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Message no. 1
From: Joshua M. Nypaver zznypaverj@*****.winthrop.edu
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 21:57:13 -0600
I was bored at my job tonight (I have a boring job...) and a thought occured
to me to spice up a shadowrun game and I thought I would share it. The next
time you big bad evil GMs out there want to shake things up in your game,
try something a little different pick the person that you want to pick
on/who annoys you the most/needs a lesson/or was luck enough to be randomly
selected and try this:
It's the night before the big run (you know the one that has to be tomorrow
and can't be changed). Everyone has that nervous tension that they get
before the run. All the gear is packed and ready to go. And lets say the
Street Sammie is the one you want to pick on. Well you tell the players are
off to bed for the night but you mention offhand to the Sammie that he's got
a little headache, probably just stress. Everyone gets a good nights sleep
and the next morning the Sammie awakens and he's sick. Fever, nausea, you
name it give it to him. Still go through the run (it may be more humane if
you dumb down the run a little for fairness; or don't give it to the guy
that's waaaaaaay to powerful and let him get all shot back down to size).
but roleplay how miserable the Sammie's life has become. Have fun. Runng
noses and the sammie looking for tissues while dodging guards, sneezing fits
as he tries to fire the automatic weapons, etc.
Another thing to try (and I've actually done this in a game) is pick a
character and have him get a phone call. From Mom (not the metahuman rights
group silly; the woman who gave birth to him). Players don't know what to
say when you hit them with this one... (usually they've never thought about
it). This one is good to teach players the importance of a good background.
Funny thing Shadowrunners played by PCs never want to tell their Mothers
what they do for a living. (Good thing too picture it good 'ole Mom's on the
Tube with the waller full of holopix and some poor stranger..."...and here's
little Jimmy bashing in some heads of the guards a Renrakaru, he said a
computer hacker friend of his got it off the security camera, and here
Jimmy's...").
Just some thoughts. Anyone else got any ideas on how to spice up a game (I
don't currently have a group, I just like to collect ideas for the future).

JOSH
Message no. 2
From: Simon Fuller sfuller@******.com.au
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 13:34:06 +1100
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua M. Nypaver <zznypaverj@*****.winthrop.edu>
To: shadowrn@*********.com <shadowrn@*********.com>
Date: Thursday, February 24, 2000 1:51 PM
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
>Another thing to try (and I've actually done this in a game) is pick a
>character and have him get a phone call. From Mom (not the metahuman rights
>group silly; the woman who gave birth to him). Players don't know what to
>say when you hit them with this one... (usually they've never thought about
>it). This one is good to teach players the importance of a good background.
>Funny thing Shadowrunners played by PCs never want to tell their Mothers
>what they do for a living. (Good thing too picture it good 'ole Mom's on
the
>Tube with the waller full of holopix and some poor stranger..."...and
here's
>little Jimmy bashing in some heads of the guards a Renrakaru, he said a
>computer hacker friend of his got it off the security camera, and here
>Jimmy's...").
>Just some thoughts. Anyone else got any ideas on how to spice up a game (I
>don't currently have a group, I just like to collect ideas for the future).
>
>JOSH
You could have next time a runner fails a drive roll, they hit someone. Most
runners wouldn't care about this, so the guy they hit is actually their
Fixer. You regularly read about people hitting their long lost brother, so
this isn't all that far fetched.
Anyway, the fixer needs minor surgery or worse, so work dries up for a few
months, and the present run suddenly has less resources to draw on. The
fixer gets better, and doesn't SEEM to bear a grudge, but then again, you
never know if the last run that went to hell was given to you by the fixer
on purpose...

Got a player that squats in an abandoned building in the Barrens? Demolish
the building one day while the runner's out. He's all paranoid about who's
out to get him, when it was just a bit of legit clearing, all the squatters
were warned an hour before to get their stuff out, Sammy must have been out
at the time.

Get someone to spill coffee on the decker's fairlight excalibur.

A run on ARES has meant that regular ammo supplies have dried up for a week
or two. PANIC!

A high school buddy that the runner hasn't seen in years bumps into him
during a high-tension meet, and doesn't get the message to clear off. Drags
a chair over, asks for introductions to everyone, blabs the runner's real
name, brings up embarrasing stories from the past. The problem is the runner
actually likes this person and has to defend them.

Have a massive traffic jam while the runners are on their way to an
important appointment.

Have fun!
Message no. 3
From: Ross Nicoll jrn@**********.ac.uk
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 16:05:23 +0000 (GMT)
On Wed, 23 Feb 2000, Joshua M. Nypaver wrote:

> Still go through the run (it may be more humane if you dumb down the
> run a little for fairness; or don't give it to the guy that's waaaaaaay
> to powerful and let him get all shot back down to size). but roleplay
> how miserable the Sammie's life has become. Have fun. Runng noses and
> the sammie looking for tissues while dodging guards, sneezing fits as
> he tries to fire the automatic weapons, etc.
The thing is, I think if this happened to the group I'm in, I have
this feeling poor Sammie would be dissected and analysed on the molecular
level before he knew what hit him. They're a little paranoid, y'see...

Well, except that the closest we have to a street sam is much more lethal
than anyone else in the group. And I don't think there's enough organic
material in there for him to become ill...
--
_ __ __ __
/_) / / (_ (__ http://wired.st-and.ac.uk/~rnicoll/
/\ /_/ __) / Ext. 7610
______________/

... Always draw your curves, then plot the data.
Message no. 4
From: Simon Fuller sfuller@******.com.au
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 09:13:03 +1100
-----Original Message-----
From: Ross Nicoll <jrn@**********.ac.uk>
To: shadowrn@*********.com <shadowrn@*********.com>
Date: Friday, February 25, 2000 3:03 AM
Subject: Re: Bored with the game: shake it up!


>Well, except that the closest we have to a street sam is much more lethal
>than anyone else in the group. And I don't think there's enough organic
>material in there for him to become ill...


Low essence should mean more sickness. So much of the body's regular
functioning has been removed, less bone means less red and white blood
cells, less flesh means less blood volume, and all those minor glands that
end up in the street doc's slop bucket. Then there's bioware, which has all
sorts of problems when it comes to illness from what I've seen of the 3rd
edition. Not to mention what the simple fact of low essence should do to
your immune system, especially if it's below one.
Message no. 5
From: Ross Nicoll jrn@**********.ac.uk
Subject: Bored with the game: shake it up!
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 12:47:16 +0000 (GMT)
On Fri, 25 Feb 2000, Simon Fuller wrote:

> Low essence should mean more sickness. So much of the body's regular
> functioning has been removed, less bone means less red and white blood
> cells, less flesh means less blood volume, and all those minor glands that
> end up in the street doc's slop bucket. Then there's bioware, which has all
> sorts of problems when it comes to illness from what I've seen of the 3rd
> edition. Not to mention what the simple fact of low essence should do to
> your immune system, especially if it's below one.
Generally I'd agree, but... look at it this way, when we went through
customs recently, we were asked who his rigger was (and no that's not
the GM getting the astral stuff wrong)...
--
_ __ __ __
/_) / / (_ (__ http://wired.st-and.ac.uk/~rnicoll/
/\ /_/ __) / Ext. 7610
______________/

... My karma just ran over your dogma

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