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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Valeu John EMFA)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Thu Jun 14 05:15:01 2001
Ok a little while ago I was creating character ideas (can't create
characters without books) I decided to create Fox-Hound from the
Metal Gear series. I got all the ones from PSX done and a couple off the
GameBoy game, but then I got to Slasher Hawk.
(He's an orphan raised by Aborigines and uses two solid steel boomerangs).
I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang as a weapon.
Will this be addressed in the Target: Awakened Lands book (since it was
suppose to include Australia), or was that project scraped?
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Adam J)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Thu Jun 14 08:30:00 2001
At 13:04 14/06/2001, Valeu John EMFA wrote:

>I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang as a weapon.
>Will this be addressed in the Target: Awakened Lands book (since it was
>suppose to include Australia), or was that project scraped?

Target: Awakened Lands has certainly not been scrapped, but I'm not sure if
it will be including boomerang rules or not. IMO it seems unlikely...

Adam
--
< http://tss.dumpshock.com : http://www.jillted.org >
< adamj@*********.com | ICQ# 2350330 | TSS Productions >
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Damion Milliken)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Thu Jun 14 10:25:01 2001
Valeu John EMFA writes:

> I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang as a weapon.

You could perhaps consider "Throwing Weapons". After all, that pretty
accurately describes the weapon under consideration.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong
Unofficial Shadowrun Guru E-mail: dam01@***.edu.au
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Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Travis K. Heldibridle)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Thu Jun 14 13:55:01 2001
-----------------------------------------------------------
I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang
as a weapon. Will this be addressed in the Target: Awakened
Lands book (since it was suppose to include Australia), or
was that project scraped?
-----------------------------------------------------------

One of my first posts to this list was about just this thing. One of my
players wanted to use the throwing ring (shakram?) that Xena uses, and I
needed advice on how to run it in the world of Shadowrun. Several people
have already given good advice...

I would suggest using the "thrown weapons" skill as it exists (possibly with
a specialization in boomerangs). Since the boomerang itself doesn't exist in
the SR books, you would have to give it a damage rating and ranges. Keep in
mind, as others have said, that in the real world boomerangs that cause
damage don't (as far as I know) come back to you. If you want to let them do
this for cinematic purposes, that is your call (I did).

To keep things consistent I just had the character use Thrown Weapons for
catching the returning device. Someone else suggested Athletics, and that
would work too. The target number was the same as the target number used to
throw the device (thus it would be harder to catch a returning device from
long range then it would from short). That might not be scientifically
correct, but I figured it was "balanced" enough to work. I ruled that the
returning device was within range of being caught on the throwing
character's NEXT phase, basically the same rules used to determine when a
grenade blows up (I don't have my books here to quote).

As someone else mentioned, it is possible that some of the missile oriented
powers of the Adepts may affect how one uses thrown weapons such as the
boomerang or shakram. You would need to determine what affects, if any,
those powers have.


*smile*,
-- Aristotle.
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 00:25:01 2001
> One of my first posts to this list was about just
this thing. One of my players wanted to use the
throwing ring (shakram?) that Xena uses, and I needed
advice on how to run it in the world of Shadowrun.
Several people have already given good advice...
> -- Aristotle.

If anyone's interested, it's spelt 'chakram' and it's
an Indian weapon, not a Greek one. Then again, if we
really cared, I highly doubt that ancient Greeks knew
martial arts or visited China regularly. ;)

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Valeu John EMFA)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 05:00:01 2001
> One of my first posts to this list was about just
this thing. One of my players wanted to use the
throwing ring (shakram?) that Xena uses, and I needed
advice on how to run it in the world of Shadowrun.
Several people have already given good advice...
> -- Aristotle.

If anyone's interested, it's spelt 'chakram' and it's
an Indian weapon, not a Greek one. Then again, if we
really cared, I highly doubt that ancient Greeks knew
martial arts or visited China regularly. ;)

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka
Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!


Ok, before this turns into a Xena discussion, thanks all for the
information. yeah, it's about the same as I came up with. (I had throwing
down, but the return and catching were tricky).
Message no. 7
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 05:40:06 2001
On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, [iso-8859-1] Rand Ratinac wrote:

>
> If anyone's interested, it's spelt 'chakram' and it's
> an Indian weapon, not a Greek one. Then again, if we
> really cared, I highly doubt that ancient Greeks knew
> martial arts or visited China regularly. ;)

actually, you'd be surprised, the greeks had a fair amount of martial arts
training. for those with access to SJ Games online mag Pyramid, there was
a good series of articles a few weeks back on medieval "martial arts".
We tend to think of martial arts as being the oriental type armed and
unarmed fighting, but its equally as applicable to native martial arts -
english quaterstaff fighting and boxing are good examples of native
martial arts that aren't thought of as martial arts.. swinging back to
the orginal topic, though, the greeks had Pancrantium as a unarmed martila
art for certian, and that included strikes and locks. ultimatly, theres
only so many ways to strike or control another persons limbs, which is why
you get similar techniques reoccuring through martial arts (Chin-Na, or
controlling techniques in chinese martial arts are identical to Aikido or
Ju-Jitsu techniques, philisophical and traning method differences aside)

having said all that, I'm not going to even pretend that Xena is using
Pancrantium - AFAIK there isn't a "leap through the air, and land with
your crotch on someones head" attack, it tended to be more hand attacks
with a few low kicks. Then again, there are some vietnamese styles
(allegedly, havent seen them myself) that do have a similar idea...

John

--
jconstable@*****.com
"Stupidity got us into this, why can't it get us out?" - John Valeu
Message no. 8
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Lady Jestyr)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 05:45:05 2001
At 06:32 AM 14/06/01 -0600, Adam J wrote:

> >I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang as a weapon.
> >Will this be addressed in the Target: Awakened Lands book (since it was
> >suppose to include Australia), or was that project scraped?
>
>Target: Awakened Lands has certainly not been scrapped, but I'm not sure if
>it will be including boomerang rules or not. IMO it seems unlikely...

Well, for what it's worth, I co-wrote the first draft of the Australian
material for Target: Awakened Lands. There were no boomerang rules in
there, that much is certain. However, due to various organizational issues
(that still make me homicidal when I think of them, eight months later) the
material was finalized and expanded (though I'm not sure by how much) by
Steve Kenson rather than the 'team' I was writing with. Whether he added
any boomerang rules, I cannot say... Steve? Any answers on this?

Lady Jestyr
"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be
a horrible warning." - Catherine Aird

* jestyr@*****.com | URL: http://staff.dumpshock.com/jestyr *
Message no. 9
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Valeu John EMFA)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 09:45:01 2001
At 06:32 AM 14/06/01 -0600, Adam J wrote:

> >I realized that there was no skill for using the boomerang as a weapon.
> >Will this be addressed in the Target: Awakened Lands book (since it was
> >suppose to include Australia), or was that project scraped?
>
>Target: Awakened Lands has certainly not been scrapped, but I'm not sure if

>it will be including boomerang rules or not. IMO it seems unlikely...

Well, for what it's worth, I co-wrote the first draft of the Australian
material for Target: Awakened Lands. There were no boomerang rules in
there, that much is certain. However, due to various organizational issues
(that still make me homicidal when I think of them, eight months later) the
material was finalized and expanded (though I'm not sure by how much) by
Steve Kenson rather than the 'team' I was writing with. Whether he added
any boomerang rules, I cannot say... Steve? Any answers on this?

Lady Jestyr
"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be
a horrible warning." - Catherine Aird

* jestyr@*****.com | URL: http://staff.dumpshock.com/jestyr *


Well, it's easy to throw one of the things but it's so dang hard to try and
catch it on the return or getting to return in the first place. I guess
maybe a special skill like Thrown Weapons (boomerang) or Thrown Weapons
(Catching) would be in order.
Message no. 10
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 10:50:01 2001
> > If anyone's interested, it's spelt 'chakram' and
it's an Indian weapon, not a Greek one. Then again, if
we really cared, I highly doubt that ancient Greeks
knew martial arts or visited China regularly. ;)
>
> actually, you'd be surprised, the greeks had a fair
amount of martial arts training.
<snipt!(TM)>
> having said all that, I'm not going to even pretend
that Xena is using Pancrantium - AFAIK there isn't a
"leap through the air, and land with your crotch on
someones head" attack, it tended to be more hand
attacks with a few low kicks. Then again, there are
some vietnamese styles (allegedly, havent seen them
myself) that do have a similar idea...
> John

Okay, let me rephrase. What I meant to say was "I
highly doubt that ancient Greeks knew Oriental martial
arts or visited China regularly". Better? :)

My understanding of Pancratium, John, is that it was a
kind of a refined version of dirty fighting. Put the
guy down as fast and hard as possible. Definitely none
of the high-flying silliness you see in Xena. :)

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that chakrams really
weren't used to make the 'bank and return' shots you
see in Xena. Thought it didn't need stating, but after
John's effort, I'm not so sure.

(I'm just kidding, John. ;) )

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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Message no. 11
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 11:10:01 2001
On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, [iso-8859-1] Rand Ratinac wrote:

> Oh, and I also forgot to mention that chakrams really
> weren't used to make the 'bank and return' shots you
> see in Xena. Thought it didn't need stating, but after
> John's effort, I'm not so sure.
>
> (I'm just kidding, John. ;) )
>
> ====> Doc'


mutter mumble see what happens when you let your RL martial arts
enthusiasm get in the way of roleplaying, mutter mumble :-)

and dont get me started on Buffy......

--
jconstable@*****.com
"Stupidity got us into this, why can't it get us out?" - John Valeu
Message no. 12
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: boomerang
Date: Fri Jun 15 11:15:01 2001
> mutter mumble see what happens when you let your RL
martial arts enthusiasm get in the way of roleplaying,
mutter mumble :-)

Oh, don't be like that. ;)

To be honest, I'm a bit of a MA fan myself...but you
took me too literally, man...and when you do that, you
must pay...;)

> and dont get me started on Buffy......
> jconstable@*****.com

*lol*

No need.

Although they've actually been improving their
choreography in the more recent seasons. :)

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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Further Reading

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