Dermal Sheathing, What does it look like? Options

[Johnny Demonic]

I have a PDF version of Man and Machine and have stats for this item, but no idea how to visualize it. I think it was pictured in an out of print book called Cybertechnology many moons ago. Of course I cannot get my hands on that now.

So, does it cover the face, hands, and feet? Does it cover over the genitals ans rear of the character? Does it look like a giant laminated person or is it in bands like vinyl siding or roof shingles?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[RedmondLarry]

You should buy a copy of Man and Machine.

Think of Dermal Sheathing as the silvery skin sometimes covering the T-1000 Terminator in Terminator 2. It'll only cover as much of the character as the character chooses. Of course, it'll only protect that which is covered. Don't cover your private parts if you still want them functional -- just get armored underwear.

[Jason Farlander]

Basically... imagine replacing your skin with a flexible, protective, synthetic substance. I imagine it could be just about any color, and, though it would never look quite natural (and, of course, youd flare up like a beacon in an MAD), higher grades of it would look more and more like real skin (unless you prefer the chromed look).

And yes, you could choose how much skin you wanted replaced... but the rules for the item probably assume that youre pretty close to completely covered.

Oh... yes... you should *buy* a copy of the book.

[Kagetenshi]

Admitting to piracy of Shadowrun materials (especially in-print ones) is generally a bad idea on these boards unless such mistakes are quickly corrected.
Other than that, what they said.

~J

[Johnny Demonic]

Thanks All. I know dermal armor is like Sub-Dermal Armor with pics from CP2k20. Orthoskin is somewhat like Skinweave from R. Tals' game. But I just couldn't picture what Dermal was for the longest time. I played 2nd Edition many moons ago and did some CP too.

The reason I asked about what it covered and didn't cover was the differences between Shadowrun's lack of body area shots like an arm, leg, head, etc.. to CP's direct hit here on this limb or torso idea.

I am confused on cyberskulls and torso too. They have a perfect fake bio appearence to the normal eye or something much less than human looking to them. How do they throw all your brains back into the skull and tongue? I know this is a crazy question but I just can't picture it. I assume they rescoop your lungs and other gutty works back into the torso just as well.

I grabbed the PDF of the net a while back. I heard that a ton of game companies went under or got bought out by everyone else. I am still amazed TSR got gobbled up. I thought FASA went belly up or in hibernation like R Talsorion did. I fgigured the only thing that was left was WOD and Gurps.

[RedmondLarry]

By the way, Johnny, welcome to Dumpshock. You'll find a bunch of people here that are enthusiastic about Shadowrun, and willing to interact with you over the rules and setting and GM skills and everything else Shadowrun related.

We all want the game to stay around, and that happens best if the game developer stays in business. We promote everyone buying legitimate copies of the books they use.

Welcome.

[Diesel]

Well it ain't, so cough up the bling, my friend. :D

[Johnny Demonic]

Who owns the game now? Is there anyone putting stuff out on a regular basis? Not like mid 90s TSR I hope. The complete everthing book next week.

Thanks for the welcome, I do appreciate it.

[Kagetenshi]

FanPro has taken over production, though the game itself is owned by WizKids. They're hopelessly behind on their releases, but the releases are still getting made eventually. Stiggybaby may help in getting an idea of what all is out there.

~J

[Johnny Demonic]

Thanks for the links.

[sidekick]

A cyberskull is less a new skull, and more a bracing of the old one. Basically they take out a lot of your skull and replace the bone with tough alloys and cermics. Obvious skills often lack skin in many places or have odd shapes to them. Synthetics probably are crafted to look like your face and probably have the face's musculature and skin regrown on top of it.

[Raptor1033]

hell, the skin and muscle probably doesn't even need to be regrown. haven't you ever seen a facelift? just peel it all back, replace the skull, then put it back in place and suture you up. neurosurgeons do it all the time to people with screwed up skulls.

[Solidcobra]

so, dermal sheath 1 looks like rough skin, while dermal sheath 3 looks like normal skin?
good, all my characters have dermal sheath 3 (4 extra body>>>>>>> j00)

[Siege]

The description in Cybertech implies dermal sheathing has a sheen to it, like artifical skin. (Which, in turn, implies artificial skin exists and has a sheen to it)

I would imagine for extra cash, the overall appearance could be improved for the fashion conscious.

-Siege

[Kagetenshi]

I think the implication was more than basic dermal sheathing was rough skin, LIII rougher than LI, but that delta grade was quite a bit more like natural skin.

~J

[Jason Farlander]

[Bob the Ninja]

Don't forget you can get Ruthenium Polymers put in Dermal Sheathing. Allows one to become the Predator...as long as one goes nekkid :eek:

[Kagetenshi]

So what happens if, as postulated above by a poster, you don't install it in the more sensitive areas?

~J

[Moonstone Spider]

I'd think getting shot in the crotch is going to hurt like a mother wether you've got dermal sheathing or not.

[Jason Farlander]

[Teulisch]

Instaling the ruth poly is expensive, and not really worth it imho due to the need to go without armor. Ruth poly is nice for outer-wear though. seems like you need 12 image scanners to be really effective, since tahts the most you can get a bonus from.

one thing you may want to do, is to install an image scanner, in the left hand perhaps, even without the ruth in the actual dermal sheath. link it with a router to the image link, and you have a nice hand camera.

for real stealth, youll want that ruth suit to include some thermal dampening, and something to spoof or stop ultrasound. Just wont do for all those trolls with machine guns to see your body heat when you go prancing about nekkid in your dermal sheath.

One of the nice things about ruth, is it can do patterns. camo for any enviroment, or even anti-sensor night camo. and the real reason to put it in the demal sheath, imho, is to do full-body tattoos, that can not only change, but can scroll text, or whatever else.

[Req]

I seem to recall that old-skool Orthoskin (from Shadowtech, the best sourcebook ever) talked about a loss of tactile sensitivity; don't know whether that's still the case as of M&M. Has there been a mention of similar effects from a dermal sheath?

[Siege]

There was a debate about whether or not there would be, however according to canon there is no appreciable diminishment in tactile function.

-Siege

[Req]

...that's for the sheath, right? Not for orthoskin?

[Lindt]

Im not gonna comment about things along the lines of "She never saw it comming" *goes back to sleep*