| From: | Todd James Gillespie <toddg@****.ACS.UNT.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: New totem. Whaddayatink? |
| Date: | Wed, 31 May 1995 18:49:25 -0500 |
imitating myself? The point of totems is the conformity to certain quos
the totem requires. Adds roleplaying. But more importantly is how you
and Mike are parading this as a boon to the reality of the diversity of
humanity. Frankly, no shit. That's the reason we can call this a
role-playing game, where human creativity comes into play, instead of
just rolling the good 'ole d20 repeatedly for a few hours. But the fact
of the matter is, creating a 'diverse' human totem is quite silly,
because totems describe how we can be pigeon holed by our standpoint on
life. Not complete conformity, but how we will normally default in our
actions. This totem is reaffirmation of higher thought, and I don't
think we really ned to be reminded that we have forebrains. Also, the totem
below looks like a lucrative (munchinized) coyote.
BTW, the Talker deconstructs itself. Think about it. It's philosophy is
that talking, communication, and understanding can solve all our
problems. So, no combat spells, or damaging manips. Healing? maybe, but
it's kind of tangent to the totem. Illusions? not really needed, seing as
no communication will occur with that. Detection? could get a bit of use
with sensing the other guy and getting an upper hand, but that overrides
the idea that talking can solve everything. So what's left? Prepare Good
Cappuchino And Establish A Good Atmosphere For Conversation, Force 7?
(expendable fetish is a coffee bean, of course) Sorry, Gurth, it doesn't
have a purpose.
ABTW, no one would play a Fighter. No contacts and everyone gets sick of
him killing the meet, not to mention what will happen when the recovery
target insults the Fighter.
AABTW, come on, Mike, I was your roommate. I know you have better ideas.
AAABTW, I did like the UN joke, though.
On Wed, 31 May 1995, Michael Orion Jackson wrote:
> On Wed, 31 May 1995, Gurth wrote:
> >
> >
> > MAN (or WOMAN)
> > CHARACTERISTICS: Able to survive in virtually any environment by making the
> > environment adapt to him instead of the other way around, Man can be a
> > danger to others. He is responsive to real or imagined threats, making him
> > unpredictable to a degree. In dangerous situations, Man generally knows two
Gurth, have you ever thought about what any living thing does to a threat?
> > ways to react: talk, or fight, and so Man shamans are divided into two
> > factions: Talkers and Fighters. Talkers feel that all problems can be solved
> > by talking, talking, and talking some more, while Fighters resort to
> > violence to solve problems, if given half a chance.
> > FAVORED ENVIRONMENT: Urban
> > ADVANTAGES: +2 dice for Combat spells if a Fighter; +2 dice for manipulation
> > spells if a Talker; +2 dice for conjuring any spirit of man.
> > DISADVANTAGES: Man has always been good at destroying things, giving him -1
> > die for health spells.
> > If a Talker is placed in a situation where a fight will break out, a Man
> > shaman must roll a Willpower (6) test. If the test fails, the shaman must
> > continue to try and talk it out; if it succeeds, the shaman may participate
> > in the fight.
> > If a Fighter shaman is placed in a situation where violence might only make
> > matters worse for the shaman, he must also roll a Willpower (6) test;
> > failure means he does use violence to try and solve the problems at hand;
> > success allows him to try and talk it out.
> > In any combat situation, Man fights to disable his opponent in any way possible.
> > NOTE: Toxic Man shamans are always Poisoners.
> >
> >
> > Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
> > "Did we fire in that club?" "No." "Then we're still
welcome there."
> > Geek Code v2.1: GS/AT/! -d+ H s:- !g p?(3) !au a>? w+(+++) v*(---) C+(++) U
> > P? !L !3 E? N++ K- W+ -po+(po) Y+ t(+) 5 !j R+(++)>+++$ tv+(++) b+@ D+(++)
> > B? e+ u+@ h! f--(?) !r(--)(*) n---->!n y? Unofficial Shadowrun Guru :)
> >
> Good idea, but perhaps the target numbers should be four or five
> instead. After all, the key aspect of Man is versitility (sp?). And, as
> a subset of the Talkers would be Healers. For every violent punk killing
> and maiming for the nihilistic joy of it, there is always some kind soul
> who volunteers at the hospital, cooks for the homeless, or lends a hand
> to stranded motorists. Give the Healers a +3 dice bonus on Health spells,
> and a -1 die penalty to all combat and damaging manipulation spells due
> to their desire to help rather than harm.
> What would the "specs" on a Man Spirit be, anyway? Modern
> Man is so diverse culturally that virtually any set of characteristics could
> pop up. And if you include the cultural images of our past, the possibilities
> are nearly infinite.
> For example, a Fighter spirit might be: an Uruk-Hai (primal
> man,see Altered States), a zulu warrior, a green beret, or virtually
> anything else that would be considered an archetypal image of violence.
> A Talker spirit would probably look like a Fighter Spirit, only it would
> be wearing powder-blue headgear or have powder-blue patches on. Its
> conjured equipment would probably be white in color and diverse in origin.
> A Healer spirit would be similar in appearance to Talker spirits, except
> that it would probably look somewhat medical in appearance.
> I don't have any books handy, but the Powers of the spirit(s) should be
> fairly easy to decide. They could be virtually anything, and they would
> depend on which type of shaman was summoning them.
> __________________________________________________________________________
> |Michael Orion Jackson |"A college student is a mechanism for |
> |moj0001@****.acs.unt.edu |converting caffeine into finished |
> |>Flaming is immature.< |homework" -unknown, but perceptive author |
> __________________________________________________________________________
>
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