Roleplaying help needed, Astral Projection problems Options

[Marwynn]

While I'm fairly new to the Shadowrun universe specifically I've been a follower of Cyberpunk for a while and after getting used to the game system my group and I are moving on to our "main" characters.

And like almost all cyberpunk stories there's the question of self and what is human. Of preconceptions being smashed, and so on. I wanted to explore that, while roleplaying substance abuse and detachment.

My character is what I like to call "Ganger Interrupted". Samurai would be too generous with its implications of honour and capability; he's fairly well into the bust-em 'up scene and has had some cyberware and bioware work done as he becomes Awakened. The hell does he know, right? He's ignorant and arrogant and has a hard time controlling his talent - but he thinks it'll give him the edge over other razors and gillettes.

But still, the finer control of magic eludes him.

Question is, is there any precedent for technology or psychology to limit astral access? Geas can affect spellcasting and so on, but this isn't exactly like a Geas.

I want to represent Astral space as the metaphorical layer of truth, his truth to his existence. And the lost Essence he has could interfere and so on, it could all be in his head, so he has to dig deeper and deeper.

So he turns to escapist drugs, feels guilty for doing it, and seeks out deepweed and gets hooked on that.

Hopefully there's a story there about humanity.

But I haven't read that many Shadowrun novels and I'm not that familiar with astral space as it's been described beyond the few books I've read. The lore behind it.


Ruleswise, if you're interested, he'll have to roll a Willpower + Charisma test every time he wants to switch perceptions or project. Back and forth. The threshold is up to my GM but it'll probably be set at 2 and 3 respectively.

Hey, there's only so many ways you can roleplay a BattleTech Mercenary, you gotta yearn to expand.