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Message no. 1
From: stormknight@*********.net (Stormknight)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:37:03 -0700
There's quite a few items from Man & Machine that I'm having some difficulty
converting to SR4. One of my favorite characters was largely created with the 'toys' in
that book.

In particular:

Has there been any discussion yet of what the rules for Dikote might be, especially with
regard to treating weapons with it? I figured it would be better than the effects of a
monowire edge, ie. +1 DC, -1 AP like on the Monosword vs. regular Sword.

The effects of Cyberskates, ie. since Running speed isn't based on a multiplier anymore,
how should they be handled?

What's the Essence Cost of a Nanite Facillitator and what are the game effects of an
Oxy-rush system?


I'd also like to be able to use more of the choices for Qualities from the Shadowrun
Companion's Edges & Flaws. Has anyone written up anything on the ones that didn't make
it into SR4?

Thanks for your time and enjoy your gaming!

--Wally the Intrepid

P.S. Long ago we had Shadowrun games for the Sega Genesis and I *think* the SNES, if
memory serves. Is there any word on a new SR for console or PC? Man, I can just imagine
what today's machines could do...From maxnoel_fr@*****.fr Fri Feb 10 18:38:33 2006
From: maxnoel_fr@*****.fr (Max Noel)
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:38:33 +0100
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
In-Reply-To: <410-2200625109373390@*********.net>
References: <410-2200625109373390@*********.net>
Message-ID: <2032CAA2-50CE-44C1-8443-7393F7FEAD2A@*****.fr>


On 10 Feb 2006, at 10:37, Stormknight wrote:

> P.S. Long ago we had Shadowrun games for the Sega Genesis and I
> *think* the SNES, if memory serves. Is there any word on a new SR
> for console or PC? Man, I can just imagine what today's machines
> could do...

There was indeed a SR game for the SNES. Despite a good soundtrack
(which IIRC someone on Dwelling of Duels covered a couple months
ago), it sucked pretty hard.

Microsoft now owns the videogame rights for all FASA games, and have
so far used them for 3 Mechwarrior games (both Mech Assaults for the
Xbox, and the excellent Mechcommander 2 for the PC). There was
Shadowrun: Assassin in development a few years ago for the Xbox, but
it was canned.

An Xbox 360 Shadowrun game is in the works at the moment, although it
hasn't been officially announced yet. Should be interesting to play,
given MS Game Studios' track record.

-- Wild_Cat





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Message no. 2
From: davek@***.lonestar.org (David Kettler)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:26:43 +0000
On Fri, Feb 10, 2006 at 07:38:33PM +0100, Max Noel wrote:
>
> On 10 Feb 2006, at 10:37, Stormknight wrote:
>
> >P.S. Long ago we had Shadowrun games for the Sega Genesis and I
> >*think* the SNES, if memory serves. Is there any word on a new SR
> >for console or PC? Man, I can just imagine what today's machines
> >could do...
>
> There was indeed a SR game for the SNES. Despite a good soundtrack
> (which IIRC someone on Dwelling of Duels covered a couple months
> ago), it sucked pretty hard.
>

Hey, I rather liked the SR SNES game. It wasn't exactly faithful to the rules, and your
character was the ultimate munchkin (super shaman/street sam/decker, anyone?), but it was
faithful to the SR world and atmosphere and it had a genuinely interesting story. I think
the reason your character could do everything was just because the designers wanted to
touch on all the aspects of SR that make it SR. But the game had a lot going for it.

I tried playing the SR Genesis game but could never really get into it. It may have been
more faithful to the rules but I think as a video game the SNES one was considerably
better. It certainly did not 'suck hard', or suck at all for that matter.

--
Dave Kettler
davek@***.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org
Message no. 3
From: mattness@**.pl (mattness@**.pl)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 18:12:14 +0100
Dave Kettler wrote:

> It wasn't exactly faithful to the rules,and your character was the
> ultimate munchkin (super shaman/street sam/decker,anyone?), but it was
> faithful to the SR world and atmosphere and it had agenuinely
> interesting story.

If somebody, who don't know SR polayed that one, he never suspected
existance of riggers, astral and metaplanes :( .
Console Shadowrun:
There is SEGA GENESIS game and MEGA CD .
PC Shadowrun:
2 freebies:
- Decker ( http://www.caro.net/dsi/decker/decker.zip )
- Awakening ( http://learn.it.uts.edu.au/31002/projects/04/ )
- microrunners are in development AFAIK.

Nothing for riggers fans or amateurs of astral space though :( .

--
MATT
nr gadugadu - 4976496
mattness@**.pl
http://shadowrun-polska.prv.pl
Message no. 4
From: stormknight@*********.net (Stormknight)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:25:34 -0700
OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine that -no
one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
*gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure some of
this stuff out, please.

--Wally
Message no. 5
From: mightyflapjack@*****.com (Mightyflapjack)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:33:49 -0500
The problem is that the majority of cyberware has undergone a paradigm
shift. What was once 'elite' is now common.

Take the Encephalon. Most of the features of an Encephalon are now
encorporated into a commlink (provided the user has a DNI via a
datajack or trodes).

Orientation System... ditto.

Tactical Computer .. what do you think "Augmented Reality" bonuses are
all about.

...

When it comes down to it this is some of what I have come up with so
far as "house rules"

Cyberware "Frosting" that can be added to any Eye/Ear implant for no
extra essence:
* Clock-Calendar Timepiece / Alarm (ear only) (100 nuyen)
* Compass (50 nuyen)
* Zap Awake (Any headware or wired reflexes) – Can be one time jolt,
or can jolt at random intervals helping someone stay awake in a time
of crisis.) (200 nuyen)

Random Cyberware Clarifications:
* Cyber ears come with an audio-damper as part of a normal install (no
extra essence). The ears will cut out overly loud sounds automatically
and can be completely turned off.

* Audio-damper can be installed in a regular ear (0.1 essence, 250¥ ).

* Cyber eyes come with Flare Compensation for free and the eyes can
also be turned off.

* If you have a sim-module you can interact with AR without the need
for any extra input/output devices. (Don't need eye wear, earplugs,
etc.)

* Everyone with a datajack or trodes has a 'mental pointer' in AR and
use it to mentally interact with the matrix. Datajacks and trodes
also allow mental commands to hardware.

* Also I would say that 95% of people that are "20 something or
younger" use either datajacks or trode nets for more then 8 hours
daily. Only the older types still don't like to be jacked-in all the
time. (75% of older people are jacked in for 8hr+ per day).

* Of the people that have no magical talent, usually 80% of them have
a datajack. (its like having your ears pierced, and overall its
cheaper then buying input/output devices)

Datajack: Datajack in 2070 gives you the following:
*Headware Memory and Storage. (usually implanted with 1 hardwired 100 gp chip).

*DNI interface via the datajack (usually wired to commlink).

*Chipjack slot under the datajack port (though normally people do not
keep the chip in the jack, just download the files to memory and then
remove it.)

*Image Link

*Knowsoft Link (allows the use of knowsofts and linguasofts)

*Cybercom Link (for communication and listening to sounds/audio files)

*Basic headware terminal for documents, video, audio, and image
viewing. Also allows copy/edit, upload/download, and data search.

*Datajacks are automatically attached to internal commlinks (does not
take up the external connection). They do have a wireless signal of 0
to use external devices within 3 meters.

*Datajacks can be implanted anywhere within 4 inch of the head (or on
the head). Or anywhere on the body for an extra 0.1 essence.

*Single datajacks work for both riggers and deckers as they now
connect to all regions of the brain.

Commlinks: What do they have?
* They are a combination wireless router, multi-channel
cellphone/radio, vidcam, terminal, GPS unit, chip reader,
wallet/credstick, gaming device, clock/calendar, compass, etc.

* So long as connected via DNI (datajack or trodes):
** Can use as a cybercomm link (Icon of the user is the voice that is used).
** Can be used to run Knowsofts and Linguasofts


Implanted Commlink:
* Having an implanted commlink requires a datajack.

* The commlink can be removed/reinstalled without surgery, but
requires a logic+cyberware roll with a extended roll (6, 10 minutes).

They usually come with 3 - 100 gp memory modules.

* Implanted Commlinks come with a Sim-Module that can handle "hot" interface.

* Implanted Commlinks are limited to a signal of 6.

* Implanted Commlinks have all the capabilities that external commlinks have.

Encephalon
* Adds +2 dice to all tests with devices and computers when using DNI
commlink (datajack or trodes).

Control Rig:
* No longer necessary to "jump-in" and rig a vehicle. The rigger only
needs a commlink with a DNI and a Sim-module. (Either an implanted
commlink or an external commlink with a sim-module connected via a
datajack). The control rig acts for riggers like an "encephalon" does
for deckers, adding dice to their pool.

* All drones requires at least a pilot of 1 and a sensor of 1.

* "Remote Control" or "Rigger Adaptation" requires a vehicle with at
least a sensor of 1.

* Vehicles can be setup with regular controls or datajack/wireless
links for control, or both.


CLAIRIFICATIONS ON STORAGE MEMORY (HOUSE RULE)
+++-- HOUSE RULES ON COMPUTERS / CHIPS / ETC. --+++
+++-- UPDATED 2/5/2006 for rules for 2070 --+++
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Computer and cyberware rules (2070):

(1 terapulse "TP" = 1,000gp; 1 gigapulse "GP" = 1,000 mp)

OMC = Optical Memory Chip (about the size of a piece of Trident
chewing gum) costs only 0.001 nuyen per MP. Sold in sizes 1gp(1¥),
5gp(5¥), 25gp(25¥), 50gp(50¥), 100gp(100¥), 250gp (250¥), and
500gp(500¥).

OMC is available as "Read Only" for a chip to only have the ability to
be read and not written. This costs less to make and develop so these
OMC-RO "Om-Crow" chips are 25 times less expensive.

OMC is also available in a one-use form known as "Scrams" which are
inexpensive read-only chips made with cheap, non-durable polymers,
that only work one time. As they are being used they physically go
dark/gray in color and become pieces of useless plastic. This
technology costs 100 times less then normal OMC and is used when
selling large or illegal data files. It may be possible with an
extended Software (20, 10 minutes) skill critical test to discover
some residual data but max 10% of the original (20 successes = 1% plus
1% per success over 20).

Cyber Memory now uses OMC and costs no additional essence. A datajack
comes with a dedicated 100gp chip for active/storage memory, an
internal commlink comes with (3) 100 gp OMC for active/storage memory.
Simrig comes with 2 100gp chips, skillwires comes with a 100 gp chip
per rating point. Characters can spend additional nuyen when buying
those implants to upgrade one or more of the 100gp chips to 500gp
chips. In addition, as an implant costing (0.1) essence (not
available as custom cyberware) will allow the implantation of an
additional (4) OMC attached to headware.

A different kind of storage "Dense Crystal Lattice Formations" or DCLF
is used for large storage requirements. It is cheap and bulky,
costing only 50¥ per 10 TP of space (10,000,000mp). Every 10
terapulse of data takes up about as much room as a large toolbox (45cm
* 30cm * 15cm) and weights about 20 kilos (Indeed these things are
known as T-Boxes and usually are encased in tough materials (BR:18),
and have a handle on top.) This storage medium is much slower then OMC
or CD, taking longer to do any operations with it (search, read/write,
etc.) = Matrix Actions take 10 times longer.

RFID tags are in most consumer goods packaging. Most are the basic
tag, but other are the security and stealth tag. (See SR4 for
details). The only changes are these:
Basic RFID tag = 1mp storage, Security / Stealth tag = 100 mp storage.
Cost for basic tag is only 1¥ for 1000 tags.

Broadcast Bandwidth (Tachyon):
Corporate / Government (max) = Unlimited within reason
Satellite / Datajack / Short Range Burst Matrix = 100+ gp / second
Wireless / land line = 500 mp / second
Skinlink = 100 mp / second
PVHF = 3 mp / second

I/O Speeds:
Normal Active/Storage OMC : Virtually Instant (100 gp / second)
DCLF : 450 mp / second (Normal 60 minute Simsense (108 gp) in 4 minutes.)

Data Type / Storage-Bandwidth Requirements:
Assuming that a 4 mega pixel image is 2 megabytes, then 1 mp = 20,000
megabytes of data
(All of these are per active subscription)

Decking / Rigging = 20 mp / second
Simsense (Wet-Record/Dir-X) Full-X = 30 mp / second.
Simsense (Wet-Record/Dir-X) Baseline = 10 mp / second.
Simsense (Wet-Record/Dir-X) Emotive = 20 mp / second. (Usually only
found in BTLs)
Simsense (ACT) Full-X = 0.3 mp / second. (Rarely used anymore by 2070)
Simsense (ACT) Baseline = 0.1 mp / second. (Rarely used anymore by 2070)

Skillsoft Program Sizes
Activesoft = rating2 x 200 mp
Knowsoft = rating2 x 100 mp
Linguasoft = rating2 x 50 mp

(( Tri-HD is really only used for VERY large screens.. like entire
sides of buildings. 99% of every other video is Trideo. The
remaining 1% is standard video.))

Tri-HD (100 HD-Pictures / Second;Three Dimensional (Picture has
depth); No Sound): 100 mp / second
Trideo (100 MD-Pictures / Second; Three Dimensional (Picture has
depth); No Sound): 1 mp / second
Standard Video (Better then Old HDTV; 100 LD-Pictures / Second. No
sound): 0.01 mp / second.
Compressed Video (A little bit better then old NTSC TV. No sound.):
0.001 mp / second

High-Definition Picture (Color, 40 billion pixels in 3D): 1 mp
Medium-Definition Picture (Color, 0.4 billion pixels in 3D): 1 mp /
100 pictures.
Low-Definition Picture (Color, 4 million pixels): 1 mp / 10,000 pictures.

CD Quality = Old WAV file was 10 megabytes / minute ( 120,000 seconds
CD Music / mp, so CD+ is a little better in quality for 100,000
seconds / mp)

Extended Spectrum Sound (10 times better then CD quality/ 100
frequencies) : 0.01 mp / second.
CD+ Quality Audio (rarely used, 99.9% of music/sound is ESS, 1
frequency) : 0.00001 mp / second

=============

All of that was what I have for computer/tech house rules for SR 4.0
so far. Some of it (the Dense Crystal Lattice stuff) I got from
somewhere else (sorry author, don't know name to give credit).


- Mightyflapjack
GM Shadowrun since 1990s.
=============

On 2/17/06, Stormknight <stormknight@*********.net> wrote:
> OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine that -no
> one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
> *gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure some of
> this stuff out, please.
>
> --Wally
>
>
Message no. 6
From: adamj@*********.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:20:56 -0700
On 17-Feb-06, at 3:25 PM, Stormknight wrote:

> OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine
> that -no
> one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
> *gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure
> some of
> this stuff out, please.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic441

Adam
Message no. 7
From: st0023kr@***.net (Kevin Roberts)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 21:30:19 -0600
On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:20:56 -0700, Adam Jury wrote
> On 17-Feb-06, at 3:25 PM, Stormknight wrote:
>
> > OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine
> > that -no
> > one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
> > *gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure
> > some of
> > this stuff out, please.
>

Well, here is my view as to why there is a lack of response.
Several people are waiting for the new source books to come out.
If they have several items from Man and machine in it then there would
be no reason to convert 3rd or 2nd edition items to 4th if it is in the
new source books.
I believe also the reason is because of the dates for the
4th edition source books are keeped being pushed back.
I also am disappointed that there are more shadowrun products offered
in Germany then in America... And only in Germany...
Also the fact that there was a contest for shadowrun movies by fans
on there web site in Germany..
I feel that they let us down....


VCI WebMail
http://www.vci.net
Message no. 8
From: JoannaHurley@*******.net (Joanna G. Hurley)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:02:48 -0500
> -----Original Message-----
> From: shadowrn-bounces@*****.dumpshock.com
> [mailto:shadowrn-bounces@*****.dumpshock.com] On Behalf Of
> Kevin Roberts

> I believe also the reason is because of the dates for the 4th
> edition source books are keeped being pushed back.
> I also am disappointed that there are more shadowrun products
> offered in Germany then in America... And only in Germany...
> Also the fact that there was a contest for shadowrun movies
> by fans on there web site in Germany..
> I feel that they let us down....

Don't forget that German company called FanPro and the American company by
the same name are COMPLETELY different. They only share a license, afaik.

Joanna
Message no. 9
From: gwarren@*******.rr.com (Griff M. Warren II)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:12:21 -0500
>Don't forget that German company called FanPro and the American company by
>the same name are COMPLETELY different. They only share a license, afaik.
>
>Joanna
>
>

I didn't know that. I thought it was just about sales being better
Germany. It does explain alot, though.


Griff Warren
Message no. 10
From: Michael.Grunert@*****.tu-chemnitz.de (Michael Grunert)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 21:41:31 +0100
Joanna G. Hurley schrieb:
> > -----Original Message-----
>
>>From: shadowrn-bounces@*****.dumpshock.com
>>[mailto:shadowrn-bounces@*****.dumpshock.com] On Behalf Of
>>Kevin Roberts
>
>
>>I believe also the reason is because of the dates for the 4th
>>edition source books are keeped being pushed back.
>>I also am disappointed that there are more shadowrun products
>>offered in Germany then in America... And only in Germany...
>>Also the fact that there was a contest for shadowrun movies
>>by fans on there web site in Germany..
>>I feel that they let us down....
>
>
> Don't forget that German company called FanPro and the American company by
> the same name are COMPLETELY different. They only share a license, afaik.

I wouldn't call that "completly different" .. FanPro LLC did not exist
until FASA went out of buisness and Fantasy Productions GmbH (the
slightly more spelled out name of the german copmpany) was faced with
the problem that 2 of their best selling gamelines were to be closed as
Wizkids was mainly interested in a Clix Version of the Battletech
Tabletop and didn't have the power (or interest) to support the
remaining FASA products. As FanPro Germany isn't that big either and
GmbH is a kind of buisness that don't allow to much investments an
american subsidiary was founded, maybe it was mentioned back then but i
don't remember right now if FanPro LLC belongs solely to FanPro GmbH or
if Wizkids or People working there are involved too.

Back to topic about new stuff .. i don't see new german books that are
not published in America. There is still a 6 month gap between the
American release and a german release, 6 month that are mostly spend to
do more or less not so good translations, rearrange the layout and put
some germany specific pages into the book .. not always containing stuff
of high quality. There are exceptions, most of all the "famous"
germany source book, which isn't really a loss for most of the world as
it varies wildly in quality and the translation of the first edition
was even worse. A lot of german additions to shadowrun suffer from
munchkiness, after reading some pages you just get the impression
someone wanted to bring somthing into the game that is just better than
everything already there ..
Another exception i know of is a germany based collection of runs , not
that bad but should be out of print for years now ..maybe one of the
other germans here remember some more ..

At the end, the fan movie contest .. this is not really a "shadowrun
product" but a fun idea some guys at FanPro GmbH had (i don't even know
if they are still working there) to have a nice event for the companies
convention (RatCon).
I think if you could talk some people at wizkids or fanpro llc into
hosting this kind of stuff it should be possible to make it happen ..
its just a lot of work they would have to go through (seeing, judging
etc.) beside their normal schedule ..

hmm .. normally i write much less .. at least the last 7 years i did ..

FadingSun
Message no. 11
From: adamj@*********.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 13:56:58 -0700
On 19-Feb-06, at 1:41 PM, Michael Grunert wrote:

> Back to topic about new stuff .. i don't see new german books that
> are not published in America.

The FanPro LLC Shadowrun schedule has six product slots per year, the
FanPro GmbH schedule has seven. In the last three years, the extra
products have been:

Deutschland in den Schatten II -- an updated Germany sourcebook.

Schockwellen -- an adventure set that ties in with Deutschland in den
Schatten II

Shadowrun - Die 6. Welt -- a book about the history of the Sixth
World and the game/license Shadowrun.

cheers.
Adam
Message no. 12
From: stormknight@*********.net (Stormknight)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 01:38:31 -0700
Thank-you, that was some very nice fleshing-out and new ideas, there. I've
deleted the entries that I'm not replying about.


> [Original Message]
> From: Mightyflapjack <mightyflapjack@*****.com>
> To: Shadowrun Discussion <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
> Date: 2/17/2006 5:33:56 PM
> Subject: Re: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
>
> The problem is that the majority of cyberware has undergone a paradigm
> shift. What was once 'elite' is now common.

Yeah that's for sure. I mean just look back at our own technologies, just
5 years, compared to today.

> Take the Encephalon. Most of the features of an Encephalon are now
> encorporated into a commlink (provided the user has a DNI via a
> datajack or trodes).
>
> Orientation System... ditto.
>
> Tactical Computer .. what do you think "Augmented Reality" bonuses are
> all about.

Agreed, especially with your addition below about the Encephalon.

> When it comes down to it this is some of what I have come up with so
> far as "house rules"
>
> Cyberware "Frosting" that can be added to any Eye/Ear implant for no
> extra essence:
> * Clock-Calendar Timepiece / Alarm (ear only) (100 nuyen)
> * Compass (50 nuyen)
> * Zap Awake (Any headware or wired reflexes) – Can be one time jolt,
> or can jolt at random intervals helping someone stay awake in a time
> of crisis.) (200 nuyen)

Oh man, this is great stuff. Surely this stuff could be added to most
external cyberware, like cyberwatches for cyberarms, which would include
anything our modern clocks might have, including alarms. Any cyberlimb
could have a variation on the Zap Awake, except they'd twitch or jump or
something similar (probably subject to the whims of the
inplantee/implanter).

> Random Cyberware Clarifications:
> * Cyber ears come with an audio-damper as part of a normal install (no
> extra essence). The ears will cut out overly loud sounds automatically
> and can be completely turned off.
>
> * Audio-damper can be installed in a regular ear (0.1 essence, 250¥ ).
>
> * Cyber eyes come with Flare Compensation for free and the eyes can
> also be turned off.

heh, certainly those with faulty and/or cheap cybereyes or ears that
suddenly either shut off, or don't wanna switch back on from shutoff, cause
quite a bit a problems. I wonder what the warranty situation is on
cyberware...

> * Also I would say that 95% of people that are "20 something or
> younger" use either datajacks or trode nets for more then 8 hours
> daily. Only the older types still don't like to be jacked-in all the
> time. (75% of older people are jacked in for 8hr+ per day).

Yeah, I can't imagine how schooling is handled/managed in 2070. I mean,
how do you curb the use of commlinks, especially from contact lenses &
headware, on students? Surely there must be cyberware & RFID scanners at
school entrances, in addition to what they have today, ie. metal detectors.

> *Chipjack slot under the datajack port (though normally people do not
> keep the chip in the jack, just download the files to memory and then
> remove it.)

I think with these chips being so small, and no doubt deeply insert into
the chipjack, that these items are sold with chip-pullers, and that many
people carry one around with them.

> *Knowsoft Link (allows the use of knowsofts and linguasofts)

I seem to recall that it was written somewhere that some of the skillsofts
weren't immediately usable, but that the user had to "train" with them, for
a certain period of time. Is this true?

> *Cybercom Link (for communication and listening to sounds/audio files)
>
> *Basic headware terminal for documents, video, audio, and image
> viewing. Also allows copy/edit, upload/download, and data search.

> Commlinks: What do they have?
> * They are a combination wireless router, multi-channel
> cellphone/radio, vidcam, terminal, GPS unit, chip reader,
> wallet/credstick, gaming device, clock/calendar, compass, etc.

Vacationing must be SO fun in 2070!

> Encephalon
> * Adds +2 dice to all tests with devices and computers when using DNI
> commlink (datajack or trodes).

OK, works for me, but are there still 2 Rating levels of Encephalon, and
if so, does the Rating 2 one add 4 dice? Also, did you keep the same
Essence cost, price and other statistics as printed, or would you think
they'd have changed for various reasons?

> All of that was what I have for computer/tech house rules for SR 4.0
> so far. Some of it (the Dense Crystal Lattice stuff) I got from
> somewhere else (sorry author, don't know name to give credit).

Yeah its poking me in the back of the head too, but I can't place it.
Something by Bruce Sterling, maybe?

> - Mightyflapjack
> GM Shadowrun since 1990s.

Thanks again. If you have more, keep it comin'!! I'd especially like to
hear y'all's thoughts on Dikoting and which Edges & Flaws can be added to
SR4's Qualities (and why others should not, and what should be done with
existing characters that have them.)

--Wally
Message no. 13
From: stormknight@*********.net (Stormknight)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 01:42:20 -0700
> [Original Message]
> From: Kevin Roberts <st0023kr@***.net>
> To: Shadowrun Discussion <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
> Date: 2/18/2006 8:30:31 PM
> Subject: Re: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4

> Well, here is my view as to why there is a lack of response.
> Several people are waiting for the new source books to come out.
> If they have several items from Man and machine in it then there would
> be no reason to convert 3rd or 2nd edition items to 4th if it is in the
> new source books.

I see no reason for us to have to wait on a new book, when we can speculate
and come up with conversions of the materials that've already come out. It
would be especially if there was some system for across the board
conversions of damage values and essence costs, from older books to SR4
rules.

--Wally
Message no. 14
From: swiftone@********.org (Brett Sanger)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:03:05 -0500
On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 03:25:34PM -0700, Stormknight wrote:
> OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine that -no
> one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
> *gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure some of
> this stuff out, please.

You asked about Dikote, which doesn't really add anything to the world
except for upping numbers, and CYBERSKATES. I mean, really!

:)

--
SwiftOne / Brett Sanger
swiftone@********.org
Message no. 15
From: stormknight@*********.net (Stormknight)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:02:43 -0700
> [Original Message]
> From: Brett Sanger <swiftone@********.org>
> To: Shadowrun Discussion <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
> Date: 2/23/2006 1:56:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
>
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 03:25:34PM -0700, Stormknight wrote:
> > OK, so I take it from the lack of responses about Man & Machine that -no
> > one- has ported over anything from it into SR4?!
> > *gasp!* C'mon people, let's put our heads together here and figure some
of
> > this stuff out, please.
>
> You asked about Dikote, which doesn't really add anything to the world
> except for upping numbers, and CYBERSKATES. I mean, really!
>
> :)
>
> --
> SwiftOne / Brett Sanger
> swiftone@********.org

The same can be said of Explosive and EX rounds and all the other types of
ammo, but they ported that over, as well as monowire enhancement. As for
cyberskates, I was inspired after reading Snow Crash, I think it was, some
time back. I ended up making a cyberninja who's a deliveryman by day for
the Damn Skippy Delivery Service. I think at the time I was inspired by
Dark Angel, I think it was.
In any case, the character is a blast, and I'd like some answers for my
questions so I can continue playing him with the new rules.
But thanks for the vote of indifference.

--Wally
Message no. 16
From: swiftone@********.org (Brett Sanger)
Subject: Man & Machine items, et al, in SR4
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:31:58 -0500
On Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 10:02:43PM -0700, Stormknight wrote:
> The same can be said of Explosive and EX rounds and all the other types of

Absolutely, but they at least are simple. EX rounds don't involve
discussions of "what's the area of my (weapon/armor/doodad)?"

(To be fully honest though...I don't like EX rounds. Much like Gas Vent
IV, and a few other things, I feel it's been added to just be "better".)

> ammo, but they ported that over, as well as monowire enhancement. As for
> cyberskates, I was inspired after reading Snow Crash, I think it was, some

Of course, great book....but can you possibly think of any other concept
using those? Cyberskates don't really have the broad appeal to require
usage of precious page count to cover.

> In any case, the character is a blast, and I'd like some answers for my
> questions so I can continue playing him with the new rules.

That's a bit more specific. Saying "I have a character with cyberskates
that I want to continue using until they update the rules" is more
convincing to me than "Hey, has anyone done home-brew conversions of
rarely used items?".

What mechanics do you need beyond the essence cost? (Serious question,
having never used cyberskates). I'm happy to give you an opinion if I
know what you're looking at.

> But thanks for the vote of indifference.

It was supposed to be jokingly, but I suppose indifference is better
that raging arsehole. (Or you were being polite :) )

--
SwiftOne / Brett Sanger
swiftone@********.org

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