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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Steve Mancini)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Tue Jan 23 13:42:01 2001
So I am running a game that is slightly retro.. timeline wise so
forget that chicago glows, etc..

I had this evil idea.. perhaps one negated by the books in theory
so I figured I would throw it out there for consideration..

Is there a rule that an insect needs to be invested in a Sentient
Human host?

If so, the rest is moot, if not....

a) What about people in a coma? Imagine a coma clinic being the target
of a hive?

b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th Day" complex clones here
mind you, but rather those full-clonal organ-holders that Doc Wagon
makes for people..

c) Take it to the theoretical extreme... what if Doc Wagon ISN'T so
humanitarian.. and in their nice hidden labs they are messing with
a grand eugenics program - taking the DNA of everyone it deals with
to put in a grand DNA matrices.. but suppose these idiots in their
attempt to play god, secure some DNA from a dragon and figured...
"What the heck.. wonder if we could clone one of these suckers if
we had a vat big enough..."

Okie, maybe I am reaching and should just send my runners after simple
stuff like memory buffers in Xerox machines...


Da Minotaur
En Route to N'awlins in *3* days!
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Nexx)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Tue Jan 23 14:12:01 2001
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Mancini" <
>
> Okie, maybe I am reaching and should just send my runners after simple
> stuff like memory buffers in Xerox machines...

<snip>

You are a sick, evil, psychopath... and my new God. ;-)
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Michael S. Bobroff)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Tue Jan 23 14:42:01 2001
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Mancini" <mancini@******.com>


> So I am running a game that is slightly retro..
timeline wise so
> forget that chicago glows, etc..

*nod*

> I had this evil idea.. perhaps one negated by
the books in theory
> so I figured I would throw it out there for
consideration..
>
> Is there a rule that an insect needs to be
invested in a Sentient
> Human host?

No ...

> If so, the rest is moot, if not....
>
> a) What about people in a coma? Imagine a coma
clinic being the target
> of a hive?

Yes, they could invest using them, the only
problem comes in that people in comas would not be
'good' hosts. Though bugs are not very
discriminating in investing, they do prefer that
the host be of the charismatic and willful type of
person. They do like their hosts to be from
better stock, this leads to better bug spirits.

> b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th
Day" complex clones here
> mind you, but rather those full-clonal
organ-holders that Doc Wagon
> makes for people..

Again, clones could be used, but seeing as there
is no-one-home, the best you could hope for is a
brainless worker drone or warrior (picture the one
crazed grasshopper from Bugs from Disney). This
spirit in question would need to be held in check
and given simple tasks (killing wantonly is a
rather simple task).

> c) Take it to the theoretical extreme... what if
Doc Wagon ISN'T so
> humanitarian.. and in their nice hidden labs
they are messing with
> a grand eugenics program - taking the DNA of
everyone it deals with
> to put in a grand DNA matrices.. but suppose
these idiots in their
> attempt to play god, secure some DNA from a
dragon and figured...
> "What the heck.. wonder if we could clone
one of these suckers if
> we had a vat big enough..."

Sure, that is a possibity too. Though what if you
had the bugs act intelligently (like Ant does).
The queen and her shamans devise a plan to track
down a young dragon. Capture it and perform the
investure on it.

How does this sound Steve. The Queen and shaman
have decided that she is in need of greater power
for herself and decide to apply a ritual onto her,
in effect re-investing her into a new body. They
choose a dragon for this body. The hive in
question goes out and hunts down a draco-form
(preferably a younger dragon). They then invest
the queen into the dragon.

Another variation on this is that the Queen
desires a better guard, and a warrior spirit is
invested into the dragon's body instead.

Either direction would require a lot of planning
on the part of the Hive. They would need a lot of
karma and many magical arcana to perform this
ritual (dragons are rather willful and powerful).

How do they get this karma? Well, they hire
runners, perhaps the team, to go on scavenger
hunts for the arcana that they need. As the team
accomplishes the tasks, the Hive would gain the
karma for their success (every time they get
something they need they get 2 points of karma,
for example).

What happens as time passes would be the
interesting thing. The runners could find out
what is going on later on, perhaps shortly after
the dragon has been captured. The runners could
go and see if they could free/slay the dragon.

The runners could be approached by some other
interested party (like a mantid spirit group in
disguise) and told that they are conspiring with
bugs and should runaway and lie low.

You could have a lot of fun with this.

> Okie, maybe I am reaching and should just send
my runners after simple
> stuff like memory buffers in Xerox machines...
>
>
> Da Minotaur
> En Route to N'awlins in *3* days!

The players themselves might decide that going at
the memory buffers in Xerox machines is far more
preferable too.

Let us know how it goes,
-Mike
Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Jeff Long)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Tue Jan 23 18:42:00 2001
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Mancini" <mancini@******.com>

> b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th Day" complex clones here
> mind you, but rather those full-clonal organ-holders that Doc Wagon
> makes for people..

I figured for the run where this situation happened, that the resulting
'clone body bugs' hadn't formed properly and therefore were Toxic. I figured
that the bugs required the Victims Essence in order to properly form within
a body. kinda on par with how some bugs paralyze thier prey, and then place
an egg into the victim, so that the emerging bug has food upon it's birth.
In the case of Bug spirits the 'food' isthe victims Essence.

> c) Take it to the theoretical extreme... what if Doc Wagon ISN'T so
> humanitarian.. and in their nice hidden labs they are messing with
> a grand eugenics program - taking the DNA of everyone it deals with
> to put in a grand DNA matrices.. but suppose these idiots in their
> attempt to play god, secure some DNA from a dragon and figured...
> "What the heck.. wonder if we could clone one of these suckers if
> we had a vat big enough..."

Umm.. no comment..

> Okie, maybe I am reaching and should just send my runners after simple
> stuff like memory buffers in Xerox machines...

And since when is a simple run, simple? :)

Jalong1
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Tue Jan 23 19:12:00 2001
>Is there a rule that an insect needs to be invested in a Sentient
>Human host?

I'm not sure its a rule, per se, but I don't think there's any examples
given of animals being used as hosts. If they could have been, the problem
would have gone undiscovered much longer, I think. I can't recall for sure,
but it might even require a metahuman with a more than a minimal amount of
essence left to make a good host.

>a) What about people in a coma? Imagine a coma clinic being the target
> of a hive?

I think that would work just fine, if the person was not brain dead, but
generally anybody who is recieving care for a coma has people who care about
them- and a SIN. Easier just to grab the sinless dregs that nobody will
miss.

>b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th Day" complex clones here
> mind you, but rather those full-clonal organ-holders that Doc Wagon
> makes for people..

Perhaps. I think something very like this is what caused "Crash Cart" to
close up thier doors shortly after the UB incidents.

>c) Take it to the theoretical extreme... what if Doc Wagon ISN'T so
> humanitarian.. and in their nice hidden labs they are messing with
> a grand eugenics program - taking the DNA of everyone it deals with
> to put in a grand DNA matrices.. but suppose these idiots in their
> attempt to play god, secure some DNA from a dragon and figured...
> "What the heck.. wonder if we could clone one of these suckers if
> we had a vat big enough..."

Then the few great dragons still around would get VERY pissed (judging from
the mess such experiemts created in the past), and Doc Wagon would be out of
bussiness before long. On the upside, the reponsable persons would taste
good with ketchup.

-Sebastian
Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Gurth)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Wed Jan 24 06:12:01 2001
According to Steve Mancini, on Tue, 23 Jan 2001 the word on the street
was...

> Is there a rule that an insect needs to be invested in a Sentient
> Human host?

Nope. But it _is_ something that most GMs seem not to realize -- there is
so much more you can do with insect spirits than put them into humans...

> a) What about people in a coma? Imagine a coma clinic being the target
> of a hive?

That would require you (the GM) to decide whether or not the possessed body
would trap the spirit in a coma as well. For story purposes, the obvious
ruling is that the spirit can use the body as normal, of course :)

> b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th Day" complex clones here
> mind you, but rather those full-clonal organ-holders that Doc Wagon
> makes for people..

Since clones are basically braindead, I think that this would nearly
automatically give a true form spirit -- after all, the clone doesn't have
a Willpower with which to resist the spirit's takeover attempt.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
My ocular organs!
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+@ UL 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: shadowrn@*********.com (Gurth)
Subject: Bringing back the bugs
Date: Wed Jan 24 06:12:05 2001
According to Sebastian Wiers, on Wed, 24 Jan 2001 the word on the street
was...

> >b) What about clones? I am not talking "6th Day" complex clones here
> > mind you, but rather those full-clonal organ-holders that Doc Wagon
> > makes for people..
>
> Perhaps. I think something very like this is what caused "Crash Cart" to
> close up thier doors shortly after the UB incidents.

Yep, as described in the novel 2XS. (For those wondering: I didn't bother
with a spoiler warning as this is fairly common knowledge, IMHO.)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
My ocular organs!
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+@ UL 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. 8
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: bringing Back the Bugs.
Date: Thu Jan 25 16:42:03 2001
On 23 Jan 2001, at 15:12, shadowrn-request@*********.com wrote:

What an excellent idea

> How does this sound Steve. The Queen and shaman
> have decided that she is in need of greater power
> for herself and decide to apply a ritual onto her,
> in effect re-investing her into a new body. They
> choose a dragon for this body. The hive in
> question goes out and hunts down a draco-form
> (preferably a younger dragon). They then invest
> the queen into the dragon.
>
> Another variation on this is that the Queen
> desires a better guard, and a warrior spirit is
> invested into the dragon's body instead.
>
> Either direction would require a lot of planning
> on the part of the Hive. They would need a lot of
> karma and many magical arcana to perform this
> ritual (dragons are rather willful and powerful).
>
> How do they get this karma? Well, they hire
> runners, perhaps the team, to go on scavenger
> hunts for the arcana that they need. As the team
> accomplishes the tasks, the Hive would gain the
> karma for their success (every time they get
> something they need they get 2 points of karma,
> for example).
>
This will soon become part of my Hive War campaign, as matter of
interest has anyone ever come up with any varieties of Bug Spirit
not included in the books.

Max



Visit The Path Of The Arcane:
< http:\\freespace.virgin.net\max.trebilcock\max1.htm >
Message no. 9
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Phil Smith)
Subject: bringing Back the Bugs.
Date: Sat Jan 27 07:25:01 2001
>From: max.trebilcock@******.net
>This will soon become part of my Hive War campaign, as matter of
>interest has anyone ever come up with any varieties of Bug Spirit
>not included in the books.

There were some in the PW book Paranoid Animals at
http://plastic.dumpshock.com/shadowrun/index.html

Phil

Since most of my face never gets a chance to heal, I've got nothing to lose
in the looks department. My boss, at work, he asked me what I was doing
about the hole through my cheek that never heals. When I drink coffee, I
told him, I put two fingers over the hole so it won't leak.

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Message no. 10
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Steve Mancini)
Subject: bringing Back the Bugs.
Date: Sun Feb 4 21:10:05 2001
> >
> This will soon become part of my Hive War campaign, as matter of
> interest has anyone ever come up with any varieties of Bug Spirit
> not included in the books.
>

okie by me long as you give credit where it is due :)

-s-

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Thwap!