The Geoff Factor

It seems that every roleplaying group has one. In fact the games would be far less fun without one. Its that spark of mad genius, that example of Chaos Theory personified, the cause of some many 'wince' moments where the only action left is to pray that the GM is in a good mood and 'let you get away with it'

I am of course writing about one thing:

The Unpredictable Player

Or as we call it: The Geoff Factor

Now Geoffrey is one of our players. He is quiet, perhaps subdued most of the time. He's a good bloke. Reliable and steady. He doesn't get envolved in all the boring heady planning parts of our games, but you know that he knows whats expected of him and what he should do when the going gets tough.

Except.

Well sometimes, during a game, something just flips. The normally quiet Geoff will perform a completely unexpected action, usually very violence, invariably spectacular, and always funny.

Thats why we call it the Geoff Factor.

Thats why we fear him.

To help you understand we have included a number of examples from our own games. As always, you have to be there to fully appreciate them, but they are still humourous. Enjoy.

The one with the Exploding Toothpaste

An elite group of Arasaka and CINO operatives (including Geoff's assassin Viper) were given the task of attacking and boarding a sub belonging to CINO's rival OTEC, stealing a piece of it's cargo and then sinking it. The operation was researched and practised until they could do it in their sleep. Weaponry was carefully selected. Nothing too large to be impractical in the tight confines of the sub: whippet shotguns and light SMGs to deal with the under armed and armoured crew and a handgun of choice as back-up and demolitions materials if they had to get through any pressure doors. A well placed mine forced the sub to the surface of the Pacific and the black-ops team dropped down from a waiting AV, ran along the deck and climbed the ladder to the conning tower hatch. Just as they reached the hatch it began to open. The nearest two commandos took up position to blast who ever came out only to find themselves face to metal face with a Militech employed Aquarius full-cyborg conversion (there by proving the golden rule of warfare #5 "Military Intelligence isn't"). Sufficient to say the Arasaka/CINO boy's guns didn't faze him. It looked like the operation was going to grind to a stop until Viper sprang into action, literally. Having reached the top of the ladder he leapt over the heads of his comrades, somersaulting through the air like an Olympic gymnast and came crashing down on the head and shoulders of the borg. The rest of the commando's could only watch in awe as, while fending off the borg's grasping hands, he proceeded to smear the metal menace's head with Thermite-in-a-Tube ™. When he had finished he rolled to safety and the triggered the thermite, melting the cyborg's head clean off its shoulders.

There was a perfect moment of stunned silence.

In the twilight world of the Shadow Runner acquiring some items require cunning, planning and the use of deadly force. Getting a mobile phone usually isn't one of them. Ash (a former company man) and Firefly (Geoff's gun crazy physical adept) were given the task of getting a corporate executive's phone number. They decided that to do this they needed a mobile phone that couldn't be traced to them. Obviously they didn't want to just buy an off'-the-shelf mobile with false credentials. Oh No. Firefly told Ash to drive him to Time's Square and cruse around until they spotted someone using a mobile. Telling Ash to keep the engine running Firefly got out of the car, walked up behind the man with the phone, swiftly broke his neck, picked up the phone and walked back to the car. "Drive" he said as he got back into the car, which a stunned Ash did.

Another perfect moment of stunned silence followed.

He HAD to touch it...

A group of runners, Ash (former company man), the indestructible Crow (bodyguard, Geoff), Red (rigger), Whisper (mage) and Velvet (fixer) are hot on the trail of a toxic wolf shaman called Fenris. Fenris has tricked them into stealing some drums of a highly nasty bio-warfare agent (the sort that causes nightmarish skeletal deformity followed by death) and then tried to blow them up. The runners have tracked him to a disused NYC sub-way station and, after surviving several explosive bobby-traps, gained access to his inner sanctum. In the darkened room the runners find the drums of the bio-agent, some maps and timetables and a cord-pull (the sort of thing you get in a bathroom to turn on the lights). "Don't touch anything," says the team fixer as she and some of the more sensible members of the group move into the room to carefully check for clues. They quickly discover where Fenris is heading and the discussion is made to go get him, they'll come back for the drums later. Just as they're about to leave Crow, who has been studying the cord-pull says "Sorry guys, I've got to see what this does" and pulls it. Rather unsurprisingly the lights don't come on but a LCD timer lights up on the drum with a 3 second count down. Red, Whisper and Crow are out of the door and back down the corridor before it the drum explodes, Velvet and Ash aren't so lucky and end up covered on its contents. Luckily its not the bio-agent (Fenris has already taken that) but luminous green paint!

Do you have an unpredictable player? Someone you adds that little touch of pure chaos to the game. Send us a mail and we'll add the reprobate here!

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