From:	Mark Steedman <M.J.Steedman@***.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject:	Re: Sr Companion
Date:	Wed, 4 Dec 1996 13:28:40 GMT

Gurth writes

> Spike said on 21:33/ 3 Dec 96...
>
> > |FYI, my players are screaming bloody murder about the time and money it
> > |now takes to improve skills. (More the time than money.)
> >
> > Tell them "Tough luck!"
> >
> > Shadowrun is SUPPOSED to be a slow progression system...
>
> Skill advancement times are something I like and don't like at the same
> time :) I tend to favor the idea that you don't have to study a skill if
> you've used it in the game since last time you increased its level
> (naturally, the GM decides whether or not you used the skill enough to not
> have to study).
I recon the system in the Companion is pretty good, ok you can always
want better but someones got to invent it. What i dod like for a
change is that it is possible still to advance on your own therefore
hard though it might be it is possible for a PC to become 'the world
authority in.......' at least in theory. In two many such systems you
rappidly find that 'they don't matter, the teachers are better than
the PC's can get' or 'the PC's soon reach the limits of available
teachers and get stuck as they can never advance past the best
teacher about'. If it weren't for one or two get outs ED would suffer
from the latter [but there are some ways around the problem though
they takle advantage of ED's VERY high magic setting]

> I don't know if the Companion covers this, as I only got it this morning
Sounds like you've found a faster supplier!

> and haven't really had a chance to read it (with 209 mails from this
> list, who has the time? :)
>
Very similar to the pile here, and only about half of them were on
subject.

Folks can you keep the 'flame x to hell and back' to private mail in
future, over 50% of the last batch of mails were all about the one
guy from .aol nearly none of which were intended for anyone but him!

Mark