Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Drekhead <drekhead@***.NET>
Subject: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 12:29:09 +0500
Thanks for confirming my feelings on the issue. Now for a follow up
question:

If a mage knows a ward is in place, what is to keep her from
deactivating her focus, passing through the ward, and then activating
it again on the other side. I seem to think nothing. Is that right?

--

drekhead@***.net
++++
Sig file lost.
++++
Message no. 2
From: Les Ward <lward@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 13:09:16 -0400
>If a mage knows a ward is in place, what is to keep her from
>deactivating her focus, passing through the ward, and then activating
>it again on the other side. I seem to think nothing. Is that right?

Correct. IMO, that is the sole reason FASA added the ability to turn foci
on and off to SRII. Without such an rule, wards are pretty pointless for
your average mage.

Wordman
Message no. 3
From: Drekhead <drekhead@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 14:58:39 +0500
On 8 Oct 97 at 13:09, Les Ward wrote:

> >If a mage knows a ward is in place, what is to keep her from
> >deactivating her focus, passing through the ward, and then activating
> >it again on the other side. I seem to think nothing. Is that right?
>
> Correct. IMO, that is the sole reason FASA added the ability to turn
> foci on and off to SRII. Without such an rule, wards are pretty
> pointless for your average mage.

Actually, isn't the opposite true? Since you can turn on/off foci,
wards are useless for such a purpose.

I guess I don't understand your point of view.

--

drekhead@***.net
++++
Sig file lost.
++++
Message no. 4
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 21:11:00 +0100
Drekhead said on 12:29/ 8 Oct 97...

> If a mage knows a ward is in place, what is to keep her from
> deactivating her focus, passing through the ward, and then activating
> it again on the other side. I seem to think nothing. Is that right?

Completely true. As such, a ward would make a good thing to use in an
ambush: if the magician knows it's there, they'll switch off the focus and
be without its bonuses at the moment you spring the ambush; while if they
aren't aware of the ward you spring the ambush when the magician is
tangling with the ward.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
The stupid is always possible.
-> 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. 5
From: Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 15:22:20 EST
> > Correct. IMO, that is the sole reason FASA added the ability to turn
> > foci on and off to SRII. Without such an rule, wards are pretty
> > pointless for your average mage.
>
> Actually, isn't the opposite true? Since you can turn on/off foci,
> wards are useless for such a purpose.

Depends on why you have the ward. If I'm a mage with foci, it's got
to be annoying to create a ward and then find that I can't get
through it. If I'm trying to block people, that's fine. But then
again, If I'm trying to block ritual sorcery etc, then I want to be
able to get inside the ward, and presumably out again.

My favorite trick is sending elementals to deep astral, then calling
them while inside the ward.

-=SwiftOne=-
Message no. 6
From: Mike Elkins <MikeE@*********.COM>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 15:59:10 -0500
Gurth wrote:
>As such, a ward would make a good thing to
>use in an ambush...

Yes, this is the key to understanding why wards
are useful: you put them in places where the
sentry guns have unrestriced fire... Suddenly
the spell locked invisibility isn't quite the trump
card it used to be.

Double-Domed Mike
Message no. 7
From: Les Ward <lward@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 15:33:36 -0400
Drekhead wrote:
>On 8 Oct 97 at 13:09, Les Ward wrote:
>> Correct. IMO, that is the sole reason FASA added the ability to turn
>> foci on and off to SRII. Without such an rule, wards are pretty
>> pointless for your average mage.
>
>Actually, isn't the opposite true? Since you can turn on/off foci,
>wards are useless for such a purpose.
>
>I guess I don't understand your point of view.

We approach the problem from opposite sides. Say you are a make with a
spell lock, and you want to create a ward in your bed room to keep out
astral snoopers. If you cannot turn your spell lock off, you would either
be trapped in your room or unable to enter it, depending on what side of
the ward you are on when it first went up. Sure, you could cross it, but
you either lose the lock or the ward, which would make the whole thing to
annoying to be useful. You want a barrier that you can cross, but astral
beasties can't.

Wards are primarily for keeping out astral projectors and spirits, not for
preventing people from bringing foci into an area.

Wordman
Message no. 8
From: Drekhead <drekhead@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 20:02:06 +0500
On 8 Oct 97 at 15:33, Les Ward wrote:

> Wards are primarily for keeping out astral projectors and spirits,
> not for preventing people from bringing foci into an area.

Ok, we agree then, because of course a ward is not for that, because
you can simply turn the focus on and off.

Thanks for the clarification.

--


===DREKHEAD==================================drekhead@***.net====
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/6990/index.html
=================================================================
What has four legs and an arm? A happy pit bull.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 9
From: Sebastion Wires <landsquid@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 12:10:17 PDT
>Subject: Wards vs. Foci Part 2
>To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
>
>Thanks for confirming my feelings on the issue. Now for a follow up
>question:
>
>If a mage knows a ward is in place, what is to keep her from
>deactivating her focus, passing through the ward, and then activating
>it again on the other side. I seem to think nothing. Is that right?
>

Dah, Oui, si. You are absolutely correct. That is the smartest way for
a shaman to bring his foci into his medicine lodge (the original ward) ,
which, being the only place he can do rituals, he'll eventually want to
do. Wards are designed to stop astral intuders- spirits and projectors.
They incedentally catch some mages walking in with active spells or
foci.

MONGOOSE

>--
>
>drekhead@***.net
>++++
>Sig file lost.
>++++
>


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Wards vs. Foci Part 2, 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!