If I had a penny for every time I gave my players a break, I'd have enough spare change to buy Canada (which I would immediately rename "Beaver World" and demand, at gunpoint, that they stop taking the United States' hockey players). Without breaks the world of 2059 (or wherever the time-line is right now) would be bathed in PC blood, the roads slicked to the point that you'd need a Level 3 VCR just to keep from sliding into an embankment. Body parts would be strewn to and fro, pedestrians would perpetually trip over scattered cyberware paraphernalia, you wouldn't be able to step outside for fear of getting hammered with flying foci, and Satan would make a personal appearance in Seattle in an attempt to figure out why Hell has gotten so crowded all of a sudden. My point is that there's a lot of situations that would have resulted is a large spillage of PC components had I not stepped in occasionally and said, quote "Don't worry about it, just take a Light".

Now these little gifts do come with a few strings attached. If you take Serious, I may drop down the damage - or perhaps even eliminate it - but not before your newly acquired Thunderbolt pistol has been shattered into little pieces, you right cyber-eye has gone dyslexic, and your armored clothing has developed an rip at a rather revealing location. If the damage was deadly, the substitution may even make the PC wish he's dead as he wakes up amongst a group of inebriated Lone Star police ready to deploy a device called Mr. Hammer Probe in an attempt to see if the runner is hiding any illegal items in obscure bodily locations. In general, however, most PCs seem to take such alteration of damages a lot better than an eight centimeter hole directly through their chest.

I've utilized this tool (alteration of damages - not Mr. Hammer Probe) many times in the past to save PCs who have gotten a bum die roll, moved left when they should have bolted right, and, occasionally, when they just plain fuck up. It's a powerful instrument for balancing out gaming situations without extensive rule tweaking. Because you can spend forever playing around with spell levels, rates of fire, legalities, and ramming rules and everything will still come down to how many boxes get marked off on the condition monitor - whether the PC lives or dies.

I've received billions of E-Mails from frustrated GMs who spend 100 hours a day trying to deal with rebellious players. One common act of rebellion is a player's refusal to take damage dealt to them (actually, to their PC). The player may think nothing of blowing NPCs into little bitty pieces, but god forbid the GM toss an IPE Offensive in the opposite direction. They'll bitch and bitch and bitch and bitch and bitch and bitch until usually the GM either folds and nullifies the PC's damage, blows up the PC anyway, or punches the actual player directly in the face. Though it'd be nice if we could utilize possibility three on a regular basis, the GM, usually for fear of losing his or her players, finally gives in and the grenade mysteriously vanishes from existence. Then the GM erases the event from his or her memory.

In the above situation, the GM gave the PC a break, but it was the wrong kind of break. The GM gave in just to get the player off his or her back and the only thing the player learned is that if they're a big enough pain in the ass they'll get what they want.

Now, lets say the PC gets nailed by a grenade and, just as he begins to whine, the GM says "OK, I'll only give you Moderate, but your armor jacket is ripped to shreds and if you ever stand out in the open during a street war again, I'll hit you with TWO grenades and a frigging mortar round." This tactic not only gives the PC a break, but also elevates the GM's level of respectability since he didn't give in - he compromised. Your hard core wussies will still piss and moan, but considering they traded a 250 nuyen armor jacket for their life they'll at least look like a fool for bitching.

The compromise mentioned above has implications that go far beyond simple annoyance control. By giving the PC a break, the GM has established her right to give her own NPCs a few reprieves. The simplest way to redeem these 'break credits' is to save an NPC who has gotten himself into a situation similar to that of the PC. Relating to the above example, the player will have a hard time arguing with the GM if she saves one of her NPCs from a grenade blast, seeing as how she just did the same thing for the player's PC.

In addition, by using these credits sparingly (and by offering the PCs more frequent breaks) the GM can "save up" and exercise even more control over NPC damages. Perhaps the best way to utilize back credits is to enhance the dramatics of a showdown with a major NPC. Showdowns can be extremely nerve-racking for the GM since all it takes is one good shot to down an NPC that he or she has been developing over a month of campaigning. The runners enter Mr. Bad's lair, burst into his throne room, and before the GM even has a chance to utter a word of the dramatic speech she's prepared, the PCs turn Mr. Bad into swiss cheese. However, if the GM had, oh, five or six 'break credits' up her sleeve, she would be in a better position to generate some excuse as to why Mr. Bad was knocked through a wall by the gunfire and managed to escape through a secret exit.

While GMs with obnoxious or dubious players may wish to keep an actual tally of breaks, most GMs shouldn't have a problem dealing with the issue on a more fluid basis. And one final thing to keep in mine: The GM should never go into break debt with his players. It's swell if the players own the NPCs a few reprieves, but turning the tables can be disastrous if the GM wishes to keep respectable control of the game.