From:	Geoffrey Gerrietts <phinar@**.CENCOM.NET>
Subject:	Re: Time/Date Stamps
Date:	Fri, 17 Mar 1995 01:05:48 -0600

> Oh, and yes, I'd have to say that only deckers should be able
>to modify their T/D, if for no other reason than their decks are the only
>ones that could deal with it...

This isn't to pounce, but something I've noticed that does bother me a
little bit. Tell me, if you could: what is a decker? It seems to me that one
of the many strengths of the SR game system is that a PC (or even --
especially -- an NPC) doesn't have to conform to the archetypes. Or more
simply, you don't have to be caught in the "character class" trap. Tell me
about the sammy with a datajack and a matrix programming specialization. Is
he a decker? What about the mage who uses some of the "trust fund" to buy a
Fairlight -- so she won't have any trouble getting onto MNet or Shadowland?
Are they deckers? I would bet that someone thusly equipped would beat the
tears out of your basic decker archetype, magic problems or not.

My point is, I think, that it is not inconceivable that *anyone* could be
considered a "decker" for the above purposes, especially if their close
friends spent a lot of time developing and kicked out the freebies.
<G>

"DOS=HIGH? I knew it was on
SOMETHING!"

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