| From: | mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: the stranger will be missed |
| Date: | Fri, 15 Mar 1996 13:03:09 -0800 (PST) |
> The list is going to SH!t, cuz everyone either doesn't know
> to use the rulez as a guide (wich by the way ladies and gents is what
> they were meant for) or is just afraid to use their imaginations and
> push the boundaries that have bought us to this lull of moonth long
> plots and sensless plots.
This statement is worth careful consideration. This list is founded upon
canon, although as the recent Free Spirit/Paranormal discussion highlights,
canon cannot be applied blindly. As to imagination, it will happen on
numerous occasions that you can imagine things that aren't feasible in the
game. This is not a _bad_ thing. I can imagine sorcerers who could level
cities. I can imagine technology that would destroy planets. Neither would be
good for game balance, nor would they fit terribly well into the (reasonably
self-consistent) world view Shadowrun is based upon.
In other words, if it's a war between rules and imagination, it seems that the
rules should win unless there's a "good" reason (as defined by what the folks
on plotd are willing to put up with) to do otherwise. That is the only way a
_consensual_ reality such as this can be maintained.
> else" think about that statement... then this bullsh!t "well only
> posers would do it" or "really good deckers don't have to do it cuz
> their so good" BullSH!t!!! restricting the imagination.
To make your position clear, do you dispute the statements that a) only good
deckers can alter T/D stamps and b) that only posers are likely to do so?
I call that realism and self-consistency. Moreover, that's the way things
work in the _real_ world of 1996, and since Shadowrun is supposed to be set
in the future of the _real_ world, someone has better have a good explanation
for any _changes_ between now and then.
> I have a question for all of you that put this as an reason to
> restrict the use of changed T/D stamps, When you go to the
> store, and you buy a cleaning product or new technology(pc's,cd-player,
> anything) do you buy the stuff that's in a plain white rapper (if you
> can help it) or do you buy the stuff in the colorful, eye-catching
> packaging? If I'm a fixer/johnson and put a post lookin' for talent
> and some guy named "Bumble-wax <23:45/3.23.56>" and some dude
> "MAXTOR <DON:T HIRE BUMBLE WAX HE SUCKS LOOK HE CANT EVEN CHANGE HIS
> T/D STAMP> answers, just who do you thing is getting the job?
That depends on the rep of the two people involved. If I were a Johnson, I
would take the rampant T/D stamp alteration as an indication that a decker had
something to prove, was possibly indiscrete, and had some level of competence.
If I knew the other decker to be no less competent through rep, I'd hire him.
Also, if I knew the CD player in the plain packaging was no less quality than
the flashily wrapped one, why shouldn't I buy it?
> nuff said about T/D stamps. Munchkinism, ask your self whens the last
> time one of your characters died? or got seriously hurt and lost a
> body-part? (finger-nails and hair don't count)
Well, let's see. In the Shadowrun I'm currently in off the net, we've had
three of the four characters get sent to the hospital (one of them twice
because he took two shotgun blasts aimed at his girlfriend. If it wasn't for
the dermal plating and the fact that he's a 6+ foot body 6 character, he would
be dead now. In past runs I've had a character (without armor, mind you), take
two simultaneous Serious stun wounds from a gel-laden shotgun, leaving him
unconscious for nearly a week (plus with a lot of Damage to heal). On this
list I've cost a character a Magic Rating point for the sake of good "role
play". And in all these cases, my team were the lucky ones. The point is
that Shadowrun combat is fast, brutal, and almost as deadly as real life.
> You know BUZZ (sorry I forgot who runs him)handler ragged on me cuz I
> said once that you should be able to perform the double somersault,
> and still blast at the four orks standing in the cardinals with the
> assault cannon, and land on your feet. but that was an exageration on
> terms. I never said you would hit anything.
Good; that's one instance where "cinematic" roleplaying and
"imagination"
should take a back seat to realism, IMNSHO.
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
