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Message no. 1
From: Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU>
Subject: No quickenings?! (Was: No mage bias?!!!)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 09:54:14 +1000
Jani Fikouras writes:

> We *never* use quickenings (too karma expensive no safety whatsoever)

Oh? Who or what is going to able to beat a Force 10 Quickening? That
costs 11 karma - and depending on the spell, could be well worth while.

> I mostly go along with the modules, if FASA things they should use
> them I let them.

We always found FASA's mages ludicrously under-utilising the magic.
They were always made nastier by our GM.

(Though the same applies to the FASA non-mages. Any group with willpower
of 4 or less is going to be easy meat for any competent mage. Almost as
though FASA don't expect their bad guys to face magical opponents ...?)

> I suppose that [spell lock, quickening, ...] use would be some sort of
> fad/imagined-need kinda like drugs/cigarretes today :)

Yeah. Just like cyberware. ;-)

> Runners on the other hand know whats realy cool (cause they have the rules :)

The cool runners are the ones that are still alive twelve months after
starting to run the shadows.

luke
Message no. 2
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: No quickenings?! (Was: No mage bias?!!!)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 11:34:40 +0200
>We always found FASA's mages ludicrously under-utilising the magic.
>They were always made nastier by our GM.
>
>(Though the same applies to the FASA non-mages. Any group with willpower
> of 4 or less is going to be easy meat for any competent mage. Almost as
> though FASA don't expect their bad guys to face magical opponents ...?)

I sometimes get the idea that FASA somehow expect the PCs to be much weaker
than most are. Which would explain why many NPCs that are supposed to be
nearly invincible are actually push-overs for many players.


Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Living on "if..." and "if I tried..."
Geek Code v2.1: GS/AT/! -d+ H s:- !g p?(3) !au a>? w+(+++) v*(---) C+(++) U
P? !L !3 E? N++ K- W+ -po+(po) Y+ t(+) 5 !j R+(++)>+++$ tv+(++) b+@ D+(++)
B? e+ u+@ h! f--(?) !r(--)(*) n---->!n y? Unofficial Shadowrun Guru :)
Message no. 3
From: Jani Fikouras <feanor@**********.UNI-BREMEN.DE>
Subject: Re: No quickenings?! (Was: No mage bias?!!!)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 14:12:10 +0200
> > We *never* use quickenings (too karma expensive no safety whatsoever)
>
> Oh? Who or what is going to able to beat a Force 10 Quickening? That
> costs 11 karma - and depending on the spell, could be well worth while.

Well first I never had the luxury of having 10 karma points to spare
for somethings as trivial as a quickening. Not to mention the psychic
trauma I would undergo if someone where to actually attack and destroy
the quickening thereby flushing my 10 karma down the drain. :)
Just think about it, a quickening is a *permanent* grounding gate
to the astral plane. 24 hours a day, every fraging second. How can
you live like that, knowing that someone could be preparing to
kill you and all the people around you this very second.

> > I mostly go along with the modules, if FASA things they should use
> > them I let them.
>
> We always found FASA's mages ludicrously under-utilising the magic.
> They were always made nastier by our GM.

I agree, OTOH I dont want to go into a magical arms race were
suddenly everyone and his brother has a willpower of 6 and every
3 rate bar is protected by a ward. After all magic is supposed to be rare.

> > I suppose that [spell lock, quickening, ...] use would be some sort of
> > fad/imagined-need kinda like drugs/cigarretes today :)
>
> Yeah. Just like cyberware. ;-)

Cyberware does have definite advantages and no real disadvantages (well for
non mages) as opposed to stuff like locks and quickening.

--
"Believe in Angels." -- The Crow

GCS d H s+: !g p1 !au a- w+ v-(?) C++++ UA++S++L+$>++++ L+>+++ E--- N+ W(+)(---)
M-- !V(--) -po+(---) Y+ t++ 5++ R+++ tv b++ e+ u++(-) h*(+) f+ r- n!(-) y?
Message no. 4
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: No quickenings?! (Was: No mage bias?!!!)
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 12:40:14 +0200
> Well first I never had the luxury of having 10 karma points to spare
>for somethings as trivial as a quickening. Not to mention the psychic
>trauma I would undergo if someone where to actually attack and destroy
>the quickening thereby flushing my 10 karma down the drain. :)

That's why I doubt many people actually use quickenings -- I know our
shaman's player said he could use that karma much better than for putting a
spell somewhere... Maybe FASA made a mistake by giving a karma cost to them,
or at least made it too high for practical use. IMHO, of course :)


Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Sanity is contagious
Geek Code v2.1: GS/AT/! -d+ H s:- !g p?(3) !au a>? w+(+++) v*(---) C+(++) U
P? !L !3 E? N++ K- W+ -po+(po) Y+ t(+) 5 !j R+(++)>+++$ tv+(++) b+@ D+(++)
B? e+ u+@ h! f--(?) !r(--)(*) n---->!n y? Unofficial Shadowrun Guru :)
Message no. 5
From: Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: No quickenings?! (Was: No mage bias?!!!)
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 01:34:45 +1000
Gurth writes:

> That's why I doubt many people actually use quickenings -- I know our
> shaman's player said he could use that karma much better than for putting a
> spell somewhere... Maybe FASA made a mistake by giving a karma cost to them,
> or at least made it too high for practical use. IMHO, of course :)

I'd say it's fine as it is. My players _love_ Quickenings, because they can
still Quicken a Force 1 spell for the same cost as a spell lock, but without
having to pay nuyen for it. (They do this often BTW <evil GM grin>.) If
Quickenings were "free" and did not cost karma, then every man and his dog
would have piles of them. And at HUGE ratings too, so that nobody could
destroy them. The ability of Quickenings to be "grunted up" as my players put
it (ie add more karma in to make it harder to defeat), is quite a useful
ability which spell locks do not have. I think for the benefits Quickened
spells give, a karma point or two is a small price to pay. And, of course,
they are great karma sinks when they get destroyed all the time...

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au

(GEEK CODE 2.1) GE -d+@ H s++:-- !g p0 !au a19 w+ v(?) C++ US++>+++ P+ L !3
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b++ D B? e+$ u@ h* f+ !r n----(--)@ !y+

Further Reading

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