennium's End mailing list when the Ronin came out. If I recall correctly the final verdict was that teflon coating a bullet would not have such an effect. I could remember it wrong, though...

SnowDog

OK,

Thanks. I have to see through the edges more throughly.

SnowDog

Me, I never set the PCs to fail (or succeed). I try to make my scenarios as open-ended as possible by just designing history, NPCs etc. and letting PCs loose. Of course I try to make it not too easy for the PCs to succeed and punish them if they make a mistake. On the other hand sometimes people get lucky even when they make a mistake. I have no problem with nearly impossible missions but then I have to be prepared that the PCs won't accept the mission.

For a while I ran games where I really tried to avoid PC kills (no, I'm not proud of those days). That was some sort of reaction to those days when I just started GMing CP and I could really make a player loose 2-3 characters per session. I suppose I have found a nice middleground now between those two extremes. If dice say that the character dies, then so be it. If the situation warrants, I may allow some sort of "resurrection" attempts (I don't remember the proper word for re-starting a stopped heart and respiration, sorry) but those are same as stabilization rolls and after that they still have to stabilize the wounds (not an easy task without proper medic).

SnowDog

Hullo,

No, at the moment I don't have any stats for that NPC either    As I am thinking about my next game (wheter it is CP or not) I might generate the stats for him (if the next game will be CP). So, in a way it is just a template...

SnowDog

Hmm... I don't know if I have a good advice on this one although I have been in that kind of situation for a long time. Usually I just say that if I get at least 3 players out of current 6 then we play. Sometimes we have to postpone the session if an essential player is missing but I do my damnest to make sure that the game is not sitting on the shoulders of any single character.

I leave the characters of absent players out of the action if possible but sometimes (depending on situation and players' plans etc.) I have the HPCs (Half Player Characters) tag along and take part of the action if necessary (like in combat or when other characters lack skill etc. that those characters have). The greatest problem seems to be the character to the situation when he was away in previous session because of the absent player...

SnowDog

Stopping to look the rule from the rulebook of course interrupts the flow of the game and it is quite bad when in the heat of the battle when things should flow smoothly. Otherwise at least I have not found it annoying or frustrating when my GM does that    Well, I think it is a personal thing.

Anyway, general and specific preparation in addition to common sense helps you through a lot.

SnowDog

It's true that players will always surprise you  

The best way to the situations where you don't have a clue how to react is to be prepared. I suppose worst thing you can do is to design an adventure in a way that expects PCs to act in certain way unless you are absolutely positively certain that they have no alternate way to act. When I design scenarios I usually just write the background and some SOPs for NPCs etc. That way I am ready to react to players' actions and their plans won't spoil the adventure.

When they get totally out of the scope of my designed material I just wing it usually just rolling 1d10 and deciding what happens based on the outcome of the dice. On the other hand sometimes I just decide the outcome if it helps the scenario. I have to admit that I like Baron's reaction dice system, I might borrow it some day.

Usually I follow the rules pretty much to some extent. Some might think that too much. In combat I try to be fast and loose but as combat rules of CP2020 are pretty easy to learn I go by the book mostly. I don't make people make every roll if I see that they have made two head hits for example.

Having said all that I must say that speed is not everything, sometimes you will make a better scene when you make your playrs wait for the outcome while you read the rulebook or make up your mind. I admit that this is a rare occasion, but sometimes it works...

SnowDog

LOL! I have to admit that I had some reservations about the success of the operation. First of all coalition relied on mass surrendings which migh indicate bad underestimation of the enemy (which in never good). It really got me thinking about Winter War and "no, that doesn't sound good". Second, I was a bit sceptical about the willingness of Americans to take casualties. Of course it is wise to minimize casualties etc. but people get hurt (and killed) in war, on both sides. Only thing that I guessed right was that the coalition had to move quickly to secure oil fields before the fields would be sabotaged.

SnowDog

Yes, it's true that the splitting of a group can slow things down and is pain in the backup in most cases. Still, I don't mind as long as something is happening (preferably something to do with scenario if they actually are playing a more or less ready scenario). If the group splits I try to divide my attention between the sub-groups evenly and switch between the sub-groups quite often (depending on their situation). What comes to net, I don't care if the jacked in characters are supposed to live in a different time frame. They get the same time allocation, period.

SnowDog

Thumper,

I like the edges that you suggest. Should there be a sneak kind of edge too? I suppose that some kind of solos need it too as it reflects their ability to hide exremely well.

SnowDog

Ah, a familiar problem. My games seem to suffer from the slowness as well but occasionally my players have managed to surprise me with their swift action    Actually I have found out that it helps if the party has some kind of leader. Nominate (if appropriate) or let your players decide the team leader. The team leader is responsible for deciding the course of action for the team but ideally he should also listen to ideas of other players. I am experimenting with the consept in my non-CP game.

I have no problem if the players spend time in planning as long as the planning is going somewhere. If they are gathering information there is always a chance for a little bit of action there and it can take time (especially if they are on the clock to finish the adventure). I don't want to deny the planning time because I will punish for the bad planning (unless they are lucky). If you just want a fast moving game that is more cinematic then tell your players that the action is everything and is more important than the good planning and then don't punish them for poor planning.

SnowDog

I would make the new skill (Cyberdeck use) work like Interface with the same restrictions and some of the benefits. I agree that programming ability should be reserved for those who have Programming as a skill, but I would allow the use of programs maybe with 1/2 of skill value and no bonus to initiative.

The idea is to let the Deckers to be Solos of the net and all the others to be comparatively efficient (possibly) in the net as non-Solos are in the meat world combat (for example). This new skill should allow non-Deckers to hack into systems or help the main decker(s).

SnowDog

One way would be to invent a new skill, maybe a toned down Interface that allows the character to use deck and the programs as in the rules but without the benefit of initiative bonus that Interface allows. In a sense it would have same relationship to Interface as Streetwise to Streetdeal. With this skill even non-deckers (script kiddies) could take part in net-runs and even have some kind of impact there (like deckers in gun fights) but they would still be outclassed by real deckers.

Of course they would still have to buy their own decks and programs (or they could copy the progs) but it is not so different from buying guns and armor for meat world encounters.

What do you say?

SnowDog

My current campaign is really just a mission based series. All PCs have to pay about 500 eb/month for all the training they do to maintain their skills and stats. So far we have not played their downtime to any great extend.  

SnowDog

That is well put but won't the end result be pretty much same? I mean that in CP characters have martial arts to be able to hurt people and they have probably used their abilities on the streets before and so they don't much differ from the brawlers. Their moves might look a bit different and they might even use some stances etc. but I don't think that it will affect the game mechanics.

SnowDog

Yes, it is of course matter of taste if the system works or not. But I don't agree that my system is more unbalancing than the one you use (no offense). I intend to give maximum of 10 points of luck per session with average being somewhere near 5. The luck pool regenerates only by luck award not by resting or between sessions. So if you don't use luck in one session, then the luck pool of course grows unlike in the original version so I don't know if I should make a limit to the pool.

I don't see how this system makes firefights last longer as I don't intend to give luck points to normal bullet-stopper NPCs. On the contrary it might even make the combat quicker as PCs might succeed a bit more often. But you are right about the major NPCs as they will have luck pool.

Characters can still easily miss as the luck stat is still a limiting factor. Even if your character has 600 points of luck and have a luck stat of 4 you can still use only maximum of 4 luck points per roll.

Anyway you are right that this system might lead to some problems.

SnowDog

In essence yes, just think about it. Everyone can punch someone. Basically with or without training you do the same thing, you punch. Without training you just hit as fast and hard as you can. With experience you learn where to hit and how to get as much power behind the punch as possible. I suppose this can be quite a painful process. With training someone who already knows the techniques teaches them to someone who doesn't and in the process increase the power behind the punch as well.

Essentially best fighters are the ones who have a combination of real hands on experience and some training. I suppose that most if not all edgerunners fall into this category. I have understood that real fighters tend to create their own styles to fight based on their preferences and natural aptitudes anyway and so using formal martial art system is not necessary, IMHO.

SnowDog

My experience in hand-to-hand combat is next to nothing (I practiced judo a little while as a kid and I have been in a few brawls as a kid too, nothing major). From what I have read from this forum and from other sources I think that we would be better of getting rid of Martial Arts and Brawling skills and combine them to hand-to-hand skill. If you have just been in couple of fights etc. it is reflected by getting couple of ranks in the skill. If you are experienced hand-to-hand fighter and/or formally trained in one or more martial art forms you can get higher levels for the skill. If you use edge system I suggest that martial arts training is an edge that can give some kind of extra bonus to to-hit and maybe even damage. I would give damage bonus depending on skill level as high level just means that the character is effective at hand-to-hand combat despite the source of his knowledge.

SnowDog

I need some kind of inspiration to come up with elaborate sentences even in Finnish not to mention English (as you might have noticed). That's why I usually give a pretty analytical descriptions and I am not entirely happy with it. I made a small list of possible details to give to NPCs on the spur of the moment. I made the list a few years ago for Fading Suns but I have edited it a little bit for CP.

I wanted to describe even some of the bullet stopper NPCs more than previously but I found it hard to do while running a game I decided to do a small list to help. First just roll d20 to decide what kind of thing first catches the character's attention and then choose from the list something appropriate.

At first roll 1d20 or choose (depending on situation)

1-5 Appearance

6-12 Clothing

13-14 Voice

15-16 Smell/subconscious

17-18 Manners

19-20 Equipment

Appearance

   * Eye Brows (thick)

   * Beard

   * Moustaches

   * Pimples, warts

   * Freckles

   * Birthmark

   * Tooth (missing, totally white)

   * Chin (big, small/nonexistent)

   * Nose (big, small, broken, hooked)

   * Eyes (staring, bulging, small, cold, friendly)

   * Mouth (large, small, thin/full lips)

   * Scarred

   * Tattoo, visible implant, ear ring, nose ring, piercing

   * Hair (bald, long, mohawk, dirty, odd color)

   * Familiar looking/celebrity lookalike

   * Plain ugly/good looking

   * Clearly of one race

Voice

   * Weak

   * Quiet

   * Loud

   * Bass

   * Association (politician)

   * Commanding

   * Singing

   * Controlled

   * Accent

Smell/subconscious

   * Aftershave/perfume

   * Dirty (urine,excrement, old booze)

   * Aura (frightening)

   * Association (familiar place, person)

Manners

   * Nervous

   * Professional/cool

   * Disgusting habit (picks nose, bites handnails, scratches ass)

   * Smiles

   * Winks eye

Clothing

   * Tidy/dirty

   * Expensive/cheap

   * Fashionable/unfashionable

   * Attention raiser (jumpsuit,camoclothing)

   * Corporate symbol/logo

SnowDog