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Message no. 1
From: Paul Gettle <RunnerPaul@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Encephalon & Reaction [was: Blade as a Physad]
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 23:14:53 -0400
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At 07:34 PM 9/8/98 -0500, D.Ghost wrote:
>>>Add in Encephalon 4 and Cerbral Booster 4 and you get another +2
>>>reaction.
>>I didn't think the Intelligence increases from these reflected in
>Reaction.
>>Time to break out the books again....

>Yup. For the Encephalon, it says so towards the end of the second
>paragraph (in parenthesis) and for the Cerbral Booster, it says so in
the
>last sentence of the description.
>
>These are really NICE bits of `ware! :)

You're just noticing this _now_?!? :)

I've thought they were really NICE bits of 'ware on my first read-thru
of Shadowtech.

I'm sure some people are wondering how a fancy headware computer can
make you faster, and I have a reasonable explanation for this.

As always, this is based off of my belief that the Encephalon is the
ulitimate expression of the "wearable computer"; see MIT's Media Lab's
research on the subject, in this case, the research on the "Augmented
Reality" application of wearable computers.

If one assumes that the Encephalon not only feeds its output into the
user's senses, but also takes input from the user's senses, then the
Encephalon can use its computational power to augment the reality that
the user experiences. This augmentation can include subtle means of
calling the user's attention to particular things/events in the
environment, as soon as the Encephalon's software recognizes them.

Say a runner finds himself in a firefight in dark conditions, vs
opponents in camo. Normally, the brain would find it hard to pick out
the targets, resulting in a few extra hundreths of a second taken
before the shot is fired. The runner's Encephalon though could be
running in the background, sense that the environment is dim, and
helpfully display a subtle outline around the shapes its software
recognizes as 'humanoid'. The runner wouldn't have to think that extra
instant, and could get the shot off that little bit faster.

This is just one example of how an augmented reality can decrease
reaction time, making an encephalon user faster. Now it's not the sort
of efficiency you'd get from say, a Tactical Computer, but the
reaction bonuses from a TacComp are much greater than the marginal
reaction benifit that can be gained from the Encephalon anyway.
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--
-- 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. 2
From: Edward Poe <epoe@***.PCNETINC.COM>
Subject: Re: Encephalon & Reaction [was: Blade as a Physad]
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 10:09:17 -0500
At 22:15 on Sept. 8, 1998 Paul Gettle said:

.I'm sure some people are wondering how a fancy headware computer can
.make you faster, and I have a reasonable explanation for this.

<Snip MIT Wearable Computer>

.If one assumes that the Encephalon not only feeds its output into the
.user's senses, but also takes input from the user's senses, then the
.Encephalon can use its computational power to augment the reality that
.the user experiences. This augmentation can include subtle means of
.calling the user's attention to particular things/events in the
.environment, as soon as the Encephalon's software recognizes them.

I like that. If, as you say, the encephalon alters the user's perception of
reality, this could be detected by individuals who interact with the user.
Perhaps it wouldn't be anything that you could put your finger on, but it
would lend credence to the idea of using modifiers for Social rolls based on
Essence loss incurred by the Encephalon implant.

Edward the Lurker
(coming out of his shell)
Waiting impatiently for his first datajack...
Message no. 3
From: Paul Gettle <RunnerPaul@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Encephalon & Reaction [was: Blade as a Physad]
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 22:57:44 -0400
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At 10:09 AM 9/9/98 -0500, Edward the Lurker wrote:
>.If one assumes that the Encephalon not only feeds its output into
the
>.user's senses, but also takes input from the user's senses, then the
>.Encephalon can use its computational power to augment the reality
that
>.the user experiences. This augmentation can include subtle means of
>.calling the user's attention to particular things/events in the
>.environment, as soon as the Encephalon's software recognizes them.
>
>I like that. If, as you say, the encephalon alters the user's
perception of
>reality, this could be detected by individuals who interact with the
user.
>Perhaps it wouldn't be anything that you could put your finger on,
but it
>would lend credence to the idea of using modifiers for Social rolls
based on
>Essence loss incurred by the Encephalon implant.

Oh, but hell yeah. If someone with an Enecephalon isn't careful, they
can come off as a downright creepy nerd. I think the Social Rolls
should be modified.

Normal Bob walks up to Cybered Steve, with intents of starting up a
conversation. As soon as Bob walks into Steve's field of view, the
encephalon's facial recognition software identifies him as Bob, and
begins to bring up everything in its internal database about Bob,
starting with the last time Steve spoke with Bob, what the topic of
that conversation was and also the topics of the 5 previous meets,
plus any other informational notes Steve's encephalon has recorded
about Bob (wife, kids, months and days til Bob's next birthday...).
The encephalon then subtly feeds Steve the relavant information,
either by flashing it in the corner of Steve's field of vision, or by
cybernetically whispering it into his hearing.

The conversation soon ends, and Normal Bob walks away, wondering, as
he always does, just how Cybered Steve can not only know so much
stuff, but how Steve can know so much stuff about _him_.

And this is just the "Rememberance Agent" application of an
Encephalon. Augmented reality would also lend an odd air about an
Encephalon user. It wouldn't be anything that someone could
specifically put a finger on, but there would be lots of situations
where someone could come off as "cybered" and therefore, different.

Say Cybered Steve is looking at a street sign that's fairly far away.
Normal Bob would have to squint to try to read the sign at that
distance, and would take a moment or two to do so. Steve however, can
just look at the sign, issue a quick mental command to his Encephalon
to run some OCR software on it, and present what the sign says, in
larger, easier to read letters. 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.


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--
-- 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. 4
From: David Foster <fixer@*******.TLH.FL.US>
Subject: Re: Encephalon & Reaction [was: Blade as a Physad]
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 08:20:59 -0400
On Wed, 9 Sep 1998, Paul Gettle wrote:

->Say Cybered Steve is looking at a street sign that's fairly far away.
->Normal Bob would have to squint to try to read the sign at that
->distance, and would take a moment or two to do so. Steve however, can
->just look at the sign, issue a quick mental command to his Encephalon
->to run some OCR software on it, and present what the sign says, in
->larger, easier to read letters. 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.

Fixer --------------} The easy I do before breakfast,
the difficult I do all day long,
the impossible only during the week,
and miracles performed on an as-needed basis....

Now tell me, what was your problem?
Message no. 5
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Encephalon & Reaction [was: Blade as a Physad]
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 12:48:22 -0400
At 10:57 PM 9/9/98 -0400, you wrote:

>Oh, but hell yeah. If someone with an Enecephalon isn't careful, they
>can come off as a downright creepy nerd. I think the Social Rolls
>should be modified.

I agree. I think that perhaps your conception of an Encephalon may be too
powerful, but it is a piece or cyberware that should affect how the
character acts and how others react to them.

Perhaps the best way would be to use the rules in SR3 for social
interactions with obvious cyberware. The encephalon isn't a gleaming
chrome cyberarm, but it will make someone behave differently, strangely.
So *I* would rule that it would still count, rule/game mechanic-wise as an
obvious piece of cyber.

Just as is noted in the text for that rule, it might actually be
appropriate for certain people in certain places, but the average citizen
will find it strange.

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World

Further Reading

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