So, for one of my games, i'm working on a mage. I'm aiming for a chaos tradition, and i was thinking of a Geas of "must be running a commlink in active mode". It seems to me to be a fairly strong Geas, It puts my team and myself at risk (cuz ya know, having a commlink go "beep beep" in the middle of a run is BAD even if the commlink i'm using as "active" isnt my "real" one)

"Bad News, Good News: Bad news, we're busted." "Damnit, you and that commlink!" "Good news, that security guard over there thinks I'm cute and I got a date on Saturday night." "Oh joy for you."

Just out of curiosity, how does having a commlink running in active mode give your magician the confidence to use his magic effectively?

well, as a chaos mage, i sort of focused on:

I dunno. If you want that flavor, it should be less specific. 'Must make himself obvious', or 'must compromise op-sec', something like that. Honestly, active commlink is pretty lame (besides, Signal 0, heh).

Maybe the mage is a Facebook junkie and can't stand feeling disconnected. Failing to be available distract and worries the character.

Justification aside, this is a great way to get your whole team caught and shot. The fact that there is an active unauthorized PAN present will set off any alarms in a hurry.

I'd lean more to "must run a commlink with active AR environment," probably using Glyphs and Virtual Person. The persona is based on an electronic scan of the character, with a dry humor, and the glyphs are an actual floating casting circle or treatise of magic surrounding his feet.

There can be issues if your commlink gets crashed, you get surprised and can't grab it, or even if it just shorts out from electrical damage.

I was thinking of that as option B Bishop, but aside from having the commlink stolen, i dont really see a sufficiently negative downside to it...

Plus, you could carry a half dozen disposables just in case.

Fixing it depends on your exact angle. Is it "he's addicted to tech" or "he's recklessly visible"?

can't do Magic without the help and explanation of AR formulae and icons.
seems fine

I was always partial to the "Can't use your magic to kill" Geas for a Black Magic Tradition Mage. But that is just me I guess...

Yeah, that's the first option ('crutch'). It doesn't do anything obvious though. *shrug* I'm kind of amused by the idea (dumb as it is for shadowrunners) of the mage who has to Leeroy Jenkins.

Really? You honestly can't think of a downside? What about the one already mentioned multiple times? You know, the downside where your PC and all his teammates get captured, tortured, and shot because the mage went around advertising their presence with an active PAN? You don't consider that "sufficiently negative?"

I sure don't, unless there's a Signal minimum (say, 4) in the geas, or if the commlink can't be placed in a wifi-block bag, etc. It's simply too specific and easy to game. Besides, the mage can go astral on some runs.

I was referring to being in AR as not seeing the downside.

I get the being active part as being bad, but i do believe that there should be a drawback..

How about "must broadcast in AR with program mimicking the spell formula"? It wouldn't give any functional benefit, but something like viewing your magic as abilities of your "alt" in an AR game, almost like using your commlink as a fetish.

Everyone is always 'in AR' anyway. It's the normal state of reality for people in 2070.

Hm. That might work, Fringe: 'must keep playing Matrix AR game'. It precludes Signal/blocking trickery, even if it doesn't actually require Active mode (per se). Maybe the game itself requires Active mode, because it *is* a full AR game. That'd definitely be 'bad' enough, because then you also need a Matrix connection as well. …Possibly too bad… if there is such a thing for mages.

You actually mentioned the first downside. Because AR doesn't travel in the astral with the mage, he'd be breaking his geas if he used magic from the Astral. Beyond that, users of AREs are noted for acting oddly because they are interacting with things that no one else can see. A hacker who cracks the mage's commlink could edit the environment or crash the program.

Just thoughts...

If the character took the Spellcasting restriction and didn't do any work in the astral, the limitation would be diminished.

No, BishopMQ, there are two different suggestions in play here (except in the last two posts, where we suggested merging them). The part you quoted is me discussing the 'must have Active commlink' geas, not the 'must have AR' geas.

So if it's just being on Active mode what's to stop one of your teammates from bringing a directional jammer and pointing it at you at all times?

You'd never suffer your geas since it's just being active and not necessarily connected somewhere.

What about something like a Chaos Magician's P2.0, where everyone in the social network (perhaps a MoSoSo) is broadcasting all the time.

Yeah, something like that. It's equivalent to the Matrix AR game, but maybe with a better flavor.

Or you have to post to your MeFeed (or whatever the Facebook equivalent is called): ChaosMage is casting the Orgy spell at group of Horizon guards. (with the resulting GPS tagging)

But in response to the OP: Simply requiring an "active" commlink might be okay, though the GM is encouraged to hit you with AR spam in busy areas or the occasional commlink hack. I don't recall if there's a typical penalty for AR spam, but I'd say something like either partial cover or the occasional Composure test to stay focused on the target.

We use a -2 for Distracted, in an AR Spam Zone, with an Active Comlink.

I use that as well, under normal circumstances in a spam zone.

Until the geas actually says 'the active comm has to be connected to the user' (and can't be wrapped in mylar), none of that matters.

the Twittermage with Geas "has to tweet at least every 10 minutes about was he's doing"

Dont you think playing an AR game would cause the -2 distracted penalty as well? Thats why I dislike that idea, i'd be losing more by adhering to the Geas, than if i ignored it.

*shrug* Not if it's some kind of input-only mode. Like, you're not 'playing', you're just letting the game copy your activities in. I dunno.

Depends. "Distracted" is only a dice pool penalty. Breaking a geas actually reduces your Magic, which in turn reduces your overcast threshold and maximum Force. That could be a stiffer penalty.

Media Junkie + Multitasking







-k

Equals Media Goodness...

Could go for 'must have an active matrix connection through DNI.' as well, but that might make wifi-inhibition plenty scary.

Just my 2 cents:

"Must be using an AR interface" is more appropriate, or possibly supplemental (e.g. "must be using an AR interface with active wifi connection"). The idea being that his spells were computer programs that he had to manipulate/run in order to cast.

My chaos mystic adept did that (although it didn't really come up). I also BSed having an ultra violet nexus in my Lodge (I totally spent BP on that nexus despite having been very strapped for points, and if I believed it was a UV node, that's all that mattered).

Personally, I believe that a Geas should be detrimental to YOU, and you alone. As it stands, the Geas is a liability for the whole team. Kind of like the Judas flaw from RC (seriously, does any DM actually allow that one?)

I can agree with this on some level, however, you also have to think that a mage, especially, hasnt been a runner all his life. Even if he wasnt in a corp facility, chances are any mage would be brash enough to think "I'm telling you where i am, and you still can't stop me"

Well there is the mentality that you put up with certain inconveniences and eccentricities from your magical assets. Because they are rare and special snow flakes and all that. The team always has the option of booting the geas'd character or leaving them at home.