Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Tassyr on <09-11-17/1425:45>

Title: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Tassyr on <09-11-17/1425:45>
So I admit I don't usually like GMing. But when the group I was trying to join lost their GM, I sorta got elected. Okay, it was going to be a small crew, but I figured that'd help me handle it. The problem...?

The guys wanted to directly import their chars from the previous game. The one I wasn't around for. That was run with a very loose attachment to the canon in general. One of the two wanted to run a face/mage. Simple enough, not a lot of guff. The other guy wanted to keep his char because of the 'character development' from the previous game. Problem is...

Pyromaniac elf decker with a flamethrower who hears voices insisting the world must shape up or burn, a flame spirit ally, a troll sister, and human parents.

I basically tried to explain that there's some pretty big holes canon-wise at least as far as I understand it, and promptly got told they wouldn't play if they couldn't play that char. So, the game fizzled. Was that on me for not seeing how to make this work, or what?
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: ShadowcatX on <09-11-17/1438:33>
I would have handled it the same. As a general rule I always want new characters for my games.
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-11-17/1614:27>
Well, technically human parents can have kids that turn into elves and trolls in puberty. It's rare now, but possible.

But yeah, that elf character concept sounds like a nightmare for a new GM to handle - at least if he doesn't plan to run a very pink mohawk game - so I can see why you were reluctant to play.
But honestly: If you are dealing with such uncompromising players the chance is high that you wouldn't have much fun running games for them. And if you don't have fun why play at all?
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Tassyr on <09-11-17/1647:27>
Honestly I don't even really enjoy gming that much. But it's been over four years since I ran in any tabletop game that lasted past chargen and maybe session 1, and even the ones in 2013 ended badly so I think I just got desperate. XD
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Mirikon on <09-11-17/1650:04>
If I were to GM a game, I would insist on freshly built characters, at the least. Don't care if they import CONCEPTS from prior characters, but they would be built new for my game, so I have full right of veto over everything that goes into them without panties getting in a twist.
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Spooky on <09-11-17/1703:04>
+1 to Mirikon
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Medicineman on <09-12-17/1039:23>
+1 from me too

HougH!
Medicineman
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <09-15-17/0117:23>
Where in the world do people continue to get the impression that people can morph into elves and dwarves at puberty?  Goblinization is rare - still possible, but rare enough - but that's still restricted to orks and trolls.  If they're an elf or dwarf, they were either born that way, or they got messed up by Halley's Comet during the SuRGE year of '62; this is the only time in SR canon that a living non-elf/dwarf transformed into an elf or dwarf.

When it comes to the 'pyromaniac elf decker with a flamethrower who hears voices insisting the world must shape up or burn, a flame spirit ally, a troll sister, and human parents', the only thing that would give me pause would be the flame spirit ally - if by ally it is meant 'ally spirit', as per the actual rules, e.g. a specific spirit that a mage designs and conjures (and pays karma for) in order to have its assistance in his magical workings.  Elf decker?  No problem.  Pyromaniac?  Go ahead.  Hears voices telling him to burn things?  If that's what you want.  Troll sister?  Sure, sure.  Human parents?  Fine, fine.  Ally spirit?

... let's just say 'are you suuuuure???'  Because the GM smiling beatifically at something that might be a messed-up request should send every player screaming for the hills.
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Tassyr on <09-15-17/0338:48>
Well, I admit part of the problem is I'm way, way, WAY inexperienced as a GM. I don't particularly enjoy it, and prefer to be a player. So I was real wary of such an off-the-wall concept.

As for where they got the impression- well, the guy who introduced them to the setting and GM'd the previous setup claimed to be an expert and said he'd explain it all to 'em. He admitted later that he only read part of one of the books, got bored, and made the rest up.

Elf Decker and Pyromaniac don't give me pause, frankly. But the 'hearing voices...' That makes me confused. And the multi-metatype family was just confusing to me. That spirit was a huge sticking point of theirs, though.
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <09-15-17/0730:13>
In SR, it's all possible.  Hearing voices?  Obviously crazy - or else that 'ally spirit' is actually a malevolent spirit of some sort (GM's choice as to what attitude) with a nasty spirit pact (again, GM's choice as to what type), who is 'whispering' into the PC's head.  I mean, it honestly is a recipe for 'congratulations, you were stupid and now you're dead, let's make a decent character for you, huh?' a few runs down the road, but if their previous GM was such a tosser he couldn't be bothered to actually read any of it - and I've had just such an encounter myself, someone who played once about ten years ago, and played a lot more World of Darkness / Storyteller System, so he 'knew' how the game was played, and 'knew' the background ... well, he had his gaming group who thought that his every idea was fantastic, so ... :P

Honestly, though, if it's a player going 'it's this or nothing', you - as the reluctant GM - are probably better with saying 'nothing' anyhow, so don't sweat it.  ;)
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: October on <12-28-17/1029:00>
So did those guys ever come back around for a game or is it still a non-starter? 

As a GM currently running a game, the spirit ally for a non-Awakened character, that would be a no go in my game as well too. 
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: farothel on <12-29-17/0611:37>
My Shadowrun GM would have been like Wyrm.  'Sure, go ahead' and then make you regret your choices ten times over until you come to your senses.  So in our group we have learned not to come with concepts like that.  We can still get pretty crazy, but in a playable way.  And a disfunctional party is very fun to have, as long as the characters can work together and still be playable.
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Zilfer on <01-08-18/1942:38>
Yeah I probably would have insisted on new characters as well. :)
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Gardensnake on <01-09-18/2037:01>
Where in the world do people continue to get the impression that people can morph into elves and dwarves at puberty?  Goblinization is rare - still possible, but rare enough - but that's still restricted to orks and trolls.  If they're an elf or dwarf, they were either born that way, or they got messed up by Halley's Comet during the SuRGE year of '62; this is the only time in SR canon that a living non-elf/dwarf transformed into an elf or dwarf.

I would guess it's possibly a hold over from the 2nd Edition Core Rulebook. The paragraph about UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression)was left out of at least one of the printings. Goblinization was talked about, but not UGE. I had a friend, who like myself was a big Shadowrun fan, that started with 2nd Edition. I mentioned UGE during one of our discussions once and he looked at me like I had started talking about another setting. I showed him my 1st edition book and the part about UGE.

William
Title: Re: How would -you- have handled this?
Post by: Haaly on <05-01-18/1756:58>
Personally I would have said "suuuuuure, go ahead" make sure that "ally spirit" was in fact a free spirit with a spirit pact taking some karma every now and then, and then went ahead to write up a way for him to find out that this weird family of his were his handlers in the mental facility he escaped from.

This guy would most likely accrue a lot of Notoriety which would mean that a team of highly trained physads with fire resistant clothing would eventually find him and eviscerate him. Slowly.