[Ryo]

Come on, lets hear some actual examples rather than single word responses! GM's with overactive imaginations is the entire idea, here.

How about a mad halloweener lieutenant armed with incendiary grenades in gecko casings who has a tendency to make Called Shots to the back? Nothing quite says "GETTTHISTHINGOFFAME" like sticking a grenade in a place you can't reach it. You better hope your fellow runners like you enough to risk that Body+Strength (2) test to get it off you before it goes boom.

[nakano]

The well connected friend or loved one of someone that they kill/screw over/hurt etc.

Imagine the company man getting getting bent out of shape because one of his contacts got killed.

Or Mr Johnson's mistress gets caught in the crossfire.

Or if the group is into carnage, imagine that one of their own contacts is caught in the crossfire.

The possiblilities are endless, and its 6 degrees of seperation.

[tzizimine]

Personally, I like the NPC that they never actually see...


I use "Mr. Oshimida" as a yakuza troubleshooter... one in every city that there is a strong Yakuza presence. But the big thing is that no one has ever seen him, no one has his Access ID or any other method of getting a hold of him, no one is known to work directly for him or directly with him and yet everyone knows that if "Mr. Oshimida" wants something, no one is going to survive standing in his way.


Paranoia is one of the best methods to make your players use up valuable resources. The catch is to infrequently actually threaten them so that "Mr. Oshimida" isn't just an urban legend.




Oh... and water balloons filled with Aisa (hallucigenic drug) and DMSO.

[nakano]

Another favorite is contacts letting them know that "people" have been asking about them.  Particularly matrix based contacts who can indicate that there are matrix searches ongoing.

[Deepeyes]

A bounty coming from people they haven't even heard of... and rumors of said bounty being taken upon by other people... THAT usually sends them spiraling into paranoia not even wanting to go take a dump without an armed escort

[Zilfer]

How about walking into a den of dragons..... as if one wasn't bad enough.... oh god i just had the image of my group walking in on two dragon's having you know what.

xD Cockblock! xD

[Taxandrian]

You're all wrong.  What players should fear is a GM with an overactive imagination. 

You rang? 

[Walks Through Walls]

My players have had a run in with a troll adept with a chameleon suit who is a stealth/throwing specialist. He also has astral perception that he uses to track characters who are invisible, using a chameleon suit etc.

He was part of a runner group that the characters had a few run ins with. Now he is the only surviving member and the players want his blood since he has almost killed almost all of the characters at one time or another. A couple times more than one in the same encounter.

[Black]

Nice WTW.  Its always good to have a reoccuring enemy.  One who always some how comes back.  I have a few of these.  Some who are sometimes allies (but never very loyal ) and some who are Mr Johnson masterminds, and some who are just rival runners...

[The_Gun_Nut]

To fear:

How about the return of the Enemy?

[Valashar]

You're all wrong.  What players should fear is a GM with an overactive imagination. 

And this is why I hear from friends and regular customers about how my players fill their workspace conversations about how worried they are about our next session whenever I've gotten into a particular 'mental state.' It's like I'm helping to spice every pizza they make with a dash of terror and just a whiff of crushed hopes. 

[Wolfboy]

my players refuse to take runs against Aztecknology. So what i'm doing is making them do so without them knowing it

[ArkangelWinter]

One of my players is the party's worst enemy because he gets his vampire essence fix via Tamanous, so every run has to take in account how it affects their ties to the Vory and Tamanous. Especially with the whole party kinda being do-gooders, the vamp actually more than the rest.

[Longshot23]

Nice WTW.  Its always good to have a reoccuring enemy.  One who always some how comes back.  I have a few of these.  Some who are sometimes allies (but never very loyal ) and some who are Mr Johnson masterminds, and some who are just rival runners...

I love putting recurring opponents in my games.  Problems come up when players don't believe in the concept, or when the PCs turn out to be just too damn effective.  I think the worst time was when a source turned out to have had some extra info the PCs didn't get on first pass, and they went back and tortured the source to death.  Short-lived game.

[JustADude]

I love putting recurring opponents in my games.  Problems come up when players don't believe in the concept, or when the PCs turn out to be just too damn effective.  I think the worst time was when a source turned out to have had some extra info the PCs didn't get on first pass, and they went back and tortured the source to death.  Short-lived game.

The phrase "overzealous" comes to mind, there. Or possibly "sloppy and kinda psychotic".

Personally, I have all my NPCs tagged "disposable until proven otherwise" in my mind. Like, for example, there were two Orks and a Dwarf (Big Tony, Larry, and Shep... guess which one was the dwarf. ) who were the guys in charge of the crew of Halloweeners standing between my players and their goal. Two survived. Now I'm going to keep bringing them back until they're killed off or... and I highly, highly doubt this one... they^* somehow manage to TPK a group of PCs that are on S-K Prime's "full-time employee" payroll.

I'd go into details, but at least one member of my table is on the board, so I don't want to spoil it for him.

^*I'm a firm believer of the "I just narrate the thing" school of GMing. Once I have an NPC created they're gonna do what they're gonna do, and I just tell the players what's happening... with the occasional thumb on the scales to make sure "plot" happens, and things stay fun, of course.