Devious Players

[Andrew Boulton]

Doesn't every group have one of these guys?

I just had an NPC steal the BFGs. Since the *Player* was basically a Glaswegian Terminator, this was kinda risky...

 

[Rover]

There is nothing wrong with a party member who is a weapon master armed to the teeth with BFG’s. The trouble can come in if they only have hostile encounters and each one is a cake walk. That will get old real soon. Not just for the other PC’s who cower under cover while Rambo takes out the bad guys, but for Rambo too.

Also there is nothing wrong with a PC wanting every advantage before going into a hostile situation, but there are matters of balance and flavour to consider.

The devious player above wanted something out of Niven I though he was going after a variable sword closer to being a light saber than the flashlight laser. [url="http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=58"]http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=58[/url][/url] (I hope I don’t give anyone any ideas.)

Weapons like the VS or flashlight laser would IMHO be too unbalancing in the hands of the players. It is clear that Niven inspired a good deal Traveller, but those items were left out on purpose. Traveller, no matter what version has a certain flavour. There is no nano tech, no large scale cyber enhancements and no custom genetic enhancements. It is meant to real people, puppies and kitties too, finding adventure in the far future. I think that focusing too much on the tech will take away from that.

IMYU I had a player who wanted to custom build a full auto combat shotgun with high ROF, large capacity drum magazine and all kinds of bells and whistles. Then he wanted to open a factory to manufacture the gun and sell it to the military. I let him have the gun, but I gave him a few negatives to using it, and the military didn’t buy it, too heavy and impractical. The Shotgun died an inglorious death.

R

 

[rhoneycutt]

MT Ref's Companion has research rules complete with uncertain tasks...let him build it and roll for success

maybe he'll get 'some truth' that it'll work, think it's ready for field test and blow himself up

of course, time rolls may keep him out of the game for a while

 

[princelian]

Hmm...

Sustained-fire laser weapon sounds like, oh, autofire to me. Give the weapon an ROF of 3/1 and allow him to use it to sweep three adjacent squares (suppressive fire rules).

It should cost significantly more than a regular laser and have a more restrictive Law Level ("you want me to pass an EXPERIMENTAL energy weapon through customs?").

+1d for autofire isn't prohibitively nasty (it's better than if he wants a plasma gun, for example).

It's not much better than a regular laser and he'll be happy he got his way and maybe he'll leave you alone for a while.

If not, have a GM-to-player discussion about how much of YOUR time all this gadgeteering takes. You need to focus on good adventures and the feel of the space noir universe you're trying to build, and you'd appreciate it if he didn't try to push the technological envelope. Yes, since Adv. Combat Armor starts at TL 9, one could argue that TL 15 Adv. Combat Armor is better, lighter, and cooler, but you'd appreciate it if he would accept that it isn't.

If that doesn't work, take him to McD's.

 

[matrix cypher]

Originally posted by Blue Ghost:
Trader... what? You don't have another post? How dissapointing

Seriously, I like the McDonald's thing

hey it was early and ive not had my coffee yet

 

[selunatic2397]

I'm back from watching Cowboy Bebop...

Mister Wizard has realized the weight of the reactor, and when he asked how long the one MW laser was, I answered with...

"Oh, at least five feet..."

He's quietly debating mounting it on a homebuilt mecha...but the last time he tried that a player running a "mostly reformed pirate" named Iron Horse Trujulio, managed to melt it accidentally on purpose with his ships heplar drive...

Iron Horse is quietly plotting on his own...Mister Wizard managed to lose the scout ship they'd just spent serious money on to get refitted into a elint/stealth job...he lost it in a poker game to a 13 year old girl!

{I let them have what they wanted [the recon scout], then properly under the GM code of conduct...took it back.}

Iron Horse has, thus far...signed the K'Kree ambassador up for a "Steak Of The Month Club", under Mister Wizard's name...made sure that the coolant for his laser is the most toxic substance he could think of...and then sent a series of apocalyptic letters to the mob boss that he {Iron Horse} owes money to...under Mister Wizard's name of course.

Iron Horse has been on a vegan diet so that the K'kree will actually let him talk to them. He is trying to get them to do his dirty work.

The mob boss is no fool...I've decided that his boys will give the entire crew of players a serious beating...and then when they are enjoying an old fashioned bar room brawl...have them arrested for trafficing in that seriously toxic coolant...

Iron Horse blew his computer roll big time and the coolant is actually something akin to the WMD that Bush was playing hide and seek in Iraq with.

How does that sound? We don't game again until this friday, so I still have time for some tweaking.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by Trader (CJ) Scott:
hey it was early and ive not had my coffee yet

May I suggest some herbal tea instead?

 

[mike wightman]

If you want to allow him to build the thing then start by building a multi-barrel laser carbine or rifle. Power it using a PGMP/FGMP backpack.

There was a thread about such weapons a while ago...

the main problem with Niven's fashlight laser is the damage it would do to the environment while turned up to full power, it has to be hitting something all the time...

 

[sgbrown]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
-clip-

the main problem with Niven's fashlight laser is the damage it would do to the environment while turned up to full power, it has to be hitting something all the time...

That would also be part of the fun (for the GM ) if he did build it - the battery would quickly deplete while a lot of damage was caused to things he did not wish to damage. If he tests it in the ship first it should end up costing a lot for repairs.

Hope everyone else is not around - otherwise they just might follow through the threat to drop him of with the K'Hree.

 

[Icosahedron]

I designed some 'different' lasers a while back using 'modified' Striker rules that allow small, light semiconductor lasers. Even so, a TL15 light sabre weighed around 5kg and hefted like a chainsaw. It took me a long, long time and copious handwaving to figure out how to deal with the potential for Extreme Range damage out to about 50 metres, as mentioned in other posts above. (has Mr Wizard solved that one?)
I also came up with a flashlight pulse laser, but something that small was useless against anything stronger than Jack.
Of course, without the precognitive powers of The Force aiding his parries, a light sabre wielder could be taken out with a single shot - like Harrison Ford's other character did!