What do you do without balance?

[Voadam]

There are a couple problems here:

(1) The hacker character isn't completely side-lined while other characters are doing their thing, so the hacker gets a special spotlight all his own that nobody else has.

(2) Because of the disparate time scales, the GM is unable to juggle multiple balls to keep the spotlight shifting. Everyone else is literally freeze-framed while the hacker does his thing.

So you're not looking at spotlight balance here, you're looking at spotlight IMBALANCE. Shadowrun's -up in this regard is actually a really strong argument that spotlight balance is very important.

And Shadowrun's spotlight imbalance is made even worse because the practical minimum spotlight time is so long. Players in RPGs are both performer and audience -- if you don't like watching other people do cool things at the game table, then you're missing out. But being pushed into the audience chair for an hour or two is also bad news.

Are you suggesting it would be allright if the hacker and astrally projecting characters were completely sidelined in realspace? If the meat characters had their exclusive time and the deckers had theirs and the meditaters had theirs in astral space and each were sidelined audience for the other PCs during the other PCs' time?

For me this would be terrible design and game play, exacerbating the problem instead of improving things.

The goal IMO for a group game is not to have each PC solo for a little and be an audience for a lot. I want each PC to be involved in the whole game.

I want it to be basketball with five players actively on the court. I don't want it to be baseball with a pitcher/batter duel going on while everyone else is either on the bench or being contingent outfielders/base players.

 

[AllisterH]

Notably these all feature the exact same balance as the wizard's contribution to combat: The wizard has limited resources.

The balance for pre-4E wizards depends on there being a sufficient number of encounters per day for the wizard's resource management to be meaningful. If there isn't, then you've got a problem.

If there are a sufficient number of encounters, OTOH, then the resource management becomes meaningful and adds depth and a distinct style of gameplay to the system.
.

Er, this only applied to the pre 3E wizard though...

With relatively easy access to scrolls, wands and potions, all those non-combat spells are low level and thus relatively easy to have on their person.

I mean, which 3e wizard actually memorizes KNOCK?

re: Shadowrun

Um, maybe I was misinformed, but hasn't the latest edition of SR tried to more fully integrate the hacking subgame into the regular flow of the game?