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by M0n0LiTH@mailcity.com

Please note that the following is not fact nor is it meant to say that my style of GMing is better than yours. It is meant to express my opinion of the topic at hand. Some of the following you may find offensive or insulting, I assure you it was not meant to be such. So lets all be adults and take this article for what it's worth, "Just some chicks opinion of the game CP2020". With that said I now present you with, High Rise 2020 by: M0nolyth. Thank You and Enjoy.

CorpZoner by Hound

So you wanna know how to run a really high level CP2020 campaign? Perhaps you will find some helpful information in this article. I would like to start by saying that if you have any problems with this or any other articles by Minolyth please feel free to e-mail me at M0n0lith@mailcity.com. Please note that the o's in M0n0lith are zeros. Please feel free to let me know what you think, you will be helping me to improve and convey my points better. Thank you.

Well lets start with what I consider high level characters. Well I look at them as anything that would just about vaporize anything that I throw in their direction. And a really high level character is someone who would vaporize those characters. The second is my favorite.

Why do I enjoy such high level campaigns? Well it gives me a chance to use truly high level story concepts. If the players are low level in a high level story one of two things will happen. Their characters will deem the task to dangerous or they will get frustrated realizing that they cannot succeed by their selves and not enjoy the game. Either way, your story just became a helicopter and your players a surface to air missel. Get my point? Also, if their not powerful enough, they are FORCED to rely on your NPC's help to get through most of your campaign. That's not cool, because then your players won't get that since of accomplishment, realizing that your NPC's are doing all the work. Once agin, reffer back to the hellicopter, missile thing. So what I do is allow them their freedom and discuss with them the story concept, and let them have at it. I generally do not govern the process with any charts or rules, I simply tell them what would be useful in the story.

First point of order is character creation.

How do I handle it? Well for the most part I simple let my players create their own history. I do have a general questionnaire, but its to big to present here. Besides it varies from campaign to campaign. But in their history they are to answer, outside the obvious name, sex, height and so on, but more detail questions. Some examples include: What skills did you learn from someone, and what skills did you pick up on your own? The people who taught you, what was your relationship like and who were they? Questions like these add more depth to the character and make it a little more real to the player, outside of, this is what I know, this is what I don't know and this is what I'm learning. My, and mabey your, objective is to make the player feel for the character, outside of KILL KILL KILL. And I don't mean half ass feel, I mean to the point when one of their characters friends die they almost feel the pain for the character. I've ran many stories when the players could truly relate to their character and some of the scenes got really intense. Sometimes we would have to pause to wipe our eyes or catch our breaths from laughing so hard. If you've ever had that kind of response out of one of your games then you know what I'm talkin about.

You know that feeling you get when you watch a really emotional movie, like umm "ET"? You remember when you thought ET had died, and Eliot was calling his name, ET! ET! ET! Remember how you felt? Even better when ET came back to life, oh man that was really a kicker wasn't it? You could really relate with Eliot right? Well that's how your players should feel, they should really be into their characters and relate to the scene at hand. That's what it's all about folks, a great story.

Building with the point of relating with a character a little more. Ok, now I know a lot of you out there have this "True Roleplayers Can Play Any Character Concept" attitude. It's 100% grade A USDA Prime Choice Bullshit. Don't let your players play a character concept they can't relate to. High power campaigns can quickly fall apart if a player doesn't understand ar relate to the concept he's trying to act out. If you allow them to go off on a concept they can't relate to, you'll find yourself explaining it to them the whole way through the game. If they want to try a new off the wall concept, advise them to make the character something they can, at least, relate too. EXE: Last week I had a player (new guy) who wanted to play a netrunner, who was a whitebrain. Way off concept for the guy. I had to explain to him (for 2 hrs mind you) what a whitebrain was. In the end we decided that he simply could not relate to the concept of someone being void of all emotions. He himself being a very kind and caring person just didn't understand how someone could be that way. So he went with a netrunner with a cold heart, and played it very well mind you. The reason he is playing a cold hearted runner is so that he could learn what it is to be close to a whitebrain. Mabey after a few campaigns he'll be ready to take the next step up. But for now he does not want to jeopardize his or anyone else's fun. One of the most respectful players I've ever met.

Still building here, bare with me. As well as getting them to feel for the character their playing, and understanding their characters motives, try to interlock their past. Mabey they did a song together and went on tour, or mabey they were all at one time part of the same military outfit, and here's the one I'm currently using for my campaign "Delta Chrome 2040" all of them gain total recall and realize their past was a lie. There is a endless aray of ideas, but at all cost when dealing with high level characters try not to let them enter your game with no affiliation with each other. If you do you are going to have the headache of bringing them together. Power players tend to work alone if they have no affiliates. Encourage them to work their histories together. Mabey they'll surprise you and give you even more interesting plot twists then you had before. Player cooperation is the key to survival. Especially in a high level campaign. Just ask my players.

A few more bricks. I mentioned earlier how I informed my players about the campaign, no I did not mean that I told them the plot. I meant that I would tell them what was recommended to enjoy the campaign. If I needed someone to be kind and thoughtful, so that person would help one of my NPC's who was in trouble, it would not be good if all my players were cold blooded killers. Now would it? The key is PLAYER & GM COOPERATION. With this element you have a better understanding of what your players want and your players will understand what you want. In high power campaigns especially, you need that understanding. No, don't take no shit, but at the same time don't give it either.

One last thing on character creation, then we will move on, I promise. Earlier I mentioned that when my players were creating their characters I just let them have at it. Well I meant just that. What the HELL lady!!!, are you CRAZY!!!? No, not really. They have all the points they want and all the cybers they want. Whatever they need to play the character they are envisioning. I don't recommend this method to anyone, because I know that their are a lot of players out their who just can't handle the MATURITY of the concept. Luckily I've got a very mature gamming group. But if you wish to know what the full method is you can e-mail me at the above address. I've found that my method allows for the player to really understand their character when their limited only by their imagination and the laws of my universe. And with that said I'm going to move on.

Finally, my second point. Once agin please note that I've been playing CP2020 & 2013 for over 10 years now, so I'm not just some newbie filling you with some BS. I've noticed a lot of campaigns out there, when the gm's would just throw some characters into their game, tell them who to kill and say have at it. No, these games are not for me. I like a little more personalization in my games. It makes me feel great when my players talk about noncombat scenes they've had with some of my NPC's. Don't get me wrong, I like a little combat, but it's what's in between the fighting and chasing that really does it for me. On now with my point. The meaning behind all this, is that their is a world full of interesting sites and people. A world full of mystery and danger, outside of your street gangs. Besides in a really high level campaign your players should mow down your average booster gang. Let them see their environment and get a feel for it. Let them know their contacts. Don't just tell them, let them experience them. This builds a reality like setting. Which is very important, but, we'll go into that later. When you and your players are comfortable with the environment that their in, then begin your campaign

Building a reality like setting.

This is the hard part, even for me sometimes. But we will manage, we're GM's. Before we begin I recommend that you read my article on GMing CP2020. It should be located on this site as well. But anyway I'm going to touch up on it a little. For the most part it's simple, just think realistically. Keep in mind the individual personalities of your NPC's. Don't take them to far beyond that. Keep in mind their desires and goals. Treat them as real people with real thoughts, and true individuality. In doing so they will seem more lifelike to the players, oh and give them emotions (if they have them). Example: Franklin walks in a bar (Played by Laccob) to find Shin (played by GM). Seeing him in the corner he slowly approaches, Being a solo he notes to his left the bartender leaning down in a suspicions way. Then noticing that the booster gang right outside is getting a little rowdy, the bartender is probably loading his shotgun or something. (A great way to use Combat Sense in a game.) Reaching the corner after passing through the human field, "Shin" he says. His face holding a cold expression. Shin sitting at the table moves his hair slightly from his eyes to see Franklin in a dark brown trench coat towering over him. He notices in Franklin's right hand a chain emerging from his fist. He looks into Franklin's cold eyes, "What is it?" Franklin extends his hand about five inches from Shin's face. Opening his hand palm down, a set of dog tags dangle from a chain. Gently taking the tags into his left hand Shin realizes that his long time friend has been killed. Shin lowering his hand to his side, exhales a deep breath. Feeling a comforting hand resting on his shoulder, a single tear escapes the prison Shin tried to keep it in. "Vengence, Shin" Franklin pauses briefly "Vengence".

Notice how the NPC reacted to the situation. He acted as if he lost a really close friend. That's because he did. The NPC reacted in a way that the player could relate to and therefore the player could interact with the scene better. Most games I've played in shin would have jumped up and left for Vengence ignoring the emotions of the NPC. Did you also notice how the description added to the feel of the game as well? In a high level campaign all you have is a story. The players won't get much fulfillment out of the normal combat, unless you have a lot of truly god shit out there, which then your players might as well be low level.

Touching up a little on combat in high level campaigns. Sexy Gun Gal by Hound

I recommend that you give your players a little combat at the intro of your campaign. It helps to get it out before you go into a long in-depth plot string. Give them a booster gang to kill that is working for one of your higher level NPC's or something. Tie it into your plot if possible. After all most of the norms in CP2020 will get abolished by your players in high power campaigns. Your new job is not to give them combat but instead intrigue. What else is a high level character gonna do? And when they do fight something that will give them a run for there money, then it should be Earth Shattering. To get to the end, force them to use their brains not their guns, and then at the end let them use their guns. And if your campaigns are anything like mine then your players will love you for it.

If you give them something to do other then killing everybody then they won't walk around with their guns blazing. Besides you can't kill what you can't see. In my current campaign my players are in a cold world, with little memories of who they are. Someone screwed with their heads, and now their trying their best to find out who and why. The only thing that they know is that they all belonged to a top secrete experiment called project Delta Chrome. Someone made them very powerful full conversions with state of the art technologies. But the who and why still remains a mystery and the person who told them that much is now dead. So you see, their objective is not kill, kill, kill, but it's what the hell is going on? I took very powerful characters and gave them something to do. Meantime there are a number of possible side quest.

So far I've told you how to get setup for a good high level campaign, Now we're gonna go into the actual running of the game. You've got your plot, your players are comfortable with their characters and you the GM are comfortable with your NPC's. While your running your story I suggest you keep the scenes alive and vivid. Describe how they bump around people on a crowed bar, or the many different faces they see walking down the wall streets. Let them know that the world they live in is a busy world. Cut them off from time to time "You feel someone bump into you as were talking" or tell them what they can here Exe:"He's trying to say something to you but you can barely here him over the traffic". This will make your scenes a little more alive. If you want a little live action put in one of your favorite cd's and crank up the volume so that way they know what its like in one of your crowded bars. For some good background music I recommend KMFDM or Rammstein.

Play your NPC's for who they are. Let them be true interactions not just tools for the players. Example: Wire (NPC) and Gemini (NPC) are arguing when Kellog (Greg's Character) walks in. They don't stop just because he's there, in fact he tries to stop them and they ignore him. In the end he has to break up a physical fight. Roleplay out the argument so the player knows what its about, hell your player might wanna choose sides. If there is a conflict of a NPC's morals v/s what the players want that NPC to do then have the NPC to express it, if he or she would. But act out every scene as the NPC would. Hell it aint Hollywood but it's fun. Instead of saying "the npc tells you that you are wrong" try this "Wire looks at you with a discouraging face then she says (acting now the NPC)"If you can't do it no better then that,. then retire". Act the NPC don't describe him or her. It lets the players feel as if they are interactions instead of mindless zombies for them to use.

Action in a high level campaign.

I know its hard to get good action with high level characters but it can be done. Try restricting them, no I don't mean tell them they can't do something. But more like being on a airplane, if they fire their weapons then they could depressurize the cabin. Remind them that the fall won't kill them, but the sudden impact will. Or there has just been a gas leak, and if they discharge they might create a spark and adios muchachos. Who knows, but the effect your looking for is to force them to utilize the space between their ears. Create a good balance of intrigue, mystery and action. That should keep your players happy for now.

Thank you and I hope you've enjoyed High Rise 2020. In the future I will be publishing Sky Rise 2020. It will contain problems I've ran into in high level campaign and their solutions.