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Sticky Fingered Player giving me headaches...

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Silence

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« Reply #60 on: <08-26-13/2358:26> »
Okay, I've run into similar issues.  On the other hand, I've had players ask if the PvP lamp is lit, and I ask them why their PC would take out a fellow party member.  If I feel the reason fits the CHARACTER'S reasoning, I will usually okay it.  But then, my group sounds to be somewhat unique in certain regards.  Taking the example of the all deadly group(which I've run, and played as one of), these are all professionals at applied violence.  They should be getting hired to apply lethal force in a definitive matter.  When they aren't hired for a job like that, they should be keeping it to an absolute minimum.  One game, this group was "hired"(did it for free) to clean a gang out of a church without killing any of them.  They did it for free because the plan got them out of the church, as a matter of fact, the plan wiped out the entire gang, but none of the PCs did anything more lethal than SnS rounds and a Stunball.

I also had that group gank one of their own because they showed a distinct lack of professionalism.  An old group of mine would have done it after dealing with the offender's indiscretions one time too many.  I've played a klepto in Shadowrun.  Most Johnsons wouldn't touch him, and I understood why.  A guy that steals a megacorporate server to play video games is not a professional, and you're supposed to be playing professionals, unless you're doing a street level game.  At that point, you're talented amateurs.  If you're doing a Prime Runners campaign, you are playing the cream of the crop, professionally speaking.  Most of your complications are likely going to come from the personal angle, rather than the professional one.  One GM was annoyed with me because I recommended watching the Expendables to a new player.  I did this because every so often, even Prime Runners will get a wild hare up their ass about something they've seen, and refund the money to do what they think is right.
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Volomon

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« Reply #61 on: <08-27-13/0110:08> »
This is my thing where is he putting it?  Items weight an amount, he shouldn't even be able to get a back up server and walk out with it.  How do you know all the data on it is worth anything what if the encryption is so huge it's pointless.  What if the file is broken down into many pieces on many servers?

So I would cash the servers value at $0.

Picking up weapons and such where is he putting all these weapons in a bag?  If he's lugging around this bag how heavy is it?  When it gets sort of full lets give him two freebie weapons to take, now three your pushing it.  You now start getting minuses for weight which I'm sure is in the book.  If not I'd add -1 AGI after every X amount or an amount of weapons that would be difficult to carry.  Otherwise he drops it on the ground in order to regain AGI.  Making him waste a simple and then another to pick it up later.

The group would start to tell him to pick it up, or be left behind.

I have a player exactly like yours he's picked up one item so far in the last session because he had very little chance to take anything else due to all the heat.

trunglefever

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« Reply #62 on: <08-27-13/1231:04> »
This is my thing where is he putting it?  Items weight an amount, he shouldn't even be able to get a back up server and walk out with it.  How do you know all the data on it is worth anything what if the encryption is so huge it's pointless.  What if the file is broken down into many pieces on many servers?

So I would cash the servers value at $0.

Picking up weapons and such where is he putting all these weapons in a bag?  If he's lugging around this bag how heavy is it?  When it gets sort of full lets give him two freebie weapons to take, now three your pushing it.  You now start getting minuses for weight which I'm sure is in the book.  If not I'd add -1 AGI after every X amount or an amount of weapons that would be difficult to carry.  Otherwise he drops it on the ground in order to regain AGI.  Making him waste a simple and then another to pick it up later.

The group would start to tell him to pick it up, or be left behind.

I have a player exactly like yours he's picked up one item so far in the last session because he had very little chance to take anything else due to all the heat.

One of my players were smart and ended up calling one his contacts (a go-gang member) to take the bikes/equipment left behind after their combat. He'll end up only making around 30% or so after the fencing + paying gang.

Taking a gun or two might work out, but it can get very cumbersome. I've allowed them to take ammo, though, that's a little easier to carry.

DamienHollow

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« Reply #63 on: <08-27-13/2241:53> »
He wasn't taking guns... he was taking accounting information, data on unrelated projects, personnel data, communication files of interest, ect. The guy likes to play sneaky rouge like characters with minimal gear... I finally dropped the hammer as it were by having a disgruntled corp Johnson lure him into a trap. Long story short I enjoyed invoking the chunky salsa rule after his own ego lead him into a car with a self-destruct system (he knew it was fishy, he SAID it was fishy, he still climbed in.) After that he started insisting we stop playing and start a Palladium game. I won't touch that system so I used it as my chance to bow out... Now I'm stuck looking for a new group. At least I don;t have to deal with him anymore.

Silence

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« Reply #64 on: <08-27-13/2248:50> »
Whereabouts are you located?  If it's in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I might be able to help you out.
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend" - every instructor out there

"Maybe in your case, but he's a great buddy I'm leaving behind." - Siouxsie

trunglefever

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« Reply #65 on: <08-28-13/1207:43> »
He wasn't taking guns... he was taking accounting information, data on unrelated projects, personnel data, communication files of interest, ect. The guy likes to play sneaky rouge like characters with minimal gear... I finally dropped the hammer as it were by having a disgruntled corp Johnson lure him into a trap. Long story short I enjoyed invoking the chunky salsa rule after his own ego lead him into a car with a self-destruct system (he knew it was fishy, he SAID it was fishy, he still climbed in.) After that he started insisting we stop playing and start a Palladium game. I won't touch that system so I used it as my chance to bow out... Now I'm stuck looking for a new group. At least I don;t have to deal with him anymore.

Dang. That's pretty hardcore.

DamienHollow

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« Reply #66 on: <08-28-13/2207:19> »
Whereabouts are you located?  If it's in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I might be able to help you out.

Sorry, try Colorado

Silence

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« Reply #67 on: <08-28-13/2221:40> »
Well, I tried.  Admittedly, it was because I want somebody else to run Shadowrun.
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend" - every instructor out there

"Maybe in your case, but he's a great buddy I'm leaving behind." - Siouxsie

TX_DM

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« Reply #68 on: <08-29-13/1851:46> »
I applaud your decision to hand him his characters head with a trap. When players overly meta-game like this, the first time I tell them to lay off the super-looting meta gaming is ruining the game for everyone, the second time I don't give any reward for the mission. The third time I kill their character. If they are metagaming like this, they weren't enjoying what you were putting out any ways so might as well get rid of them.

Mithlas

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« Reply #69 on: <08-29-13/2002:42> »
You can reward them too. The infamous carrot that is not an orange stick. You can have the Johnson instruct them to definitely do not touch or interfere with anything in the building. And give a bonus if they follow orders. You can do this with killing guards too. Avoiding killing guards and you get a bonus.
Good ideas - I had a minor variation in the form of a shadow spirit that they released from a sewer (the mission was supposed to be a toxic shaman extermination). Its DV depends on the number of lethalities the player has generated, something like the Karma attack by Final Fantasy's Tonberry. The group has been lucky in dealing a lot of stun damage so far, but one of the characters is quite a bit of a bloodlust so it won't be long before his character is looking at the possibility of nearing overflow from a single hit.

Volomon

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« Reply #70 on: <08-29-13/2315:30> »
He wasn't taking guns... he was taking accounting information, data on unrelated projects, personnel data, communication files of interest, ect. The guy likes to play sneaky rouge like characters with minimal gear... I finally dropped the hammer as it were by having a disgruntled corp Johnson lure him into a trap. Long story short I enjoyed invoking the chunky salsa rule after his own ego lead him into a car with a self-destruct system (he knew it was fishy, he SAID it was fishy, he still climbed in.) After that he started insisting we stop playing and start a Palladium game. I won't touch that system so I used it as my chance to bow out... Now I'm stuck looking for a new group. At least I don;t have to deal with him anymore.

I don't see a problem with that, your ultimately the one who decides what he grabbed, and it's value.  Why not just keep it low?  Otherwise why not just run the clock out on the matrix and have GOD locate him.  Intervene with physical bodies?  After to many times have GOD catch him on camera, after that Lone Star has a picture of his face.  If hes anywhere else bring in back up security after the IC finds him.  Force him to trip alarms in order to feed his greed.  Leading to a potential TPK, one incident probably would of had him backing up a bit and thinking twice.  Otherwise drop him some bread crumbs 1k or something per piece of data. 

Say for instance he got a 1,000,000 cred file.  Doesn't mean the fixers going to dole that out or that the PCs character can even determine that is the value.  If it's fixed items such as cars bikes ect,. that's when you have an issue because that has a fixed value.  The only way he could make any significant money is if you failed to prevent him from doing it by not giving him enough opposition/consequence.

Even when for instance someone above said the would contact another person to come pick up the gear.  This would rarely work.  First off they would have to be in their own country (not a corp, ameri-indian ect).  Even then why are Lone Star not responding or Knight Errand?  There must be a really good reason such as the place they were in was heavily gang territory.   In this case the guys picking up the gear are probably already dead as the gangers respond to the location of where their buddies just died.  If it's corp stuff it's just implausible.  Theres a reason we're all called shadowrunners our lives depend on not being detected and getting in and out as fast as possible.

ZeConster

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« Reply #71 on: <08-30-13/0006:08> »
I'm pretty sure this is 4th edition, since the first post was June 8th. So no GOD.

Mara

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« Reply #72 on: <08-30-13/0044:44> »
I'm pretty sure this is 4th edition, since the first post was June 8th. So no GOD.

GOD existed, and has existed since Crash 2.0. The problem was that until 5th, they were paper tigers.

Reaver

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« Reply #73 on: <08-30-13/0052:57> »
I'm pretty sure this is 4th edition, since the first post was June 8th. So no GOD.

GOD existed, and has existed since Crash 2.0. The problem was that until 5th, they were paper tigers.

I wouldn't say "paper Tigers"...

GOD is on par with dragons, greater freeform shadow spirits, Harlyquin, and other plot devices.  Not a thing the average GM needs to be using.
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ZeConster

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« Reply #74 on: <08-30-13/0745:15> »
I'm pretty sure this is 4th edition, since the first post was June 8th. So no GOD.
GOD existed, and has existed since Crash 2.0. The problem was that until 5th, they were paper tigers.
My point was the "Otherwise why not just run the clock out on the matrix and have GOD locate him" thing is something from 5e.