SnowDog

Of course there is a chance of bad rolls. Some time you are bound ro run out of karma and then gloves are off.

SnowDog

WTF? It seems that you actually don't understand what I am after with this system, are you?    What makes you think that I claim to know why anyone wants to put a good number to ATTR or any stat? I don't although sometimes I'd like to know. In this system players can state what attributes they want to be high. If you want a good ATTR, put the priority 1 to ATTR stat and if your highest roll is 8 then that is your ATTR stat. Same happens if you decide to put a low priority to MA, you probably end up having a cripple  

If I just handle part of the bookkeeping of the PCs what aspect of roleplaying is missing from the players? Just bookkeeping and knowing too many details about their character's condition or abilities.

This has nothing to do with munchy stats you can still put highest priorities to REF and (INT or BOD). I admit that it is possible to come up with quite interesting stat combinations as players don't know what they have rolled. Of course this doesn't work if you are used to having a pool of points that you divide between the stats.

SnowDog

Have you ever tried a game that I call blind Cyberpunk? With that I mean a game where players don't know the stats of their characters but know how many ranks they have in skills. Also they don't know their wound state. I ran one campaing this way and it went beautifully. Here's how it works.

1) Player decides the role of his/her character.

2) Player decides the priority of the stats.

3) Player rolls the stats blindly and GM records the rolls.

4) GM inserts the rolled numbers to stats accordingly to priority list made by player.

5) GM describes the stats without numbers so player has some kind of feeling about his stats.

6) Player divides his skill points as usual.

7) GM calculates the secondary stats etc.

When the game starts players make all the rolls normally just adding his skill to the roll and GM adds the stat to know the final result. All humanity loss rolls are also blind, so players don't know how close to the edge they really are. Same applies to damage. GM just describes the wounds and effects to player. If PC has a health monitor implant he can handle the damage himself.

Obviously this adds quite a lot of work to GM. Fortunately Interlock is so light system that it works. I think this is the only drawback. The advantage is that players are free from most of the numbers that might make actual roleplaying easier. If done correctly it also adds tension as noone knows how much more cybernetics the character can take before losing it and how badly wounded the character really is (especially if the character is under the influence of a combat drug).

SnowDog

I have been thinking about a way to integrate some sort of exp system to my campaign. As I kind of like the current IP system I am not willing to get rid of it but as it doesn't directly reward clever or entertaining playing I have thought to add some sort of experience system. The primary function of exp is to be used as luck. It works exactly like luck in original rules with the difference that the luck pool doesn't refresh after each session but that the exp is the luck pool. The function of luck is that it regulates the amout of exp (or fate or karma or whatever I decide to finally call it) that can be used in any one time.

Example 1. Character A has 20 points of karma (or exp) and has a luck stat of 6. He is trying to succeed at some difficult task and decides to use luck. His roll falls 2 points short and so he pays 2 karma points and succeeds.

Example 2. The same character is again in a tight spot and this time his roll falls 8 points short. This time his luck doesn't help him even though he has 20 points of karma but because his luck stat is only 6 (which is lower than the needed 8) he is not lucky enough to succeed in that task.

So, what do you think?

SnowDog

The PCs in my group are usually pretty "sane" and professional in a sense that they don't commit atrocities. When we were younger couple of PCs started a small bodypart business it ended when their characters died. So nothing major.

In Warhammer game one of my characters "interrogated" one skaven and I think everyone of us felt a bit uncomfortable about it. So torturing enemies etc. is something to remember not something to be taken lightly.

I played in one short living Shadowrun campaign where my character was almost cyberpsycho. He was really unfeeling streetsamurai (and my GM confessed that he felt a bit frightened when I played the role, ah the best compliment ever    ). Our run went a bit tits up but somehow we survived the firefight and went to street doc for medical treatment. After recovering from our wounds we got active again and noticed that police were after us. Somehow they managed to find us time after time no matter what we did but for some reason they did nothing more than follow us. Our group had another similar near cyberpsycho streetsammie and we decided to do some investigation. At first we got a bug detector and went through everyone's gear, nothing. Then we scanned everybody, bingo. One of our group had implanted homing beacon!

So the two sammies went to the street doc who had patched up our friend and asked some questions. He was a bit uncooperative but with enough threats and possibly some right drugs we found out that our friend had that beacon implanted by himself. WTF!!! We just warned the doc that he would be well adviced to keep the knowledge of this converastion to himself and not to call anyone about it and we went to continue our investigation.

Next we followed our friend and saw that he went to police station and came from there after a while. That gave us enough proof about his doublecrossing and we decided that it was best to get rid of him ASAP. The other sammie (not my character) was quite proficient with explosives and so he rigged our "friend's" car with enough explosives to kill anyone in the car. Then we just waited to see him get to his car and boom! New character  

The player didn't take it personally and just coolly generated a new character without animosity against our characters (or us the players).

So, I think our group is pretty decent when compared to stuff that other groups seem to do  

SnowDog

From what I have read/seen in media about the NYC attack it was quite well planned or just plain lucky (you never know). The planning and recon is what every succesfull edgerunner group should do and this is how modern day intelligence agencies and military work. But I agree with Malek that using suicidal operatives is not exactly the way most edgerunners work at least in western world. On the other hand with suicidal troops you just have to worry about getting the job done and you can forget about getting your troops back home alive and well. It makes planning the hit so much easier that it is frightening.

SnowDog

I have used the way that you suggested couple of times during my games but those games didn't have netrunners. I think it will work nicely in some cases but some times it won't. Anyway it is more fun to have the netrunner in the thick of the action hacking to a computer that is not connected to web.

SnowDog

That sounds good. Combat netrunners are something that I really like. Actually I have used one as an NPC called Spike. Maybe I will do the write-up and this time add the stats as well and use this role package as a base for it.

Thanks for posting it!

SnowDog

I have understood that it is mostly (?) civilian thing. Actually it is a smart thing to do as more and more systems are integrating GPS (I use it now as a generic term) that need exceedingly accurate positioning. What do you think will happen if/when USA decides to go back to situation where the system gives the position in less accurate way? I don't remember what the accuracy was then and I'm not sure what it is today, but we are talking at least one order of magnitude I think. That will scew up many of those systems for civilian use at least here in Europe.

As USA has builded the satellite network it is their right to do with it as they like, but I think that it is as well smart to prepare to the event that might well happen.

SnowDog

Yes, I know that it is a bit hard to use the character without giving them stats. The problem is that I don't have the stats either    So far McDormand and 4_Is are just giving missions to PCs so they actually doesn't need the stats. The second reason is that I don't use roles in my games.

I can come up with stats at the end of this week. What is the consensus about using house rules in character writeups?

No offense taken  

SnowDog

I have been playing since 86. I suppose that's about the time when RPGs surfaces in Finland. I can still remember when me and my friend went to the local "dealer's" home to buy D&D basic set. Yep, he sold the games from his home at the time until after a few years he got a real shop and now a chain of shops...

SnowDog

Thanks for the answers!

SnowDog

I have been thinking of a mini campaign where all PCs are childhood friends from the slumms. When they grew up they went their separate ways but after a few years they drift back to their old neighbourhood. The campaign starts when their NPC friend gets killed by a serial killer and one of the PCs will probably witness it and gets even blamed for it by the authorities. So the PCs have to get their revenge and somehow clean their name, if possible.

This is a bit clische stuff but it might work.

SnowDog

My take is that edgerunners are high end mercenaries. With mercenary I don't mean necessarily soldiers of fortune but any consultant that is willing to take even life threatening risks to complete the job. Mostly they work for the money but sometimes even for a cause.

Cyberpunks on the other hand are fighting (again not necessarily with arms) for the cause whatever that may be. They are the rebels of this setting.

SnowDog

Most of this handler's spys know him as Mr. McDormand. He never reveals his real name, unless it is absolutely necessary. His has spent most of his career in South America and knows this are quite well. Recently he has become disillusioned with his empoyer and it didn't take much effort for some corporates to persuade him to join them in a hostile takeover plan. After this he has been jockeying with various mercenaries and edgerunners to bring down the stock value of one oil company so that he and his partners could buy enough shares to control the company. So far he has been able to keep the various players from knowing the truth.

Usually he leave an impression that the job that he hires people to do is actually CIA sponsored and the opposition are some kind of terrorists.

McDormand doesn't actually like this new situation and is kind of scared at the moment fearing that his partners will get rid of him when they have achieved their goal. Still, he thought that the gorvernment pension was not enough after all those years in backwater countries (his opinion of South American countries).

SnowDog

4_Is (four eyes) is quite old talent scout at his early forties but is still only a small timer. His primary consern is to stay alive and well and to make enough money to take care of his wife and two daughters. He is not overly ambitious which has kept him from rising the ranks of fixers but thanks to couple of rising stars in edgerunner community are in his stable and give him a steady income.

The handle of 4_Is has come from the fact that he stubbornly keeps on using spectacles although he could very well afford implants that correct his quite poor eyesight. He makes his very best to keep his job away from his private life to keep his family safe. This makes him sowhat paranoid and he always makes his business meetings in some coffee shop or other public place, never at his home or office.

Game Stats:

INT 7

REF 4

TECH 3

COOL 7

ATTR 4

LUCK 7

MA 5

BODY 5

EMP 6

Run 15, Leap 3.75, Humanity 60, Save 5, BTM -2

SnowDog

How much personality you give to your NPCs? Are everyone of them a distinct individual?

SnowDog

Yes, I know and many good snipers in Bosnia were women. I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't play a female character that is stone cold killer. I am saying that playing that way might give the character some personality.

SnowDog

I have never played a female character as I am not sure how to do it properly either    As a consequence I tend to discourage players from playing characters of opposite sex (I have both male and female gamers) because all female characters played by male plaeyrs have been quite awful    They really have been stereotypical ice queens and have behaved very differently from how the female characters of female players have acted.

Mostly characters of female players have been just part of the gang and frankly not very feminine (just the characters not the players). So I suppose you should not make the gender a big issue maybe just loose some of the potential machismo and give her a little bit of softness like awoiding killing in cold blood. Nothing major and something that could well be done with male character but still something to distinguish her from your other characters. Of course I don't know how you "usually" play so my above examples might be all wrong  

Thank grud we have managed to avoid the stereotypical female characters that are only healers or ultra vixens (nothing wrong with that    ) but it seems a bit silly when many male characters are quite ugly for some reason  

Well, I hope this helps...

SnowDog

Hello,

I'd like to know how you develop your PC or NPC character consepts and personalities. Although I am a long time GM I still think that my NPCs lack certain personality that I'd like to give them.

When I am a player (doesn't happen much these days) I either take the character consept from a movie or some other media and start from there. Another way that I use more often is to make a 'generic' character depending on the game system and then develop the personality to character as game progresses by trying to act similarly in similar situations. The latter way is kind of easier as it takes considerably less time to generate the character and develop the personality during the game than actually think of the personality beforehand. On the other hand this might lead to illogical choice of skills and attributes.

What's your take on the subject?

Thanks,

SnowDog

Sometimes I use a rule where it is possible to take a new SA as a skill. I have only one restriction and it is that the combination of SAs can't be more than 10 (SA1 + SA2 <= 10).  Secondary SA has a x2 IP multiplier.

SnowDog

Another oldie resurrected  

I have been GMing CP2020 for so long that I can't remember all the good moments but here comes something.

In my recent Operator campaign operators were in Colombia to wipe out a terrorist cell (in reality those 'terrorists' were just a bunch of mercenaries). The team learned where the Tangoes were suppose to meet (in an apartment) so they set up surveillance. One operator was sitting in a car opposite the building where the meeting was suppose to be held, one operative in the building but at the upper level while the remaining two operatives were placed in various places as a reserve. I thought that the plan was good and we proceeded.

Unfortunately for the players they missed the first Tango (they had mug shots) and waited too long to take action. Suddenly the man in the building noticed that one of the Tangoes (the one they had missed) gets out of the apartment. One reserve follows him as the Tango go to fetch his car. After a little while the door of the apartment opens again and rest of the Tangoes are going to leave the place and that's when things get sour. The operator manages to kill one of them and wound another. One of the Tangoes decides that it is better to attack than to get trapped into that apartment and begins to run the stairs up to get a better line of sight. The operator manages to shoot at the Tango but failes miserably (the only way for him to miss the Tango was to roll 1 and that is what he rolled). Through a hail of bullets the Tango manages to answer in kind but his roll was a critical success so the operator got hit with about 10 bullets from a SMG.

Other opeators finished the Tangoes and tried to evacuate their fallen comrade but with very little medical training (I think the best knowledge is about 4 ranks in First Aid) the wounded operator expired during his way to better medical care.

---

The other example was not so brutal to PCs but the intensity of it was much greater. This was in an earlier game where the PCs were being framed for having biological weapons and being responsible for bioterrorism attack. At the moment all is well and PCs don't suspect anything as they are suppose to deliver a suitcase to a certain person at the parking area of a supermarket at the middle of the night. As they are about to deliver the suitcase a sniper shoots the receiver and police squad cars are coming to area. PCs panic and decide to shoot their way out. At one moment one of the solos (called Beastman) is taking cover at the ramp that leads to underground carage and he really is having a hard time fight the police as he really didn't like to harm them. Evidently one other PC managed to get hold of a car and picked up Beastman and other PCs and after a long pursuit they managed to loose the heat and they ended up somewhere to lick their wounds.

The actual shootout or the session was not anything special to me until the player of the Beastman confessed to me years later that he really hoped that the police would not stop him (the player) as he drove to his home later that night as he was so wired up after that session  

SnowDog

Sorry to bring back an old thread  

I have a misfortune to never actually play CP2020 as opposed to GM it. My Twilight:2000 character was called Veijo Riski (riski means risk but also strong). I admit that the name was a bit cheesy but appropriate as somehow he found himself always in the middle of the action and somehow managed to walk away unscathed even when others in the group ended up badly wounded or dead. I suppose he had a bit similar aura of luck as the Roach that have been described earlier.

SnowDog

I don't like to kill PCs as it can ruin the continuity of the game. I went so far with it that I simply didn't kill any characters no matter what or actually there were very little combat (it was Fading Suns game) but then I switched back to CP2020 and redeemed my habits  

So, I will let the PCs die if the dice says so, especially if the situation that lead to the dice rolling at the first place warrants it (like acting stupidly). I suppose all this depends on what kind of game you want. If you want action and drama then it is not so good to let the dice dictate the death of a PC. On the other hand if you are willing to play a game where you want to minimize the risks that PCs take and possibly spend a whole lot of time planning their jobs the dice can come handy. I suppose my GMing style is the latter...

SnowDog

Cyberpunk? Me? Absolutely not. In RL I am pretty f*cking far away from being a punk and I have no cybernetic implants either. So no, I don't think that I qualify as a cyberpunk.

Besides I saw that anti-war protest couple of weeks ago in Helsinki, and there really weren't that many cops around...

SnowDog