Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Mongoose <evamarie@**********.NET>
Subject: Re: Encephalon
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 23:31:00 -0700
Depending on the GM's opinion of how
:->smart Encephalons' background processors are, the encephalon might do
:->this automatically for any sign or printed material with print too
:->small to comfortably read.
:
: Cool! For those of us with mild nearsightedness (can't read
signs
:farther away than 10 feet) this would be an alternative to cyber-eyes.


If its to small to read, it's because your eye can't resolve the
image- you CAN recognize letters (people are better at this than
computers), unless they simply are to much out of focus or below the eyes
resolution, in which case computer enhancement of natural senses won't
help (or will be very limited help).
Sure, the encephalon helps you recognize things; the bonus to
intelligence aids perception rolls. No other mechanisms are needed, and
when you add them, the encephalon's effects rapidly get stretched beyond
its intended roll.

Mongoose
Message no. 2
From: Paul Gettle <RunnerPaul@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Encephalon
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 17:26:59 -0400
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

At 11:31 PM 9/10/98 -0700, Mongoose wrote:
>Depending on the GM's opinion of how
>:->smart Encephalons' background processors are, the encephalon might
do
>:->this automatically for any sign or printed material with print too
>:->small to comfortably read.
<<Snip>>
> If its to small to read, it's because your eye can't resolve the
>image

If you go back to the post where I used this example, you'll notice I
said "too small to comfortably read". This is different than "too
small to read". In my example, the sign could be read without
encephalon assistance, it would just be an effort to do so.

> Sure, the encephalon helps you recognize things; the bonus to
>intelligence aids perception rolls. No other mechanisms are needed,
and
>when you add them, the encephalon's effects rapidly get stretched
beyond
>its intended roll.

All these examples that I've been giving are merely for role-playing
color. I'm not proposing any mechanics to be added on to the already
quite powerful encephalon.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.3

iQCVAwUBNfrnHaPbvUVI86rNAQFXqQP/fPCGnmMYhujBLxrLGKPFwCXuTBaIPNFQ
mp95MTppBii6QbfidaYQ49/dKD4f4fI9R6jupJipSMu9ryz9OkvEDPNV/hCZbhts
Oi9ursGOqq/HFO7uf+Wv7SWtGOP3bGh5Sti6c2f5Wb9lMp4lLlTd6wA3okWAMc0D
PPIFoq27aq4=
=/4ii
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
-- Paul Gettle, #970 of 1000 (RunnerPaul@*****.com)
PGP Fingerprint, Key ID:0x48F3AACD (RSA 1024, created 98/06/26)
C260 94B3 6722 6A25 63F8 0690 9EA2 3344
Message no. 3
From: Bull bull@***********.com
Subject: Encephalon
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 14:50:05 -0500
At 02:13 PM 11/24/99 -0500, you wrote:
>I don't understand what they're talking about here (M&M, 20-21)
>
>Game Effects
> Encephalons provide a Task Pool equal to their rating for
>Intelligence-linked skills.
> Encephalons help deckers process information more quickly; add the
>encephalon rating directly to the Hacking Pool. When a character is
>decking, they do not receive the encephalon rating bonus to their
>Computer Skill, only the Hacking pool.
> Encephalons allow a character to learn more quckly...
> The encephalon does not boost magical ability...
>
>
> I can't make heads or tails of the second paragraph. Why do
>they bother to say that the character does not receive a bonus to the
>Computer Skill while decking? It never states that they receive a
>bonus when not decking. Is it supposed to say that the Task Pool does
>not apply when decking? Help!

The decker is already getting the bonus from the encephalon in their
Hacking pool. Adding to the Comuter Skill during Decking (WHich is the
only time you use Hack Pool) would be giving the decker a double bonus, and
thus is an exception to the rule for the sake of game balance :]

At least, that's how it seems to me. I haven;t gotten M&M yet, so... <shrug>

Bull
--
Bull -- The Best Ork Decker You Never Met
bull@*******.net == bull22@***********.com == bull@***********.com
http://shadowrun.html.com/users/bull
ICQ: 35931890
====================================================== =
= Order is Illusion! Chaos is Bliss! Got any Fours? = =
======================================================
"Animals have 2 jobs: To taste good and to fit well."
-- Greg Proops, "Vs."
Message no. 4
From: Mark A Shieh SHODAN+@***.EDU
Subject: Encephalon
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 14:13:20 -0500 (EST)
I don't understand what they're talking about here (M&M, 20-21)

Game Effects
Encephalons provide a Task Pool equal to their rating for
Intelligence-linked skills.
Encephalons help deckers process information more quickly; add the
encephalon rating directly to the Hacking Pool. When a character is
decking, they do not receive the encephalon rating bonus to their
Computer Skill, only the Hacking pool.
Encephalons allow a character to learn more quckly...
The encephalon does not boost magical ability...


I can't make heads or tails of the second paragraph. Why do
they bother to say that the character does not receive a bonus to the
Computer Skill while decking? It never states that they receive a
bonus when not decking. Is it supposed to say that the Task Pool does
not apply when decking? Help!

Mark
Message no. 5
From: John john@*******.com
Subject: Encephalon
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 15:31:26 -0500
> I can't make heads or tails of the second paragraph. Why do
> they bother to say that the character does not receive a bonus to the
> Computer Skill while decking? It never states that they receive a
> bonus when not decking. Is it supposed to say that the Task Pool does
> not apply when decking? Help!
>
> Mark

It would be my interpretation that the only bonus that a Decker receives
while plugged in is to the hacking pool. i suppose what they are saying
is that the task pool bonus is not in effect while decking, only the
hacking pool is. Probably a way to limit the number of bonuses that any
one particular gimick would provide.

john
Message no. 6
From: Mark A Shieh SHODAN+@***.EDU
Subject: Encephalon
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 15:50:47 -0500 (EST)
bull@***********.com (Bull) writes:
> At 02:13 PM 11/24/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >I don't understand what they're talking about here (M&M, 20-21)
> >
> >Game Effects
> > Encephalons provide a Task Pool equal to their rating for
> >Intelligence-linked skills.
> > Encephalons help deckers process information more quickly; add the
> >encephalon rating directly to the Hacking Pool. When a character is
> >decking, they do not receive the encephalon rating bonus to their
> >Computer Skill, only the Hacking pool.
> > Encephalons allow a character to learn more quckly...
> > The encephalon does not boost magical ability...
> >
> >
> > I can't make heads or tails of the second paragraph. Why do
> >they bother to say that the character does not receive a bonus to the
> >Computer Skill while decking? It never states that they receive a
> >bonus when not decking. Is it supposed to say that the Task Pool does
> >not apply when decking? Help!
>
> The decker is already getting the bonus from the encephalon in their
> Hacking pool. Adding to the Comuter Skill during Decking (WHich is the
> only time you use Hack Pool) would be giving the decker a double bonus, and
> thus is an exception to the rule for the sake of game balance :]

Does this mean you get to add to the Computer skill while not
decking? Where is that stated?

Mark
Message no. 7
From: Sebastian Wiers m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject: Encephalon
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 18:42:22 -0600
:I don't understand what they're talking about here (M&M, 20-21)
:
:Game Effects
: Encephalons provide a Task Pool equal to their rating for
:Intelligence-linked skills.
: Encephalons help deckers process information more quickly; add the
:encephalon rating directly to the Hacking Pool. When a character is
:decking, they do not receive the encephalon rating bonus to their
:Computer Skill, only the Hacking pool.
: Encephalons allow a character to learn more quckly...
: The encephalon does not boost magical ability...
:
:
: I can't make heads or tails of the second paragraph. Why do
:they bother to say that the character does not receive a bonus to the
:Computer Skill while decking? It never states that they receive a
:bonus when not decking. Is it supposed to say that the Task Pool does
:not apply when decking? Help!

Task pools provide a dice pool for use with certain skills. The
encephalon provides a task pool equal to rating (now just 1 or 2) for ANY
intellegence based skill. Computer is an intellgence based skill.
Normally, then, the encepahlons task pool could ONLY be used when decking
for tests where "Computer" is being used- genrally systems opperations and
attacks.
Hacking pool can be used for ANY matrix test- when rolling damage
resitance for your deck, for example.
It seems, then, that the Encepahlon provides a hacking pool bonus (which
is more versatile than just a computer bonus) but does not ALSO the provide
its task pool for use with "computer" if the decker is able to use hacking
pool. However, the task pool could still be used for tasks where hacking
pool is NOT allowed- VR2 has several of those, programing utilities being
the big one. I think SR3 has a few as well, such as decrypting files, or
(at least in R2) issuing commands to robots.


Mongoose

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Encephalon, 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!