Farseer, Lord of Glorious Battle and Cleancutter, Red Rainbow Amidst The Rain Drops!

I'm running a campaign for Low Fantasy RPG, on-and-off...meaning "any time that the WHoOG campaign isn't running for one reason or another". We are playing Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, and I'm behind with the updates again - it's just that we play more often than that!

I'm also planning to make it into a setting supplement...or mini-supplement, we'll see. I'm not even trying to hide that my main inspiration for that are the Books of Twelve Swords by Fred Saberhagen, the French RPG Bloodlust, and Earthdawn's magic items. (Well, I hear Dave Arneson himself has been putting magic swords in his setting as important part of the magic, but I don't know anything else. Either way, it's nice to know I'm following good tradition!)
The first thing that you'd notice if you played in this campaign, would be...that there's no Wizard class. Want magic? Find an item.
Most such items are weapons. For a reason that's part of the setting's lore.

And now, let me introduce you two NPCs from this campaign!

Farseer, Lord of Valorous Battle looks like a slender Type XIX (with side rings), according to Oakeshott's typology. He's black as night, and carries a symbol of the Iron God (which I decided to adopt in my setting...though he might turn out to be just a namesake).
He's made of cold iron, of course.
The first power he always gives to any user is the ability to see the invisible, including in the dark. This was already used to notice a dryad hiding in her own tree. (Previous unscrupulous owners have used it to see through clothes, as Farseer would tell you - not that he's hinting at anything...he's not a pervert at all!)
Later it might be upgraded to "seeing magic emanations".
Then, he'd give you the power of sprouting wings (for a time), and then having them retract.
And if he likes you well enough, then he would make you unaging. Forget
He has one more power that he seldom grants to any user. Speculations abound as to what is might be: Does he teach the owner deadly counters, coupled with sixth sense? Grant stunning beauty? Allow the limited use of a Forbidden Wish (1/lunar month)? Immunity to fire? Control over water?
Is it even only one power, or does he just hold back several things he doesn't give access to, except as required?
One thing is for sure: Farseer doesn't want you to kill many people. He wants you to avoid fights, except with enemies that would provide a valorous combat. He's very much a "quality over numbers" guy!
And yes, the sword is a "he", most definitely, as he'd tell you if you ever met. It's just an accident most of his wielders have been female, and good-looking at that...funny coincidence, that!
Or, as it often works with those blades - is it a coincidence?


Cleancutter, Red Rainbow Amidst The Rain Drops looks like a mix between a Peidao and a Bulgarian sabre, with slightly bigger guard. And he's white...like the bones long-dead gods, some would say.
Cleancutter is also silvered, which might or might not explain his colour.
The first power he'd give you is the power of sudden, deep cuts. Which is something all swords do, in a way - but he can decapitate an enemy regardless of armour (which normal swords can't do).
The second power he would reveal is his ability to change shapes temporarily. So, if you need to enter a palace, you could have Cleancutter as an inoffensive dagger on your belt (though he'd remind you about that...) A rider attacking you? Cleancutter can be your halberd or pike. Someone grappled you? Cleancutter can become tigerclaws affixed to your wrist.
The third power is his ability to drink souls of your enemies, and grant you parts of their abilities (or just of their lifeforce, should you need it - and yes, if you didn't need it, this can prolong your "natural" lifespan a lot, preventing aging, much like Farseer's ability).
His fourth power is the ability to hurt even targets that are far away.
His fifth and subsequent powers are subject to speculation, too. Does he grant true agelessness, regardless of killing? Does he cause wounds that can never stop bleeding, unless the user touches them with his blade again? Does he give you the power of bladedancing, which can allow you to protect a single target against any attack, even at the cost of your life? Does he allow you to stop any attack (1/ lunar month)? Does he hew the weapon of any enemy when you defend?
Or does he, as some claim, allow you to cut the binds of causality, granting you a Forbidden Wish for seemingly unconnected actions - but possibly at a terrible price?
Or, conversely, does he allow you to cut the ties that bind enemies to what they cherish? No doubt there would be a price for the ability to sever the love of the grieving wife for her perished husband, or the like - but what would it be?
Questions, questions...and no answers in sight. But a few things are for sure: he likes women (not as targets), money, and slaughter - not necessarily in that order. He's a "quantity over quality" kind of guy, unlike Farseer. And he's slower to give you his trust, but readily adits what (and how) he wants you to do.
Oh, and you should never call him Vorpy. Only Farseer gets away with that, at times...and he hates the price so much, he tries to avoid it.


Important: all magic weapons in my setting have the one obvious power of never needing sharpening, anti-rust measures, or the like. That's a separate power in Low Fantasy RPG which I decided to make a default in my setting.
But then, they're the only way to gain magic powers of any kind, so it makes sense to preserve them!

RPG.net just gave me the image of a party of adventurers asking the dragon to give them a fetch quest. He doesn't have anything for them.
Let me share it with you.
"I am Lue the Dragon, and I'm bored of all you, adventurers that offer to bring me whatever I want. Bring me a tankard of ale, while you're at it...no, I'm not going to give you anything for it. But we could talk.
Thing is, do you think I need you clumsy, earth-bound humans to fetch things for me? I think I've got a bone somewhere nearby, but the only thing you'd get for fetching it to me is another bone... like my dog did.
So, what do I really want?
Worship me! Be my high priests - meaning, if you fail me, I'd get you high in the sky before dropping you. Ever heard about great power and responsibilities?
Yes, I want you to worship me, become my priest, and intimidate - or persuade, or seduce them, I could care less only with negative numbers, which most of you don't know - so, [B][I]make[/I][/B] those guys over the hill worship me as well! I don't care if you use an army or an anthill, three pieces of flint, a piece of polished glass, and some feathers.
What? No, that's not a cunning plan I'm suggesting. I was just talking about junk you could offer them for trade. That is, if they were stupid enough to trade worship for that. Their forefathers were, a couple centuries ago. Not any more. I'm missing my tribe!
Once you accomplish the conversion, though, you could leave with even a nice diamond from my treasure. I'm going to promote other people among them to be my chief priests. And you? You'll be the patron saints that the Lue the God of Fire can invoke. Win-win, don't you think?
If that doesn't work for you, I could take something else. See, there's this trading caravan. If someone was to hire themselves as their guides and then lead them near my lair at night, they could easily become rich from the spoils I can't carry, or have no use for. But bring them at night! Normally, they're passing nearby during the day, because then their nasty crossbows give me pause. But in the darkness? Yeah, screw them.
You don't want to bring them to their deaths? Ah, I see, fellow humans. Well, then, can you go to the other dragon lair over there and plant this small thing to the wing of the male dragon? The only catch is, he shouldn't notice. Once you do that, light a fire on the hill in front of it, and get back here. Your payment will wait.
Sorry, but your lot seems conditioned that we dragons want people to fetch things for us. I had a dog for this, and it had fiendish intelligence, so it was good company. Until it died last millennium.
so yeah, much to your surprise, you'll find that I want much the same things you do: power, riches, influence, sex - with my own species, I take princesses only in the usually vain hope they would be good company.
If you wonder those hills long enough, you'll find that the same is true more or less with every sentient and sapient being here.
Oh, and I want my own prejudices confirmed. Though I don't mind new information that could teach me what they are. Unlike the rest, however, not everyone in those hills would appreciate such knowledge."

Female fighters and Waif-Fu: Yes or not?

Well, as is almost traditional by now, I'm taking the topic from RPG.net. Because people debate what matters to them on this forum. And right now they're debating whether it's "right" (good, politically correct, fair, realistic - everyone has their idea of what should be prioritised) that most female fighters are drawn with about as many muscles as the average ivy.
As is also the tradition, I'm not going to comment on that. Instead, I'd tell you about my games. Because if you're here, I can only assume you care.

Most of you don't know that I'm running Exalted... well, I am, and my group has got many sessions already. It's invitation-only, so I'm not talking about these games.
So, last week, I used an Exalted Dragon-blooded Martial Artist. As a PC soon uncovered (as my players are notorious of sticking their noses everywhere), she was ashamed of her body for looking too athletic, which came naturally to her. Because of a sheltered upbringing in a monastery, she has been brought to believe only thin and/or "soft" girls are attractive. She also believed that women who can and love to fight, are a turn-off for men, or at least socially unacceptable. So she was really worried what her future husband would think of her.
(Of course, that was part of what her relatives had made her believe. The goal was to control her easier, while she was raised in a far-off satrapy of the Empire. Well, abusive relationships aren't exactly uncommon among my DBs).
The player that discovered that promptly disabused her of said notion (with comments on the tastes of her relatives that would make a veteran pimp proud). Then she promptly got married her off to a Lunar ally, which probably promotes her to an almost PC status - or at least to recurring characters status.

Skin Borg NPC for FWTD

Abdul "Neen" Taylor Level 3 Skin Borg
Social Class: Well
Attributes: AWR 7, AGY 13, CHM 5, END 8, INL 11, SPD 10, STH 11, WIL 8, BLD 3, BDY 4, INCY 5
Skills:
    Archeology/Paleontology (5)
    Boxing (6)
    Chemical Analysis (6)
    Computer Modeling (5)
    Forensic Pathology (6)
    Genetics: Anatomical (4)
    Genetics: Botanical (3)
    Knife Fighting (3)
    Law: Basic (6)
    Law: Tech (5)
    Light Sleep (3)
    Nanoengineering (5)
    Programming: Virus (2)
    Sniffing (2)
    Sports (6)
    Street Fighting: Unarmed (1)
    Swimming (4)
    Wrestling (1)
Property:
    In Pockets: Switchblade, Lock Picks: Professional, Lock Picks: Professional, Cellphone
    On Person: Palmtop (Organizer), 2 Knives (Combat), Wetsuit, Steel Toed Boots, Various Armor, Bug Sweeper
    Body Modifications: Cracks
    Armor: None
Personality/Psychology:
    Goals: Abdul wants to help people and make the world a better place.
    Sexuality: Abdul is heterosexual.
    Relationships: Abdul wants a monogamous relationship and wants or has kids.
    Violence: Abdul uses violence, but only against people who are weaker and when there is no chance of getting caught.
    Self-Improvement: Abdul doesn’t think anything needs to be changed about himself.
    Fears: Abdul's greatest fear is having his terrible secret exposed.’
    Social Skills: Abdul has satisfactory social skills
    Personality: Abdul is patronizing, egalitarian, easily confused, unable to say 'no.'
    Bad Habits: Abdul has no bad habits
    Hates: Abdul hates dirt/ugliness
    Soft Spot: Abdul always likes/trusts/helps leaders
    Personal Ideals: Selfless Martyr, Witty Banterer
    Worldviews: Animalist, Buddhist, Humor
    Neurological Issues: Abdul has no real problems.
    Religion: Abdul is a Christian.
    Politics: Abdul is not interested in politics or has no particular ideology.
    Drugs: Abdul uses drugs every night, whatever he can get a hold of.
Background:
    Culture/Nationality: Abdul was raised in America in an immigrant community.
    Family: Abdul's (biological) family lives outside the city, he doesn’t speak to them often.
Appearance:
    Ethnicity: Abdul is mostly or wholly Caucasian.
    Style: Abdul usually wears an Old School Gang style.
    Outfit: Baseball cap, bright red lipstick and thick black eyeliner, grey denim jacket, cargo pants, knee and elbow pads, expensive basketball shoes

[FWTD] A Black Trader operating in Skin Borgs territory

Antoinette "Big Bill" Griffin

She's the Black Trader near the bridge, who's selling "skins" to the Skin Borgs... since recently, she's been doing so at discounted prices.

Being the charmer, she wants to exploit people sexually.Her "speciality" in illegal business, however, is seeling mental installation time. On top of that, she arranges for addicts to fight to the death. They're given impractical knives, stoned on God Killer, and sent to entertain the public. Antoinette takes a share of the bets and the admission tax.

Recently, her ring has been exposed by a NYPD "sting" and she suspects she has been caught on tape running the show. She's right, as our Utopia child can attest.

Level 2 Trader
Social Class: Indie
Attributes: AWR 10, AGY 7, CHM 11, END 5, INL 11, SPD 9, STH 9, WIL 5, BLD 4, BDY 4, INCY 4
Skills:
    Card Counting (1)
    City Knowledge (2)
    Corporations (2)

    Law (Basic) (1)

    Law (International) (1)

    Mental Programming (3)
    Music (1)
    Network Protocols (2)
    Pathology (1)
    Poisons (4)
    Precognition (2)
    Programming: VR (2)
    Self-defence weapons (2)
    Slam (1)
    Street Drugs (1)
    Trading (1) 

Property:
    In Pockets: Cigarettes and Lighter, Keychain Flashlight, 2 Taser Guns, $30 worth of drugs and the necessary drug paraphernalia
    On Person: Instrument (Electronic), Palmtop (Linework), Sterilization Spray, Drake Blood Poison, Drake Deleriant, Chlorine Cocktail, Laptop (Used), Cellular Modem, Swiss Army Knife (Electronic, Large), Cellphone (Used), Pepper Spray, Gasmask
    Body Modifications: None
    Armor: None

Personality/Psychology:
    Goals: Antoinette wants to be a good member of her religion.
    Sexuality: Antoinette is heterosexual.
    Relationships: Antoinette wants to exploit people sexually.
    Violence: Antoinette uses violence as a tool for making money.
    Self-Improvement: Antoinette thinks she doesn't need to change.
    Fears: Antoinette's greatest fear is a disfiguring disease.
    Social Skills: Outside of business negotiations, Antoinette is shy, awkward or oblivious unless she feels she's holding all the cards.
    Personality: Antoinette is brave, grandiose, wants to control everything.
    Bad Habits: Antoinette thinks in absolutes.
    Hates: Antoinette hates weak people
    Soft Spot: Antoinette always likes/trusts/helps charming people
    Personal Ideals: Cool Under Pressure, Mature Wisdom, Witty Banterer
    Worldviews: Ponderer, Superstitious, Utilitarian
    Neurological Issues: Antoinette has no real problems.
    Religion: Antoinette is Roman Catholic.
    Politics: Antoinette is not interested in politics.
    Drugs: Antoinette is addicted to drugs, not trying hard to quit.

Background:
    Culture/Nationality: Antoinette was raised in America by 'ordinary' Americans and fees pride about her heritage.
    Family: Antoinette's (biological) family lives outside the city, Antoinette keeps her lifestyle secret from them. 

Appearance:
    Ethnicity: Antoinette is mostly or wholly Caucasian.
    Style: Antoinette usually wears an extreme Goth style. She's attractive above the average, probably due to some doctor's skill.
    Outfit: Spiky black hair with long bangs, white face powder, black t-shirt with a band name on it, black pants, elbow-length velvet gloves with fur fringe, shiny black dress-shoes. Sometimes, she dresses in a Roman toga instead, especially on tournaments. In that case, she also sits on a throne.

She's usually accompanied by two bodyguards, former pit-fighters that are genetically modified to be huge.

Yellow the former Triad at Level 2nd

Since I had recently had to create a FWTD character, I also decided to take him to 2nd level, just to see what he would be like.
Also, I asked the GM and he was fine with me taking more Disads than the limit, and he was fine with it. Of course, it helps the GM is me...
Also, I'm using a style from the Tibet corebook for him, but that's because it fits better the backstory. He might be even more terrifying, had I used a style that relies less on Intelligence and more on Strength.
As it is, Li can take on any of the best fighters of the big gangs in the Fates Worse Than Death setting. Of course, he was a former hit-man, so that's kinda to be expected.
I think you can actually read his backstory from his list of advantages and disadvantages. He learned Tai Chi in prison where he was because his father was in maximum security (not from the father). He joined the Triad as soon as he went free. He ran away from a marriage with the Boss's daughter, because he realised she would be unfaithful to him and blackmail him into silence. He took away his bank accounts in an off-shore zone and went to Manahattan where some relatives were supposed to be living.
Turns out, they're VR addicts, so they needed help more often than the other way around, but blood is blood is blood. And since he was into Animal Wars since China, he joined the Animalists.
Of course, he also has to constantly evade the law, and had to deal with hunters from his triad (and one of the gangs in the city wouldn't refuse the money for his head, either). But them's the breaks.

Li Da Huei
Former Triad Gone Rogue
Male, Hetero
Street name: Yellow

Agy 18
Awr 12 poor people sense
Chm 10 Good self-confidence, friendly, poor with authorities
End 15
Inl 10
Spd 16
Sth 14 Good Punching
Wil 15 poor temper
Back to wall 3
Shiv 1
Razormouth 1
Light sleep 2
Law: Chinese criminal 1
Gambling 2
Animal training 2
Prowling 3
Swimming 2
Tracking 1
Acrobatics 3
English: 4
Assassin Armed 4
Assassin Unarmed 4
Tai Chi 6
Wrestling 1
Torture 1
Animal Sexuality2
Animal Defence 1
Animal Rage 1
Animal Survival 1
Animal Sensitivity 1
Animal Sympathy 1
Wilderness Survival 2

Income 100/wk (theoretically)
Cash 230 (27000 in trusts fund under his control)
Implants: Bloodhound smell Muscle: speed, Muscle:s trength, Pheromone, Longevity, Healing, Anti-Toxin, Immune system,  Backup Diaphragm, Backup Heart, Backup oxygen, Hand Dagger, Micro Tentacle, Sexaul Implant, Spectrogtraph, Third Eye, Ultra-sound imager, Voice synth, Pocket, Internal Psych Sensors
Night vision Goggles deluxe, Voice Stress Analyzers, Arm Guards

Personality:
Crazy Daredevil, Loudmouth, Street Smarth, Animalist (or Common Sense), Hedonist, Humor

Fortune, Upclass, Free Surgery, Innate Brawler, Pain Experienced, Prison Baby, Property Owner: Major
Multi-drug addiction, Debt: credit, Crus, Ex, Enemy: Gang (Math Addicts), Stalker (dead), ESL, No Healthcare, Hunted: Skin borgs, Hunted: FBI, Hunted: Police, Hunted: Hunter (own  father, in hospital on Yellow's pay), Physically unattractive: Minor, Stupid Relatives, Incompetent Dependent (VR Addict wife), Veteran, Bad Rep: Cruelty, Life Debt (Drake)

Typical Action: Split Pain Grab at 1d20+5 Vs 0 and Disbalancing Parry at 1d20+12 (Special Tai Chi action).
Even more often, he leaves it to the opponent to attack and uses his action as a reaction.
Typical Reaction: Split Parry at 1d20+19 Vs 0 (split action included)and Simultaneous Crippling Strike at 1d20+15 Vs 0  (Split Action and bonuses from talent and sub-attribute included).

Gangs, Martial arts and NPCs in my FWTD

These are just some notes on my FWTD campaign in progress. Everyone sees New York of the 2080 differently, and that applies to GMs as well.
Mehmet, Black Trader, mostly Far East Asian. mehmet is Muslim. He hidese hides his religion, but refuses to lend money to other Muslims - and might well make theMm a gift and hope to be repaid somehow, some day, if they're really down on their luck. The leader of the Saints knows the truth, but figures he's better off working for a believer than for a dirty atheist or something). His death borg is a fake: he doesn't believe in killing innocent people, and assumes if anyone tries to kill him, would simply use a ranged weapon.

So he has hired the Swordsmiths to avenge his death, should he be assassinated.

Swordsmiths (Mostly seem to have Central Asian and Caucasian heritage).

The Swordsmiths are a new gang, relatively small, so only Leader and Wannabe Fighters apply. Secretly hired by Mehmet. Their leader isn't more powerful, and he isn't the one that teaches them swordfighting - he's however the one that has a family tradition in forging knives and short swords. This gives them their greatest mechanical advantage - having better weapons even than the ones in the corebook (although far from nanotech or teflon-coated ones) that they use European swords that are Jian-like (with the stats from the Tibet corebook, and being XIV by Oackshott) and sell those of Katana-like quality (same place for the mechanics, and more like type XII by Oackshott). The worst ones have the stats for Machete (looking like Kriegmessers), or a broadsword with easier Strength feat to use when used two-handed (Bastard swords).

BTW, they are participating in underground matches which include stick-fighting.

Saints of the Corner (Mostly Afro-American and Latin-American, with some Caucasians in the mix. Of course, everybody's equal in front of God and St. Peter!)

Hired by Mehmet to protect him (see: Mehmet).
The Street Saints are a Very Large, Old Gang of Wannabe Psychics (mostly manipulative, some of them believe it's power that either God or the Devil grants, and of course their skills are coming from the angels :mrgreen: ), who also have a Leader. More importantly, a Black Trader is using them as guards, which probably explains why they made it for so long.
Tensions with the Swordsmiths have been growing lately. The leaders are doing their best to calm them down, because they both know it would be bloody if the two gangs get to grips.

Bao He-Chuan (read more like huh-tshuan).

Eccentric, master of sword-cane and White Crane kung-fu. Still a mysterious figure.

Enrique Nogueira da Alcazar
Eccentric, master of Capoeira and Snake Kung-fu. Capoeira is still in developement. Theist.

Ahmad Panjawi
Muslim, basic mastery of Razormouth, and advanced mastery of Slam. Loves power metal.


Utopian communities might be sliding towards teaching formalised stuff in their dojos, because they don't have real practice to keep them sharp. Or even if they don't, because VR courses with the best trainers (and even that's not a guarantee), and because VR likely allows for sparring without the risk to seriously hurt a partner (that's a big boost), they might still use the "wrong" tactics because they were drilled to do so regardless of context. An example would be going for a Pain Grab against multiple opponents. Sure, your Aikido practitioner might pull it off... and when fighting Orphans, even out of a misunderstanding, that means pretty much being stabbed in the back! Same with many, many other gangs
The gist of this is students from Utopia Children are more likely to have learned a martial art with a completely different focus from self-defence. Self-defence isn't flashy, and often doesn't promote athletic achievements, spiritual harmony, or being a good member of a society. I can see all of those focuses being more important to Utopianist communities, though!
Some Neo groups suffer from the same issues, and even some Humankalories are susceptible to it. However, these two have by and large avoided that issue.

The Might groups like Animalists, Humankalorie, Hummingbirds, Risen, Roofers, Skin Borgs, etc. are least likely to have your described combat problems, but rather a head strong all out direct strike even where better strategies would work. Many of them lack leadership and coordination, though.
OTOH, utside of Utopia Children, Eccentrics are most likely to be McDojo stylists, IMO. Of course, they're also the ones most likely to master some obscure martial art that gives them an advantage.
Humankalories get too much dangerous practice. Corner punks can range from next to no skill to having their own distinct martial art each member of a gang practices. And Math Addicts and Animalists both have their own "styles", which are basically as diametrically opposed as it's possible (almost wuxia-level of "diametrically opposite").


Just a few basic notes which might feature in my campaign.

Organisations are people, too!

I found out that I agree very much with Mike Talsorian's take on organisations. (Or he agrees with me, but him being the more famous guy, I guess I'm the one agreeing with his views. Whatever, that's besides the point).
So, I think more Referee/GMs/Wulin Sages/MCs/Whatever, should use organisations. I also happen to think that they could be used better than for nameless, faceless opposition. It's just that the name of the opposition in a cyberpunk world might be the same as the brand of the clothes you're wearing.

For clarity, read the current Mike Talsorian's rant.
http://www.talsorian.com/mikerant.shtml

"MetaCharacters: The Referee as a Player

One of the things that bugs me about being a referee is that I'm often a babysitter, not a player. As Referee, my NPCs should be my main method of expression-the characters I play in the game, but since they are cast in opposition to the players, they become faceless threats (like level bosses in a video game), rather than interesting characters to play.

Let's take a corporation, for example. As a Referee, your typical corporation is an amorphous mйlange of bad guys, stuff, offices and plans. But there's no sense of the corporation as an ENTITY. It has no personal goals-no real direction. Which makes it a really boring villain. An exciting villain has goals. He has weaknesses. He has master plans. He knows when he's been hurt and exacts revenge. In short, a good villain. But Corporations in the Cyberpunk world are rarely, if ever, more than one dimensional.

But it's not really true. Four and a half years working at Microsoft has taught me one lesson I never knew-Corporations ARE entities. Microsoft has a body-that's all of us 'softies working in the trenches. It has hands; the various VP's running the divisions. It has a brain-two in fact--Bill G. and his right hand man Steve "I wonder if he's gonna keel over at the company meeting this year" Ballmer . And it has weapons, armor and tools-its hardware, software products, lawyers. Heck, Microsoft even has its own language, which took me most of a year to learn, even "drinking from the firehose" as I had to.

So what if WE treated the corporations of Cyberpunk not as faceless enemies, but as real live NPC's? What if we gave them a brain, hands, parts of the body, weapons and defenses-just like an integrated "real person?" What if it had a Lifepath-a character sheet even? I call this the Meta Character. The meta-character represents a character built out of an entire section of the world. A meta-character is no longer just a faceless amalgamation of bits, but a living organism that protects itself while moving towards distinct goals. It thinks smart, acts smart, because if it doesn't, it loses "body parts" and "dies."

MetaCharacters have a:
- Brain: This is the main controller of the MetaCharacter. The brain directs the goals for the MC, based on his or her own personal goals. The Lifepath of the Brain can integrate into the Lifepath of the MetaCharacter, but the MetaCharacter goes on even if the Brain changes. However, since taking out the Brain will seriously cripple the MetaCharacter, there will be more of a reason to defend the Brain and make it hard to get to-no more player characters tackling Saburo Arasaka one on one, anymore than you're going to face down Steve Ballmer over a bug in your copy of Word.
- Hands: These are agents of the MetaCharacter. They direct and control it's weapons and defenses. They may have their own agendas, but these are always sublimated to the goals of the Brain. Hands have their own styles; ways of doing things. One hand is usually more dominant than the other, just like people are "handed."
- Body: These are the assets of the MetaCharacter. In a corporation, this could be buildings or facilities. The body could also encompass special types of projects or vehicles.
- Weapons and Defenses: These are the ways the MetaCharacter can defend itself or attack new opposition. For example, having a personal army is a good way to defend your corporation. All those Arasaka guards? They're all Defenses. Militech's tanks? Weapons. Since the MetaCharacter has an actual list of Defenses and Weapons, it's less likely that it will spend them in a random, unplanned way, because, like a real character, the resource are limited.

Let's try this on the obvious level-our aforementioned Corporation. Let's call it Megatechnix. It's brain is going to be it's founder, Dr. Roberto Lanzing. As Brain, his goals are to dominate the world's market for consumer electronics and to make enough money to forget his upbringing as the son of a once high level Corp thrown out onto the Street in a layoff (the Lifepath)

Its hands are it's two Vice Presidents; Ms. Jax Staley, the sociopathic Operations VP who controls Megatechnix's Marketing division, and Dr. Klaus Hammersmith, who runs the R&D Group. Jax's goal is to supplant Dr.Lanzing and move Megatechnix into military hardware; however, they share the goal of dominating consumer electronics first. Hammersmith's agenda is to combine all the functions of cellphones, digital media and wireless into a single handheld device. He doesn't care about personal power, but he will support Lanzing's goals becaue this will get his dreamed of device built. The body of Megatechnix is incorporated in its Corporate Headquarters in the SanDiego Zone of New Night City; the body includes three main Projects controlled by the Brain and its two Hands, 100 million dollars in capital, and a secret research lab in the Nevada Wasteland. If these are destroyed, Megatechnix will also "die." To defend the "body", Megatechnix's Defenses are a horde of robotic soldiers and factory workers controlled by Dr. Hammersmith's advanced telemetry programs, plus ten super powerful ninjas who carry out Jax's black operations against the Corp's enemies.

Now Megatechnix is more than a faceless enemy, It has several goals, several weak spots that it will defend rabidly, and a specific way of defending itself. This will drive much of it's actions against players-if the 100 million in capitol is threatened, odds are Dr.Lansing will act first, because money is key to his well being. But if the labs are threatened, Hammersmith may drive the reactions, protecting them, with the robot workers. Thwart Jax in her quest to get military contracts and he's more likely to send her ninja after you. In each case, the Referee plays the corporation as a character, not just a target. He gets to really invest Megatechnix with personality, reactions and ambitions. And if he sees Megatechnix's starting to lose "body" points on the character sheet, he may elect to strike back, find a way to heal back by curtailing operations, or even enlist other "friends" to help in an operation.

Now let's go a bit further down the scale. The MetaCharacter this time is the Totentanz, a bar in the lower levels of New Night City. Its brain is One Scar Max, a shadowy broker of information. Its Lifepath shows that it was inherited from an old war buddy of One Scar who died in a turf dispute with a rival owner. Its hands are Rafela Chance, the bartender, and Silent Bill, a gambler who watches the bar when Max is out. Its weapons are an integrated laser system with four remote lasers that can attack one corner of the bar. Its other weapon is an AV4 delivery van with a chin mounted machinegun.

The Totentanz has far fewer "body points" than Megatechnix. So you can expect that the AV4 will NOT be showing up all the time, and neither will One Scar. Threats will be dealt with in the bar, but anything that threatens the bar itself will be dealt with using maximum force. Already, you can probably see that you're going to need some motivations for this MetaCharacter-what are One Scar's goals for the Totentanz and how do Rafela and Silent Bill support them? What are their goals? Since Totentanz hasn't got much in the body and weapons area, you can already surmise that One Scar's going to be trying really hard to increase these areas-maybe by recruiting some regulars to help defend the place, or by adding a few new side businesses (maybe a takeout service or a gambling op in the back room) to generate more "body." In short order, the Totentanz will evolve from being a place you layer storylines onto, into a character which generates its own storylines from its needs and fears. And that make it fun for the Referee to play.

Looking at a group of NPCs as MetaCharacters can change how you relate to your Cyberpunk gaming, by giving those characters some solid motivations and adding a real "global" threat to how the MetaCharacter deals with the world. They have things that really scare them-stuff that motivates them despite the actions of the players. It's an interesting way to look at the art of being a Referee, and a great way to get back the excitement of playing a character in your game, rather than providing cannon fodder for your players.

maxmike says check it out sometime."

Amusingly, I found that I've agreed with it years ago. Well, actually, I wrote about it in an RPG.net column, although that was just a few months ago.
http://www.rpg.net/columns/tricksforgms/tricksforgms3.phtml
So, yes. Organisations can be the BBEG that you face down in the end.
It also means that an organisation can be cut down by the players. Many Referees forget that, and they really shouldn't!
Granted, just like taking down the BBEG, nobody's saying that taking them down should be easy. Just that it could happen. Or at least the ability of a corporation or other organisation to operate in a given field or region can become subject to penalties.
Then you have the organisation in a death spiral. Just like what you do to a BBEG, hopefully!