From:	"Bruce H. Nagel" <NAGELBH@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Magical Magic
Date:	Fri, 11 Jul 1997 01:28:42 -0500

You wrote:
> Well, if you remove the "soak" roll, then all that talk of variable
> versus fixed staging becomes somewhat of a moot point doesn't it? What
> would you do instead? Do you mean remove the resistance roll completely,
> or do you mean use something else?
Ohhhh... maybe remove resistance completely. Let's face it, many physical
attacks you see in modern weapons, a tough body doesn't mean much to them.
Sure a light pistol, a high Body might mean you would survive (I'm giving the
benefit of the doubt here) but realistically, a bullet kill a big person and a
little person in about the same way. Perhaps it would make a difference, but I
think the rule is there to allow PCs to indulge in stuff which by all rights
should get you seriously hurt or killed. How often have you stood and faced
armed opponents instead of diving for cover in SR?

> If you mean to remove the roll completely... I'd have to whole-heartedly
> DISagree. If you do that, you completely remove any sense of uncertainty
> from the game.... and combat becomes unrealistically predictable.
No it doesn't, any more than BattleTech combat in unrealistically
unpredictable. Who gets hit and how hard is still up to fice and character
stats, eh?

> Not to mention you remove any sort of "beyond the ordinary"-ness that is
> half the fun.
Well, that's all a matter of opinion, I don't care for that as much. I like
cyberpunky SR, where you watch your butt and avoid fights because they get
people geeked, sometimes the wrong people. People are a lot more careful about
their char's in Cyberpunk or CyberSpace than they tend to be in SR, because in
SR there are Dice pools and Body rolls to pull your fanny out of the
meatgrinder. In CP people who get shot at often tend to end up as spare parts
in the banks...

losthalo, just defending his POV, knowing SR will never change to suit him, he
just has to tinker with rule alternatives