From:	Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject:	Viper Errata
Date:	Tue, 9 Mar 1999 13:31:30 -0500 (EST)

On Tue, 9 Mar 1999 GMPax@***.com wrote:

> I can accept people ruling that way as a HR; personally I think it's "dumb"
> and not in keeping (the Viper is not unbalanced with 9S(f) for SA, IMO, since
> IIRC Impact armor of 3+ will stop FL ammo COLD) with the feel of the gun. But
> whatever.

Actually, you're thinking of "needler" ammunition as described in
the Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Real Life. Flechette ammunition works fine
no matter how much armor you have (though it does use Ballistic or double
Impact, whichever is higher).
And even if you do have enough armor to drop 12D down to 2D,
(10/5 or better is what would be required) that's still a pretty
ridiculous number of successes. You'd need a Body of 8 to even have a
*chance* to stage the damage down to nothing, assuming the shooter got
zero net successes.
Doesn't that strike you as a little high for a pistol with a
concealability of 7?

> But your house rules are no more official than MINE. :-) Which is to
> say, not at all.
>
> Not that this last is directed at any one person, really; more a philosophical
> statement.

No, it's directed at me, you can say it. My blood pressure's not
up. :) Seriously, you may be right, I may be misremembering this
(because it all happened a *long* time ago). You ask me why it is that I
seem to be the only one to remember this (even though Rat, Robert Watkins,
and others have also recalled vague recollections), but consider the
following: how many of the current list members were even *on* the
HEARN.BITNET mailing list? Like Rat said, this was a topic of hot
discussion "back in the day," ('92, I think ?) and it was officially
resolved *somehow* and then dropped because there was no more reason to
argue it.

Marc