The rules of Shadowrun (3rd Edition) are extremely susceptible to the min-max strategy because of the complete lack of randomization in character generation. In my opinion, this is a good thing - everyone begins on a (theoretically) equal footing. Unfortunately, those so inclined can shift this level plane. Given the delicate balance of any game, this can be all it takes to seriously disrupt the fabric of the GM’s carefully crafted world. Soon the game is thrown into a tailspin as the GM struggles to keep up with the super-character’s firepower, at the expense of the other characters in the party.

The first of the areas that are most frequently abused is character generation. While suitable if played based on character concept and realism, several things jump to light if the generation is examined with a different eye.
· Money is too favorable. With A or B priority wealth, a character can be a walking Cyberware storage depot, which wasn’t at all the intention of the SR writers. (Or so I should hope.)
· Not enough skills are necessary for survival.
· Unless all attributes are important, it’s too easy to have 6’s in everything useful.
Let’s just take into account the first two for now. The first, Money, is the big one. Therefore, in an effort to eliminate the possibility of exploit, I recommend the following ‘approval system’, based on the wealth a character is requesting.

D: Any character may begin with D (or E) priority Wealth resources
C: Again, almost any character. Not someone on the bottom of the ladder, though. And no psychotic killer-characters.
B: Requires GM approval, and either a wealthy family, successful business endeavor or corporate backing. Any of these three require an intelligent character; not the type to go on needless killing sprees. Also requires a detailed background that is both realistic and is corroborated by everything else about the character.
A: Personally, I try never to allow resources a priority of A. In the event that a character is well written enough to fit the following, however, it may be acceptable. The character needs to make complete sense, ranging from where, why and how the money was obtained to what it was spent on. It must also be logical why his/her skills are distributed as they are. In addition to the above, the character would need to have something in their background that was a disadvantage. If the 1,000,000 nuyen was illegally gotten, then there are people angry about it. If it were legal, he has fingerprints, images, etc, all recorded and waiting to identify him the moment he slips up on a run.

Glancing back, I see that the next item on our list is that of skills. Why should a character bother with half of them? Intimidation? Who needs a skill, just point the gun at him! This is a problem, because the Shadowrun rules were written in such a way that you should not be able to get every skill you want with a D or C priority in skills. As it stands, most GMs only roll dice for combat skills. This allows characters with a D or a C in skills to have every skill they’d ever want to roll begin at a rating of 6. No game can succeed with such a system. As a solution for this, I’d recommend one of the following solutions for active skills.

1. Divide listed skill points by two (or more). This would result in 25, 20, and 17, as opposed to 50, 40 and 34. At this point, let the characters invest only in skills that are physical in nature. Roleplay all the others entirely.
2. Utilize the generic number of points, but roll dice for everything. Even if you recite a perfectly written speech, it will not be well received if your tone is off. Use roleplaying as a +/- modifier, but roll dice for everything…. Or at the very least, utilize their skill in making your estimations.

Before continuing onto the next issue, that of attribute points, there is a matter that must be addressed regarding skills. It is not a good idea to roll dice for everything. It bogs down the game and makes everyone lose track of his or her roleplaying. The only time I would ever suggest that the GM employ such an action would be in the event of a power-gamer, who preemptively refused to roleplay his character by generating it in such a manner.

Attributes are a very difficult matter to correctly handle. On the surface, they’re actually not balanced badly at all - if everything is done according to the rules, a character neglecting any attribute will and should pay the price for it. In practice however this is not always the case. Often times, Charisma is never rolled…. Willpower, while useful for combat pool, is also rarely rolled. Either make sure everything has its uses or at the least ensure everything is roleplayed as per the statistics. (If I see one more ‘beautiful’ female street samurai with a Quickness of 6 and 2 Charisma I’m going to scream.)

There’s been a trend in recently developed RPGs to eliminate attributes that aren’t rolled often read: Charisma. While you’re free to do this (unless you have Awakened characters that utilize the statistic), be sure to shave an appropriate number of points from character creation, as per the example given above for Skills.

Rules exploitation doesn’t end at character creation. A situation highly exploited is the instinct in (good) GMs to not beat up the characters too badly. If everyone’s prepared for tanks, it’s not every GM that has the stomach to slaughter them all with jet fighters. As a result, tanks are sent in, and subsequently blown into itty-bitty pieces. This is fine… Unless you have a power gamer on your hands, because if it becomes clear that whatever the players are prepared for will be what they face, they have the advantage. When players know you won’t hit them with something unexpected, they can simply carry 50 Anti-tank weapons and ignore the threat of the aforementioned jets completely. This is very, very bad.

I have never killed a player for an honest mistake. Nor have I slaughtered a group for honest bad planning. But it must be recognized when a player is exploiting the GM’s good faith - in this case, it’s perfectly ethical to realize that, with his Quickness of 12, he has a Willpower of only 3, and that Manabolt will fry him alive. The player objects? Well, why did he neglect spell defense in the first place…I certainly didn’t invent mages, they’re in the core rules.

Another excellent tool against the power gamer is a sniper. With a base damage of 14S, even a Rifle skill of just 3-5 can be lethal with such a rifle - especially after several ‘Aim’ actions. Not only will this demonstrate that it’s easy to die, but snipers can add an excellent sense of suspense for the rest of the group - they’re one of the best tools a GM has for plot purposes, as well, but that is a discussion for another article.

Remember that the power gamer will almost invariably be the most specialized character in the group - try to hit his or her weaknesses. And if all else fails, as Blackjack would point out, just drop a cow on them.