The unhappy Killer

We played two sessions of Feng Shui recently with newly created
characters. One of my players chose to play a killer. But in the
course of the play, he happed to be very unhappy with his choice.

Of course I'll allow him to change or modify his character, but this
doesn't solve the overall problem:

Many players find it very difficult to come up with ever new
guns-stunts, while those PC's with martial arts skill rock all day.

I even made a house rule, that any action, that has the use of a gun
in it, requires a guns check.

What's your opinion on this ? Are martial arts really cooler to play
than guns ? What if the players lack the imagination for making
interesting use of guns ?

No I don't think Martial Artists are better or worse. I fear that the player isn't able to make up clever gun moves, then they won't be able to make up clever martial art moves. Sometimes people can't do that on the fly, they just lack the knack.

I suggest making so interesting gun plays for them. "You got an AV 10? Ok, you jump from blah blah blah to blah blah, and blah".

Get them rolling and hopefully they will be able to 'get it' and then make them up on their own.

[color=darkblue]MY TWO PESETAS...
Really, I think too many people get caught up in the idea that you need to make every squeeze of the trigger some operatic slo-mo visual poetry.

Despite what the book says, there's nothing wrong with saying, "I shoot him."

My crew likes the game, and almost every one of the PCs carries a gun. But they enjoy the overall action, no the specific action of firing a gun. It's cool if one of them wants to try a stunt, but more often then not, they simply decide to "fire my Baretta at the guy in the kimono," without worrying about making it into some stunt-infested romper-room style pandemonium.

I guess my point is, don't sweat making up gun stunts. If one comes to you, great, if not, just pull the friggin' trigger. One of my player's PCs is also a Killer, but he's a low-ranking exiled Yakuza trying to make a name for himself in the U.S. He focuses on looking good, and making witty remarks, more than trying to dream up a stunt to shoot someone.

If your player wants to play a killer because he likes the archetype, then he should just do that and have fun. There's no reason at all that he has to use a gun all the time, either. He can make up all sorts of hand to hand stunts. Just because he's not as adept as a martial artist in melee doesn't mean he can't try some cool stuff with his hands.

Also, the definition of the "Guns" skill covers all ranged weapons, not just firearms, remember. Specifically, if you were an archetype from an ancient juncture, you could choose "sling" as a weapon. I'd easily allow this sling idea to be applied by a modern PC. Wrap a cue ball in a towel, spin it, chuck the ball at someone's head. That's a Guns roll right there. (Martial Arts is used to throw stuff, but I don't count slinging as throwing.)

Was there ever any doubt? :stuck_out_tongue:

Personally, I prefer to play the gun-toting players to the martial artists. I just think they're more interesting.

A few tips for gun stunts:

  • Consider where your character is going in addition to who he's shooting. Leap over, off, or under something while you shoot to get or maintain a tactical advantage over your foes. (Or just to look cool.)

  • Shoot up the environment to affect your foes. The classic stunt of this type is to shoot the chain the holds up the chandelier to trap three mooks inside once it has fallen.

  • When you have guns, your advantage over martial artists is that you can attack at range. If you're a GM wanting to even the score for your gun-toting players, include fights where some or all of the enemies begin at range, or are separated from the PCs by some obstacle that will take the hand-to-handers a little while to get across (river, chasm, etc.).

  • Pick body-part targets. Aim for their ears, eyes, necks, kneecaps, feet, groin, etc...

  • Carry lots of different guns. Switch between them from action to action. Make a point of your character's discussion of why a particular gun is better for a particular shot than another.

  • Don't forget the grenades!