Things I May No Longer Do While Playing XI: I May Not Postpone Naming My Thread

[Anonymouswizard]

*If the plan for assassinating a Dragon sounds like a summer action blockbuster, it's probably too over the top.
**If the reward for filming the assassination is far greater than the reward for the actual assassination, it's definitely too over the top.

*** May not suggest that, instead of actually assassinating the dragon, you make a deal with it so you can release a sequel.

[Personification]

*If the plan for assassinating a Dragon sounds like a summer action blockbuster, it's probably too over the top.
**If the reward for filming the assassination is far greater than the reward for the actual assassination, it's definitely too over the top.

*** May not suggest that, instead of actually assassinating the dragon, you make a deal with it so you can release a sequel.

****Michael Bay is not a Barbarian subclass

[Drakeburn]

*If the plan for assassinating a Dragon sounds like a summer action blockbuster, it's probably too over the top.
**If the reward for filming the assassination is far greater than the reward for the actual assassination, it's definitely too over the top.

*** May not suggest that, instead of actually assassinating the dragon, you make a deal with it so you can release a sequel.

****Michael Bay is not a Barbarian subclass

***** Michael Bay is not a Wizard subclass either.

[Lord Torath]

*If the plan for assassinating a Dragon sounds like a summer action blockbuster, it's probably too over the top.
**If the reward for filming the assassination is far greater than the reward for the actual assassination, it's definitely too over the top.

*** May not suggest that, instead of actually assassinating the dragon, you make a deal with it so you can release a sequel.

**** I may not make deals with Dragons.
***** Not even Lofwyr

[DeTess]

**** I may not make deals with Dragons.
***** Not even Lofwyr

****** Especially not Lofwyr

[DigoDragon]

****** Especially not Lofwyr

******* Don't even call his office. Trust me on this.

[Anonymouswizard]

* Mispronunciations of English place names are not acceptable Gnome names.
** Especially Leuger Beruger, Ly Cester (and his brothers By Cester and Wohr Cester), Hartl Poole, or Mari Le Bone.

Spoiler

Show

The place names are Loughborough, Liecester, Bicester, Worcester, Hartlepool, and Marlybone.

Yes, that mispronunciation of Loughborough has been seen in the wild.

* May not have more contacts than the Street Samurai has bullets.
** Especially before the run begins.
* Spending half a million Nuyen on Rating 10 fake credsticks for the entire party, while useful, is considered bad form.
** Spending it on credsticks for myself is better form, but still suspicious compared to cyberwear.

* No longer allowed to use starting money to employ people.
** Or start a business.
*** Or invest in megacorporations.
**** Must spend starting money on adventuring gear.
***** Cooking equipment is no longer considered adventuring gear. The same applies to tables, chairs, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices, and cutlery.

[SleepyShadow]

*I may no longer use flaming arrows as a negotiation tool with the barbarian villagers.

[iceman10058]

* Mispronunciations of English place names are not acceptable Gnome names.
** Especially Leuger Beruger, Ly Cester (and his brothers By Cester and Wohr Cester), Hartl Poole, or Mari Le Bone.

Spoiler

Show

The place names are Loughborough, Liecester, Bicester, Worcester, Hartlepool, and Marlybone.

Yes, that mispronunciation of Loughborough has been seen in the wild.

* May not have more contacts than the Street Samurai has bullets.
** Especially before the run begins.
* Spending half a million Nuyen on Rating 10 fake credsticks for the entire party, while useful, is considered bad form.
** Spending it on credsticks for myself is better form, but still suspicious compared to cyberwear.

* No longer allowed to use starting money to employ people.
** Or start a business.
*** Or invest in megacorporations.
**** Must spend starting money on adventuring gear.
***** Cooking equipment is no longer considered adventuring gear. The same applies to tables, chairs, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices, and cutlery.

Shadowrun is a game of corporate espionage, not corporate politics

[Lord Torath]

* No longer allowed to use starting money to employ people.
** Or start a business.
*** Or invest in megacorporations.
**** Must spend starting money on adventuring gear.
***** Cooking equipment is no longer considered adventuring gear. The same applies to tables, chairs, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices, and cutlery.

****** May not use real food for bribes, regardless of how effective it would be.

[Anonymouswizard]

****** May not use real food for bribes, regardless of how effective it would be.

******* May no longer substitute my description making the GM's mouth water for actually making the check to deceive a guard.

[Rater202]

*I may not dress in a sheep costume and go on a rampage through a Wallmart for the sake of covering up a Masquerade breach.
**The fact that it worked the first time doesn't mean I can do everytime we need to cover up a breach.

[Personification]

*I may not dress in a sheep costume and go on a rampage through a Wallmart for the sake of covering up a Masquerade breach.
**The fact that it worked the first time doesn't mean I can do everytime we need to cover up a breach.

***This is true even if I breached the masquerade for the express purpose of dressing in a sheep costume
****This is ESPECIALLY true if I breached the masquerade for the express purpose of dressing in a sheep costume.

[Rater202]

***This is true even if I breached the masquerade for the express purpose of dressing in a sheep costume
****This is ESPECIALLY true if I breached the masquerade for the express purpose of dressing in a sheep costume.

*****Atthe very least, I have to go to a differant Wallmart each time.

[Katrina]

* If I present a Shadowrun character with a Charisma of 9 and a +3 to all social checks from "fey like grace", I am not allowed to complain when the gm tries to turn the game into a reverse harem anime.
** Not allowed to add a Dragon to the harem.
*** This goes double for games that are not Shadowrun.

[Anonymouswizard]

* Must stop referring to the DMPC with 'senpai noticed me <3'.

[SleepyShadow]

* Must stop referring to the DMPC with 'senpai noticed me <3'.

**Especially if the DMPC is actually an upperclassman.

[dspeyer]

***** Michael Bay is not a Wizard subclass either.

****** A Michael Bay College Bard (5e) does not gain immunity to the "shaken" condition at third level.

****** Nor does one gain 4 evocation spells from any class list at level 6

****** Any sort of sex-appeal based class feature at level 14 is right out

[Socratov]

****** A Michael Bay College Bard (5e) does not gain immunity to the "shaken" condition at third level.

****** Nor does one gain 4 evocation spells from any class list at level 6

****** Any sort of sex-appeal based class feature at level 14 is right out

why the 4 evocation spells? Fireball is all you need

[Guizonde]

* no more showing how to kick ork butt to the crew.
** especially if only spaceships and necrons do more damage than me.
*** my background states i'm a good ork-hunter. my dice results showing up 200 stormtroopers simultaneously is insulting to the dm's scenario.
**** i'm not the french foreign legion rolled into a convenient package.
***** despite provoking fear to orks by counter-waaaaaaaaghing them. (and winning)

[TheYell]

I was tasked with capturing a building in a city held by Clan Elementals hiding in the buildings.

I proceeded to blow up skyscraper after skyscraper from maximum range with my PPCs. Nuclear-powered beam weapons = unlimited ammo.

I was told this was a war crime and would be punished by my contracting faction (yeah right) and that if I persisted (hell yeah) the Elementals would blow up the objective themselves.

[spineyrequiem]

* No bribing refs to follow me around in battle so people assume I'm more powerful than I actually am
** No carrying a big bag of sweets and offering some to passing refs so they're more likely to congregate around me

* If I am actually meant to be followed by a ref, no running so fast they nearly collapse when we reach our destination
** Even if I'm wearing armour and they aren't

* Open the visor before giving orders, or most of the line won't hear it

* Even if we did legitimately conquer the land we're standing on, repeatedly pointing that out to its former rulers is mean

* No traumatizing the even organiser by describing exactly how I got executed
** Even though I'm literally just relaying what the players did

* If I spend more than ten minutes straight staring at my feet trying to remember what I was doing, maybe don't go in the hot latex suit again for a bit

* If I have nicer kit than the commander, I shouldn't be surprised when I get captured
** No laughing openly if they do it twice in the same skirmish.

* Keep the betting pool on when the Empress gets assassinated at least nominally secret

[John Campbell]

I was tasked with capturing a building in a city held by Clan Elementals hiding in the buildings.

I proceeded to blow up skyscraper after skyscraper from maximum range with my PPCs. Nuclear-powered beam weapons = unlimited ammo.

I was told this was a war crime and would be punished by my contracting faction (yeah right) and that if I persisted (hell yeah) the Elementals would blow up the objective themselves.

That is in fact a violation of the Ares Conventions. Actually, merely having the fight in the city is a violation of the Ares Conventions.

Note, however, that using nuclear weapons against military targets in space is not an Ares violation.

* Any plan that begins with, "Well, if I'm a war criminal anyway...", I should assume I'm not allowed to carry out.
* I may not rules-lawyer the international rules of warfare to justify simply greeting Clan warships at the jump point with a volley of fighter-launched nuclear missiles in the face.
** Not even after Turtle Bay.
*** I definitely may not paint "Clan Wolverine says hi! " on the missile bodies.

[Anonymouswizard]

* Any plan that involves building a business is banned.
** As are any that involve buying businesses.
*** Or unionising courtesans.
**** The solution to an incoming crisis is not to raise enough money to hire somebody else to do it. That's what the NPCs did.

* Being able to magically summon my weapon at will is not a valid reason to just leave it in the last creature I killed.

[Guizonde]

* Any plan that involves building a business is banned.
** As are any that involve buying businesses.
*** Or unionising courtesans.
**** The solution to an incoming crisis is not to raise enough money to hire somebody else to do it. That's what the NPCs did.

* Being able to magically summon my weapon at will is not a valid reason to just leave it in the last creature I killed.

what if you're playing rogue trader?

oh, wait, got the answer right here.

*hiring 200 stormtroopers as "boarding party aides"? good. hiring 200 stormtroopers to outsource my job? bad.
**saving said <200 stormtroopers because they have the survival instincts of lemmings is my dm's way of saying "do your job, player!!"

[PopeLinus1]

I may no longer process my frustration at the rogue lighting the building our character’s are in on fire, by lighting the building the players are in on fire.

[Anonymouswizard]

what if you're playing rogue trader?

oh, wait, got the answer right here.

*hiring 200 stormtroopers as "boarding party aides"? good. hiring 200 stormtroopers to outsource my job? bad.
**saving said <200 stormtroopers because they have the survival instincts of lemmings is my dm's way of saying "do your job, player!!"

In all honesty, I really do want to run a game where the players play the command staff of a mercenary company or independent starship, and actually get to use their underlings. I especially like the idea of the characters having a squad of security officers or elite troops that fight alongside them as standard, if only because it makes playing noncombatants much less annoying, while sending off other squads to complete objectives or replace injured members.

Imagine the party breach the Dark Lord's throne room. Suddenly it's not just the PCs against the sorcerer king and his top minions, but the PCs and their trusted brothers in arms fighting through a swarm of demons to try to kill the warlock and close his hellgate. An epic battle worthy of an entire session.

The other one I really want to pull off is invading a star system. The PCs geta fleet crewed by NPCs and have to assign themselves to a vessel (potentially a support one, potentially a front line one, maybe even the flagship), then the game goes into wargame mode as the players try to capture or destroy important planets and installations. But that really is the climax of a campaign that has been building up to it, likely featuring 100+ ships of various sizes and ideally planets moving in their orbits, it'll be a lot of work to sort out.

I'd love to run those sort of gigantic climatic battles, ideally with a system such as Savage Worlds where most of the participants would be simple to deal with Extras. I can just never get players who are excited by the idea of leading men info battle.

[LordCdrMilitant]

In all honesty, I really do want to run a game where the players play the command staff of a mercenary company or independent starship, and actually get to use their underlings. I especially like the idea of the characters having a squad of security officers or elite troops that fight alongside them as standard, if only because it makes playing noncombatants much less annoying, while sending off other squads to complete objectives or replace injured members.

Imagine the party breach the Dark Lord's throne room. Suddenly it's not just the PCs against the sorcerer king and his top minions, but the PCs and their trusted brothers in arms fighting through a swarm of demons to try to kill the warlock and close his hellgate. An epic battle worthy of an entire session.

The other one I really want to pull off is invading a star system. The PCs geta fleet crewed by NPCs and have to assign themselves to a vessel (potentially a support one, potentially a front line one, maybe even the flagship), then the game goes into wargame mode as the players try to capture or destroy important planets and installations. But that really is the climax of a campaign that has been building up to it, likely featuring 100+ ships of various sizes and ideally planets moving in their orbits, it'll be a lot of work to sort out.

I'd love to run those sort of gigantic climatic battles, ideally with a system such as Savage Worlds where most of the participants would be simple to deal with Extras. I can just never get players who are excited by the idea of leading men info battle.

I have done this. In some ways, it's fun, but it can also make players feel like their characters are less important. It's one thing when it's the party's frigate in the fight, because it's theirs, but it's another thing when it's Lord Loria and her battle barge His Wrath doing the heavy lifting.

What I like to do now is to focus on the player characters' immediate mission in the fight, on a special task of critical importance to the outcome, with the rest of the forces fighting as a backdrop. The ability to call an artillery strike, or direct the fire of the Shadowsword Iron Vengeance, etc. helps keep them tied into the rest of the battle while placing the focus on their characters.

[DCraw]

* no more showing how to kick ork butt to the crew.
** especially if only spaceships and necrons do more damage than me.
*** my background states i'm a good ork-hunter. my dice results showing up 200 stormtroopers simultaneously is insulting to the dm's scenario.
**** i'm not the french foreign legion rolled into a convenient package.
***** despite provoking fear to orks by counter-waaaaaaaaghing them. (and winning)

Drill Instructor: So you're an Ork?
Joker (Ork): Sir, Yes, Sir
Drill Instructor: Let me see your WAAAAGH face
Joker: Sir?
Drill Instructor: You got a WAAAGH face? WAAAAAAAAAGH!! That's a WAAAGH face! Now let me see your WAAAGH face.
Joker: waaaagh?!?
Drill Instructor: Bull[], you didn't convince me. Now let me see your real WAAAGH face
Joker: WAaAaAaAaAaGh!
Drill Instructor: You don't scare me, work on it!

[Anonymouswizard]

I have done this. In some ways, it's fun, but it can also make players feel like their characters are less important. It's one thing when it's the party's frigate in the fight, because it's theirs, but it's another thing when it's Lord Loria and her battle barge His Wrath doing the heavy lifting.

What I like to do now is to focus on the player characters' immediate mission in the fight, on a special task of critical importance to the outcome, with the rest of the forces fighting as a backdrop. The ability to call an artillery strike, or direct the fire of the Shadowsword Iron Vengeance, etc. helps keep them tied into the rest of the battle while placing the focus on their characters.

Oh, part of the point with the fantasy version is to have the PCs leading the charge, the henchmen are there to make the fight more epic and to allow meaningful attrition during the scenario.

With the system invasion, yeah. Honestly I've never liked the 'PCs go on an important mission that somehow decides the success or failure of the fight' method of resolving it, so I really do want to come up with a way for them to be the admirals in charge of the battle.

Bit of a moot point though, because the next SF game I plan to run will begin with the players owning a small in-system vessel before managing to become owners of a small (1.5km long) starship. In this setting starship maintenance is fully automated, so while they might end up hiring a load of engineers to fix major damage at ports most of the people they want to hire will be security and cargo handlers (if they don't just decide to sell the ship). Plus it uses reactionless drive relativistic travel with slow FTL radio, most systems are independent because controlling them is too much trouble.