Information about the game can be found in this thread and in
[OOC] [PvP] A day at the mall/url].
Original post:I
might be interested inam running a PvP game. It
wouldwill be strictly Free-For-All combat, no story more elaborate than "Let's find out which one of you is the most lethal."
I'm asking for two things:
1.
A "Sure, I'm interested"-like message if you are indeed interested in something like this, so I know if I should start preparing. Recruitment has started, see rules below.
2. Thoughts and insight on how a game like this should be run.
Currently in my mind:
* Pretty much everything will happen through PM's. Otherwise players could cheat too easily.
* The full events will be posted after the fight is over.
* A map will be posted when the game starts, without the locations of the players of course. This map may or may not show everything that's in the area. Players should describe their actions (through PM) as detailed as possible. What do they look for, in which direction, what's in their hands; heck, even the characters thoughts would be interesting, specifically to make it a lot more fun to read for the spectators later. Anything not mentioned is either not being done at all or is decided by myself as I see fit in the situation. (I will not post PM's asking to do this and do that, it'd slow down the game too much. More detailed instructions will follow.)
Houserules:
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Karmagen, 720 karma. (Stats are Rating x 5, NOT x3. Race costs karma equal to its BP cost.)
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Free knowledge skills, same as with BP build rules.
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Do not spend points on Contacts.-
Advanced Combat Rules in Arsenal (p161) are included. I’ll admit to sometimes forget/overlook some of them and am not prepared to lose lots of time looking it up for every attack, just know that shooting at microdrones tends to be tougher than shooting at trucks and that strong people can handle more recoil. Stuff that makes sense, you know.
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Direct Combat Spells get +2 drain.-
Conjuring skillgroup or any of its seperate skills are banned. (In short, no spirits.)
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Softweave armor mod is banned. --It's not generally that bad, but can easily get too cheesy and there's no real reason to have it in game.--
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War!: 'Slow' spell is banned. (It's actually already been errata’d out in the German books.)
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War!: MRSI, works with mortars and artillery, probably also with a well coordinated missile attack. It does NOT work with grenade launchers or bows!
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Mystic Adepts follow the rules as written in SR4A, NOT the stuff mentioned in the SR4 FAQ. (I don't consider this a houserule but I'll mention it regardless to avoid trouble later.)
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Firearms used in melee can be defended against with melee defense.
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No AI, Free Spirits, no Infected, no Non-Metahumans.-
Fight 'til Death*, just stunning is not good enough. If another player kills the opponent you stunned, tough luck.
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No Cheating. Mistakes can and will happen, if possible they will be corrected. The moment I suspect cheating, the player is kicked & banned. Rolling takes place on Invisible Castle, always with the same account and name, all rolls are to be explained in the Note field (eg:
Perception 4 + Int 3 + Enhancement 3 + Actively looking. First roll Sight, Second roll Sound. (13d6.hits(5)=6, 13d6.hits(5)=6)) Glitches should be mentioned, keep track of your own Gremlins and the like.
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No Cheesiness. This being a (almost) strictly combat game, don't take Negative Qualities like In Debt, Day Job, Lost Loved One or other "free" things that will never come up in play.
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No Metagaming. Applies to a lot of things, but what I'm asking is that, for example, if you roll badly on infiltration or an invisibility spell, your character doesn't know how s/he'll still be easy to spot. To eliminate some potential problems here I will roll Perception for all players. When sending me a charsheet, tell me how many dice there are for Visual and Auditory Perception.
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All communication between PC's (best done through PM's) must be sent to the GM too!
One thing I'm struggling with: Should players know each others charsheets or no? If no, should charsheets be made public after the fight? It could be interesting, but one idea was that if the PvP game turns out to be successful, to reward each combatant with 10 karma per kill so they can rejoin later and become legends of the arena. Not doing it also eliminates my own chances of ever joining the fight if another GM takes over... *sniff* Of course, people may get an idea towards what the champion is capable of after the fight, but it leaves place for some mystery.
Also, strictly karma-based character advancement is better for magic users than for street sams. I could throw in monetary awards too, but how to deal with availability? (Just ignore availability, instead just setting it to 20 max?)
Another thing: I think the game would be more interesting if there were a possibility of it taking place in the real world. This means the players might find themselves fighting in the middle of a barren and abandoned area, but they might just as well find themselves in Ghoul-Central or downtown Seattle, with all the problems this brings to a bunch of people fighting to the death. Yes/No/Maybe?
Oh right, the *: I'm considering allowing characters that are killed to burn a point of edge. This will not put them back in the fight but does allow them to sign up for the next arena. Good idea or no?
Most importantly: Any troublesome things come to mind that can be avoided from the start? I'm thinking spirits -might- be an issue, though that may be personal bias. Same for drones, though I'm not so biased against those and think they're less OP... What things should be banned?
Please, please, please, do not post charsheets, descriptions or bios.
