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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Hahns Shin)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sat Apr 28 16:15:01 2001
I was trying to think of an example of ludicrous Essence costs that
isn't justified by a medical model, and I finally found one: Cyber
Radios. They cost a whopping .75 essence! That's more than Plastic
Bone Lacing and comparable to Dermal Sheathing Level 1. In fact, a
cranial remote deck for riggers costs less essence. Most people in my
group have noncyber radios, and the one person that has a cyber radio
has it implanted in one of his cyberarms with a DNI. The only
advantage I see is the comparatively low nuyen cost and wide
availability of a cyber radio (making Alpha/Betaware an option).

Hahns Shin, MS I
Budding cybersurgeon
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Simon and Fiona)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sat Apr 28 22:40:01 2001
-----Original Message-----
From: Hahns Shin <Hahns_Shin@*******.com>
To: shadowrn@*********.com <shadowrn@*********.com>
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2001 6:20 AM
Subject: Cyber Radios


>I was trying to think of an example of ludicrous Essence costs that
>isn't justified by a medical model, and I finally found one: Cyber
>Radios. They cost a whopping .75 essence! That's more than Plastic
>Bone Lacing and comparable to Dermal Sheathing Level 1. In fact, a
>cranial remote deck for riggers costs less essence. Most people in my
>group have noncyber radios, and the one person that has a cyber radio
>has it implanted in one of his cyberarms with a DNI. The only
>advantage I see is the comparatively low nuyen cost and wide
>availability of a cyber radio (making Alpha/Betaware an option).
>


Maybe the fact that the radio has to be wired up to your brain somehow? The
easiest way to make the signal audible would be to hook the radio up to a
cyberear, but maybe they don't do it that way for some reason. Perhaps you
could make a house rule that a radio as part of your cyberear only costs .3
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (BD)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sun Apr 29 10:00:00 2001
--- Simon and Fiona <sfuller@******.com.au> wrote:
> Maybe the fact that the radio has to be wired up to your brain somehow?
> The
> easiest way to make the signal audible would be to hook the radio up to a
> cyberear, but maybe they don't do it that way for some reason. Perhaps
> you
> could make a house rule that a radio as part of your cyberear only costs
> .3

Every little bit of headware has to be wired to your brain. The
cyber-radio's too much. I can't count the number of times I've been
skimming the cyber section and thought, "Hey, that'd be cool... aww, 0.75!
Forgot about that." I'm pretty sure I forget everytime because my brain
refuses to correlate almost a full point of Essence with the stupid radio.
And the phone's, what, 0.5? It's game balance gone horribly wrong, I
think. Unless there's some medical effect of putting a radio/phone inside
your noggin.

====-Boondocker

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Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Keith Duthie)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sun Apr 29 10:15:01 2001
On Sun, 29 Apr 2001, BD wrote:
<snip>
> Unless there's some medical effect of putting a radio/phone inside
> your noggin.

Brain cancer?

--
Understanding is a three edged sword. Do you *want* to get the point?
http://www.albatross.co.nz/~psycho/ O- -><-
Standard disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this message are unlikely to
be mine, let alone anybody elses...
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (BD)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sun Apr 29 11:40:06 2001
--- Keith Duthie <psycho@*********.co.nz> wrote:
>> Unless there's some medical effect of putting a radio/phone inside
>> your noggin.
>
> Brain cancer?

Hahns?

:)

====-Boondocker

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Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Hahns Shin)
Subject: Cyber Radios
Date: Sun Apr 29 18:15:01 2001
> >> Unless there's some medical effect of putting a radio/phone
inside
> >> your noggin.
> >
> > Brain cancer?
>
> Hahns?
Yes? :)

You see, I don't buy that (brain cancer) for two reasons: Cell phones
and radios have not been "proven" to cause brain cancer (I say this in
quotes because I know of isolated cases from back in the day when Cell
Phones had more juice than a
local radio station). Radio devices can exacerbate a predisposed
condition, especially for chronic Cell Phone addicts, but inherently
don't cause brain cancer by themselves. If that were the case, there
would be millions of people coming down with weird acoustic neuromas
or other such malignancies (especially in Japan... over 90%
penetration in cell phones among 16-40 age brackets).

The second reason: Some essence may be spent on shielding, but then I
point to the Cranial Remote Deck example, which puts out just as much
(if not more) juice as a cyber radio and costs less than half the
essence. Even the built-in subdermal speakers (p. 19, M&M) only
accounts for 0.1 essence. I think that radios and cell phones should
cost, at most, .3 essence (.1 for the device, .1 for the subdermal
speakers, and .1 for the subvocal mike). I'll have to agree with
Boondocker that radios are game balance gone horribly wrong.

Hahns Shin, MS I
Budding cybersurgeon

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