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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bryan Pow)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Thu Aug 22 19:40:01 2002
Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more
deadly if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game
"off the cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where guards are and
how they will respond, that player characters start getting a lot more
wounded.


--
Just another run
Winter rain as drone guns fire
Life is all too cheap
Message no. 2
From: Tobias.D@********.de (Burning Avatar)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:06:59 +0200
On Fri, 23 Aug 2002 11:42:35 +1200
Bryan Pow <powbr323@*******.otago.ac.nz> wrote:

> Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more
> deadly if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game
> "off the cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where guards are
> and how they will respond, that player characters start getting a lot
> more wounded.

If they become more deadly I don't know really.

My group is that small, I can't kill them every run - but if I plan the
hole run befor, it's more likely to become situations where the players
sits on their chairs and don't know how to go further - either because
of the riddle or the battlesituation.

- Burning Avatar

--

Burning Avatars Data Haven
http://home.t-online.de/home/tobias.d/shadowrun

PGP User ID: 0x825CE007
Message no. 3
From: shiva@*********.net (Shiva Khan)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 01:12:08 -0700
Yea I have also had that happen. If it is not the characters getting
wounded it usua;;y winds up with the destruction, theft, or what ever of
a neat piece of gear that I had messed up and given to then only to find
out how much it really unbalanced the game. Running a game "off the
cuff" is something I am not to good at, but at least for my group the
planned out sesion is usually more enjoyable. Enough of that.

L8r all
S.K.

>
> Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more
> deadly if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game
> "off the cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where
> guards are and
> how they will respond, that player characters start getting a
> lot more
> wounded.
>
Message no. 4
From: loneeagle2061@*******.com (Lone Eagle)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 09:15:26 +0000
>From: Bryan Pow <powbr323@*******.otago.ac.nz>
>Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more deadly
>if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game "off the
>cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where guards are and how they
>will respond, that player characters start getting a lot more wounded.

Getting less so but yes. It's partly down to things like remembering cover,
light, movement...etc modifiers, if you know what your goons are going to do
you have more time to think about stuff like that; but it also comes down to
tactics, at least that's the way it tends to work with me. I tend to have
the same reduced effectiveness when I run out of plan, when I haven't
expected something (like the 'runners falling back, I mean how often does
_that_ happen?) the mooks tend to allow all of their discipline out of the
window and run into a storm of fire from a (hastily) prepared defensive
position.
Of course my biggest failing is simply remembering that a three round burst
is only a simple action.

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Message no. 5
From: ValeuJ@*************.navy.mil (Valeu John EMFA)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 06:16:01 -0800
> >From: Bryan Pow <powbr323@*******.otago.ac.nz>
> >Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more deadly
>
> >if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game "off the
> >cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where guards are and how they
> >will respond, that player characters start getting a lot more wounded.
>
My games are deadly enough as is due to player stupidity.

Last session I ran food fight. The weapons specialist didn't buy
any armor, and the physad
(melee specialist) didn't wear any impact armor when he confronted
Slicer.

Aftermath: Physad was dead, Badger shaman had D Stun with M
Physical overflow,
and the Weapon specialist was one box below deadly.

Ok, so everyone gets in the hospital (Physad had DocWagon Gold),
heals, and leaves.
The WS has to go get her bike back from impound (she left it at the
Stuffer Shack, so it got towed).
Getting a ride from another new player, she paid her fine and got
her (slightly damaged) bike back.

Now the person that gave her the ride had a 3220-Turbo, WS had an
Aurora. She gets on the bike, guns the engine,
peels out, and takes off at 120. In front of Lone Star HQ, in
mid-afternoon. And then the 3220-T takes off as well (same speed).
3 LS cars follow in pursuit.

Aftermath: 3220-T gets away, and the WS is now back at one below D
and her bike is trashed.

*sigh*....

EMFN John Valeu
-AKA- TimeKeeper
Message no. 6
From: Gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2002 13:14:01 +0200
According to Valeu John EMFA, on Fri, 23 Aug 2002 the word on the street was...

> My games are deadly enough as is due to player stupidity.
[snip]
> Aftermath: 3220-T gets away, and the WS is now back at one below D
> and her bike is trashed.

I think that what you need to do is explain to the players that they should
keep the real world in mind, and keep playing the world pretty much as you
described. IOW, let them pay for their stupidity in much the same way they
would if they did this kind of stuff IRL...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Huh?
-> Probably NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ 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. 7
From: dam01@***.edu.au (Damion Milliken)
Subject: Planned adventures
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:33:37 +1000
Bryan Pow writes:

> Have any of you GM's out there found that your games get much more
> deadly if you plan out things in advance rather than running the game
> "off the cuff"? I find that if I actually plan out where guards are and
> how they will respond, that player characters start getting a lot more
> wounded.

I find that if I plan adventures, they tend to be cakewalks. Even if I try,
I can rarely forsee all the clever ideas and shifty moves that my players
will come up with. They will usually manage to work around pretty much
everything that I would plan.

OTOH, the times that I plan opponent tactics, and use bad guys with sensible
gear and clear ideas of how to do things (like, say, SWAT teams), the runners
do tend to drop off like flies, yes.

Usually, I just run things fast and furious (SR combat takes too long as it
is, and stopping to think of good tactics for bad guys just slows it down),
which means that the runners tend to get a break tactics wise, as it becomes
1 brain (mine) vs 5 or so of them.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong
Unofficial Shadowrun Guru E-mail: dam01@***.edu.au
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