Move by Wire and Muscle Replacement, ...and you! Options

[lodestar]

So there I was making this sort of plot device character who was going to be in the background in this short SR campaign I was going to run - I'll be blunt, the character was sort of based on Motoko Kusanagi - Here's the general prosthetic body I came up with. Bone lacing, Muscle replacement and move by wire, all deltaware of course, and I got to wondering. If MbW causes problems with muscle tremors and such - would cyber muscles have a problem with this? One would think that the myomers in the cyb-replacement could tome down any problwms with the MbW - not to mention that since the bones are strengthened or replaced (I chose ceramic in this case) and the nervous system. Wait, did I mention the dermal sheath? Esentially the whole body has been replaced with the exception of the internal organs. (Yes she's a cyberzombie) will problems with the TLE-X be less? Or would a lot of the problems with MbW be simply overshadowed by being a cyberzombie - In this case we're just applying the worst condition.

Just to make things interesting I was going to make the NPC so that they used to be an Physad when alive. The fact that they would have some skill with astral perception will definitely make them a tougher nut to crack for the PCs.

Any thoughts?

[mfb]

you're using deltaware. the problems with TLE-X will be non-existant, since any 'ware of beta grade or better reduces stress damage by 1 every time you take it.

[lodestar]

Hmmm. Learn something new every day. :)

[toturi]

[mfb]

i'm 99% sure that betaware, at least, actually reduces the amount of stress damage you take. might be wrong, though.

[Lilt]

It's not mentioned in the cyberware grades section of M&M.

Also note that the stress points are not to the MBW system itself but instead to the character's quickness and reaction attributes.

[mfb]

bah. i'll have to go back tonight and update my rules-lawyering.

[hobgoblin]

TLX-E is a brain disorder, so no matter how mutch you modify the rest of the body your brain will still be acting up...

[Prototype]

One of my house rules that you might want to think about is that certain things work better together... for example, cyberlimbs are probably better with the MBW system than regular flesh and blood. If you have more than 2 cyberlimbs I allow the MBW bonus to Quickness to count on Reaction.

[toturi]

Everyone with MBW should get the Redundancy (Cyber) surgery option. :)

[Prototype]

I'd argue that such things don't apply to automatic stress points.

[toturi]

Well, by Canon, they do, but it is your game. Knock yourself out.

[LoseAsDirected]

You'd also be better off getting Titaniun Bonce Lacing.. It's much better than Ceramic.

[Cochise]

[darloth]

Prehaps if you got the option on your muscle replacement, a nice GM would rule that would be enough to stop a point of attribute stress (If you have -all- of your major muscles replaces)

Thats definately -not- canon however.

I agree that something probably should make the penalties less, if anyone values my opinion on this issue, but i don't know quite what. Probably depends heavily on GM

[toturi]

[sable twilight]

My thoughts on the MBW and TLE-X:

TLE-X is a not a disorder with the muscles. It is a never disorder, one inherit in the MBW system. TLE-X is, in essence, an extension of what MBW already does. As it states in M&M (or at least Cybertechnology were the original MBW rules were printed), MBW puts the nervous system in a state of constant seizure, with inhibitors to keep the body from moving to that seizure. When a person decides to move, the system releases the specific inhibitors blocking the movement the person was going to make. They move faster and smother because their body was already moving in that direction.

I don't think MBW actually rewire the entire nervous system like they do with wired reflexes or even boost the reflexes. It is just a little piece in the brain that regulates the constant seizure.

The permanent stress point comes from the system always being on, not from any damage being done to the system. Even when sleeping, the system does not shut off. All other cyber systems, except MBW, get some level of downtime, even wired reflexes. What eventually happens with TLE-X is that because the system is on all the time both the cyber and the nervous system begin to wear out. The MBW system starts sending misinformation, starts failing to block all the signals, or the nerves themselves start to give or misfire. Tremors at first, from a signals that the system failed to block. Then seizures, as the MBW inhibitors continue to fail. Catatonia is the result of the entire MBW freezing up and most of the nervous system blowing out.

Being a cyberzombie does not change any of this. The lack of drive to be in the world would increase the likely hood, but that is countered by the fact that the nerves are basically dead and lifeless.

Now for your specific circumstances lodestar, I would say since the character is an NPC you really don't have to worry about it. If it does not serve needs of the story then don't have it happen. One thing you can do is show this character being drek hot in a fight, movements faster and smoother then anything the players could hope to match (yet anyway). Let the players do a little research and fine out the NPC has MBW, which they will think is the bomb. Maybe show this a few times, get the street sam's mouth watering over the possibility of getting MBW implanted. Then show downside of the MBW. Show this character sometime in quiet non-combat setting. Say a meet guarding a Johnson, and emphasize the tremors. Some other time maybe they see the NPC off to the side somewhere with whomever the NPC's handler is undergoing a seizure. Say in a room in some corp site off the hall the PCs are being led through by another Johnson. The door is quickly closed by the handler before the players can do more then just watch the pitiful site of this once fine warrior falling victim to the implanted technology. The character not only becomes a foe but an object lesson. Something to get the characters to ask themselves "How far will I go?"

This is if you want to use the character as a story telling device as well and not just some thug in the background to scare the players and keep them in line. If you are using the character as more of a story device, I would almost so you have too much. Cyberzombie plus Move By Wire? They are going to overshadow one another. Unless you really need this character that buff, I would say stick to one or the other. If you need, the character can always go away and come back even more augmented later. Sort of like letting the characters watch the fall of Hatchetman. Or start out with the MBW character and later show the players a Cyberzombie. But that's just me. I tend to approach gaming a bit differently from most of the people on this board (too much World of Darkness and Amber Diceless).