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Message no. 1
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 01:45:42 EDT
In a message dated 9/13/1999 11:52:23 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
iscottw@*****.nb.ca writes:

>
> Here's a neat one. A big ol' plant, sort of a...damn. I'm coming up
> completeely blank on the name. Anyway, most of the plant is a large
> pit under ground level, with the stamen and such above ground. The
> plant emits pheremones that have the effect of Desire Reflection,
> luring creatures into the pit, where they get all stickied up, and
> starve. Then they're digested. Sound plausible?
>
> Pitcher plant! That's the one, I think...geez, now I'm not sure.
>
I think you have the right idea here though, and yes, *THAT* is exactly what
I would like to see in some strange games. I think I'll change the topic
here...<changes made at this time>...

Okay, everybody, time to get out of the flaming wars and onto something more
constructive, and I *mean* constructive.

"Pitcher Plants" and "Guardian Vines" are two things now, as well as
"Biofiber". Anyone else? I've had "Treants" of late myself, but it
was the
result of a Manitou spirit running loose in a gunfight. Anymore, give ideas
and actual attributes, game mechanics if you can please.

-K
Message no. 2
From: Starrngr@***.com Starrngr@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 07:14:16 EDT
In a message dated 9/13/99 10:47:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Ereskanti@***.com writes:

> Okay, everybody, time to get out of the flaming wars and onto something
more
> constructive, and I *mean* constructive.
>
> "Pitcher Plants" and "Guardian Vines" are two things now, as
well as
> "Biofiber". Anyone else? I've had "Treants" of late myself,
but it was
the
> result of a Manitou spirit running loose in a gunfight. Anymore, give
ideas
> and actual attributes, game mechanics if you can please.
>
Hmm. How about a varient of the Dreaded "Awakened Kudzu"... Its not just
dual active, but it desnsitive to changes in the astral as well... IE
something creates an astral spike (Like an astrally projecting mage) nearby
(say within the Victems essance in meters) and the stuff starts growing in
that direction and tries to engulf it (Perhaps by making the plant such that
it takes added astral energy to make it grow?) Not sure what most of the
apprapo stats would be, but the critter powers of engulf and Binding would
most definatly be apprapo, as would probobly essence drain (IE if it muckles
on to you astrally or otherwise, it starts feeding on ya...)

goodness, what WOULD the appropriate sort of stats be for Plants??
Message no. 3
From: Scott W iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 10:49:07 -0300
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Ereskanti@***.com."
] Okay, everybody, time to get out of the flaming wars and onto
something more
] constructive, and I *mean* constructive.
]
] "Pitcher Plants" and "Guardian Vines" are two things now, as well as

] "Biofiber". Anyone else? I've had "Treants" of late myself, but it
was the
] result of a Manitou spirit running loose in a gunfight. Anymore,
give ideas
] and actual attributes, game mechanics if you can please.

All right, al right, here's another...

A plant that's sort of a ground-cover, with a mess of vines, flowers,
and every so often, maybe a digestive opening of some sort????? (I'm
stuck on how this sucker'd get its nutrients). Anyway, the ground
cover's covered with teeny thorns, so that anything that walks on it
might get pricked by the thorns, inducing an effect similar to
Paralyzing Touch. When Quickness gets to zero, people just sorta keel
over, and eventually die. This attracts scavengers, who might get
caught, etc.

But you say, this won't be a risk at all to those with boots on! No,
it won't, at least not to their feet. I find critters that are always
deadly all the time to be a little boring, actually. The scariest
situations happen when a normally harmless plant, animal, or mineral
(?) are suddenly deadly because of a change in circumstances, I.E.
"Those rats weren't a problem until you lost your flashlight," or
"gosh, now that your legs are broken, those wild dogs are getting a lot
braver. How many bullets do you have left again?"

Anyway, there it is. If someone can help me with how such a plant
"gets its energy," as it were, that'd be a big help. Most plants have
to dissolve their prey, by soaking it in digestive juices. Any ideas?

-Boondocker
Message no. 4
From: Allen Versfeld moe@*******.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 16:03:51 +0200
Scott W wrote:
>
> All right, al right, here's another...
>
> A plant that's sort of a ground-cover, with a mess of vines, flowers,
> and every so often, maybe a digestive opening of some sort????? (I'm
> stuck on how this sucker'd get its nutrients). Anyway, the ground
> cover's covered with teeny thorns, so that anything that walks on it
> might get pricked by the thorns, inducing an effect similar to
> Paralyzing Touch. When Quickness gets to zero, people just sorta keel
> over, and eventually die. This attracts scavengers, who might get
> caught, etc.
>
> But you say, this won't be a risk at all to those with boots on! No,
> it won't, at least not to their feet. I find critters that are always
> deadly all the time to be a little boring, actually. The scariest
> situations happen when a normally harmless plant, animal, or mineral
> (?) are suddenly deadly because of a change in circumstances, I.E.
> "Those rats weren't a problem until you lost your flashlight," or
> "gosh, now that your legs are broken, those wild dogs are getting a lot
> braver. How many bullets do you have left again?"
>
> Anyway, there it is. If someone can help me with how such a plant
> "gets its energy," as it were, that'd be a big help. Most plants have
> to dissolve their prey, by soaking it in digestive juices. Any ideas?
>
> -Boondocker

How about if it simply relies on the corpses of its prey rotting and
fertilising the soil?

Alternatively, it could send tendrills into the corpse (sort of like an
ivy plant gripping onto a wall)?


--
Allen Versfeld
moe@*******.com
Message no. 5
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 19:56:49 +0200
According to Scott W, at 10:49 on 14 Sep 99, the word on
the street was...

> A plant that's sort of a ground-cover, with a mess of vines, flowers,
> and every so often, maybe a digestive opening of some sort????? (I'm
> stuck on how this sucker'd get its nutrients). Anyway, the ground
> cover's covered with teeny thorns, so that anything that walks on it
> might get pricked by the thorns, inducing an effect similar to
> Paralyzing Touch. When Quickness gets to zero, people just sorta keel
> over, and eventually die. This attracts scavengers, who might get
> caught, etc.
>
> But you say, this won't be a risk at all to those with boots on!

Nature doesn't really "design" plants to penetrate protective clothing,
IMHO :)

> No, it won't, at least not to their feet.

So what you do is have the NPCs lay an ambush in such a way that the plant
is precisely in the kill zone. NPCs open fire, PCs duck for cover, and you
can figure the rest out yourself :)

If you're a native of the area and know about these plants, this would be
a tactic worth considering, I think.

> I find critters that are always deadly all the time to be a little
> boring, actually. The scariest situations happen when a normally
> harmless plant, animal, or mineral (?) are suddenly deadly because of a
> change in circumstances, I.E. "Those rats weren't a problem until you
> lost your flashlight," or "gosh, now that your legs are broken, those
> wild dogs are getting a lot braver. How many bullets do you have left
> again?"

Critters in SR are usually no match for the players' firepower. Plants
would be a different matter -- they don't die if you pump a few bullets
into them, and on top of that players don't really expect them to be
dangerous.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Send BIOS authors and hard drive manufacturers back to school!
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 6
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 14:47:21 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/1999 6:15:20 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
Starrngr@***.com writes:

> Hmm. How about a varient of the Dreaded "Awakened Kudzu"... Its not just
> dual active, but it desnsitive to changes in the astral as well... IE
> something creates an astral spike (Like an astrally projecting mage)
nearby
> (say within the Victems essance in meters) and the stuff starts growing
in
> that direction and tries to engulf it (Perhaps by making the plant such
that
> it takes added astral energy to make it grow?) Not sure what most of the
> apprapo stats would be, but the critter powers of engulf and Binding would
> most definatly be apprapo, as would probobly essence drain (IE if it
muckles
> on to you astrally or otherwise, it starts feeding on ya...)

Okay, that sounds like a viral/mutation on the "Guardian Vines" from MitS
actually. And a nasty consideration too. I think I actually like it, and
you may have given me an idea for a game tonight (I'm looking for something
one-shottish, botanical labs count ;-).

But, to continue your idea, use the stats for Guardian Vines, but merge the
attributes with "FAB-III". Once the vines reach and entangle the target,
they then begin to siphon the energy (magic) out of them.

> goodness, what WOULD the appropriate sort of stats be for Plants??

Body, Quickness and Strength are all given for Guardian Vines actually, and I
could see this being continued. "Intelligence" from the POV of
"responsivity" I could also see. Charisma and Willpower are just not there.
Not unless we get into "Treants" and things that are more "spirit"
than
"plant", at least IMO. Essence and Reaction would also remain, just because
the essence becomes the rating of the paranormal abilities (such as the
Desire Reflection of your Pitcher Plants for instance). Reaction from the
POV of "responsivity" again.

Anything else???

-K
Message no. 7
From: Wolfchild nathan.olsen@*******.msus.edu
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 13:57:12 -0500 (CDT)
On Tue, 14 Sep 1999, Scott W wrote:

> deadly all the time to be a little boring, actually. The scariest
> situations happen when a normally harmless plant, animal, or mineral
> (?) are suddenly deadly because of a change in circumstances, I.E.

This is somewhat off the topic of awakened plants but I remember watching
a nature show a few years back that was investigating an area of Africa
that had a nasty little natural deathtrap. Essentially what happens is
that volcanic vents in the area spew out CO2 gas which tends to flow and
pool in low lying areas. Some of these indentations in the ground (no more
than a meter or two deep) completely filled with CO2. The effect was that
the vegetation thrived on all the CO2, thus attracting various herbivores
from the surrounding area. As they fed on the plants, they'd breathe in
almost pure CO2 and would be too weak to crawl out of the area even though
the edges didn't exceed a 45 degree incline. Eventually they'd suffocate
and die. The dead herbivores (and dead insects as well) would attract
scavengers to the pit which would often suffer the same fate. Most
predetors didn't seem to fall victim to the pit (for a reason I can't
recall), with the exception of snakes and other creatures that move close
to the ground.

This would be a nasty trick to pull on the PCs. Sure some simple spells,
gear, or cyber could prevent disaster but it just isn't something many
runners would be prepared for. Note that air filters wouldn't help because
the O2 in the air is almost completely replaced by CO2.


Wolfchild - "Life ain't easy for a troll named Sue."
--
"Quin tu istanc orationem hinc veterem atque|"Let us spend one day as
antiquam amoves?" -Plautus, Miles Gloriosus|deliberately as Nature. . .
--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--|and not be thrown off the
"There are nights when the wolves are silent|track by every nutshell and
and only the moon howls." -George Carlin |mosquito's wing that falls on
Wolfchild <nathan.olsen@*******.msus.edu> |the rails." -H.D.Thoreau
Message no. 8
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 14:58:21 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/1999 8:52:23 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
iscottw@*****.nb.ca writes:

> All right, al right, here's another...

COOL!!!

> A plant that's sort of a ground-cover, with a mess of vines, flowers,
> and every so often, maybe a digestive opening of some sort????? (I'm
> stuck on how this sucker'd get its nutrients). Anyway, the ground
> cover's covered with teeny thorns, so that anything that walks on it
> might get pricked by the thorns, inducing an effect similar to
> Paralyzing Touch. When Quickness gets to zero, people just sorta keel
> over, and eventually die. This attracts scavengers, who might get
> caught, etc.

Okay, this is absolutely evil, EVIL!, I say. And, it actually does fall into
certain evolutionary developmentals. BTW, how it would get its' nutrients is
from protein and sugar synthesis produced by the enzymes it creates itself.
How would you rate the plant itself though? You would want a mechanic to
include stuff like number of plants, how big is the plant, how much damage
does it take until it no longer works...damn, and Chemistry isn't here
yet....DAMN IT!!!! (in frustration this was said)

> But you say, this won't be a risk at all to those with boots on! No,
> it won't, at least not to their feet. I find critters that are always
> deadly all the time to be a little boring, actually. The scariest
> situations happen when a normally harmless plant, animal, or mineral
> (?) are suddenly deadly because of a change in circumstances, I.E.
> "Those rats weren't a problem until you lost your flashlight," or
> "gosh, now that your legs are broken, those wild dogs are getting a lot
> braver. How many bullets do you have left again?"

Hmmm....a REALLY nasty side effect I think I have just thought of, but I'm
gonna continue down here...

> Anyway, there it is. If someone can help me with how such a plant
> "gets its energy," as it were, that'd be a big help. Most plants have
> to dissolve their prey, by soaking it in digestive juices. Any ideas?

Okay, see above for the obtaining of "energy" sources. As for how to get rid
of the boots, the digestive juices in plants are normally more enzymatic than
they are acidic. Similar to ourselves actually. BUT, if an acidic enzyme
were produced by in the leaves themselves ... which in turn acts as
"Corrosive Secretions", this could damage/degrade armor and/or footwear.
This in turn would allow for those poor runners to suddenly find themselves
in a literally "Death Trap" Field....

Hell, I'm still thinking about the "Poppies" for Wizard of Oz ... and the
Glitterthings from AD&D ...

-K (good guys, keep it coming!!!!)
Message no. 9
From: Starrngr@***.com Starrngr@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 18:59:28 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/99 11:55:13 Pacific Daylight Time, Ereskanti@***.com
writes:

> Okay, that sounds like a viral/mutation on the "Guardian Vines" from MitS
> actually. And a nasty consideration too. I think I actually like it, and
> you may have given me an idea for a game tonight (I'm looking for
something
> one-shottish, botanical labs count ;-).
>
(Starrngr also remembers that K runs SOA -- where Shane is a player and gulps)
However, Thanks for the info on how to apply the stats to the plants...

<Snip how to deterimin stats>

I'd get really nasty here, K. Since we are including Essance/ Magic Drain,
I'd make It Int = essance-1, Reaction 1+essance. Essance is min 3 (Max 12),
but to keep the plant in check it would loose dranned essance at the point of
1 per hour (as compared to vamps which are like 1/day)

> Anything else???
>
> -K

Do you realise what you've done??? youve finally forced me to need to get
MITS...(something which I had been avoiding)
Message no. 10
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 02:48:33 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/1999 7:47:48 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
Starrngr@***.com writes:

> I'd get really nasty here, K. Since we are including Essance/ Magic
Drain,
> I'd make It Int = essance-1, Reaction 1+essance. Essance is min 3 (Max
12),
> but to keep the plant in check it would loose dranned essance at the point
> of
> 1 per hour (as compared to vamps which are like 1/day)

This is the part I personally was needing. The way to run the "powers" of
Awakened Plants. I suppose using the concept of "FAB" in a parallel level
does work. As the plant is "X" size, it has "Y" essence. Not
entirely a bad
idea. I'm not sure I agree however with how to do the Intelligence. For
some reason I consider/keep trying to think of the starving animal. If
anything, it's senses are going harder as its' trying more and more to look
for digestible goodies...

> Do you realise what you've done??? youve finally forced me to need to get
> MITS...(something which I had been avoiding)

Good, you'll probably going to enjoy the adventure in the end.

-K <Evil Wicked Manipulator At Large(TM)>
Message no. 11
From: Starrngr@***.com Starrngr@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 04:21:19 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/99 23:50:05 Pacific Daylight Time, Ereskanti@***.com
writes:

> This is the part I personally was needing. The way to run the "powers" of
> Awakened Plants. I suppose using the concept of "FAB" in a parallel level

> does work. As the plant is "X" size, it has "Y" essence. Not
entirely a
> bad
> idea. I'm not sure I agree however with how to do the Intelligence. For
> some reason I consider/keep trying to think of the starving animal. If
> anything, it's senses are going harder as its' trying more and more to
look
> for digestible goodies...

Ah. Personally, I was sort of seeing it as something Different... The more
"energy" in the system (Essance) the more dangerous it is... Sort of a
magicaly powered "brain". When the plant is starved to its bare minimum,
basicly a hibernation state, its mostly harmless, easy to avoid. but let it
get ahold of something to Feed on, and suddenly it gets a LOT more dangerous.
As its essance drops, it might be hungrier, yes, but it finds its not able
to "detect" and "track" its targets as well... nor can it grow as fast
as it
used to, etc... rather like when you start running out of resources on a
windows machine, so you start turning off programs, the remaing ones work
slower, etc...
Message no. 12
From: Wildfire Wildfire@*************.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 09:22:11 -0400
Okay, 'nother plant idea after last night's observation of a person's first
lesson in the Chinese Finger Trap...

Anyone remember those little sticky pods and burrs you'd pick up in the woods
that stuck to your socks like crazy? What about an Awakened version, that stuck
and didn't let go? The vine kinda reacts like a Chinese Finger Trap, the more
you pull on it to get it off, the tighter it holds on. You step around a bit to
try and pull harder, and step into another patch of it, and now both legs are
stuck, etc. It wouldn't have to eat things, maybe drain essence very slowly, but
mostly it could just be a severe annoyance and significantly hinder progress.
You grow it outside your compound, someone tries to sneak up to a window, and
realizes after several minutes of trying to step AWAY from the window, that they
can't move more than 2 feet. Maybe it can latch on that way in astral, too?
<funny mental image of a mage trapped in the stuff, kinda like a fly on fly
paper>

As always, haven't MitS, so have no clue if I'm duplicating something already
done, but it sounded good...

Wildfire
Message no. 13
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 15:28:19 EDT
In a message dated 9/15/1999 8:24:40 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
Wildfire@*************.com writes:

> Okay, 'nother plant idea after last night's observation of a person's first
> lesson in the Chinese Finger Trap...
>
> Anyone remember those little sticky pods and burrs you'd pick up in the
> woods
> that stuck to your socks like crazy? What about an Awakened version, that
> stuck
> and didn't let go? The vine kinda reacts like a Chinese Finger Trap, the
> more
> you pull on it to get it off, the tighter it holds on. You step around a
> bit to
> try and pull harder, and step into another patch of it, and now both legs
> are
> stuck, etc. It wouldn't have to eat things, maybe drain essence very
slowly,
> but
> mostly it could just be a severe annoyance and significantly hinder
progress.
> You grow it outside your compound, someone tries to sneak up to a window,
> and
> realizes after several minutes of trying to step AWAY from the window,
that
> they
> can't move more than 2 feet. Maybe it can latch on that way in astral,
too?
> <funny mental image of a mage trapped in the stuff, kinda like a fly on fly
> paper>
>
> As always, haven't MitS, so have no clue if I'm duplicating something
> already
> done, but it sounded good...

Oh now this is a cute idea, and no, you didn't duplicate anything.

Now admittedly, I am NOT sure how I'd run this one. I like the idea of the
"Chinese Finger Trap" mechanic, but SR's game mechanics do not lend
themselves really well to this IMO. It would be more of an Intelligence or
Quickness (Reaction as that is an average of the two?) test to "get free"
than strength might be.

Now something I would like to say is that "Essence Drain" is not something I
would want to give to plants of different types. Its' simply WAY too
dangerous and WAY to hard to configure towards "Botanical Mechanics".
Remembering that Essence Drain also requires strong emotional sources, and
this is not something most plants can engender (ignoring the "Pitcher Plant"
concept displayed earlier this week ATM) into a target.

Can anyone, including the source here, come up with a way to operate this
one's mechanics? I'm drawing a blank (the headache I've got ATM doesn't
help).

-K
Message no. 14
From: Scott W iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 02:51:43 -0300
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Wildfire."
] Anyone remember those little sticky pods and burrs you'd pick up in
the woods
] that stuck to your socks like crazy? What about an Awakened version,
that stuck
] and didn't let go?

<snip>

Well, remember that in the interests of believability through
versimilitude, the plant needs to have a reason to latch on to things.
Burdocks, those hooky little balls hat get into your socks, are seed
pods, I think. The awakened version needs a reason to grab stuff
too...maybe its deposting seeds in the fur/clothing/hair of its target,
and it lets go after a while? Or maybe the target has to rip the
tendrils loose, and thus spreads the seeds. Something along those
lines.

-Boondocker
Message no. 15
From: Wildfire Wildfire@*************.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:40:37 -0400
Scott W wrote:

> "And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Wildfire."
> ] Anyone remember those little sticky pods and burrs you'd pick up in
> the woods
> ] that stuck to your socks like crazy? What about an Awakened version,
> that stuck
> ] and didn't let go?
>
> <snip>
>
> Well, remember that in the interests of believability through
> versimilitude, the plant needs to have a reason to latch on to things.
> Burdocks, those hooky little balls hat get into your socks, are seed
> pods, I think. The awakened version needs a reason to grab stuff
> too...maybe its deposting seeds in the fur/clothing/hair of its target,
> and it lets go after a while? Or maybe the target has to rip the
> tendrils loose, and thus spreads the seeds. Something along those
> lines.
>
> -Boondocker

Yeah, I know, couldn't really think of anything nifty. Since its primary
goal was to be a real pain in the ass, I really didn't want it to grab onto
things for essence, so maybe breaking the vine releases seeds or spores, or
whatever it grows from, and since its dual natured, the vines can be broken
in the astral or physical world.

Wildfire
Message no. 16
From: Walter Scheper ratlaw@*******.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:56:06 +0100
At 08:40 AM 9/16/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>Scott W wrote:
>
>> "And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Wildfire."
>> ] Anyone remember those little sticky pods and burrs you'd pick up in
>> the woods
>> ] that stuck to your socks like crazy? What about an Awakened version,
>> that stuck
>> ] and didn't let go?
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Well, remember that in the interests of believability through
>> versimilitude, the plant needs to have a reason to latch on to things.
>> Burdocks, those hooky little balls hat get into your socks, are seed
>> pods, I think. The awakened version needs a reason to grab stuff
>> too...maybe its deposting seeds in the fur/clothing/hair of its target,
>> and it lets go after a while? Or maybe the target has to rip the
>> tendrils loose, and thus spreads the seeds. Something along those
>> lines.
>>
>> -Boondocker
>
>Yeah, I know, couldn't really think of anything nifty. Since its primary
>goal was to be a real pain in the ass, I really didn't want it to grab onto
>things for essence, so maybe breaking the vine releases seeds or spores, or
>whatever it grows from, and since its dual natured, the vines can be broken
>in the astral or physical world.
>
>Wildfire
>
Well, since if its a gene-engineered plant then it doesn't need a survival
reason for why it attaches the pods to people, they just designed it that way.

Ratlaw
Message no. 17
From: Airwasp@***.com Airwasp@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 20:45:34 EDT
In a message dated 9/16/99 9:00:33 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
ratlaw@*******.com writes:

> >Yeah, I know, couldn't really think of anything nifty. Since its primary
> >goal was to be a real pain in the ass, I really didn't want it to grab
onto
> >things for essence, so maybe breaking the vine releases seeds or spores,
or
> >whatever it grows from, and since its dual natured, the vines can be
broken
> >in the astral or physical world.
> >
> Well, since if its a gene-engineered plant then it doesn't need a survival
> reason for why it attaches the pods to people, they just designed it that
> way.
>
> Ratlaw

Or, perhaps the gen-gineered (did I get the name right??) plant had a
unexpected turn when it was found that the pods attach themselves to people.

Perhaps something that could be a possibility is that when the pod(s) attach
themselves to a person, the person is taken over by the plant to perform such
mundane actions as feeding it and defending the plant. There is nothing
truly thoughtful or evil behind the intent of the plant, it is just trying to
ensure it's own growth and the people are merely extensions of it that serve
the plant (for those of you who play AD&D does anyone remember the Illithid
Hive Brains and the slaves that attend to it's own personal pleasure and
survival??? this comes from the Dark Elf trilogy).

For a sicker possibility, the plant is truly sentient and uses the people for
it's own more nefarious purposes beyond basic survival instincts.

-Mike B.
Message no. 18
From: Scott W iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 22:42:05 -0300
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Airwasp@***.com."
] > Well, since if its a gene-engineered plant then it doesn't need a
survival
] > reason for why it attaches the pods to people, they just designed
it that
] > way.
] >
] > Ratlaw
]
] Or, perhaps the gen-gineered (did I get the name right??) plant had a
] unexpected turn when it was found that the pods attach themselves to people.
]
] Perhaps something that could be a possibility is that when the pod(s)
attach
] themselves to a person, the person is taken over by the plant to
perform such
] mundane actions as feeding it and defending the plant. There is nothing
] truly thoughtful or evil behind the intent of the plant, it is just
trying to
] ensure it's own growth and the people are merely extensions of it
that serve
] the plant (for those of you who play AD&D does anyone remember the Illithid
] Hive Brains and the slaves that attend to it's own personal pleasure and
] survival??? this comes from the Dark Elf trilogy).
]
] For a sicker possibility, the plant is truly sentient and uses the
people for
] it's own more nefarious purposes beyond basic survival instincts.

Well, that's way too far-fetched for my tastes, but if it works for
you, run with it.

-Boondocker
Message no. 19
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: the Revenge of Poison Ivy (Re: Astral Defences)
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:32:08 EDT
As this is a topic I was starting, I'll get involved here... ;-)

In a message dated 9/18/99 5:46:50 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
Airwasp@***.com writes:

> Or, perhaps the gen-gineered (did I get the name right??) plant had a
> unexpected turn when it was found that the pods attach themselves to
people.

Unexpected turns should be carefully roadmapped for future reference... ;)

> Perhaps something that could be a possibility is that when the pod(s)
attach
> themselves to a person, the person is taken over by the plant to perform
> such
> mundane actions as feeding it and defending the plant. There is nothing
> truly thoughtful or evil behind the intent of the plant, it is just trying
> to
> ensure it's own growth and the people are merely extensions of it that
serve
> the plant (for those of you who play AD&D does anyone remember the
Illithid
> Hive Brains and the slaves that attend to it's own personal pleasure and
> survival??? this comes from the Dark Elf trilogy).

Actually, there was a plant like this in the Fiend Folio IIRC that did
something similar to this. However, a variation on "Influence" for it's
"Host Bodies" would be pretty scarey indeed. Think of it as a ... hold on...

Think of the entire plant as developing a Symbiotic relationship, and
developing relationship, one that it encourages through magical/chemical
means (endorphin stimulation for example).

> For a sicker possibility, the plant is truly sentient and uses the people
> for
> it's own more nefarious purposes beyond basic survival instincts.

Hell, it'd be more evil on the GM's part if it wasn't sentient. Sentient
things have a way of being directly controlled in SR IMO. Making it "simply
a reactive plant" would be far more interesting to me.

-K

Further Reading

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