From:	Unix_Kurs7044 <c7044@*****.RZ.UNI-REGENSBURG.DE>
Subject:	Re: SR and Munchkin Players ???
Date:	Tue, 26 Apr 1994 16:44:52 +0200

This is one of this sad moments for a GM: realizing he can give no new challengeto his
players unless he uses some really nasty tricks, like ambushes, bad mages
with initiongrades 10+, hordes of cybered killing machines and nuclear weapons.
I experienced this with one of me groups in the past, too. I thought very hard
to solve this problem and had some ideas, that most of you won't like, I am sh... sorry,
sure, but it worked great.

A. At first we made up an new team. I posted the following conditions: Either
you take an archetype character or one of mine, which I had pregenerated.
Because the charactere creation rules in SR allows the players a lot, they
always tended to abuse the system. You know what I mean:"Gosh, 1M=Y=, what
can I buy with this now to make my character DEADLY.". And therefore a lot
of characteres are created with one single emphasise: good combat abilities.
But noone thinks about background, attitudes etc.. I don't won't to worship
myself, but the Characters I created for my players were well.. balanced,
this means had good background stories, goals for their life, atitudes,etc.
and were not only constructed for the reason of combat. And believe it or not,
my players accepted this rules. So Point A is making Characters 'weaker'.

B. Then of course I had to rethink about the campaigne and adventures I had
for my players. No more full scale war against some corp, no more hordes
of up-to-the-limit cybered opponents, etc. Now the players suddenly had to
deal with the local gangs in a different way than pulling the trigger and
erasing the whole gang. I guess, you see the consequences. This doesn't mean
they don
they don't create mayhem anymore, oh no, last week they were involved in
killing of 14 people, when a Guy from Italy was on Vendetta against the Mafia
in Redmond. But they got pretty wounded.

C. Last point to mention: Those characters have enough space (on their record
sheet) to improve themselves, kind of buying better cyber, raising skill
levels, etc.

Okay, enough, that is MHO, open for discussion
Thanx for your precious time, St.Willkofer.

P.S.: Any comments on ShadowLore? Like to hear other peoples oppinnion.