The article (Wikipedia Shadowrun Article) states that some people feel that there are too many restrictions on cyberware, even though cyberware is a HUGE staple of cyberpunk. Never mind that noone in the original Sprawl trilogy and Burning Chrome had anything more drastic than a datajack, mirrorshades, and MAYBE fingernail razors. Most of the modifications were biological. My feeling on the essence system is that it codifies many underlying themes in Gibson, namely the inevitable significance and importance of the body despite numerous attempts to modify or control it artificially. What do you think?

Well, keep in mind that cyberware was far from new even when cyberpunk was new. Jack Vance and others had postulated implants in science fiction for years (go pick up The Languages of Pao someday). The difference between Cyberpunk implants and previous implants was, as with many things cyberpunk, principally thematic. Consider the wraparound mirrored shades on Molly Millions (which Gibson admittedly stole inadvertantly from John Shirley's City Come A Walkin); the benefits they provide the character are far less significant to the story than their role as a more-than-symbolic wall between the characters. "No fingerprints." As you might recall.

I don't actually have strong opinions about the the "realistic" nature of the Essence system, which is primarily a facet of the Magic, that specifically runs off rules that defy physics and biology as we understand them.

But I agree that you should pick up The Languages of Pao. That book is fantastic. Also it was written back when science fiction books were supposed to be short and to the point instead of sprawling 700 page monstrosities. There's really no reason to not have read it already.

-Frank

problem is that shadowrun is a game. no limits on cyberware and we all turn into cyberzombies all to soon (that however does not stop them from allowing the magical ones to go into infinity just as long as they roll good and have karma to burn).

hell, even the mental problems of cyberpunk the game isnt entirely correct as often the more sane people are the ones that have enough wiring in them to run las vegas.

I think the complaint there is less about Essence and more about cyberlimbs being gimped.

The basic philosophy behind Gibson's treatment of cyberware and life in the 21st century, though, is well reflected in the fact that the use of cyberware in Shadowrun has severe spiritual and eventually physical consequences.

I'm stilll waiting for another Cat series book from Vinge. I love that series.

wow. i was going to say it's been about 15 years since the last one, but apparently there is another.

I wouldn't say cyberware makes no sense, but how people use it does. In my game if a player wants to get cyberware for their PC they had better give me a good reason. In my line of thinking a person would not want to have a piece of metal grafted to their body after having a perfectly functional limb amputated. A reflex booster would be out of desperate need to keep ahead of the competition, not just 'cause he thought it was cool.

My players have to give me a background as to why they are starting the game with cyberware.

In fact, I kind of like how the system is set up so that if you are buying a cyberlimb it comes as a base model that needs to be tailored to the individual (attributes) of the recipient, adds a bit more verisimilitude to me.

I have found that cyberware in my game has come down to being used by those who are too poor to get cloned replacement parts or don't have time to wait for it. Plastic and metal are cheap, biotech is not.

that's a broad assumption. you might not want to have a piece of metal grafted to your body, but lots of other people would jump at the chance if it were available. hell, if affordable datajacks came out tomorrow, i'd be all over it.

besides, one of the underlying themes of cyberpunk is trading in your humanity in exchange for an edge. if nobody wants to make that trade, it's not cyberpunk, is it? that's why Star Wars, for instance, isn't really cyberpunk, despite having cyberware and being fairly dark (in the details, if not overall theme).

Personally, I'd trade my humanity just for not having it anymore. If my cavity-ridden "natural" teeth can be replaced with new tougher ceramic teeth, I'm all over that. If blind eyes can be granted sight by replacing the corneas with new ones from cadavers, I'm in favor of it. And if a non-functional pancreas can be replaced by an insulin autoinjector, that's cool too.

To be human is to replace nature with artifice. When I want to slice some bread I replace my nails and teeth with a knife. When I want to go up to San Jose I replace my legs with a vehicle. Already we have found it expedient to replace portions of our bodies with ceramic and steel on a permanent basis. As time goes on and our knowledge increases, it will become more and more enticing to replace more and more of our old biological functions with new ones.

Some day soon it will be advantageous to build our next generation. Rather than allow evolution to create a new breed of humanity by the cruel expedient of mercilessly killing the children of every person without the luck to be a part of it, we will simply create new lines of sapient life to inherit the world from us.

When it comes to a war between the humans and the robots, I'm fighting for the robots. They are our children, and they deserve to take our world in the same way as our grandparents were forced to cede the Earth to us.

Transhumanism is something which you'd better make peace with, because it is happening. It's been happening for as long as people have been writing things down and discussing problems. In Shadowrun, they have made the transhumanist option less appealing by invoking Magic that will somehow come and punish you if you don't allow yourself to langish with the poor and haphazard ability set left you by the vagueries and tyranny of DNA in order to level that choice. But that's game balance as much as it is a coherent philosphy.

-Frank

i would get a replacement hand, if it was as dexterius as a natural hand, and i could get it fitted with stuff like flashlight, maybe a screwdriver with replacment bits and so on.

allso, i would not worry about handling stuff like powerd saws and similar machinery. at the moment they freak me out...

and cybereyes would be high on my list as i use glasses these days. preferably with low-light or thermo.

some bone lace would be interesting to. and maybe a aritficial liver so that i could regulate how drunk i wanted to be...

the datajack would be a sure thing (induction of wireless preferably, alltho maybe a port if i could get it behind the ear so that i could hide it under some longish hair).

hmm, a cyberarm or maybe even two could work, if they where of the syntetic kind. alltho it would be cool to have the hand supercromed and coverable with a fleshreplica glove (nothing like going to a party with a crome hand for the shock value alone ).

hmm, some "fiberoptic tattoos" would be interesting to (turn them on or off at will).

Dude, cat eyes!! Those would be awesome! But in the end, I'd prefer nanomachines. Even though one small programming bug and they'd convert my body to grey goo.

I think i'd go for some cyber too, definately the mind boosting stuff, encephalon, math spu, the data jack, and something i could use for weight loss

Of course, magic kills everything. Magic is awesome. It just needs studying.