Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Bob Ooton <topcat@**.CENCOM.NET>
Subject: Re: Monowhip weapon focus
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 23:49:56 -0500
I can't believe people would actually let players get away with a
monofilament whip weapon focus. Would you let a guy use a shock glove
weapon focus? A taser weapon focus? (it's still touching my hand, so it's
a hand-to-hand weapon) How about a stun baton focus? Get real. I would
never allow a technological item to be used as a weapon focus. Thankfully,
the people I play with agree. And as for "no-one ever said the orichalcum
had to be in the harming part" that's true, no one ever _said_ that. By
popular agreement of the group I'm in, it has to be. Why? Because a lot of
orichalcum is required for a target number to be even anywhere NEAR doable.
It's not like a sliver of it will make a rating 6 focus. Or even a rating 1
focus for that matter. Even if you made the whole handle of the whip out of
orichalcum and the weight as well. You still wouldn't use enough of the
metal to qualify for weapon focus levels. How do I come up with this?
What's the mass of a monofilament whip? Go ahead and check... I'll wait.
It's nada. Nothing. Nil. Mass of orichalcum? 10 grams/unit. Each unit
reduces TN by 1. How many 10g units can you use to make a 0g item? No math
major required there.

Next argument that will doubtlessly creep up is... "I don't have to use
orichalcum anymore, I can use other alchemical materials!" OK, cram all
those into a null mass object. Can only put so many in, you know. And I
would bet that there are players out there who have used all three
alchemical material types, orichalcum, virgin telesma (we all know you can
just go out and buy monofilament at the local hardware store... maybe you
used handmade instead, I'm sure LOTS of chars know how to make monofilament.
"All I need is some cream cheese and a gerbil with a tight enough ass and
I'll have the most powerful weapon focus ever!") and created this unholy
monstrosity. So just what does this guy's whip look like? It's
monofilament (kinda, I didn't exactly know how to make the stuff... I
figured 1cm thick was fine). It's BIG (I needed 30 units of orichalcum to
get it to where I could make the focus. So what if the handle's 2 meters
long? It says in the book that monofilament whips have a 10
concealability!). It's basically nothing more than a rope weapon focus and
cute astral sparkler (great for parties!).

My whole point is this. Think before you do things like this, people. It
sucks the life out of the game to twist rules around to the proportions
necessary to create a monofilament weapon focus. Just stay within the
realms of sensibility and (heaven forbid) go with the spirit of the game.
For those of you who would rather go by the books. The monofilament whip
does weigh 0 grams. And since it requires grams of any alchemical material
or orichalcum to create a weapon focus, you're SOL.


-- Bob Ooton <topcat@******.net>
Message no. 2
From: The Digital Mage <mn3rge@****.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Monowhip weapon focus
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 15:07:56 +0100
On Mon, 12 Jun 1995, Bob Ooton wrote:

> I can't believe people would actually let players get away with a
> monofilament whip weapon focus. Would you let a guy use a shock glove
> weapon focus? A taser weapon focus? (it's still touching my hand, so it's
> a hand-to-hand weapon) How about a stun baton focus? Get real. I would
>
> -- Bob Ooton <topcat@******.net>
Well I did have one player who had a weapon focus in the form of nunchaku
-I thought it was good (concealability is great) and was a lot more
original than just another sword or knife. But I agree wholeheartedlt
about the Monowhip and everything else.

In fact I would make any player who wants to make a weapon focus to have
a very good Melee B/R (this isn't just repair its creation) and of course
the equipment at least a Shop, which in itself costs a lot.

The Digital Mage : mn3rge@****.ac.uk
Shadowrun Web Site under construction at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~mn3rge/Shadowrun.html
Message no. 3
From: Andy Butcher <fiend@*********.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Monowhip weapon focus
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 13:44:49 +0100
Bob Ooton wrote quite a lot:

>I can't believe people would actually let players get away with a
>monofilament whip weapon focus. Would you let a guy use a shock glove
>weapon focus? A taser weapon focus? (it's still touching my hand, so it's
>a hand-to-hand weapon) How about a stun baton focus? Get real. I would
>never allow a technological item to be used as a weapon focus. Thankfully,
>the people I play with agree. And as for "no-one ever said the orichalcum
>had to be in the harming part" that's true, no one ever _said_ that. By
>popular agreement of the group I'm in, it has to be. Why? Because a lot of
>orichalcum is required for a target number to be even anywhere NEAR doable.
>It's not like a sliver of it will make a rating 6 focus. Or even a rating 1
>focus for that matter. Even if you made the whole handle of the whip out of
>orichalcum and the weight as well. You still wouldn't use enough of the
>metal to qualify for weapon focus levels. How do I come up with this?
>What's the mass of a monofilament whip? Go ahead and check... I'll wait.
>It's nada. Nothing. Nil. Mass of orichalcum? 10 grams/unit. Each unit
>reduces TN by 1. How many 10g units can you use to make a 0g item? No math
>major required there.

I should say that I do agree with you - a monofilament whip weapon focus
isn't a very good idea, but I don't think that your justification is
particularly logical. For a start monofilament doesn't mass 0 grams. It
masses a very, very small amount - the mass of a 2-3m long strand that's
only a few molecules thick. Secondly, I don't think that the masses of
orichalcum and other materials have to be incorporated into the finished
item - they're required for the enchanting, but don't necessarily become
part of the focus. Otherwise magical rings and so on would be almost
impossible to make.

I'm not too sure about your anti-technical bias, either. Surely Street
Shamans don't have to use the same bits of wood and bone as a 'traditional'
Shamen? I once had a group with two shamens. One, an Amerindian tribal type,
took to 'writing' spell formulas on craved pieces of bone, which he kept in
a series of small leather pouches. The Street Shamen, though, used to spray
them onto dustbin lids as graphitti. If this character had wanted to create
a focus with a 'technological' object, I'd have let him - of course, he'd
probably suffer some serious target numbers, but if he came up with a cool
idea I'd certainly have given him a break.

Andy Butcher | "Whether you think you will succeed
PC Gamer Magazine | or not, you are right."
Fiend@*********.co.uk | Henry Ford

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Monowhip weapon focus, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!