I"m having trouble creating a campaign where its more r

[Natasha]

They lose the firefight. Not only that, they get captured. And then interrogated. Not only that, they get to an opportunity to explain why they shouldn't go before firing squad. Unless they manage to escape first, in which case they must evade their captors, and attempt to negotiate support from the local populace.

[Noon]

So any suggestions? I"m talking straight up talking your way out of things, and just being down right clever.

Well, that's clever in your estimate. I bet there are plenty of plans that have been used in the real world that you'd think dumb, yet worked wonderfully. In light of that, you don't think you know what a clever plan is, do you? Would you say you (and I) can only guess what is a clever plan?


That said, here's a mechanic I bet you wont use in a million years.

There is a XP bonus, something fairly big (like for a level 1 group, 800 XP). The players know the number. At the end of the session they get this...IF they don't spend it.

Okay, when it gets to a point where it's roleplaying/clever plans time, you say 'Okay, you can either spend (and lose) X amount of experience to beat this, or roleplay/clever plan to beat it'. If they do something clever but not clever enough, offer them a discount on the XP cost to beat it. Like if it was 50 XP to beat it, but they come up with an okay plan, off 25 XP to beat it.

The reason why I think you wont use it in a million years - cause OMG, players could just spend points to skip roleplay!

But trust me - roleplay can NOT be forced. The player has to choose to roleplay, otherwise it's not roleplaying. This mechanic lets them choose.

[LostOne]

Limit the player's power level. If they are playing a mega-juicer with uber PP and PS, then they are likely to respond to every problem with violence.

However, if they're playing a rogue scholar with environmental body armor that only has 30 MDC, while using a 1d6 MD vibro-knife and a 2d6 MD Wilk's laser pistol, they're likely to avoid combat at all costs, rather than telling that Super SAMAS pilot to go suck eggs.

You don't need to go to that kind of extreme, but basically you should put them up against a foe where if they choose to fight it is possible for them to win, but they'll have a heavy repair bill and significant recovery time. If they had used subtlety and guile the situations could always turn out better for them.

If you want an example, look at the Terminator series. You have a bunch of humans against powerful military grade robots. Clearly outclassed.

[bigbobsr6000]

They lose the firefight. Not only that, they get captured. And then interrogated. Not only that, they get to an opportunity to explain why they shouldn't go before firing squad. Unless they manage to escape first, in which case they must evade their captors, and attempt to negotiate support from the local populace.

I've done this as well. I let them be in prison for a few sessions. Having to deal with "prison politics", guards, the yard, trying to get stuff, etc. They are in a confinement facility that has power dampening fields so they can't use any powers, magic, psionics, etc. Have to get inmates on their side to aid in escape or negotiate their freedom in exchange for a special mission or ?????

Well, you get the idea. No powers, no weapons just their wits to survive.

[KillWatch]

how about non violent social situations that require no combat? Place them as arbiters between two factions where one slip could mean war and death for an entire region.
Have them solve a murder mystery. I mean sure we ahve all these bad guys that want to face us head on, but what aobut our stereo typical serial killer who doesn't want to get caught? Sure he might only be a normal human and would die in one hit, but he wouldn't be striking at the players but maybe their families by design or accident. It could take days weeks or months to catch the guy. Meanwhile the players ahv to deal with victims and possibly mourning family.

[Jerell]

Seems like a lot of really good ideas posted already...


There's always getting them involved in city or regional politics. Have the guys earn, or get a small estate in a small city somewhere, and then throw some problems at the city after they have a vested interest in it. It could be economical, espoinge from foreigners, developement or any problem that face a city today (graffiti ever a problem in cities, the players property could be targeted, their trash doesn't get picked up becuase the grabage collectors are on strike, because... ect). I've had a lot of fun with city politics in my Palladium campaign. Making notable citizens and politicians in the city is a big help also for role playing this type needless to say. Have a good stock of NPCs...

Or... You if they're mercs/army or some such, you could have them be part of an occupation force, sent to ensure compliance in a newly won city or territory. Now you've got city politics in play as above, plus most of the people may not like you depending exactly why the town was invaded, and how the invading force did it. Let's say something like the neighboring town invaded because the leader of the now defeated city was building up an unexceptable level of Biological weapons or Nukes or something, and he was a rather unstable fellow ( ). Now the players will have to watch out for themselves, while trying to put on a good front and win over the population to total compliance. Of course some people in the city may feel they were invaded wrongly and see the characters as very evil subjugators or overlords. They'll be all kinds of covert deals and powerplays going on... You never know exactly who's on what side all the time. Throw in a new police force raised from the city, that needs training and support offten. Have some bad police in there, and some gangs that terrify local neighborhoods as well, trying to set up there own power bases. Then what is this city going to do as far as governance? Surely if they were ruling their selves it would be easier to get things peaceful again. Whenever you want action, you could thrown in some social disorder, like riots, or bombings. There's all kinds of things that, that type of setting can lead to some great role play... Even who does the players laundry while they're there, and what's there position on matters? Maybe the city/country that hired the players has a much better medical system/intact infrustucture and the players will have to cut deals with civilian agencies for treatment of a few people at other cities. There's all kinds of things... who get's what money to rebuild what, where does that money really go? Are families in this conquered city going to play well with one another? What happens if the cities religions are different? What about other powers else where, are they sending people in to try and make sure the players fail? How do the people of the city view the other outside forces. What if the players immediate suppervisor is more concerned about actually looking good to his superiors (especially 'on paper!') and his next promotion rather than actual results of the players. How much help do you give? When is it time for the people to stand on their own? If things go bad, do you abandon ship, and see how things turn out from afar, or do you risk your own people more. What about local friends the characters have made now, surely they wouldn't want to throw them to the wolves... And remember, everyone in the city has certain friends, and most everyone has a family that are interconnected to every other family in the city somehow. It can really be quite staggering...



Wait a minute... that sounds kind of familiar...

Anyway, it's all good. I hope that gives you some ideas. Sounds like it could be a campaign in itself though... lol

[Natasha]

Poverty prevents some things.
Makes other things quite necessary.

[Syndicate]

Invest in Rifters and HLSs.

[LostOne]

Even if they win the fight, the player might think twice about picking a fight with just anyone, after that wimpy vagabond decided to shoot at his nice JA-12 rifle instead of him.

That's something I've been wondering lately. What guidelines are used for how much MDC a weapon has?

[Natasha]

Even if they win the fight, the player might think twice about picking a fight with just anyone, after that wimpy vagabond decided to shoot at his nice JA-12 rifle instead of him.

That's something I've been wondering lately. What guidelines are used for how much MDC a weapon has?

Flipping through some pages I see occassionally that guns and missiles get M.D.C. while others do not. Rather than dig it all up and realise there is no real rhyme or reason, I would go with something like increments of 5 M.D.C. depending on size of weapon.

I would give a JA-12 and such "infantry" pistols and rifles 5 M.D.C.
Anything bigger including those mounted on borgs or vehicles would get 10 M.D.C.

[LostOne]

I would give a JA-12 and such "infantry" pistols and rifles 5 M.D.C.
Anything bigger including those mounted on borgs or vehicles would get 10 M.D.C.

That seems a bit low to me. I would hope that weapons designers would make guns a bit sturdier so that a random vagabond with a vibroknife couldn't destroy your very expensive military grade energy rifle. Not to mention being on the edge of a blast radius.

Though it would certainly make a juicer armed with a vibroknife more threatening...

[bigbobsr6000]

Remember, ask the group if they like to play hack/slash style.......some groups just plain out thrive on it.....remember it's about everyone having fun, not just trying to have your ideas pan out to see your storyline come to fruition.

Could not agree more