Shadowrun General > General Discussion

RP vs Statting

<< < (6/6)

Reaver:
Part of the issue is that the term "effective" is not a defined term in the game, and thus people throw in their own interpretations of what "effective" is.

Look in this thread. many people are using the word "effective" and then assigning a dice pool to it.... and in this thread that number seems to be 12. lets look at that number...

Why is 12 the "magic number"? Why is it not  8? or 6? or 23?
To get a 12 dice requires a skill of 6 and an attribute of 6.... both max stats for a starting character/human. (no, you can't count on modifiers from equipment, because this is too broad a topic, with too many variables...)


And i'll tell you flat out; At some tables I have played at, if you showed up with a 12 in your primary skills, you would not be long for this world, as the GM thought gutterpunks should be throwing 20 dice with a holdout, let alone what the Cops or Security could throw down (30+)!

And at other tables, 12 in your primary skills would mean that you'd never have to improve them again, as you were already effectively untouchable.


Most tables naturally come to a middle ground where a certain number of dice is expected, be that 8, 12 or 23, after a few games together. Usually either the players adjust to the power level of the GM's games, or the GM adapts to players.

(I'm famous for my 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, 5/3 dice pool power trick... where I base the dice pools of the NPCS based of the average dice pools of the party.... So if the party decides to rock out to an average of 30 for combat skills... suddenly the NPCS have 10, 20, 30, or even 50 dice too! But if they all show up with 12 dice in combat skills, the NPCs have 4,8,12, or 16 dice.... I find that in causes players to make more "rounded" characters instead of Mr. Potatoes...)

Online games are probably the worst :P Often you don't know the other players, or the GM. You have no idea what they are expecting, or what to expect. And unless you all agree to something before hand like "Missions play rules only" you can have a some... interesting experiences! Like poor Kat9 from the forums who through she was joining a serious SR game... only find out it was basically Freakshow central mixed with furry porn :(

But you are right, there is nothing that says you can't have a disadvantaged character in relation to the rest of the party. (be that through lack of karma, or just lack of skills, or an RP decision) In my long standing game that I play in, there an 10,000 Karma difference between my character and Technomancer in the group. (because she remade her character when we transitioned from 3e to 4e. And under our tables rules that means you go back to 0 karma!) and she has been an effective member of the team ever since, despite the deficit in karma.

My advice would be to keep looking for a group. It will take some time, but eventually you will find one that you click with and everything will work out.... I hope. 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page