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Message no. 1
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: mage-heavy games (was your mail)
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 20:03:16 -0500
>>>>> "Wesley" == Wesley W Walker <wwalker@****.UARK.EDU>
writes:

Wesley> It's truly interesting that noone wants to play anything but a
Wesley> mage, and I believe that the balance is a little corrupted with
Wesley> magic..

Exqueeze me? Maybe in your games you're mage heavy, but that doesn't make
it true for the rest of us. Some of us do play things other than mages.
Some examples from my past: the rigger surveillance/espionage expert, the
physical adept Sinanju assassin, the biotech/biogenetic researcher who had
herself turned into a "bio-samurai" to hunt down the terrorists who raped
her (she was neat, actually, and allergic to the metals used in cyber-
neural linkages so the GM allowed me to take cultured biotech instead...
ever see an Elf with a Charisma of 3?:). In all, to date, I have played
exactly /one/ full mage, and she was a Snake shaman (combat spells? You
gotta be kidding).

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> |Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ratinox|of skin.
PGP Public Key: Ask for one today! |
Message no. 2
From: Dwayne MacKinnon <910252m@******.ACADIAU.CA>
Subject: Re: mage-heavy games (was your mail)
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 22:33:25 -0400
>
> >>>>> "Wesley" == Wesley W Walker
<wwalker@****.UARK.EDU> writes:
>
> Wesley> It's truly interesting that noone wants to play anything but a
> Wesley> mage, and I believe that the balance is a little corrupted with
> Wesley> magic..
>
> Exqueeze me? Maybe in your games you're mage heavy, but that doesn't make
> it true for the rest of us. Some of us do play things other than mages.
> Some examples from my past: the rigger surveillance/espionage expert, the
> physical adept Sinanju assassin, the biotech/biogenetic researcher who had
> herself turned into a "bio-samurai" to hunt down the terrorists who raped
> her (she was neat, actually, and allergic to the metals used in cyber-
> neural linkages so the GM allowed me to take cultured biotech instead...
> ever see an Elf with a Charisma of 3?:). In all, to date, I have played
> exactly /one/ full mage, and she was a Snake shaman (combat spells? You
> gotta be kidding).

Well,
I'm probably wasting bandwidth here, but Sinanju? Guess Rat here has seen
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins a few two many times...... :-)
Still, those others sound fairly interesting. :)

"Chuin, you're incredible."
"No......... I am better than that!" - RW:TAB

DMK

--
"I can't afford to make any exceptions. Once word gets out that a pirate has
gone soft people start to disobey him and it's nothing but work, work, work
all the time." - The Man in Black, from The Princess Bride

Dwayne MacKinnon My opinions are my own, never
910252m@******.acadiau.ca those of my employer.
Message no. 3
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: mage-heavy games (was your mail)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 09:57:13 -0500
>>>>> "Dwayne" == Dwayne MacKinnon
<910252m@******.ACADIAU.CA> writes:

Dwayne> I'm probably wasting bandwidth here, but Sinanju? Guess Rat
Dwayne> here has seen Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins a few two many
Dwayne> times...... :-)

I've been a fan of "The Destroyer" novels for almost forever, was one
before the movie existed. At last count I have around 40 of the >90 books
in the series (I'm working on the rest, but they've been out of print for a
long time, too).

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> |Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ratinox|of skin.
PGP Public Key: Ask for one today! |
Message no. 4
From: Chris Lubrecht <lubrecht@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: mage-heavy games (was your mail)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 11:46:43 -0500
I have played in "all-magic" parties. Actually I think they are kinda
fun. Everyone reacts differently, with different speeds, ect... Not
everyone in the SR universe has an un-Godly reaction time. I played a
Raccoon shaman whos specialty was getting into places quietly. (he was
also only an adept). There were two physical adepts, a combat mage and
two wage mage archtype characters. The inportant thing was that the
group roleplayed, in the truest sense of the word, and was not worried
about "munchkin" type things. When you start worrying too much about
numbers on paper, then you lose a certain feel of what RPG's are all
about. Incedently, the fastest reactions in our groop belonged to the
PA's and the combat mage. They each rolled two initiative dice. My
character had a reaction of 3 and only rolled one die. This makes it all
the more inportant to go in quietly, and not be seen. Try this insted of
just thinking of blasting your way in. Makes a difference to the game,
at least I think so.

Nigel
Message no. 5
From: "Wesley W. Walker" <wwalker@****.UARK.EDU>
Subject: Re: mage-heavy games (was your mail)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 11:29:17 -0600
On Thu, 17 Nov 1994, Stainless Steel Rat wrote:
> Exqueeze me? Maybe in your games you're mage heavy, but that doesn't make
> it true for the rest of us. Some of us do play things other than mages.

Err... It wasn't my problem.. read the previous post that I
included? My adventures are mage *LIGHT*. Mages are a lot easier to
kill in other RPGs, with none of the shields and garbage that SR give
their mages.. (In my own RPG, I *think* that I've finally got the ropes
on the mage..)

> Some examples from my past: the rigger surveillance/espionage expert, the
> physical adept Sinanju assassin, the biotech/biogenetic researcher who had
> herself turned into a "bio-samurai" to hunt down the terrorists who raped
> her (she was neat, actually, and allergic to the metals used in cyber-
> neural linkages so the GM allowed me to take cultured biotech instead...
> ever see an Elf with a Charisma of 3?:). In all, to date, I have played
> exactly /one/ full mage, and she was a Snake shaman (combat spells? You
> gotta be kidding).

Though your character concepts are pretty interesting, the fact
still remains that Magic is rather unbalanced in SR. If a mage don't
wanna get hurt, he won't get hurt.. unless another mage can fight him.
So I really can't see the relevance of this response? =)

Heheheh... And I've seen some Elves with some pretty crappy
charismas. I'm even playin one in a PBeM. =) It's all snide remarks and
pretty (oops... I mean petty ;) ) fun.

\||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||/
- Wes W. Walker (wwalker@****.uark.edu) * "...in large, friendly letters -
- CSCI Major and General Slave * were the words 'DON'T PANIC'." -
- Artiste Wanna-be (accepting donations)* -Hitch Hiker's Guide -
/||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\

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