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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Marty <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Fat Bacteria for Olafur
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 15:56:53 +1000
> >> The only problem with movement at deep (eh,) depths is organic matter
> >> and I agree (as stated by GRANITE) that the movement rules for FAB
> >> filled rooms should be used.
> >>
> >I don't like FAB bacteria; The rules don't make sense. Personally I'd
> >rather not use it in one of my campaigns....
>
> Heres something i thought is should ad to this.Fat bacteria works becuse its
> Astraly active. Okay then why cant a mage simply use his nice Combat spell
> astraly and blow it away.If he cant then this stuff is more than stupid.
> -Olafur g
>
You hit the high point of the recent debate on the list with that post,
Olafur..... FASAMike eventually stated that it's not astrally active,
because it would be too easy to destroy (no body or willpower)... Which
does indeed pose a small logical conundrum (= contradiction)..

That's what all the posts have been about for the past month or so....
That and variations on the theme.

Bleach
Message no. 2
From: Loki <loki@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Fat Bacteria for Olafur
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 11:21:28 -0700
> You hit the high point of the recent debate on the list with that post,
> Olafur..... FASAMike eventually stated that it's not astrally active,
> because it would be too easy to destroy (no body or willpower)... Which
> does indeed pose a small logical conundrum (= contradiction)..
>
> That's what all the posts have been about for the past month or so....
> That and variations on the theme.

I'd saved FasaMike's comments on the FAB debate. Should I repost them
before we end up going there again?

@>-,--'--- Loki

CLARKE'S THIRD LAW:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

*********************************************
Poisoned Elves
http://www.netzone.com/~loki/
*********************************************
Message no. 3
From: Marty <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Fat Bacteria for Olafur
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 08:30:08 +1000
> > You hit the high point of the recent debate on the list with that post,
> > Olafur..... FASAMike eventually stated that it's not astrally active,
> > because it would be too easy to destroy (no body or willpower)... Which
> > does indeed pose a small logical conundrum (= contradiction)..
> >
> > That's what all the posts have been about for the past month or so....
> > That and variations on the theme.
>
> I'd saved FasaMike's comments on the FAB debate. Should I repost them
> before we end up going there again?
>
Yes... please do; I wasn't on the list when the debate was happening.
Message no. 4
From: Loki <loki@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Fat Bacteria for Olafur
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 22:54:38 -0700
> > I'd saved FasaMike's comments on the FAB debate. Should I repost them
> > before we end up going there again?
> >
> Yes... please do; I wasn't on the list when the debate was happening.

OK, here's what I'd saved (I believe it was compiled by Granite).


*************************

Robert Blackberg III wrote:
>
> Could one of you kind souls forward FASA Mike's answer to the FAB
> question (with his follow-up correction) to me. I was a fool, and
> deleted the mail before printing out the response. Thanx in advance.
>
> Robert

The following is what you asked for and more..I have included the
original incorrect reply as well
as some further finetuning I discussed with FASAMike...

THE ORIGINAL REPLY
Thomas, Granite and David -

I answered a set of questions which I beleive we're sent on to Thomas
regarding FAB. I think they should answer many of your questions
(although
nearly everything is open to interpretation). I've included the answers
here
again and feel free to post them in the mailing list.

Here goes...(oh yeah and my head still hurts.....)

Thomas -

You have actively hurt my head...

>What happens when a motionless astral being standing on the Earth has a
>non-magical living physical object (with an aura) placed on top of him?

First off, What exactly do you mean by "aura" - like a plant or a magical
ashtray. Secondly, the stronger astral enetity will push the weaker out
of
the way. An astral mage, can move "living plants" out of the way. Much
like
the physical world no two items can share the same place so in the astral
the
larger, bigger, or more powerful will displace a smaller one.

>Would the object's physical component be affected by gravity and pass
>through the astral being?

For lack of any better image...bounce off would be more appropriate.

>Would the aura of the astral being interact with the aura of the object
and
>the object appear to float in the physical plane?

Not unless the being in the astral plane wanted it to. Normally it would
just
bounce off, if it could.

>Would the object's aura push the astral being out of the way?

No actually it's probably more the other way. It's not like
postive/negitive
charged items. The bigger will move the smaller.

>Would swinging a club filled with FAB do any damage to a purely astral
>being?

Possibly...There are no rules for damage from one astral entity pushed
into
another. Normally FAB is not dense enough to do damage. It's point is to
slow
an entitly down force them to deal with something in the astral space,
that
prohibits their abbility to manuever. What the club filled with FAB would
do
is constantly push the entity in astral. Since all that is reallin coming
at
him or her is a club shapped groupin a FAB. To be honest I wouldn't think
it's as effective as other FAB uses.

>Could an astral being, covered by a FAB-Net, attempt to untangle the net?

Yes

>Is FAB astrally active?

Yes

>Is FAB dual-natured?

Yes

>Is FAB mundane?

No

>And can we get an answer on Dybbuk's question in CorpSec (p 40): "If
>somebody astral can't move or pass through something with physical mass,
>how can an astral being travel through air filled with any bacteria?"

It's a size factor...think of it as swimming. If FAB is pumped into a
room.
What it does is slow a character down to the point where they can be
trapped.
Think of it as a murky samp for an astral being.

Boy I hope all these help...even more, I hope they make sense.

Mike Mulvihill
Shadowrun Line Developer
FASA
See our web page at www.fasa.com

THE CORRECTED REPLY
Gentelmen - I screwed up royally....

Here are the correct answers.

>Could an astral being, covered by a FAB-Net, attempt to untangle the net?

No, an astral being cannot interact with the physical. It can try and
move it
out of the way but it can't unravel it. Now after much heated debate in
the
Dev. office (mainly between myself and Lou Prosperi the Earthdawn
Developer)
an interesting idea came up. If a physical object with a stronger astral
force pushes a living entity without movement around - let's call it a
fern
- does the fern actually move in the physical. (You know leaves blowing
back
and forth etc.) That is never actually discussed in SR. The quick answer
would be no. What goes for the PC must metaphyscially work for
everything.
The physcial body of a mage does not effect it's astral self, so that
must be
maintained over all living creatures. Who knew that Philosphy Degree I
have
would actually be useful.

>Is FAB astrally active?

NO!!! This is the correct answer...

>Is FAB dual-natured?

NO!!! This is the correct answer...again

>Is FAB mundane?

Yes...it must be...it has to be...or everything I believe in will
collapse...

OK that may be a bit too strong but hopefully this will make more sense.

Mike Mulvihill
Shadowrun Line Developer
FASA
See our web page at www.fasa.com

FURTHER MESSAGES AND CLARIFICATIONS
Well, I was trying to mentally digest what FASAMike had sent us [the
corrected version] and so I sent him this one more message..included is
his
reply..

GRANITE wrote:
>
> First I would like to say thank you for your reply and for the correction
to
> your original reply :) I was going to go into a big deal about flying
> enchanted or living blades and such but your corrections stopped that
rant
> before it got off of the ground...However...
>
> FASAMike@***.com wrote:
> >>Could an astral being, covered by a FAB-Net, attempt to untangle the
net?
>
> >No, an astral being cannot interact with the physical. It can try and
move it
> >out of the way but it can't unravel it. Now after much heated debate in
the
> >Dev. office (mainly between myself and Lou Prosperi the Earthdawn
Developer)
> >an interesting idea came up. If a physical object with a stronger astral
> >force pushes a living entity without movement around - let's call it a
fern
> >- does the fern actually move in the physical. (You know leaves blowing
back
> >and forth etc.) That is never actually discussed in SR. The quick answer
> >would be no. What goes for the PC must metaphyscially work for
everything.
> >The physcial body of a mage does not effect it's astral self, so that
must be
> >maintained over all living creatures. Who knew that Philosphy Degree I
have
> >would actually be useful.
>
> I believe the true question was: can the astral entity atempt to become
> unentangled with the net and escape..The answer is in the rules of the
> CorpSec book on Pg 103..Yes with modifiers unless a VERY specific
situation
> occurs..But if I am understanding your answer an auras are more..elastic
[for
> want of a better word]..and it is actually the auras of the FAB in the
net
> that gets *stretched* around the astral Mage [or whatever] while the
physical
> compenent actually comes to rest flat on the ground, showing no signs of
the
> astral being entangled in the auras contained within the net..This
actually
> make sense..Or at least more so than the way it was being
interpreted..And it
> keep astral entities from picking up physical objects and becoming all
> powerful poltergeists and pretty much rendering obsolete all the other
> PCs..Game balance is once again achieved..
>
> >Is FAB astrally active?
>
> NO!!! This is the correct answer...
>
> I was going to have some fun with this one ;)
>
> Thanks again...

FASAMike wrote:
No problem...and good idea on the net...now soon as my head stops
hurting....
Mike

Further Reading

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