Bioware and cyberware of the elite.

Bioware and cyberware of the elite., Canon hints or explicit statements.

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Demosthenes

Apr 13 2005, 01:39 PM

Post #26

Moving Target

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QUOTE (Edward)

QUOTE (The Grifter @ Apr 13 2005, 09:05 PM)

QUOTE

You can't pay someone else to be smart, persuasive, and ambitious for you. If you try, you'll soon find a dumpster with your name on it.

Depends how much you're paying them, and what you're holding against them to make sure they want to cooperate.

I believe gathering blackmail material is an int linked skill, meaning encephalon, mnemonic enhancer and cerebral booster could help.

Convincing the target that he should comply rather than just accept the airing of his dirty laundry, as well as convincing him you have more than you actually do is charisma based social tests so tailored pheromones will be useful.

And nothing beats headwear memory as a place to store the incriminating data for security and easy of access (just make shore it is some where else as well)

Whatever you do cyber and bio will make you better at it.

Edward

This is true...to an extent.

But the fact is that you still have to trust someone to crack your head open and mess around right beside your brain (or in the case of the three enhancements you mention, with your brain)...

That's a risk.
More importantly, it implies that you're comfortable with the idea of doing something that could irrevocably change who you are and how you think.

I'm fairly sure that not all people would be comfortable with that idea, and equally, it's far from the case that all wealthy/powerful/ambitious people would be comfortable with it.
And I'm not sure that all of the various cyber-bits mentioned are that essential:
For most purposes, a 'trode link will do most of what a datajack does.
Encephalon gives you a task pool, which is handy. But your 1337 NPC karma pool is handier. But, Shadowtech's shadowtalk aside, that's all it does (unless you link it to some headware memory and a couple of other cyber systems).
Mnemonic Enhancers are handiest for characters who actually have to spend karma (which doesn't include most NPCs), though I think they're cool.
And cerebral boosters...yeah, they're handy.

The one thing left out of the 'anti-cyber' arguments is paranoia: if you're a corporate climber in the dog-eat-dog world of the Shadowrun megacorp, what guarantee do you have that your cybersurgeon won't stick a cortex bomb in with your encephalon (at the bidding of Mr Villiers, for example)...?

Edward View Member Profile	Apr 13 2005, 02:05 PM Post #27
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,073 Joined: 23-August 04 Member No.: 6,587	Finding a surgeon you can trust is indeed an issue. you can usually trust him not to do anything on his own initiative. If he had the desire to compete with you in your chosen field he would have gone to business school not medical school. By looking at who he works for, and ensuring you are not a threat to any of them, as well as giving minimal notice of your intended surgery you can be relatively safe on the table. As to the point of changing who and what you are. Yes, some people will shy away for that reason, maybe even some that would have had a chance at the top positions on an even playing field but a lot will take the chance and force the wimps with out the ambition to take every took they can to a lower level. The task pool from the encephalon is effectively +1 (or was it 2) to every int linked skill. The mnemonic enhancer is not only good for karma. First that karma reduction for a PC will translate into decrest training times for an NPC it adds its rating to tests for memory and remembering things is very important to a business person, the bonus of 1 effective point in every knowledge you have and vastly improved general knowledge access will be quite useful and the boost to language skills (combined with reduced learning times) is immensely useful to any business man that intends to operate in other countries. How much more respect do you get when you can speak to your new partners in there own language. The data jack is perverse in that nowhere dose it actually say what its advantage is to somebody that did not want to attempt decking but it is supposedly the most common item of cyber wear in eth world and there are numerus comments in the fluff that a data jack is better than a trode rig. Edward

Critias View Member Profile	Apr 13 2005, 02:06 PM Post #28
Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714	And don't forget, it's all Omegaware. For when Deltaware just don't cut it.

hahnsoo

Apr 13 2005, 02:07 PM

Post #29

Mr. Johnson

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QUOTE (Critias)

And don't forget, it's all Omegaware. For when Deltaware just don't cut it.

As in... Predator Omega? :D

Kagetenshi

Apr 13 2005, 04:05 PM

Post #30

Manus Celer Dei

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QUOTE (Demosthenes)

Encephalon gives you a task pool, which is handy. But your 1337 NPC karma pool is handier. But, Shadowtech's shadowtalk aside, that's all it does (unless you link it to some headware memory and a couple of other cyber systems).

But thanks to this being an NPC, the Shadowtalk matters as much as the rules.

QUOTE

Mnemonic Enhancers are handiest for characters who actually have to spend karma (which doesn't include most NPCs), though I think they're cool.

As mentioned, you forget about their other bonuses.

QUOTE

The one thing left out of the 'anti-cyber' arguments is paranoia: if you're a corporate climber in the dog-eat-dog world of the Shadowrun megacorp, what guarantee do you have that your cybersurgeon won't stick a cortex bomb in with your encephalon (at the bidding of Mr Villiers, for example)...?

The same guarantee that your car won't suddenly find itself under your control and drive off a bridge late at night? If Mr. Villiers is your enemy and you don't have similar resources or the mobility and secrecy of a Shadowrunner, he can get to you one way or another.

~J

Rev

Apr 13 2005, 04:59 PM

Post #31

Moving Target

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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)

QUOTE

The one thing left out of the 'anti-cyber' arguments is paranoia: if you're a corporate climber in the dog-eat-dog world of the Shadowrun megacorp, what guarantee do you have that your cybersurgeon won't stick a cortex bomb in with your encephalon (at the bidding of Mr Villiers, for example)...?

The same guarantee that your car won't suddenly find itself under your control and drive off a bridge late at night? If Mr. Villiers is your enemy and you don't have similar resources or the mobility and secrecy of a Shadowrunner, he can get to you one way or another.

Even more than that if you don't get modded you aren't as good as the other executives you compete against and nobody will even want to slip a kink bomb into your next surgery.

Its a DYSTOPIAN corporate future, the executives don't necessarily want to get brain surgery it's that or get stuck in middle management until you hit fifty then you get left behind in the next reshuffle, can't make your car payment, have everything repossessed, kids get kicked out of school when your tuition payment lapses, loose your SIN becaues of unpaid debts, and soon enough lonestar is picking you up for vagrancy and dropping you off in puyallup.

Sandoval Smith View Member Profile	Apr 14 2005, 12:50 AM Post #32
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690	I'd think that sleep regulators would also be very popular. Nothing like putting in a twenty hour day, then running out for a quick meal, shower, and a good three hours of sleep in the nearby coffin hotel, and then you come back to work bright eyed and bushy tailed for another twenty. I had an awakened surgeon, for whom the Regulator was the first step on the long slide to burn out.

Penta View Member Profile	Apr 14 2005, 01:52 AM Post #33
Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,978 Joined: 26-February 02 From: New Jersey, USA Member No.: 500	Um, Rev...I've never seen anything in anything for SR that says you can have your SIN taken away for anything.

Kagetenshi View Member Profile	Apr 14 2005, 05:28 AM Post #34
Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,013 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802	No, but you can be issued a criminal SIN, which is close enough. ~J

Shockwave_IIc

Apr 14 2005, 06:05 AM

Post #35

Shooting Target

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QUOTE (Backgammon)

I remember a passage from the Aztlan sourcebook mentionning one of the board members as having a cyberhand tricket out with lots of gadgets that no one really knew about, making everyone nervous. Says he liked to bank his cyberhand on the table when he needed to make a point. It was effective.

Thought it was the current Mitsushima CEO that had that??

Not that it matters a great deal

Edward View Member Profile	Apr 14 2005, 06:09 AM Post #36
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,073 Joined: 23-August 04 Member No.: 6,587	Actually a criminal sin is vastly superior to no sin at all. Bearers of a criminal sin have rights and exist on the system. With a criminal sin you can have a cred stick witch is necessary to have a legitimate job even more so than it is to have a bank account today, criminals can attend educational facilities (although they probably wont get a scholarship) and thus can better themselves within the system. It wouldn’t surprise me if people born SINles with no other way to get a sin would commit minor crimes attempting to get sent to jail for about a month hope to take advantage of a rehabilitation threw training initiative while inside and get a legitimate job upon release. There are of cause pitfalls with this scheme. The star may decide to administer summery justice in the form of a beating. You have to spend some time in prison where you will likely be beaten You may not get a training program while in prison. On release you may have trouble finding a job. You do now have a criminal record. It works even better if there are social welfare payments available, then you get money after your relace even if you cant get a job. Criminal record is only a flaw of such extreme magnitude to a runner because he is trying to live a life of crime. If you juts want a legitimate job as a heavy object relocater (labourer) having the cops pull you over 5 times as often (if you own a car) and having to visit your parole officer every week and not being allowed to leave the state are minor inconveniences. And if the crime is minor you won’t get hassled every time there is an unsolved case because there are thousands of unsolved cases like what you did every day. Edward

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