[GiraffeShaman]

Citymasters and riot response vehicles are a pretty typical response, although not first wave. And they are pretty scary to face as a runner. A Citymaster wiped out an entire very skilled shadowrunner team in their rigger enhanced heavily armored van in one of the SR novels. Citymasters are the dragons of SR that you may actually have to face if you are too loud or too slow. As opposed to the real dragons that typical runners never see or meet.

Recon drones following you is a big worry too.

[Angelone]

Fade to Black, what sent them down that path was their leaders moral code. Really showed how dark the Shadowrun world is.

[Mirikon]

Yep, turns out that having a moral code gets all but two of your team killed, and those two get to become vampires.

As far as a Citymaster goes, it is usually better to try and disable them some other way than by shooting the vehicle. I think my favorite way that I've taken out a chase vehicle before was having my three drones (two Steel Lynxes with LMGs and one Doberman with a Barrett and gecko tips) turn on the vehicle. The two Lynxes did a narrow full burst aimed at the driver's window, followed by the Doberman sending two rounds from the Barrett aimed at the driver. Of course, since all the drones were chameleon coated, that was the first the pursuers saw of them.

Right behind that is the time I took out seven or eight go-gangers at once with a well placed Ice Slick spell.

[All4BigGuns]

Back on to the topic of Military Armor, generally if one of your players is taking this, it will mean one of two things.

1: It is a hint as to what type of game he would enjoy the most for that campaign. (In which case it is the GM's job to accommodate that, not to try to "Pavlov" him into another type.)
2: It is a hint that he feels that he needs that level of armor in order to survive that GM's games.

[Mirikon]

I find that players who take milspec armor without a good IC reason for it tend to do it because they just came from another system like D&D where kicking in a door and killing everything that twitches wrong is an acceptable, even expected, thing. They tend to not understand the idea of 'subtlety'.

[All4BigGuns]

I find that players who take milspec armor without a good IC reason for it tend to do it because they just came from another system like D&D where kicking in a door and killing everything that twitches wrong is an acceptable, even expected, thing. They tend to not understand the idea of 'subtlety'.

It's a third possibility, yeah, but the two I listed in the previous post are probably more likely.

[GiraffeShaman]

Yep, turns out that having a moral code gets all but two of your team killed, and those two get to become vampires.

Ah, but Bandit the shaman survived and wasn't vampirized. Wiley thief shaman for the win.

Yeah, I love the ice sheet spells for car chases.

Many players just like all sorts of cool gear, and this is just one of them that pops up a lot. I don't think it's necessarly munchkin motivated. Allowing some of this gear to be used in specific circumstances can really amp up the excitement level of a game, if done carefuly. Purposefly creating things like Barrens runs for the armor guy is a good idea. Letting him wear it everywhere is a bad idea.

[CanRay]

Hell, Bandit survived TIKI!

[RHat]

1: It is a hint as to what type of game he would enjoy the most for that campaign. (In which case it is the GM's job to accommodate that, not to try to "Pavlov" him into another type.)

The caveat, of course, is that there has to be a balance between what everyone at the table is after.  If it would be wildly inappropriate for the sort of game everyone else wants, then things get complicated.

[All4BigGuns]

1: It is a hint as to what type of game he would enjoy the most for that campaign. (In which case it is the GM's job to accommodate that, not to try to "Pavlov" him into another type.)

The caveat, of course, is that there has to be a balance between what everyone at the table is after.  If it would be wildly inappropriate for the sort of game everyone else wants, then things get complicated.

If the rest want more subtle than nudge him into getting chameleon modification on that armor. If nothing else, tell him that with it he can do what the Predators from the movies do (basically).

In essence, find a way to make it work rather than just banning the armor.

[RHat]

Getting the modification won't actually deal with the core issues there - and -4 to perception isn't going to do it regardless.

[All4BigGuns]

Getting the modification won't actually deal with the core issues there - and -4 to perception isn't going to do it regardless.

As long as one's Body is high enough that the armor doesn't encumber them, Military Armor applies no penalties to sneaking around (unlike in D&D). So with the chameleon modification and a decent Infiltration skill, they can be just as stealthy as the next guy.

[RHat]

Sure, if they're sneaking 24/7.  But that's rather unlikely - plus, the bulk of the military armour would have modifiers working against them.

[Elektrycerze3]

1: It is a hint as to what type of game he would enjoy the most for that campaign. (In which case it is the GM's job to accommodate that, not to try to "Pavlov" him into another type.)

GM's job? Don't know about you, but the moment GMing becomes a job¹, where I have to cater to someone instead of trying to relax and enjoy the game on par with other players, I bail from the table. We collaborate to tell interesting and entertaining stories together, and as players don't expect any other player to change his preferences at the table neither they should expect me to to change just because of one single player.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no elitist type - all playstyles are created equall. It's just that if you (as a GM) enjoy, say, Wild West style and plan a western style game, then inform your prospective players what you expect. If some player dislikes the idea or worse - tries to ruleslawyer something when the game has started - you have no obligation to change the flow and mood and style of the game just to accomodate something mood-breaking, like military armor.

Respectively, when you come to a table as a player, remember: when in Rome do as the Romans do.

If your styles clash neither should change - just find a group with similar tastes and game in unison.

¹Well, unless they pay handsomely. If they do that's a nice job to have 

[JoeNapalm]

I'll second that, Elektrycerze3.

It's not Pavlovian to introduce players to styles of play that are outside of their norm, or even their comfort zone. Sure, it can be done wrong...railroading is generally a pretty bad idea...but any aspect of GMing will fail if executed poorly.

While part of the role of the GM is to make sure everyone is having a good time, that doesn't necessarily mean that if you're running a Black Trenchcoat game, you need to dye your Mohawk Pink because someone at your table wants to bust heads. Nor does "having fun" fall squarely on the GMs shoulders - Roleplaying is collaborative, the players shouldn't simply be sitting down at the table and looking at the GM, waiting to be entertained.

A GM and the players should be discussing the game and the PCs before,  during, and after CharGen. The GM should know what the players expect, and the players should be aware of what kind of table they're sitting at.

If the GM lays out his requirements for CharGen and a player ignores them, they do so at their own peril. If I gave a player 500BP and said we're running a team of seasoned veterans, I wouldn't alter the game simply because they chose to bring a street rat with no stats higher than 3 to the table, and likewise, in a Street-level campaign, I wouldn't pull at 180 if a player shows up with a retired DEVGRU Operator character sheet.

Heck, in our current game, I am a player, and I made a high Notoriety character, just for kicks. The GM raised an eyebrow, said "You do realize what you're getting yourself into, right? The Heat will be breathing down your neck, with hot, stinky breath" then let me run with it.

If...okay...when that PC gets into a jam because he's notorious, is it the fault of the GM for not running the game right?

As the kids like to say: "Aw Hells naw!"


-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist