| From: | Steve Collins einan@*********.net |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re (lots): Scythe/Weapon |
| Date: | Wed, 21 Jun 00 07:18:09 -0500 |
{some snippage}
>I also imagine a weapon that is concealable like Manny Calavera's
>switchblade/scythe in Grim Fandango (granted, it wouldn't be as cartoony and
>wouldn't fold up as small). As far as rules, I would allow the character to
>carry a conceal 3 (when rectracted, otherwise not concealable), (Str)S
>scythe that uses monowhip rules (if it spins, and your body is in the
>way...). I would give it a reach of 1 (2 would be a bit generous, because
>the scythe is held in the middle of the "stick"). I agree that it isn't a
>practical weapon, but neither are Oral spurs, Monofilament whips, or Eye
>guns... yet those weapons are in the cannon rules, so why not live on the
>edge of fiction a little?
>
>Sorry for the long post. :-P
>
>Hahns
>
Well my point was never that the character should not be allowed to have
it if he really wanted it Just that the stats should be somewhere below a
Combat Axe in effectiveness.
I also assume that the player is going for some death symbolism and
therefore the "war scythe" you describe (which is really just another of
the many variants of a Pole Arm and should be treated as such) would not
have the same effect (I have never seen Death pictured with such an
impliment although I have seen a sickle used on occasion in place or a
scythe). The only difficulty would be to somehow explain where the
character has ever even seen a scythe forget learned to use one. I have
not seen one that would look right for at least 15 years (modern scythes
look more like a golf club with a serraded edge than anything else).
The one character background I can think of that makes sense is is
something like this. He grew up in an anti technological back to nature
type commune where they used traditional farming impliments instead of
modern farming techniques. At somepoint in his teen years some Corp
decided that there is something on the communes land that they want. The
people of the commune are not willing to sell the land and so the corp
sends in a strike team to kill everyone off. Our hero is the only one to
survive the assault (think the beginning of Beastmaster) and his Physical
Adept abilities manifest. He adopts an avenging angel of death persona
with a goal of destroying all those who use technology to oppress the
people and takes up as a weapon the tools and instruments most familliar
to him. In the right campaign setting this character can work very well
and could be a lot of fun to play the problem is that in most campaign
settings it would work better as a sometimes enemy, sometimes friend
recurring NPC than an everyday PC. Lets face it he's going to have a hard
time getting along with the Street Sam who is a borderline cyberzombie
and as has been pointed out before if he shows up at meets with his
"weapon" traditional shadowrunner work (at least the paying stuff) is
going to be pretty hard to get and his code of ethics isn't going to make
it much easier as the Johnson hiring him would be just as bad in his eyes
as the target of his run in most cases.
Steve
