I wanted a poll, but the options are just to vast to make a poll out of it...

Which of the following do you allow (or if you GM'd, you would allow) at character creation?

SURGE
Bioware
CulturedBioware
Betaware
Deltaware
Initiation
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci)
Higher than rating 6 items
Higher than Availability 8 items
Genetherapy
Other?

Please please please don't spam the thread with comments on other people's choices. I know I can't prevent that and won't be haggling people that do, but with a lack of a multiple-option poll here, it'll be hard to get some good numbers due to people not voting due to not being anonymous, and due to people pirating the thread.

What we allow:
SURGE
Bioware
CulturedBioware with an availability at or under 8
Beta/Deltaware that keeps an availability at or under 8
Spell Point purchases for Adepts to bond Foci
Up to rating 8 on a Cyberdeck, Rating 6 elsewhere
Ignore availability in all other areas, with a House Rule of no Heavy Weapons, and no Armour piercing Ammo.
No pre-birth genetherapy (unless you were born in or after 2060)

Sphynx

Allowed in my campaign:
Non-cultured bioware
Alpha but not beta/delta
No limit on MPCP rating, only availability (i.e. no availability higher than 8 )
Genetherapy, as long as the avilability is below 8.
No initiation at chargen.
Spellpoints for adepts to bond foci at chargen.

Bioware - YES
CulturedBioware - YES
Betaware - YES
Deltaware - NO
Initiation - NO
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - YES
Higher than rating 6 items - NO
Higher than Availability 8 items - NO
Genetherapy - NO

SURGE - YES (but only using the Random system)
Bioware - YES
Cultured Bioware - YES (Max. Rating 6 and Avail. 8 )
Alphaware - YES (Max. Rating 6 and Avail. 8 )
Betaware - NO (Excepcionally depends on the character's backstory)
Deltaware - NO
Initiation - NO
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - YES
Higher than rating 6 items - NO
Higher than Availability 8 items - NO
Genetherapy - NO (Excepcionally depends on character's backstory)

We have allowed Bioware and Cultured Bioware (max availability
Once we allowed betaware but that was a one-off.
Noone's ever tried to buy spell points as an adept. I'd allow it though.
Initiation and Ally Spirits can be bought with spell points
Rating 6+ items: moved cap up-to 8.
Availability is capped at 8. You can get something higher with GM's consent though.
Nobody's ever tried genetherapy. I'd probably allow it (but not to remove flaws you recieve points for during creation).

We've never really allowed SURGE.
We've never had a decker PC (although they are not banned).

Bioware
CulturedBioware
Higher than rating 6 items
Higher than Availability 8 items
No Edges or Flaws (not as much "not allowing to" as "never bothering to bring them into the game")

Bioware is the only YES in my campaign, but not Cultured.

I am not familiar with SURGE, Initiation, or Genetherapy.

Allowed:
Bioware
Cultured Bioware
Initiation (purchased with BP's cost of 5,6,6,7 for each incremented level, no more than 10% of total BP can be spent like this)
spellpoints for adepts
Cyberdecks only by availability,
all other things rating 6/avail 8

game time in my campaign is 2057 - when they become available, I would probably allow starting characters to have:
SURGE
non-prebirth gene therapy

SURGE - hasn't happened (ie been asked for) though i most likely would allow
Bioware - yup
CulturedBioware - yup if avilability is still 8 or less
Betaware - titanium concept only (hasn't happen yet)
Deltaware - not a chance
Initiation - can't c y not (but without ordeals and unlikely to be with group)
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - if there willing to spend that kind of money (i use points system, so no free Spell points at start)

Higher than rating 6 items - nope
Higher than Availability 8 items - concept dependent (ie, second skin for a fashion consciuos character)

Genetherapy - don't know (likly tho)

Bioware - YES
CulturedBioware - YES
Betaware - YES
Deltaware - YES
Initiation - YES
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - YES
Higher than rating 6 items - YES
Higher than Availability 8 items - YES
Genetherapy - YES

I generally allow anything as long as it's got a good backstory.

SURGE - No
Bioware - Yes
CulturedBioware - Yes
Betaware - Yes
Deltaware - Yes
Initiation - Yes
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - Yes (never happened, though)
Higher than rating 6 items - No
Higher than Availability 8 items - Yes (Cap for my game is 12)
Genetherapy - No (just because I don't have SOTA 2063)
Other? - Yeah, no shapeshifters.

SURGE: With GM permission
Bioware: Yes
CulturedBioware: Max rating 6, max avail 8
Betaware: Generally no
Deltaware: definitely not
Initiation: Self, yes; group, yes; but ordeal, no.
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci): No
Higher than rating 6 items: Generally no
Higher than Availability 8 items: Generally no.
Genetherapy: Yes
Other: Pure deckers and otaku discouraged.

Depending on the desired power level of the game, I'll allow players to make a "wish list" of things that are out of reach, and I'll pick from that list. So, someone could start with items with a higher rating or availiability, but they don't get to pick them, only suggest.

All the standard starting character items, i.e if the book says you can have it as a starting character than you can, if you can't then you can't.

Sphynx... would you mind making a poll out of the first 10 options? People are more likely to vote that way and I'm curious about the results on this topic.

[edit]doh! I now recall why this can't be made into a poll.[/edit]

SURGE - Nope. Doesn't exist in my game... I think it's stupid.
Bioware - Yep.
CulturedBioware - Nope.
Betaware - Nope.
Deltaware - No, and you're lucky if you ever get a shot at the stuff.
Initiation - No. I require ordeals for first Initiations, and I want them done in-game for character development reasons.
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - Hasn't ever come up. I might be talked into it.
Higher than rating 6 items - Not usually. I make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
Higher than Availability 8 items - Again, not usually, but I'll make exceptions. Vehicles are the big one.. I tend to throw their Availabilities totally out the window and just make individual judgements on PC purchases.
Genetherapy - Not without a really good character-background reason for it.
Other?

No otaku (see SURGE, above).

No ghouls or shapeshifters as PCs... I like being able to play a bit fast and loose with their capabilities as NPC threats, which is difficult to do fairly if there are PC ones around.

No PC dryads or satyrs - I don't think either of them make sense as metahuman variants... dryads in my world are forest spirits, not midget elves with rigidly stereotyped personalities and an allergy to cities, and satyrs are just the metacritters from PAoE - and I don't enforce the personality restrictions on gnomes and the like (this is Shadowrun, not that other game... breaking fantasy race stereotypes is not just allowed but encouraged).

Specific GM approval required for Edges and Flaws, and I'm fairly harsh on them... some I don't allow at all.

Basically, we set an availability cap for all gear/ware. If you can fit beta under the cap, then you can have it, like wise for cultured bioware, and nano or whatever else.

As for SURGE, our timeline never seems to make it past 58 or so.

Initiation - once upon a time yes, but not anymore.

Speciality classes like, shapeshifter and ghoul? - Yes, but they are taken very rarely - they don't seem to be cost efficient.

SURGE - Never been asked, but I'd allow it. I've been toying with the idea of a "half random" system for SURGE at character gen. Simply put, you can choose to pick your positive SURGE effects or your negative SURGE effects. The other set is assigned by the GM at whatever value you select +2 points. So if you decided to pick your disadvantages, and took 3 points, the GM would give you 5 points of (semi-)random positives and vice versa.

Bioware - Standard availability rules of 8 or less (SAR)
CulturedBioware - Yes, with SAR + level 1 medical contact required
Betaware - SAR + level 1 medical contact required
Deltaware - SAR (which means no) + level 2 medical contact

Initiation - Nope
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - Nope

Higher than rating 6 items - Depends, some "ratings" aren't subject to this, such as MPCP. Decks are subject to availability restrictions only, or you can have one custom made for the calculated price (making it an expensive option, but if you want to drop a LOT of cash, you could rival a starting twinked Otaku).

Higher than Availability 8 items - Not without an amazingly good reason. So really no.

Genetherapy - Sure, SAR. PCs wanting the pre-birth modification discounts should take an appropriate flaw or contact representing some investment by someone in their development.

Otaku - Go for it. Better have a good enough backstory to make it playable, though.

Shapeshifters - Sure. Be prepared for serious suckage of life as your dual nature causes you problems, though.

on sl, we do it on a char-by-char basis. pretty much anything is allowed, if the GM says it's allowed--i'm not gonna sit down and tear apart a character sheet to make sure the player correctly allocated every build point and karma; i'll just look at the whole and say "no, too powerful". and that, honestly, doesn't happen too often--it's easy to ramp up or dumb down the competition on the fly; heck, fifty percent of that is just how you have the NPCs allocate their dice pools. there's a lot of stuff that most users frown on--SURGE, super-ninja "my eyes make me look old" otaku, etcetera--but nothing canon is strictly out-and-out rejected.

SURGE - Yes *
Bioware - Yes
CulturedBioware - No **
Betaware - No **
Deltaware - No
Nanoware - No **
Initiation - Yes***
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - No
Higher than rating 6 items ****
Higher than Availability 8 items - No **
Genetherapy - No **
Races - All officially allowed *****
Edges / Flaws - Any official one ******

All things require appropriate background story and/or contacts ..

* Provided that the campain starts after the return of Halley's Comet
** Depending on character background individual exceptions may occur (but are very rare)
*** No ordeals. Groups are allowed but number of members and funding is determined by GM. At least one contact has to be member of that group ...
**** with the exception of MCPC ratings.
***** Shifters, Ghouls: Be prepared to have a hard time with GM and most likely the team as well. Otaku: Be prepared to face certain problems with your team mates *Don't have to do much there as GM*. Drakes: Be prepared to have a very short lived "freedom".
****** All rules and recommendations according to SRComp are in full effect.

SURGE - We play too early in the timeline. Will probably be allowed when we get to it.
Bioware - Not normally. Specific exceptions based on very, very good PC backstory explanations as they relate to the active campaign, and the GM's knowledge of how those items will impact on that campaign.
CulturedBioware - No.
Betaware - Not normally - but there has been one exception.
Deltaware - No.
Initiation - Yes. It's only ever been chosen once though: painful on starting spellpoints!
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - Yes.
Higher than rating 6 items - Not normally, but see Bioware.
Higher than Availability 8 items - Not normally, but see Bioware.
Genetherapy - No.

Other? - If the PC chooses to start with something of significant illegality or a major contact, they'd better explain it well! The GM always weighs how the proposal will fit within the campaign before allowing it.

Timeline is also a factor - some parts of our campaign haven't reached Mark II tech development yet, so while some things will be allowable, they simply haven't been developed yet. PCs who choose to start with some of those things within earlier timelines will have to have a backhistory explanation, with the added complication of being just about the only people in the city (country? continent?) with the new tech.

Yay online is back! Heres how our games work:

SURGE - Yes
Bioware - Yes, availability 8 or less
CulturedBioware - No
Betaware - No
Deltaware - No
Initiation - Yes, as long as its paid for with spell points, any ordeals are GM approved, and at least one contact is a member of the GM approved group
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci) - No
Higher than rating 6 items - No
Higher than Availability 8 items - No
Genetherapy - Yes, but "under review" as we try to decipher exactly what it involves, I dislike the rather ambiguous wording in some areas of this addition

Other things folks brought up:

Race - most, dryads or albino wakyambi for just 2 examples really dont fit a typical campaign so are disallowed, shifters and ghouls okay *if* you want to take that kinda potential social penalty (usually scares off most players, the risk that is)
MPCP - we've gone back and forth on this, but settled on allowing the MPCP-7 deck (avialability 8 iirc) because one of the example starting characters has it. Think thats the best you can get ignoring the rating limit without also ignoring the availability limit. Its an anomoly.
Custom stuff - Way we work anything custom is that you have to follow the pertinant rules for availability on parts and such, must have an appropriate contact, and start off owing that contact a favor/marker (per SRComp) for the mods (in addition to paying for them).

Note:

We have done games allowing more than this before, but really it can get out of hand on the power scale (for us anyhow) if too much is available at starting. That said the availability critera as is leaves something to be desired in some areas so to speak (like availiblity on LAWs to nitpick one thing), but we find it works far better than allowing things like cultured bioware.

Well, I am pretty new and strict GM.
So for real start of campaign I allowed only till avail 4 things.
They earned things, and they earned them hard way.

Now I am letting a new char to take couple of avail 6 things, other things being
avail 5. No bioware/gene therapy at start (yet).

It works better than allowing to buy everything that players want at start,
at least IMO. And when power level raises slower, people are more delighted seeing new gimmicks are introduced during actual play ("It seems that raided weapon factory got some hot toys") then ("I am buying my standard equipment with this brand new and totally different char. And here is explanation to how he got his hands on portable antimatter gun")

I allow:

SURGE (or rather, I would; I have yet to start a campaign during the timeframe of SURGE)
Bioware
Cultured Bioware, 'cause that's what the rules say

Other on request, GM review, and proper justification.

~J

To spin this thread:

What's the silliest item you've ever had a player request?

-Siege

A Rating 5 PAB unit.
Not silly in and of itself, more silly that they bothered asking. A good character idea, but still not something I'd give away at chargen.

~J

Spend Spell points on an Ally Spirit. Not a horribly bad idea, but at Force 5, that was the whole 50 points for this Conjurer. I allowed it, but he remade the character because he discovered that although the Aid Power was cool, he'da been better off with a Force 5 Power Focus since he couldn't cast spells anyhows.

Sphynx

Here's a question that's almost on-topic. I'm creating an ex-Star character. Would you allow him to purchase a Ruger Thunderbolt (Avail 12) since it's explained in his background why he has it? If not, what if it was never used and kept solely for sentamental reasons for the character?

The Abstruse One

Allowed:
Bio
Cultured Bio (under avail
ONE item 12>avail
ONE item 8>rating.

The rest is by the rules.

Silliest item I've ever requested as a player.

A Dikoted force 6 Chainsaw weapon foci.

I was trying to make leather face, the GM said NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! and yes he actually said it like that with extra exclamations, he even wrote it out. The bastard. So instead I had to settle for a big ass machete and a hockey mask

I had a player ask for foptic ibers

Oh yeah, the topic...

Keep in mind most of my campaigns start in the 2054-2056 area.

SURGE: No, too early.
Bioware: Yes If its under avail 8
CulturedBioware: Yes if it's under avail 8
Betaware: Yes if it's under avail 8
Deltaware: No, none is under avail 8
Initiation: Nope
SpellPoints for Adepts (to bond foci): Sure, but noone ever does.
Higher than rating 6 items: Nope
Higher than Availability 8 items: Nope
Genetherapy: Nope, timeline prevents.