From: nigel@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Why have street samauri? WAS: SRUN magicalness
Date: 7 Apr 92 23:19:31 GMT
	<NIGEL.92Apr6132458@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov>
	<1992Apr7.172136.10186@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md, USA

In article <1992Apr7.172136.10186@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> apearlma@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman) writes:

nigel@rs733.GSFC.NASA.Gov writes:

[my general whining about game balance and magic in SR deleted.  I also said
 something about mages being "common"]

>Mages are actually rare.  Also, going first isn't necessarily as useful
>as it looks.  Especially if it isn't permanent.  Have your mage reach
>over and yank the spelllock off the offending mage.  Watch deathmage
>do something bizarre, as now he has no speed to compensate for low
>attributes.

I have not allowed spell locks (for PCs) and rarely used them with
NPCs (mostly as a balance since the PC mages are a tad more
experienced.  I suppose I can simply go with initiate NPCs but I
really haven't deceided how many of THOSE are out there.  What is the
proportion between normal mages and initiates?  I figure initiates are
the top 10% of the magic community.

[fire elemental strafing party]

>Teams will have magical cover.  You're looking at this in the wrong light.
>Mages are useful.  Tech types are useful.  If you make an all mage team,
>watch the 2 mage, 4 tech-types geek them so fast it isn't even funny.
>To fight the fire elemental, take cover.  Kill the controlling mage.
>Retreat.  

Hmmm...I thought they could be set as guards (and considered as a
spirit doing a remote service) so the controlling mage may not be in LOS.
Am I doing something wrong?  Gotta re-read that section again...

The deal is that if mages are so rare it can be assumed that the
majority of the teams (say the bottom 60%) have no magical cover.  PCs
are "above average" runners even as newly created characters...with
more resources than average.  I figure that virgin runners suffer
something like 50% casualties before being "blooded"...something I
prefer not to do to PCs.

[spell locked increased reaction vs wired reflexes]

>You can't lose wired reflexes in the middle of a deadly battle.  I zip into
>astral space, go over to you, and aim a small spell at your lock.  It dies
>a horrible death.  Or if I want to be really cruel, grapple it in astral
>space and walk off with it.  Zoom, mage loses speed, I have a ritual lock on
>the mage, and his character is probably committed to some action requiring
>a 20+ reaction.

The point is that vs mundanes those +4 reaction locks are just ass
deadly and "cheaper".  If you have magical cover (in the form of a
couple of mages) the locks can be protected from the hostile mages...

If hostile mages are "rare" then the likelyhood is that the opposition
is NOT running with magical assets.

My philosphy is that Wired Reflexes is just as rare as mages...which
means corp response teams do NOT get them as standard (and it gang
members NEVER have such wares...grrrr...).  Now those special ops
teams that corps put together to hunt down runners will...and have
magical cover.

The question is again...how rare are mages?  In SR you find the little
buggers everywhere...from whizzer gangs on up.  Even the intro stuffer
shack scenario had some worthless gang with a shaman.  If mages are so
rere why isn't that idiot making bucklets of nuyen with some corp?
'Cause he likes living in the streets?  

[stuff deleted]

>Trying to kill a Sammi with a 6 willpower means with a Force 4 spell and 6
>sorcery, you get about 1 success on the average.  A light wound.  Not all
>that impressive.

Hmmm...but the mage gets 10+ dice right?  And you ignore
armor...remember he's not doing any more damage with a H&K 227 (what
5M3? vs Long Coat which I can't remember the stats for...I do recall
bouncing lots of rounds off the players though).

>Andy Pearlman

Nigel

--
Nigel Tzeng
.sig under construction