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Posted by: Snow_Fox Apr 15 2008, 02:17 AM

Ok you might have noticed I'm heavily into the role in role playing. in my group our characters were well thought out people with complete outlooks.

I was wondering do you guys think about your footwear? I mean biker boots are great for riding and steel toes are great for kicking but they are lousy for running in.
There are hiking boots, riding boots, combat boots, jump boots, cowboy boots, desert boots, wellington boots, sneakers, and those half way upthe calf boot/sneakers boxers wear.

Do you think about what you have on your feet? Doies the GM penalize you for having the wrong stuff on?

OK most people here are guys but trust me, even if you can walk in heels, and I'm fine in heels, you cannot run in pumps or boots with heels. even 2 inch heels are a problem and stilletos are right out!

There are also slippers, sandals, oxfords, loafers and those rubby slip on shoes surfers wear.

My characters will wear modern combat boots on a run but if surprices it can be a problem. undercover at a ritz party she could NOT run in her pumps when the hammer went down and I had to fight barefoot. We have discussed orthoskinning the soles of my feet to avoid that problem in future.

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 15 2008, 02:26 AM

Its gotta be Ninja booties if they've got FFBA on.

Posted by: Snow_Fox Apr 15 2008, 02:32 AM

tabi. and yeah I have a pair of those, real shoes- I use them as slippers It takes time to get use to them.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 15 2008, 02:38 AM

"Money" Johnson wears what's appropriate to his outfit. Fine dress shoes with a suit, to beat up combats for the Street. At home, he wears hand-made real moose-leather moccasins that he gets from the remnants of the First Nation's Community that lives near his home town in Northern Ontario.

Nas wears a pair of coveted "Nails" Hardtak-Signature Combat Cycle Boots (Think Armoured Ski Boots) that are now out of production, as "Nails" died from the Crash 2.0. They're his lucky boots, and have saved his feet time and again, but aren't that great for getting around stealth-like.

Posted by: HentaiZonga Apr 15 2008, 02:39 AM

This is only a problem if you plan on running. Also, there are mind-boggling ways of getting around that.

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 15 2008, 02:41 AM

I'm sure you could get some heels with a retractable heel for those long walks/shadowruns. Look good in that board meeting, don't kill your feet running around with the kiddies at the arcology.

Posted by: toturi Apr 15 2008, 02:49 AM

How about normal "dress" shoes like those worn with formal uniforms? I have seen my female colleagues "double up" around in their dress shoes. I imagine them to be uncomfortable to run in and while I hate running around in my own dress shoes, I didn't have a problem playing soccer in them(it is the polishing them up again after the game that was a real bitch though).

Posted by: Snow_Fox Apr 15 2008, 02:50 AM

naw, the shape of the soles is all wrong for that. ever seen a woman who broke a heel off her pump? We can't just walk on them, we hobble becuase the sole doesn't flatten out. There's the ball of the food and then it goes up with the arch of your foot as if standing on tip toes.

Posted by: Daier Mune Apr 15 2008, 02:53 AM

my Elven face wears bright red chuck taylor throw-backs.

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 15 2008, 03:00 AM

Memory materials? Reverts the sole to a more regular shape after the heel retracts?

Posted by: O'Donnell Heir Apr 15 2008, 03:00 AM

Usually? moccasins. No, not a shaman, but he could be wearing big floppy clown shoes that squeek with each step and it wouldn't matter to a mage who likes to show off.

Posted by: HentaiZonga Apr 15 2008, 03:03 AM

Well, for an Adept, just use the Glide power. For a sammy, just get swap-out feet for your cyberlegs, and balance augmentation for your cyberears.

(Also, making a pair of stiletto heels into a Weapon focus for a kick-happy PhysAd can be *hilarious*)

Posted by: Chibu Apr 15 2008, 03:12 AM

We've never had any penalties for the wrong kind of shoes. But, I do know girls that ONLY wear heels. they don't seem to have problems moving around. In fact my one friend has trouble wearing regular shoes.

How about:

Designed right here in Paris for the busniess woman on the go. New Shapeplast™ memory plastic dress shoes. In all the latest fashions to go with any outfit. All shoes come with a clear rubber-like coating to avoid those embarrassing falls on slick marble floors. With the press of a button these lovely shoes no longer have a heel and are a comfortable walking shoe.

500¥ at all shoe stores worth going to. (Availability: 6/24 hours)

Now also available, the Shapeplast™ Match-all shoe. Same great shoes you've come to love, but now lined with ruthenium polymers. never buy another pair of shoes! These will literally go with anything.

2000¥ at the finest shops in Paris. (Availability: 8/3 days)

Posted by: Fix-it Apr 15 2008, 03:30 AM

I heard about some sort of rubbery-sock type thing that some runners (as in marathons, track & field, not shadows) swear by. damned if I can find them online right now

Posted by: ElFenrir Apr 15 2008, 10:47 AM

Depends. My one guy wears hardened combat boots; cargos tucked in. Nothing really spectacular.

Another guy, with cyberlegs and torso, who also has two foot anchors, has his combat/buckled boots designed with a hole to allow the anchor to pop out. He also has a couple of blades in these. If wearing Raptor Legs, he goes without, of course(he has them clawed up),and usually switches regular pants to shorter ones as to just...look better. If he's got the normal legs and Grip-Feet, same thing, so he can use them for climbing and holding. (I don't know the rules if he was to try to choke someone. Come to think of it, that would be a nasty tactic. Grab neck or head, pop out anchor. Yeuch. Luckily he's insane enough to try it. )

Most of the time? Garden variety boots or sneakers, tabi if it has to go really quiet.

Posted by: Rotbart van Dainig Apr 15 2008, 10:56 AM

If it has to be perfectly quiet?

Altskin with various upgrades.

Posted by: Fuchs Apr 15 2008, 11:32 AM

My PCs and NPCs wear what seems appropriate for the occasion. If that means kicking the high heels off in a fight, so be it.

I could imagine some morphable high-heels in SR, there's some shoe that has a flippable heel to drive more safely^these days.

Posted by: paws2sky Apr 15 2008, 01:24 PM

Totally depends on the character. Usually they has a look/style they sport when they're out on the town or not engaged with business. On runs I usually swap the normal footwear out for sneakers, running shoes, or combat boots. In all cases, I go with something that's currently trendy in case someone tries to do do tread analysis or similar forensic stuff.

Two exceptions to this... my voodoo physical adept, a capoeria artist with mystic armor who alternated between combat boots and going barefoot, depending on the occassion. Also, my Shark shaman (who was mad as a hatter) with the Style flaw who refused to dress up or down for, well, anything.

Posted by: Pendaric Apr 15 2008, 02:00 PM

Am luckly that all my players are such through roleplayers that they dress for the occasion (if they know it in advance) every time. The sole time it could of been a problem, the goth mage in heels knew she could not run so levitated in stead.

Posted by: suppenhuhn Apr 15 2008, 02:04 PM

In my group we generally prefer form over function concerning clothing. I had an orc sammy wearing flip flops, a troll decker with combat boots, my burned out mage wore motorcycle boots and i also had a shark adept that wore solely high heels, though as said we didn't care much about whether you can sneak or run in those and being barefoot isn't that much of a problem when the ground is reasonably clear imo. (as in not running around in a junk yard)
My next char, once i'm a player again ( ) will have boots with a small heel so i reckon running should be possible.
Oh and i believe morphing high heels could exist as the technology basically is there and a lot of women would buy those i guess

Posted by: Pendaric Apr 15 2008, 02:11 PM

The other game had cyber legs with an inherent high heel and also a retractable heel/ sole shape adgustment. Just throwing this out there.

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 15 2008, 02:24 PM

*shakes head* women, bringin shoes as a thematic even into Shadowrun O.o
i don't really care about the shoes . . especially, if i play a character that has somehow modded his feet . .
especially with foot-anchors, why the hell would i give a frag about the damn shoes? every time i use the anchors or something else on my special fett i will have to find a new pair of shoes afterwards . .
what kind of shoes do you wear with grappe-feet? what kind of shoes with raptor-legs? how do you get out of your shoes if you have feet with that geck-tape-stuff on them?
do i have to pay extra for things like that? how much will that cost over time? do i have to figure in my shoe-plan when dictating my monetary demands to Mr. J? will people know where to find me if they find one of my specially tailored shoes and find out makes them?
to each her own, but that goes too far for me to have any fun with . .

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 15 2008, 02:32 PM

Severe Addiction (Shoe Shopping) HERE WE COME!

Posted by: HullBreach Apr 15 2008, 02:34 PM

Hmmm....my site currently offers armored boots (based on Icon's Field Armor boots for motorcyclists) but I think maybe some soft-sole stealthy ones are in order.

Posted by: Daddy's Little Ninja Apr 15 2008, 02:47 PM

SF already has it in RL.

Seriously though, she has no problem in heels- on a weekend! Though she has been known to wrinkle her nose at stiletto Timberlands. I think this isp robably more of a female issue. On the streets or a run, we wear something functional, but socially, men can run in business shoes, we cannot. also if you are petit, heels help lengthen your legs. I am 5' even. trust me, I need all the tricks I can get.

I have seen commercials for heels that fold down for driving but I wonder how well they would hold up? I would be afraid to walk in them in case they decided to fold on me.

I had a character to had some shoes that looked like ballet slippers, but had lead weights in the heels so in hand to hand I could use them like saps.

Posted by: ornot Apr 15 2008, 02:48 PM

I thought shopping for shoes was part of the fun?

The number of shoe shops my g/f has dragged me around on the hunt boggle the mind.

As for my characters, they usually wear hi-tops or something equally cheap and disposable. That's if they're not decked out in body armour, in which case they wear whatever boots come with it. I have had characters in heels before, but that was normally just when she wore them as part of a costume or disguise. It doesn't do your cover much good if you're trying to pass as a corp wage slave and you're wearing armoured boots or sneakers. I really liked that character. It wound up the rest of the party when despite being a mage with the fashion spell she spent a goodly portion of her spare time blowing her yen in high end boutiques. She was much better dressed than the gillette, even if she didn't have as many big guns!

Posted by: Chibu Apr 15 2008, 04:02 PM

Who throws a shoe?!

Posted by: nathanross Apr 15 2008, 05:02 PM

Wow, I never have really thought about footwear. It is my face's style to usually wear sandals (even with a tres chic suit). I just assume everyone else wears boots or rubber soled shoes. I'm not sure how easy it to run in leather soled shoes, or how quiet they are, so I just stick with rubber.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 15 2008, 05:11 PM

Depends on the rubber. Some is designed for traction, and others are designed for silence.

A major plot element involves raw rubber soled boots in Lee Child's "One Shot" (Not Cyberpunk, but a good mystery read!), wearing Desert Army Boots with White Crepe Soles.

Honestly, the price of Rubber is likely to have shot through the roof, and most Runners will be lucky with Plastic or Pleather Soles. Synthrubber would be decent, most likely, and used in most Combat Boots.

Or just get some Aztlan Amry Surplus boots, cheap canvas with recycled tire tread soles.

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 15 2008, 05:16 PM

I'm surprised more of the ladies wouldn't kill themselves over ruth coated shoes. I mean, you could have them match (or clash) exactly any possible way you wanted them to. You just buy the shoes in a few styles and you never buy shoes again!

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 15 2008, 05:27 PM

yep, the shoe-industry would kill for that design . . if only for no other reason than to keep it off the streets so people don't stop buying their products . .

Posted by: paws2sky Apr 15 2008, 06:19 PM

Great. Now I have an idea for a one-shot adventure taking shape... yeesh.

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 15 2008, 06:24 PM

*atlas shrugged*
hey, remember the first part of the old Knight Rider Series?
they're using exactly that reason to explain why not all cars are KITT ^^

Posted by: paws2sky Apr 15 2008, 06:33 PM

Erm, actually I don't. That was, like 20+ years ago? Hell, I have a hard time remembering what I had for lunch yesterday. In all seriousness, I haven't watch any KR since they stripped KITT's bulletproofing (sounds like dikote, in retrospect) off in a toxic waste dump and replaced it with the go-real-really-fast upgrade. Dumb, dumb, dumb. That kinda killed the series for me.

So, anyway...

I'm going to file this plot hook under "Things To Do if I ever run a game set in the LA Sprawl." Because, that's exactly where I imagine that sort of plot would happen.

Posted by: Kyoto Kid Apr 15 2008, 07:26 PM

...hey super heroines & female super villains can do it (of course they also wear those gravity defying super suits too )

Seriously, for the Short One she has a number of styles (depending on the occasion) including:
Cowboy Boots
Sneakers
Rollerblades (for getting around town)
Tabi (Ninja "Booties")
Geta (with her Kimono for formal occasions)

For Violet, its lace up Victorian style boots to match her Steampunk ensemble. (Vi's not at all athletic prone, unless she tries to run away, climb, or jump over something, and then she's usually just prone).

For Da Brat it's sneakers, rollerblades, & sometimes a surplus pair of hazmat boots (she lives in the Barrens after all)

For Markova it's combat boots imported from Russia (they're warmer and chem resistant).

Posted by: HentaiZonga Apr 24 2008, 09:00 AM

Heh. Anyone here know what http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b336/a3hmskrk/balletheels/1415d459.jpg are?

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 24 2008, 10:01 AM

fetish wear / torture instruments, depending on who you wanna ask on the subject *g*
the name only fits because usually in ballet you are supposed to be on your tippy toes anyway . .
but the actual ballet shoes are really soft and formable O.o

Posted by: ElFenrir Apr 24 2008, 10:38 AM

Ok, those boots look...sadistic for the wearer. I mean geeze! They make my legs hurt just looking at them(Im one of those women with Incompetence: Walking In Any Kind of Heels. )

Honestly though, even if your runner isn't a fashion nutcase or shoeshopaholic(man or woman), it does make sense to have several pairs on hand for stuff.

I mean, one guy of mine has a few pairs, even though he can be fashionable, they all have different uses:

Casual sneakers and a pair of casual boots(think regular Doc Marten type) for the street. No attention drawn and normal.

Nice dress shoes for when he's on meets or doing something fancy. These have good soles with grip, though,
allowing him to fight if necessary so he's not sliding all over the floor like in a regular loafer since he sort of does some bodyguarding.

Heavy combat-style boots; with visible metal over the toes and the heels; naturally always worn with his jeans or whatever tucked in. These are used if A. He needs to look more menacing; it's small and subtle and doesn't mean much but when a guy is wearing large, steel reinforced boots that look like they can hurt it could add to something; and/or B. For those times where he has(or wants)to kick something a little harder, like a door or a head or whatever's in his way at the moment. These can be worn at regular old lower class bars and stuff too and it wouldn't make much a difference.

Also a pair of tabi; these are useful if really having to sneak around, even though he's more talk-his-way-in than sneak his way in. But they look pretty cool anyway.

I think the only runners who really only keep one pair of shoes are either A. Broke or B. It's part of the character that they have a particular favorite something or other they always wear; like a guy that only wears Birckenstocks with white socks or something.

Posted by: Drogos Apr 24 2008, 10:38 AM

My GF, on several different occasions, has run in heeled boots (I've seen it). This was in both a stilletto style heel and a clunky one. And, while it defies logic, she actually did it quite well. So it is possible to wear a heel and run, jump, or kick ass (at least in a boot).

As for what my character's wear, it depends on the character. I have had characters who only wore cowboy or combat boots. Some switch for on the job versus off the job. For instance, my infiltration specialist wears sneakers day-to-day and climbing shoes (not the most comfortable shoes to wear for long periods, but they fill the desired roll) when on a job. I had a phys ad that wore wrestling shoes when heading out to kick hoop (and I personally think wrestling shoes are incredibly comfortable).

Posted by: Wakshaani Apr 24 2008, 10:48 AM

You can't run in heels? Seriously? It's not that big a deal... you just focus on the balls of your feet instead of the heel.

For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14GzFOPmM4Q

(100 meters in 12 seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Osa8geyUU4

They're in 3" heels or more. There's another clip of a run in 5 1/2" heels, but, it wasn't very good, so, I didn't bother to link.

Heck, dig up the X-files episode that had Tea Leoni in it as an actress playing Scully ... while the mumbly guy and *his* actor double (Robert Downey Jr?) are talking, Scully and Leoni are zipping all OVER the place, specificly to show off how to run in heels.

Trust me, it's not that hard of a skill.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 24 2008, 11:13 AM

And I just wrote everything out all over again when I already posted here.

OK, no more posting before http://fromtheshadowsrpg.blogspot.com/2007/09/advertisement-soycaf.html.

Posted by: HentaiZonga Apr 24 2008, 11:35 AM

On the other hand, with cyberlegs and/or biosculpting, I'm sure it could be managed.

Posted by: ElFenrir Apr 24 2008, 11:42 AM

I'm also cursed with Allergy: Nickel and Allergy: Alot of Crap Except Full Stainless Steel, Titanium and Gold. Cyberlimbs are basically out.

So i guess it would be biosculpting for me.

Posted by: Wakshaani Apr 24 2008, 12:15 PM

"So, are those antlers on your feet or are you just happy to see me?"

(Should I have used rhino horn? That would have been funnier! Crap.)

Posted by: ElFenrir Apr 24 2008, 12:29 PM

Nah, for me, it's rocket boots. Most definately, rocket boots.

Posted by: Daddy's Little Ninja Apr 24 2008, 05:27 PM

Try running on your tip toes. THEN remember there's a spur hanging down that will almost definately snag anything you pass.

I have to take off my pumps when I get home to chase my daughter and she is only 1 year old!

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 24 2008, 05:42 PM

i love thoe hover-feet from aufgmentation . . finaly i can tell the Adepts:"you can walk 6m over water? so what, i can stand here all day long!" and the gliding power? *shrugs* i hover above pressure plates so i don't care ^^

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 24 2008, 05:53 PM

Yeah, but you sound like a dustbuster as you run around.

Posted by: Drogos Apr 24 2008, 06:16 PM

I spoke with the GF and the only heels she can't run in are the heels that only have the front strappy thing oer the toes (cause I am like sooooo technical and all). Granted she is a freak of nature and can run in heels accross woodland better than she can run it in flats so she may be a bad example I'm just saying it's not impossible IRL so why should it in a fantasy roleplaying game?

Posted by: CanRay Apr 24 2008, 06:23 PM

All comes down to training and experience.

Think Sneakers versus Combat Boots, and the weight difference between them. Yet military forces are able to move quickly and quietly in said boots despite that.

Of course, Canadians Cheat. Combat Boots are just slightly heavier than your average Winter Boots.

Posted by: Earlydawn Apr 24 2008, 06:30 PM

Hmm, this makes me realize a cool Geas for a stealth Adept's traceless walk; barefoot only.

Posted by: Tarantula Apr 24 2008, 06:34 PM

As a side bonus, they won't cut their feet up as they run around.

Posted by: CanRay Apr 24 2008, 06:34 PM

Which will give the security guards legitimate reasons to "Shoot The Glass"!

Just like in the Action Trids!