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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Mark A Sawko <sawk6112@****.GMI.EDU>
Subject: Cybered Shapeshifters
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 17:51:22 EST
> My wife and I both play leopard shapeshifters as PCs. Very interesting - totally
> different mindset, real surgery and medical problems (we rewrote the rules so
> that getting hurt was much dangerous to shapeshifers, and try fitting cyberware)
>
> Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk

Out of curiosity, how are you handling the rules for surgery? I mean it seems to me that
it would be very difficult to implant anything into a creature that regenerates. I'd be
very interested to hear how your characters got around this.
-----

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Message no. 2
From: Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Cybered Shapeshifters
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 20:55:51 GMT
> > My wife and I both play leopard shapeshifters as PCs. Very interesting -
> > totally different mindset, real surgery and medical problems (we rewrote
> > the rules so that getting hurt was much dangerous to shapeshifers, and try
> > fitting cyberware!)

> Out of curiosity, how are you handling the rules for surgery? I mean it
> seems to me that it would be very difficult to implant anything into a
> creature that regenerates. I'd be very interested to hear how your
> characters got around this.

To make PC shapeshifters interesting, we kicked the rules around hard. To
start with, the player *became* a shapeshifter - you sort of had to be there -
and so a lot of her cyberware was a given.

We also revised the healing rules. PC shapeshifters don't heal automatically -
they just shift the damage across to Stun. And a Deadly wound can still be
really nasty, because we thought hard about the healing process and decided
that a shapeshifter, badly wounded, would be at risk from hyperthermia and
cardiac arrest: if healing is hugely accelerated metabolic processes, then
healing too much damage at once would overload the body. Lilith has to be
tranquillised and almost deep-frozen to avoid brain damage from too-high body
temperature or suffering a heart failure.

But the corollary is that reducing a shapeshifter's body temperature enough
allows invasive surgery: which is how we do it. But it isn't easy and not many
docs can manage it: and trying healing magic has roughly the same effect as
putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger! That has nearly killed her
a couple of times as well-meaning and ill-informed medics summon a magician...

Remember, also, that nanosurgery doesn't involve wounds or damage: so that
should be manageable for a regenerative being.

And you'd be surprised how much a severe allergy to silver can be made to hurt,
too. On balance - given the _real_ as opposed to apparent vulnerability of
other PCs - Lilith is not munchkinised as a shapeshifter, but it's easy to
see how she could be made to be. I wouldn't let a vampire PC in the game, for
instance, although vampire NPCs are fun.

--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or
for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
Message no. 3
From: Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Cybered Shapeshifters
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 12:35:21 +1000
Paul J. Adam writes:

> But the corollary is that reducing a shapeshifter's body temperature enough
> allows invasive surgery: which is how we do it. But it isn't easy and not many
> docs can manage it: and trying healing magic has roughly the same effect as
> putting a gun to her head and pulling the trigger! That has nearly killed her
> a couple of times as well-meaning and ill-informed medics summon a magician...
>
> Remember, also, that nanosurgery doesn't involve wounds or damage: so that
> should be manageable for a regenerative being.

One could also use the "aura" debate to solve the problem of shapeshifters
and cyber. Once the cyber is implanted, it becomes part of your aura (that's
why magicians can cast using cybereyes). Since it is part of your aura, then
it transforms with you, and isn't expelled by your regenerative proccesses.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au

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Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Cybered Shapeshifters, you may also be interested in:

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