Logs for ShadowRN and Associated Mailing Lists

From:	Terry Amburgey <XANTH@****.UKY.EDU>
Subject:	Shadowtech mis-statements
Date:	Mon, 17 Apr 1995 15:24:59 EDT

Message no. 1 For the third time or so in the last week, there has been a mis-statement
regarding bioware and starting characters:
Damion wrote "The rules do not allow starting characters to be initiates nor do
they allow S-tech gear..." THIS IS NOT ACCURATE!
Shadowtech RECOMMENDS AGAINST providing access to the goodies contained within
but gives the standard 'as always, the gamemaster gets to decide what gets in'
disclaimer just a few sentences before the RECOMMENDATION. In no way is it a
violation of the rules-as-written-by-fasa to create a character with bioware or
other s-tech goodies. Gee, I feel much better now :) Terry

From:	Menard Steve <menars@***.UMONTREAL.CA>
Subject:	Re: Shadowtech mis-statements
Date:	Mon, 17 Apr 1995 22:42:07 -0400

Message no. 2 On Mon, 17 Apr 1995, Terry Amburgey wrote:

> For the third time or so in the last week, there has been a mis-statement
> regarding bioware and starting characters:
> Damion wrote "The rules do not allow starting characters to be initiates nor do
> they allow S-tech gear..." THIS IS NOT ACCURATE!
> Shadowtech RECOMMENDS AGAINST providing access to the goodies contained within
> but gives the standard 'as always, the gamemaster gets to decide what gets in'
> disclaimer just a few sentences before the RECOMMENDATION. In no way is it a
> violation of the rules-as-written-by-fasa to create a character with bioware or
> other s-tech goodies. Gee, I feel much better now :) Terry
>
Yep, technicaly you can use all the stuff in all the catalogs but i
can become very unbalancing. Just imagine a good ol' sam with all the
cyberware he can use. Then add a drekload of bioware. VERY scary. But
then stating that s-tech stuff is unavaiable is like saying that only
npc's will have them, what with the availability and the prices/street
index. What I did in my game is limit the amount spend on bioware at a
third or what you bought in cyberware and vice versa(to have a mostly
cyber or mostly bio enhanced character). Limits the over-use and still
let the stuff(good stuff) be used.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- |\_/| Still The One and Only Wolfbane! ---
--- |o o| " Hey! Why ya lookin' at me so weird? Ain't ya 'ver seen a ---
--- \ / decker witha horn ?" --- Scy, Troll decker with a CC ---
--- 0 Steve Menard menars@***.UMontreal.Ca ---
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From:	Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject:	Re: Shadowtech mis-statements
Date:	Wed, 19 Apr 1995 00:30:42 +1000

Message no. 3 Terry Amburgey writes:

> For the third time or so in the last week, there has been a mis-statement
> regarding bioware and starting characters:
> Damion wrote "The rules do not allow starting characters to be initiates
> nor do they allow S-tech gear..." THIS IS NOT ACCURATE!
> Shadowtech RECOMMENDS AGAINST providing access to the goodies contained
> within but gives the standard 'as always, the gamemaster gets to decide what
> gets in' disclaimer just a few sentences before the RECOMMENDATION. In no
> way is it a violation of the rules-as-written-by-fasa to create a character
> with bioware or other s-tech goodies. Gee, I feel much better now :) Terry

Yep, you got me Terry.

But I made the comment on the "Munchkin PA vs Sammy" debate, where we were
discussing characters generated using the BASE rules, with no house rulings.
And when you look in S-Tech, it _recommends_ against allowing such equipment
to starting characters. Thus it is fair to say that the game designers
thought such equipment unbalancing for beginning runners, so in a BTB
contest, gear from S-Tech would be out.

And I think that such equipment _is_ unbalancing to allow beginning
characters. For eg, PAs and sammies are, more or less, on the whole, roughly
equivalent if you follow the suggestions of the game designers. (Note that I
do not neccessarily mean in combat, though they're not terribly far off -
sammies tend to be better at straight out fight - but I really do not want
to get into all that again. Eh Bob? :-)) If you do not do what the writers
recommend, and rule that sammies can get the gear, then they are most
certainly much more effective than PAs.

But I for one, will be sooner or later allowing starting characters to have
access to S-Tech gear, due to the "arms race" thing. It is simply becomming
more common in my games. Not as common as the normal cybergear, but it will
be getting that way soon. So when it becomes comparatively as common as
regular cyber, then I say it's fair enough to allow it for starting runners.
But the non-cyber characters will need to be "given" something to keep the
delecate balance which the game currently has. Otherwise you'll end up with
a cyber-monster dominated game. But, hey, maybe that'll be a change from the
game as it is, which is generally (ah! a generalisation! :-)) magically
dominated.

But, as always "it's up to the individual GM". I thought that was _always_
the assumption. On every rule, every interpretation, every _thing_, there is
the "GMs option" for altering it. I don't really think it needs more
emphasising, it ought to be automatically assumed.

--
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
E? N K- W M@ !V po@ Y+ t+ 5 !j R+(++) G(+)('''') !tv(--@)
b++ D B? e+$ u@ h* f+ !r n----(--)@ !y+

Mailing List Logs for

Further Reading

Disclaimer