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Question about the Enemy Negative Quality

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Nomad Zophiel

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« Reply #15 on: <12-10-10/0641:34> »
See, my problem with that is that its a slippery slope. We started out with "only 20BP plus enemies need to be approved by the whole group". Now evil twin is added into the mix. In the game I'm currently in one of the characters is searching for her missing relative. We found him almost immediately, sort of. He left his quiet corp life and is now a psychotic Yakuza assassin. So her 5BP quality now has the chance to become a BBG if its handled wrong.

I'd actually go farther to the other extreme and say that every character should be interesting enough to justify an important subplot. It may not be something that's reflected in Qualities necessarily but I prefer teams where everyone has a life outside of the run. Ideally, when the party is seperate between runs and the GM starts off with "what are you doing" they'd all have something to be pursuing on their own.

As for Enemies in particular, there are a ton of ways for a high BP Enemy (greater than 10) to mess with the character without sending elite snipers after the party. A lot of it involves the GM and the player working together to come up with something that can fit in the game. Here's a couple of off the cuff examples:

The Bad Way
Enemy: Knight Errant. (Connection 6, 1000+ members, National Influence, Limited Magic, Broad Matrix Resources), base value 21
Frequency: 4

The character is a cop killer. In some previous run he was not only involved in taking out a KE SWAT team, he once personally shot a cop on an unrelated stakeout in the face and stole his cruiser. He's SINless and lives in Redmond so on a day to day basis KE isn't going to find him even if they look. On the other hand, he's one of Seattle's most wanted. If he passes the line of sight of a police vehicle at a distance of a block or less or has his picture sent as part of a 911 call, they will come out in force with E-SWAT and they won't be trying to take prisoners. This is the kind of thing that can get an entire party wiped off the face of the earth and also the kind of runner no Fixer or Johnson will touch unless they're desperate.

Same idea, take 2
Exactly the same enemy stats as above. The character used to be a member of Knight Errant. He worked for one of their less publicized divisions and was exposed to some very embarrassing dirt over the years. He quit the company over issues of conscience. While he has no way to prove the things he knows, the split was less than amicable. No less than Damian Knight himself was unhappy with the character storming into his office, slapping down his resignation and disappearing into the night. KE wants to know some of the details of what he knows and why he left. They've already burned his SIN and would very much like to take him in for interrogation. The Knights don't particularly care for someone who turns on his own, especially someone who goes over to the side of the crooks. On the other hand, some people in the company know where to find the proof he needs. They're not above dangling that carrot and calling off the dogs for a bit if he does a "small favor" in return. In the meantime their dragnet will be keeping his contacts constantly on edge. They'll occasionally get a lucky break and intercept the gear he had on order. And if a squad car ever finds him alone in a dark alley, he's likely to wake up cuffed to a KE hospital bed. They could care less about who he's working with unless those people also seem to be in on his dirty little secrets.

If the character ever gets arrested he's not out of the game. He hangs out with Shadowrunners, after all. They just get an exciting jailbreak session intercut with him being interrogated. If he ever makes peace with the Knights, it'll invariably come at the cost of pissing off someone else. Lone Star comes to mind, as does a cell within Ares.
« Last Edit: <12-10-10/0644:12> by Nomad Zophiel »

Chaemera

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« Reply #16 on: <12-10-10/0704:01> »
I'd actually go farther to the other extreme and say that every character should be interesting enough to justify an important subplot. It may not be something that's reflected in Qualities necessarily but I prefer teams where everyone has a life outside of the run. Ideally, when the party is seperate between runs and the GM starts off with "what are you doing" they'd all have something to be pursuing on their own.

+1. Exactly how I feel, why should the team get the benefits of its members, and ignore the penalties of its members?

The Bad Way
Enemy: Knight Errant. (Connection 6, 1000+ members, National Influence, Limited Magic, Broad Matrix Resources), base value 21
Frequency: 4

The character is a cop killer. In some previous run he was not only involved in taking out a KE SWAT team, he once personally shot a cop on an unrelated stakeout in the face and stole his cruiser. He's SINless and lives in Redmond so on a day to day basis KE isn't going to find him even if they look. On the other hand, he's one of Seattle's most wanted. If he passes the line of sight of a police vehicle at a distance of a block or less or has his picture sent as part of a 911 call, they will come out in force with E-SWAT and they won't be trying to take prisoners. This is the kind of thing that can get an entire party wiped off the face of the earth and also the kind of runner no Fixer or Johnson will touch unless they're desperate.

Same idea, take 2
Exactly the same enemy stats as above. The character used to be a member of Knight Errant. He worked for one of their less publicized divisions and was exposed to some very embarrassing dirt over the years. He quit the company over issues of conscience. While he has no way to prove the things he knows, the split was less than amicable. No less than Damian Knight himself was unhappy with the character storming into his office, slapping down his resignation and disappearing into the night. KE wants to know some of the details of what he knows and why he left. They've already burned his SIN and would very much like to take him in for interrogation. The Knights don't particularly care for someone who turns on his own, especially someone who goes over to the side of the crooks. On the other hand, some people in the company know where to find the proof he needs. They're not above dangling that carrot and calling off the dogs for a bit if he does a "small favor" in return. In the meantime their dragnet will be keeping his contacts constantly on edge. They'll occasionally get a lucky break and intercept the gear he had on order. And if a squad car ever finds him alone in a dark alley, he's likely to wake up cuffed to a KE hospital bed. They could care less about who he's working with unless those people also seem to be in on his dirty little secrets.

If the character ever gets arrested he's not out of the game. He hangs out with Shadowrunners, after all. They just get an exciting jailbreak session intercut with him being interrogated. If he ever makes peace with the Knights, it'll invariably come at the cost of pissing off someone else. Lone Star comes to mind, as does a cell within Ares.

That is an awesome example of the good and the bad. You left out Ugly, though. I imagine it would be a variant on "The Bad" where the players take the time to disguise their "most wanted" companion and kept the Johnsons in the dark about his role on the team. Frankly, the way I'd work it if someone came to me with your first (The Bad) example would be the Wanted quality, rather than Enemy. There's a 20k bounty from KE for their most wanted cop killer. Due to the need to verify who this guy is before engaging him, no KE patrol is going to approach him alone and it's too expensive to call in the heavy-hitters until they've got solid confirmation that the guy is their man, rather than an unlucky sap with the same general appearance.
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The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #17 on: <12-10-10/1016:26> »
Many players who insist on making characters with such ridiculously powerful Enemies (20 to 25 points) generally don't last beyond the first session, in my games.  Sometimes they die as an introduction to the first game to the other players, who didn't try to munchkin their way through life.

Seriously, 25 point Enemy?  Unless the rest of the team OK's it as their over-arching plot device (unanimously, at that), it's a bullet for my Shadowrunner and new character time.

"Hey Nate, thanks for showing up tonight. Got your character made? Good. He's dead, make a new one while the rest of us play."
Seriously, that's kind of a shitty thing to do to someone who's trying to have fun with his friends when you could just discuss the issue with him in advance.

Every Negative Quality is taken so people can get more points. What makes a 20 point enemy more munchkiny than 20 points of other Qualities?
Yes, enemies need to be fleshed out. No, they don't necessarily have to want the PC dead in the most efficient way possible or to spread the love to the rest of the party. See Burn Notice and/or Leverage. In particular notice how, in the former, every time the enemy seems to be taken care of, a bigger enemy takes its place.
I never OK a character unless I have seen it and it's negative qualities.  If I see a 25 point enemy I let the group know about it and ask if they want that player's character to dominate all the stories of their games.  If anyone says "not" I ask the player to ditch the enemy and get something else, or break the enemy up into a smaller group of enemies that, while they will pop up often, won't intrude on other player's characters.  If he works with me, then I work with him.  If he refuses, then I let him know about his character's impending doom.  If they STILL won't budge, and don't have an iron-clad backstory reason to keep breathing, then it becomes a wild ride the first session as the character tries to dodge his fate.  Most players are very cooperative and don't want to cheese off the GM.

How is the 20+ point enemy munchkiny?  Typically, large point dumps into a single quality (or merit, or whatever) are a player's attempt to power game at the expense of the fun of the others (or the GM).  It's also the nature of the enemy quality to appear to be an easy, low impact, free point scoop.  This appearance is deceiving.  An Enemy of 20 points or more has such a large impact on how the game will be played that it could derail another player's , or the entire group's, efforts to role play their character and tell the story they want.  This is why I insist on flashing it past the other players and get their approval.  Often, a lower powered Enemy will do what the player wants for his character without disrupting the other players.  If the player says that his character is simply ruined without those 10 or 15 points he was gonna kipe with the big Enemy quality, then likely the player was going to use his character to the detriment of the other player's (and my) enjoyment).  I try to work with every player, but if they refuse to either (1) come up with a good backstory reason that won't crush the other characters story or (2) sacrifice a few points of one negative quality to ensure no headaches for the rest of the people at the table, then they need to see the very real consequences of an overpowered quality.
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Kot

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« Reply #18 on: <12-10-10/1208:29> »
So, then what about all of the players choosing a 25 BP Enemy. One and the same Enemy...
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FastJack

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« Reply #19 on: <12-10-10/1217:11> »
So, you want to start off the game with the runner's team pissing off Lofwyr? ;)

Kot

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« Reply #20 on: <12-10-10/1332:56> »
No, that would be... over 9000 (BP).
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Mäx

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« Reply #21 on: <12-10-10/1408:00> »
Well you can actually get 20BP enemy that isn't very actively trying to mess with the character and as such shouldn't have a major impact on the rest of the players.
Just get an enemy with connection 6(19)[1000+ members, Global area of influence, minor magic and broad matrix resources] and incidence 1 ;)
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Kot

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« Reply #22 on: <12-10-10/1419:25> »
The Jokers Club. An elite Spider's club. They pick a victim in the shadows, and plague him with pranks. Like the vacuum bot trying to kill him, or vending machines blowing up as he passes. Or hacking his commlink in the worst possible moment... If he endures, they double their efforts. If he manages to track them down, they congratulate him, and give him 'a little something' for his troubles. Like an CE commlink with a nice set od programs, or a nice contact in corporate security...
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The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #23 on: <12-10-10/1514:24> »
So, then what about all of the players choosing a 25 BP Enemy. One and the same Enemy...
That's not a terrible plan, as it involves all the PC's.  It also assumes some prior amount of experience that hacked off the enemy in the first place.  I'd still want a good backstory, but given that all the players are involved and interested in constructing it, everyone gets a say in what happens.  And everyone has a vested interest in following the story and getting geared up to take the baddie down.

Well you can actually get 20BP enemy that isn't very actively trying to mess with the character and as such shouldn't have a major impact on the rest of the players.
Just get an enemy with connection 6(19)[1000+ members, Global area of influence, minor magic and broad matrix resources] and incidence 1 ;)
And how is this NOT munchkiny?  I acknowledge some point shuffling to optimize a character, (who doesn't want the biggest bang for their buck?) but a generic enemy like this is too blatant.  It just screams "Gimme free points and no consequences."  However...

The Jokers Club. An elite Spider's club. They pick a victim in the shadows, and plague him with pranks. Like the vacuum bot trying to kill him, or vending machines blowing up as he passes. Or hacking his commlink in the worst possible moment... If he endures, they double their efforts. If he manages to track them down, they congratulate him, and give him 'a little something' for his troubles. Like an CE commlink with a nice set od programs, or a nice contact in corporate security...
is an EXCELLENT way using your idea and making an enemy that is broad and powerful but won't instantly kill players.  If a player gives me this, I'd show it to the rest of the group and then let the ideas start to flow.  It's good stuff.

The big thing about the Enemy quality is the details.  If the player gives no details, then they get "rocks fall, everyone dies."  I have seen, all too often, enemy flaws used as point dumps, and that shouldn't be allowed.  Your ideas are refreshing, and I wish the players that pulled the Enemy point dump (in previous games and in other game systems) put that much thought into their characters.
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Mäx

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« Reply #24 on: <12-10-10/1533:19> »
Well you can actually get 20BP enemy that isn't very actively trying to mess with the character and as such shouldn't have a major impact on the rest of the players.
Just get an enemy with connection 6(19)[1000+ members, Global area of influence, minor magic and broad matrix resources] and incidence 1 ;)
And how is this NOT munchkiny?  I acknowledge some point shuffling to optimize a character, (who doesn't want the biggest bang for their buck?) but a generic enemy like this is too blatant.  It just screams "Gimme free points and no consequences."  However...
Well there are a whole lot of ways to get 20+BP:s worth of negative qualities that have a very minor impact on the character, at least that one gives some major hooks to make an interesting background for the character.
For example it's completely plausible for a face character to be incompetent in automatics,long arms,heavy weapons, blades and clubs , thats worth 25BP:s.
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The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #25 on: <12-10-10/1557:26> »
Those are also a number of different skills that, given the rather hostile nature of the character's lifestyle, will likely come into play more than once.  As opposed to, say, a street samurai being incompetent in spell casting, conjuring, assensing, and enchanting.  Or a character having an enemy that has supreme world dominating power, rarely shows up, and has zero backstory.  I.E. an obvious ploy for free points.

Just to put a pin on it, if the player has an awesome backstory then I'll let almost anything slide.  But it has to be just that:  awesome.  The Jokers Club is an excellent example of an awesome backstory pinned on a supa-cheep point buy.  Not only will it get used, and not abuse the PC, but it will be memorable.
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Nomad Zophiel

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« Reply #26 on: <12-10-10/1634:23> »
Enemy does require more GM interaction than many of the other negative qualities. To use the Knight Errant example above, sure the player could come up with that sort of thing (either one) but in the end its up to the GM work with it. Any Quality that introduces an NPC requires pretty much the same thing (Dependent, Evil Twin, Lost Loved One, Records On File, Vendetta etc). Personally, as a GM I'd be fine with someone coming in with a 20+ BP Enemy because I know I can make it interesting for the players and give the player who took it a hard enough time to be worth the points. If the player is trying to get maximum points for minimum impact, though, he's probably not going to like having a high power enemy. I tend to find when making a character that 20+ BP worth of negatives present themselves right in the background.

For example: Playing an Elf character who survived the Night of Rage as a teenager?
Vengeance, Vindictive and/or Enemies in the Humanis Policlub make sense if he's been trying to get even.
Pacifict makes sense if he's more the Martin Luther King type as a result.
Pyrophobia, Flashbacks, Lost Loved One, Big Regret and any number of physical handicaps all work for anyone who had a warehouse burned down around them with their family inside.

And that's just from one event. A high BP value enemy is almost the reverse of that. If you decide to have a powerful enemy, its going to be a major part of your life and should reflect that way in your background. Just defining an Enemy and how you got it should suggest enough other Negatives to fill out a character.

As for Incompetence, I'd be perfectly happy to allow the 25 BP stack Max mentioned above. It pretty much means that the character will only ever be using various Exotic weapons. If he's a really good Face, he might be able to avoid getting mugged using only social skills. Its awfully risky to count on that, though. Beyond that:
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Gamemasters are free to reject any choices that would prove irrelevant or exploitative in actual play

Chaemera

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« Reply #27 on: <12-10-10/2015:16> »
Those are also a number of different skills that, given the rather hostile nature of the character's lifestyle, will likely come into play more than once.  As opposed to, say, a street samurai being incompetent in spell casting, conjuring, assensing, and enchanting.
I'll give you the Sammie as being stupid... which is why the game specifically has a call-out of "Gamemasters are free to reject any choices that would prove irrelevant or exploitative in actual play". But, Max's got a good point about his Face example. Yes, technically, all the skills he listed come up in play. But, if they come up in play for the Face, he's doing it wrong. A Face should always have a good way to avoid ever making an attack roll. And if he does have to, hey, he could be a kung-fu master... or just tase the punk.

Or a character having an enemy that has supreme world dominating power, rarely shows up, and has zero backstory.  I.E. an obvious ploy for free points.

Personally, I love generic enemies, contacts, and amnesia cases... That means I get to make them up. My players will tell you, the least munchkiny decision they can make is give me any say in their background story...
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The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #28 on: <12-11-10/0916:50> »
I've run an amnesiac based campaign.  It was fun once.  I might get interested in it again...in 20 years or so, when I forget how much work it was making up someone else's character.  If I'm putting that much effort into a PC, then I wanna be the one playing it.

Like I said, if the player wants to put together an interesting enemy, and it won't intrude on the other players (without their permission), then I don't have a problem.  But I've seen too many players dump points into a quality/merit that never affected their character in the slightest and was strictly about free points.  Enemies tend to look like those point dumps, and someone even posted an example of a flavorless 20 point freebie attempt.

My reaction to such base munchkinism, crushing the toon for the player's unrepentant crimes, is entirely appropriate, and should serve as a warning to not be a jerk in the future.
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Chaemera

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« Reply #29 on: <12-11-10/0939:19> »
But I've seen too many players dump points into a quality/merit that never affected their character in the slightest and was strictly about free points.  Enemies tend to look like those point dumps, and someone even posted an example of a flavorless 20 point freebie attempt.

If it's not a case of the hacker that's inept at Enchanting, or the Full Immersion lifestyle hacker with the Infirm quality, a negative quality that doesn't come up is, in my experience, the direct result of the GM not having it come up. Even an Incidence 1 enemy will appear 1 in 6 times. And, as GM, it's your call to decide that said enemy is getting angrier when the PC continues unimpeded.

You don't want the generic enemy to be some big-baddy that he slaughters the team or hijacks the game? Okay, spend twenty minutes to come up with the explanation for why this powerful enemy doesn't. It's a plot line you can use and spring anytime you're stumped for ideas or the party wants a change of pace. What's so bad about that? That you've got to do a little more work? Not really, you'd need to make up plot lines anyways to fill that same amount of time. One of your players just handed you, on a silver platter, a plot hook that you know will work, an organization that you know will be relevant and a method to encourage team cohesion (or destroy it, also fun some times) when the party has to decide if this increasingly agitating enemy is someone to defend their comrade against, or sell the bum to his Enemy for a little side money.

If your player gives you a generic enemy, maybe he does think he's gaming the system for extra points. But, since it's generic, everything about it is in your (the GM's) hands, and that's never munchkiny in my games. You get to decide when they show up, and how pissed off they are. You get to decide when and why their incidence rating goes up (those things are not static, just like loyalty and connections should change based on the game). Does it become a major enemy and plot point? Sure, but why does that matter unless you and your players sit down before hand and decide how the game is going to go?
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