From:	Dave Stone <dstone@******.DREAMSCAPE.COM>
Subject:	Re: Essence and body-index
Date:	Sat, 5 Aug 1995 09:08:27 -0400

On Sat, 5 Aug 1995, Jason Ustica wrote:
> So are you saying that a character who has .1 essence is totally normal,
> and if he/she loses that .1 essence, they suddonly fall over dead?? Come
> on! There has to be something happening to the body or mind in between 6
> essence and 0 essence! While it might not be so dramatic as the Cyberpunk
> system, there would at least be an attitude change. Also, the Cyberpunk
> system injects some gritty darkness into the experience, something which
> Shadowrun definitely lacks. Shadowrun's atmosphere is a carload of circus
> clowns compared to Cyberpunk. Don't get me wrong, I think SR is superior
> to CP, but I think it could use some of CP's dark atmosphere.

I've played CP, SR, and quite a few other games with
Cyberpsychosis. SR has the best system. Essence doesn't measure how
"insane" you are. It measures how much of your 'aura' has been damaged.
The reason I like this is SR doesn't take a real-world thing and change
it, it creates its own logic. Now, a person's aura may have to do with
his magic susceptibility(sp?), and resistance to magic(due to his
connection to the magic of the world), but I doubt having a damaged aura
will kill him. Now, if his aura dies...;)

Dave

| David Stone -- dstone@******.dreamscape.com |
| "Five ride forth, and four return. Above the watchers shall he |
| proclaim himself, bannered across the sky in fire..." |