Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 17:37:13 -0400 (EDT)
At 07:49 PM 8/11/96 +0200, Dion wrote:

>What would be the case if a team of runners were trying to break
>into a building surrounded by, lets say, an open area with a parking
>lot, etc. As part of defenses, a mage was posted in astral space on
>top of this building and was looking for intruders. As the runners
>attempt to break into the compound, it is my understanding that not
>only will the mage see them but he'll mark them easily. The reason
>being that due to the glow of an aura, any living being would stand
>out like a light house in astral space. Should this tactic be
>standardized amongst corps there would be very little possibility of
>characters getting past the astral guard.

For one thing, they would not "stand out like a lighthouse", since Astral
space is always fully lit, unless, of course, someone has a Power Focus 5
cyberarm or something overpowered.

On the other hand, since Astral space is fully lit, it'd be like standing on the
roof in the middle of the day.

>This would also be more economically beneficial for companies. Hire
>one mage or one huge security force.

Yes, but mages have limits as to how long they can remain astral and charge
beaucoup new yen per hour. Don't forget to factor in the boredom factor
either; after looking at the parking lot for a couple hours, you're going to
become less alert.

How would you count the possibilty of someone going in and then going astral?

That's why wards and patrolling spirits are better.

>What I'm asking is: Is there a range of sight in astral space?

I believe its the same as under fully-lit conditions.

>Can an astrally perceiving mage see through walls and stuff or is it opaque?

Those objects are opaque in Astral space, although mirrors and windows
arguably are not.

>And lastly, can a person sneak up on someone who's astrally perceiving? One
>suggestion that I received was YES you can because non-living things
>are opaque in astral space and thus do add a certain degree of concealment,
>but the target numbers for the person to spot you go way down.

According to Awakenings, there is no Stealth(astral) skill, but a
projecting mage can use other objects as cover (using Stealth as is).
We've always played it that way.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 2
From: "Sascha Pabst" <Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 09:41:54 +0000
On 11 Aug 96 at 17:37, Ubiquitous wrote:
> At 07:49 PM 8/11/96 +0200, Dion wrote:
> >[mage on watch] As the runners
> >attempt to break into the compound, it is my understanding that not
> >only will the mage see them but he'll mark them easily. The reason
> >being that due to the glow of an aura, any living being would stand
> >out like a light house in astral space.

> For one thing, they would not "stand out like a lighthouse", since Astral
> space is always fully lit, unless, of course, someone has a Power Focus 5
> cyberarm or something overpowered.
As I remember, the level of light is determined by the "live-energy" of living
creatures (all animals, people [even metahumans, for you Humanis-oriented
:-)], or plants). And a parking place or free fire range would not exactly be
filled with living entieties IMHO...

> On the other hand, since Astral space is fully lit, it'd be like standing on the
> roof in the middle of the day.
Worse, and for both parties... being astrally present on the roof should be
like holding a torch on a hill in the middle of the night, and visible from a
LONG way. If the runners don't have an astral check before they try to
penetrate, they should be punished, but otherwise the magician will be toast,
attacked by a couple of watchers and maybe an elemental (shamans can't summon,
they are on different domain with their meat bodies... wait, spirits of the
sky...), maybe a nature spirit, possibly an allie, and one or two attacking
magicians will take him down - that'll cost the corp.

> >This would also be more economically beneficial for companies. Hire
> >one mage or one huge security force.
>
> Yes, but mages have limits as to how long they can remain astral and charge
> beaucoup new yen per hour. Don't forget to factor in the boredom factor
> either; after looking at the parking lot for a couple hours, you're going to
> become less alert.
...and one would need _at_least_ 4 magicians who do nothing else but be on
watch, and then the timing would have to be 100% perfect all the times. Most
probably you'd need 5 magicians, and better pray none of these are getting
ill. Not that cheap, I suppose. Hm, Magician being paid for six hour astral
presence on nightshift...

> How would you count the possibilty of someone going in and then going astral?
Low if there's really someone watching the "free fire range", but as I said
before, that magician would be first target. Just don't ground spells through
him, and security wouldn't even know that magician is dead - a comatose body
looks dead all the time...

> That's why wards and patrolling spirits are better.
For defensive matters, yes (to prevent astral entieties to enter an area), but
Dion asked about astral observation to detect living beings...

> >What I'm asking is: Is there a range of sight in astral space?
> I believe its the same as under fully-lit conditions.
Hm, what about levels of emotions? Like background count, but weaker?
Also, see SRII p. 145 for effects of fire, water in astral space on astral
perception.
>
> >Can an astrally perceiving mage see through walls and stuff or is it opaque?
> Those objects are opaque in Astral space, although mirrors and windows
> arguably are not.
Anything that's opaque in "real world" is opaque in astral space, too. Mirrors
are (unless they are one-way mirrors and you are on the right side...), but
windows are not (although I am "working" with Windows95 and find it _quite_
opaque... but that's something else :-)
Again, see SRII p.145, its quite exact the answer to your questions.

Sascha
--
+---___---------+----------------------------------------+--------------------+
| / / _______ | Jhary-a-Conel aka Sascha Pabst |The one who does not|
| / /_/ ____/ |Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.de| learn from history |
| \___ __/ | | is bound to live |
|==== \_/ ======| *Wearing hats is just a way of life* | through it again. |
|LOGOUT FASCISM!| - Me | |
+------------- http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~jhary -----------------+
Message no. 3
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 08:42:11 -0400 (EDT)
At 09:41 AM 8/12/96 +0000, Sascha wrote:
>On 11 Aug 96 at 17:37, Ubiquitous wrote:
>> At 07:49 PM 8/11/96 +0200, Dion wrote:

>> >[mage on watch] As the runners
>> >attempt to break into the compound, it is my understanding that not
>> >only will the mage see them but he'll mark them easily. The reason
>> >being that due to the glow of an aura, any living being would stand
>> >out like a light house in astral space.
>
>> For one thing, they would not "stand out like a lighthouse", since
Astral
>> space is always fully lit, unless, of course, someone has a Power Focus 5
>> or something overpowered.
>
>As I remember, the level of light is determined by the "live-energy" of
living
>creatures (all animals, people [even metahumans, for you Humanis-oriented
>:-)], or plants). And a parking place or free fire range would not exactly be
>filled with living entireties IMHO...

True, there probably wouldn't be very many living things wandering the parking
lot, except for employees entering and leaving.

>> On the other hand, since Astral space is fully lit, it'd be like
>> standing on the roof in the middle of the day.
>
>Worse, and for both parties... being astrally present on the roof should be
>like holding a torch on a hill in the middle of the night, and visible from a
>LONG way. If the runners don't have an astral check before they try to
>penetrate, they should be punished, but otherwise the magician will be toast,
>attacked by a couple of watchers and maybe an elemental (shamans can't summon,
>they are on different domain with their meat bodies... wait, spirits of the
>sky...), maybe a nature spirit, possibly an allie, and one or two attacking
>magicians will take him down - that'll cost the corp.

Can a shaman summon spirits while projecting? I know hermetics can't.

>> >This would also be more economically beneficial for companies. Hire
>> >one mage or one huge security force.
>>
>> Yes, but ally have limits as to how long they can remain astral and charge
>> beaucoup new yen per hour. Don't forget to factor in the boredom factor
>> either; after looking at the parking lot for a couple hours, you're going to
>> become less alert.
>
>...and one would need _at_least_ 4 magicians who do nothing else but be on
>watch, and then the timing would have to be 100% perfect all the times. Most
>probably you'd need 5 magicians, and better pray none of these are getting
>ill. Not that cheap, I suppose. Hm, Magician being paid for six hour astral
>presence on nightshirt...
>
>> How would you count the possibility of someone going in and then going
>>astral?
>
>Low if there's really someone watching the "free fire range", but as I said
>before, that magician would be first target. Just don't ground spells through
>him, and security wouldn't even know that magician is dead - a comatose body
>looks dead all the time...

I'd suspect the mage's boss would have someone keeping an eye on the mage or
connected to a Doc Wagon type device, as wounds in the Astral reverberate
with his meat bod. I think an observer would see the mage's body twitch,
then develop Deadly wounds all over, a la "Nightmare on Elm Street", ie, big
cuts and gashes appear all over him, burn marks start to appear, etc.

Now, if only stun damage were done, that would be harder to detect, IMHO.

>> That's why wards and patrolling spirits are better.
>
>For defensive matters, yes (to prevent astral entireties to enter an area),
but
>Dion asked about astral observation to detect living beings...
>
>> >What I'm asking is: Is there a range of sight in astral space?
>>
>> I believe its the same as under fully-lit conditions.
>
>Hm, what about levels of emotions? Like background count, but weaker?
>Also, see SRII p. 145 for effects of fire, water in astral space on astral
>perception.

Background count in a parking lot? ;-)

>> >Can an astrally perceiving mage see through walls and stuff or is it
opaque?
>>
>> Those objects are opaque in Astral space, although mirrors and windows
>> arguably are not.
>
>Anything that's opaque in "real world" is opaque in astral space, too.
Mirrors
>are (unless they are one-way mirrors and you are on the right side...), but
>windows are not (although I am "working" with Windows95 and find it _quite_
>opaque... but that's something else :-)

I thought it was impossible to read to see anything technological on the
Astral Plane? *grin*

>Again, see SRII p.145, its quite exact the answer to your questions.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 4
From: Marc Lipshitz <MLIPSHIT@****.CO.ZA>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon -Reply
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 16:42:16 +0200
>>> Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net> 12/August/1996 02:42pm >>>
Background count in a parking lot? ;-)

Yeah, from that psychopathic high level employee that kills his victims by
running them over as he leaves work for home every night:)
Marc Lipshitz
Message no. 5
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon -Reply
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 11:57:33 -0400 (EDT)
At 04:42 PM 8/12/96 +0200, Marc wrote:
>> Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net> 12/August/1996 02:42pm >>>

>>Background count in a parking lot? ;-)
>
>Yeah, from that psychopathic high level employee that kills his victims by
>running them over as he leaves work for home every night:)

Don't laugh, Marc. I had that happen to my players once...

The team was called to a meet at a house like that of the "Adams Family",
where the Johnson spoke to them using a radio from upstairs (He was a ghoul,
you see).

Anyhow, when the team left and walked back to the taxi, some woman who knew
the Johnson was a ghoul and assumed they were his henchmen tried to run them
over with her car. The sorceress in the team cast Polterheist^H^H^H^Hgeist
at the
car w/ her Power Focus 5 on, and wound up not only knocking out the woman,
but their taxi driver, and all the PCs! When they awoke, she blamed it on
some punks who threw lucky shots. *laugh*

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 6
From: "Sascha Pabst" <Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 18:26:36 +0000
On 12 Aug 96 at 8:42, Ubiquitous wrote:
[SNIP]
> >[if detected] the magician will be toast,
> >attacked by a couple of watchers and maybe an elemental (shamans can't summon,
> >they are on different domain with their meat bodies... wait, spirits of the
> >sky...), maybe a nature spirit, possibly an allie, and one or two attacking
> >magicians will take him down - that'll cost the corp.
> Can a shaman summon spirits while projecting? I know hermetics can't.
No, they can't (*sigh*), but you could summon a sprit of the sky (mist or
sometimes even storm) before (if the weather's right, of course) and take it
with you.

[toasting the magician unnoticed]
> I'd suspect the mage's boss would have someone keeping an eye on the mage or
> connected to a Doc Wagon type device, as wounds in the Astral reverberate
> with his meat bod. I think an observer would see the mage's body twitch,
> then develop Deadly wounds all over, a la "Nightmare on Elm Street", ie,
big
> cuts and gashes appear all over him, burn marks start to appear, etc.
>
> Now, if only stun damage were done, that would be harder to detect, IMHO.
You are absolutely right, I forgot about that phenomen of "parallel wounds".

[snip range of sight in astral]
> >Hm, what about levels of emotions? Like background count, but weaker?
> >Also, see SRII p. 145 for effects of fire, water in astral space on astral
> >perception.
>
> Background count in a parking lot? ;-)
*grin* No, not background count. But before FASA invented BGC in the Grimoire,
the already had the "emotional radiance" of a place. This doesn't affect
spellcasting etc, but offers a "feeling" of the place, like strong desire,
joy, or desperation (uh, that sounds strange - is there such a word?) . And I
imagine such emotions would (or could) affect how you assense, since assensing
is based on emotions...

[windows, and Windows95 in astral space]
> I thought it was impossible to read to see anything technological on the
> Astral Plane? *grin*
Who said you had to READ anything with this *CENSORED* ?

Sascha
--
+---___---------+----------------------------------------+--------------------+
| / / _______ | Jhary-a-Conel aka Sascha Pabst |The one who does not|
| / /_/ ____/ |Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.de| learn from history |
| \___ __/ | | is bound to live |
|==== \_/ ======| *Wearing hats is just a way of life* | through it again. |
|LOGOUT FASCISM!| - Me | |
+------------- http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~jhary -----------------+
Message no. 7
From: The Jestyr <s421539@*******.gu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 08:04:15 +1000 (EST)
> >As I remember, the level of light is determined by the "live-energy" of
living
> >creatures (all animals, people [even metahumans, for you Humanis-oriented
> >:-)], or plants). And a parking place or free fire range would not exactly be
> >filled with living entireties IMHO...
>
> True, there probably wouldn't be very many living things wandering the parking
> lot, except for employees entering and leaving.

And one helluva lotta bacteria. Which are living, and therefore glow.
Kinda like nice, low-level Astral Mood Lighting (TM) for your parking lot.

> >Hm, what about levels of emotions? Like background count, but weaker?
> >Also, see SRII p. 145 for effects of fire, water in astral space on astral
> >perception.
>
> Background count in a parking lot? ;-)

Let's face it, parking lots arouse strong emotions in people ;) And
there's often murder done ;)


Lady Jestyr

------------------------------------------------------
"There are worse things than death...
and I can do all of them." - The Plague
------------------------------------------------------
Elle Holmes s421539@*****.student.gu.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1503
------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 8
From: "Thomas Holmes" <Thomas.A.Holmes-1@**.umn.edu>
Subject: RE: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 21:02:42
This is how I do building security, I offer it to help with questions
like this.
1) Make a monthly budget to guard the building. This is what the corp is
paying every month solely for security.
2) Use three months as an advance to buy any equipment, including monitors
and sensors and such.
3) Use the lifestyles chart to determine the salary of guards based in
their ability and proffession.
If you do this every time (it gets really easy really fast) and
determine how much of that money gets pocketed by the Johnson in charge
(Hey, they got to make a buck too), building security is really easy to
define, and how much the shadowrunners should be offered the run gets
pretty obvious too. All with very little work. I personally have found the
following :
a) Mages are just out of the question. They cost too damn much for their
worth.
b) Deckers, Riggers and Company Men(wared) are pretty rare - They cost the
same to maintain as 50 normal men!
c) Security systems are pretty much out. A good system of locks and a some
well planned patrols are much cheaper and more reliable than automated
defenses.
Hope this helps somebody out.
Message no. 9
From: rogue@*****.fr (Sebastien Andrivet)
Subject: RE: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 10:04:33 GMT
Thomas Holmes wrote :
[snipped interesting and logical system for determining corp security].

>b) Deckers, Riggers and Company Men(wared) are pretty rare - They cost the
>same to maintain as 50 normal men!

That much ?!

>c) Security systems are pretty much out. A good system of locks and a some
>well planned patrols are much cheaper and more reliable than automated
>defenses.

I've always been told that a good security relied on a balance beetween
electronics and humans. Cheap guards get lazy, can be bribed, are not
always fully alert, and can be be overcome by a physical assault or magical
manipulation. I'd say you're completely right for most corps, but the big
or hi tech ones will probably take a slightly different, less
cost-conscious approach.

Sebastien Andrivet
rogue@*****.fr
France / Europe
"I'm not gonna try to hit him. I'm gonna try to hit myself. Since my skill
with a staff is so low, I have a good chance of achieving critical failure
and hitting the wrong target, and there's only me and him around. So I
attack him by trying to hit myself".
- Fred
Message no. 10
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 12:34:26 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 8:42/12 Aug 96...

> >As I remember, the level of light is determined by the "live-energy" of
living
> >creatures (all animals, people [even metahumans, for you Humanis-oriented
> >:-)], or plants). And a parking place or free fire range would not exactly be
> >filled with living entireties IMHO...
>
> True, there probably wouldn't be very many living things wandering the parking
> lot, except for employees entering and leaving.

In that case, make it appear as though you're an employee going to the
building. It might fool astral magicians, at least if your aura looks like
that of a typical wage slave (little or no cyberware, no magical
activity). IOW: only deckers and initiates can get in that way :)

> Can a shaman summon spirits while projecting? I know hermetics can't.

No. Nobody can summon spirits while astrally projecting, the reason being
that you need to form a bridge between the physical and astral planes,
which you can't do if your consciousness exist only on the astral plane.

> I'd suspect the mage's boss would have someone keeping an eye on the mage or
> connected to a Doc Wagon type device, as wounds in the Astral reverberate
> with his meat bod. I think an observer would see the mage's body twitch,
> then develop Deadly wounds all over, a la "Nightmare on Elm Street", ie,
big
> cuts and gashes appear all over him, burn marks start to appear, etc.

Just hook him up to a life-signs monitor, and you'll notice when somebody
kills him.

> Now, if only stun damage were done, that would be harder to detect, IMHO.

My idea too. Whack the astral magician with a Stun Ball and nobody will be
the wiser, unless he fails to wake up within the time he needs to get back
to his meat body before he dies...

> >Hm, what about levels of emotions? Like background count, but weaker?
> >Also, see SRII p. 145 for effects of fire, water in astral space on astral
> >perception.
>
> Background count in a parking lot? ;-)

Maybe a terrible accident happened? :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
As far as I'm concerned, time's the state of my jeans.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1:
GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+ PE
Y PGP- t(+) 5+ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Message no. 11
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon -Reply
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 12:34:26 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 11:57/12 Aug 96...

> Anyhow, when the team left and walked back to the taxi, some woman who
> knew the Johnson was a ghoul and assumed they were his henchmen tried to
> run them over with her car.[snip]

Does anyone ever throw in random things like accidents that don't involve
the PCs at all, except as witnesses? For example, they sit in a
restaurant somewhere, and somebody mistakes his accelerator for his
brake, crashing in through the wall?

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
As far as I'm concerned, time's the state of my jeans.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1:
GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+ PE
Y PGP- t(+) 5+ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Message no. 12
From: bluewizard@*****.com (Steven A. Tinner)
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon -Reply
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 10:59:59 -0500 (EST)
>> Anyhow, when the team left and walked back to the taxi, some woman who
>> knew the Johnson was a ghoul and assumed they were his henchmen tried to
>> run them over with her car.[snip]
>
>Does anyone ever throw in random things like accidents that don't involve
>the PCs at all, except as witnesses? For example, they sit in a
>restaurant somewhere, and somebody mistakes his accelerator for his
>brake, crashing in through the wall?

Yes, all the time.
My players never know if the random events happening aroundthem are directed
at them personally, or just at society in general.
For example. I have had numerous male and female NPC's try to pick up PC's
and other characters in bars. Had gangers do drive-bys in front of the PC's
safe house, and even had the mall attacked by a Protean!
I was a teenage mutant ninja when teenage mutant ninjas weren't cool . . .
Message no. 13
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 07:19:53 -0400 (EDT)
At 07:49 PM 8/11/96 +0200, Dion wrote:

>What would be the case if a team of runners were trying to break
>into a building surrounded by, lets say, an open area with a parking
>lot, etc. As part of defenses, a mage was posted in astral space on
>top of this building and was looking for intruders. As the runners
>attempt to break into the compound, it is my understanding that not
>only will the mage see them but he'll mark them easily. The reason
>being that due to the glow of an aura, any living being would stand
>out like a light house in astral space. Should this tactic be
>standardized amongst corps there would be very little possibility of
>characters getting past the astral guard.

For one thing, they would not "stand out like a lighthouse", since Astral
space is always fully lit, unless, of course, someone has a Power Focus 5
cyberarm or something overpowered.

On the other hand, since Astral space is fully lit, it'd be like standing on the
roof in the middle of the day.

>This would also be more economically beneficial for companies. Hire
>one mage or one huge security force.

Yes, but mages have limits as to how long they can remain astral and charge
beaucoup new yen per hour. Don't forget to factor in the boredom factor
either; after looking at the parking lot for a couple hours, you're going to
become less alert.

How would you count the possibilty of someone going in and then going astral?

That's why wards and patrolling spirits are better.

>What I'm asking is: Is there a range of sight in astral space?

I believe its the same as under fully-lit conditions.

>Can an astrally perceiving mage see through walls and stuff or is it opaque?

Those objects are opaque in Astral space, although mirrors and windows
arguably are not.

>And lastly, can a person sneak up on someone who's astrally perceiving? One
>suggestion that I received was YES you can because non-living things
>are opaque in astral space and thus do add a certain degree of concealment,
>but the target numbers for the person to spot you go way down.

According to Awakenings, there is no Stealth(astral) skill, but a
projecting mage can use other objects as cover (using Stealth as is).
We've always played it that way.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 14
From: "Thomas Holmes" <Thomas.A.Holmes-1@**.umn.edu>
Subject: RE: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 18:34:28
Here's a thought. Astral space isn't empty. It's full of spirits. All
kinds of wacky goofy random spirits, going about their mysterious and
unknown business. Some places attract these critters, where they are
represented by the game mechanic of background static. Most of the time
they have absolutely no effect on game play, but they are there and can be
seen constantly.
The impression I'm getting from reading this thread is that astral
space is some kind of big grey nothing with some things from the physical
plane stuck in it from time to time. The impression that I got is that it's
a whole world, fully peopled and everything, that bears strong resemblances
to the physical world. To me that implies a busy place, with traffic and
spirits and all kinds of stuff.
If this were the case, a mage would be looking at all kinds of things.
Astral characters probably stick out, since they're kind of out of place,
but it's like seeing a shark in an ocean full of fish, certainly possible,
but really only probable if the shark is close, etc. etc, etc. Just use the
normal vision rules and stealth skills.
Comments and crticisms welcome.
Thomas
Message no. 15
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: RE: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 20:38:07 -0400 (EDT)
At 06:34 PM 8/19/96, Thomas wrote:

>kinds of wacky goofy random spirits, going about their mysterious and
>unknown business. Some places attract these critters, where they are
>represented by the game mechanic of background static. Most of the time
>they have absolutely no effect on game play, but they are there and can be
>seen constantly.

????????
Did you delete something by mistake?

> The impression I'm getting from reading this thread is that astral
>space is some kind of big grey nothing with some things from the physical
>plane stuck in it from time to time. The impression that I got is that it's
>a whole world, fully peopled and everything, that bears strong resemblances
>to the physical world. To me that implies a busy place, with traffic and
>spirits and all kinds of stuff.

No, I consider Astral space to be more like a mirror image of the mundane world,
except it is based on feelings instead of logic. An Astrally projecting mage
sees things in terms of feelings instead of objectively like a mundane.
For instance, a mage watching a shoot-out would see people with unliving
things shooting hate and pain exploding from people,etc.

Errr, think of some sort of psychedelic "bad trip" movie effects from 60's
movies...

I'm not sure how spirits fir in however.

> If this were the case, a mage would be looking at all kinds of things.
>Astral characters probably stick out, since they're kind of out of place,
>but it's like seeing a shark in an ocean full of fish, certainly possible,
>but really only probable if the shark is close, etc. etc, etc. Just use the
>normal vision rules and stealth skills.

No, not like shark and fish, but normal vision rules and stealth apply.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 16
From: bluewizard@*****.com (Steven A. Tinner)
Subject: RE: [SR2] astral recon
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 04:23:54 -0500 (EST)
The impression I'm getting from reading this thread is that astral
>space is some kind of big grey nothing with some things from the physical
>plane stuck in it from time to time. The impression that I got is that it's
>a whole world, fully peopled and everything, that bears strong resemblances
>to the physical world. To me that implies a busy place, with traffic and
>spirits and all kinds of stuff.

My astral space is fairly sparsely populated, except when it is necessary
that it not be.
My players know that the minute they start anything serious in the astral,
they will likely be under seige - esp. on corp turf.

One other thing I like to do now and then, is have something huge fly past a
wizard in astral space. Usually a whale sized spirit - it never fails to
send the mages running for cover.



The Way of the Hero

In each truly heroic struggle there is a time of commitment.
A time when human energies fail, yet more is required . . . and more is given.
Few are equal to that task.
Often that effort ends in failure, for victory is not always for the brave.
But where a man might falter, these ones do not, not while life and spirit
endure.
Not until the last measure is given.
To transcend the man, become the hero.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about [SR2] astral recon, you may also be interested in:

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!