I realize this post has been up a while and more or less dead for a couple of
months but as I am new to the board I thought I would chime in. I am usually a
BM, as such it is my job to create encounters that challenge players but not
activly try and kill them. It is not an adversarial game BM vs player. I try
to guage the ability and inteligence of my " enemy NPC " and play him like i
think he would react. For instance, "most" soldiers on guard duty in an
environment where nothing has happened for a month get lazy. However if they
were attacked yesterday they are going to be more alert. Also the best
equipment is not always available to even the best troops. Sometimes even the
enemy has to worry about the loggies and funding. That being said lets say
Party a is doing everything right and enemy b gets lucky and blows the head off
of the Eridani Killing Machine. Guess what, I am the BM I can change the hit to
anything I want if I think it will progress the game. The BM is GOD if I dont
like it I can change it. Now if the party is doing everything in its abilities
to **** it up then I may let the hit stand or change it to knocking him
unconsious instead so he is still out of action but not having to reroll. So it
is up to the BM to ensure that the game is fun and that the players can
progress. I personaly dont like the " hyper realism" to me it is a Sci Fi game
and that is how I run it. I dont however award stupid or lazy playing and
tactics. Stupid people die which is as it should be, Cull the Herd. I liked
the guy who wrote that he had his players use premade characters to run through
some combat scenarios first, this lets them see how deadly the game can be and
adopt tactics accordingly.
Well I guess that is all I have.