From:	mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject:	Re: Diseases, Toxins, Poisons, Etc....
Date:	Thu, 9 May 1996 19:05:38 -0700 (PDT)

According to Randy Nickel:
>OK. Everyone I wish I had thought of this before.
>
>I have outlawed the use of bio-agents and most chemical compounds in my
>sit down game.
>
>I have allowed Neuro-Stun and some of the other mild stuff but I made
>the target number so high that it's easier to get an MP Laser then it
>is to get bio-agents.
>
>Personally it adds a level of the game I don't like to deal with having
>been in Desert Storm.

A little close to home, eh? One thing I will give to FASA: their dangerous
toys are _in_fact_ pretty damn dangerous.

>So what is the group consensus can we do with out them or at least make
>them way hard to get?


Well, here's what I'm thinking. People have known how to make chemical and
biological weapons for a long time, just like they've known how to make
nuclear weapons for a long time. Why do you suppose there hasn't been
widespread use of them already? I think the answer is that the damn things are
simply too heinous for all but the insane to use. People realize that once
anyone establishes the precedent of their use, the entire situtation will
devolve and end up with everyone dead. The U.S.'s use of nuclear aggression
in Japan was viable only because of the lack of immediate rebuttle from some
other part of the world; today such a thing could never work the same way.

The point is: I think chem and bioweapons exist, but the folks that make them
are keeping them pretty well under wraps for fear of the runaway arms
escalation described above. The reason they'd keep them at all is the sort of
"just in case" responsible for those few lingering nukes. The bio and chem
agents themselves should probably have very high "availablilites", and their
use should be answered with maximally punitive force by the authorities.

That's how I'd do it.
--
/!\/!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