 Starvation and Exhaustion, Where are they? |
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 Nov 21 2005, 04:04 PM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 12-November 05 Member No.: 7,952  |
I'm having trouble grasping at an idea. The game features hackers and hacking prominently, but there are no rules for starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion anywhere in the core book. This is something I feel is very important to a game featuring hacking and/or long periods of computer use; I know many people who only eat when reminded that the sickness and strange feeling they have in their stomach is from the fact that they haven't eaten in two days.
It's real important: we've got a hacker and a technomancer, and neither of them move very much. On a related note: why are there no skills that help govern finding/creating materials for foci, such as weapon foci and so forth, or for gathering materials for ritual casting, lodges, and so forth? Somebody had to make them, but who? |
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Nov 21 2005, 04:07 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 297 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 248 |
The second question is answered very easily. This will be covered in the upcoming Awakening, just as Enchanting. This is stated in the SR3->SR4 conversion rules. |
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Nov 21 2005, 04:44 PM
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#3
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Darkness is right about Enchanting. It will be covered in the upcoming Street Magic.
As for starvation and deckers that are jacked in for extended periods, canon fluff has mentioned that intravenous feeding would be both feasable and, if not common, then at least not unknown. |
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Nov 21 2005, 04:47 PM
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#4
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
On item #1 a Biomonitor feed should keep them up-to-date if their body chemistry is saying they are running low on water, glucose, etc.
P.S. For those that like to stay under a really long time they could hoop themselves up to IVs and other gear to get them through a several hour VR session. Likely isn't the most healthy thing, but it'll get them by doing so occationally. |
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Nov 21 2005, 04:50 PM
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#5
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Target Group: Members Posts: 48 Joined: 6-October 05 Member No.: 7,818 |
As part of the "out of the basements, into the sprawl" credo, I think the VR rules have been streamlined enough to avoid more than a couple of hours on line, no? It seems unlikely that a SR4 hacker could go more than 24 hours on line, barring extreme failure at extended tests. Beyond that time frame, fatigue would set in, but surely not before.
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Nov 21 2005, 04:56 PM
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#6
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
A Sleep Regulator is a Matrix-addicted hacker's best friend.
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Nov 21 2005, 05:01 PM
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#7
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panda! Group: Members Posts: 10,331 Joined: 8-March 02 From: north of central europe Member No.: 2,242 |
given that you can basicly access the matrix from your local McSoy burger place without much problem in SR4 i would expect that food and similar isnt a problem. sleep on the other hand is.
i have gone 48 hours without sleep, one time. and if its up to me, never again. its not fun at all... question, can a hacker go from vr to ar and back without breaking off an attack on a node? |
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Nov 21 2005, 05:41 PM
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#8
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Target Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 12-November 05 Member No.: 7,952 |
I'm not just talkin' about VR, though (sure, the Technomancer stays passed out on the floor for hours, but that's her perogative). For example, I know some people who spend way too much time tinkering with mechanics, playing videogames, drawing, or just staring at the screen for extended periods of time, and it's something that is bound to come up frequently, I mean, I doubt you're going to IV when you're working on a motorcycle (plus, we've had several cross continent trips where on one, our team's wandered in the desert for four days without food or survival skills).
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Nov 21 2005, 05:51 PM
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#9
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Biomonitor. 300 :nuyen: , built into your lucky underware, wristband, or whatever. Also a alarm timer can perform the same thing if it's just a timing issue. P.S. What i think you are really talking about is addiction or a psychological condition. Most games don't cover such things in the core of the rules, although SR models it roughly with Essense loss from extended addictions. |
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Nov 21 2005, 05:54 PM
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#10
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Target Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 12-November 05 Member No.: 7,952 |
Yeah. Biomonitor. Great. Now, when does it trigger to let you know when you need to eat or sleep? If you ignore it, what happens?
Dice penalty? Stun damage that doesn't heal until you eat? Does your squeedlyspooch shrivel into uselessness? |
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Nov 21 2005, 06:59 PM
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#11
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Blood chemistry is the trigger, that stuff is programmable so if it is on your commlink's active list it should be able to send an alarm to someone jacked into the commlink. If they refuse to eat? Make something up that sounds reasonable. (see below)
Sleepy gets you a -2 die penalty for Perception checks (Distracted). Likewise people that normally should be sleeping off their Long Haul hangover but are kept awake suffer Disorientation, which is -2 die penalty to all rolls. So that's a good place to start for someone that refuses to sleep. That is about as hard and fast as it gets in the BBB on that topic. |
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Nov 21 2005, 09:38 PM
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#12
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Ain Soph Aur Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,477 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Montreal, Canada Member No.: 600 |
Starvation is so damn unlikely to happen... Matrix is at near thought speed, so being online non-stop for like... 18h+ straight is just never gonna happen consistently, hence non rules.
I don't have my books, but you can look into the Suvivalism skill table. It probably mentions what happens when you fail, which means when you don't eat (it covers more than just eating, but you can use that as a basis). Aside from that, applying Stun damage seems like the most logical thing to do. |
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Nov 22 2005, 01:59 AM
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#13
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
i also would suggest stun damage that doesn't heal until they remedy the situation.
as has been said, it's not likely to come up for matrix stuff anymore, but that doesn't mean you'll never need the rules... |
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