What tech was avaliable in Bug City? Options

[Fire and Chaos]

I am planning on running a campaign in Bug City. According to the sourcebook it occured in summer of 2055, so my question is what tech from the shadowrun 3rd. edition sourcebooks would and would not be avaliable? For instance what level of cyber ware would be avaliabe to the general shadowrunners? Would alpha or betware be avaliable and what about beta ware?

[Paul]

Well by that time the Cybertechnology book had been released, as well as Shadowtech-so as far as sourcebooks go-just about all of it.

In practical terms I'd say the answer varies at several levels.

Nanotechnology is obviously out of the reach of the average player in 2055-but I think some of it could be used as a plot device if it fit the adventure.

As far as whats available after the wall goes up and Chitown is Bugged, well I'd say almost nothing. Supplies would be in pretty short supply and in order to get the shiney new peice of equipment implnated you'd have to have a hell of a trade for it. (Supplies, ammo, meds, something.) I think there would be some people who could do it-but how well would depend on what sort of supplies you let be available as a GM.

There is at least three references I remember in Bug City stating that a lot of experimental ware was left behind. Some of that could take the shape of Cybernetics, or bioware.

As for what the players would have-well I would say that depends on what they were before the Bugs popped off. I imagine all sorts of people were trapped behind the wall-Soldiers on leave, doctors lawyers, cabbies, street sams, maybe even black ops agents. Suddenly Chicago is isolated and they find themselves cut off from the world. Maybe they are soldiers home on leave, or maybe a CIA agent in town to attend a meeting, or a Lawyer going to trial-or his hired guns protecting them.

Maybe they have all their equipment, or maybe not. I'd have them flesh out the characters so that you knew why they were in Chicago first then see what they'd have reasonably had with them.

I hope that helps somewhat.

[shadd4d]

The Bug City book gives a good description of this. Basically, some of the corps and hospitals still have cyberware and bioware facilities laying around, so your could manufacture bioware of cyberware or the finished product is lying around, usually where the bugs are nesting.

Let's see, based on memory:

Yametetsu: Cyber and Bioware, whatever you can find, but it's being guarded by the wasps nesting in the building
AZT: Cyber and sim gear. Oddly, the building wards and such are still up and no insect spirits are nesting there. Rumor says a blood spirit is maintaining the wards.
Truman Tower: Sim gear. Wasps have taken it over though
Fuchi: Matrixware and gear out the wazoo. Wasps or stuff though
Town Morgue: Used cyberware, but it's also a fly nest.
There's a couple more, but check out the Bug City book if you can find it for more info.

Don

[Paul]

I was wrong sort of. Bug City was published just before Cybertechnology. (Corporate Security was just in between them.)

I'd say that stuff was still available-but some of it, like MBW was bleeding edge. Like one in a thousand street sams. (And if Street Sams are as rare as they should be, that means damn few...)

[Paul]

Wow this is attracting a lot of attention...

[Fire and Chaos]

what about the levels of cyberware? I know in 2060 that alphaware is pretty much as commonly avaliabe as regular, with beta ware being hard but able to be found, and delta ware being super secret. What was this like 5 years back?

[Jason Farlander]

About the same, AFAIK

[CircuitBoyBlue]

I never got the impression that alphaware was nearly that common in 2055, though I could be wrong on that.

[shadd4d]

I don't remember a statement that alpha was all that common, although mental deduction says it has to be. Someone would have to check where it's mentioned in SSC, Shadowtech, and Cybertechnology.

Don