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Message no. 1
From: TopCat <topcat@**.CENCOM.NET>
Subject: Speed=everything (Was Re:Geasa and Physical Adepts)
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 19:07:15 -0500
You said it yourself, Eve... "when will I learn... NEVER GET OUT OF THE
VEHICLE!"

Riggers are riggers and deckers are deckers. If you hire a shadowrun team,
you aren't going to be thrilled with the knowledge that the decker will be
running along with the infiltration team, and you'll probably be much less
thrilled learning that the driver of the getaway vehicle is going to go
along too.

This outlook (although rather obvious) is somewhat unfair. Why can't the
decker swap his deck for a Ingram and charge forth to glory and nuyen? Why
should the rigger have to wait in the car (it gets stuffy in there!) all the
time? Because they are suddenly out of their element when they do so. I
would much rather have the rigger driving the Dynamit than the eagle shaman.
I would much rather have the decker running matrix security from the safety
of his own home instead of the phys ad wrapping the trodes around his head
and wondering where the Advil went.

It just makes sense. Now, what has started happening more often in my group
is that people aren't specializing near as much (except the mages/shamans).
Which means that overall, we don't have the intense skill concentration that
other groups might have. But what we DO have is variety. If the prime
driver goes down, the secondary can step up. Deckers are starting to use
reflex enhancements and a smartlink so they don't curl up into a ball at the
sight of a gun. Samurai *gasp* can do pretty much anything mundane that's
needed (the all-purpose third man) by slotting a chip and juicing up the
skillwires. Mages & shamans still tend to specialize, but with 2 or more in
the group it isn't a problem. One likes to play "combat boy" (though he has
this urge to never want to kill anything... practices all kinds of spells
like death touch and hellblast, but absolutely freaks when I decided to cack
someone) and the other is more toward the stealth side.

ANYWAY...

What I'm saying is this, although it happens... specialization to the degree
of the SRII archetypes is a very rare thing indeed in real life. People
pick up bits here, bits there, and make the most of it all. Build the chars
to reflect that and you won't find yourself worrying so much the next time
your rigger is unconcious and the mage slides behind the wheel.

-- TopCat!

P.S. I suggest throwing boosted 1 or a synaptic accelerator or something of
their ilk on your rigger. No-one would go into a situation where they know
they're outclassed without at least some kind of edge. If you follow the
cyberpunk literature at all, nearly everyone shadowy has some sort of
speed-enhancement, be it drugs or wires or whatever. Why wouldn't your char?
Message no. 2
From: Eve Forward <lutra@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Speed=everything (Was Re:Geasa and Physical Adepts)
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 17:22:52 -0700
Why doesn't my rigger get boosted reflexes? Well, at the moment it's
because my rigger has been turned into a lizard, but before that...

It's a question of roleplaying. My rigger was a specialist, and that
was how he was roleplayed. He wasn't interested in doing much to
improve his "meat", but get hiin a vehicle and no-one could touch
him. (plus at the time he only had .7 Essence, not much room)
What I did end up doing was having drones with me. Even
just little bitty "scout" drones, gives you the rigging init bonus
and pool and puts you up to speed (not -super- speed, but better
than before)
From a get-the-job-done standpoint, yes, having everyone
capable of doing everything is great. But from a roleplaying standpoint,
isn't it kind of nice to be needed? Isn't it neat to know that you're
GREAT at whatever? Look at a lot of cinematic and book examples;
specialization is just "cool". And it fits in with how a lot of people
feel; Me, for example, I can't do physics or hack computers or play
guitar, but I'm in the middle of six years of training to become a
working zoologist.

anyway, MHO.
Message no. 3
From: Sebastian Wiers <seb@***.RIPCO.COM>
Subject: Re: Speed=everything (Was Re:Geasa and Physical Adepts)
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 23:53:38 -0500
>
> P.S. I suggest throwing boosted 1 or a synaptic accelerator or something of
> their ilk on your rigger. No-one would go into a situation where they know
> they're outclassed without at least some kind of edge. If you follow the
> cyberpunk literature at all, nearly everyone shadowy has some sort of
> speed-enhancement, be it drugs or wires or whatever. Why wouldn't your char?
>
Don't put boosted reflexes in a rigger- it is completely incompatble with VCR,
and maybe with reaction enhancements in a deck- check description in SSC.
Message no. 4
From: Jason <reynoldj@*****.IT.GVSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Speed=everything (Was Re:Geasa and Physical Adepts)
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 15:26:02 -0400
On Thu, 21 Sep 1995, TopCat wrote:

> It just makes sense [that people specialize]. Now, what has started
> happening more often in my group
> is that people aren't specializing near as much (except the mages/shamans).
> Which means that overall, we don't have the intense skill concentration that
> other groups might have. But what we DO have is variety. If the prime
> driver goes down, the secondary can step up. Deckers are starting to use
> reflex enhancements and a smartlink so they don't curl up into a ball at the
> sight of a gun. Samurai *gasp* can do pretty much anything mundane that's
> needed (the all-purpose third man) by slotting a chip and juicing up the
> skillwires. Mages & shamans still tend to specialize, but with 2 or more in
> the group it isn't a problem.
....
> What I'm saying is this, although it happens... specialization to the degree
> of the SRII archetypes is a very rare thing indeed in real life. People
> pick up bits here, bits there, and make the most of it all. Build the chars
> to reflect that...

I absolutely agree with Topcat here. If a character went to school,
why not throw in some hobby/subject they were really good at, such as
"Seattle History" or "Needlecraft" or "Shoplifting" (okay
that might
be under Stealth)? Heck, they might come in handy sometime- what if
you want to sew up your own alpine harnesses or parachutes (unlikely,
because you can buy them, but it could happen) - or you are trying
to impress a potential contact who happens to be an historian
(unlikely, but it could happen)? While some people in my group were more
than happy to play the "solid wall o'cyberdeath," it never much interested
me. I would often play generalists, with skills scattered all over, usually
picking a non combat skill as primary. They might not be the fastest,
nor the strongest, nor the toughest, but when things get really ugly it was
nice to have someone who could disarm the security alarms, open the maglocks,
steal a car and drive it away. Then again, it all comes down to a
group's (and even an individual's) playing style. If the speed demon
cyberzombie (see "Cybertechnology") or whatever else is your cup of tea,
that's more than cool by me (sometimes it is my cup of tea as well).
"I'm OK, you're OK." Just don't try to put Armor: 6 on a civilian vehicle
with a starting max speed of 45 mph.


Re: Speed=Everything. One word for the slowpokes (you know who you are):

COVER.
(lots of it)

(snide word counting will not be allowed)


All of the above is, of course, MHO,
.jason

"Habit is a great deadener." S. Beckett

Further Reading

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