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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Mike Buckalew <mike_buckalew@******.COM>
Subject: Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 11:43:21 -0000
I hate to revive the old Cyberpsychosis thing again, but I found the
following quote while reading "Missions". It's on page 8, in the
"Playing the Boys in Blue" section, and isn't really a spoiler or
anything:

>Lone Star strives to keep its officers relatively free of the weird
>behavioral problems that heavy Essence loss can cause. Therefore, Lone Star
>regulations prohibit Star personnel from possessing cyberware that causes
>more than 3 points of Essence loss.

I was under the impression that FASA did not subscribe to R. Talsorian's
cyberpsychosis hack, with the possible exception of zero essence.
Cybertechnology's take on it was that heavy cyber may intimidate others,
but doesn't change one's personality.

If all the author wanted was to limit cyber, seems he could have just as
easily that the players were not from any of the more elite units that
had cyber past 3 essence points.

I'm sorry for reopening nasty threads, but I get frustrated by
inconsistencies.


Buck (Mike Buckalew)
Test Manager, FileMaker Pro
Email: buck@******.com

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Message no. 2
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@******.GWEEP.NET>
Subject: Re: Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 21:11:42 -0500
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>>>>> "MB" == Mike Buckalew <mike_buckalew@******.COM>
writes:

MB> I was under the impression that FASA did not subscribe to
MB> R. Talsorian's cyberpsychosis hack, with the possible exception of zero
MB> essence.

Correct.

MB> Cybertechnology's take on it was that heavy cyber may intimidate
MB> others, but doesn't change one's personality.

Right... but the "loss of life force" that comes from cybernetic
implantation combined with the "urban technoshock" of the world of the
2050s *may* affect one's outlook and personality, resulting in mania,
depression, and a variety of other psychoses. It is strictly a
role-playing and genre thing, nothing to do with game mechanics.

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--
Rat <ratinox@******.gweep.net> \ Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
PGP Key: at a key server near you! \
\
Message no. 3
From: Ray & Tamara <macey@*******.COM.AU>
Subject: Re: Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 12:02:28 +1000
> >Lone Star strives to keep its officers relatively free of the weird
> >behavioral problems that heavy Essence loss can cause. Therefore, Lone
Star
> >regulations prohibit Star personnel from possessing cyberware that
causes
> >more than 3 points of Essence loss.
>
> I was under the impression that FASA did not subscribe to R. Talsorian's
> cyberpsychosis hack, with the possible exception of zero essence.
> Cybertechnology's take on it was that heavy cyber may intimidate others,
> but doesn't change one's personality.

I would say that the problem mainly comes from people that are seen to have
lots of cyberware being unbalanced. Maybe in Shadowrun, people that go for
heavy cyberware are misunderstood like RP'ers in real life. Maybe it's all
an imaginary thing, there is no problem, but people think that there is.

How's that sound?

Ray
Message no. 4
From: Droopy <droopy@*******.NB.NET>
Subject: Re: Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 20:49:59 +0000
> From: Mike Buckalew <mike_buckalew@******.COM>
> Subject: Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII

> I was under the impression that FASA did not subscribe to R. Talsorian's
> cyberpsychosis hack, with the possible exception of zero essence.
> Cybertechnology's take on it was that heavy cyber may intimidate others,
> but doesn't change one's personality.
<snip>
> I'm sorry for reopening nasty threads, but I get frustrated by
> inconsistencies.

It's not an inconsistancy. FASA has always stated that the more
cyber you put in, the less "human" you become. They don't subscribe
to cyberpsychosis, it's too much to expect the avarge player to
roleplay anyway.


--Droopy
droopy@**.net

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Cyberpsychosis Part MXCVIII, 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!