Hi folks, Semerkhet said something back in December (post quoted below for props) that really made me think. I'm just in the set-up phases for my new campaign (Seattle 2071, planning to run Ghost Cartels and homebrew and go from there) and decided to put together a house rule stolen from a game I've never played, called Burning Wheel. I did my research online and I really liked the idea, so I thought I'd share it with you guys in case you like it too.
Beliefs Take the form of a call to action: not just something you believe, but something you're going to do about something you believe
o NOT "The Yakuza got me put in prison"
o BUT "The Yakuza got me put in prison. I will make their
oyabun pay for what he did to me."
You start with one Belief per permanent Edge you have
In each scene where you act towards a Belief, you refresh 1 Edge
If you wish to act against a Belief, you must either spend 1 Edge or make a Composure (2) Test or else be unable to do so
If and when you fulfil a belief, you gain 1 Karma and may choose a new Belief
Instincts Things your character will do automatically, without having to tell the GM.
You get to allocate as many Instincts as you have permanent Edge
Each Instinct should be something specific, and be either an "always" statement, a "never" statement, or an "if...then" statement
o I
always have my assault rifle set to Burst Fire mode
o I
never go through a door first or last
o
If I see a spirit,
then I activate my Power Focus
Assumed always to be active, unless you say otherwise
You may change an Instinct in the course of play by spending 1 Edge
Saves you a Free or Simple Action because you've automatically done it
Surprise may supersede "if...then" Instincts
I'll let you know how it actually goes, but I'm hopeful it'll work as a way of using the mechanics to reinforce characterisation, which is really important from my perspective.
One way my group has handled little details like focus activation is through the use of a house rule imported from the Burning Wheel RPG. Every character picks three "Instincts" at chargen. The Instincts are "if,then", "always" and "never" statements that describe their characters primary instinctual behaviors.
For a Shadowrun magician you could have ones like:
I always use Counterspelling on teammates in line-of-sight.
If I think there's going to be trouble, then I activate all my foci.
The idea is that when the "if" condition happens, the "then" portion of the statement is held to have been done, whether or not the player mentions it to the GM. Note that the second example still doesn't protect the character from total surprises but even several seconds of warning would have been enough time to activate foci. This protects players from the (hopefully rare) GM that would say things like, "but you didn't *say* you had activated your foci."