Wouldn't the best runners be non-smokers? Options

[Daddy's Litt...]

I was thinking about this the other day. Although we get the pictures of people looking cool with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths and cyber/bioware lets us get past the health risks, wouldn't the best runners be non-smokers?

More than the health and lifestyle costs, smoking makes a person less stealthy. Most smokers do not realize the usually smell of the stuff, even when they are not smoking. It clings to hair and clothing and follows like a cloud. trying to sneak into a building an alert guard might notice the smell even as the runner thinks she is free and clear.

This happened to me RL the other night. I was grocery shopping and taking a cart out to my car, I smelled the tobbacco smell of someone before the walked around my parked car. I at once thought if this were a run, I would have smelled him comming and been waiting in ambush.

[Johnny B. Good]

Well I don't know of any infiltration specialists that would smoke right before a run.

But with all of the augmentations and short life expectancy, I don't think most runners would be particularly concerned with the health risks of smoking as they would be with, for example, bullets.

[Fix-it]

I asked the same thing of a guy in the military.

he replied that everyone just switches to chewing tobacco or nicotine gum.

[IcyCool]

I think the quote was from Blackjack's page a long time ago, but it went something like this:

"A person who is just standing around is conspicuous as hell. A person standing around smoking a cigarette is ignored, as they are a common sight."

But yeah, someone who breaks into a compound reeking to high heaven isn't a terribly smart person. But there are numerous easy ways to conceal or eliminate the smell, and a professional will do so.

[Summerstorm]

But you NEED to have some cigarette/cigar based equipment:

Cigarettes with smoke which refracts lasers, Laes cigarettes. your "Last cigarette" (injects the smoker with K-10 to make it the last cigarette for ALL), The Cigar-Gun (Shooting a poisoned dart). Ultrapoison cigarettes (loaded with poison you are genetically altered to be imune to). Exploding cigarettes... The choices are endless (Well... maybe that was nearly it but still..)

[Dwight]

But this why I have a character, to do all the stupid, risky things I don't do. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Critias]

I think you're overestimating the likelihood of a sense of smell giving someone a way (or at least the importance of it), and underestimating the idiotic, risk-taking, Rule of Cool, consequences-be-damned, decision making skills that lead someone to a life of running the shadows in the first place.

[Acme]

Yeah, I'm in the "it's just a game" field on this one. The whole cigarettes thing in the pictures was partly for mood-setting, the clinging back to the neo-noir bits that they're trying to go "look, we're cyberpunk!"

[Wounded Ronin]

Snake in Metal Gear smokes.

[Doc Chase]

Snake in Metal Gear smokes.

At the cost of his health(bar).

[Doc Byte]

I think you're overestimating the likelihood of a sense of smell giving someone a way (or at least the importance of it), ...

Have you ever used a drone with a chemsniffer against a player who was feeling overconfident under his invisibility spell? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (I like to add wi-fi scanners as well. Every runner uses a com. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) )

[CanRay]

Aside from the problem of smell (And the sight of a flickering ember which can be seen farther than you'd think), there's not much problem with smoking.

After all, lungs are cheap now.

[Dr.Rockso]

Don't forget the scent masking cigarettes. Healthy and gets rid of unwanted odours!

....Febreeze™ brand cigarettes (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

[CanRay]

Yeah, that causes another problem.

"Wait, I smell nothing." "So?" "We're in the Sprawl. When haven't you smelled urine, sour noodles, and unwashed bodies." "Oh, drek."

[Redcrow]

Electronic Cigarettes don't produce any odor. They are just mini-vaprorizers that deliver nicotine through an inhaled water vapor system. They look like real cigarettes right down to an orange LED that glows on one end when you inhale from the other. Also, because they don't produce all the carcinogens of an actual burning cigarette there aren't as many health risks; though probably still some.

By the 2070's these could be very popular. Especially amongst Shadowrunners.

[CanRay]

Until it gets hacked.

[Dr.Rockso]

Until it gets hacked.

Why does my cigarette smell like soy burgers? Drek, now I need to hit up a Stuffer Shack™

[Yerameyahu]

Psh, why would it have an OS? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Dr.Rockso]

Psh, why would it have an OS? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Why WOULDN'T it? Give it a personality. Get it to nag you to quit, if you want (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Redcrow]

Why does my cigarette smell like soy burgers? Drek, now I need to hit up a Stuffer Shack™

You can get replacement cartridges with various flavors like strawberry, but I'm not sure how popular soy burger flavor would be.

[Yerameyahu]

Nagging is what your comm's for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Ha.

[CanRay]

*Sings "Jealous of your Cigarette" in the key of off*

[Kruger]

Psh, why would it have an OS? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Don't bring logic into this. This is 4e. Why wouldn't it have an OS and wireless capability? After all, you might need to link it to your commlink so you automatically get a warning when the battery is dying or the nicotine pack is spent.

[Daddy's Litt...]

I think you're overestimating the likelihood of a sense of smell giving someone a way (or at least the importance of it), and underestimating the idiotic, risk-taking, Rule of Cool, consequences-be-damned, decision making skills that lead someone to a life of running the shadows in the first place.

That is why I said the very best runners. I mean how many of you guys smoke RL? A lot of smokers do not realize how the scent lingers on them even when they haven't had a smoke in a while.

[CanRay]

I saw what smoking did to all three of my parents, and after they quit I noticed how bad it smelled.