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[SR4] House Rules

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Prodigy

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« Reply #495 on: <12-09-12/0134:42> »
I agree with A4BG. I realize a really connected guy is busy, but is also a businessman. (or at least is interested in money, info, or whatever the runner is offering in return for services rendered.) A connection 5, loyalty 1 contact will not ignore a runner who wants an Ares Alpha just because "I'm busy". He just won't cut the runner a deal (at all at that loyalty). Treating connection as availability is misguided I think. Especially when you stop to think that, for instance, the connection 5 guy is let's say a politician. A criminal who at one time stole, kidnapped, murdered, etc. for said politician is calling. "Take a message" wouldn't be my first thought. I could go on with examples but my point is runners who survive a not actually a dime a dozen. Contacts realize this, that's why they have contact with runners.

Crunch

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« Reply #496 on: <12-09-12/0234:20> »
I think that a Contact will always at least take the call. That's why they're a contact.

Now repetitive calls about stupid stuff might very well reduce the loyalty rating or lose the contact entirely.

JustADude

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« Reply #497 on: <12-09-12/0415:13> »
What if connection 3, loyalty 5?

At C:3 L:5, you're the old friend that they'll drop anything for, no question's asked, and help out however they can. Abuse it, however, and you'll start seeing their Loyalty drop pretty fast.

The degree of success also helps determine just how glad they are to see you and how much help they'll offer without demanding any Quid Pro Quo.

With so many points in such a contact, it's best to always have them available.

Oh, you'll always be able to get hold of them. The question is, are they willing and able to do what you need from them. In the case of C:6 L:5, if you manged to roll a 1 you might be hitting the contact up during a hostile takeover attempt, or in the middle of a massive labor dispute, or some other problem that's got them pulling their hair. Essentially, they've got too much on their plate to pull any strings for you.

Now, the PCs being professional "problem solvers" and all, the players have the option of doing a little side job to smooth his road so he can smooth yours.

For a tie, like this, it'd be fairly smooth sailing, but rolling a 1 on a C:6 L:1 contact... well, at that point you're probably just going to want to walk away. Clearing things up will probably take more work than the job you need help on.
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Prodigy

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« Reply #498 on: <12-09-12/1026:54> »
I can see your point, but again JAD your looking at connection as availability. You said a connection 3 loyalty 5 contact is a loyal friend who would drop anything. How does he differ from the connection 6 loyalty 5? Thats the loyalty part. A connection 3 is just as susceptible to hostile takeover or whatever. Even a connection 1 drug dealer could have just been ripped off or be temporarily out of product etcetera. In your system, a connection 6 guy is almost always too busy for you unless you are good friends. So someone like a well connected fixer, with a job that literally revolves around runners, would ignore a good runner team just because "we aren't friends"? Hell, if he's in a bind a good runner team is what he needs! I just think connection should simply measure influence while loyalty should measure how good of a deal said contact would provide. And, as always, the higher the loyalty, the more the contact wants in return...

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #499 on: <12-09-12/1157:43> »
One other thing. Contacts cost FAR too many points as-is. I'm thinking it'd be better to have them cost 1 BP (2 Karma) for 4 rating points--divided amongst all Contacts. This would be whilst still using the houserule FastJack proposed ( (Cha + Etiquette) * 4) ), only the points from that houserule would be spent normally.
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Novocrane

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« Reply #500 on: <12-10-12/0143:42> »
With the conversation around empathy software still going, I thought I'd post this and see how many people hate the idea.

Quote
Empathy software is designed for use with standard video/trideo cameras, simrigs, cybereyes and similar devices. By carefully analysing the behavioural patterns of the subject, it can ascertain mood, interest, and so on. It does not detect falsehoods; that’s the realm of lie detection software.
Empathy software can be used to assist a Judge Intentions Test (see p. 139, SR4A) for emotional status adding half its rating (round up) to the dice pool. If used to make a Judge Intentions Test alone, use it's full rating.
Empathy software can be discreetly used during negotiations or social interactions, provided sufficient visual input of the target is available, and the user has real time access to the software's output. Add half its rating (round down) as a dice pool bonus to the character’s Social skill tests.

WellsIDidIt

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« Reply #501 on: <12-10-12/0928:12> »
The worth of contacts is entirely a matter of the game being played. If the game is heavy action, light legwork, little between session needs, then they're probably overpriced. If it's heavy legwork, light action, with lots of between session needs, they're probably underpriced and your combat skills are probably overpriced.



Cherno

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« Reply #502 on: <12-20-12/0653:09> »
Hello all,

I'd like to get your opinion on some modifications to the way initiative is handled in SR4.

Let's assume that the game will be fairly combat-centric, think of the popular action RPGs on PC like Fallout 3 where generally characters can choose between the Speech, Combat, or Stealth approach, but it end in combat most of the time anyway ;)

There's been a lot of discussion about how to balance Reflex Boosted characters vs. Mages and others. Those extra 2 or even 3 initiative passes sure can be overpowered, especially if the enemy has it as well and the non-cybered ones are left ducking into cover on the first turn.

There's two ways I've been contemplating about how to lessen the impact without gimping boosted characters.

1. The old SR2 initiative system. It gives most unboosted characters at least a small chance to act two times during a typical combat round, and Street Samurais act 2 or 3 times most of the time. The downside is that they will pretty much always act multiple times before the slower ones.

2. Having no initiative passes at all! Instead, Reflex Boosters just add a bonus to Reaction so characters will act first but also add one or more simple actions during the character's turn, with the usual mechanic of two additional simple actions being able to be combined into one complex one, and so on. So a Street Samurai with Level 2 Boosters might get 4 Simple Actions (2 Simple, 1 Complex or 2 Complex) in his combat turn.

Any thought on this?

The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #503 on: <12-20-12/1945:58> »
That could quickly end up having the speed junkies blowing away the opposition before anyone else gets a turn.  It's not as bad as previous editions (which gave ENTIRE sets of actions first) but it will get quickly old to the slow guys.

I do recommend trying it out and then telling us about it, though.
There is no overkill.

Only "Open fire" and "I need to reload."

Azrael

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« Reply #504 on: <01-04-13/1457:05> »
This is a house rule in the works help in developing it is both NEEDED and appreciated to be clear I do not want to add hit locations to my game.
One of my players asked if you could shoot an area of the body and make it much harder to do a particular set of tasks. There were no set rules for shooting a hand or foot and the largest reason for not having hit locations stems from need to keep combat abstract so I put this forward.



Called Shot to Inhibit. attacker selects an attribute and chooses to reduce their dice pool by 1 to 6 to inflict an equal Condition Modifier to all skills linked to the selected attribute. This penalty lasts until the wound is healed can be reduce by a Willpower + Pain resistance test (a Pain Editor would not help to reduce the penalty it simply allows you to ignore the penalty while it is turned on)

or

Called Shot to Wound, Attacker receives a -4 penalty to Dice pool defender is treated as gaining the Low pain tolerance Negative quality until the wound is healed (players with Low Pain tolerance are reduced to uselessness quickly as stacking the effect would mean a 1 for 1 CM ratio for them). If damage is completely staged off there is no effect
“For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!”
― Lord Byron, Selected Poems

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #505 on: <01-04-13/1503:10> »
This is a house rule in the works help in developing it is both NEEDED and appreciated to be clear I do not want to add hit locations to my game.
One of my players asked if you could shoot an area of the body and make it much harder to do a particular set of tasks. There were no set rules for shooting a hand or foot and the largest reason for not having hit locations stems from need to keep combat abstract so I put this forward.



Called Shot to Inhibit. attacker selects an attribute and chooses to reduce their dice pool by 1 to 6 to inflict an equal Condition Modifier to all skills linked to the selected attribute. This penalty lasts until the wound is healed can be reduce by a Willpower + Pain resistance test (a Pain Editor would not help to reduce the penalty it simply allows you to ignore the penalty while it is turned on)

or

Called Shot to Wound, Attacker receives a -4 penalty to Dice pool defender is treated as gaining the Low pain tolerance Negative quality until the wound is healed (players with Low Pain tolerance are reduced to uselessness quickly as stacking the effect would mean a 1 for 1 CM ratio for them). If damage is completely staged off there is no effect

It's still added complexity for little or no real gain. If you want to do it, go ahead, but keep in mind that any added complexity will slow things down. I disagree that combat is all that slow now, but there are some who've said that they've somehow taken several hours for a combat (never had one take more than one hour--with a lot of off-topic tangents--personally).
« Last Edit: <01-04-13/1505:17> by All4BigGuns »
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Azrael

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« Reply #506 on: <01-04-13/1514:04> »
It's still added complexity for little or no real gain. If you want to do it, go ahead, but keep in mind that any added complexity will slow things down. I disagree that combat is all that slow now, but there are some who've said that they've somehow taken several hours for a combat (never had one take more than one hour--with a lot of off-topic tangents--personally).

Thank you All4BigGuns, How do you think it would effect game play and is it too extreme?
“For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!”
― Lord Byron, Selected Poems

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #507 on: <01-04-13/1525:30> »
As I said, any added complexity will slow things down. The second one is too extreme, but I don't see justifying how making a called shot can somehow make someone tolerate pain less (they may feel more pain, but that's already reflected in normal wound penalties).
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WellsIDidIt

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« Reply #508 on: <01-05-13/0955:59> »
Some attacks are just more painful than others. Knowing how to take advantage of that is pretty much the basis of many unarmed strikes.

Personally, I think both can work as you've put forth. The shot to inhibit may be a little overpowered just due to the sheer amount of skills you can affect by hitting someone's agility, but i don't for see it ever causing a huge issue. Both shots should have a smaller shelf life than "until healed". Personally I'd say for a number of turns equal to attack's net hits to make it similar to how the tase rules work. I think it would be a little "fairer" for it to have a damage threshold of the target's Willpower though, similar to how some of the toxin effects work.

Another one to consider is the Call Shot to Hobble
Attacker receives a -4 penalty to the shot. If the target takes damage exceeding it's Willpower, it suffers a -25% movement penalty for a number of turns equal to the attack's net hits. This can be done multiple times, but may never incur more than a 75% movement penalty.

I disagree with All4 though, I know, it's a shocker. These don't add any complexity to the game. Call Shots are already a part of the game. All these do is add more choices for a Call Shot action. It's really not adding any more complexity than adding gear from a new sourcebook to the game would be. Choices are almost always a good thing.

The_Gun_Nut

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« Reply #509 on: <01-05-13/1139:15> »
More complexity would be adding in a new feature/option to use with your weapons, based upon their type (blunt, edged, pokey stick, etc.).  Such as different bonuses to parry an attack based upon whether or not the weapon was designed for it.  Like a +3 for a main gauche, or a -1 for a rock, that sort of thing.

Simply adding an option to an existing ability doesn't add complexity, per se, but unless introduced correctly into the game can be potentially confusing.
There is no overkill.

Only "Open fire" and "I need to reload."