From:	Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Cyber-psychosis
Date:	Fri, 16 Jun 1995 12:45:41 -0400

On Thu, 15 Jun 1995, Robert Watkins wrote:

> > To me, this is where cyberpsychosis comes into play, namely where
> > the brain is affected. I run it such that "cyberpsychosis" is the
result
> > of neuro-chemical imbalances caused by the minute charges and
> > artificial magnetic fields caused by the implantation of neural ware. If
> > you could piss away your entire Esence on ware that had absolutely no
> > neural interface, I would say that you were in no danger of succumbing to
> > the disorder. I realize that it's not technically a Shadowrun mechanic,
> > but then again, nobody ever accused my campaign of being standard.

> So... a decker with a cranial cyberdeck is more likely to be cyberpyschotic
> then the sam, loaded to the gills with performance enhancing cyber/bioware.
> After all, the sam only has a couple of neural interfaces, while the decker
> has had lots of stuff put in his head (especially if he's got any memory to
> speak of).

Precisely. And for reference, the one decker in the party who
has *lots* of headware is probably less stable than even the more
wigged-out sams.
But you'd be surprised what interfaces with your brain. I don't
use the "interface link" rules in Shadowtech because they seemed kinda
hokey. I mean they make sense in an esoteric kind of way, but when you
actually think about it, how can you control all of these kinds
of ware off a single link to the brain (regardless of similarity)? Why
doesn't it change the Essence cost when installing cyberware that would
use an existing interface? As a plus, though, my players are also not
subject to interface hits.
On the other hand, pretty much any cyberware that can be mentally
controlled has an impact on the user's psyche. This includes things like
smartgunlinks, cybereyes with multiple options, headware communications,
cyberlimbs, etc. And stuff like wired reflexes is so neurally invasive
that it affects you as well.

> Well, what can I say? Cool... Different, but cool.

Well, I'm glad you think so. I have to agree with Rat in that if
it's done poorly, the whole "cyberpsychosis" thing can be a crock. But
if you take the time to explain it reasonably, it can add an interesting
new role-playing dimension to cyberware.

Marc