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Message no. 1
From: Iridios iridios@*****.com
Subject: Cyberware and Cosmetic Surgery
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 11:15:07 -0400
Greetings All,

Something that's been on my mind of late. How much "evidence" (in
the form of scarring) is left after cybernetic implant surgery?
Personally I would assume that plastic surgery has advance enough to
easily cover "small" scars and such, but is it available from street
docs or street clinics? And wouldn't major implants (such as wired
reflexes) leave some scars even after plastic surgery? Would it be
possible to go to a specialized plastic surgeon to completely cover
all implant scarring? And how would one measure how notable scarring
might be? Would 10 - [essence cost](modified by additional plastic
surgery) be too high or too low of a target number to notice
scarring? This would mean that cybereyes/cyberears would leave
practically no scars while wired reflexes 3 would leave something that
could be noticed with a reasonable inspection. Of course this does
not take into account a persons noticing the actual cyber in some
cases.

--
Iridios
"Accept what you cannot avoid,
Avoid what you cannot accept."
Message no. 2
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: Cyberware and Cosmetic Surgery
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 19:26:29 +0200
According to Iridios, at 11:15 on 20 Sep 99, the word on
the street was...

> Something that's been on my mind of late. How much "evidence" (in
> the form of scarring) is left after cybernetic implant surgery?

Not much, I'd say -- much of the cyberware implantation process is done by
nanites, says Shadowtech, which can be injected without the need for
surgery.

> Personally I would assume that plastic surgery has advance enough to
> easily cover "small" scars and such, but is it available from street
> docs or street clinics? And wouldn't major implants (such as wired
> reflexes) leave some scars even after plastic surgery? Would it be
> possible to go to a specialized plastic surgeon to completely cover
> all implant scarring? And how would one measure how notable scarring
> might be? Would 10 - [essence cost](modified by additional plastic
> surgery) be too high or too low of a target number to notice
> scarring?

You can simply use the rules from Cybertechnology for this: the wound
caused by implant surgery is determined by the Essence cost (see SRII --
it's not in SR3 -- p. 114), and then use the scarring rules on page 56 of
Cybertechnology to decide how big the scar will be.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Vraag niet om de terugkeer
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 3
From: Iridios iridios@*****.com
Subject: Cyberware and Cosmetic Surgery
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:40:31 -0400
Gurth wrote:
>
> According to Iridios, at 11:15 on 20 Sep 99, the word on
> the street was...
>
> > Something that's been on my mind of late. How much "evidence" (in
> > the form of scarring) is left after cybernetic implant surgery?
>
> Not much, I'd say -- much of the cyberware implantation process is done by
> nanites, says Shadowtech, which can be injected without the need for
> surgery.

I'd forgotten about that, while remembering various pieces of art
which show scarring (one in Shadowtech even shows scarring around the
eye!).


>
> > Personally I would assume that plastic surgery has advance enough to
> > easily cover "small" scars and such, but is it available from street
> > docs or street clinics? And wouldn't major implants (such as wired
> > reflexes) leave some scars even after plastic surgery? Would it be
> > possible to go to a specialized plastic surgeon to completely cover
> > all implant scarring? And how would one measure how notable scarring
> > might be? Would 10 - [essence cost](modified by additional plastic
> > surgery) be too high or too low of a target number to notice
> > scarring?
>
> You can simply use the rules from Cybertechnology for this: the wound
> caused by implant surgery is determined by the Essence cost (see SRII --
> it's not in SR3 -- p. 114), and then use the scarring rules on page 56 of
> Cybertechnology to decide how big the scar will be.

This works for me. Thanks.


--
Iridios
"Accept what you cannot avoid,
Avoid what you cannot accept."
Message no. 4
From: Number Ten Ox number_10_ox@**********.com
Subject: Cyberware and Cosmetic Surgery
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 13:42:19 -0700 (PDT)
---Iridios <iridios@*****.com> wrote:

> Something that's been on my mind of late. How much "evidence" (in
> the form of scarring) is left after cybernetic implant surgery?

I would assume none or almost none. Medical technology has advanced
enough to grow/clone bones, muscles, organs... if they can grow you a new
kidney, liver, or pituitary gland (a la Shadowtech), if they can replace
your skin with dermal armor or orthoskin or dermal sheathing, plastic
surgery would be minimal by comparison.

> Personally I would assume that plastic surgery has advance enough to
> easily cover "small" scars and such, but is it available from street
> docs or street clinics?
Yes. Some street docs and street clinics would *specialize* in
plastic surgery, as it is a prime method for evading the long arm of ...
whoever's after you. Matter of fact, I could see a street-doc-and-decker
partnership offering "Identity Switch" packages: the doc changes your
face, the decker does funky things to your records.

> And wouldn't major implants (such as wired
> reflexes) leave some scars even after plastic surgery?
No.

Okay, maybe I'm weird, but to me, Essence does NOT reflect how much
alteration is done to your body. You can crack your skull, and have a
metal plate put into your head: by the rules, your Essence would remain at
6. But install a datajack, which is perhaps a tenth of the mass of the
metal plate, and your Essence plummets. If Essence represents the fraction
of your body that's not what you started out with, that makes no sense. I
run Essence as the degree of damage to *nerves*. It's not the cyberarm
which subtracts Essence, it's the funky nerve-system-to-cyberware
connections that make the thing run that impact Essence.

So, to me, a high-Essence implant (like Wired Reflexes 3) does not
necessarily equal major invasive surgery. As a matter of fact, Wired 3 in
my game is one of the mildest surgeries around as far as gross physical
effects go.

> Would it be
> possible to go to a specialized plastic surgeon to completely cover
> all implant scarring?

Yes. Not only that, any surgeon worth his salt would be able to do it.

In my games, the scarring from cyberware is not noticeable. The actual
cyberware can be detected in one of three ways:

1) With a visual inspection if the piece of cyberware is obvious (shiny
silver eyes, obvious cyberarm, datajack in middle of forehead).
1a) With a visual inspection if the piece of cyberware affects the
character in a visible way (the 'jumpiness' of wired reflexes,
constant munching brought on by thyroid augmentation, etc.)
1b) With a close physical examination. (A doctor palpating your
ribcage is going to notice bone lacing, and you can bet your lover
is going to notice various augmentations.)

2) With a cyberware sniffer (rules for which are in Lone Star and a couple
of other places), or

3) with an astral check.

> --
> Iridios
> "Accept what you cannot avoid,
> Avoid what you cannot accept."
>
>
--Number 10.
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