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Following are a collection of important
considerations that affect the mood and
tone of a MetaCyber campaign. |
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RONIN / GUNSLINGER MENTALITY |
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The underlying premise of the MetaCyber
setting is that all or most of the PCs are
Runners, hired for their special skills
which often revolve around the ability to
do violence effectively. In a semi-anarchic
environment, Runners are the equivalent
of Ronin or Gunslingers; armed killers in
a might makes right world. A certain amount
of swagger is fairly typical, and street
cred is a professional criteria. Runners
are often tough, mean, and dangerous, or
at least present an exterior of being so.
Perceived weakness invites danger. |
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STRENGTH IN NUMBERS |
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With a collection of rugged individualists
in the form of Runners, it can be difficult
to provide a motivation for them to team
up together in the interests of catering
to the RPG format. It is essential that
the GM semi-constantly provide such motivation
by illustrating in game that there is Strength
in Numbers. Whether it be to be able to
contract bigger jobs with fat payoffs, gain
better skill set coverage to make missions
easier, to share resources and information
with, to have someone willing to go into
a hot situation to medi-vac a teammate,
or just to watch each others backs in a
dangerous world, it is much safer to have
one or more buddies. This is a crucial concept
for fostering the idea of a Runner team. |
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MIXED EPISODIC AND SERIAL CONTINUITY |
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Runners make their living doing covert missions
on behalf of hidden employers, typically
called "Runs". Depending on the
focus of the campaign, the planning and
execution of Runs might be very strategically
and tactically oriented for more dramatic
relevance, or things can be much more loose
and plotted like an action adventure movie
with things kind of just flowing from one
scene to the next in a reactive fashion,
or in yet another style Runs can be background
elements that are largely assumed to be
routine with the focus of play being on
all the stuff in between, dealing with reprisals,
and the rare Run that just goes wrong. |
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The more typical action-adventure and strat/tact
dramatic styles tend to be more episodic;
several weeks or months might pass in between
significant events One game session might
be the execution of a Run, and the next
the start of another Run months later, with
the time in between being "blue-booked"
or off-screened with quick wrap session
or between sessions. This can lend a feeling
of impersonalization to the setting which
can contribute to the general tone of the
game. |
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However, there is also plenty of room for
more traditional detailed continuity if
a group's playstyle prefers such. The one
downside to this though is that unless a
group just avoids doing Runs for long stretches
of time, there can be a tendency for groups
to end up doing Runs back to back to back
in a short period of in-game time which
can strain the limits of the genre. |
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MID TO HIGH LETHALITY |
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The MetaCyber setting is a violent place.
Killing attacks are the norm, with some
very dangerous hardware floating around.
Failed encounters will usually end in death
in most circumstances. However, there are
also technological options for health care
and cybernetic replacement of lost/damaged
body parts which can offset serious injury
to some extent. |
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Also, some metahumans might have Powers
that provide additional protection from
harm. Nevertheless, the fear of character
loss is a powerful tool to heighten dramatic
tension to be applied by the GM in a fashion
appropriate to their group's dynamic and
tolerance. |
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TOTAL PARTY KILL |
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Due to the high lethality of this setting,
there is a risk of a Total Party Kill (TPK).
GM's should be very careful to balance encounters
and err on the side of caution. It's important
to remember that the GM can always escalate
a threat if necessary, but it is difficult
to defuse a situation that is getting out
of hand without employing an obvious Deus
Ex Machina. It's expected that some characters
will die semi regularly, but unless the
GM wants to end the game abruptly killing
off a majority of the group all at once
is rarely a good idea. |
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Since MetaCyber adventures tend to be more
episodic, with a mission oriented focus
on "jobs" or "runs",
a Run gone bad is a particularly common
source of TPK's. To some extent this is
part of the setting; Runs are supposed to
be very dangerous -- that's a cornerstone
of the setting. However, this must be leavened
with the reality that players can be easily
frustrated by defeat and might lose interest
in the game. Each GM will have to find a
balance that works for their group. |
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NOT EVERYTHING IS SOLVED BY VIOLENCE |
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In such a gun happy environment it can be
tempting to players to bunny up and make
slavering combat monsters with the social
skills of a lawnmower. However, this style
of play is not conducive to long term enjoyment
or versimilitude. It is important for the
GM to enforce the social elements of the
setting. Social skills matter. Being hooked
up and networked matters. Trade skills,
particularly techie ones, matter. Knowledge
is power and power always matters.
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The borg'd out super street ronin packing
a small arsenal with every point sunk in
"KILLIN STUFF" can't make a Fixer
trust them enough to contract them, barter
with suppliers to get good prices on their
gear, rely on a pulled favor to save their
bacon when things go bad, info broker for
fame and fortune, or hack their way into
a security grid to turn off the cameras
on a facility they need to hit but can't
be seen hitting. |
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OVERSTRAINING DISBELIEF |
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While there are metahuman powers and cybertech
available, neither provide open checks.
Some degree of "cinematic realism"
should still be observed to maintain the
scope of the setting. Additionally, Magic
and spirituality is right out; MetaCyber
is essentially a sci fi setting with a focus
on technology and human evolution (the idea
being that meta powers are a form of evolutionary
adaptation). |
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NO DOUBLE STANDARD |
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A generally good rule to observe in all
cases, it is especially important that a
GM be careful to hold the opposition to
the same general limitations on power level
that the heroes labor under, or else this
setting can become really frustrating really
fast. It is occassionally allowable for
a group of villains to gain access or develop
a new super tech and have an edge briefly,
but it should be normal for this new tech
to get assimilated or replicated and become
more widely available in the vast majoirty
of cases. Similarly, antagonistic metahumans
should be held to the same basic limitations
on meta powers as PC's, though they obviously
might be more powerful individually. |
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EXAMPLE SOURCE MATERIAL |
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This being a hybrid concept, there arent
any clearcut examples of source material
available, but there are close parallels.
The most obvious match is the Shadowrun
RPG setting which mixes fantasy magic and
races with cyberpunk concepts, and many
ideas can easily be ported from that game
by GM's that wish to do so. Cyberpunk, dystopian,
and noir literary and cinematic sources
can serve as general inspirations for the
worldview and technological aspects of the
setting.
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Some elements of the (discontinued) Valiant
Universe of comics, particularly characters
such as The Eternal Warrior, Bloodshot,
the Armorines, HARD Corps, Secret Weapons,
and the various Harbingers provide excellent
parallels for the general power level and
scope of metahuman and supertech abilities
in the setting. The WILD CARDS series of
novels, particularly the earlier ones, provide
a good example for metahumans living and
interacting in a world where they are by
far in the minority and not necessarily
accepted. |