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View Full Version : Unwritten Laws of Modern/Future Gaming



Habzial
2007-04-04, 04:17 AM
I was inspired to start this up by Muz's Unwritten Laws of D&D Gaming (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39457) thread. I realized, as I was about to post, that a lot of my experiences wouldn't translate to D&D. In any case, here are some unwritten rules of game play I've picked up from modern and cyberpunk games (mostly Shadowrun).


1) All teams will have at least one gun bunny and one compulsive looter.

2) The more explosives a player amasses, the sooner s/he will eventually force the GM to improvise demolitions rules for bringing down a building.

3) The more important an unknown NPC is, the more likely s/he will be brutally killed by your team prior to identification.

4a) There are no easy jobs.

4b) If the action of the job was easy, your fixer and/or whomever hired you will be dead 20 minutes before you arrive for the final exchange. If the killer isn't still lying in wait, the police are probably on their way.

4c) If your hirer is polite, you'd probably be better off shooting him/her in the face now. S/he's going to betray you.

5) The information you receive will either be wrong, filled with omissions, or entirely right because you're screwed anyways (see: blueprints of facilities infested with insect spirits).

6) The more breadth there is to nethacking/decking, the further it will be from even resembling actual computer science. (Known as the Law of SR4 Technomancy and Wirelessly-Accessable Cyberware.)

7) The stupider the street handle, the more murderous the character. This rule applies to both PCs and NPCs.

8) Your DM will either never have you interact with anyone important or have you regularly meet people who could destroy your character's homeland. There is no in-between.

9) All law enforcement/security NPCs are faceless cannon fodder.

10) Any module that hinges on someone getting away (usually so they can be followed) will be broken as soon as the players sit down.

11) Any media entertainment discussed in the setting will have names directly taken off of RL shows and movies. Those that aren't ripoffs will be remakes or sequels set 3 - 6 roman numerals after what exists in the present.

12) There are no characters who follow a classic religion, unless that religion has gone corporate. None. That includes PCs, NPCs, and some times VNPCs.

13) The less your hirer knows about a "package," the more likely it is that the package will turn out to be a person.

14) Coffin motels will only be visited as part of a mission. The team will never stay at anything under a 3-star hotel, and at least one party member won't have clothing that fits in there.

15) There will be at least one incident of several players acting at the same time per session. This will not be even remotely coordinated, and one player's actions will totally negate everyone else's.

16) Runner teams are a collection of people doing their own thing at the same time to get the job done. Leaders are a myth. Plans are the stuff of legend.

Dhavaer
2007-04-04, 04:53 AM
As I wrote in the aforementioned thread:

17) 50% or more of all dates will take place in an Italian restaurant.

Tengu
2007-04-04, 04:58 AM
18) The favorite gun of the party's biggest gun collector will be stolen and used in an assassination, which will be blamed upon the party afterwards.

Khantalas
2007-04-04, 04:59 AM
19) Mutation points are never spent when they're gained, but the players always beg the GM to let them spend the points when that's the only thing that can save them.

20) Scavenging buildings is always a bad idea.

ZekeArgo
2007-04-04, 08:42 AM
21) The Solo will be incapable of rolling anything higher than ones and twos, while the Med Tech or Fixer will accumulate so many successes that he/she is able to withstand rocket fire and take down AV-4s

Serenity
2007-04-04, 10:59 AM
22. The party will put themselves in a situation using rules you don't understand. This is a geeral rule for all RPGs; with Modern and Future settings, it will probably specifically involve vehicle combat.

Maxymiuk
2007-04-04, 05:35 PM
23. If given any sort of vehicle, the party will attempt to jury-rig a heavy turret on it at the earliest possible opportunity.

24. If the NPC forces have a superiority of numbers and equipment, but are forced to resort to explosive ordnance to get at the PC's, the rolls for attacking with said ordnance will involve enough fumbles to take out at least half of the NPC's.