| From: | "Mark L. Neidengard" <mneideng@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Prophet's Soul |
| Date: | Tue, 24 Mar 1998 14:12:18 -0800 |
>At 12:30 PM 3/24/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
>>There's got to be some limit to Quests for Knowledge, though; otherwise why
>>both with deckers or physical intrusions or the like to find out difficult
>>information? Just go on a Quest! Will Fuchi stock go up or down? Go on a
>>Quest! Where is Aztech keeping that prisoner you have to extract? Go on a
>>Quest! What's the solution to my biology homework? Should I have Chinese
>>or Indian for dinner? You get the idea.
>
>Actually, there is a limit: Quest Ratings.
>
>A Quest to find out something mystical, like a paracritter's powers, or to
>assist in spell design, should be on the lower side of things. But for
>Quests of a scientific nature, such as what cyberware someone has, Matrix
>info, or stock quotes or something (BTW, Fuchi isn't traded publicly), the
>Quest Rating (and therefor all the associated Target Numbers) should be
>through the roof. Any Quest with a double digit rating is bad news in my
>book; push that above 20 (for Matrix stuff or the like) and that Quest is
>nigh unto impossible. If a magician can survive a Quest like that, I say
>give 'em the paydata.
At times like this, I think the GM (as it were) is within his rights to declare
auto-failure. There is a sense in which a magician in the game wouldn't
_try_ something because it's so impossible.
>Now, exact numbers would be the GM's prerogative, but it should work for
>most people. This Quest to determine Prophet's cyber would probably have
>been very difficult; Quest rating at least in the double digits. 99.99% of
>magicians would have given up; it would have been too costly to learn that
>knowledge, unless it really was life or death, which I don't think it was.
>
>But I think it would have possible.
I think it's as close to impossible to be not worth the bother: I agree with
the "cyber and magic are inimical" principle. Of course, characters can
Quest after anything: if the issue is being so forced, I'd want to see the
Quest fail...perhaps spectacularly.
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Grad, 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
