From:	"Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Beginning character limits
Date:	Thu, 19 Aug 1993 09:45:57 -0700

>>One of the prospective players for my SR campaign is upset because I won't
>>let him create his samurai with alpha/beta ware or Bioware. He thinks I'm
>>being unreasonable. I think that he should have to find that sort of thing
>>(and the black clinic to install it) as part of the roleplaying aspect of
>>the campaign.

These are not unreasonable rules assuming all the players are using starting
characters. The alpha/beta rule is completely reasonable. The bioware rule
doesn't make a whole lot of sense if the game starts in 2054 since bioware is
readily (for shadowrunners anyway) available. But if that's the way the GM
and the players like it, it should stand.

>>He wasn't thrilled when I told him that any mage wanting spells at higher
>>than force 3 has to have magical theory. Another one of my house rules is
>>that spell formulas aren't normally sold at higher than force 3 - mages
>>wanting to go higher than that will have to create the formula themselves or
>>persuade someone who already has to part with theirs. Seemed like a good
>>way to suck off the magicians time and money while the deckers build new
>>decks and the samurai are getting their cyberware upgraded.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You don't have to have magic theory
to learn spells. Now it's completely reasonable for you to look at the PC
mage and say, nice but you need to have some magical theory, but it should not
need to be written into a rule. As GM you have a say so on how the players
design their characters. Just say all magicians must have magic theory.

As for spell formual ratings, instead of saying they are only sold are force 3,
make the cost equal to the the drain code price (in SRII) times the force which
it is written at. That allows the player to buy them at whatever force he
wants, but forces him to pay for it.

>>All of this information was on the sign up sheet I posted looking for SR
>>players.

That's very good. Having an organized GM is a very good thing, but you should
consider letting the players make a case for anything they want. Just make sure
that they do a really good job convincing you as to why they should have it.
For me the best two are either convincing me the error of my ways (a very rare
occurance) or proving to me that they have a very good idea of who the character
is an why they should have whatever it is they want.

See Ya in Shadows,
Jason J Carter
The Nightstaler