Selling out. Your mission should you be forced to accept it..?

[Punknaught2020]

Selling out. Your mission should you be forced to accept it..?

As most who have played know there is a way to get 10 thousand euro in cyberwear for free...with a catch or several catches from a variety of sources, should there be something similar ingame?

Selling yourself to a faction with all the negatives that come with it? Getting that call to go do something you may not want to do would add an interesting layer to the story.

Opinions?

 

[kohme]

Not as an option right from the start.

As strings attached-type of deals during gameplay, absolutely.

If acquired during the game, all the blackmail, possible hostages and such reasons as a leash are far more meaningful and the player is more likely to have a personal investement on the characters affected. Also, making the choice has more weight as a scene than just ticking a box in character generation.

 

[Sydanyo]

No need to sell out.

Rather befriend one of the best netrunners out there, who then proceeds to hack accounts for everyone in your "team" to the most respected cyber clinic in Norway, each with enough credits to get you anything in your wildest fantasies.

Then again... I guess selling out might be the easier option.

 

[TheCybersmily]

Selling out should be an option, even to begin with. It can drive a story. instead of seeking out cash rewards the player is looking to get out from under the thumb of some task master using you as a meat shield.

 

[wisdom000]

Meh, screw selling out... keep those chains off me...

Selling out is like agreeing to roll for how many brothers and sisters you have... its just another way for the GM to screw you... and he will want to, because not only did you cause him to do more paperwork... but you just gave him an arsenel of ways to screw, and the will do it, cold, and without lubrication...

 

[TheCybersmily]

Meh, screw selling out... keep those chains off me...

Selling out is like agreeing to roll for how many brothers and sisters you have... its just another way for the GM to screw you... and he will want to, because not only did you cause him to do more paperwork... but you just gave him an arsenel of ways to screw, and the will do it, cold, and without lubrication...

Spoken like a true Nomad

 

[Sardukhar]

Yesssss...please sell out. PLEASE. How do you spell "fun"? C-o-r-t-e-x-b-o...er. With an "f"?

I also like the implant where they make you a meat-puppet. Heh. Your fellow PCs like it...less. Heh.

Refs love sell-outs. 10,000 eb! And that's a nice chunk of change, in a cash-strapped starting position. I encourage everyone to do it!

 

[wisdom000]

Yesssss...please sell out. PLEASE. How do you spell "fun"? C-o-r-t-e-x-b-o...er. With an "f"?

I also like the implant where they make you a meat-puppet. Heh. Your fellow PCs like it...less. Heh.

Refs love sell-outs. 10,000 eb! And that's a nice chunk of change, in a cash-strapped starting position. I encourage everyone to do it!

I concede, you are a far more insidious and hateful GM than I am

 

[Captain_Crash]

It sounds cool, but I guess it could easily be exploited. You get your 10k, you refuse the job, corporation sends hitmen after you. You figure out a method to kill them (which always happens in games) you loot all their cool equipment. Repeat. Set-up for the rest of the game.

Or something similar along those lines.


Believe me I dont think its a bad idea, I think it will need to be carefully managed if its implemented though

 

[blank_redge]

I like the idea of a "selling out" mechanic, and I agree with cybersmily; it should be available at pretty much any point in the game.

I also think it should open you up to some VERY unpleasant tasks / put you in the debt of someone you don't want to be, or otherwise have a few unintended "extras" like Sardukhar suggests.

A new character shouldn't get a bunch of choice toys right out of the gate, without paying a VERY heavy price.

 

[wisdom000]

I really dug it back in San Andreas and RDR where bounties could be placed on your head, and guys would come looking to collect......... that shit rocked, and led to some epic chase scenes shootouts...

 

[Sardukhar]

Yeah, they don't send hitmen after you. IT IS TO LAUGH. HAR HAR HAR. If yousell out to the Mob..they send hitmen to your families.

In a video game, they don't send hitmen, they do one of several, hilarious things. 1st and simplest, they detonate a Cortex Bomb. Most useful if they need an example and used only if a) you were mroe trouble alive then dead and b) there isn't any expensive cyberware IN your head.

2. Pain Enhancers! Press a button and everything hurts. Everything you do. Hurts. IN a video game this translates to constant damage and crappy stats.

3. Nervous System Override. You are now some suit's meat puppet. Enjoy doing his or her whim!

I know I know. You're thinking, "I'll just get it taken out of my head/spine/whatever!" Yeah, because no one ELSE thought of that, Chombatta. The neural and hardware behind this is well-tested on lots of other smart guys, which is why Techs do -not- want to touch it. And even if they are successful, why, then the Corp/Mob/Military comes looking for them. And their families.

10,000 eb, though. WELL worth it. Trust me.

And maybe if your GM is a bastard, giggle, your first job will be to go retrieve/clean-up the last guy who thought he could get away with jumping contract. Better bring some AP rounds!

 

[Punknaught2020]

We are GMs of the same cloth Sardukar, i enjoy tormenting players who want to min/max out of the gate.

I think one of the most fun moments was a solo who kept having these strange dreams of chasing down and hurting people which seemed very real, but i mean he could have PTSD after all he was ex military. But the night he woke up with blood on his hands he knew something was terribly wrong. Should have checked those discharge papers you signed choomba.

In the end depending on what was implanted i usually put the catch/safeguard in that was appropriate so they learned fast not to sellout every time.

 

[Sardukhar]

I often recommend min/maxing to a point to players. The system is so lethal, it's fine to have a good character concept, but if you are trying for jack of all trades, you're going to be master of none and, then, ow.

It's just a good idea to think defensively first. What's -the- most important skill in the game, for nearly all classes, nearly all the time?

Awareness. It's Awareness. CP2020 is so hazardous, physically and socially, that being aware of your surroundings at all times is essential. At least get 4 points in it, no matter your class.

That kind of thing.

It's just level 8-10 in a skill is really likely only if you are pretty dedicated to your craft. Which is fine! But that should be echoed in the rest of your character and your background story. No one gets Martial Arts 8-10 without corresponding good to high points in Awareness, Athletics, Endurance, Expert: Karate, ( or whatever), and so on.

We had a Techie with 1-2 points in nearly every Tech skill once. That worked out..not well. Although he did once get a Punknaught built and briefly moving!

 

[TheCybersmily]

I actually lost a group of players by doing the smackdown for min/maxing. After 2 sessions, they all died from their incompidence. When I point it out, they said "Yeah, let's play DnD, Cyberpunk isn't that great of a game..." *Poof* no players, no more game for me. took about a year or two to find some more fresh meat.

 

[TheCybersmily]

As for selling out. I often had players who purchased smart guns come with a built-in Stutter chip with their employers and "co-workers" assigned as friendlies. From then on, players would always head out to a ripperdoc to find if the "leashes" can be removed. And for some reason the process always cost 10k, same price of cyberware they had installed...

 

[tango6]

It sounds cool, but I guess it could easily be exploited. You get your 10k, you refuse the job, corporation sends hitmen after you. You figure out a method to kill them (which always happens in games)

Unless of course the game is weighted in such a way that if you attempt such a dodge, you either die or wake up in a less than sterile back alley clinic stripped of everything you bought with your 10k. Happened to one of my players back in the day

 

[Aditya]

err if I want money and have the best version of the story, well *shamelessly use mods/editing*