Shadowrun Pub
Shadowrun RPG => SR3 (Shadowrun 3rd Edition) General Discussion => Topic started by: AJStarhiker on January 31, 2006, 11:04:41 AM
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So, when will the next forum game be starting?
I'd also like to know whether to use the priority or point system for character creation.
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I'd bet priority, to be safe. That's the system Ruski usually uses, and either he or I will be running the new game. In fact, if you make a character, I'll run you through "Back to the Shack" which is the classic first run that any runner has to go through.
-kv
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I let in any system. the stats of your PC are just secondary to the story anyways.
that being said, if you go 'point-buy' and make a munchkin; be prepared to face equally munchkin-like problems.
Min-Maxing is cool and all; and I'm all for letting the PC's play whatever they want. but I have no problem dropping a tank full of bug-spirits onto the PC who feels the need to have a body of 40, and wear more armor than the combined might of the UCAS and Azland armies.
So, do whatever you want; just be aware that the GM has a blank check on power points to match whatever you put up.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, you shouldn't have to worry too much about me playing a munchkin. I'd rather play a well rounded character and give her a reason for why she's good in the particular area (i.e. Shade was picked on a lot growing up, so she spent a lot of time running and hiding from bullies. When she started manifesting as a PhysAd, most of her powers went towards augmenting her ability to evade others).
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uh, what year'll it be starting in? I wouldn't mind knowing so I have an idea for her background.
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IO might prep a char too
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Well, when would you like the new game to take place?
most people are happy with 'genericly unobtrusive shadowrun time.'
if you have a specific timeframe you'd like to see progress; I'd be more than happy to make it suit your individual needs.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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kid should run it
so ruski can play
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*shrug* either way. Kid's about to pick up a new job. so I don't know if he's going to have as much time to run it as he does at this point...
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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ah ok the workaholic
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Ok. I was just asking. I also write fanfiction, so I sometimes get hung up on details like that. I'm working out a background to try and figure out how she picked up her skills and why she's running the shadows.
Just sort of a quirk I have. Unless I'm running a pre-generated character, I like getting to know her.
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I'll run it- apparently they want me so desperately that they're telling me that I can do homework, draw, or whatever, as long as I'm in the room to keep the kids from killing each other. ;D
So, back to the shack, set before Bug City. (20...60ish? I don't remember the dates off the top of my head)
-kv
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I'll run it- apparently they want me so desperately that they're telling me that I can do homework, draw, or whatever, as long as I'm in the room to keep the kids from killing each other. ;D
sounds like a good job ;)
So, back to the shack, set before Bug City. (20...60ish? I don't remember the dates off the top of my head)
Bug City?
Early 2050's, IIRC.
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OKay, let's say after Bug City fell, but before Deus.
So 2060s.
Is anyone else interested in getting in on this?
-kv
(and yes, it sounds like a very good job to me, too)
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Do you mean before Deus capped the Arcology, or before Deus got out of the Arcology?? If you want pre-Deus manifestation, you are talking 2057-2059 ish, pre 3rd edition.
Gabriel
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works for me
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LOL he could run durring Deus's stay in the Anchology.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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You know, the latest group I started Gm'ing actually WANTS to get into the Archology. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that, but I'm going to let them do it if htey want to.
Gabriel
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"What? Your PC has a skill of 6 in gernade juggling? *shrug* okey dokey!"
LOL
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, if you've got a copy of Renraku Arcology: Shutdown, they describe several entrances, the Ork Underground being the "safest" in terms of Deus' awareness (or so we're led to believe)
Have the player's closely associated with the gov't go on a freelance "Find Governor Schultz" run then have everything go blotto afterward.
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I liked the Helo pad personally. it had anti-aircraft stuff on it, but you could hit it with a halo jump and some GPS software.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Oh I've got ENTRANCES, but no floorplans of any sort. That is my biggest problem with Sr products in general: lack of floorplans/maps. The books SUCK when it comes to that. But anyway, if they want in, I'll let them get IN. It's the getting out that is the problem. Of course, I could always have them "collected" by Deus and turned into part of the Network. That might be fun...
Gabriel
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hahaha, I always use floorplans from google.
they've been harder to get after 9-11, but you can still find floorplans to most public buildings.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, I wouldn't trust a structured floorplan since the modular design of the arc allows you to make the floors look like whatever you want them to be.
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Well, there's nothing that says you can't modify the floorplans you get to suit your needs.
but it's easyer to get something and 'fix it' rather than draw it from scratch.
-RF
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I know, but what I was getting at is that if the players are stuck in the arcology for a while, the floor they were just on might suddenly change.
Additionally, the arc has what? 500 some floors? How are you gonna make a floorplan for each floor?
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Well, it really depends on how well prepared you want to be for the run.
I've drawn out a 50 floor section for a doungeon-crawl style run before.
took hours and hours, but the gameplay was amazingly smoothe.
-RF
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Wow, that sounds fraggin' crazy. How did the players react?
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they liked it. everyone likes props.
I had two coppies. one they got when they did legwork, one I kept for myself... with several 'key' diffrences.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Secret doors, security, etc.
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yup. and, depending on how good their leg work was, I gave them hints and sometimes extra marks on their map to see stuff they may run into.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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I'm trying to decide which of two characters I should try using in the forum game: The covert ops specialist built from the priority system, or the physad built off the point system.
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I like being sneaky, so...
You should customize physads too, cause they present a nice opportunity to be unique.
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hehe, you should have heard the reaction when the other players in the RL game i'm in found out my physad liked to blow things up.
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aj i have a intresting pysadpet
a faceman temp plate
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Yeah, those new social adepts are scary. Can't do jack all over the commlines though.
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Yeah, but if you get them at a physical meet, they don't have to worry.
Gabriel
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seems like most of them would just be used car salespeople.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Now THAT is an ugly thought.
Gabriel
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and yet... is it really that far off?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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It's not, really. It's a sort of crossroads between playing a non-magical social character and a magical one. The non-magical one is simply more used to being convincing over the phone, I guess.
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I'm just thinking career wise. you discover the ability to convince anyone of anything. what would you do?
public office? sure. there's pleanty of power there. sales? absolutely. door to door salespeople would be great for that. you'd sell so much tupperwear that they'd give you the company.
used car sales? best saleswoman on the east, west, and any cost. you could work one day a month and get enough comission to pay your bills for the month.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Until someone figures out you're a magical "cheat." Then fire you/indict you for fraud/burn you at the stake. Remember all those athletes who were chastised for being adept "cheats."
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Yeah, but adept athletes have their own leagues. That's a bit different for getting arrested for selling someone something they didn't want. Hell, in the case of the used car saleswoman, as long as the "lemon laws" in her community aren't violated, she has not committed a crime.
Gabriel
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yea. if you walk onto a used car lot... you almost deserve to be ripped off.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Unless you know cars yourself.
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dosn't matter. a face that good; would talk you into buying something you know is a peace of crap, for it's potential.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Heh. Good point.
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Sure... it's got no tires NOW, but just imagine... with tires... you could be riding down the road...
you look like you are good with your hands! I bet a smart chap like you could BUILD some tires!
so then... you are going to build your own tires... that'll save you $2 EACH, for a tire recycleing fee. I don't have to charge that on any car that dosn't have tires... I normally do actually, truth be known, but you... I like your face.
So, I see that you've got $21,342 in your bank account... and about another $10K or so in space on a number of credit cards... I'll take that... as the down payment...
and finance the remaining 80K over five years, at 45% intrest.
sign here, here, and here.
Bank requires DNA typing. so insert your arm here...
sign here to wave your right to legal council...
can we gat a notery in here?
we keep one on hand.
this is a really good deal. I was going to get that car for myself actually.
and sign here. and here.
seeing as how I compleatly cut out my commission, and you got me down to the base COST, I may not be able to feed my kids today, but at least I'll feel warm knowing I made an honest deal.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Almost. Of course, can you imagine a social adept joygirl??? Talk about never being short of money.
Gabriel
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*shrug* well, there's just so much money you can make doing that sort of thing.
I think that eventually; most people of that persuasion would graduate to profesional debate, lawyers, or politicians.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
"If the glove dosn't fit you must aquit! if it does fit! it's counterfit!"
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But think about it. A social adept joygirl could get the prices she wanted, the clients she thought could pay it, and the situtations she could control. High-priced call girl type of thing. And besides, once she's finished, she could gently "pump" the client for other information, like SIN access numbers and the like.
Gabriel
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*shrug* could. but then everyone is gunning for you.
if you are a lawyer that always wins... everyone wants to hire you.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Yeah, but that's so... mundane.
Gabriel
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Somebody like that as a prosecuter? half the criminal elements would have a hit out on him...until he talks the would-be assassin out of it.
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so, no money in prossicution anyways.
go for the defence.
the good guys don't hire hits.
and the bad guys got the money to pay you to keeo them out of jail.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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no...but even in Shadowrun I'm guessing there are idealists who don't care about the money
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but that's not the way to develop your 'face' powers...
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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eh
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You know, I think Matlock was a social Adept. I mena really, how else would you explain it???
Gabriel
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What about Face from the A-Team? Think that's where they got the name for the archetype?
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that's where I got my nickname from, for social engeneering.
greatest security in the world... what happens when you call up and ask for their password? hmm... interesting.
-ruskiFACE the pirate
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Hehe. I wonder what happened to that sucker TV station guy from Hackers?
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I think he became a no-name bit part actor in several other films, before fading compleatly to obscurity.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
and no matter what he tells his friends, ne didn't see anjilina's naughty bits.
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I meant the character, not the actor.
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Oh, he was killed by a giant panda, but they cut that part out of the movie.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Lemme guess, the panda's cage was opened by Crash & co. as yet another diversion?
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No. he got fired for sleeping on the job durring the time of emergency, when the network was going haywire.
they came in and needed someone to blame.
after that, he got an unfulfilling job at the local zoo, and fell asleep in the panda cages.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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I heard that was all a cover story and that he was really a sleeper agent for Winter Night and when they bombs started dropping, he was caught in an EMP blast that took out his skillwires, headware memory, and satlink, causing a psychotic episode resulting in his belief that he IS Anjelina Jolie. Last I heard, he was trying to date his own brother.
Gabriel
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Well, if it makes him happy...
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, he's got Brad Pitt to dream about, right?
On the Face, keep in mind that if someone finds out your a Social Adept, they're going to be less likely to trust you, at least, most would. That's why it's important to build up your Masking abilities.
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You'd think they would figure out that they come back broke every time they go to borrow a cup of flour from you, and would just stay away for that reason.
-RuskIFace the Pirate
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Social adepts with Kinesics are the best at meets. No one really knows that you're reading their body language to tell if they are lying or not.
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so, what happens when your J is a social adept?
turnabout is fair play... and that's one of the jobs that a social adept could make a killing at.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Most certainly, but I wouldn't do any flat out negotiations with a Social Adept.
Basically, I let my players gamble on negotiation as a method of payment. I give a flat rate, and once the Negotiation skill is used, then the price can go up or down 30%. 5% per net success on an opposed Negotiations (Willpower) test.
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LOL i've been there when it's gone down.
J: "X amount"
me: "X+20%"
J: "X amount is firm."
me: "this is expencive buisness. X won't cover our costs. X+15% is the bare minumum we could work with."
J: "X+5% is more than enough."
Dan: "Anyone know how to use gernades? kuz I bought a whole bunch of them, and I don't really know how? what? no one?"
J:"X-30%"
me: "we'll take it."
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Hee! That would be what happens when you let the goon with Willpower 2 do the negotiations. Even with negotiation 6, that goon would never get off the ground.
Pheromones and Psychology knowledge skill are your friends. Handy thing about Social adepts is not only their bonuses, but their ability to center against penalties. I saw this Social Adept who used to doodle on this notebook as a centering technique in negotiations, it was really weird.
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we didn't let him talk. we told him to just be quiet. he brought him allong so we could spend his upfront money on legwork.
big mistake.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Ah, there's that Oblivious flaw coming out, eh? Or was the player just dumb?
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It was just the PC... wasn't paying attention to anything, looking over his charicture sheet... it just worked in so perfectly to the dialog, that we all went with it.
-RuskiFace the Priate
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God, that's terrible. What was the actual pay for the run then?
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Uhh... I think we walked away with 20K each
a little less than we wanted, and most of that went into legwork, but it did pay the rent for another couple of months to get us to the next run...
-RuskIFace the Pirate
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Been reading through Survival of the Fittest. Do you think your players' would take Lofwyr's offer for the Crystal of Memory?
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Did you ever consider using some spell of Silence on him?
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Spell of silence isn't a bad idea... but we don't often play with that guy anymore (although we have started playing Shadowrun once a month- the first time was last night!)
-kv
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you know a socisal adept would also make a hell of a p.I.
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Or a journalist. Think of all the stories s/he could break
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Scary.
Gabriel
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What about an assassin? that would be even scarier.
Murdoc, from Macgyver?
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generally very usefull buggers.
could probibly talk their way out of a gunfight.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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So long as he's not looking to be the next Bruce Lee. Then he could seriously frag the run.
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Well, Bruce liked to be a showoff.
although you may have a point there... many of the adepts like to reval in their abilities.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Heh, Social Adept power that makes people fall asleep from a boring lecture.
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He currently teaches Complex Number Theory.
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And apparently LSU hires nothing BUT apedts to teach in their Architecture program.
Gabriel
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Wouldn't the technically correct term be 'Inepts' perhaps?
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Touche'.
Gabriel
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Saw the new Pink Panther movie. That guy's inept in pretty much everything. Still...I wonder how you'd build him using game rules...?
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Well, flaws would be a great way to do it. Oblivious, Uncouth, and Gremlins come to mind. Hell, you could probably invent a few just for him. ;)
Gabriel
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hm. The Pink Panther flaw...think it'd be worth a good 6-8 points?
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How about 10 - 12???? And part of the flaw is that it completely overides all edges. ;)
Gabriel
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it does have one GOOD effect though...
It's funny!
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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heh, yeah. And things do somehow work out in the end
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But aren't hose things simply a series of errors that finally end up in screwing up the orignal end, which was to be screwed up?? Kind of liked nested bad karma cancelling itself out.
Gabriel
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lol, works for me. After all, flaws aren't necessarily meant to get the PC killed, just into a lot of trouble. (Unless the GM's sadistic)
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Besides, who wants to play a character with no flaws???? That's just no fun at all.
Gabriel
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really. Some of the best gaming moments are due to flaws.
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You know, I created Gabriel with both Pacifist and Dependant 4 before I even got the rules for flaws. So when we started using them, I ended up with 6 points of free edges. ;D Hello Quick Healing, Freindly Face, and one I can't remember. ;)
Gabriel
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amnesia? isn't that another flaw?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Yeah. For complete memory loss (the 5 point version), they recommend the GM makes your character and gives you a blank/partially blank character sheet and then you figure out what you've got as you play.
On a side note, playing a runner with multiple personalities could be interesting.
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not so much.
had a guy play adam/bart the venerable saint/sinner detailed elseware in this board... mostly, it got everyone killed.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Yeah, but as long as it's fun, who cares if you die???
Gabriel
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the other PC's seemed to care a little bit...
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Us other PCs seemed to care a LOT!
-kv
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Yeah.
"I shoot them."