Shadowrun Pub
Shadowrun RPG => History & Politics => Topic started by: Ruski on December 16, 2005, 10:35:58 AM
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anyone got any data security jobs now that the new wave of hacker-heaven has hit the screamsheets?
here's a couple i've been hit up with.
1) protect generic suit A's comlink. walk arround 'near' them, and make sure you crash any hackers that look to interested in what he's carrying.
2) setup corperate army security. the dull job of building "unhackable" comlinks for the security force to use, protecting them from runners and the like.
3) hackproofing vehicles, by putting radio absorbant materials in the frame, and looping the external antena through a series of firewalls.
I think it just got a whole lot more expencive to live in the new world.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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You could always, you know... Disconnect your commlink...
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Well, while you can un-plug yourself for personal security, it's kinda rude to ask your protect-ee to do the same for his own security... expecially seeing as how he's paying you to protect him from the riff-raff.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Yeah, I suppose so. But the whole Commlink thing always occurred to me to be a goofy little liability. I mean, if you find out that your commlink is being hacked, can't you just turn it off right then? Of course, being a good hacker means not having that happen, but it still seems odd to me.
If your charge needs to be protected and his life was on the line, seems like he would be more than willing to go without his e-mail for a little while...
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Actually, you bring up a good point, Retread. Just how long could an average person in 2070 go without media/information immursion??? Think about it. That would be something akin to you or me leaving a city and sleeping in a tent in the middle of a forrest for several weeks at a time on multiple occasions, then trying to reintegrate with what's going on in the world as soon as we get back. I wonder just how long that would take to drive a person to do stupid, unsafe things, like leaving on a hacked commlink and just hiring a runner to "fix" it?
Gabriel
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Well, it sounds like the Matrix Addiction Flaw to me.
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See, that's the problem, how would someone like you or I really know just how immersed in the matrix culturu would be 70 years from now. To give an example, do you think anyone could have forseen the width and bredth of the television industry in 2006 from thier perspective in 1936?
Gabriel
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Yeah, but haven't you ever had a job that required you to know what was going on, 24/7? I used to run a theater, and they would call me pretty much any time, day or night, if there was a problem. I mean, they would call me at 3am because they couldn't figure something out, and then I would drive in and fix it, and then go home and go back to sleep.
I think of Shadowrunning as a profession like that- you have to be in the know at all times, otherwise you might call up your good Yak buddy Tetsuo, and find out that he's out of favor, and they're killing all of his contacts.
So... yeah.
-kv
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The interesting fact about this is how it affects the Magical World in Shadowrun. If mana is psychosensitive, what happens if it starts taking on the appearance of what people are thinking about when they are using their commlink? So what happens when astral space starts to look like the Augmented Reality?
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Well, to a mage who is percieving, it probably already does. But you have to remember, AR has been around since BEFORE shadowrun. In fact, all of the visually interactive cyberware is based on AR. A smart link is a specialized program output through dedicated AR. Cyberoptics are describes as being "overlaid" on top of normal vision and all options are symultaneaous (sp) which means that AR is continuous for anyone with an eye job.
I had been developing a new kind of AR interface in my game that linked to a person's P-Sec or headware memory that would work like an optic adress book. Anyone entered into the d-base would be recognized via cyberoptics and then have relevant information listed in the user's field of vision. Talk about handy in every-day life. And I could see it being a MUST for corporate ladder-climbers.
Gabriel
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I thought Augmented Reality was the overlay of a virtual environment on the level of an interactive computer simulation. I always thought a smartgun was not a "camera" but rather a simsense rig designed to capture muscular movement and find range to calculate firing solutions.
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Well OOC, I've been reading articles on AR for years, and it is already here, it is just that SR took it further by integrating it into cybernetics. For instance, a helmet-mounted HUD for your average marine is considered AR because it overlays data into his field of vision without actually having to recreate that field of vision as you would with a camera fed point of view (like a tank driver might have to use). In SR, you you have the exact same thing, only hooked into your body instead of a CPU mounted in a head band. All augmented reality does is add to your environment instead of recreating it in a different form, i.e. smartlinks, select sound filters, cyber-optic vision enhancments, etc.
I realise this is getting a bit petty, but I think this tech has been massivly understated in SR up to this point, and having it brought out as a "new technology" is a bit stupid. Of course they were probably just looking for a cool term to use with the wireless matrix concept and Augmented Reality sounded like a neat buzz-word.
Gabriel
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Well, keep in mind that SR also has its share of global disasters to mitigate the lack of advancing tech. I mean, sure, at the rate the world is going now, it's not that far-fetched, but you throw in all the VITAS-3 plagues, Goblinization, global magical awakening, two horrific economy-devastating computer crashes, SURGE, and near nuclear-annihilation, you can see why things slowed down a bit.
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True, but by the very nature of cybernetics, AR was not one of the thechnologies taht was lost. It was alive and well in the 2010's as well as the 2030's. I have a smartlink that I got in 2051. Seems to me that AR was alive ans well if a smartlink even existed.
However, that having been said, you can't forget, NEVER forget, that the original Crash Virus targeted high security files and used their own security measures against them. The more secure the file was from standard tampering, the easier it was for the virus to destroy. So not only did you have some really high tech, cutting edge bits of research wiped out, but also all of the ground work for them. It's not as hard to reinvent something as it is to invent it, but it still takes time and background work. And that's assuming you can get the same teams to work on the projects. So I can see how there are a ton of "holes" in the SOTA curve. I can see how AR didn't achive global saturation until now, but I still thing packaging it as something new is just silly.
Gabriel
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Well, it sounds like a gimmick since it's still the Matrix, it's just they made it more prominent in connections to cybernetics and gear. Personally, I don't think I'd want my bank account readable through a radio signal, let alone my neuro-muscular Skillsoft Wires...
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Yeah... wouldn't there be a distinct advantage to NOT having a wireless matrix com?
link?
I mean, I like my cell phone as much as the next guy, as long as the next guy doesn't want it shoved up his hoop, either.
-kv
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Advantages, probably, but who would really look at those advantages when set against current society. I mean, growing your own vegetables has its advantages, but we still usually get them from the grocery store.
Gabriel
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Of course, but as I've said before, any two-cred trid pirate could just broad-spectrum jam all the signals around and your entire wireless infrastructure falls apart.
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That's assuming a two-cred video pirate has the hardware to do that to a military-grade drone. I'm thinking that the example is the equivilent of a gnager taking on a Siouxe Wildcat and beating him. Sure, it is technically possible, but it's so damn unlikely that no one would ever plan for it.
Gabriel
PS - Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exageration, but not as much as one would think.
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Well, assuming that the Matrix-type counterpart of Augmented Reality, the wireless network, would be susceptible to jamming solely due to the fact that it relies on radio signals. Fiber-optics can't be jammed, making them infinitely more reliable.
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And that is why I think the whole Wireless Matrix Initiative was a bad idea. Get enough signal degredation and who the hell knows what could happen. Think about it, you walk down the street and get an e-mail from your stock broker with some important financial information. You happen to pass under some powerlines, and all of a sudden, you have 2 million shares in ACME Spoon Company. No, I'll take a jack-point and fiber-optic cable any day.
Gabriel
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Seems like maser-grids were the way of the future...
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Actually; even the most basic wireless protocals use the same error-checking packet system that the wired lines work with. so if your information packets get corrupted, or go missing, they'll show up as crap, and the receving end will re-ask for that particular packet.
just, so you know.
-RuskiFace
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Yeah, but if you've got someone providing consistent jamming your network grinds to a halt, a nasty thing considering the availability and portability of jamming devices in the Sixth world.
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Well, just kuz some jerk has a white noise generator; dosn't mean you can't trade stocks in central park. you just gotta move away from them. it's like talking on a cellphone while driving. wierd weather, driving through a tunnel, or some desolate zone with no coverage, and the signal rate drops down. if you want really realiable connections, you can get built in boosters and static reducing algorithems, or LOS satalite uplink capabilities added in.
-RuskiFace the Pirate Gotta Pay to Play
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Yeah, frag all that drek, give me back my damn fiberoptic link, dammit!
Gabriel, Old-School Elf
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Well, you could always go to a payphone, and use a land line to link up.
but truth be known, land lines aren't what they use to be. it costs about $2 million dollars to install a high-speed jackpoint at any given location, you gotta tear up the walk, run power, install switches, etc, etc etc,. more and more, people are just paying 1.5 million for a self sustaining station. a solar powered satalite uplink point that's got a battery backup, and a secure encription path to a deticated geosync satalite. all they need is LOS to a satalite in the eastern sky, or failing that, LOS to another jackpoint set up as relay.
even land lines aren't in the land any more.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Ah.... I remember how simple it used to be back in 2050.... :'(
Gabriel
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Eh, I like the tendency of Maser grids to fry Otaku brains. Speed AND security!
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never did like that whole "otaku" thing.
Gabriel
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Who did?
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So, have all otaku faded in 4th Edition? Or are new ones still being born?
-kv
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I believe the Otaku have turned into Technomancers, they've come a whole lot closer to magicians now.
I wonder what happens when the Enemy discovers the humans creating their own "Astral Space" that they can't reach?
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Well, since this isn't Earht Dawn, probably nothing. :P
But still, apparently enough people liked the Otaku to get them involved in the major story arcs of the shadowrun universe. Personally, I think the little fraggers should be lumped in with the "immortal elves" and aliens on Mars and thrown in the main microwave blast furnace at Bethlehem Steel.
Gabriel
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No, but does anyone know official canon? Are otaku still being born?
-kv
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Nope!
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Actually; the 'technomancers' are people that are otaku-like, in that they can access the grid without the use of a cellphone, and they use their physical stats as their firewall, attack utilities, and the like.
you buy points in resonance just like you would buy points in 'magic', Otaku aren't being 'born', but there were a bunch of them created in the most recent crash, when the trix' wend offline for like a day and a half, and a whole buncha people were 'trapped' online. aparently that ordeal caused them to 'listen' to the matrix, and now there's no more fading or any of that jazz. they are just out there, talking on their cellphones, only without the phones.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Ooh- I kinda like the idea of that...
TIme to go read some rulebooks...
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Hrm... Makes you wonder if you could trap someone in Astral space and see the same results?
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but the people who were trapped in the matrix didn't have the power to see the matrix without the use of a cyberdeck before.
how are you going to show someone the astral plane and trap them there; without their own ability to see into that realm beforehand?
-RuskiFace the Priate
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There are a variety of places you can do that:
The Nazca Lines in Peru
The Pueblo Village in PCC
The Valley of Kings in Egypt
There's a lake in Siberia that acts as an Astral gateway too.
Consequently, you can use an Astral gateway and take someone on a trip to a metaplane, imagine to that person's dismay when they find that their body is possessed and the only way to keep on living is to go on another astral quest. You'll find that it is actually impossible to go on those quests without learning something.
Personally, I think everyone is capable of becoming magically active, just some people manifest it in different ways. I've seen a number of people who are so adamant about disbelieving magic, that they've developed a natural Adept-like resistance to magic based on their disbelief of it. Interesting, considering that their resistance is actually just another form of magic.
Also note that some people develop a wellspring, that is, an adept-like ability that makes them a very powerful "natural focus" whereby they manifest into the equivalent of a rating 6+ power focus.
Perhaps you don't realize it yet, with the mana-level it is right now, that you might one day become an Idol-user that follows the ideal of the Pirate or Privateer? You never know...
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You forgot Dunklezhan's Rift in DC.
-kv
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*shrug* well, I didn't know about thoes places; but I'd imagine that the effect is about the same.
you'd have to be nuts to jump into one of thoes spots just to try to learn a bit of magic.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, you have to be a little nuts to be magical anyway, since magic defies all normal logic anyhow, right?
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and making your brain broadcast waves that can be picked up by a computer 40' away is the pinicle of sanity?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Aye!
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Personally, I thnk the idea of Otaku and technomancy is just stupid. So many reasonsn this just doesn't work.
Gabriel
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Like I said before, Otaku and Technomancers are magical, just magical on a wholly artificial form of Astral Space created by man.
You don't say, "Astral Projection is totally unrealistic and stupid" because it's magic. Well, that's what this is, magic that magicians can't understand.
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Still no cases of anyone picking up bouth skills is there?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Actually, the reason I don't like this drek is because canon states that it is NOT magic, and yet ignores all of the cybernetic implants you would need to access the matirx. If people can just get to the point where they can "see" cyberspace, then why have cybernetics and computers in the first place???
Gabriel
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It's because of the intrinisic difference between nature and man. Man created cyberware and the Matrix, so they don't affect their interaction of a psychosomatically created ability, like the Otaku or Technomancers. They aren't necessarily "magical" because Astral space is a reflection of nature manipulated by man's thought. The Matrix and AR are the opposite: Thoughts given form through manipulation of natural phenomenon.
However, if reading through Canon has taught me one thing, is that the true magic inside the "soul" of man is it's ability to give Names. Once you give something a Name, you've inexorably linked that Name to Definition, and all living things have the ability to manipulate Definition. The manipulation of Astral Space and mana are not necessarily the highest forms of Magic, but rather the highest form of Magic is to attribute power to a Name through events and karma. For example, at first the Dunklezahn Rift was unstable but, as people grew accustomed to it, giving it a Name (The Dunklezahn Rift) it became more stable as it's nature was fleshed out. The same applies Somatic Links in Ritual Sorcery, close personal attachment to a Named object, gives it Definition and in that Definition is a pointer that links to the Namer of that Object and the person/thing that gave it Definition.
How does this apply to the Matrix, you ask? By nature, calling the Matrix, the Matrix, gives it a Definition, and so makes the Matrix a Named thing, even if it only exists metaphorically. The Otaku and Technomancers, especially the young ones, are too young and the Matrix begins to Define them, giving them an inexorable link to it and the ability to manipulate it. However, as the Otaku grow, they find that the Definition of the Matrix diverges from the one they've made for themselves by growing up and so they Fade. The Technomancers trapped inside the Matrix were essentially separated from their body and became the Matrix, momentarily assuming the Definition of the Matrix itself, and so, developed the ability to manipulate it without being "in contact" with it.
Otaku are not Magical in the Sense of being able to manipulate Mana but rather they are somatically linked to the Matrix (essentially an artificial Metaplane) just as a mercenary is somatically linked to his favorite gun, or a rigger his favorite vehicle. These connections are not one-way, and if given the ability, the Named objects can affect the Otaku, mercenary, or rigger. A prime example of this is when the Matrix spawns an intelligence, be it an AI or Free Daemon, and can then create it's own Otaku.
Perhaps, if anyone had considered this, one would know that the greatest way to destroy an AI that creates Otaku is to "ritually attack" the AI through its link with its own Otaku.
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So, when will the power of the matrix start to 'bleed' over to the astral plane?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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In a "realistic" timeline, probably several hundred years as the mana level of Earth slowly increases and creates more bridges bewteen thought/action/mana/the world. In a "game" timeline, probably about 5 to 10 years as FP runs out of ideas and is foraced to pull more crap out of its collective hoop. It will probably happen when all evles are revealed to be immortals and the orcs form a nation of their own and declare wat on the Tir's.
Gabriel
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I thought that it wasn't just elves that could unlock the imortal geane...
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Ah who knows. I always hated that damn immortal elf concept. And this is an ELF telling you that.
Gabriel
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Yes, anyone can become immortal. The gene is an inherent characteristic of bonding with the True Pattern of the Earth. Not an easy thing to do, mind you.
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:::grumble grumble grumble:::
Gabriel
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but you hear that gabe? it's hard. so like. only the elves can do it. because they are magical.
-RuskiFace the pIrate
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Oh for Ghost's sake!!!! You damn breeders are so gulible!!! If it's written down in a Tolkien novel, you'll believe anything.
Gabriel
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Didn't Tolken write the bible?
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Didn't Tolken write the bible?
Yup, sure did.
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Wasn't that the Gospel According to St. Froddo???
Gabriel
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Well, technically, immortality is a permanent bond associated with a very powerful True pattern.
Observe, a Blood Oath can be taken, based on the Name of your Oath. When you defile the Pattern of your Oath, the link you've made with it will kill you. Much in the same way that a Shedim bonds with a corpse to prevent its decay or a free spirit can continually return from a Metaplane after being disrupted. These bonds are in essence a link to their Metaplane, and their True Name is actually the "pointer" to the bond. Destroy the bond and the spirit becomes "mortal" and will die because it has no physical form to fall back on.
Immortal Elves are bonded in some way to a permanent thing or ideal. You can become bonded to the Idea of Hatred and become immortal. However, such a bond does not come without a price, if you sway from the Definition of the Name you are bonded to, you WILL die, horribly so, in fact. Also, these bonds require huge amounts of Karma to create and so, are a very very rare thing indeed.
How does genetics come into play then? Simple, if Karma represents your experience and knowledge and actions alter your memory RNA so that you can remember your experiences, why is it impossible to say that memory also affects the secondary and tertiary structures in your DNA. The immortal gene activates after a drastic amount of time is spent bonding with the True Pattern of your choice.
Allow me to reiterate that the strongest form of Magic in the SR/ED universe is the ability to alter True Patterns. This is in essence what "Solomon's Key" is really; the ability to modify the universe on a Named basis. The most powerful of rituals involve the changing of these patterns. An example would explain it better:
Say you have a toaster, everyone else knows it is a toaster, you put bread in, it cooks it, and makes toast. Given enough power and energy and a knowledge of the True Pattern of the Toaster, you can make it something else entirely, a light bulb, a frozen dessert, etc. You can even change the apparent history of the object through space and time. With enough power, you could rewrite the history of World War II or Vietnam. However, such power would be impossible to must at this time without Blood Magic, so no one can really do that.
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Actually, I have'nt found anything mentioning patterns or true patterns in SR at all. What book are you referencing???
Gabriel
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Thoes are EarthDawn refrences.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Then how do they apply to Shadowrun magical systems??
Gabriel
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Uh... they don't. not really.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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The Bonds are the same.
Yes, there is Canon that mentions it too. In the Denver sourcebook there's a Shadowtalk discussion about the Fort Carson military Base in the Pueblo sector, I'll quote:
"Wait one. Fort Carson got violently decommisioned, right? So why did the Pueblo brass rename it Fort Carson? That name's gotta have some bad mojo for them." --Larkspur
"Don't know for sure, Larkspur, but I'd guess they did it just to grind the UCAS. Kind of like saying, "Remember the Fort Carson your forebears occupied so proudly? Well, we own it now!" That kind of taunt wouldn't have anywhere near the same edge if they'd called it Fort Cibola or some such drek." --Ripper
"The real answer is both simpler and more complex. Names have power. Changing the name of a place can diminish that power." -- The Laughing Man
"Oh drek, who invited him?" --Canticle
"And why the frag would he care...?" --Dreamer
Threading and bonding are the same thing, in nature. It's just that magic was so recently discovered, that people don't understand the nature of this kind of bonding yet.
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It's also Retread's pet theory.
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It's also Retread's pet theory.
Yep. Got it in one.
Of course, using anything as canon tha twas posted by "The Laughing Man" (get a better handle, Harlequin) is kind of dodgey. There aren't any rules derived from anything said in those kinds of posts as far as I can tell, only hints and inuendo (sp). That doesn't invalidate them by any means, it just means they are more flavor and "house rules" then they are actual canon rules sets.
Gabriel
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Makes me wonder if there is like one guy who does harliquin's lines in the shadow-books, perhaps the only guy that's still there from the original earth-dawn RPG days?
-Ruski
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You never know. I've wondered about that myself from time to time.
Gabriel
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*pets Theory* Good boy!
See, by all technical leanings, that should be a pet Hypothesis, so by calling it a Theory you've validated my assumptions.
With Tom Dowd dead however, you aren't gonna see any new truly Harlequinesque stories *sniffle*
Still, send your players on a rating 15 astral quest and then tell me how you describe the universe in a completely metaphysical way. Names and Patterns seems to be the easiest to me, anyhow...
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descriptions are just what you are use to though.
you'd use the earth-dawn metaphysical refrences and descriptions, because that's what you are familar with.
the astral quests my PC's embark on are probibly more like Matrix-servers, seeing as who that's the 'astral' world I'm most familar with.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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It wouldn't make much sense for a "never seen a computer in my life" African Shaman to have that kind of Astral Quest, though, would it?
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Well, I'm not saying that there would be matrix connections everywhere; but ME as a GM would be using the vocabulary to describe the world that I am most intamatly familar with.
if I knew earth-dawn backwards and forward, thoes are the buzwords i would throw out, pattern, passion, etc.
but, for me, I'll be saying: "There's a link that follows a path that encounters an event."
because that's what I am familiar with, and how I can 'best' describe what the PC's are up aghinst, from what I have pictured in my own mind's eye.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Well, metaphor is metaphor.
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*shrug* that's how I see it.
although, to be 100% honest, none of my PC's that play mages ever bother to take them far enough to even need to initaite once. all my brothers and friends are geeks, and as such are more into the technology aspect of the game. LOL we could probibly remove 'casting' mages all together and no one would notice. there's an ocasional adept, but even then, they don't normally play them long enough to go on an astral quest.
I'd be interested in doing it some time. I've never seen one ran.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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No one I've played with likes Shamen, don't like the restrictions.
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So, you are almost in the same boat as me.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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I had one player that always liked the Shady business man type. Another wanted to be like that, but just didn't have the eh... ability to do so. He'd make all sorts of dumb decisions and have his character mouth off at the wrong opportunity. Really sad.
Then again, when we first started playing, I said, "Okay, you guys have some time before your run, do you want to buy anything."
He turns to me and says, "I want to buy 99 remedy."
I stared, mout agape, "What the $#@&?!"
"What?" he replied.
"What damn game are you playing?"
"You mean I can't do that?"
"...No."
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Hey, playing final fantasy VII is a great way to get into the cypberpunk mood.
-RuskiFace the Pirate
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Yeah, but since when in cyberpunk could you carry max 99 of anything?
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I have 99 of theas really old gernades! one more... okay, i'll just put it on the top here... whoops!
-RuskiFace the Pirate