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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Walter Scheper)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Thu Feb 8 18:55:01 2001
The recent thread on Turn to Goo got me to thinking about spells, and here's
one I came up with:

Wrack
Type: M * Target: W * Duration: S * Drain: -1(Wound Level)
Wrack inflicts the target with "phantom" pain by stimulating pain receptors
throughout the body with mana. The pain is illusory, in that it goes away once
the spell caster ceases to sustain the spell. Pain caused by Wrack is not
cumulative with Physical damage, but must surpass the target's current Physical
wound level to have any noticeable effect. It is cumulative with Stun damage.
Wrack only affects things that can feel pain, thus it is useless against non-
animals.

Personally, I don't like the Drain level, but I can't think of anything else
that is balanced. Maybe -1(Wound Level - 1), but then causing Light Wounds is
silly. Any ideas?

That is all
-Walter
---------------------------------------------------------
"We musn't run short of filmbase. Else how could we flood
village and city with our information? The people must
learn how well I govern them. How would they know if we
didn't tell them?"
-Duke Leto Atreides, Frank Herbert's _Dune_
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Scott W)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Thu Feb 8 21:05:00 2001
> The recent thread on Turn to Goo got me to thinking about spells,
and here's one I came up with:

> Wrack

I like it! I might even use it...

Is there a spell that puts people to sleep without causing Stun
damage, i.e. a true 'sleep' spell? I have one in mind but can't
remember if it's necessary.

====-Boondocker

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Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Damion Milliken)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 02:35:01 2001
Walter writes:

> Wrack
> Type: M * Target: W * Duration: S * Drain: -1(Wound Level)
> Wrack inflicts the target with "phantom" pain by stimulating pain
> receptors

This sounds much like the Agony spell in MiTS...

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong
Unofficial Shadowrun Guru E-mail: dam01@***.edu.au
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Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Michael S. Bobroff)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 11:40:01 2001
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott W" <see_scott_run@*****.com>


> Is there a spell that puts people to sleep
without causing Stun
> damage, i.e. a true 'sleep' spell? I have one
in mind but can't
> remember if it's necessary.

A spell that induces sleep without causing any
damage ...

Your best option would be to create a Health spell
that causes the target's body to hyper-produce
melatonin ... this would cause the person to fall
asleep ...

Other methods would involve a manipulation spell
that removes 'air' from around a person ... seeing
as the person can't breathe eventually they will
fall unconscious due to oxygen deprivation.

Then there is also the option of creating an
illusion spell that makes the person think they've
taken damage when they really have not ... this
would create 'phantam' damage until they fall
unconscious ...

Some more ideas from me ...

-Mike
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bira)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 12:15:01 2001
On Thu, 8 Feb 2001 18:56:10 -0500
"Walter Scheper" <ratlaw@*******.com> wrote:

> The recent thread on Turn to Goo got me to thinking about spells, and here's
> one I came up with:
>
> Wrack
> Type: M * Target: W * Duration: S * Drain: -1(Wound Level)
> Wrack inflicts the target with "phantom" pain by stimulating pain
receptors
> throughout the body with mana. The pain is illusory, in that it goes away
> once
> the spell caster ceases to sustain the spell. Pain caused by Wrack is not
> cumulative with Physical damage, but must surpass the target's current
> Physical
> wound level to have any noticeable effect. It is cumulative with Stun damage.
> Wrack only affects things that can feel pain, thus it is useless against non-
> animals.

Aren't there spells that do this already? Agony and Mass Agony,
IIRC. They're in MitS, and are a lot less technical than "stimulating
the target's pain receptors" :) .



Bira - SysOp da Shadowland.BR
http://members.xoom.com/slbr
http://www.terravista.pt/Nazare/2729
Redator de Shadowrun da RPG em Revista
http://www.rpgemrevista.cjb.net
Peça a lista dos PbEMs! :)
Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bira)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 12:25:01 2001
On Fri, 9 Feb 2001 11:52:32 -0500
"Michael S. Bobroff" <airwisp@******************.com> wrote:

>
> Your best option would be to create a Health spell
> that causes the target's body to hyper-produce
> melatonin ... this would cause the person to fall
> asleep ...
>
> Other methods would involve a manipulation spell
> that removes 'air' from around a person ... seeing
> as the person can't breathe eventually they will
> fall unconscious due to oxygen deprivation.
>
> Then there is also the option of creating an
> illusion spell that makes the person think they've
> taken damage when they really have not ... this
> would create 'phantam' damage until they fall
> unconscious ...
>
> Some more ideas from me ...
>
> -Mike

Well, you could also just develop a spell that causes a person
to sleep using game mechanics similar to Petrify. If you get a number of
net sucesses past a certain treshold, the target(s) falls asleep.

Give it a duration of "Permanent", and you have to sustain it
for a while before this kicks in. During the time the spell is being
sustained, the target is under a magically induced sleep. After the
time, their bodies have started sleeping naturally, and the spell
becomes "permanent" (until the victim wakes up, that is).

The good thing about magic is that you don't _need_ to create
scientifically reasonable explanations for its effects. A spell that
makes people sleep or fall unconscious doesn't need to do it indirectly,
using some of the means you talked about.? It can just put the fragger
to sleep :) .


Bira - SysOp da Shadowland.BR
http://members.xoom.com/slbr
http://www.terravista.pt/Nazare/2729
Redator de Shadowrun da RPG em Revista
http://www.rpgemrevista.cjb.net
Peça a lista dos PbEMs! :)
Message no. 7
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 13:15:27 2001
In a message dated 2/9/01 10:47:56 AM, "Walter Scheper"
<ratlaw@*******.com>
writes:
>The recent thread on Turn to Goo got me to thinking about spells, and here's
>one I came up with:
>
>Wrack
[description snipped]

This is pretty much the same thing as the Agony spell on p. 142 of MITS.

Steve Kenson

Talon Studio
http://members.aol.com/talonmail
Message no. 8
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Walter Scheper)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 20:35:00 2001
On 9 Feb 2001, at 15:04, Bira wrote:

[snip
> Aren't there spells that do this already? Agony and Mass Agony,
> IIRC. They're in MitS, and are a lot less technical than "stimulating
> the target's pain receptors" :) .
>
Well, to be honest, the bit about "how" it works is simple fluff. However, I
felt that Wrack was sufficiently different from Agony to be worth mentioning to
the list. IMHO, Agony is primarily intended for use in combat: it has a
reasonably low drain level that is constant regardless of effect. Or in other
words, you're success is based on how well you rolled, not on how much drain
you're willing to resist. Wrack, on the other hand, isn't intended for combat
use; its for when a caster can use his entire spell pool resisting drain,
rather than trying to improve the effect of the spell. Put bluntly, Wrack's
best use is for torturing people to improve your chances at interrogation, and
maybe for combat if you really need to mess up their TN's. Thus, the name
Wrack.

This brings up something that's always bothered me about Shadowrun: the spells
are too generic. MitS did a lot to change this, but I really wish there was
more variety in the effects that spells can have, primarily the combat spells.
Maybe I'm just not looking at the current spells in the correct way, but I've
always disliked the limited nature of powerbolt and manabolt.

That is all
-Walter
---------------------------------------------------------
"We musn't run short of filmbase. Else how could we flood
village and city with our information? The people must
learn how well I govern them. How would they know if we
didn't tell them?"
-Duke Leto Atreides, Frank Herbert's _Dune_
Message no. 9
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Fri Feb 9 21:00:01 2001
>A spell that induces sleep without causing any
>damage ...

<snip complicated ideas>

How about a simple mental manipulation spell that makes them fall asleep
simply by commanding them to do so? Control Thoughts could be used this
way, but is obviously more versatile, so I think a "Command - Sleep" spell
would have lower drain. And obviously, you could make it area effect. MITS
should make the specifis of such a spells design pretty easy.
However, using the spell would be trickier than a simple stun damaging
spell, since SR3 Mental Manipulations have a threshold.

-Seb
Message no. 10
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Kevin Harrison)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Sat Feb 10 13:55:01 2001
On Fri, 9 Feb 2001 17:48:44 -0600, Sebastian Wiers wrote:

>>A spell that induces sleep without causing any
>>damage ...
>
><snip complicated ideas>
>
>How about a simple mental manipulation spell that makes them fall asleep
>simply by commanding them to do so?

<snippage>

This has usually been my take on it. 'Influence' is a great spell for
that... plant a post-hypnotic suggestion to make the victim fall deeply
asleep, or open the gate when you pronounce a certain word, etc...

And of course, there's the ever-popular suggestion: "Pain!" ;) (okay, so
I've been watching too much Babylon 5, and I really like Lyta...)

--
Kevin Harrison <kevin.harrison@***.net>
Message no. 11
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: Wrack and Ruin
Date: Mon Feb 12 00:45:01 2001
<snipt!(TM)>
> This is pretty much the same thing as the Agony
spell on p. 142 of MITS.
> Steve Kenson

Hey, Steve - you've been replying to a lot of stuff on
the list lately - even stuff NOT addressed
specifically to you. Got a bit of time on your hands
these days?

Okay, that's a not so subtle way of fishing for info -
more plainly, what's happening with you FASA
freelancers? Have you heard anything from Wizkids
about future employment prospects, or is it still too soon?

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

Can you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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