DM Guidelines (Cybergems) - Revision history

Foxwarrior: 14 revisions imported

2015-12-19T18:15:12Z

14 revisions imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 18:15, 19 December 2015
(No difference)

Foxwarrior at 07:17, 28 October 2014

2014-10-28T07:17:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:17, 28 October 2014
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	=== Serious Grind ===		=== Serious Grind ===
			{{Image\|Cyberpunk HQ\|600px}}
	The players are members/owners of some sort of organization, with exact point totals and deployments carefully determined and tracked. In order for force conservation strategies to matter, the enemy organization(s) should have equally well-tracked forces.		The players are members/owners of some sort of organization, with exact point totals and deployments carefully determined and tracked. In order for force conservation strategies to matter, the enemy organization(s) should have equally well-tracked forces.

Foxwarrior: I'm not sure if the phrase "hollywood and other animes" should feature in there somewhere

2014-10-03T07:34:58Z

I'm not sure if the phrase "hollywood and other animes" should feature in there somewhere

Show changes

Foxwarrior: that makes more sense in the training time variant

2014-09-27T22:14:37Z

that makes more sense in the training time variant

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:14, 27 September 2014
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	In Serious Grind, players can collect as much as they can get their hands on. In addition, other venues can be declared as resource generators: wages to give a steady influx of additional points, factories that create points-worth of some limited category of items or augments, and so on. Opposing forces should also get additional points at some specified rate.		In Serious Grind, players can collect as much as they can get their hands on. In addition, other venues can be declared as resource generators: wages to give a steady influx of additional points, factories that create points-worth of some limited category of items or augments, and so on. Opposing forces should also get additional points at some specified rate.

	~~==== Maximum Starting Points ====~~

	You can choose to specify a maximum starting point value, such that players can't build new characters which cost more than that limit. This makes keeping powerful characters alive more exciting, but means that players who play recklessly will end up being forced to play an army of cheap characters and stolen vehicles. If you use a maximum starting point value, you may want to consider increasing it as the point pool increases.

	=== Encounter Design ===		=== Encounter Design ===

Foxwarrior at 02:56, 23 September 2014

2014-09-23T02:56:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:56, 23 September 2014
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	==== Retiring Characters ====		==== Retiring Characters ====

	Sometimes it may not be practical to bring certain types of characters on certain kinds of adventures; an airplane can't very well go adventuring in a dungeon, ~~now~~ can it, so the airplane player should temporarily retire the airplane and spend those points on something else for a while. Other times a player may simply get tired of a character for some reason, and want to play something else — while it's good to keep players excited about their characters, preserving continuity helps keep players excited about other players' characters, so you may want to consider getting them to keep playing with those characters for one or two more sessions, possibly with an eye open for the possibility of a dramatic exit.		Sometimes it may not be practical to bring certain types of characters on certain kinds of adventures; an airplane can't very well go adventuring in a dungeon, and a very dedicated hacker can't do much about tigers in the jungle, so the airplane or hacker player should temporarily retire the airplane or hacker and spend those points on something else for a while. Other times a player may simply get tired of a character for some reason, and want to play something else — while it's good to keep players excited about their characters, preserving continuity helps keep players excited about other players' characters, so you may want to consider getting them to keep playing with those characters for one or two more sessions, possibly with an eye open for the possibility of a dramatic exit.

	The retired characters presumably continue doing ''something'' while they're retired from play: perhaps people would like to run a side-session with them eventually, but most likely you should just narrate what it was they did when it comes up. It's not a good idea to make drastic or terrible things happen to characters who were temporarily retired for reasons not entirely under the player's control, unless that player gives you express permission, but characters retired by choice are a perfect target for plot hooks.		The retired characters presumably continue doing ''something'' while they're retired from play: perhaps people would like to run a side-session with them eventually, but most likely you should just narrate what it was they did when it comes up. It's not a good idea to make drastic or terrible things happen to characters who were temporarily retired for reasons not entirely under the player's control, unless that player gives you express permission, but characters retired by choice are a perfect target for plot hooks.

	Retiring characters is not particularly appropriate for Serious Grind.		Retiring characters is not particularly appropriate for Serious Grind.

Foxwarrior: repeating myself

2014-09-16T05:25:01Z

repeating myself

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:25, 16 September 2014
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	It's very tempting, when the players provoke some form of conflict, to say "well, I said there would be a thousand soldiers in this town, so that's what you have to fight", but if you want to be able to do that sort of thing, you should consider reasonable encounter design when deciding how powerful various forces in the world are.		It's very tempting, when the players provoke some form of conflict, to say "well, I said there would be a thousand soldiers in this town, so that's what you have to fight", but if you want to be able to do that sort of thing, you should consider reasonable encounter design when deciding how powerful various forces in the world are.

			==== Introducing the World ====

			The less players know about what's going on around them, the less able they are to sensibly strike off in their own direction, rather than bumbling about looking for something to do. The beginning of a campaign, the entry to a new territory, or when the players seem lost, is an excellent time to spring action on them to deal with immediately, especially the sort of action that introduces antagonists, reveals clues, or otherwise makes them aware of resources to make use of or problems to solve.

	==== Major NPCs ====		==== Major NPCs ====

Foxwarrior at 03:03, 7 August 2014

2014-08-07T03:03:41Z

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 That's not to say you can't have any fights with clear planned beginnings, but you will be missing out if you don't let the players have some opportunities to come up with ways to arrange battles in their favor.
 ==== Encounter Pricing (Adventurer Style) ====
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 It's far from a perfect technique, however. Partial refluffing, where one character or group uses refluffed material, is a lot like giving those characters free disguises that they cannot remove.

Foxwarrior at 02:49, 6 August 2014

2014-08-06T02:49:17Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:49, 6 August 2014
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	[[Survival#Work\|Item crafting]] in this system only allows you to disassemble items and make items and spare parts of equal value, not generate an actual income.		[[Survival#Work\|Item crafting]] in this system only allows you to disassemble items and make items and spare parts of equal value, not generate an actual income.

			=== Campaign Premise ===

			In many near-future settings, there are vastly powerful organizations with militaries the sizes of which no practical player force could begin to compete with directly. Therefore, it is important to determine why the players don't have to compete with them. Perhaps the players are intentionally avoiding detection using stealth and disguise tactics. Perhaps the world's largest military would theoretically come to their defense if any of the world's other large militaries attempted to interfere with the players' actually quite obvious actions on a small tropical island. Perhaps the players' actions are not so drastic that such forces would consider getting involved.

	=== Starting Resources ===		=== Starting Resources ===

Foxwarrior: /* Serious Grind */

2014-07-30T08:00:56Z

Serious Grind

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:00, 30 July 2014
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	This campaign style doesn't use point limits, because players don't get to freely refresh their resources. Because players are likely to lose their resources at unequal rates, they should be encouraged to share even more than they normally would.		This campaign style doesn't use point limits, because players don't get to freely refresh their resources. Because players are likely to lose their resources at unequal rates, they should be encouraged to share even more than they normally would.

	Some mechanisms, like [[duplicator\|duplicators]], would allow people to generate near-limitless forces without ~~some~~ restriction: Therefore, Serious Grind lets people buy an Artificial Point Limit, at the cost of 2 points per point in the point limit. This Artificial Point Limit is used to determine the point limit for force generation devices. The Artificial Point Limit may optionally be extended to be used to pay for consumable items, like Drugs, grenades, and bombs.		Some mechanisms, like [[duplicator\|duplicators]] or [[diplomat]], would allow people to generate near-limitless forces without serious restriction: Therefore, Serious Grind lets people buy an Artificial Point Limit, at the cost of 2 points per point in the point limit. This Artificial Point Limit is used to determine the point limit for force generation devices. The Artificial Point Limit may optionally be extended to be used to pay for consumable items, like Drugs, grenades, and bombs.

	[[Survival#Work\|Item crafting]] in this system only allows you to disassemble items and make items and spare parts of equal value, not generate an actual income.		[[Survival#Work\|Item crafting]] in this system only allows you to disassemble items and make items and spare parts of equal value, not generate an actual income.

Foxwarrior at 05:35, 3 July 2014

2014-07-03T05:35:22Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:35, 3 July 2014
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	==== Adventurer Style ====		==== Adventurer Style ====

	The most ~~Gemlords~~-like way. A player's point limit is exactly as much of a fighting force as that player controls, not counting hapless civilian workers. When players capture vehicles or equipment, the point limit needs to be raised so they don't have to abandon absurd amounts of existing resources.		The most Gempunks-like way. A player's point limit is exactly as much of a fighting force as that player controls, not counting hapless civilian workers. When players capture vehicles or equipment, the point limit needs to be raised so they don't have to abandon absurd amounts of existing resources.

	==== Serious Grind ====		==== Serious Grind ====