So, saw some references to psychotropic loyalty conditioning in the books--one that stood out was the Vory's use of it to condition loyalty for their magical assets--and was wondering at the viability of this for use by individuals (context: I've got one NPC--the team's primary fixer, actually--who has a near pathological fear of loosing people (has the Lost Loved One neg quality), and would be a prime candidate for making people "imprint" on him, less out of malice and more out of that fear of abandonment.)

So, thoughts?

Brain Rape: Just Say No.

Remember, the answer to stupidity in the Sixth World is belt-fed.

Actually, I find that everything is answered by Belt-Feed or Drum Magazine.

Yeah, a guy using a PAB unit to make people love him should generate a level of heat only marginally less than a mind rape-happy magician. This might be an interesting plot hook, but my first reaction to finding out about this would be to get a new fixer and then "dispose" of the old one.

I read: Mysterious Implant

It could be done with a PAB, but that requires weeks and it's hard to make it without the patient being aware of it.

A simpler solution is the Psychotropic IC route. A technomancer can even thread the psychotropic option on the fly. You still need the victim to use Hot-sim VR, though. I guess a BTL chip would be the easiest way to transmit it.

In my Hamburg campaign, SK was planning to put subtle psychotropic signals inside brand new enhanced tutorsofts (that also fooled the brain into developing the body), in order to get a better influence on the city.

Surely the whole point of being a Fixer is to loose your kennel of runners on the unsuspecting victims of premeditated crime. You know, "Let loose the dogs of war" and all those mangled Shakespear quotes. If loosing criminals upon a vulnerable target isn't his cup of soycaf, maybe he should pick a new archetype?

"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." So it's good your NPC only lost one.

I think that there's a lot of research going into this subject in the present day world. Shadowrun's world definitely has some edge to bring to the table-on both sides. i think imprinting would be a lot easier to successfully pull off; but I suspect science would be a lot better at recognizing and cracking the imprinting process. I kind of view it like an arms race: both sides are constantly competing to get an edge one each other.

And all of this in the shadows of polite society! "No citizens, we here at [Insert Government, Corporation or whatever here] would never use that sort of technology. We swear we respect you as people."

"Here, put this helmet on and I'll prove it to you."

Easy, do it the Deus way. Implant the gear needed for a good BTL fix and write your own program so you can give positive and negative feedback and take psychology. Use programming and psychology to write the BTL program to give happyness sadness and other emotional feedback to your subject when you are around or gone or happy with their behavior and such.