| From: | renouf@********.com (Marc Renouf) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Proper Planning (was: Random Encounters) |
| Date: | Wed, 29 Jan 2003 12:55:04 -0500 (EST) |
> Anyone have any idea on how I can drive the point home about NOT
> rushing into the job and taking your time and planing ahead?
There's the "school of hard knocks" approach, which is to
basically just hammer them mercilessly every time they do something
stupid. It'll result in a lot of time spent generating new characters.
:)
But there are other more subtle ways to do this. One of them is
to give the PC's too little information. There's a common thread in most
of the published modules that basically involves the omniscient Mr.
Johnson. He already knows exactly what he wants, knows exactly where it
is at the target location, knows exactly what security the installation
has, and passes all of that information along to the runners. If the
Johnson already had that information, he wouldn't need the runners'
expertise.
A much better solution is to give them almost nothing to work
with. The Johnson simply says, "ElectroTek is developing a new prototype
ASIST board. I want all the dirt on it. If you can get me technical
specs, thats X nuyen. If you can put said prototpye in my hands, that's
worth 3X nuyen." And when the players ask for all of ther info (what,
where, who, etc), his response should be something along the lines of,
"That's what I'm paying *you* for."
Another variation on this idea is to have the buyer contract the
runners to work up a "security profile" on a site. Their job is not to
get anything in specific, their job is to figure out the details of the
site's security plan (how many guards, presence and type of astral
security, types of locks, access points, and sensors, as well as what
functions are or are not accessible from the Matrix). Their pay will be
directly related to the thoroughness of the product they deliver. In this
case, there's nothing for them to steal, and anything they do that tips
off security will screw things up for the *real* runners.
Unfortunately, even if you can condition your players to plan
carefully and do their research before making a run, you may end up with
players like mine, who will spend three sessions arguing about the plan,
only to basically boil everything down to a smash-and-grab. Actually, to
their credit, they've pulled off some pretty impressive heists, and their
distraction/disinformation tactics are first rate.
Marc Renouf (ShadowRN GridSec - "Bad Cop" Division)
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