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Message no. 1
From: Mark McLaughlin <mmclaugh@*******.EENG.DCU.IE>
Subject: Mages and firearms
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 11:37:48 -0800
Magic is an extremely valuable tool in the shadowrun world. It can be
very powerfull and flexible. However in combat a mage may wish to fight
without wasting himself on a spell. To become a good mage one only needs
around 4 skills, Sorcery, Conjuring, Enchanting and perhaps magical
theory (I hope I havent left out anything!) so naturally the mage will
have a couple of skill point lying around.. Why not put them in to
things like Firearms or Biotech. If a player put a reasonable amount in
to firearms then the mage could be adept in firearms as well as magical
combat. All this talk of "mages should`nt know what a gun looks like!".
Really this SHADOWRUN where charactors are always after that extra edge
in the shadows, that card up their sleeve that might just save their
life.

Mark.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark (Merlin) McLaughlin RPG http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/4194
Email: [merlin@********.dcu.ie] [mmclaugh@******.eeng.dcu.ie]
I am but mad north-north-west when the wind blows southerly I know a
hawk from a handsaw...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 2
From: "Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Mages and firearms
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 08:50:08 -0500
Mark says:
>
>
>>Magic is an extremely valuable tool in the shadowrun world. It can be
>>very powerfull and flexible. However in combat a mage may wish to fight
>>without wasting himself on a spell. To become a good mage one only >needs
>>around 4 skills, Sorcery, Conjuring, Enchanting and perhaps magical
>>theory (I hope I havent left out anything!) so naturally the mage will
>>have a couple of skill point lying around.. Why not put them in to
>>things like Firearms or Biotech. If a player put a reasonable amount in
>>to firearms then the mage could be adept in firearms as well as magical
>>combat. All this talk of "mages should`nt know what a gun looks like!".
>>Really this SHADOWRUN where charactors are always after that extra >edge
>>in the shadows, that card up their sleeve that might just save their
>>life.
>
I'm sorry. It seems I didn't make myself clear. What I MEANT to say was,
not all mages(the ones I've seen) uses guns, or have an appreciable gun
skill; enough to validly contribute to a gunfight. Like I believe
someone already said, being a mage justs sucks away all of your karma,
and makes it difficult to put towards anything else. Most of the players
in my games tend to be more well rounded (many of them are former
special forces, or government personnell). Any the military tends to
train in a wide variety of weapons and tactics; never rely on one thing
primarily, because one day it might fail you, and then you're up a
certain creek without a certain propulsional instrument). I think it's
smart for a mage to have some gun skill. But when it comes to the damage
doled out by light pistols, he might as well suffer the mild headache
>from tossing a spell, then deal with a 9mm migrane.
>
>
>
Message no. 3
From: "Simon T. Sailer" <Simon.Sailer@****.AC.AT>
Subject: Re: Mages and firearms
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 08:30:13 +0100
>I'm sorry. It seems I didn't make myself clear. What I MEANT to say was,
>not all mages(the ones I've seen) uses guns, or have an appreciable gun
>skill; enough to validly contribute to a gunfight. Like I believe
>someone already said, being a mage justs sucks away all of your karma,
>and makes it difficult to put towards anything else. Most of the players
>in my games tend to be more well rounded (many of them are former
>special forces, or government personnell). Any the military tends to
>train in a wide variety of weapons and tactics; never rely on one thing
>primarily, because one day it might fail you, and then you're up a
>certain creek without a certain propulsional instrument). I think it's
>smart for a mage to have some gun skill. But when it comes to the damage
>doled out by light pistols, he might as well suffer the mild headache
>from tossing a spell, then deal with a 9mm migrane.

Why not just give him a Colt Manhunter? He could do some damage
with it, the recoil is the same, the con is good..? (just wondering)

After all, we're not playing **&*! (The Cleric may only use blunt
weapons and the Mage may not use that sword because....)

ss
Message no. 4
From: "Arno R. Lehmann" <arlehma@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Mages and firearms
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 00:11:11 +0100
On Wed, 5 Mar 1997 11:37:48 -0800, Mark McLaughlin wrote:

<snip> To become a good mage one only needs
>around 4 skills, Sorcery, Conjuring, Enchanting and perhaps magical
>theory (I hope I havent left out anything!) so naturally the mage will
>have a couple of skill point lying around.. Why not put them in to
>things like Firearms or Biotech.

Because you can put them in something like driving cars, languages,
cooking
if it fits the char's background and, very important IMO that stuff
that lets
you interact with people from different areas, streets, magical etc. (I
really
don't find the correct word, and am too lazy to look it up:)

>If a player put a reasonable amount in
>to firearms then the mage could be adept in firearms as well as magical
>combat. All this talk of "mages should`nt know what a gun looks like!".

A mage might simply not be interested in them.

>Really this SHADOWRUN where charactors are always after that extra edge
>in the shadows, that card up their sleeve that might just save their
>life.

Yup, correct - once s/he is a 'runner. My characters usually don't
start as
runners, but come with a 'civilian' background. Of course that are just
mine.

--
Arno
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Message no. 5
From: Angel Ramos y David Fayes <hansa@****.NET>
Subject: Re: Mages and firearms
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 16:25:57 -0500
At 11:37 AM 03/5/97 -0800, Mark wrote:
> However in combat a mage may wish to fight
>without wasting himself on a spell. To become a good mage one only needs
>around 4 skills, Sorcery, Conjuring, Enchanting and perhaps magical
>theory (I hope I havent left out anything!) so naturally the mage will
>have a couple of skill point lying around.. Why not put them in to
>things like Firearms or Biotech.

I agree with you because the thing that called my attention the most from SR
is that mages can know things and have differents skills than Sorcery or
Enchanting. My mages PC's all know things like stealth, firearms (just in
case they're too drained).

ARRT
The Elven Mage

Thats

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