As soon as you're doing something that's going to draw negative attention, it is in fact the team's business, because your actions can lead back to them. If at any point you wonder why teams don't want infected, beyond the obvious threat they pose to everyone around them, consider how much they want to be tied to multiple cannibalistic murders if you get caught.

Or, you know, your infected teamie could just buy from Tamanous, if they're a ghoul.

There is also no requirement in the Essence Drain power to kill your donor/target.

Maybe try, Seduce, suck, laes, leave.

A lot of these hypothetical issues about eating your teammates or whatever go away if the whole team is ghouls or vampires.

Considering how often SRs battle ghouls we would expect a certain statistical windfall of diseased SRs. Likewise, if corporate security kills ghouls, the same thing would happen to a number of corporate security personnel.

So it wouldn't be beyond belief that a group of SRs or ex corp security guys who all got the disease decide to form a gang/team where they all look out for one another and try to have some income.

EDIT: If you wanted to really push the social-issues-of-the-80s thing you could also try and make parallels with the stigmatization and fear that was faced by people with AIDS or HIV infection faced in the 80s. That would simultaneously be a pretty realistic, rich subtext to draw on with lots of historical anecdotes the GM could draw on, while also being an homage to one of the overriding public concerns of the 80s.



So, setting that aside, would team members object to one runner being an organlegger on the side? Because that would be similar, I would think.

That might work for a vampire. Technically speaking, it would work for a ghoul, too, but in practice most people will Notice a chunk of their thigh or arm going missing.

Although, that does give me a thought...

The reason clonal flesh is insufficient for Ghoul use is because it isn't impregnated, for want of a better word (Oh, wait, "Suffused" - I found a better word) with Essence. Even if you force-grow a whole wimp, it won't work to satisfy Ghoul dietary requirements.

So...

Suppose Jack loses his arm - we'll say a ghoul cuts it off to take home and eat. Let's say Jack does not contract HMHVV (the ghoul is careful,) and he survives thanks to prompt medical attention. A replacement arm is cloned for him.

How long after attachment does the replacement arm have to be a part of Jack for it to be sufficiently suffused (used it!) with his Essence for it to satisfy a Ghoul's dietary requirements?

How long does it take to set up a rating 6 medicine lodge?

My nosferatu only gains his essence from having sex parties with many, many high-end escorts. And vengefully ripping the souls away from those who wrong him.

I mean, we gotta have standards, right?

Remember: Essence Drain just needs a powerful emotion to work (playing Eye of the Tiger during a wrestling match would suffice), and the Special Infected has the ability to take as much - or as little - as they want. Waste not...

EDIT: I mean, even if you drain some from a team mate in an emergency situation, once you get back to an area of relative safety you can always pay them back with Renfield anyways. Technically, you can consume your own Renfield to offset Essence Loss, although you couldn't use the boosting effect of Essence Drain due to that since you didn't actually drain Essence.

Well isn't your nosferatu an extra special snowflake then.

Tell you what - I like you - your vampire can be first against the wall when the revolution comes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

So does essence drained by a vampire eventually grow back?

Not so far as I can tell.

I've had ghoul PC's in my game before. That's not a problem, although party harmony gets interesting.

The problem is when a player tried to deliberately get his character infected, so he can get the stat bonuses. It doesn't work so well for heavily augmented ones, but adepts and mages can get very scary.

If you create a ghoul character, this isn't a big deal, since they paid for the attribute raises. But a PC who didn't pay. this is effectively free points for them. I've only had one player try that, but that was enough for me. PC's who get HMHVV in my games are likely to die and not come back.

My problem with infected, and the other racial variants from Runner's Companion....

is that they're extra special snowflakes in a special snowflake world.

I'm tired of all the Drizzt, Angelus, Spike, Edward, Humpty Dumpty, Beltuguese, and Mushroom Tattoo clones polluting the meme-pool with their extra special snowflake-ims - so they can just die.

Wanna play your extra special snowflake* - go ahead, don't be surprised when crotchety old bartender removes your character's face via shotgun blast though.


*Now with extra special sparkles!

-Jack

It's not just you - I hate everyone equally.

..personally, i would forget vampire..

..what about Dormant Metagenetics-quality? (making PC possible Changeling..)
.. some1 cast a Heal- spell at PC, He/She start sprouting Horns and Fangs.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Depends on your edition. I'd say the conservative answer should be the healing chart times to get over the wound. In SR3 terms? He may never, because usually a limb loss like that comes with a Deadly wound, and Essence loss is possible.

How quickly does an infected lose a point of essence?

What if the limb was surgically removed?

I'm actually getting a little tired of your patronizing attitude. You really don't know what kind of a monster I actually play. He just is intelligent enough to understand that you don't proverbially shat where you eat. If you can figure out how to stay really, really well fed and not create any bodies then not only are you much better off but then you have the added benefit of having no one after you. And if someone does come after you you can eat them and dispose of them in the Barrens, with all the rest of the trash.

Great - groovy - that works for you and your games, rock on!

For me and the group that I play with - that's exactly the type of extra special fucking snowflake characters we hate. "Oh but MY ghoul/vampire/drow/half-dragon/drake/AI is _different_!!!!!"

No. Mine is a monster. He's just smart enough to know if he's stupid (IE: kills people while draining Essence) then he attracts unwanted attention.

That's like saying that a rigger who puts ruthenium polymers on his drones is a "stuper special snowflake!!!one!11!ohmygosh" because he's less likely to die for being smart.

You look like an ass throwing around insults comparing individuals to unique molecular structures of water.

And you sound like a little fucker with entitlement issues.

We done tossing insults back and forth?

-------

You like that type of character - that's great. I'm not telling you not to, or that it's BADWRONGFUN to do so.

But telling me like I sound like an ass for disliking that type of character in the games I run and/or play - yeah that gets a big side of fuck you.

My group has never used any of the optional racial choices or the metahuman variants in the SR2/SR3's Shadowrun Companion or SR4's Runner's Companion because to us they all smack of Special Snowflake Syndrome when compared to the rest of the SRverse.

Don't like my opinion, then put me of fucking ignore.

Advice taken.

Also, note that it's possible to disagree withe people without trying to use emasculating language because of a difference of opinion. That's real adult of you.

I dislike infected as player characters also. Largely because it can take the response from "Crap! Ghouls!" to "Let's find some Ghouls to bite us!". The latter is not the flavor I think was intended when they were introduced to the setting.

It shouldn't be even now. Depending on your source, of course. Running Wild goes on about how virulently contagious Krieger-strain HMHVV is and how rare ghouls with sentience are... but the rules don't actually reflect any of that.

Well one thing that RPGs usually don't have is realistic transmission rates. If you treated HMHVV like hep C and applied official medical statistics to transmission as though it were hep C, that would be pretty contagious in real world terms but at the same time it would be "hard" for player characters to get infected in the context of a campaign.

The other issue being that HMHVV-II has a kill rate roughly equivalent to Ebola. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)