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Fuchs
Here are a few questions I thought about. Some I answered for my own campaign already, some I am still undecided. I am sure others have similar questions and answers.

1. In a time where money buys beauty, who is ugly still? How accepted is ugliness in society? How much of peer pressure drives people to invest lots of money in cosmetic surgery to become more attractive? Given how good looks are so desirable in both the work and the social life, are just the squatters who cannot afford it ugly, and everyone else buys some beauty? Or does the VR/AR proliferation make it less important how your meat body looks, since you work in VR, and party in VR, and live in AR?

2. How are mages doing for relations? Given that mages can discern a lot, especially emotions, through assensing, how many are in relationships? How many are astrally active during intimate moments, and know at once if the partner doesn't feel the same? How many mages, how many of their partners can cope with this? Even the temptation to check if your partner really loves you must be great, as must be the fear that you're spied on, or even manipulated magically for the mundane partner. How many mages actually seek love in the one place where they cannot check, but have to trust a partner, in the matrix?

3. Mood chips/partial personafixes. How many people slot them just to be perky and friendly 9-5 in their job? And how many never take them out, unless to replace them with some other emotion? How many even slot chips just to feel love, keep loving their partner? Would anyone even advocate this, to keep a relationship stable, and prevent say child abuse out of frustration? Would locked mood chips be a legal punishment for violent criminals, keeping them non-violent and happy?


CanRay
1. Lower-Class people, Squatters and the Low-Income earners just get what nature gives them. Middle-class and above, there you go! Of course, the Middle-Class is usually a few months/a year behind what is TRUELY fashionable. nyahnyah.gif

2. That would be an individual thing. But the temptation would be great indeed! And Matrix relationships would be a good way to stave off that temptation, and allow for any kinky thing you'd like anyhow! biggrin.gif

3. Sims, Persona-Fixes, VR Games... "Why be you when you can be someone a whole lot better?" - Horizon Advertisement
Fuchs
And how much of this comes up in your campaign?

I have the baseline that there are only beautiful rich people in my campaign, other than less than a handful "exceptions" - freaks - who do not go for mods. There also are no ugly middle class people. I haven't really delved into the mage relationship issues, nor the mood chips.

I could think of characters who only manage to run, only function in the shadows because they constantly slot some mood chips. Maybe starting out slowly, just slotting a chip to make them less queasy for a run, or help with impersonating someone, or better fooling that corp mark they are trying to con. And over time, they keep using the little helpers, until they are 24/7 on "the stone cold killer", or "the femme fatale/casanova", or "Hannibal Smith" or "George Patton". And as long as they slot the chip, they are happier with their life than they could ever be without it - they really love their work, really love it when a plan comes together, etc.
CanRay
Not much for any of them. A lot of these concerns are for regular, honest, working people. Not SINless Scum like Shadowrunners.

Well, I do have one SINner in my group, but he's affiliated with the Mob. nyahnyah.gif
Chrysalis
No. 1 comes up more often than not. You can look like hell, and after a few runs you can put away enough money that you can walk out looking like your favourite pornstar. Unfortunately like today the do look plastic. Big money though removes the plastic element. This was soemthing which is a big issue in CP2020 and less in Shadowrun.

2. Most mages are in a lot of dysfunctional relationships because they can read their partners mind. Some go for complete abstinence others go for pure hedonism. Do you really want to know that yes your partner did it last night with two troll bouncers and maybe pregnant?

3. Most likely never comes up unless it is a mission oriented of screwing up personafixes. It could add cool disconnect when your hooker asks which personality does he want for his GFE. Like an adult McDonald's. Same stuff, same package just different high-school kid.
Fuchs
In the "Tokyo in the Shadows" PbP Campaign I had some shops provide their employes with custom commlinks/headware, and (hidden) integrated "love your work, be friendly, love your boss" mood chips. Nothing like this in my PnP campaign so far though.
Wesley Street
1. I would imagine the SINless, squatters, working class wage slaves, and such. In a world where if you have money and you can look however you want, being "physically unattractive" could be retro-chic. Money and power matter more than your appearance. Just look at Bill Gates' and Donald Trump's haircuts! Cosmetic surgery is more a matter of fitting in so that you look like the elite (or don't stand out too much) rather than an attempt to make one's self more physically attractive. With the exception of fringe groups, no one wants to be the person who everyone stares at when he walks down the street. In real life, I briefly dated a woman with breast implants. They were not pleasant.

2. Being a mage would definitely crimp your love life if you had the ability to assense. But at the same time a skilled mage would know how to control it and not peep in on the emotions of his lover. I'd imagine that mages would probably only date other mages unless they didn't care about the emotional states of their partners.

3. I'd say as many people who pop pills today to be productive and perky on the job and in their relationships. A sizable number but not the majority. I think a locked mood chip used as a punitive measure would fall under "cruel and unusual" but it would depend on the laws of the nation in question. Perhaps some criminals with sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies may voluntarily have the procedure done, such as how some rapists would volunteer for chemical castration.
Tiger Eyes
1. Anyone middle class or above can afford cosmetic surgery. But no matter how pretty your face or bulging your muscles, cosmetic surgery doesn't raise your Charisma.

2. In our game, the Awakened almost always end up dating other Awakened. Assensing emotions is just SOP for magicians (and adepts with that ability), among lovers and friends. In a team, the Magician frequently assenses the other team members, kind of the magical equivalent of saying "hey, how are you?" -- checking health, mood, etc. Magicians tend to congregate at the same bars or hangouts, and yeah, if some cute guy is checking her out, then the Mage probably will assense him to see just how interested he feels. However, we call Mind Probe "Mind Rape" in our game, so that might let you see how very frowned upon it is. Being astrally active while intimate probably enhances the experience (but, er, we've never roleplayed that, so, ahem, that's just what the girls gossip about when they're out getting pedicures, you know?).

3. Hadn't considered mood chips. What a great idea. biggrin.gif "Buy business suite mood-chips. A happy workforce is a productive workforce." Mwwaaahhhh...
Synner667
QUOTE (Fuchs @ Aug 25 2008, 02:01 PM) *
1. In a time where money buys beauty, who is ugly still? How accepted is ugliness in society? How much of peer pressure drives people to invest lots of money in cosmetic surgery to become more attractive? Given how good looks are so desirable in both the work and the social life, are just the squatters who cannot afford it ugly, and everyone else buys some beauty? Or does the VR/AR proliferation make it less important how your meat body looks, since you work in VR, and party in VR, and live in AR?

Define "beautiful" ??

With something that's so variable, are there any answers...
...It changes from culture to culture, group to group, gang to gang.

And then there are those for whom body modification is the norm...
...Even getting "ugly" because that's their idea of "beauty".

In Neuromancer [I think], the barman's lack of beauty was the stuff of legend...
...One of the old CyberIce supplements I have has gangs of beautiful men modeled on some famous model...
...Another book I have has all members of a merc force sculpted to be quite hideous...
...And many Cyberpunk novels have gangboys with tooth implants, skin scarring, hand/claw implants, etc.


SR doesn't really have poseur gangs or face cults or body sculpting...
...So that should give you an indication of how SR feels about the whole subject - ie, nothing to bother with.

And since most people don't seem able to actually describe what their Characters look like, how they dress, hairstyle, etc...
...It's probably not an issue.
CanRay
I found out that the AR version of Body Beautification is in Unwired. Just remember reading it. Look up the page yourself. nyahnyah.gif
Heath Robinson
1. Given my particular biases, everybody is still ugly. Now, how many people fail to match particular societal standards of beauty? Varies immensely based on all kinds of factors. If one considers it a rational investment then the price of alcohol and how corrupt one's boss is will be important aspects in the decision to buy cosmetic surgery.

2. This is no different, essentially, to hiring a PD to follow your spouse. It's a trust issue and astrally perceiving/projecting characters are identifiable. If you feel that trust is in short supply amongst the wageslaves in your SR, then many mages may have relationship problems depending on how insistant they are on their spouse being perfect lovers.

I love naive, idealistic characters that demand all the attention of their lovers. They are so fun when they break.

3. So very many.
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