QUOTE (HardSix @ Dec 7 2008, 12:49 PM)

...I ruled that the PC (or any other spellcaster) can't shapechange into any extinct animal because it isn't part of the "living Gaiasphere."
QUOTE (Ragewind @ Dec 7 2008, 12:58 PM)
For those who have been spouting sillyness about the "Astral knowing" has no basis or support in the shadowrun rules, if you would like to houserule that in your games that's fine.
To further clarify, I never meant that the Astral Plane or any entities in it would prohibit Shapechanging into extinct natural forms. I always assumed that all the life on Earth is what generates Mana. If a natural animal species is now extinct, or nearly so, then its signature/echo is no longer present in the Mana; Shapechange can't "find" the signature/echo anymore, so it no longer works.
I never said I was right, just voicing my opinion.
QUOTE
[possible GM responses that don't violate canon]:[list][*]Sorry, the velociraptor didn't really exist. Nothing existed before the First Age, which was only a couple million years ago. Those bones the palientologists dug up were placed there by a capricious free spirit in an attempt to discredit Christianity.
It would be real interesting (and challenging) to RP a short-Earther Christian mage character, trying to wrap their brain around the Awakened world and how it limit some of their abilities.
QUOTE (AllTheNothing @ Dec 7 2008, 01:10 PM)

I would chose something that doesn't stand out that much. Just think how the Star and KE would react seeing a dinosaur running around downtown (and that's if it is just running, if it starts eating peoples...)
If a 'Runner is stomping through downtown as a T-Rex, they are just asking for trouble. Like maybe the Star's heretofore-unknown elite troll-archer squad.

Back to thread topic... there was a recent documentary episode on PBS (in the US) where scientists discovered preserved non-fossilized tissue intact hidden within the surrounding fossilized marrow of dino bones. They were certain that some DNA was damaged, but... if you collected enough samples and had access to 2071 cloning technology, dinos would seem to be very likey to pop up in a corp lab.