Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Shaun Gilroy <shaung@**********.NET>
Subject: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 10:54:02 -0500
At 10:35 AM 10/27/98 EST, you wrote:
>Oh, and on another subject ... if a shaman (say Moon) went to the moon and
>summoned a spirit, say a Desert spirit, how long would it stay? According to
>the day and night of the moon (which is an awfully long time)? Or using the
>Earth day/night time frames?

I would expect the kinds of spirits that one would summon on the surface of
the moon would have a completely different set of rules that apply to them.
Besides "shamans of earth" have no domains that they could summon from on
the moon -- that would require a shaman native to the moon. As I see it,
at least.

Also, the lack of atmosphere would classify this as using magic in outer
space and would probably mess up the shaman big time. My belief is that
outer space has one hell of a background count --we're talking in the
hundreds or thousands.

>
>-Herc


Shaun Gilroy [shaung@**********.net]
Online Technologies Corporation
Message no. 2
From: Elindor Quinn <rjakins@****.MURDOCH.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 10:28:07 +0800
Shaun Gilroy wrote:
>
> At 10:35 AM 10/27/98 EST, you wrote:
> >Oh, and on another subject ... if a shaman (say Moon) went to the moon and
> >summoned a spirit, say a Desert spirit, how long would it stay? According to
> >the day and night of the moon (which is an awfully long time)? Or using the
> >Earth day/night time frames?
>
> I would expect the kinds of spirits that one would summon on the surface of
> the moon would have a completely different set of rules that apply to them.
> Besides "shamans of earth" have no domains that they could summon from on
> the moon -- that would require a shaman native to the moon. As I see it,
> at least.
>
> Also, the lack of atmosphere would classify this as using magic in outer
> space and would probably mess up the shaman big time. My belief is that
> outer space has one hell of a background count --we're talking in the
> hundreds or thousands.

No, it's a void with a large rating. Upon entering, take (void rating)L
physical damage, and resist it every (magic rating), as well as make a
willpower (4) test to avoid losing an intelligence point immediately.
For every hour spent in a void (even if just perceiving), lose a point
of essence and intelligence (Intelligence returns at a rate of 1 point
every 24 hours, essence returns normally). GM can give out mental flaws
as well. If intelligence is reduced to zero, take deadly stun and get
booted back to your body.

Magical operations suffer a +rating modifier for all tests, including
drain tests. Additionally, the drain level increases by 1 for every 3
points of void.

How to avoid this? Well, a colony is a good place to start. If you get
enough people in one place, astral space will begin to develop around
the location. Plus, the biological groundwork would also help out. It's
possible, but you'd probably need at least a quarter of a million people
to make it work.
Message no. 3
From: K in the Shadows <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 00:55:33 EST
In a message dated 10/27/1998 10:59:40 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
shaung@**********.NET writes:

> At 10:35 AM 10/27/98 EST, you wrote:
> >Oh, and on another subject ... if a shaman (say Moon) went to the moon and
> >summoned a spirit, say a Desert spirit, how long would it stay? According
> to
> >the day and night of the moon (which is an awfully long time)? Or using
> the
> >Earth day/night time frames?
>
> I would expect the kinds of spirits that one would summon on the surface of
> the moon would have a completely different set of rules that apply to them.
> Besides "shamans of earth" have no domains that they could summon from on
> the moon -- that would require a shaman native to the moon. As I see it,
> at least.

Interesting premise of opinion here. BUT, shamanic practices, older or newer,
educate with the concept of the individual being part of the universe as a
whole. Position of relevance is merely how to learn the respect of that
position that the shaman as an individual has and retains.

> Also, the lack of atmosphere would classify this as using magic in outer
> space and would probably mess up the shaman big time. My belief is that
> outer space has one hell of a background count --we're talking in the
> hundreds or thousands.

We are actually using the system presented in the Bug City text, dealing with
outer space as a +10 corrupted mana zone, and some places being more
acceptable. Like the big Ares Moonbase has an 8, while the moon overall has a
9. It makes things dangerous, but at least gives the magician a *chance* to
do something really impressive once in a while.

We said we were having adventures in space, never once did we say they were
-NICE- adventures in space. ;)

-K
Message no. 4
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 09:56:18 +0100
According to Elindor Quinn, at 10:28 on 28 Oct 98, the word on the street was...

[space]
> No, it's a void with a large rating.
[snip]
> Magical operations suffer a +rating modifier for all tests, including
> drain tests. Additionally, the drain level increases by 1 for every 3
> points of void.

The only problem I see is with physads, although Target: UCAS says "Tests
made for physical activities are not affected" but it seems to me that if
other magicians get major drawbacks, physads should not be able to operate
freely in space.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Een beetje van jezelf en een beetje van magie.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 5
From: Shaun Gilroy <shaung@**********.NET>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 08:51:59 -0500
At 10:28 AM 10/28/98 +0800, you wrote:
>No, it's a void with a large rating. Upon entering, take (void rating)L
>physical damage, and resist it every (magic rating), as well as make a
>willpower (4) test to avoid losing an intelligence point immediately.
>For every hour spent in a void (even if just perceiving), lose a point
>of essence and intelligence (Intelligence returns at a rate of 1 point
>every 24 hours, essence returns normally). GM can give out mental flaws
>as well. If intelligence is reduced to zero, take deadly stun and get
>booted back to your body.
>
>Magical operations suffer a +rating modifier for all tests, including
>drain tests. Additionally, the drain level increases by 1 for every 3
>points of void.
>
>How to avoid this? Well, a colony is a good place to start. If you get
>enough people in one place, astral space will begin to develop around
>the location. Plus, the biological groundwork would also help out. It's
>possible, but you'd probably need at least a quarter of a million people
>to make it work.

Um... where do I find these rules?

The only thing I've ever seen remotely close to a ruling on how space
affects a magician says that an astrally projecting mage goes insane or
dies instantly in space. The magician is fine so long as that magician
doesn't try to use magic.

Are there rules for dealing with space somewhere that I've just never run
across?
(>)noysh the spoonë bard
-> jack of all trades, master of none. <-
Message no. 6
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 19:57:35 +0100
According to Shaun Gilroy, at 8:51 on 28 Oct 98, the word on the street was...

> Um... where do I find these rules?

They are in the rules section of Target: UCAS, and do not specifically
deal with space. Rather, they are about magical "voids" on earth without
mentioning space at all, however if, after reading them, you would make
the mental leap that space is nothing but a very high-rated void, you
wouldn't be the first.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Een beetje van jezelf en een beetje van magie.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 7
From: Mike Bobroff <Airwasp@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 15:42:37 EST
In a message dated 10/27/98 10:59:34 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
shaung@**********.NET writes:

> Also, the lack of atmosphere would classify this as using magic in outer
> space and would probably mess up the shaman big time. My belief is that
> outer space has one hell of a background count --we're talking in the
> hundreds or thousands.

The original reason I asked the question is that the game group here is doing
some investigating into why Ares is sending ritual materials into space. Is
it just a rumor or is something going on up there everyone else in the Shadows
should now about. This is the basics of the plotline at the moment.

And besides, the player who asked the question stumped K and I, as neither of
us could come up with a readily plausible ruling (despite my usual and
obligatory "No" before a player asks me a question about something).

-Herc
------ The Best Mechanic you can ever have.
Message no. 8
From: Elindor Quinn <rjakins@****.MURDOCH.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 16:29:51 +0800
Gurth wrote:
>
> According to Shaun Gilroy, at 8:51 on 28 Oct 98, the word on the street was...
>
> > Um... where do I find these rules?
>
> They are in the rules section of Target: UCAS, and do not specifically
> deal with space. Rather, they are about magical "voids" on earth without
> mentioning space at all, however if, after reading them, you would make
> the mental leap that space is nothing but a very high-rated void, you
> wouldn't be the first.

Actually, in the section it states that you can use these rules to
simulate space and foveae. The only problem is determining what rating
the void would be. 10 sounds like a nice round number for both, though.
Message no. 9
From: Steadfast <laughingman@*******.DE>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 11:26:57 +0100
And so it came to happen that Shaun Gilroy wrote:
<sniped message>
> Are there rules for dealing with space somewhere that I've just never run
> across?

Don't think so, seems that the above was generated on the Aztlan and Target:UCAS
sourcebook. It is one of those threads that FASA realy never has gone deeper
into it. "Space, the final Frontier" seems to sound by then realy a fitting name
for the whole thing. I realy wished FASA would made some of those Spacestation
available to Runners as they would give them some rules like the ones presented
in Cyberpunks "Deep Space" sourcebook. Of course those runs would be realy
costly, but the thoughts of having some runners sabotage one of those
Spacestations and then do not give them the lift back would be veery nice. And
of course the good old mad scientist who engineer those forbidden genetic
expieriments in Space (Aliens just springs to my mind) as it ought to be safe
for spying would be very teasing. Wish my group would be a wee bit more tolerant
on the whole thing, they actually thing Space and SR don't fit togehter.


--
---> Steadfast...Selfproclaimed Protector of Ger.BABY's
Surfin' through the 'trix is
not like dustin crops boy!
Uh, 089 of 200 it states in Ger. BABY...
Message no. 10
From: Mike Bobroff <Airwasp@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage]
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 15:57:50 EST
In a message dated 10/29/98 5:30:45 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
laughingman@*******.DE writes:

> And so it came to happen that Shaun Gilroy wrote:
> <sniped message>
> > Are there rules for dealing with space somewhere that I've just never run
> > across?
>
> Don't think so, seems that the above was generated on the Aztlan and
Target:
> UCAS
> sourcebook. It is one of those threads that FASA realy never has gone
deeper
> into it. "Space, the final Frontier" seems to sound by then realy a
fitting
> name
> for the whole thing. I realy wished FASA would made some of those
> Spacestation
> available to Runners as they would give them some rules like the ones
> presented
> in Cyberpunks "Deep Space" sourcebook. Of course those runs would be realy
> costly, but the thoughts of having some runners sabotage one of those
> Spacestations and then do not give them the lift back would be veery nice.
> And
> of course the good old mad scientist who engineer those forbidden genetic
> expieriments in Space (Aliens just springs to my mind) as it ought to be
> safe
> for spying would be very teasing. Wish my group would be a wee bit more
> tolerant
> on the whole thing, they actually thing Space and SR don't fit togehter.
>
At last I heard there is the chance for a Space sourcebook but not until after
the turn of the century, and probably not for a few years after that.

-Herc
------ The Best Mechanic you can ever have.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Astro Magicians [ex- Re: Screwing the Mage], you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!