Read through it. Some really nice stuff in there.

First off I'd totally send Butch a stuffed Troll or Paracritter of her choice. Any gal that can cuss so hard and long that she gets a temp ban for the profuse profanity is good in my book. She can take a knifing too apparently. lol.

Second. Looking forward to Parazoology 2. Paranormal Animals of NA was the first SR book I ever owned and drew me into the game. I hope they get some what better artists this time. The last one was a little frumpy.

Third, I'd totally buy a 'Runs gone bad' book as well. lol. Someone should write one of those.


Now onto the book itself. It's not really the type to need spoiler tags I don't think. It's details about a topic you're buying the book to read. No huge surprises here. If you disagree you may wanna sip my lil review and query.

I think CanRay did a very good job showing Turbo's viewpoint as an addict trying to recover after falling off the wagon. Good work with that. Also the quip to Kat o Nine tails, about how much she puts in her body (And wow could that be a double meaning) but Kat's fine and Turbo being a junky hits home well. People are very very very tricky about who they look down on and for what. Some what Ironic that Plan 9 was giving information and such through the supplement when he's highly addicted to what's arguably far worse. Intense and repetitive body modification, addiction. With that, noone spits on him for it. (Granted he's half a loon, but still).

One thing, that I think might have made the supplement a bit better, or of more eased use, would have been an on board definition of what simsense was. Old hat players would know, and yes it's in the core book, but if you're not the sort who's characters would use it, or drugs in general, you might not know really what was being talked about. You can pick it up in context, but perhaps a column with the information right in the book, ABOUT it, would have been advantageous.

I do very much like how it was presented as the new opiate for the masses. How even 'normal' simsense is used to keep populations at home, quiet, docile and out of the way. The liiiiitle snippit about the muscle toning furniture and smaller apartments was awesome. Really squeezed in some distopian view there with out clubbing someone over the head with it. Sometimes a little goes a long way and I loved that little snippit.

The difference between simsense, Hot Simsense, Moodchips, Dreamchips, BTL's, and Tripchips was greatly appreciated. I did find something interesting when I got to the end.

"Normal/Legal" Simsense is just slightly less addictive than Alcohol. That kinda sucks, it'd been my impression that 'normal' Simsense was the 'newest' replacement for TV/Movies. Finding an addiction to it adds an edge to it. "Hot Simsense" ... pardon the usage of the word, but 'Only' tieing Alcohol seemed strange to me too. Much of the supplement is spent saying how awesome and high, and addictive Hot Sim is, but then in the chart, it's alot lower than one would really think, considering all the fluff.

Then Moodies having twice the addiction factor of even Hot Sims, also made me stop and blink a bit, especially with them being presented as ubiquitous in the corp setting for corp types just to keep an even keel. Would I be right in assuming that the Moodchips with the addiction rating of 6, are the "BTL" Mood chips. Not just your normal every day ones that the corp people are using like Starbucks caffine? Or... are the ones the Corps are using like Starbucks the BTL, addiction 6 ones?

Skillwires having a some what high addiction level also made me pause a bit. I totally understand the justification of it. I can see the psychology of that one a mile off. It's nice to see that not everything was looked at for it's 'high' but instead other psychological factors.

I have a question, if one can get the sensations, recorded from another guy or gal's brain, through simsense, say, Skydiving, or Sex. And it's legal (Normal simsense) why would one 'use' bunraku parlors and such? If you can get your... 'fun' at home, safe, sitting on your couch, that while you're out, the couch is strengthening and toning your muscles, safe, locked behind a door and no chance of STD's or the Yakuza shooting you or getting rolled by some pimp... why would you use Bunraku parlors? At first I went "Well maybe you have to have a datajack and some people don't have them" (Those poor slots.) but then I checked and apparently all you need is the sim module, which can be in your comlink, or a sim deck, or through nanopaste. This is referenced in both Core, and obliquely on page 9 of sims. So I'm kinda swinging back around to "Why go to the Bunraku parlors to... imbue what at the very very best is.... .... How to put it PC. "Well used... equipment"? When you can stay home safe and not be a part of that gnarly and horrendously demeaning enterprise of human trafficking and slaving?

I know someone's going to quirp up with "Ain't nothin' like the real thing" but from what I can tell in sims, even the normal ones can be turned up a bit better than your average guy on the street is used to. That's why people use them. The "Actors" are the ones that can FEEL more and get into their roles.

All in all a great little book. I enjoyed it. I look for more out of Canray in the future.

In some ways I think it pretty well is "ain't nothin' like the real thing". I imagine part of the appeal would be the fantasy element, when bunraku "dolls" can be sculpted and persona-chipped to be anyone the "customer" wants them to be. Another part might be that it's customised that way, if you're the kind of person that values the distinction between "you" experiencing these things and "someone" experiencing these things with you reliving it after the fact.

Now, if someone were to ask what the difference is between this and doing something similar in hot sim VR, I have no idea. That would certainly cut down on a lot of the physical risk involved, if not all of it.

Well my problem lays in that normal sim is legal, so that fantasy element can be captured. The porn you're going to be getting in a sim isn't going to be frumpy ugly girls. ((Well I'm sure someone wants that, )) But you can go down the isle and shop for 'sculpted' partners in the singular way you want them to be. If you're into school girls with brown hair and blue eyes, there will be a chip for that. If you want a biker troll who's 3 meters tall and 2 meters wide, they have him too.

So, that customization and fantasy could be found legally and safely. The distinction between "you" Experiencing it and someone else... is muted, when you're quite literally experiencing what they felt, saw, tasted, smelled and heard. So you 'are' experiencing it. At least in your brain and that's what matters. The 'draw' of simsense isn't that you're 'watching' what happened, but you're 'FEELING/LIVING' it, as it happens.

Hot Sim would be feeling what isn't possible in the human scope. Not just 'max possible' but 'beyond max' what's NOT earthly possible. You don't get that in Bunraku parlors. That's a different animal all together.

I think you're the first person, no, I know you are, to ask about Butch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Double entendre and double meaning, indeed. I wanted to point that very thing out, and you caught it masterfully! Didn't think much about Plan 9's "addiction" to augmentations as she (this week) is a Transhumanist, but it might explain why Plan 9 spoke a lot in my head.

Also, I like how Plan 9 called Clockwork out on being a Conspiracy Nut. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I was thinking about that, but decided to leave that to GMs and Groups to figure out for themselves. I try to paint a landscape, not a whole scene when I write so that groups still have things they can play around with. I might be wrong in doing so, but it's part of how I think.The greatest lie the Devil ever told the world was that he did not exist. It's the little things that really drive things home when you're talking about a Dystopia. Subtle is the key.This also drives home how dystopian the world of Shadowrun is. Everyone in power knows that Simsense is addictive. There's reports they've made sure never see the light of day that prove it. And they love it as it doesn't "harm" anyone, but keeps the mob quiet without bread and circuses as severe as the days of old. It helps them sleep at night when they're in their sprawling mansion and their spouse/private joytoy/both.

Bread and Circuses are the means of the Corporations to make profit in Shadowrun, which is even darker in my mind. It's one thing to use blood to quiet the masses "for the greater good", and another to use it strictly for profitable entertainment.This is more a cultural part of Shadowrun shining through. "Hot" Sims are seen as "almost BTLs" in nature by folks that don't live in countries that legalized them. As such, they're seen as "Whiskey Light, For Children!" for example. The truth is that it's only just a little bit worse, but vilified. Much like Marijuana is "The Devil's Weed" while Tobacco is legal in the USA today.That would be for the BTL-Level, yes. I should have put both in, a small oversight on my part. The legal-strength variety would be as addictive as Hot Simsense, possibly slightly more.I put them at a high level because they aren't used frequently, but when they are, they're typically used in high-stress situations. Part psychological addiction, part adrenaline junkie. Someone who has one slotted all the time is probably going to have a really hard time ever letting go of the 'wire unless it's to get the next version.Simsense is the drug of choice for the Wageslave, the lower-class that is the huge amount of the population in Shadowrun, the 0700-2100/6-days a week worker, who barely has any time or strength left to give to entertainment. Sims give them the ability to relax, almost sleep, and still enjoy themselves in their squat after some barely flavored Nutrisoy and cheap synthahol flavoured to taste. ... OK, simsense, alcohol, and Long Haul. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

The shrinking middle-class, and the upper-class, are the ones who partake of Bunraku Parlors and other such joys. They're the ones with the money and time to allow them to do so, after all. Middle-Classers are likely to use Simsense as well, but there's something... About the forbidden, the taboo, the unclean that attracts a metahuman. It's a thrill that can't be caught on simsense, and it's that thrill that they go out for.

Also, not everyone likes Simsense. The 'trid (Three-Dimensional TV) is still huge, as are sports and other attractions. Low-end streetwalkers are still around and make a profit. ... Sorry, their PIMPS make a profit.

Metahuman nature being what it is, some things just don't change. We don't have to look far for a dystopia, and haven't had to for a long, long time...See what I can do. Going to resist the urge to buy as long as you did this one? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Yep, now, continue the thought.

I could go all Coyote/Socratic teaching method, but I'm wide awake and can't sleep, so I won't.

BTLs aren't used by everyone, they're illegal and vilified heavily by the media and culture. They're black tar heroin and cocaine cut with rat poison downed with a methamphetamine chaser! They make a profit because creating them and production are almost identical to Simsense for the Raw Data, and the production of the chips is identical to simsense. Add in digital downloads, and you got a real profit maker with just a few (comparatively) sales!

So... BTL Sex Chips. Yep, you've had the best, then you've had better. Now, advance that thought. Someone cleans out, makes something of him/herself. If a SINner, gets a job. If SINless, gets a gig that allows for some semblance of a life so they don't want to go back to the Beetle.

Now, time for a relationship. ... ... ... You got it. Not only is it not the same, it's not even interesting. Arguments, partner feels to blame, they feel to blame, stress, drama, problems galore...

Well, guess who comes crawling back despite everything that's been done to get away? And guess whose life is going to fall apart when it starts being the BTL after work... Then instead of the lunch break... Then instead of work...

Now I remember why I do/don't write at night. I get very, very dark. Luckily, I write for a dystopian world, don't I?

lol. My resistance wasn't any lack of faith in content. It was simply the quantity of the high quality content that was in question.

Belive it or not, it was my wife that made me buy it. We were walking through Target talking about it and she was like "Oh christ, just by the damn thing, it's $5!" Which.. I imagine is exactly what the company is hoping for. lol.

Good work man.

BTW, in my first post I forgot to add. The post by Hannabelle, about the black beetles where you can experience eating a dude, or... being eaten. Very nice. Not 'pretty' but very image provoking. Your mind just jumps right to it when you read it, and it festers in your imagination. The last little line there, about how you can tell some were willing. Cherry on top. That was a nice little twist of the knife there. That post alone could spawn some serious role play and --really-- bring home the point of these things.

I always thought Simsense recordings are basically on railroads. You have no choices over what "you" do, much like watching a movie you just accept what happens and go with it. It'd be a dream-like experience more than anything truly interactive, which is the main difference to hot-sim VR stuff, where you have full control over your Avatar. A SimSense probably works like a dream, which you also cannot consciously influence unless you're in that horrific half-woken lucid state.

Additionally, I'd think the recordings of another person's experiences, even if slicked down in mixing and with a brain used to such input, would feel just a little off, as the person may have a different body type, size, or toned musculature from yourself. Again, blanding probably is a big thing in mixing, but you still cannot please everyone. And sometimes, experiencing these differences might even be the point, like watching SimSense from the respective other gender's perspective. I also doubt everybody is comfortable with watching recordings of the respective other gender, or other metatypes, or animals, dragons, AI ...

For mass appeal, hence, a SimSense needs at least two perspectives - generic male and generic female (which would be norm-recorded since racism and population makeup). Which makes storytelling interesting, as you need not one but two viable first person narratives.

BTL are overstimulation, now. Very, very intense dreams. Hot VR is overstimulation too. The migraines from each must be terrible.

And another up of Bunraku is perceived anonymity. The doll cannot remember you, so you're clean (the cam the Yaks installed in the booth and the yaks can, and the doll was rigged for beetle recording because why pass up the chance for amateur Beetles, but hey, you may never know).

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Hermit here. Simsense recordings always seemed kinda like an "upgraded" version of watching a DVD, including the ones that have the multi-POV feature. Sure, you can watch it from as many perspectives as the producers decided to include, but to have a "custom" experience would be the equivalent of changing the plot part-way through; there's only so far you can stretch the experience if the content simply isn't there.

VR and bunraku, on the other hand, both allow some customisation of the experience. I don't remember which book it was in, but there was some mention of bunraku "dolls" being sculpted and persona-fixed to imitate celebrities. (And forming a conspiracy ring, apparently, but that's another story...) If I had a character that really, really wanted the experience of, uh, experiencing a certain celebrity, I imagine it would be easier to wander down to the local bunraku parlour than to try to find a sim-recording of the same thing - and even then, it would be someone else's experiences, not my character's.



There's something to be said for being able to pay with a certified credstick and not having to give any information in the first place. I'm sure a good enough hacker could erase all traces of their identity anyway, but a lot of people (average Joes, not runners) don't have that option, and eventually it becomes a question of whether going to that much effort is worth it.

Yeah sims are "on rails" and you're experencing the story as it's laid out by the sim's creators, but you still get all 5 senses and emotions of the actors (( or projected emotions of the characters)) if you're experiencing the sim. Yes if you pick a porn sim with Tom Cruise, the porn sim will play out the same way, with the actress' "Moves" and what not, but you still "Feel" it and "live it"

When you go to the Bunraku parlor you can 'write your own script' or do your own moves, but instead of just plugging in a chip and experiencing it safe in your living room, you're out in the world. Yes. Some Bunraku 'dolls' I.E. Flesh slaves, might have the memory blockers, but as pointed out, these things are going to be run by the underworld, be it the Yak's or others. They might tell you the dolls won't remember you, but datastorage is cheep. you can be assured they've got you on camera, and all your kinky settings on file.

I guess if you want to live dangerously there's something to be said for them. For me that risk would never eclipse the ease and 'safty' of the sims in that aspect either. While the porn industry is not a squeeky clean white sort of business. Still normal porn recordings are many many steps above from kidnapping girls off the street, implanting them with skill wires and uploading personafixes in them, and just keeping them mindless zombies between 'clients'. It'd take a pretty despicable type person to indulge in that sort of thing.

Yes. I am fully aware of the fact that there's alot of sicko's out there. I'm just pointing out that when one can stay at home and fire up the sim module and experience what ever you want in safty, it's many steps down the chain to go out and use a flesh slave.

As for the imitation of celebs. I'm sure the sims do the same. A bit of plastic surgery, and the 'actors' in the sims can act like celebs (( if they're not... legit celebs, as they are actors)) Again, yeah your experience is scripted, but you still get all 5 senses of that script, and they're trained actors (( sometimes)). Think about just how much porn there is in the world now, now imagine if you could FEEL the porn... now think of how much money that makes. The fact that it's downloadable via the wireless matrix now, all you'd have to do is punch in a websearch. "Katy Perry Sex Sim" and you'd get 100s if not 1000s to choose from. Pay your $49.99 download and.... well. Indulge.

I guess there would be simsense game which, much like modern video games are doing, would try to bridge the gap from both ends. You'd have pseudo-movies/low-interraction games, with long preprogrammed sequence and limited choice. And more classical VR games which would play small "sensation" tracks when appropriate. As technology progress, computer would become able to mix, say, fear and adrenaline accordingly to what is happening.

Isn't an ultraviolet host required for a full seamless simsense interactive experience?

It's the difference between rendering a corridor that the sim knows you're going to walk down versus rendering an entire building that you might go through, I'd think.

Ghost Of Gaming Past: "OK, I open the door and... ANOTHER FRAGGING LOAD SCREEN???"

Buffering midway through some of the more... exciting sims must be a total buzzkill.

"Now loading... Room 3." "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE DREKING ME!!!"

There's a reason Simsense Arcade Machines are still around in Shadowrun. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

And SimSense cinema.

I wonder if loading screens were in the beta of Bull the Ork Decker in Escape from Bug City!.

No, but the bugs could be lethal.

*Bah-dum-tish*

Thank you, I'm here all... Um, well, not for much longer. Try the veal!

I can't help but feel like there's a bit of a typo in the first part of Moodchips: Taste the Rainbow?
"Despite being available at legal simsense levels with a prescription as a treatment for clinical depression. For example, most moodchips you’ll run across are used at BTL-levels, and rate as the most common form of illegal chip usage by every research file and statistic I have been able to find."

Also, I swear to Ghost that if I don't find out what the deal is with the sheep by the end of the book there will be a lynching.

For Twlight Horizon, my general rule of thumb for SR4 rules was this:

Rating 1-3 = Legal, cheap, and good enough for most people.
Rating 4 was CalHot level, legal in SOME areas but not all. This is a "Perscription" levek, rather than over-the-counter level, and was thus Restricted.
Rating 5 was as strong as a perscription would go and quite expensive. Restricted, once again.
Rating 6 was full-on BTL, cranked as high as possible. Illegal pretty much everywhere and, thus, Forbidden.

Rating 4+ made up the BTL market, with 4 being what was commonly sold, 5 "The good stuff", and 6 for true Bettleheads who were hooked and hooked bad.

I don't think I ever laid that out in those terms, exactly, and I don't know if CanRay used it here (But I rather doubt it) ... he's getting some work done right now so won't be able to say much in the thread for a few days. Don't worry, we'll check him for cortex bombs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hopefully working on his comedic material ? or in the kitchen preparing the veal !

The lamb.

Washingtonian here. It is legal to possess up to an ounce of Marijuana , but not legal to buy, grow, or sell it yet. It all will be legal in about 9 months, IIRC. Darn those clumsy dealers leaving the baggies all over the place.

No cortex bombs, the only cuts were in my hip and arm. Still healing up from it. Just noticed that folks talked about it here...

In other news, I'm out of the really good pain pills, and not nearly as foggy headed any longer. Just my usual level of brain damage.

Did the sheep rough you up?