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BRodda
I'm prepping a run for my new game and as I'm filling out the ganger's "equipment" section I'm putting in some street level combat drugs (NoPaint and such). From what I hear a LOT of people's PCs are running around with the addiction flaw, so what are people in your game using?
Prime Mover
Combat types are all using Jazz till can replace with ware or magic. Novacoke and alcohol for addictions so far with a few dares to try K10. And one BTL dabbler.

EDIT: Have one adept who until recently couldn't use his magic unless was intoxicated. (drunken master) Coming up with proper penalties was fun.
Rasumichin
My favourites are hurlg (for anyone who can stomach it), betameth (cheap high for Intuition-based casters), eX (least risky drug for Charisma-based casters) Psyche (for all casters with money to burn) and NoPaint (for practically everybody who hasn't already popped/smoked/sniffed/snorted something else that offers pain resistance) and snuff (finally, someone invented weed that makes you a better driver and dodger...who would've thought that to be possible?).

Novacoke offers great bonusses, but coming down is hell and the addiction tests aren't to be taken lightly (particularly for that very same reason).

Nitro can be useful, but particularly devastating as well.

Betel is pure gold.
5 BP for nothing if you're already hooked at the start of the game.
Betel addiction can't get worse, it's cheap, you get some nice, minor bonusses- what more can you want?


For additional IP, i recommend either cram (if you expect trouble soon, but can't tell exactly when) or Jazz (for ambushes).
Cram lasts much longer, but causes unresisted stun damage, while Jazz is short-term and causes confusion once it wears off.
Kamikaze seems a bit like the worst of both to me.

If you're truly sadistic, K-10 and immortal flower can be a useful combination, though the price is steep.
But it's great for people who want to go down with a vengeance.

For some gangers, genetic infusions might be an alternative.
In this case, i recommend sideways.
FlashbackJon
One of my compatriots is a pretty big cramhead, and plans on trying to sell to the rest of the group.

No one else considers the use of drugs as a legitimate performance enhancer, which is weird.
paws2sky
In the past, most of my characters have been partial to alcohol, BTLs, and other recreational drugs. I keep looking at Betel for an easy +5BP, but I haven't really taken it on any characters yet.

My SRM NYC character is a troll bounty hunter who keeps a couple Jazz Poppers on hand, just in case. He hopes he won't have to use them, ever, but if Lone Star issues them he figures they can't be that bad. He doesn't use anything regularly though, not even alcohol.

I haven't had a serious druggie character, not yet anyway. If I ever get around to playing my gutter mage (think burned-out mage meets sprawl ganger), he'll be using drugs regularly... through an auto-injector, no less. Jazz or Cram for initiative boost, Psyche+Red Mesc speedballs, Zen, Deepweed, you name it, he'll probably use it at some point. Oh, and if the GM allows, I'll set him up a little side job moving or selling drugs.

-paws
Dumori
My sniper caries 4 dose of cram, jazz, oxyrush and longhaul with him. (ha can also make them and other) and will plan and making or gaining a source for some awakened durgs mainly the regen ones and any the up agility. On only do these drugs give good bounese they fit flavor wise as well.
CanRay
I keep offering drugs to my group, but none are taking them.

Only Doctor McCoy has a good reason for it. And my NPC, Nas, who fought off an addiction to Heroin.
Rasumichin
QUOTE (paws2sky @ Sep 4 2008, 05:49 PM) *
Oh, and if the GM allows, I'll set him up a little side job moving or selling drugs.


Or making them.
Task spirits are, once more, incredibly useful.
Dumori
Yeah drugs are over looked maybe due to the strong real world link.
DWC
Most of the time, it's something I steer clear of, but one character I've got floating around is a recreational drug user who's a big fan of casual novacoke, eX, Asia, and Zen use, with some Galak on the side for special occaisions. None of them are things he'd make use of professionally, though.

I never got into the combat drugs things for characters. It's probably a side effect of having played a Juicer in Rifts, and not wanting to cover old ground again.
venenum
A Sniper Character I play uses/ Carries G3, Betel, long Hual, Oxygenated Florocarbons and oxyrush.
wind_in_the_stones
I've got a character on the team who's addicted to novacoke. He's a troll, so a dose only lasts one hour. He's got the addiction at ten points, so he only has to do it once a week. That's an awfully cheap ten build points. I don't think I'm going to be able to up his addiction any, either.
Ancient History
Spike his next dose with something.
CanRay
Think about the things done to drugs today.

Mixed with Rat Poison, Stronger Drugs, Weaker Drugs, Dishwasher Detergent, and so on...

Anything to make the drug go further from a supplier point of view. It's not like a Junkie can just complain to the Better Business Bureau after all.

Of course, a TROLL getting a inferior cut would be an issue, unless the dealer is a Troll himself, or someone that can take a Coked up Troll.

Although I do know a story about one guy that droped a Brick of Coke in front of a Desk Sargent at a Police Station and demanded the arrest of the supplier, as it was an "Inferior Cut".
redwulf25_ci
I've made a few BTL users, a Face who used Nova Coke, and a Orc Houngan who used Deepweed.
Cadmus
Sideways, or is that side step? oh well, sure its a bit hard to get but only 1k a dose and lasts for two weeks, if your not worried abotu canser it is the cure for what aflicts ya,
Rad
QUOTE (CanRay @ Sep 5 2008, 06:42 PM) *
Of course, a TROLL getting a inferior cut would be an issue, unless the dealer is a Troll himself, or someone that can take a Coked up Troll.

Although I do know a story about one guy that droped a Brick of Coke in front of a Desk Sargent at a Police Station and demanded the arrest of the supplier, as it was an "Inferior Cut".


For some reason, I busted out laughing the moment I read the phrase "Coked up Troll". biggrin.gif

Mild Alcohol addiction is a cheap 5 bp that's often abused with my builds. My current character has a 5bp combat addiction which is even worse, as the only times he's succumb to it he's actually ended up helping the party tremendously as a result. (It was his combat addiction and being trapped behind flaming wreckage that led to him hotwiring the bulldozer we used to pwn the MCT strike team.)

He's also got an addiction to the tranq patches he uses to "come down" after runs. If we weren't living in a steathed, hyper-armed skytrain that might pose a problem. He'd have been in dreck if somebody decided to bust in on him while he was living in that apartment in seattle.
Rasumichin
QUOTE (wind_in_the_stones @ Sep 6 2008, 03:17 AM) *
I've got a character on the team who's addicted to novacoke. He's a troll, so a dose only lasts one hour. He's got the addiction at ten points, so he only has to do it once a week. That's an awfully cheap ten build points. I don't think I'm going to be able to up his addiction any, either.


First of all, he doesn't have to do it at ten points.
He may want to, but he can always try to pass his addiction test if he decides it would be better for him not to snort anything this weekend.
Furthermore, at ten points, he'll crave a line more often than once a week.

And what's most important : novacoke hangover is terrible and extremely likely to result in the character doing another line.
Having your Willpower reduced to 1 in a situation where the GM may call for an addiction test?
Bad news.

I'd never get a 10 point novacoke addiction for any character i wanted to play for an extended period of time.
That stuff can get you hooked really bad, really quick.


QUOTE (Ancient History @ Sep 6 2008, 03:19 AM) *
Spike his next dose with something.


Buying cut drugs is something that should happen from time to time, but in general, i'd make that dependant on where the character gets his supply, not on a need to reinstall game balance.
A C1/L1 street dealer contact will sell you inferior crap more often than not, and sometimes, it will be outright hazardous (as in "more hazardous than snorting chemicals mixed with ground glass up your nose is anyways").

If you'r on good terms with someone who distributes nose snacks to middle management types, on the other hand, you'll mostly get decent quality and only in exceptional cases (e.g., supply of the entire city has been busted) something that will call for a toxin resistance test.
Snow_Fox
we had one person weho got her character hooked on BTL's which got interestingas plot hooks, but no drugs.

a couple used nova-coke as a part of a gig, guarding a sim starlet who didn't want to blow alone, but no adiction
Ancient History
QUOTE (Rasumichin @ Sep 6 2008, 12:40 PM) *
Buying cut drugs is something that should happen from time to time, but in general, i'd make that dependant on where the character gets his supply, not on a need to reinstall game balance.

It doesn't have to be something particularly harmful - imagine a dealer who offers a "free sample" of novacoke mixed with Betel in an attempt to get the user hooked on just his stuff, and there's a lot of fun to be had with "just one hit" of pixie dust.
Rasumichin
Wait, there are still people who don't have a betel addiction?
CanRay
Maybe I should give Craig the Pixie Mage some Pixie Dust in a Pixie Stick!

If he hadn't missed that Orxploitation game, he'd have found out about "Nose Candy"... vegm.gif
wind_in_the_stones
Good comments. I knew you guys would help me out - and I didn't even ask.

Spike his next dose with something.

Good call. Not only makes his addiction difficult, but gives us some role-playing opportunities.

at ten points, he'll crave a line more often than once a week.

Eek, you're right. That's daily. What was I smoking?

Having your Willpower reduced to 1 in a situation where the GM may call for an addiction test?

Not a bad idea. And there are other ways to force a craving roll.

Other good comments too, thanks. We now return you to your previously scheduled discussion.

/threadjack
CanRay
Well, my group recently rescued a cow that is designed to process coca into cocaine...

Anyone else feel like hitting up the "Milk Bar" before going out for some of that good, ol' fashioned Ultraviolence?
Naptown Wendigo
Pierce used to be a street denizen strung out on Bliss for days at a time after his fall from the good graces of Horizon. He thinks he's recovered now but still uses in social situations (low level addiction).
Wasabi
Technomancer on Psyche.
Snow_Fox
QUOTE (Rasumichin @ Sep 6 2008, 12:06 PM) *
Wait, there are still people who don't have a betel addiction?

We actually view use as a sign of something not right. Something that holds you back from the A team/big leagues because you've got soemthing else on your mind than the job.
Rasumichin
QUOTE (Snow_Fox @ Sep 7 2008, 05:02 PM) *
We actually view use as a sign of something not right. Something that holds you back from the A team/big leagues because you've got soemthing else on your mind than the job.


I see your point, but that's a kind of...professionalism i wouldn't want to encourage in my games.

Not that there's anything wrong with the hyperprofessional blackops style, but i'll stick to the middle ground between black ops paranoia and pink mohawk triggerhappines.

And in that case, characters with mild drug problems are certainly appropriate.
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