Woof woof!
Ian Birchenough wrote:
>>This is not netrunning. This is not cool, Tom Clancy-like
>>intrusion and espionage. It is magical technology taken
>>to a goofy extreme.
>
>That seems to have met Mike P's aim of keeping the party
>together. They all get to fight the ICE
True, yes. As I said, I understand the reasons behind the decision.
However, there are simpler, better solutions to the problem. Ones that
are not so flat-out SILLY. One possibility: make a new netrunning
system which is much faster. Two or three quick decisions and roll,
netrun over. Another possibility: make a new netrunning paradigm in
which all characters are able to netrun, so the group can do it
together. Both of these solutions would have been preferable to filing
cabinets that turn into magic nano-monsters.
>Part 2: The End of Cyberware As We Know It
>>Nevermind that stealing tech secrets is what almost ALL
>>Cyberpunk games are ABOUT!
>
>I'd have to disagree - but maybe that's just my games
>and the ones I've played in.
I knew someone would say this. :-) Be that as it may, an awful lot -- I
would say the majority -- of the Cyberpunk modules/published adventures
out there are about stealing/stolen technological secrets. And
certainly the classic cyberpunk adventure model -- Extracting a
scientific researcher -- counts as stealing tech secrets. (They just
happen to be in the extractee's mind.) The idea that only one AltCult
can make & use only one kind of NewCyb is, to me, preposterous in any
context. Especially in a cyberpunk context. And doubly specially in the
kind of absolute chaos which characterizes 203X.
>I Think it was in Listen Up, but there were rules for Children
>and C-ware. Basically Children couldn't have 'wares that could
>affect their growth and developments (such as skinweave
>bodyplating or linear frames) and C-limbs would have to be >
changed as they grew.
I'm not sure what this has to do with Cor****e Metal's "No HC" thing.
>The reason given for the no HC loss was something
>along the lines of alterations done early were accepted
>as 'that's the way its always been' - so the recipient
>felt no real change.
Oh, OK, now I see what this has to do with it.
>As far as Cor****e Metal I've always had the impression
>that C-Psychosis has an element of how society treats
>the person who's been altered. If everyone has a
>full conversion then what's out of the ordinary?
>Why should you feel odd?
Fair enough. Actually, of all the AltCults in CPv3, Cor****e Metal is
the only one I can stomach. It makes a fair amount of sense, is
interesting, and doesn't seem to fly in the face of previously
published game material. Much. I still think the motorcycle transformer
body is pretty dorky, though.
>Superior in every way?
I'd say that, in terms of CP2020 game play, yes. Cyberware was superior
in every way. Cyberlimbs are just as (if not more) dextrous. They're
stronger, tougher, can do more (you can pack them with gadjets), they
make you "cooler", they can look like whatever you want, they have full
sensory and tactile abilities, and have HC which is, by and large, not
drastic enough to do serious harm to your Humanity.
>Self repairing? No - when its disabled its dead
>weight - locked in place and nothing but a useless
>encumbrance till you get it to a Cybertech or get
>your Medtech buddy to remove it.
Well, if you get shot in your meat arm a few times you're gonna be
pretty SOL if you don't see a doctor, so what's the difference? Except
that you can turn off the pain receptors in the cyberarm. And you won't
die of blood loss if your cyberlimb is fragged.
>EMP resistant? Only if you paid for it and if you
>didn't you'll really pay for it!
Cyberlimbs are resistant to a lot more kinds of attacks than meat arms
are. Heat, cold, bullets, blades, etc... they can all do more harm
faster to a meat arm than a cyberarm. So cyberarms are vulnerable to
EMP. Big deal. Meat arms are vulnerable to everything.
>Maintenance free? No way Jose! You skip that
>maintenance and those arms/legs/eyes/internal
>organs should be millstones around your neck.
OK, now I know your response to my next statement will be something
like "In the games I ran and played in, Cyberware maintenace rules were
strictly enforced, and when people didn't do maintenace this kind of
thing did happen"... However, I really wonder how many players/refs can
make the same claim? I suspect very few. Considering that the
maintenace rules weren't even published until relatively late in the
CP2020's run, most people's games pretty much couldn't have made use of
them.
Plus, just how much FUN is it to PLAY OUT the whole maintenace thing?
Do games which enforce Cyberware maintenace rules also require PCs to
perform maintenace on their vehicles, weapons, and cyberdecks? Do PCs
with Martial Arts skills also have to practice and perform their Katas
every day? Do PCs who are physically fit (i.e., most of them) have to
exercise regularly in order to maintain their full Stats? I mean
really, just how much is the idea of "maintenace" actually pushed in
Cyberpunk? Or any RPG for that matter? It's just not fun to play. You
may as well play an RPG in which you keep track of how much you cook,
pay bills, go to the bathroom, and brush your teeth.
>One of the things that were glossed over in the earlier versions
>was that C-Ware <snip> powered by Magic batteries that
>never needed replacement and never went flat at inop****tune
>moments. Maybe this will fix that.
So instead you have a game that stresses maintenace, gun cleaning, car
tune-ups, aerobics, paying bills, and peeing a pooping. Whee. That's a
game I wanna play.
>>why, if you have a gun on your belt, would you bother
>>attaching it to your armored sleeve when you could just USE it?
>
>Dunno - is it like the Malorean pistol that could only be fired by
>someone with the Cyberarm? Or maybe like the weapons who's recoil is so
>high you have to be wearing a linear frame or be a Full Conversion?
No, we're talking about ANY gizmo which could have been built into a
cyberarm. Since CPv3 Edgerunners use armored sleeves instead of
cyberarms, they can't fit gizmos inside their NuCyb. So whereas in 2020
your cyberarm could deploy a set of microtools, in 203X you take your
set of microtools off your belt and attach the set to your NuCyb
bracer.
>Coz they glossed it over. Atomic batteries might be a little OTT
A little?
>- but I suppose they're easier than making your players remember
>to charge all the batteries in each piece of C-Ware they have regularly.
Again, it's that maintenace thing. I mean, consider a modern game, like
say Vampire or whatever. A PC has among his posessions a flashlight. Is
the game master really going to require the PC to get new batteries for
it every now and then? Is this something which anyone wants to keep
track of? Nope, I don't think so.
>Speaking of nothing in particular: Now cor****ations and organized crime
>are the same thing. I'm really not sure how that works.
>Enron? I doubt you have to look far to see more examples
>of big cor****ations ripping people off for their enrichment or
>of Organised Criminals investing in legitimate business.
>Is it Namibia where the Diamond mining consortia
>field their own army - err sorry 'Security Force'.
No no no, I know that. But that's what Cyberpunk cor****ations were like
in 2020. In 203X, the cor****ations ARE the mob. Like, The Mafia and,
say, Petrochem are the same group. And the Yakuza and, oh, Arasaka.
They're the SAME GROUP. Literally. Like I said, I'm really not sure how
that works... I guess cor****ate enforcers come to your neighborhood and
require that people there buy a certain amount of the corp's products
every month, or else people get their legs broken? A kind of "sales
quota as protection racket" thing...? It just sounds kinda goofy and
chaotic to me.
Much like most of the other things in CPv3.
Grebo!
|
