| From: | laughingman%cityweb.de laughingman@*******.de |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Long Rant regarding Samies after Man&Machine(Sorry Gridsec) |
| Date: | Thu, 2 Dec 1999 02:55:22 +0100 |
Alright, Now I am back, and germany has the new sourcebook Man and Machine.
After some quick skims through I must say that I am pleased with the final
volume of it. IMO FASA did a great job, though a bit late ;o). I realy am
satisfied and for me it is alright that the flavor text and the Shadowtalk
has been kicked out or reduced. The Volume is exactly that what it states, a
Compendium everything regarding metahumanity and it's advances in Bio-Cyber
and related.
Now that I gotten the Yabbadabba's out of me, back into my DuDu-mode.
I have seen the new or better, adjusted Combatsystem. It took away the
advantage for the Cyberenhanced to shoot or outrun the opposition before
they could have reacted. That was fine to me as the new system was to my
liking and gave and gives a new thrill to the game.
They gave the Riggers and the Deckers something to toy with, and those toys
were fine indeed, adding new possibilities to the game.
They have made the Physad an opponent to be reckoned with, they made the
Physads stronger than ever before. That was fine to me as these were in the
old system a bit underpowered to say the least.
The Magicians were more or less been left as they were, discussion about
this point is more than granted but under the bottomline magicians were
nearly as powerfull as they were under SR2nd. with some cosmetic changes
IMO.
Granted, the Riggers and Deckers there already enhanced during the SR2nd.
overhaul, but we will leave this out of this rant.
But now to my point. Do the gals and guys at FASA want to extinguish the
pure Sam? Do they want to elevate the Magician or the Adept to be the Runner
of the Future?
Why this you ask? One simple point: Money.
Cyberware, Bioware, all the toys for the decker and the rigger cost money,
and not very small credsticks they need to operate at a level that is
satisfiing. And I do not mean the obvisious MBW-boys coming with Cybered
Skulls and Tactical Computers, augmented by cultured enhanced Artikulation
with the omnipresent suprhydroid gland. Even a simple Wired Reflexes II cost
basically 165 K Nuyen, add those Smartlink accesories to it throw in a
simple datajack plus eyereplacement and there you are. Got a basic
Shadowrunner, or to look at FASA, a normal Streetganger. The Magician, if he
is hermetic, the shaman is even more priceless, needs something around XXX
to get his library for Sorcery and another XXX for the conjuring library.
That is it. After that he is ready to rock and roll on a basis that is
acceptable for quite some time without cutting into cashreserves too
quickly. As said, if you have a shaman it is more satisfing to see the other
teammates horde money for the next upgrade, repair, library etc.
A Sam need money to work. As he is most of the time the one that gets hit
when the drek hits the fan he needs it desperatly to keep operating
strength. If a system gets crashed he has to pay for the repair, ranging
from 490 if the doc knows were to look up and not have to make some
diagnostics and up to 1140+ without the costs for laying in a hospital . All
calculations are based on a Biotech (6) doc. And this is just for one
system, more costs can be assumed for evil GM's (tm) and for more damaged,
or better, "stressed" Cyberwaresystems. Also the maintanence costs for the
Cyberware, meaning one stresspoint after some months are an anoiance, as
that damn stresspoint brings the good Cyberwarepart into a used thing, as
the first stresspoint can not be repaired. It all comes even harder if you
use the, of course optional, rules from the SRComp3rd. for SOTA. Then you
have to be afraid of paing hefty nuyen once a year. And with those rules a
Rigger is the one that is most shot into the head, he needs to pay real
nuyen. Annyway, my point is, other than roleplaying, why should I take the
risk of playing a cybered dude while the Physad has all the boni on his
side? Or the Wizzkid, if he is shaman he only needs to pay for the formulas
and if he wants to for a teacher. All things that are equally usable for
every Skill. Heck, even regarding roleplaying.
Why should I play a Sam, someone who allways lacks social graces, or at
least it is more difficult for him to talk his way out of something without
letting the guns/spurs-you-name-it speak? Why should I play a Sam that
almost always gets a look from every damn magician with some mumblings about
selling his soul? And why should I play a Sam when the very core out of what
he exists, the Cyber/Bioware costs him mucho Nuyen on a regular basis while
the Mojoslingers don't? Why should I play when going even into a simple Mall
can be a whole adventure with Cyberscanners readily availabe to the
Security?
Mages and Physads do not have those problems, to see that someone is a
Wizzer or Physad you got to have a Wizzer or similar at your disposal, and
those, as everyone reading this far (;o)) must admit are not likely standard
equipment "installed" at most malls.
So to come to a conclusion, Sams, are nice to play, and the rules reflect
real nice (no pun, I mean it) the troubles regarding such invasive actions
like cyberware or bioware and the outcome of it. I realy like them but to be
honest I think they are on the long haul underpowered, as there sole
existence costs more money than that of a mage. Yes I know, if you don't
like it, change it, but I would have wished, that the Magical Characters
would need some money to even these essential maintanencecosts out, some
costly materials, regular studies costing money, maybe even some needed
drugs to keep going to those astral quests. But as I see it, most of the new
players, and that is my original concern, will go for a magician or physad
with some slight modifications, like a Smartlink II and Bioware to the
extend.
My intention is that the gamesystem is not well balanced in the end,
sams/decker/rigger are too expansive. I know that I leave those powerfoci
costs out of this, but than if you need your focus to do your work, than you
are not that good a mojoslinger anymore.
Maybe I see that as a problem because I see on a regular basis new players
generate every possible thing to get the superhuman character. That is
because I work in a fantasyshop and I have to listen to those players who
tell me how great the Char is they have. How cool he rocks and so on, and so
on. Maybe it is tough luck, maybe Berlin has all the munchkins, but many of
the players want to actually use the toys that they are given, and the real
tough Cyberware costs mucho, while the real tough magic costs not that
mucho, not the least. And lastly, Magicians might need Karma for becoming
better, but one can get Karma even if the Run is a total hose, while money
only comes with success.
Pfuh, having said this I really know that I might offend Gridsec to some
extent, and my appologies to everyone again that have a slow connection. But
I realy must've said this. But I still will go on playing Sams, simply
because they are one of those things that make the Genre alive, and of
course, because I am good enough not to get hit too often.
;o)
---> Steadfast: Breaking a lance for the
Sammies of the world.
