From:	The Digital Mage <mn3rge@****.ac.uk>
Subject:	Re: VR2 House Rules (was Re: Otaku)
Date:	Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:00:00 +0100 (BST)

On Mon, 23 Sep 1996, David Buehrer wrote:

> |Well, one rule I have changed is I say that the Detection factor is equal
> |to the Masking rating only (not [Masking + Sleaze]/2). Instead Sleaze is
>
> Isn't that making it to easy for the decker?
Well I found taht not all deckers created prior to VR2.0 had a SLeaze
program, and anyone going naked in the matrix (yes I still use that old
rule) won't have one either. So these people without teh Sleaze were
pretty useless even if their Masking was 6 (officially equals a detection
factor of 3). With only a Tn of 3 for Host tests an alert is going to go
off pretty darn soon, and IC will appear even sooner. And if a Probe IC
is teh first to be activated you can kiss your cybered arse good bye.
Still, thats only how I see it :)

>
> How about Detection Factor = (Masking + Sleaze)/2 (original
> rule). Sleaze is used to suppress instead of Detection
> Factor. That way each IC suppressed only drops the
> Detection Factor by half a point (round down). If a decker
> with Masking 6 and Sleaze 6 (DF of 6) suppresses one piece
> of IC his DF drops to 5.5 (round down to 5 for game
> purposes). Suppressing another piece of IC will drop his
> DF to 5.0. So suppressing does affect the decker, but not
> as much.
Possible, but it still doesn't get over the original problem I had with
teh VR2.0 rule. It seemed to me that teh only reason Sleaze was included
in the Detection Factor was because FASA couldn't think of anything else
to do with it.


The Digital Mage : mn3rge@****.ac.uk
"Life is a choice, Death....an obligation."-Me
Shadowrun WWW site at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~mn3rge/Shadowrun