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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 3991741" data-attributes="member: 6533">I can't speak for Spycraft 2, but in Spycraft 1 I think what you got were groups based around certain adventure concepts with maybe one character thrown in to balance for the other forms of play.  Eventually the whole party would be focused on whatever the focus of the campaign was: heists, shootouts, or le schmooze.For Shadowrun, which is similar game conceptually, I'd basicly have to split the party into two or three groups.  One guy would do his hacker thing, another the driving, and a third would be the only person who was really interested in social affairs.  Sometimes there would be a magic guy who was non-combat, but that was basicly a hacker by another name.There were three ways this dynamic would develop:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Eventually the party would abandon or marginalize the odd man out characters - ending finally in an NPC doing the job</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The Side jobs would get focused around the main job - hacking would only matter if there were security systems to ghost for the fight; rigging would only do drones for the fight; the astral walker would ambush for the fight; and the Face would set up the fight</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">we would keep the status quo and the players would find other things to do like video games</li> </ol>As a DM I found this problematic because it seemed to encourage well, to repurpose your term, spotlight hungry drama queens.  People would play Hackers or Facers in the hopes of being something different without realizing they were also being non-contributory to the group dynamic.  Then if they weren't included they would become unhappy, which is fair complaint except that they're mini-game really excludes the rest of the party.I think spotlighting is certainly a potentially viable way to build an adventure, but as a party building mechanic...Iron Heroes, though Feng Shui and Weapons of the Gods do get honorable mention, was the first game I played where you could build characters who could easilly participate in any aspect of the game.  You'd have whole parties where everyone could sneak, ride horses, hold the line, and help con the local noble.  Everyone would have their own style at it and some were better at some things than others, but no one was left out of any one element and all the characters were flexible enough to help with the others' projects.And a major component of that was that every character class had its own combat style.  Sure the Thief was essentially a social character, but he was also the master of the quickdraw.  Arcanists?  Puissiant wielders of dark secrets, but also minor league wushu leapers and tricksters.On the flip side: Sure you're education as a knight of the vale was mostly focused on drawing out your opponents defenses, building unbreakable armor, and hitting an enemy in his joints, but that doesn't mean you don't know how to haggle for a good deal.Now, there were problems with that rules system, but man it was a superior game.Man, talking about it I really miss that dynamic in my Saga game.hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I wrote skill groups into the saga system?</blockquote>

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