From:	dbuehrer@****.org (David Buehrer)
Subject:	Re: sidebars & potty mouth
Date:	Wed, 11 Sep 1996 08:05:38 -0600 (MDT)

I feel like I now know where everyone is coming from. If
you'll forgive me I'm going to paraphrase the theories as a
diplomatic attempt to any end confusion that might exist.

Faux Pas wrote:
|
|>Wrong question. :) Give us a good reason why you cannot factor in the
|>sidebar comments to cover discrepencies in the rules.
|
|Me: You cannot take the sidebar comments as actual rules.
|FASA: "Various shadowrunners have annotated these articles with thier
|opinions and additional information they consider to be of interest to the
|reader. The gamemaster must decide whether to treat these options and
|evaluations, inserted by individuals who may hold a biased view, as valid."
|This is from the Guide to Real Life.
|
|Like I've said before, similar statements can be found in various
|sourcebooks. Because the GM has leeway as to if the postings are valid,
|they are not hard and fast rules. That's why you can't treat sidebar
|comments as actual rules for the Shadowrun 2nd Edition game system. If you
|as the GM says, "that's how it'll work in my game", then that's a house rule
|and it'll work for your game. When FASA says "standard doors use the
|Barrier Rating of their construction material. Security doors have twice
|the rating of the material", then that's a hard and fast Shadowrun 2nd
|Edition rule. You can always make up a house rule to counter that, but
|we're discussing the rules that FASA uses in it's Shadowrun game system.

I.e., the sidebars are great for the individual GM but
don't hold up to well when used in debates.

There are three possible results when a living net falls on
top of an astral mage trapping him between the net and the
ground:

1. The mage's form has integrity and hold's up the net.

2. The mage's form does not have integrity and does not
hold up the net.

Neither of these can be supported or refuted by the rules.

3. The mage's form intersects with the aura of the net.

The last one is supported by a side bar comment which isn't
considered reliable enough to be a *rule* for debate.

Everyone has pretty much stalemated at this point because
of the lack of rules or the leeway present to interpret the
rules. At this point I am willing to move on and work on
the actual effects of *any* of the aforementioned results.
And, until such time as FASAMike gets back to us I would
like to work on them. Why? Cuz I love a challenge. My
following posts on this subject will reflect this.

-David

/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking
alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~