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Message no. 1
From: Bill Thompson BillT@*********.com
Subject: Samurai downtime (was: Decker toys?)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 11:22:54 -0800
On 2/22/99 Mongoose wrote:

> A Decker's BEST toy is the Matrix- if it ain't, your not a Decker!
> You can do or find almost anything there, but it is usually very
> under-developed in location sourcebooks, and not used except for limited,
> specific things on a run. I think giving a Decker some fun places to go,
> things to do, and people to meet in the matrix would go a long way to
> alleviating the "toy" demands, unless he's just upset that he can't kick
> the samurais ass in physical combat. I know that I felt similarly about
> playing a samurai- compared to mages (and most other characters,
> actually), they are offered little in the way of social interaction or
> things to do during downtime.
>
> Mongoose

I was just discussing this with my group last week. The Samurai doesn't have
anything specifically defined in the books to do when not in combat, but is
that a limit of the character class or the player? We decided that the Samurai
should be the teams "man on the street". While the other characters are
gathering info with their specific means, the Sam should be gathering info by
hitting the streets and greasing palms. This gives the Sam much more to do
during downtime by increasing and maintaining contacts.

Bill Thompson - Mahagonny.com
On the Internet there are no independent agents.
Message no. 2
From: Patrick Goodman remo@***.net
Subject: Samurai downtime (was: Decker toys?)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 19:40:14 -0600
From: Bill Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 1999 1:23 PM

>The Samurai doesn't have anything
>specifically defined in the books to do when not in combat, but is
>that a limit of the character class or the player? We decided that
>the Samurai should be the teams "man on the street".

Mine are too busy training to keep their edge to be snooping on the streets.
It's her job to do the stand-up fighting for the team, and that involves a
lot of training time.

--
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.
Message no. 3
From: Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject: Samurai downtime (was: Decker toys?)
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 18:03:15 -0600
:I was just discussing this with my group last week. The Samurai doesn't
have
:anything specifically defined in the books to do when not in combat, but
is
:that a limit of the character class or the player? We decided that the
Samurai
:should be the teams "man on the street". While the other characters are
:gathering info with their specific means, the Sam should be gathering
info by
:hitting the streets and greasing palms. This gives the Sam much more to
do
:during downtime by increasing and maintaining contacts.
:
:Bill Thompson - Mahagonny.com
: On the Internet there are no independent agents.


Yeah, that is a logical job for the samurai, especially since they
often can afford many contacts at start up. Unfortunately, SR3 slaps
stiff social penalties on Cybered characters - that makes their chance of
doing good cold call legwork about zero. Besides that, the samurai is
often the most conspicuous member of the group (look at the SIZE of that
troll!), and the one who has the poorest chance of going places without
getting arrested. (Sir, do you have a permit for that arm?) Of course,
the fact that they normally should buy 4-8 weapon skills (in sr3) doesn't
leave a lot of room for social graces, either...
The ideal "man on the street" is not really the ideal samurai;
although some characters can do both, you can't do both well. They do
have a few unique advantages, if they get expensive gear like retinal
duplication and other fake ID stuff (not to mention tailored pheromones),
but in that area they fight an uphill battle compared to other character
types, IMO.

Mongoose
Message no. 4
From: Josh Munn barnack@*******.com
Subject: Samurai downtime (was: Decker toys?)
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 08:03:26 EST
>On 2/22/99 Mongoose wrote:
>
>> A Decker's BEST toy is the Matrix- if it ain't, your not a
Decker!
>> You can do or find almost anything there, but it is usually very
>> under-developed in location sourcebooks, and not used except for
limited,
>> specific things on a run. I think giving a Decker some fun places to
go,
>> things to do, and people to meet in the matrix would go a long way to
>> alleviating the "toy" demands, unless he's just upset that he can't
kick
>> the samurais ass in physical combat. I know that I felt similarly
about
>> playing a samurai- compared to mages (and most other characters,
>> actually), they are offered little in the way of social interaction
or
>> things to do during downtime.
>>
>> Mongoose
>
>I was just discussing this with my group last week. The Samurai doesn't
have
>anything specifically defined in the books to do when not in combat,
but is
>that a limit of the character class or the player? We decided that the
Samurai
>should be the teams "man on the street". While the other characters are
>gathering info with their specific means, the Sam should be gathering
info by
>hitting the streets and greasing palms. This gives the Sam much more to
do
>during downtime by increasing and maintaining contacts.
>
>Bill Thompson - Mahagonny.com
> On the Internet there are no independent agents.
>
We have always played the "sammy" as a street person, however, we rarely
play with archtypical caracters. Each character in our group has a role
to play in every aspect of the run. Besides, if all the sammy did was
fight, he would be very bored most of the time in our runs.


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