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Message no. 1
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:22:41 +0100
Jett said on 17:17/23 Jul 98,...

> On IRC, we tend to play a lot more often than IRL. Tim's games have run
> anywhere from two to four times a week. Average, 2-4 karma a session.

That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
play on IRC take only one session each?).

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Hanging on to letting go.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 2
From: "Frank Pelletier (Trinity)" <jeanpell@****.QC.CA>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:20:10 -0400
Gurth <gurth@******.NL> once wrote,



>Jett said on 17:17/23 Jul 98,...

>> On IRC, we tend to play a lot more often than IRL. Tim's games have run
>> anywhere from two to four times a week. Average, 2-4 karma a session.

>That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
>per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
>play on IRC take only one session each?).

Nah, with Tim's games, it was on a "per-session" basis. I remember a time,
about 6 months ago, when we got karma based on "critical points" in the
adventure, and only got karma then, not each session we played. Then we
switched to getting a smaller ammount of karma for each session (from 2 to
5, the highest for me). Considering that Tim's adventure "Nine Swords" has
been going on non-stop since... lemme see... February/March, it's a good
thing we have(or in my case, had) it on a regular basis, else we'd never see
the damn thing.

When will it end...when will it all end :)

Trinity
-------------------------------------------------------------
Frank Pelletier
Trinity@********.com, jeanpell@****.qc.ca
This message was brought to you by Asian Dub Foundation - "Rafi's Revenge"

"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" - M. Gandhi
Message no. 3
From: Ulrich Haupt <sandman@****.UNI-OLDENBURG.DE>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 17:59:21 +0000
Gurth wrote:

> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).

Most of our sessions take for about 4-5 session (some longer) of about 3 1/2
hours each (-> makes about 15 hours an adventure). We earn Karma at the end of
an adventure which is mostly between 5 and 8 points.

I suppose we give Karma generously but that's because we only play once in 14
days or even less often.

Sandman
Message no. 4
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 13:14:10 -0400
At 12:22 PM 7/24/98 +0100, you wrote:

>That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
>per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
>play on IRC take only one session each?).

Depends.

I've been running mostly one-shot type adventures this last few months,
things that can be wrapped up in a single 5 hour session (note that we stay
a lot more focused on the game than most groups I've been in/seen), so I'll
award Karma as normal.

But usually in a multi-part adventure, as I'm running currently, I'll award
some of the basic awards given in the BBB, assuming they actually did
anything.

IF they had progressed to where there was combat, I'll often go ahead and
award a point for threat and/or survival. Typically no success points
until the 'run is over. Then I'll award some individual Karma points for
RP, humor, drama, RPRT, etc.

So I tend to award a large amount of Karma, especially compared to Gurth,
for example. But I also use SR1 Karma rules (no nasty evil smelly Karma
Pool) so they end up burning Karma for successes and rerolls. Total earned
Karma brings it closer, though still higher, to a game like Gurth's.

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World
Message no. 5
From: "Mark J. Steedman" <Mark@******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 18:27:38 +0000
Gurth writes


>
> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).
>
I usually award it by the adventure, keeping track of individual
awards during game play so i don't forget and adding the team award
on at the end.

I typically see an award rate of about 1point/played hour which is
rather more than Gurth quoted he hands out, have seen 10 for 10
minutes effort (someone just had the right character, right
ettiquette skills and just dismantled an adventure just like that) or
a whole team 12 each for an hour (Political poison, one of the FASA
ones in Super tuesday, thats how long it took the PC's to find
identify and obliterate the vital bad guy, was playing this one,
knowing it and just watched the one thing that it falls for in style
happen in front of my eyes!)

At the other end of the scale awards near 0 for an adventure have
been known.

Mark

http://www.mist77.demon.co.uk/Shadowrun
Message no. 6
From: Grahamdrew <mnemonic25@*********.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 14:14:13 -0400
> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).

I usually do it per-session, then if I'm doing a REALLY long run (5+
scessions) they don't get one bigass lump at the end
Message no. 7
From: Adam J <fro@***.AB.CA>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:37:54 -0600
At 14:14 24/05/98 -0400, you wrote:
>> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
>> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
>> play on IRC take only one session each?).
>
>I usually do it per-session, then if I'm doing a REALLY long run (5+
>scessions) they don't get one bigass lump at the end

Per session only makes sense in two situations:

1. The team achieves a major goal. If they're chasing a bad guy and trying
to also steal a new prototype of something, and you find the prototype, a
karma award might be appropriate there.

2. The players have a chance to hunker down safely for a time, like
stopping and renting a motel room, and actually sleeping for the full night.

-Adam J
-
< http://www.interware.it/users/adamj / ICQ# 2350330 / fro@***.ab.ca >
< ShadowRN Assistant Fearless Leader / TSA Co-Admin / TSS Productions >
< FreeRPG & Shadowrun Webring Admin / The Shadowrun Supplemental >
< The Entity responsible for the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball >
Message no. 8
From: Jett <zmjett@*********.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 16:40:42 -0400
Gurth wrote:
>
> Jett said on 17:17/23 Jul 98,...
>
> > On IRC, we tend to play a lot more often than IRL. Tim's games have run
> > anywhere from two to four times a week. Average, 2-4 karma a session.
>
> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).

Very seldom do IRC games take only one session. It's a lot like RL,
actually, as far as how long we run and how many games an adventure
takes. Although it's easier to get the players together. No deciding
whose house to meet at, and when, etc. Also, it's easier to set up two
and three games a week on IRC and have most of your players show.
I'm hardly the authority, I've only been GMing for two months now and
am still a novice, but I award by the session, because of the
fluctuations in play...one night, one PC might be in KILLER form,
humor-wise, and have us all laughing, the next game they might not. I
find by the session less trouble to keep track of, too.

--Jett

<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>



"I'll make this clear, that I'm just here for backup. And to offer the
occasional advice or insult."
--Jett, on being an NPC

"Crushed to death IS natural. Walls fall on people and kill them all the
time. I just make the walls a little more aggressive about it!"
--Cinder the pyrokinetic/psi, on natural causes of death


http://www.scifi-fantasy.com/~zmjett/shadow.htm
Message no. 9
From: K is the Symbol <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 02:21:12 EDT
In a message dated 7/24/1998 5:23:17 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
gurth@******.NL writes:

> > On IRC, we tend to play a lot more often than IRL. Tim's games have run
> > anywhere from two to four times a week. Average, 2-4 karma a session.
>
> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).
>
Many times, the home games tend to be one session equals one game adventure,
but that isn't always true even. We do have a few that are longer duration
chapters within our "epic" story lines. In these cases, the
"chapters" are
treated as per the chapter awards in HB and HBII...

-K
Message no. 10
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 11:54:44 +0100
Mark J. Steedman said on 18:27/24 Jul 98,...

> I typically see an award rate of about 1point/played hour which is
> rather more than Gurth quoted he hands out

I normally use the guidelines from the GM chapter of SRII -- one
for survival, one per objective completed, and so on. The
exception is FASA-published adventures, where I use the awards
from the module instead. Usually points for roleplaying etc. are
awarded, too.

Also, after each adventure we give out one extra point for which
all the players except the GM vote; the player getting the most
votes gets the point.

> At the other end of the scale awards near 0 for an adventure have
> been known.

I've once or twice given out 0 Karma, mainly for FASA adventures
where there are negative awards for doing the wrong thing (or
not doing the right thing).

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Hanging on to letting go.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 11
From: Grahamdrew <mnemonic25@*********.COM>
Subject: Re: Karma awards (was Re: Transformational Weaponry)
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 14:06:19 -0400
> > On IRC, we tend to play a lot more often than IRL. Tim's games have run
> > anywhere from two to four times a week. Average, 2-4 karma a session.
>
> That makes me ask the question whether more GMs award Karma
> per session rather than per adventure (or do the adventures you
> play on IRC take only one session each?).

I play on IRC too (DALnet though, not UNDERnet) and ours will generally
only last one scession. Once and a while one of us will start an
ongoing game that'll last maybe a month or so, one day a week. Our
normal runs go for anout 5 karma each though. I guess we have upwards
of about 4 short runs a week, and maybe have an ongoing game happening
once every two or three months

Further Reading

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