Curious how many people think this is a good Shadowrun element or not...

Don't have either of the 'Comet' books, but I do like pancakes.

Good idea, but I don't think I like it in Shadowrun. The temptation to Anime is far to great.

I have to agree. I don't feel that SURGE is a useful addition to Shadowrun.

It is a useful addition, but I only use it sparingly in keeping with the game flavour.

Apparently, people like pancakes.

I continue to stand in defense of about 2/3 of SURGE. It actually makes more sense than goblinization and UGE being all or nothing deals.

SURGE 4 LIFE!! WOOOO!!!!!

SURGE for me is another way to add character to a character... I tend to theme out the characters, give them distinctive looks... as is the case with Angel, my rave going pacafist Gecko shaman...

SURGE=shiny. As long as you've got a GM willing to say that just because you can make it in the rules it doesn't necessarily exist, it just adds possibilities.

~J

I don't mind it on principle...as long as my Shadowrun game doesn't turn into X-Men.

Whilst it's not to my personal taste, I think used sparingly and with a little common sense from players and GM it just about ekes its way up bearable.

I think i t adds a nice element to the game as long as it is not over used. But then i was a fan of the Exotics from CP2020.

I like it, used sparingly. We've only had three characters (PC and NPC together) who have been SURGEd, and with the number of NPCs that can appear in my games, that's a pretty low number.

PCs: Ceres, cat-girl and Dax, fox.
NPCs: Voodoo, a sort of half-vampire.

What kills me is the references in the various YoTC articles to SURGE powers that are not listed, such as the extra finger joints or perfect pitch.

I like SURGE. It adds more options and is a terrific plot hook.

Besides, I think that there might be more to SURGE than what we know of...

Today at work I saw a copy of some new Thundercats comic book. All of the female cat-women have been redrawn to be incredibly good looking. Even the little girl thundercat has grown up and developed quite nicely. The comic was pretty focused on T&A (and so was I); scantily-clad chick thundercats get a lot more page space than the male ones.

So now I think that adding 36DD cat women to anything is a fine idea.

Never had or saw a character with SURGE traits, and so far haven't used it in any of my games.

Zazen: Remind me to never let you play in any of my games. Though if you ever run one....

I think its a good addition, despite the fact that many people wont use it. Making use of it isnt always the point. Sometimes when playing SR, its easy to forget it *is* the 6th world afterall. Stuff is a bit crazy. Its very easy to fall into the movie mentality where everything is slick and stylish, sometimes you gotta do something whacky just cause you can. So since every so often someone will make use of it, and bring a little 6th world into the game, I like. But Im not sure Id want another 3 sourcebooks on the subject =)

At first I thought it was a bit lame, but could be alright if implemented properly. Then I thought it could be quite cool for making some totally unique characters. Now I just think it's lame, because guess what? Looking like a complete freak does not a unique character make.

funny that you should talk about thundercats zazen i have been looking for old episodes online lately.

hmm, i discoverd that in many ways the cheetalady was hot in there own right alltho classic 80's lady. a lady that looks good but can at the same time pack a punch. basicly a real tomboy.

but haveing the girl look older, man its time someone beat the artits over the head with a cluebat or something! this is turning into a witchblade comic

I play up that not every surge effect makes the character look cool or gives a neat power. A fair number are crippling and or disfiguring.

I don't oppose a lot of the SURGE elements, it's just that I think that they should also have tech equivelents. Basically half the "kewl" SURGE traits should also be able to be done using Cultured Bioware, since a lot of the SURGE traits are taken primarily for image (ie, cat ears, fur, tails, etc etc).

I agree with Reighnhell that a lot of SURGE should probably be crippling if not lethal (ie... how well could an ill or elderly person survive a shock to their system like surge? Chronic Ostreowhateveritiscalled should probably end up killing the characters very soon if not immediately (unchecked bone growth can have a nasty habit of puncturing organs) ). Just like mutations, a good deal of SURGEings should have just killed the people out right, it would have added to the creepy factor. Dead bodies of people turning into monsters (partial or full staging of surge) begin turning up... could lead to scary campaign if let lose on unsuspecting players

The most common assuptions I see with surge is the "oh god not Animalman" type stuff.

See when I think of surge I usually see the minor changes. Like three eyes, or a human with horns, or odd skin colors, not all that over the top stuff.


Surge is also good for fun random stuff like a human that becomes a mobile powersite. Or other crazy awakened oddities.

Two notes:

Yes, many Surge effects would probably be deblitating or lethal. But you cant play a dead character. So, they didnt publish character-based rules for them since, by default, theyre used in conjunction with characters. The big "come up with stuff and get gm to approve" area covers most any application you can think of for npcs since like the gm automatically approves that stuff =)

Also, there is a tech equivalent to it. Both Comsmetic Bioware and Genetech rules also contain the "come up with stuff and get gm to approve" clauses. And many of the cosmetic, minor, stylish type Surge effects fall into those areas. I would certainly say you could get the work done to aquire those features through genetech if nothing else, since by default Surge is nothing more than genome changes caused by magic. It might require a subject possesing the feature to garner data from or something else per GM, but certainly feasible.