Bunraku parlors.... Where? Options

[Freya]

Like, I've seen a runner team get mostly wiped out by a helicopter gunship which their badass Street Sams simply couldn't even dent, only to have the team's face employ Commanding Voice and Voice Control to force the pilot to nosedive into a skyscraper. I've seen throwing adepts kill corpsec teams with marshmallows, and I've seen a pixie use another pixie's unconscious body to K.O. a troll bullet sponge. I've seen exploding washing machines, possessed firebreathing Daruma Dolls, and an inbred redneck gnome who could hypnotise huge crowds of people with his devil-won banjo powers. I've seen magically empowered hammerhead sharks eviscerate dockworkers on dry land and dehydrated pygmy goats used as implements of torture. I've seen suicide bombings where the only survivor was the perpetrator, and I've seen desperation and sheer bravado make heroes out of ingenious madmen.

You know, I'm not sure which one of those stories I'm most curious about. I'm gonna have to go with "yes".

[Fatum]

See, that's just it. There's no objective scale of "Shmowzow To Be Worryin' About" in Shadowrun. I never know how to gauge things.

Like, I've seen a runner team get mostly wiped out by a helicopter gunship which their badass Street Sams simply couldn't even dent, only to have the team's face employ Commanding Voice and Voice Control to force the pilot to nosedive into a skyscraper. I've seen throwing adepts kill corpsec teams with marshmallows, and I've seen a pixie use another pixie's unconscious body to K.O. a troll bullet sponge. I've seen exploding washing machines, possessed firebreathing Daruma Dolls, and an inbred redneck gnome who could hypnotise huge crowds of people with his devil-won banjo powers. I've seen magically empowered hammerhead sharks eviscerate dockworkers on dry land and dehydrated pygmy goats used as implements of torture. I've seen suicide bombings where the only survivor was the perpetrator, and I've seen desperation and sheer bravado make heroes out of ingenious madmen.

So when you mention "the guy that almost wiped out half of Seattle's Downtown with a bus", I don't think a mad bomber, I think either a dice-blessed rigger on hyperdrugs caught up in some insane vehicle chese sequence during a Thanksgiving Parade, or a hulked out troll wading through blood soaked streets whose sledgehammer finally snapped from metal fatigue and decided the improvise a new one via the transit system.

~Umi

But have you seen attack ships on fire off the Shoulder of Orion?

Besides, how in nine hells can a pilot hear anyone's commanding voice over the engines and the guns?

[Umidori]

@Freya

[ Spoiler ]

I'll just pick one off the top of my head, then - the torture goats.

They started by strapping down the torturee onto a table and lacerating the bottoms of his bare feet. They then rubbed coarse rock salt into the wounds. Then, they brought in the goats, who had been deprived of water for some time. Being thirsty, and having nothing else to drink, the goats began to lap the blood off the feet with their rough goat tongues. Blood can only slake thirst moderately well normally, but mixed with residual salt it just made the goats even thirstier, at least at first. As they continued to aggravate the wounds, fresh bleeding started to dilute the blood enough to keep the goats interested and make them even more eager in their strivings for refreshment.

Needless to say they got the information they needed.

@Fatum

Voice Control allows you to both speak at 100 decibels and magically throw your voice. I had forgotten about that second fact intitially, and had your exact reaction, but the face made a very valid argument that I couldn't really deny.

~Umi


Spoler tags added due to disgusting content.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like... tears in rain.

[Grinder]

@Freya

[ Spoiler ]

I'll just pick one off the top of my head, then - the torture goats.

They started by strapping down the torturee onto a table and lacerating the bottoms of his bare feet. They then rubbed coarse rock salt into the wounds. Then, they brought in the goats, who had been deprived of water for some time. Being thirsty, and having nothing else to drink, the goats began to lap the blood off the feet with their rough goat tongues. Blood can only slake thirst moderately well normally, but mixed with residual salt it just made the goats even thirstier, at least at first. As they continued to aggravate the wounds, fresh bleeding started to dilute the blood enough to keep the goats interested and make them even more eager in their strivings for refreshment.

Was that really needed to post on a public board?

[Fatum]

Was that even really necessary even to describe in-game?

[Wakshaani]

My brother once commented, "If you ever want to see evil, give players a prisoner. The torture will just pop out."

This information has rarely been disproven. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Umidori]

My apologies. I even tried to describe it flatly and technically, without detail. To me, it reads very neutrally, but on reflection I do suppose I should have spoilered it to be safe. My bad.

Curious the things that bother people. We had that discussion in the other thread about how to feed the global ghoul population and no one batted an eye. I've had players who've been unmoved by brutal violence, but who got angry with me for employing vulgarity to flesh out scumbag NPCs. We're not very logical creatures, we humans, are we? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

And this all kind of ties into the larger topic I was addressing - Shadowrun seems to bring out extremes of behavior and thought, often unpredictably so.

~Umi

[Umidori]

Was that even really necessary even to describe in-game?

Necessary? No, not remotely. But then, it was the players doing the describing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

And when they get into the thick of their nefarious deeds, I tend to be somewhat dumbstruck (either because of the sheer genius involved or the sheer absurdity) and find it best to just let them get it out of their system and veto it afterwards only if I must.

~Umi

[KarmaInferno]

I, for one, was imagining this scene from a movie, don't remember which one, where a couple of guys threaten to use a goat on a tied up opponent if he didn't talk. They did not go into specifics, but while the process did apparantly involve pulling the fellow's pants down, it definately had nothing to do with his feet.


-k

[CanRay]

Sometimes letting a person's own imagination works best.

However, if it was a young goat looking for milk...

[Critias]

And this all kind of ties into the larger topic I was addressing - Shadowrun seems to bring out extremes of behavior and thought, often unpredictably so.

By that standard, I don't think there's any difference between "Shadowrun" and just "gaming," or even "the internet."

[Freya]

@Freya

[ Spoiler ]

I'll just pick one off the top of my head, then - the torture goats.

They started by strapping down the torturee onto a table and lacerating the bottoms of his bare feet. They then rubbed coarse rock salt into the wounds. Then, they brought in the goats, who had been deprived of water for some time. Being thirsty, and having nothing else to drink, the goats began to lap the blood off the feet with their rough goat tongues. Blood can only slake thirst moderately well normally, but mixed with residual salt it just made the goats even thirstier, at least at first. As they continued to aggravate the wounds, fresh bleeding started to dilute the blood enough to keep the goats interested and make them even more eager in their strivings for refreshment.

Needless to say they got the information they needed.

@Umi: Well, that certainly clears things up. (Incidentally, sorry to open you up to various "omg why did you post that" from others on the board.)

[Umidori]

Eh, my own fault. I'm a bit... different... in my thinking, sometimes. Not your fault I lack some aspects of common sense or social graces.

Besides, I was the one who picked that particular segment to explain. Could have easily talked about any of the other bizarre things I mentioned. (In fact, on reflection, I do believe I've posted about the Levitating Oxygenated shark incident somewhere on here previously...)

~Umi