Dirk wheels around, hearing the pounding footsteps of the oncoming squad of security guards. With the flip of a small switch, the long chrome barrels of his Ares Vindicator begin to spin, a high-pitched whine emanating from the motor. Dirk held for a moment so that more than one guard could round the corner, then calmly depressed the trigger, sending hot lead to tear holes in the bodies of the three guards. Eighteen total down, Dirk thought as wisps of smoke drifted up from the Vindicator's barrels. Won't those damn security guards ever learn? Nothing but another obstacle between him and another big score..."

What's wrong with that picture?

Come on, think for a moment.

If you've caught it, then either you've cheated and read ahead or you already know what I'm going to talk about and therefor have no need of my advice. Congratulations and go check out another part of The Reality Check.

If you haven't, then read on brave shadowrunner.

What's wrong with that bit of heroic fiction, which is how far too many people play shadowrunners, is the wanton disregard for human life our hero Dirk has. Well, it's not the only thing but it's what I'm going to talk about.

Hang on, don't leave just yet. I'm totally serious. Too often, perhaps trained by years of experience with other games with monster-strewn dungeons, NPC's such as security guards are seen as little more than another obstacle and can therefor be gunned down with impunity. I used to be as guilty as anyone when it came to this. They aren't mere obstacles.

The fact of the matter is that in Shadowrun, we don't have monsters between us and a pile of gold. Okay, there are critters. But the vast majority of shadowruns take place against other humans. Let's state that again for emphasis. Other humans. And many of them aren't Evil or Chaotic, but are simple average humans, perhaps a bit like you and I.

Those security guards Dirk turned into human hamburger have lives and family and friends, hopes and wishes and dreams. And like a psychopath, Dirk butchered them. Ever had your own PC do anything similar? I'd bet nearly anything you have. Those security guards were simply doing their job, a job they probably weren't given adequate training or gear for and probably doesn't pay well either. I've known a number of real life security guards that've played Shadowrun; I've had them as players from time to time. How would you feel if your fellow Shadowrun player was gunned down by some criminal while simply trying to perform his job? As a security guard, how would you feel about getting shot at while on duty?

It's similar when your shadowrunner PC's decide to shoot up Lone Star cops. I'm good friends with a LAPD officer; known the fellow for years before he ever entered the Academy. I'd be seriously pissed and upset if he was ever shot or killed, ever, but especially in the line of duty. I dislike cops as much as anyone since they do sometimes abuse their power (even my friend does) and who doesn't hate getting a traffic ticket? But they are doing a job, and that job is ostensibly to protect us, the civilian masses.

In other words, in Shadowrun, everyone is a person. Nearly all those folks deserve a chance at life, as do you. Life is a precious thing and one's all we got. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good shoot-out in Shadowrun or in film. But perhaps the best thing I've learned from playing paintball is that no one is invincible. We can all be eliminated, and right quick too sometimes.

So what can players and GM's do?

Let's start with the GM's. There's a few things that can be done to decrease the lethality while still keeping the game exciting and without taking away all those neato-keen guns we all like.

First, you can encourage non-lethality by making Squirt guns and tasers and the like more easily available. The PC's can't use non-lethal means if they don't have the right equipment.

Mr. Johnsons and Fixers setting up runs can offer a bonus for no kills, or to even mandate that no one must be killed in order to receive full payment can be an effective inducement.

But GM's also need to play their NPC's smart. Too often mere mortals in shadowrun fight on to the death. The main rules, the Big Black Book, has rules for this sort of behavior on p. xx, but too often they are ignored. Security guards, when shot, should either retreat or lie down on the ground, writhing in pain. You don't think getting shot hurts?!? Would you keep gunning away or would you get the hell out of Dodge?

If your PC's then go up to the essentially incapacitated guards and then do the old double-tap to the skulls, you know your players are psychopathic murderers. Feel free to inflict the full weight of the law and the corporation against them, and have the shadows turn away from such sociopaths.

Let's not forget that there is law within the world of Shadowrun, most often administered on a contract basis by Lone Star. But despite corporate enforcement, it's still the law. Breaking and entering and theft may be costly to the corporations, but it's generally not a threat to public safety. Murder, however, is. And killing a cop is a great way to have a lot of extremely pissed-off people trying to hunt down the PC's. Killing repeatedly and with an established modus operandi (MO) is another excellent way to bring down the heat and end a shadowrunning career rather quickly.

What can the players do? Attempt to negotiate with the Mr. Johnsons for a non-lethality bonus. Purchase non-lethal weaponry and have the PC's become proficient in it. Become more proficient with Stealth and Etiquette skills so that a run can, at least in theory, be pulled off without once drawing a weapon. And give the security guard opposition a chance. If they want to surrender, let them. If they are bleeding to death, hit them with a quick slap patch and then move on instead of shooting them again to make sure they really die. For magicians, make sure to learn non-lethal spells like Sleep and the various Stun Cloud or Stun Bolt spells.

In other words, as a player, your PC doesn't have to kill everyone just to achieve their goal and pull off the shadowrun. And as a GM, you can still run an extremely exciting game of Shadowrun without a single combat. If that's what your players want, and most will want some combat at least, you don't have to have anyone die and still have an exciting game.

"Oh," I can hear many of you saying, "it's just a damn game. Lighten up.".

Hey, I get my own share of kicks by having a PC of mine cutting down other people. And in an epic game (which Shadowrun can easily be) we can easily be like Ah-nold or Stallone or Bruce and get into a big scale, highly cinematic sort of Shadowrun where bullets fly through the sky like rain during an El Nino.

Nothing inherently wrong with that for a game. Been there before and it's loads of fun.

But Shadowrun is a also a very dark and gritty sort of game, where life is cheap and bullets are cheaper. A nasty, brutish place, but one where there are still consequences for your actions. And in it's own way, a very harsh mirror of our own world.

What I'm trying to get you, the gentle reader, to do is to think for a moment and realize that your actions do have consequences, even in the fantasyland confines of a RPG. If you shot and killed someone, there would be consequences, all above and beyond anything that might happen to you specifically.

So the next time your PC raises his Ares Predator II and asks some poor schmuck security guard that has the misfortune of being on the wrong shift the wrong day, if he feels lucky, go ahead and let the guard get lucky. You'll both live to fight another day.

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