/tg/station P&P Night

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 1:09 am #46773

Bottom post of the previous page:

Smartlink only works on projectile weapons (Bows, throwing knives, grenades, crossbows) and firearms (Grenade launchers, rockets, machine guns, pistols, ect).

Basically anything but melee.

Timbrewolf · Post by **Timbrewolf** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 5:21 am #46807

Maybe we learned differently but the philosophy for thrown weapons I learned was that you practiced a "natural" feeling throw. With enough practice of that motion you learned that you were hitting a target at X range with either the blade or the handle. You practiced that motion until you would hit a target at X range with the blade or the handle every time.

Then you learned to change your grip based on the range. So if you knew at X range you would hit the target every time with the handle, you changed your grip to hold the knife in the reverse so it would be turning into the target with the blade.

I have never been in a situation where I have had to throw a knife at a target that was moving at a range I didn't already know. I imagine in that situation it would be easier to try to increase or close the gap between you before throwing the knife rather than be juggling knives in your hand trying to solve the distance for which grip you should have.

Flat throws are another thing entirely and, while they can work at sticking a knife into a target at short range, are totally useless for anything beyond 10ft or if you were actually trying to kill something by throwing a knife at it. IMO (as a novice) there's not enough power in a flat throw for either.

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:19 am #46826

Its a computer program that in canon makes you better at shooting/throwing/firing stuff by showing you trajectories, environmental factors, range, and your ammo count.

assume it would be extremely useful in that regard, as it would show you what grip you need and what arc you need to throw at instantly rather than having you, as you pointed out, sitting around juggling your knife. Spend a few minutes at a range throwing at stationary targets so it can zero to you and then in a live fire exercise it would instantly give you the grip and arc you needed to hit the guy you were aiming at. It also, obviously, could lead your target for you much like a smargun can, but due to the slower projectile speed it would arguably be more helpful there.

Considering you need to throw knives/grenades/whatever in an entirely different manner based on distance I would think that the smartlink would make more sense as a knife/grenade thing than a gun thing. For a gun the smartlink would improve your aiming about as much as a laser sight as all it does is show you the bullet's projected trajectory much like a laser sight, the fact it works better than one can basically be chalked up to magical technology. It definitely would be a lot more useful for bows than it would be for guns, that is for sure. With that it could show you exactly where the arrow would land based on how far you pulled the bow and how you were holding it.

As for the actual wireless bonus for throwing knives, it makes no sense. Like at all. Smartlink has pretty relevant targeting data but I see no way that the knives you were throwing could themselves help you out based on the amount you throw. But we can chalk that up to the general wireless bonus "Why does going online with my hydraulics make me jump better?" weirdness. Makes no sense, but mechanically makes the game work better by adding a lot of depth to both hacking and street samurai.

Incomptinence · Sun Nov 30, 2014 12:19 pm

I believe you can attach a chainsaw to a smartlinked gun (or any gun with enough slots). Won't make it cut better but eh it's a shanking.

XSI · Post by **XSI** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:42 pm #47658

Are we playing today?

Just making sure, if it's a bad time then oh well

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 8:40 pm #47668

We are.

Post by **Vekter** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:29 pm #47686

About what time?

Timbrewolf · Post by **Timbrewolf** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:58 pm #47693

6pm EST

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:44 pm #47712

Sorry for the delay. A client meeting went way overboard.

THE MIGHTY GALVATRON · Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:30 am

Anything cool happen this session, brave shadowrunners?

Timbrewolf · Post by **Timbrewolf** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:46 am #47814

We charted our plan of attack.

I came up with the overarching scheme, to steal some art objects from one of our targets and plant them on the other, then waiting in the wings to spice up the inevitable confrontation between the two with more bullets and bodies. If all goes well we'll cause the required chaos and get to fill a few people who deserve it with hot lead.

The course for executing the theft has been laid by Shiver, and it seems like we're all prepped to strike stage 1 on the next game night.

Akkryls · Post by **Akkryls** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:24 am #47859

Balls.
My shifts have changed recently and I've been having to wake up earlier and work later / get home later, as such I'm basically asleep by 10pm GMT most nights at the moment out of sheer exhaustion.
I completely forgot that we were meant to be playing last night, and considering the way work is going, I'm going to be on this work schedule until christmas eve, if not past that depending on whether management want me to continue on past that in the new year.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck time zones, I was really really hoping to actually play a Shadowrun game for once.

Timbrewolf · Post by **Timbrewolf** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:11 am #48280

...and thus a group of fightin' characters was left without a face, without a decker, and without any kind of magical support.

nsos · Post by **nsos** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:19 am #48311

yeah i was hoping the potential thursday session would have panned out but between me being a chargen shitter and the fact that most of the time during session start i'm offline doing something from 5:30PM to 7:30PM kind of threw a wrench in everything

Akkryls · Post by **Akkryls** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:52 pm #48391

I realise I'm being incredibly rude by asking this, but I don't suppose there's any way it could be organised to fall on a Saturday instead?

Just to explain, I wasn't expecting this to happen; I was working as a supervisor maybe two or three shifts a week and usually had wednesday off which meant I could crash the next day if I stayed up to ridiculous'o'clock in the morning.
I've now been somewhat unofficially promoted to manager and as such my shifts are now from like 8am-8pm monday to friday. I can't manage staying up to 2am GMT with this current work schedule.

XSI · Post by **XSI** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:01 pm #48406

Well, I can't do saturdays, I've already got a game scheduled there (One I run) so it would be near impossible to be in both

Grats on the promotion though

Akkryls · Post by **Akkryls** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:08 pm #48408

XSI wrote:Well, I can't do saturdays, I've already got a game scheduled there (One I run) so it would be near impossible to be in both

Grats on the promotion though

Eh. Mixed blessings really, it means I'm exhausted at the end of the day and can no longer do late night stuff like Shadowrun because of timezones. Yet during the day at the moment I have a ridiculous amount of free time because Winter is a slow period, hence me being on the internet and /tg/ forums during work hours.

How about friday if you can't do Saturday? (I mean obviously this depends on Dezz primarily, and everyone else too)

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:45 pm #48430

An0n3 wrote:...and thus a group of fightin' characters was left without a face, without a decker, and without any kind of magical support.

Rotwood brought this up too.

I was thinking about letting people tweak a bit to push towards being more facey, have some matrix abilities, and perhaps even awakening mid game.

Shivs is already pretty darn hacky, he just lacks a deck and a 15 point skill investment will allow him to preform DNI hacks which, while not at all useful throwing down in cyberspace, will allow you to hack objects when needed.

If anyone has essence above 4 we could work out an awakening, and An0n3 your PC already has leadership and a decent intuition anyway, so you could make a decent mage or face, if a low powered one. I could throw a bit of bennies at your guy's way to make it so you are all officially learning how to do that stuff. Is anyone interesting in roleplaying a character who just awakened? It is very different than playing an established mage and very interesting. Less phenominal cosmic power and more "All these spirits suddenly started talking to me and want me to become their student, and I need to develop my initial talents into actual things supported by the rules."

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 6:46 pm #48441

Update: Shivs is becoming a hacker and Nova of all people is becoming a mage.

Post by **Vekter** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:30 pm #49395

Assuming we are starting at 5 cst again, I will be late. Likely the earliest I will be in is around 6:30 unless I can get roll20 working on my phone.

XSI · Post by **XSI** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:04 am #49405

It's finals week, and conidering the roll20 has been empty for a few hours now I'm going to assume the game is off for today

Probably everyone doing their finals, important stuff

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:36 pm #51390

Game is going to continue next week. Tonight my soul belongs to the horrific realm of writing endlessly.

Post by **Vekter** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:56 pm #51397

This is why you don't start games in the winter.

MAGiC · Post by **MAGiC** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:33 am #51432

Would love to. Hell! Sounds interesting. But fuck, i don't know what you guys are talking about. Any starter guide/where to begin?

Post by **oranges** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:38 am #51434

Vekter wrote:This is why you don't start games in the winter.

It's the start of summer you halfwit

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:59 am #51447

not in real people countries

XSI · Post by **XSI** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 2:34 am #51475

We could just be patient and just wish him good luck with the finals period

But yeah, christmas, new year, and all sorts of shit happens around this time period. It's not just pen and paper games, but really just anything online

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 2:55 am #51482

I am a deans list student, I don't really need luck. I just get amazingly stressed out over my grades.

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:52 am #51511

Looking to run a campaign of this:

PM me if you're interested and we'll talk details.

miggles · Post by **miggles** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:55 am #51513

im gonna DM dnd 5e, hopefully starting over winter break which starts this saturday
first time DMing, any advice?

XSI · Post by **XSI** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:20 am #51522

The amount of planning you need to do is directly related to how good your improv is

And whatever you do, make sure you know the system so you can help newer players, and plan out stuff properly

Aside from that, just try to make it enjoyable for everyone, try to set a good mood for the thing, and make sure players know the amount of sillyness you're going with
It's kind of hard to run a serious game when everyone is quoting monty python and strapping rockets to their horses. And hard to run a comedy when the players are all playing it serious

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:39 am #51527

Know your audience, and think on your feet. Know how knowing's half the battle? Winging it is half the session. Include encounters players can solve creatively as well as just stabbing it to death. Say big group of enemies on a boat. They could easily just sink the boat and the enemies with it or murder the entire group because they're dumb.

Timbrewolf · Post by **Timbrewolf** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:47 am #51532

What maccus said.

Have your story in mind, have an idea what (in an ideal scenario) how things will go from A to B to C to Done

Remember that there should be a whole world surrounding all of this, framing it, and the characters live in that. So they're often going to try to draw on that to get from one of those points to the next.

You can't think of every contingency, it's not really good to sit down and come up with a series of alternate routes because your players will create those and surprise you with them. The best way I've found of accomodating those is just making sure the world is really robust and that it's possible for people to skip B and still get to C. Hit A and B, but skip C and get to D if they have good deductive skills and the world is there for them to explore.

If you bury some special scroll or map in the evil sorcerer's study they might find it when they go to loot the place after they kill the jerks guarding the place. Or they might just decide that the clue they're looking for COULDNT POSSIBLY be down in his evil lair. It MUST BE the local merchant who has been trading in strange potions and magical animal parts. HE MUST BE BEHIND IT ALL!

Be ready to roll with shit like that. When they shakedown the merchant he can point them towards the study again, or if they had a neat encounter that you feel can replace the whole deal, just have him produce that critical piece of information and hand it right over just the same. "Please stop punching my face here's the location of the place I was supposed to deliver all this stuff to!"

Also your players will try really hard to kill themselves constantly if you give them the opportunity to. Lethal traps and sinking boats will draw them like flies. Seriously, as a first time DM with a new group everything is safety scissors and those little plastic things you put inside outlets so babies dont stick their fingers in there and get electrocuted.

You will learn just how fucking stupid and suicidal most roleplayers are.

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:11 am #51537

miggles wrote:im gonna DM dnd 5e, hopefully starting over winter break which starts this saturday
first time DMing, any advice?

Everything on the character sheet is an attempt to communicate with you. It isn't just a ticker of what they can do, it is them telling you what they want to do.

People are like "yeah that is obvious" but it sort of is a lost art and is what seperates good GMs from great GMs. Rogues get especially shafted by this in my opinion because every GM assumes you are just fine with opening locks and disarming traps, and perhaps scouting, but to some extent esoteric casters like diviners also really suffer from this. If the PC takes a 'useless skill' it probably is only useless because you did not envision your game having much use for it, not because it legitimately wouldn't be cool to have, and you owe it to your players to try to get them at least some of what they want.

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:46 am #51545

Worldbuild. A lot. Make the players care about the NPCs they interact with.

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:48 am #51547

And when PCs care about someone don't have them get kidnapped or killed. Shit works in writing, it doesn't work well in P&P, or more accurately it works exactly once. Let supportive NPCs be a rock, or at least something to be indirectly threatened.

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 7:09 am #51548

I'd say it's fine maybe once but if you get a Mario and Peach situation going on where the NPC exists just to get kidnapped it gets annoying and stale. And even then build up to it a little. Why is the princess kidnapped? To spite the hero? Nah, that's too petty for a villain. Unless that pettiness is in-character.

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 7:35 am #51556

Again, it may make sense in your mind but it really is a good way to make players murder hobos if you make it clear loved ones are directly in the line of fire. It, like taking the heroes prisoner, is one of those things that works well in stories but screws with the idea of what an RPG is in some ways, the idea of the players being the most important narative agents.

Of course it works better in some games than others, in mutants and masterminds players actively want it to happen to earn hero points, but in D&D it is sort of shitty and gets stale really fast. It should happen once, and only once, and ideally near the end of the game.

That said you can use friends and loved ones for plot hooks extremely effectively by having them ask for favors. Favors are less of a gut punch to the players, and if the favors help advance the ally in a career, role, or position it make their aid seem like a real partnership that enhances the game a lot. If a PC has some witch waifu, her asking for some rare junk could be directly tied back into their relationship, rather than being just some chore that turns the loved one into an obstacle for what they want to do. Bonus points if she starts using that junk to advance the PC's goals. Making the loved ones feel like weakpoints and liabilities is just annoying and frustrating in a collaberative writing process, which is why almost every modern RPG either directly rewards the players, not the characters, on a meta level when it happens or outright tells the GM to not do it in the advice section.

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:54 am #51593

That's true, but if the players made powerful enemies they can expect powerful repercussions. I'm not saying enemies will be constantly gunning for the Wizard's FWB or kidnapping the Bard's mother all the time, because it shouldn't be that way, because who's to say the enemy even knows the character HAS loved ones? What I'm saying is it might be okay to show that pissing off the evil King who doesn't forgive any slight against him and has all the time in the world to think on it might not be the best idea.

Whoisthere · Post by **Whoisthere** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:31 am #51601

Can I join or watch or are all the places taken or what

ExplosiveCrate · Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:49 am

Hey guys, sorry for bailing a while ago. Just wanted to say that that Run Faster came out a today and has a ton of stuff, most notable being karma gen. You can probably find it pretty easily by lurking /tg/'s shadowrun general, Little Mac's already uploaded a de-watermarked pdf of it.

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 9:19 am #52110

YESYESYESYESYESYEYSYESYEYESYEYESYSEYESYESYESYEYESYEYES. You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this book.

I am going to allow players to re-make their PCs using anything in the book besides point buy. Sum to 10 is allowed, still reviewing life paths.

I recommend checking out packs as well. The writing is really good and aware of the game, like the subtle pistols mentions that they are for intimidation as well as assatination and the non-lethal ammo package mentions lawyers ruining stick and shock. The cultural chapter is also badass, going into aspects of metahuman culture you wouldn't think about, like how orks generally are pretty respectful to women and how trolls are generally MORE literate than the average sprawler because they generally can't depend on AROs for financial reasons and due to isolation.

Whoisthere wrote:Can I join or watch or are all the places taken or what

Game is Tuesday at 6 PM EST. If you can make it, you are in, as long as you can for real make a PC on your own or if you will actually take time with me to work on it. If you are inexperienced I need to be able to talk with you multiple times both during the process of setting up the PC and to check any drafts. I recommend you read the chargen part first, because while I have infinite patience talking chargen through with people I expect people to at least put in some effort on their own to lay the groundwork to build on. By all means talk to me immediately after, I even recommend it before actually starting, but messaging me and saying "Alright so I am looking at this screen on chummer and what do I do with my priority huh?" makes me want to throw my computer out the window.

miggles · Post by **miggles** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:18 am #53516

miggles wrote:im gonna DM dnd 5e, hopefully starting over winter break which starts this saturday
first time DMing, any advice?

need players. if anyone is interested, post in the thread and i'll pm you some shit

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:21 am #53517

I'm interested

dezzmont · Post by **dezzmont** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:17 am #53664

I am interested if you would have me.

Also, shadowrun resumes on the 30th of december. Some people have expressed interest in joining up and there is room, especially if you wish to make a mage or face, or other support character.

Post by **Vekter** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:51 pm #53743

Eh, I'll go, Miggles. Need someone to smash shit?

nsos · Post by **nsos** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:39 pm #53750

Maccus wrote:I'm interested

Post by **Vekter** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:17 pm #54499

Not gonna make it to Shadowrun tonight. I have to close. Sorry.

Maccus · Post by **Maccus** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 8:07 pm #54510

nsos wrote:
Maccus wrote:I'm interested in nsos

Hey there /tg/station! Play games?