From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	None
Date:	Fri, 1 May 1998 20:34:43 -0700

[My computer was in the process of sending this when I got dumped from
the Internet; I apologize if this did actually make it to the list.]

Joshua Bell wrote:

> >> EPSILON (-90% essence, x100 cost, Avail. +20)
> >> SUPER EPSILON (-99% essence, x200 cost, Avail. +35)

> Munchkinism.. I think not, you mearly miss my point.

> I was mearly taking the "Essence" term of shadowrun to its logical
> conclusion. I DON'T want runners with every piece of cyberware in the
> books instaled in them.

The difficulty with allowing such low rates isn't that shadowrunner PCs
can get ahold of the equipment: it's that the NPCs can and, by all
rights, should have the top-tier stuff. A megacorp isn't going to waste
its time diddling out zero-generation cyberstuff to what really amount
to elite soldiers. The Essence cost for super-ep cyberstuff remains,
while the nuyen cost drops (they don't pay retail for it) and the
availability disappears (they manufacture it). So for the PCs, they
remain more or less within the bounds of 'normal' SR, while the enemies
can - and, again *should* - get geared up to levels that would normally
require cybermancy or weird Tir rites. You can always GM out of it:
send the runners against strictly fourth-tier companies, or dump enough
money in their laps to let them get the gems -- but that's a LOT of yen.

Incidentally, to compare the various levels to a real-world situation --
when's the last time you saw seven generations of the same product at
market together? This is sort of like having 286s side-by-side with
Pentium II's -- it doesn't happen.


- Matt