From:	Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:	Re: Mage bias and nobody-likes-me-I'm-a-sammie...
Date:	Mon, 3 Apr 1995 19:35:06 GMT

Bob Ooton writes:-
> And so far I haven't heard so much as one reply saying ">I< have and do
play
> a samurai as a main character." Looks like the bias is showing itself.

I and my wife both do (well, Lynch is a mercenary, but you get the point...)

Mages are inherently far more powerful than samurai. If they aren't, the guy
playing them is role-playing rather than munchkinizing: but the munchkins
all seem to settle on magicians.

A lot of the problems improved in the Second Edition, when it became possible
to kill opponents with pistols instead of assault cannon. But the fact remains
that a magician can only be disarmed by gouging his or her eyes out: while
for a mercenary like Lynch, taking his weapon, cuffing him and putting him
in leg-irons does pretty much eliminate his options unless the NPCs are
careless.

Why do I play a merc rather than a magician? Because he has to work harder to
succeed and that makes him more interesting to play. And while his
combat skills are gross, he's learned to deck (after running into several
other deckers who were either useless, stupid or working for the enemy he
decided he was the only person he trusted doing his matrix work) and has a
lot of skills which really aren't relevant to him being a flat-out combat
machine, but do help define him as a rounded character.

And how did Lynch enter the game age 25, wired-2, with a slew of combat skills?
In our game that's rare. Where did he come from? The answer...a detailed
background that several GMs have pulled major runs from. More fun than a
magician's "about sixteen, lived on the streets, do spells".

Less powerful maybe. I play a shaman too, but he's less interesting because he
usually wins without trouble: intelligent use of magic (_not_ just relying on
stomping faces, but fighting smart) makes a firefight much shorter. Illusion
spells of a gun turning into a poisonous snake - throw it away! Several
enemies stalking you? Mask one to look like you and turn on the lights :-)
Custom-written spells and some thought...but it's too easy :-( Lynch has
more fun.

--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or
for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk