| From: | David Hinkley <dhinkley@***.ORG> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Everyone(almost) who plays Shadowrun is a Munchkin! |
| Date: | Mon, 11 Sep 1995 00:39:08 -0700 |
> I have found that giving a character a disadvantage can often add a
> lot to the role-playing aspects of the character, some examples that come to
> mind are a blind decker or mage. A decker could see VR and a mage could use
> astral perception, but both limit his ability to interact with the physical
> world. A physical affliction or phobia, or some kind of quirky mental code
> seem to work well too.
> Illness, fear of water or flying, or a strict code against killing
> are examples of this. Anyone have feedback?
>
Prior to getting involved in/with Shadowrun I played alot of
GURPS. That games character generation system includes both advantages,
and disadvantages (as well as Attrbutes and skills) adantages cost
development points and disads (as they are called) give points. The trick
in character generation is to pick out a playable set of disads that
gives the PC color (as well as extra points) yet is still playable.
Disads include among others Social Stigma, blindness, bad sight,low pain
threshold, stuttering, bad temper, berserk, bully, honesty,
Impulsiveness, delusions, and gulibility. This is not a complete list but
a sample.
After generation you are expected to play the character with the
selected traits.Some disads have quantive effects (Gullibility requires a
IQ check with a negitive modifire for the quality of the story) while
others are more nebulus (Severe delusion requires a lot of rollplaying).
I have found that depending on the combination of Disads in the
party that the system does add color and variance between otherwise
similar PCs. We (the GURPS group I played with) did find that some
combinations are extreemly disruptive (Implusiveness, Intolerance, Bully,
Bad Tempered, and Bloodlust is one set that comes quickly to mind) to the
game. Otherwise the system worked well, the characters (even within the
same class or type) are quite different. I liked the character generation
system and the game for that matter it is just alot of work for a GM to
fully flesh out a world.
As to how to add it to shadowrun, it would take a lot of
tinkering to maintain play balance if it was to be made part of character
generation. Of course the players could take up these traits just for color.
David Hinkley
