From:	Dustin Wood <cukoo@*****.NET>
Subject:	Re: Everyone(almost) who plays Shadowrun is a Munchkin!
Date:	Sun, 10 Sep 1995 13:58:40 -0700

>>For that matter, in real life I need five dioptres of contact lens in
>>each eye. If cybereyes were affordable, common and known to be safe (like,
>>millions installed and few problems) I'd seriously consider them just to
>>avoid having to wear contacts or glasses.
>
>Same thing here -- I'm near-sighted (I can't read a license plate at 20
>meters...) but I'm too stubborn (or maybe stupid :) to wear glasses, let
>alone contact lenses. Now if there weren't all these rumors about eye
>surgery going bad, I might look into that. Same thing if cybereyes were
>available and safe, I'd seriously start thinking about that. And then quite
>probably including something like a low-light option (for which I have
>nearly no use because I hardly ever go anywhere I might need it, but like I
>said, I like gadgets :)
>
>>Munchkinism, IMHO, is when the PC exists only as a way to be bigger/better/
>>faster than everyone else. Most of my PCs could easily be called
"munchkin"
>>from an evaluation of their stats... yet they are downright vulnerable,
>>because they have weaknesses, blind spots, consciences.
>
>I (used to) have a player who could very easily be called a munchkin,
>looking at his character's stats. Body 12, Strength 9, that sort of thing
>(he's human, not ork or troll...). But the player plays/-ed the character
>with definite weaknesses. "Elementals? I shoot my Colt!" even though the
>player damn well knows he would do much more harm to them if he punched them
>instead.
>
>--
>Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
> He has you all fooled
> -> Unofficial Shadowrun Guru & NERPS Project Leader <-
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>
I have found that giving a character a disadvantage can often add a
lot to the role-playing aspects of the character, some examples that come to
mind are a blind decker or mage. A decker could see VR and a mage could use
astral perception, but both limit his ability to interact with the physical
world. A physical affliction or phobia, or some kind of quirky mental code
seem to work well too.
Illness, fear of water or flying, or a strict code against killing
are examples of this. Anyone have feedback?