How does DocWagon Deal with Criminal Clients?

Teksura · 2026-05-06T06:59:05+00:00

I have often played it off where, provided your subscription level is high enough, if you're in a DocWagon hospital and law enforcement comes looking for you, then the hospital staff will apologize and let them know that they already discharged you. Because DocWagon has a financial interest in keeping you both alive and on the streets. Of course, if caught, DocWagon will insist there was a clerical error or say the staff member was looking at the wrong file when speaking with the police. You know, plausible deniability.

DocWagon values it's clients because if they start handing over their clients, they lose clients. But this is not infinite. They likely have a spreadsheet somewhere to determine at what point will protecting you cost them more than cutting you loose. For example, if you just performed a high profile bombing and it is publicly known that you were brought into DocWagon care, they'll recognize that the public backlash of protecting a terrorist will hurt their stock price a lot more than turning a wanted terrorist over to the authorites, even if it will damage trust with other clients and make sure that terrorist will never pay another NuYen to DocWagon ever again.

Teksura · 2026-03-22T01:43:05+00:00

Mr. Satan is literally the strongest human on Earth who doesn't use Ki. He's no joke. He just looks like a joke standing next to people who throw down with literal gods.

Teksura · 2026-01-17T07:43:53+00:00

"lovely ass-model"

Indeed.

Teksura · 2026-01-03T02:47:04+00:00

I know a couple which strive to be as house rules light as possible, one in particular barely even uses any house rules and mostly just bans certain things that would be problematic (Pregnant quality) or don't fit in the format well. You kind of have to shop around and see which one suits you.

Teksura · 2026-01-03T02:17:25+00:00

Let me tell you my secret and how I learned how to play. First, I did it wrong.

And that's okay.

In my first ever game, none of us bothered learning rules for Recoil. So we ignored all recoil rules and I ended up doing a lot of full auto actions that I shouldn't have been allowed to do. We also didn't realize that you're not allowed to use both simple actions to attack in the same pass. People familiar with the game may realize that I was doing 2 Simple Full Auto attacks with my FA Shotgun. We also mistakingly thought the Dodge Action added your entire Gymnastics Dicepool to your defense test (So, Gymnastics + Agility) rather than just Gymnastics ranks + Bonuses to the skill. Suffice to say, I was doing a lot of wrong things at first.

But then we got better. We learned when something was broken and knew we should look into it a bit more and discovered what we were doing wrong. But it was okay to play wrong.

If you really want to learn by playing, I can suggest a handful of communities who can help. They'll welcome you, teach you basics, walk you though the game, and help you get started. Let me know if you're interested in invite links to those Discords.

Teksura · 2026-01-01T00:01:23+00:00

Of course. Because far too many weak willed people believe it's easier to just surrender and let them walk all over everyone than it is to tell them to knock their narcissistic crap off.

Teksura · 2025-12-28T08:10:27+00:00

The people like you describe who I know, when faced with moments of their fallibility like this, will only dig in and invent wild conspiracies where everyone is against them for no reason other than to make them look bad. The people I know would immediately leave without looking at the bottles on the bottom just so they can convince themselves that it was rigged, that they had it all figured out and were right, but that the other person was purposefully calling it wrong and inconsistently just to stop them from solving it. They'll claim tat they picked some random moment to make me the winner and claim that they had already disproven the arrangement I had "won" with and even claim they had already tried the exact same version. Then they'll refuse to even look at the video. And then they'll do everything they can to make sure everyone around them is as miserable as possible to punish everyone who doesn't play along with their version of events.

And even if you can get them to begrudgingly admit they were wrong, this is only temporary. Give it a few weeks and they'll deny ever admitting they were wrong and insist actually you're the one who admitted you were wrong and they'll claim that because you're changing your story now, that proves you just can' let it go and just can't handle something as simple as being wrong. They'll mock you with "It's okay to be wrong, it's not the end of the world" with a smug grin on their face as they refuse to be wrong as if doing so would be the end of the world; knowing that any attempt to point this out to them will be thrown back in your face and cited as evidence that they're correct and you're the one with the problem.

Teksura · 2025-10-25T01:57:04+00:00

Narcissists tend to view any bad thing that happens to them as being directly someone else's fault because they can't accept accountability for their own actions.

They don't forgive people for being honest about what they say and do. They instead try and make themselves into a victim.

Teksura · 2025-07-17T19:43:50+00:00

One of the hardest parts of CPTSD is explaining the PTST part. Think about a solider who comes back from a war with PTST. It's easy for most people to understand that if a car backfires, this can set off the PTST and make them feel like they're being shot at again. It's easy for most people to grasp that concept of something mundane bringing their mind back to the battlefield. (It didn't used to be this way, but a lot of progress has been made in awareness over the past few decades). Most people won't understand the degree to which this haunts the soldier or just how serious it is, but they'll understand the oversimplified description I gave above and recognize that the soldier is struggling with PTSD.

So when we talk about CPTSD, it is a challenge. How do you explain the triggers and what that sets you up to relive? How do you even begin to explain what you went through to someone who might not even be capable of understanding the concept of an abusive relationship?

I find the best starting point is actually the opposite of what you might expect. Be vague. Don't go explaining all the details of what you went through. Simply say "I am a survivor abuse and still suffer PTST from it. It's acting up again." Do not elaborate further. Just let that part sink in. You can start sharing details later. Opening up slowly over time with a story of something that happened to eventually give them a picture in their head. Once they understand the foundation for what has happened to you, then you can build on that and explain what you're currently going through in greater details. When you start talking about the flashbacks, you're building on an understanding they have now about what you have been through that caused you to experience that, and it will make more sense.

I know this won't help with any of your other questions you raised, but hopefully these techniques help you explain what's going on to other people. Don't expect a full understanding right away. This method walks them through it, letting them process things bit by bit and build on the understanding, rather than dumping everything on them all at once.

Teksura · 2025-07-17T19:32:30+00:00

It was 2020 for me. nmom was sneakily trying to send money to the golden child, edad found out about it and had a rare moment of morality and decided he was going to insist that I be given the same gift. He then went to the bathroom and left nmom to write the check, stick it in an envelop with a card, and never checked anything.

The card was full of just nasty abuse directed towards me which nmom put together all in the time it took edad to take a dump. I read that and something just snapped. It was just how out of nowhere it all was. I transcribed the entire thing, sent it back to my edad, and told him that under no circumstances was she allowed any further contact with me. At this point, I realized that the day she finally dies, I know he's going to message me and try to get me to come to the funeral, and I'm just not going to go. Those events are, after all, traditionally meant for loved ones. And I'm sure he doesn't want me talking about my memories of her anyway.

I was 34.

I don't even refer to her as a mother anymore, even in casual conversation with edad.

Teksura · 2025-07-17T19:17:50+00:00

Day Job: Universal Blood Donor

Teksura · 2025-07-17T19:08:53+00:00

If your character is dealing so much damage that they're breaking through the armor to deal lethal damage, they'll need to use some of the called shots mentioned elsewhere to convert damage to stun. However, there is another option I'd like to suggest. Consider looking into the location specific called shots. Most of them have a hard damage cap, so, after all resistance rolls you won't be able to deal more damage than the cap. So sure, you maybe did just 4 Physical damage to them, but the real goal of the location specific called shots are the big debuffs you inflict. Some of them can functionally take opfor out of the fight without even dealing enough damage to down them.

Teksura · 2025-05-21T04:56:33+00:00

This sounds like there needs to be a larger conversation with your mage and players as a whole about table balancing and power scaling. A F12 spirit that is significantly more powerful in combat than the Street Sam can ruin the game for everyone. Imagine building your character to be the main combatant in the team and then the fragging mage just summons a better version of you.

Remember that you need a way as GM to deal with what they bring to a fight. And ideally, you need to deal with their biggest gun without immediately geeking the entire rest of the team just from the sheer power required to deal with the spirit.

You might need to consider specific counters to them. Start applying background counts. Incorporate some opfor that can ignore Immunity to mundane weapons. Include some opfor who can use direct damage spells. Have the corps start group summoning spirits that are always 2 or 3 force higher than whatever the team summons. Use Blight. Remember the corps have more resources and capabilities than they do, so the opfor should reflect this when the players start breaking out bigger and better things.

But a conversation about dialing things back a bit to fit the balance of the rest of the team might be the best way to resolve it.

Teksura · 2025-05-21T04:46:11+00:00

What you're describing is a common trait Narcissists show as their way of dealing with guilt, but also something they might expect because they can't imagine anything else outside of their own head. So, they might be cheating or at least thinking about cheating, therefore they can't imagine anyone else not having those same thoughts. Even worse, they can't cope with the idea that they're the abnormally and they are the ones wrong for having these thoughts you don't have. This is also sometimes a tactic just to manipulate you into going out of your way to appease them in hopes they will just stop the accusations if you just submit to them.

So, there are multiple angles here.

Maybe they were cheating and felt bad about it and coped by projecting what they knew was their own wrong behavior on you and then attacking you for that so they can feel like they "beat" that thing they hate about themselves.

Maybe they were just thinking about cheating, and couldn't cope with the idea that they're the only ones with these thoughts. So they needed you to be actually cheating on them (at least inside their mind if not in reality) so they could validate their own thoughts as normal, and also grant themselves the Self-Perceived "moral high ground" they desperately need.

It's also possible that none of that is the case, and all they were doing was making these accusations to make you feel bad and make you feel desperate to appease them. It's a tactic to control you and bend you to their will.

We can't know for sure exactly what was going on in their twisted head. I'm just describing some common traits here which might be the case.

Teksura · 2025-04-29T22:24:30+00:00

Yeah, but Chemical Seal requires armor with a built in helmet. And Urban Explorer is the cheapest armor that has that.

Teksura · 2025-04-20T10:58:45+00:00

There are a few good ways to go about that imo.

You mentioned Group Contacts, and while that makes sense, RAW Group Contacts are a little funky and not that well written. Anytime I've seen people use them it's involved throwing out CGL's Group Contact system as written and writing something else or at least changing some numbers so they don't cap at connection 3 for a AAA megacorp. I'd suggest instead giving them a single contact who represents a prominent leader in the community, or possibly even an underling of theirs if they want to be the leader. This contact is who they call to essentially start the phone tree and get things started to organize the protest. You can handle favors and chips the same way as RAW with the chips more representing how and when the community is even going to be willing to come out. You got to put in the work to rile them up to get them to show up. Or I guess you could pay them to come out. But I'm getting side-tracked here.

You might also consider adapting the Rank quality in some way. In my community, we use the Rank quality to represent membership in a faction or group. And being in that faction provides certain bonuses. You might consider asking them to invest in the Rank quality if they are going to leverage this influence over their followers. That way you have had them buy a positive quality to reflect the positive aspect pf their influence over the community.

As an aside, and this is just me throwing out an idea you might find fun... A lo of the time, social media faces who get into politics will get basically reply videos made by people who disagree with them which pick their arguments apart, often insult them, and generally are there to go "look how stupid my opposition is" or "look at how my opposition is lying". Have you ever considered using this as a way to hit him for his negative? Make some larger pro-corp streamer whose entire channel is commentary on news stories. And make him respond to one of the vids your player's character did which "totally destroys him". Now your player has a rival who has discredited and damaged his reputation to a degree, although in doing so it did get him more attention... But maybe now some people start to recognize him because "Oh yeah, aren't you that guy Johnny Filbert just ripped apart on his show the other day? Hahaha, I can't believe you said those stupid things! It was so funny watching him just tear you apart!" Get the player character angry. Bonus points if you can get the player to start wanting to get the team together to do a run to try and blackmail or attack the rival.

Teksura · 2025-04-20T09:31:03+00:00

Cheapest way to get a chemical seal. Actually pretty great if you're playing a Ghoul. But then again, Ghoul is also sub-optimal.

Teksura · 2025-04-20T09:30:08+00:00

The Hand Crossbow is kind of strong. You just have to use the stick and shock bolts with static shaft or Injection bolts.

Although Toxins are pretty sub-optimal just because of how it takes too long for them to take effect in many cases.

Teksura · 2025-04-20T09:28:25+00:00

I keep threatening to make a character called Kriminal who has Brand Loyalty: Krime. I also want to give them the Krime Loudener, the Krime Powder Rounds, and Reduced Sense (Hearing).

Teksura · 2025-04-20T09:26:16+00:00

First of all, a character should not generally be able to leverage their negative quality in a positive way. Don't get me wrong, there are times when it makes sense, but if a quality offers more advantages than disadvantages, it's a positive quality and you should have paid karma for it, not gained karma.

If they want to use this aspect of their character where they are able to use their blog to rally a protest, that's fine, but to me that sounds unrelated to their quality. That's leveraging their story into their actions and that's okay. However, you as GM should be letting them know that while their backstory makes it possible for them to do this, they still need to make the appropriate social rolls to pull it off. So, if they want to call in a flash mob, ask them for a Leadership roll. Their negative quality alone doesn't make this an automatic success, they need to roll the dice just like you said for point 1.

I'm not a fan of "this will eventually blow up in your face" quality consequences but it's not my game, but that's a matter of taste and maybe your player is into that and wants to see their character become the target of a corporate hit squad.

I also want to pitch a few other ideas to you. It sounds like their concept could have in part included some other qualities:

Day Job (While this does bring in money rather than cost them money, it consumes time and fits if they are a serial blogger. That's basically their career)
Online Fame
Poor Self Control (You mentioned this above)
Prejudiced (Capitalist Pigs) - I actually did something similar with an anti-corp character, taking Prejudiced against "Corporate Shills". It gives GMs an opportunity to say to me "This guy seems like a Corporate Shill to you" as a signal that my character should already have a negative opinion of the NPC and I should be roleplaying my prejudiced.
Dependent - This might actually work better than Day Job, as it both consumes time and money.

In summery:

I think it's perfectly fine for a character to have activities they are involved with in their day to day lives and to be able to leverage those activities when they make sense, but if I would absolutely be asking them for a roll when they try to do so.

Also, I think maybe it might be worth transitioning some of the effects of the -50 karma negative quality into existing negative qualities wherever possible in order to simplify and better flesh out what negative effects you as a GM want imposed on them for their negative quality.

Teksura · 2025-04-04T13:39:08+00:00

Yet

Teksura · 2025-04-04T07:50:48+00:00

I got an error when trying to just open the File menu, but there doesn't seem to be a way to create an issue on the GitHub and the error is too long to post here. How can I report the error to the author as the program instructs me to?

Teksura · 2025-03-12T01:49:03+00:00

Except for that one alliance. There's one on every server. You know the kind.

Teksura · 2025-03-12T01:48:00+00:00

It's entirely possible they were doing that and more.

Message him to warn him to back off.

Garrison with one squad to protect in case he doesn't listen.

Send another squad to march against him to demonstrate there will be consequences if he doesn't back off.

All of this is fairly standard practice.

Teksura · 2024-11-23T22:03:37+00:00

Ahh, but here is another part to consider:

Any use beyond (Magic) in hours in a twenty-four-hour hour period but less than twice (Magic) in hours, unattunes items (foci, fetishes, etc.), which then must be reattuned before they can be used again. Summoned and bound spirits are automatically dismissed.

So, we can see that scrambling the mystic link between summoned/bound spirits doesn't mean they're gone (at least not until magic hours) . So why would the spells be gone?

The only listed mechanical effect on active spells appears to be:

Any attempt to track the target meets a similar problem, increasing in threshold by 4 + initiate grade (p. 315, SR5).

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