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Message no. 1
From: "David M. Girardot" <GIRARDOT@*********.EDU>
Subject: Mr. GM Makes War on Munchkins
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 20:23:33 CET
DISCLAIMER: The basic assumption of this message is that, in the current state
of things, bioware seriously unbalances the game. There, I said it.

I finally figured out what bothers me about the characters in the group I GM.
I mean, I'd realized how "munchkin" they all were, and had said as much,
but until now hadn't realized the specific problem. All of the characters
routinely have scores above 9 ... most of them have some form of inc.
reflexes or pain resistance. In short, they all have managed to squeeze
in bioware where cyberware just owuldn't have fit in.

I'm going to propose something drastic -- some might even say insane. And yet,
I think that my little "solution" will effectively deal with the problem. I
say: Bioware costs essence. Yep, no more "Body Index" or any such crap as that
-- Bioware comes off the same ol' yardstick as plain 'ole cyberware.

Waitamminit. Does this make bw the same as cw, then? Well, in a way, yes it
does. However, I honestly don't see it as a problem -- just because it's made
outta organic slag instead of the usual metal kind... 'Course, where bioware
duplicates a function of cyberware, then there might be difficulty. The
example I have in mind is Muscle Augment. vs Muscle Repl. -- muscle
augmentation costs over twice as much but costs less essence. Ok, fair trade
that. Since bioware *is* organic, I don't have any objection with it costin'
less essence...

Alpha/Beta. For beginning characters I will continue to allow a/b cw if there
is a game reason for it. Cultured bw, however, is but a whispered dream in
2053 ... at least for beginning chars. And yes, gasp, there are rumors of bw
types, cloned bw, that doesn't cost essence at all! (Just like the regular
system).

Too bad I don't have the heart to make the current crop of chars. "change
over." But wait till the next group of meat lines up... heh heh heh heh.

--David

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Girardot@*********.edu Girardot@********.bitnet
dmgirard@***.cs.du.edu
-*-
Prognosticator * Gamer * Scribbler * Reader * Consultant * Sorta Apple Rep
Message no. 2
From: bellovar@***.WISC.EDU
Subject: Re: Mr. GM Makes War on Munchkins
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 15:54:41 CST
> DISCLAIMER: The basic assumption of this message is that, in the current state
> of things, bioware seriously unbalances the game. There, I said it.
>
>
> I'm going to propose something drastic -- some might even say insane. And
yet,
> I think that my little "solution" will effectively deal with the problem.
I
> say: Bioware costs essence. Yep, no more "Body Index" or any such crap as
that
> -- Bioware comes off the same ol' yardstick as plain 'ole cyberware.
>
> --David
_______________________________________________________________________________

If you intend to do this - I am not going to try to talk you out of
it, but I do have two suggestions for you to consider. Let the rules stand as
is, except perhaps make it so the sum of the body index plus the essence loss
cannot exceed 6. This provides the same effect as you are looking for,
while still keeping in line with an increased benefit (for healing) in the
line of bioware.

Another idea is that bioware makes a person harder to heal along the
same line of bodycost/2 is added to the target number. Now if I remember right,
That would be the same as an essence cost of half the body cost for healing
purposes. Then one would only need to look at the essence score for puposes
of determining the target number for magical healing. (i.e., muscle
augmentation would have a >8 body cost and a .4 essence cost.) Of course this
method would still require you to keep track of a body index so they don't go
nuts on what they can fit in and exceed their body score.

Anyways, just ideas on how else you could go about it. Of course,
you could make the cash harder to earn, or the implantaion more expensive.
Also, don't forget that with Beta-grade cyberware, not only is the cyberware
hard to find and 7 times more expensive, but the hospital stay is seven times
more expensive also. That adds up.

Actually, I can't blame the characters too much.... It is a balance of
how much humanity can you afford to lose... and how much can you really afford
to KEEP. Of course, if they rely on their mods and not their minds, they are
in trouble anyways. *evil grin*

Chris Bellovary
-- CrossFire --
Message no. 3
From: "David M. Girardot" <GIRARDOT@*********.EDU>
Subject: Re: Mr. GM Makes War on Munchkins
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 03:03:25 CET
Some good ideas. Ess + BI </= 6 is a pretty good comprimise. I would say that
necessitates increasing the cost of bioware, however. Some items, like
Muscle Augmentation cost just about right. Trauma Dampeners, however, ought
to cost more than 40k IMHO.

--David
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Girardot@*********.edu Girardot@********.bitnet
dmgirard@***.cs.du.edu
-*-
Prognosticator * Gamer * Scribbler * Reader * Consultant * Sorta Apple Rep
Message no. 4
From: "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject: RE: Mr. GM Makes War on Munchkins
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 22:24:08 CET
Step up on Soapbox:
Time and time again somebody has posted to this board the now infamous
complaint, "Bioware unbalances the game!" And time and time again they offer
the same solution, "Lets make it cost Essence just like cyberware!" And to this
I must say two things: "Hogwash!" and "Get a sense of imagination!"
The problem with bioware is not the fact that it doesn't cost essence. In
fact there is no problem with bioware. The problem is in the campaign. For
bioware or anything else in Shadowtech to unbalance a game requires only one
thing. A GM who give his characters too much money and lets them get anything
they want. Never blame the rules or the characters for the things you don't
like in your campaign. Their just doing the best they can (within their
personal sense of excess) to make themselves as powerful as possible. It is the
GM's job to make the characters understand what he thinks is excessive and make
them live with it.

Step off of Soapbox:
Now for a more creative solution to the cyberware plus bioware problem lets
not make bioware cost essence. That defeats the entire purpose of bioware, i.e.
allowing some enhancements without dogging a character out of his essence.
There is already a maximum amount of bioware allowed via the Body Index. To
keep characters from maxing out on both why add to their Body Index total from
bioware the amount of essence lost to cyberware.
Example: Robert is a Mercenary. His essence is 3.4 and his body is 5. This
means he's lost 2.6 essence to cyberware. Subtract that from his body and he
can get 2.4 body cost of bioware.
That advantage to this system is it allows characters who want a more essence
friendly way to enhance themselves have bioware with no essence cost, but your
cyber-monsters can't max out on cyberware and bioware.

See Ya in Shadows,
Jason J Carter
The Nightstalker

P.S. Crossfire, look at SSC again. The surgery and recoup cost for
Shadowclinics is 50 times normal! Yup, it's really in there. The surgery
for Beta Wired 2 cost more that Beta Wired 2.

Further Reading

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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!