So, as I was busy being bored at work I noticed that SR doesn't really have a decent body for the cyborgs - it kinda jumps from servile manservants to the perilous dangers of awesomeness.
So I went and wrote up several alternative cyborg bodies with conceivable costs and availabilities, plus some rules for starting the game as a cyborg - Cyborgs Unveiled.

Please let me know what you think. The question of balance especially concerns me...

I just asked permission to access the file.

Same.

Permission denied. Damned cyborgs! Denying me.

Um. Perilous deathbots *are* the only conceivable bodies for cyborgs. The servitors are drones that don't even have CCUs, because that's not what they're for. It's like, 'okay, we've just spent billions making this jarhead… let's stick him in a Ford Pinto and let him go free'.

(I'm still totally interested in this, it just struck me as funny. )

Yeah, Shadowrun simply isn't yet at the stage where popping a brain into a box is anywhere near commonplace. It's an expensive, delicate procedure and as such the only cyborgs running around are going to be experimental elite murderdeathkill machines.

The only way you're going to see more 'mundane' cyborg bodies is if the procedure becomes affordable to the masses and relatively safe.




-k

I hope it doesn't reach that stage to be honest. I like some of the transhuman elements of the game but if I wanted to play Eclipse Phase, well I'd play Eclipse Phase.

Edit

Fixed my damned spelling.

Sorry, folks. Gave everyone access.

Cool.

Why is the Basic Monobe *so* much cheaper? Mimic's not that expensive, right?

The Ares Furious is a Body 4 'drone', so it should be much bigger than a 'buff human', AFAIK. I guess the Otomo already really breaks that rule, though… Oh well. Cyborgs: all bets are off!

As would I, if it was a bit simpler and didn't make my head hurt.

I dunno, I'm kind of happy things are moving towards that. And not just in the vein of people going pretty much full on cyber; but like, think of AIs and free spirits (possibly e-ghosts?) getting to interact with humanity in "their" world. Which may be a little too happy trippy for canon Shadowrun, but who cares?

Of course, if you haven't had the chance to, there's a really great short bit in the first Ghost in the Shell manga where Kusanagi supervises the construction of a cyborg body, and they discuss the morality and philosophy behind it and "how close are you to human still?" Good stuff.

Uh, my printing of Arsenal does not list the cost, but I figured the majority of the cost is, as usual, paid for customization and life-like textures, not for the mechanics within. See, for example, Swiss watches - of course you pay for the mechanism, but the cost to make it is incomparable to the costs you pay.

I went more with crunch reasoning - Otomo breaks the rule already, plus Strength 4 doesn't sound terribly high, and neither does the armour rating.

Well, cyborgs are rare as is, cyborgs that can be used as PCs are rarer still, and it's not like you can juggle sleeves like you can in EP.
I just wanted to give the PCs a chance to try out a new role, which often comes deeply integrated into the setting (what with cyborgs only being made by megacorps with delta clinics).

I thought it was in the Compiled Tables? I dunno. Either way, it just seems incredibly cheaper, compared to any other cyborg body.

Yeah, I would be interested in the characters that could use the Quality. I hate seeing the 'escaped secret lab subject' character background.

Please don't take my personal preference as judgment that this is bad material. The game can accommodate a variety of play styles, with staggeringly different power levels and incredibly different story lines. I'd say that's good!

Nah, it isn't. See, it's cheaper because it has lower stats, kind of a low-grade choice. This was the only more or less viable reason for a low-grade choice to be present for cyborgs at all that I could find; I am, of course, open to suggestions.

Which stats does it have lower? They're identical to the 24R, 180,000¥ Petite… minus Mimic and Touch Sensors. Compared to the JAXY, yes, but I was just wondering about the Petite. I guess you *could* chalk it all up to luxury pricing.

Aside: does anyone know where the Mimic stats (cost) are? I'm sure I've seen them around here before, but if it's not in Arsenal like it's supposed to be… no clue.

It has lower stats than JA-XY, yeah; and yeah, the idea was that Petite and Pin-Up include the luxury price. As I said, it's not the best of ideas, but I'm hard-pressed to find anything better.

Beats me, either - never had the use for it; and if you go with suggested alternate rule (namely the one that lets cyborgs have implants of their own), you don't even have to use it.

Arsenal Errata.

They didn't stat out the cost of maintenance, though - there's mention of bio-paks to refresh the organic components of the system, but no cost for those.



-k

Aha. Rating x5000Y. Doesn't make the cost difference any more believable.
As to bio-paks - I guess they can just be included into the lifestyle costs, same way as commlink battery recharges and what have you.

This is one thing I liked from the Cyberpunk Chromebook series -- the full conversion borgs, and the body alteration packages. I've been waiting eagerly for the day these would be available in Shadowrun.

As someone asked, why make "average" cyborgs - that's a good question. But there are other specialties than mere deathbot that merit production. One category would be Extreme Environment:

* Space - in the end metahuman bodies don't handle long-term zero-G very well. A cyborg body is an opportunity to have built-in radiation, heat/cold and depressurization protection, too.

* Deep-sea - like space, deep oceans are totally hostile environments. A body that can stand ridiculous pressure, attacks by awakened giant squid, thermal vents, lack of air, and changes in pressure, would be useful.

* Arctic, Desert - with a totally different techno-metabolism, extreme heat, cold or drought doesn't have to be a problem.

* Toxic areas - you could custom-build a cyborg body to simply not care about most toxins. Not needing to breathe, having impermeable "skin" - that's nice.

* Extreme Jungle - with all the horrible bugs and diseases in the jungle, the constant humidity and so forth, flesh might just be too vulnerable.

You don't need to custom-build for toxin immunity. They're made of metal. I do wonder, though, how resilient a CCU actually is against radiation, pressure, etc. You could definitely encase it in various ways.

Depends on the Toxic. And how many Toxic Critters there are. Some might consider a metal man to be a nice meal.

I guess they just did not read the rules, when making the Otomo...
Well, it is all good, untill you use the modding rules....

SR4 cyborg is more like CP3 live metal than CP2020 full conversions. The CP2020 full conversion is pretty much a full cyber replacement done as a package deal (and going that way allows for one hell of a wiseman ) as pr the Augmentation rules.

Ascalaphus, while the areas you listed are indeed obvious choices for cyborg usage, there still is no good reason to use a Body 2 unarmoured, not Body 3 armoured cyborg there :3

Very nice work overall, just some suggestions for improvement
1) While you reference the rules on p. 162, those are a bit wishy-washy. Is it just recommended to have mental attributes cost double? And what specific qualities are banned?
2) HOW the artwork is done is really good, but WHAT is depicted is too anthropomorhpic IMO, with neck muscles and everything
3) The thing about adult brains getting -1 to physical tests...I know it's from Augmentation, but makes no sense nevertheless given that a non-jarhead rigger could just jump into the same body without such penalties.

As far as balance goes, a jarhead effectively is like a rigger with full immersion lifestyle and immunity to jamming. 50 BP plus all the other downsides of being a cyborg sound like a fair price for that.

Depends on the kind metal-corroding acid toxin you're facing

Seriously though, I'm thinking about the kind of cyborg that could sort through the ruins of a melted-down nuclear plant or toxic dumping site, with the sort of aggressive chemicals that even a normal drone can't stand.

Good question would be why you don't send in drones instead of cyborgs. One reason could be that radio reception is so bad there (due to radiation, freak weather, magic, jungle canopy, being 5km underwater, whatever) that even a satellite link isn't going to suffice to reach a drone.

Pilot programs are decent, but would have to be heavily shielded. A datacable line to a high-end Signal Transceiver/SatLink that shows snowy pictures of the toxic and radioactive nuclear power plant...

The last signal shown being a room full of strange eggs, unlike anything seen before, even in Chicago.

So, they have to send someone in a full-protection suit, and...

Ahh, hmm. I should dig out my old Chromebooks and do conversions into Shadowrun again. I did that way back for SR1, and it worked out pretty well.

Hm, I thought that the sidebar on cyborgs' negative qualities should suffice. Do you think I should write up a full list (like that written up for, say, AIs in RC)?
As to mental attributes costing double - I don't feel that should be the case (which is why I never mentioned the rule), since I tried to integrate the attribute set cost differences into the quality cost.

Which picture do you mean?
Besides, it's not like I am in position to choose...

Well, it can be seen as temporarily adaptation difficulties, if you go with the alternate rule that lets character buy this penalty off...

I'd be in for seeing that. Had a lot of good stuff in there.

Dated, but good stuff. I loved the Business Computer/Fax Machine in a briefcase.

EDIT: Maybe a look back to 2050s tech that the Wireless Matrix ignores and can be used under the radar, so to speak.

Made it into a pdf, here.
Please let me know if it works fine for you (and what you think of formatting, too).

Depends on how "hard" you want the rules to be and how much you want to leave to GM interpretation


Specifically the Furious, I'd look for something more mecha and less android because it is obviously not meant to pass as human.

Parts of Joe A. also look a bit too much like an anatomical drawing with machine parts painted over it, like the aforementioned shoulder/neck muscles


If it was "-1 to everything because of the trauma caused by the operation" it would make sense. Claiming that learned motor skills somehow inhibit the ability to control an anthroform drone does not, because normal riggers can control such drones or even steam engines without such problems.

Frankly, I do not think the rules should be too arbitrary about it. After all, GMs who allow fan supplements are likely to be flexible in their other rulings.

Well, cyborgs are specifically said to be humanoid walkers, so it makes sense for the body to emulate the human form as much as possible, to make the control easier.
The reason I chose the images I did, however, again, is that I had them available, not some other more fitting ones. I am open for suggestions.

Supposedly the cyborgs control their bodies in a manner not entirely similar to that of riggers. Or you can think of a reason of your own to suit the rules in Augmentation :3
I just included a quality to buy that penalty off into the pdf, noticing that using this quality is entirely optional.

Well, depends on how you define "humanoid". I would still call this humanoid, despite digitigrade movement and oddly proportioned arms...

It is humanoid, sure; but still, the closer to your original body, the easier to control, supposedly.

Done along time ago by a missed old timer Gurth, easily found HERE. I have used many of these conversions for many...MANY years.

Might help, might not. Either way, here you go.

My buddy Ashen was kind enough to do editor work on the supplement for me (he's a good editor and pleasant to work with, you can contact him as well if you want some editing done).

So I've uploaded a slightly updated version.

good job all in all