From:	Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	Samurai downtime (was: Decker toys?)
Date:	Wed, 24 Feb 1999 18:03:15 -0600

:I was just discussing this with my group last week. The Samurai doesn't
have
:anything specifically defined in the books to do when not in combat, but
is
:that a limit of the character class or the player? We decided that the
Samurai
:should be the teams "man on the street". While the other characters are
:gathering info with their specific means, the Sam should be gathering
info by
:hitting the streets and greasing palms. This gives the Sam much more to
do
:during downtime by increasing and maintaining contacts.
:
:Bill Thompson - Mahagonny.com
: On the Internet there are no independent agents.


Yeah, that is a logical job for the samurai, especially since they
often can afford many contacts at start up. Unfortunately, SR3 slaps
stiff social penalties on Cybered characters - that makes their chance of
doing good cold call legwork about zero. Besides that, the samurai is
often the most conspicuous member of the group (look at the SIZE of that
troll!), and the one who has the poorest chance of going places without
getting arrested. (Sir, do you have a permit for that arm?) Of course,
the fact that they normally should buy 4-8 weapon skills (in sr3) doesn't
leave a lot of room for social graces, either...
The ideal "man on the street" is not really the ideal samurai;
although some characters can do both, you can't do both well. They do
have a few unique advantages, if they get expensive gear like retinal
duplication and other fake ID stuff (not to mention tailored pheromones),
but in that area they fight an uphill battle compared to other character
types, IMO.

Mongoose