Anybody interested in playing Shadowrun?

[Douane]

1. Re: Cybereyes

IIRC, as per canon cybereyes should be deceived by mana-based illusions, since they were paid for with essence and therefore part of the whole being. I always judged them to be small mini-cameras and therefore a technological device, ie. they don't "see" mana-based spells.


2. Sorry for that, but I still remember taking a look at "Man and Machine" when it came out. When I saw the cybereye-laser, I basically said "Aargh, that's too Cyberpunk 2020-ish!" and turned away in disgust.
(Well, like I said in the intro: It's time for the new generation of shadowrunners. Oldtimers just don't cut it anymore.)


3. I sincerely apologize for that remark, but unfortunately I still felt kind of edgy after dealing with some really stupid students for the last two hours. Guess it bled into my writing. (It was meant to be funny, but, when I looked at it a second time, it read like I was accusing you of munchkinism, so I deleted it.)

 

[Shalimar]

Douane, what do you think about the vision enhancement bonuses stacking with Smartlink bonuses? ie... do they?

For example:

Kate is firing off her smart-linked pistol at joe Ganger who is at medium range for the predator 3. The difficulty would normally be 5 for the shot, but with her vision mag it brings it back down to 4, further her smart-link system knocks 2 off the TN, dropping it to 2.

Or would it be one or the other? If it is one or the other smartlink is kinda wimpy as vision mag 3 will bring a shot from up to the weapons maximum range down to difficulty 4. Meaning that the only things the smart link will affect positively are short and medium range, Making vision mag much cheaper and much better essence wise, not to mention the other benifits better eyesight brings.

 

[Xael]

Well, I would have picked Improved Invisibility anyway. In our first SR session, our characters dropped at the top of a van, improved invisibility on. There happened to be a BIG remote (through camera) controlled turret at the roof... Thank goodness I didn't pick invisibility...

And I took that remark as fun. And that wouldn't have been munckinism, it would have been min-maxing. And you can freely accuse me of min-maxing.

Oh yeah, and I changed the infirm to distinctive style.

 

[Douane]

@ Shalimar:

Welcome to the group! (It's not like we are overrun with potential players.)


However, I feel obliged to "warn" you. Your citing of the dumpshock forums shows that your knowledge of canon SR obviously is far superior to mine. However, as seen by the cybereye-thing, I do not agree with every decision/rule and therefore I do not feel obliged to handle everything in my SR universe in a certain way because they done "that" way in the canon material. (Please note that in no way this is done to spite or screw over my players. It's just that, after 13 years of gaming SR, certain things tend to grow on you. Also it doesn't mean these "habits" are bound in iron.)
[Also: Please understand this rant the way it was meant: In no way as an insult to you; but since I know it might cause dissatisfaction and frustration for a player if the GM doesn't do the things the way they are supposed to be, I felt it only fair to say so.]

Please feel free to disagree and discuss those things with me; I still might see the light!


Folkert

 

[Douane]

@Xael:

Hopefully you went for something a little more distinctive than this? (especially as a Shadowrunner in Seattle of the Sixth World) "long black coat, black clothes, long black hair, black motorcycle and 2 big pistols"

BTW, got your mail. Thanks!

However, the "Wind" spell was not included!

 

[Douane]

@Shalimar:

Tough question! The way we originally handled it was to divide the actual range by the magnification rate +1, so at best the range was to be quartered. Then smartgun boni were applied.


Another suggestion recently made by a friend was to apply only one step of magnification in combat, since combatants would lack the time to let it properly focus.


I'm still somewhat fond of our first rule.


Folkert

 

[Shalimar]

Actually I really doubt I have much more of a foundation in shadowrun, the only books I own are the 3 "core" books, man and machine, magic and the shadows, and Sr3.

Well anyway the reason I was asking was that there really isn't a consensus on the above question. This character isn't really min maxed, so she might not be perfect for the group, but she fits herself, so thats good, if she doesn't fit, I have a face mage that wold work same elf different directions.

So what we have so far is:
an elf Cybermage
an elf Sam(Me)
an ork Sam(I geuss he is a skill Sam)
and Vorpal Bunny

 

[VorpalBunny]

Hey guys -

Sorry, but I'm going to have to drop out of this game. It sounds like a great campaign - I'm sure Douane will do a wonderful job, but I have too much going on right now to devote as much attention as I want to this game.

Have fun!

 

[Shalimar]

Tough question! The way we originally handled it was to divide the actual range by the magnification rate +1, so at best the range was to be quartered. Then smartgun boni were applied.

That sounds pretty fair, better then the way the sr3 rules handle it at any rate, I like it, kiss and all that. It also isn't open to the abuse that some interpretations of the rule is. Like one interpretation held that vision mag 3 automatically nocked the range down by 3 categories making all shots at the closerange difficulty, and with the smart link it made every single shot difficulty 2... ick

If the above rule is what you are going to use I can take off the range finder(Man and machine) accessory from my smartlink 2. It just was -1 at long range, and -2 at extreme. Effectively making it 2,3,3,5 at short through extreme range respectively.

 

[Douane]

@ Shalimar:

I just wanted to put it up, because I myself experienced such a situation once. (And it was frustrating to say the very least.)

Anyway, for your character:

"[...]but she fits herself[...]"

In my opinion this is the most important requirement for a good character.

I've long ago given up the search for a "perfect SR group", since there is certainly no such thing. I always tried to tailor the adventures somewhat to fit the characters, not the other way 'round. (Sure, there still will be situations, where you wish "you had a ....", but that always happens.)

Considering Min/maxing, I really do not think this is necessary to have an enjoyable character/adventure. In fact as someone who still plays by the 1st edition rules, I am somewhat suspicious of all that min/maxing going on with 3rd Ed., especially the Companion rules.

In conclusion of this rambling of an Oldtimer , your bodyguard is fine. (I also like to keep magic somewhat rare.)


Hope it made some sense!

Folkert