From:	Robert Watkins robert.watkins@******.com
Subject:	Cash, Credit and Crime
Date:	Fri, 2 Jul 1999 11:34:00 +1000

Doc' writes:
> I let the little things pass. The players are not runners, never will
> be and should not be EXPECTED to know enough to do everything right.
> The characters, on the other hand (assuming they've got the right
> background, of course) should be paranoid slots. So if it ain't big, I
> assume the characters do it right, even if the players don't say they
> do.

I don't let the little things pass... what I do when I spot players making a
real bone-head of a mistake is I make a secret intelligence test for the
character, and if he passes, I point out the mistake to the player,
explaining what is wrong. If they don't fix it up, or if they fail the test,
I let consequences unroll.

Of course, this depends on how stupid a mistake it is. Forgetting to bow to
the oyaban of the yakuza fits in this category, as do other etiquette type
things. Wearing your full body suit (with "Die Fragger, Die!" painted on the
back), and walking down the heart of DownTown with your Ingram Smartguns
holstered, a bandolier of grenades for a belt, and your combat shotgun slung
over your back... well, after I finished laughing, I sent in three SWAT
teams, with helicopter support.

(The above scenario happened when the team was going for a meet at a coffee
shop in the DownTown (not all meets happen in sleazy bars, you know). When
the players got near, I asked what they were carrying. The above description
was given by the last player, and it was greeted with stunned silence by the
rest of the group... the team never did get to that meeting, and an
adventure I spent two weeks writing was put on hold for a month)

So my rule of thumb is that if it's a bone-head mistake that would be a
bone-head mistake in the so-called real world, then I don't go soft on the
players. In addition, I actively encourage players to try to think about the
situation their characters are in... that's why it's called role-playing.

--
Duct tape is like the Force: There's a Light side, a Dark side, and it
binds the Universe together.
Robert Watkins -- robert.watkins@******.com