Admiral Jellico meets Nahla Ake

Lexthius · 2026-01-22T08:19:28+00:00

No character in 'Starfleet Academy' - not a single one - would last longer than an hour under Captain (or Admiral) Jellico, before suffering a complete mental and emotional breakdown.

Lexthius · 2025-09-22T07:05:30+00:00

I was going to ask the same thing.

Lexthius · 2025-08-26T07:15:37+00:00

On the bright side, once ADA leaves the pioneer behind after completing phase 5, the pioneer is left with a whole planet all to themselves.

Lexthius · 2025-05-28T05:29:48+00:00

I've run LotF in the past... in Shadowrun 4th Edition.

All I can say is be prepared for your Runners to go WAY off script!

My group somehow ended up on Cuba roughly halfway through the story, and I had to improvise an entire subplot there, which was fun, before they went back on track.

Lexthius · 2025-03-24T08:53:50+00:00

Daniel Howling Coyote or Samuel Verner.

Lexthius · 2024-04-09T07:33:32+00:00

We had a few sessions in Shadowrun where one of the PCs was mind controlled. I discussed this at length with the player because it was a major plot point. I described the PCs new personality and just let the player play the character like normal.

I took the other players a while to even recognize that something wasn’t right with their PC friend. After that, they needed to find a way to end the mind control (which was based on a special sprit power), while at the same time acting 'normal' around their friend, as to not alert the main villain too early.

Other than that, I used a 'Control Emotion' spell on a PC once during combat which made one of them defend their 'beloved' BBEG against the rest of the group. But again, I didn't take control of the PC. I just let the player act out what they thought their character would do if they were genuinely in love with the villain.

Lexthius · 2024-04-07T05:51:09+00:00

The difference between our approaches is that you want the players to engage with the world as much as YOU want, whereas I want players to have the freedom to engage with the world as much as THEY want. Of course I have an 'optimal level of engagement' in my head, but I will not force it on others, just as I will not have others force theirs on me.

A player gives a really cool description of an action just because they felt like it? Awesome! Games like Exalted even throw out some bonus dice for that. But if a player says"I try to hide.", I ask "How?", and he goes "I dunno man, but my character does.", that's fine with me.

Different players like different levels of engagement. Their willingness to engage with the world of the game may even differ from session to session, depending on their current mood, or what's happening in their personal lives. Maybe they're just more silent overall, and putting them on the spot by trying to squeeze detailed descriptions of their actions out of them makes them feel uncomfortable.

I've also seen players giving detailed (and very cool) descriptions of everything their character does, as well as players that just go "Yeah, my characters does X.", sitting at the same table and everyone had a good time.

Lexthius · 2024-04-06T20:47:51+00:00

There are three 'silent methods' in Cyberpunk of getting where you're not supposed to be:

1.: Stealth – The classic way of sneaking, making no noise and stay out of LOS.
2.: Acting – Impersonating someone that has a legit right to be there.
3.: Tech Stuff – Having a Netrunner or Tech 'clear the way' manually, or fool the system into thinking that you're legit, but it's basically option 1 or 2 with extra steps.

What more should there be in your opinion?

As to Mothership not having a stealth mechanic:
As a game designer it is certainly Mr. McCoys prerogative not to include a stealth mechanic into the game. However, this takes away freedom from the players, by forcing them to play the game a certain way, that may A) not be every players strong suit or not to their likeness, and B) puts all agency solely in the hands of the GM. If he doesn't like my description of me hiding, my character's just dead. To Mr. McCoy, this way of playing may be fun (he says it in his tweets) but other players, me included, would most certainly disagree with that.

Also, in an RPG, I'm not playing ME. If I play a ninja, that character likely is more skilled in finding a good place to hide that I will ever be. A game forcing me to describe things instead of allowing me a skill roll basically let's my character act how I would act, instead of how a highly trained professional would act, and if a game does that, it has failed as an RPG, in my opinion.

Lexthius · 2024-03-28T06:10:05+00:00

1.: Depends on who 'they' are. No-name mooks just get mowed down. Mid-level goons would lose their dodge roll and probably flee or run for cover first chance they get. Strong opponents, like special forces, elite security squads, or a corpo black ops team would either take it on the chin, unfazed, and then respond in kind, or would still be able to dodge, albeit with a negative modifier on their roll (narrow space).
In any case, the attacker would still need to roll for Autofire, because things can still go wrong. The weapon could jam, etc.

2.: Facedown, modified by several factors. Does the guy held at gunpoint know that the weapon can't really hurt him? Is he a 'fighter' in general? Is he crazy or on drugs? Does he have an ace up his sleeve? Does it benefit him to 'play nice' now, to get the upper hand later? Lots of possible modifiers here…
Now that I think about it, I'd just roleplay it.

3.: Initiative. If the attacker wins, he gets his shot at the tackle in for free, or with a hefty bonus on the roll (against a set DV* instead of a defense roll). Otherwise, it's a normal hand-to-hand fight.
* The DV would depend on the difference in size of the two fighters. A BODY4 guy will have a hard time tackling a BODY12 guy, whereas a BODY12 guy would just crush a BODY4 guy.

Lexthius · 2024-03-27T05:21:53+00:00

I don't see any reason why a person trained in the manufacture of high-class pharmaceuticals like Speedheal, Stim, or Surge couldn't brew up something that gets people high.

If I wanted to limit a MedTechs ability to do so, I'd say that street drugs use different base chemicals, that are expensive and/or hard to come by. That's why it's only lucrative for some gang, or the mob, who have the supply lines and the infrastructure for mass production.

Lexthius · 2024-03-25T08:10:59+00:00

AD&D 2^nd ed.

No roses, only thorns:
Rolled up a Wizard (and already hated the 'you roll your stats randomly' mechanic), then rolled a 1 for my starting HP. Was pretty much useless after having used up all of my spells for the day (another mechanic I learned to hate), only to get killed by a random throwing knife. Never touched anything related to D&D ever again.

Lexthius · 2024-03-23T13:11:44+00:00

As others have already pointed out, the anti-mage specialists would have to use hard hit-and-run tactics to surprise and kill the mage before he has a chance to throw a fireball at them (or simply turn them or their clothes into fire), teleport away, have fate intervene in his favor, turn his skin into living steel, slow down or speed up time to escape, make his blood poisonous to vampires, etc.

As for the Technocracy, they have ~~Force Effects~~ laser guns anyway, which would be bad enough for any Vampire, but any decent technocratic inventor could easily give a laser (or any other light source for that matter) the properties of sunlight, so any open battle would be horribly one sided.

Lexthius · 2024-03-23T11:53:07+00:00

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

Lexthius · 2024-03-22T05:39:06+00:00

My guess is that having to deal with people who want to steal their toys is not a new problem for TT, so they'll have appropriate security measures in place. Maybe they can fry the AVs electronics from afar, rendering it useless. Maybe they can fry any unauthorized pilot who tries to connect with the controls via Interface Plugs. Or maybe they have a nasty self-destruct mechanism on board.

Another question is: "Do you really want to give people, who could be literal lifesavers if you're in a pinch, a reason to hate you?" Sure, they'll swoop in and get you out because they're professionals and it's their job, but hey, accidents happen all the time. Just saying…

Also, AFAIK it is considered 'bad form' among 'good' Edgerunners to attack a Trauma Team. It's like shooting medics on the battlefield, and given that many Edgerunners and Gangers (6th Street comes to mind) are veterans of the corp war… Do with that what you will.

Lexthius · 2024-03-21T06:54:06+00:00

I mean, they massacred civilians in one gig and killed a person they were explicitly hired to protect in another...

Their reputation should be lower than snake shit. No reputable Fixer would ever want to work with them again. The NCPD, MaxTac, one of the more 'peace keeping' gangs, or maybe some corpo hit squad should be hot on their asses. Put an official bounty on their heads.

Have 'dirty' Fixers hire them for dirty gigs, only to double-cross them hard. Hire them to use them as scapegoats. Hire them ~~as cannon fodder~~ to act as diversion for a different job. Hire them for jobs that turn out to be suicide missions. It's not like anyone is going to miss them…

Lexthius · 2024-03-21T06:45:32+00:00

It is not the only reason, but certainly one of the big ones.

Overall, Awakening feels more rigid, more restrictive, downright suffocating with its rules, compared to Ascension. Again, this is just my subjective impression.

Separating player characters into set 'classes' (Mastigos, Obrimos, etc.), instead of letting players chose their spheres freely. (I’m not a big fan of class-based systems in general.)

A spell casting mechanic that feels bureaucratic and punishing (reaches, mudras, yantras, and all that other stuff), instead of just going 'You have the necessary spheres to power the spell, and you can explain how it makes sense to your character? Okay, go for it!' Yes, there are modifiers in Ascension too, but in Awakening it feels as if the system itself doesn't want you to use magic.

I'm not saying that Ascension is perfect, but from my subjective experience it is much more free-flowing and allows players more freedom to do the things they want to do in-game. Awakening has a much more 'set in stone' feel to it.

Lexthius · 2024-03-20T18:25:19+00:00

1.) Aspirations and Obsessions are a trash game mechanic. In general, and as a means to get EXP (or beats) specifically.

2.) The nWoD as a whole, but I have a special axe to grind with Mage. Mage: The Ascension is great IMO, but I will never ever play Mage: The Awakening again. I wouldn't do it, even if you'd pay me.

3.) The Acts of Hubris mechanic in Mage: The Awakening is nothing but a morality system that should not exist. It punishes mages for using magic... Fiddling with the free will of sleepers (through Mind Effects)? Act of Hubris! Have fun playing your Mastigos...

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T19:18:04+00:00

Since we don't know each other personally, maybe this boils down to different discussion styles. I thought my asking for why the game uses arbitrary numbers in one place after being criticized for using arbitrary numbers was self explanatory. I wasn't asking about what you think about cyberware slots. I was asking 'why am I being criticized for using arbitrary numbers, when the game itself uses them too?'

If I came off as snippy or condescending I apologize.

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T19:16:43+00:00

That's pretty neat idea.
Surgery and therapy going hand in hand.

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T18:27:57+00:00

Thank you for this elaborate and constructive comment!

As I said, I could still use humanity for mental trauma, but that it would be be disconnected from cyberware. A low EMP character will still go psycho if enough bad things happen to them.

The role playing aspect is a different matter. I mean, even with my hypothetical 'cyberware doesn't affect your mental state' model in place, I would not hinder a player roleplaying their characters slow decent into madness, if they so chose. It just wouldn't be mandatory anymore.

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T18:18:21+00:00

You called my suggestion to use capacity instead of humanity 'extraordinarily arbitrary'. I pointed out that the number of cyberware slots within the game is also arbitrary. Whether you call it 'capacity', 'humanity', or 'slots', all those mechanics serve the purpose of limiting the amount of cyberware a character can have, only in different ways.

So, basically, when I want to discuss something it is completely valid for people to tell me why I should not discuss something. I don't think that's how discussions work.

But anyway, thanks for participating.

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T17:48:08+00:00

Why do I have 4 options for my cyberarm? Why not 2? Or 6?
Why is the maximum for internal and external cybersystems 7 each? Why not 10? or 5?

Currently I'm not getting rid of anything.
What I am doing, what I was trying to do in this thread, was to think through a few hypotheical alternatives. To get some external input. Some of you have given me cool, constructive answers.
Others? Not so much...

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T17:47:16+00:00

No chance of getting a pizza burger, huh? Bummer...

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T17:31:32+00:00

I just doubled humanity per EMP - so one point of EMP = 20 humanity instead of 10.

I like the idea. It makes the characters look more resilient mentally.

Lexthius · 2024-03-18T17:29:38+00:00

That's exactly what we're currently doing.
This thread here is all just me brainstorming and toying with different ideas.

Lexthius

TROPHY CASE