From:	Stuart M. Willis hbiki@****.geocities.com
Subject:	A perfectly acceptable reason to test the new list...
Date:	Tue, 9 Feb 1999 14:51:40 +1100

Dave Post <caelric@****.com> doth quoth:

[snip]

>Seriously though, cyberware does not make a mage a munchkin, and arbitrary
>GM penalties to a mage character just because he got some cyber are wrong;
>they do not make sense, they alienate the player, and generally, are bad
>all around.

Did I say I supported arbitary GM penalities to a magical character who
decides to get Cyberware? No. Remember I played a mage with cyberware, and
he is one of my fave characters (actually, I love all my characters, but
thats cause I spend so much time on their personalities and the like). I
suffered more racism than I did anything else.

I was offering a role-playing solution to the problem of heavily cybered
mages. Y'know, not rules.

In 2060 seeing mages with datajacks, chipjacks, smartlinks, maybe even
cybereyes and the like is probably reasonably common in the shadows.

However, getting more than that (say obvious cyberlimbs, maybe even
invasive surgery like Wired Reflexes) would suggest someone is on the path
of the burnout (see p. 25 of Awakenings). While they may not be, other
people (magicians or not) may suspect it, and treat the magician
differently. Doubt their abilities, cause their magic "got even slower"
(op. cit).

If you reread the "Cyberware and Social Interaction" section of SR3 (p. 93)
you may notice that it explicitly states that: "Additional modifiers are at
the gamemaster's discretion, depending on the situation" and then offers a
good example.

As far as I'm concerned, the general 'canon' of Shadowrun is that the
majority of Magicians fear getting cybered, some (Especially Shamans)
"shudder at the very thought of implanting metal into a living body." [op
cit.]. The former probably accept Street Sams, while the latter do not -
however, how are they going to treat someone who is, like them, a magic
slinger... ? This person has done what they fear, what they shudder at the
thought at doing. Degrees of discrimination are going to happen, as far as
I'm concerned... and when a mage is heavily cybered up, well, the
discrimation is going to worse (eg "You call yourself a magician and yet
you are more machine than metahuman!? I spit on your kind").

As for mundanes. Well, they generally distrust magicians (read the opening
sections of Awakenings if you disbelieve me) or at least don't understand
them. How they are going to react to a mage with cyber? I wager they'd be
even more distrusting... cause s/he's *obviously* got to be more dangerous,
if not in combat, then at least mentally.

It's not going to happen all the time, but its a good way of reminding
players of their characters and the fact that these characters live in a
world populated by people.

To me, this is to some degree implied in the SR canon - but it need not be
stated, cause its a) relatively obvious and b) a matter of GMs discretion
at how they construct the RP atmosphere of 2060... the latter is really
hard to capture in Sourcebooks.

>Now, on the other hand, NON-arbitrary penalties can be sensible. Say
>Derek, my racoon phjysical shaman decides to get some cyber. Racoon might
>have a problem with him doing so. This doubly applies to some of the
>totems, and applies somewhat less to other totems. For example, a combat
>totem might think it is justified because it helps him in combat. A
>peaceful totem would obviously have a larger problem.

So what's the problem with my role-playing of ostracisation? Or at least
distrust from other characterS? It's not like I'm suddenly making the
magician loose half their spell pool or the like.

>
>PS Of course, some are going to disregard this totally because on of my
>characters is a physical shaman.....Oh well.... ;)

:-) I was tempted to make the character I am working on a Physical Tiger
Shaman, cause I've already given her martial art skills and the like (she's
Japanese, human, and from SF :-)), and she sees herself as some kind of
Ninja. However, I did decide against cause she's actually an NPC for my
current group cause none of them are magicians, and I figure they'd be
hosed if they didn't at least *know* a magician.


care,
s.

---
"Wait a sec," Case said. "Are you sentient, or not?"
"Well, if feels like I am, kid..."
- William Gibson, Neuromancer.

hi tech. no life.

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