Just a question, say you have a character with 2 magnetic limb systems installed in his legs. And they have enough magnetic pull for him to hang from them without any other equipment.

He has a large steel wall in front of him, and he wants to run up it. Would you reduce his max running distance for having to run against the pull of gravity as well, or leave it the same? If you would reduce the distance, by how much?

I'd use the rules for Climbing, but with a significantly lower TN and normal walking speed.

Good luck finding anything to use those on, though. They're all but useless in the 60's.

Traction is amimportant consideration. His ability to stick to the wall and his ability to run up is is determined by the force of friction . Friction equals the magnetic force holding him to the wall multiplied by the coeffiecient of kenetic friction of the wall and his shoes. If the wall is coarse, his magnets are strong, and his shoes have good traction, then he should be able to walk up the wall without any trouble. If the wall is smooth and he has too little friction, he'll be unable to walk up at all. He'll simply slide down.

Since the magnets are strong enough for him to hand from, that must produce a force at least equal to his weight, so the only factor is friction. Because the coefficient of kenetic friction is always less than one, he will not have the full force of his magnets supporting him against gravity.

My recomendation is to reduce his max distance depending on the friction of his shoes against the wall.

EDIT: If you mean that he can hand from this wall using his magnets, and not just from a ceiling, then he certainly can run up it with no difficulty. He doesn't have to defeat gravity if friction does it for him.

Considering that there is no possible way to calculate the friction of a fictional wall, just make it up. Make a TN mod to his athletics test depending on how much effort you believe he needs to put into it. If he fails the athletics test, he slides back down. Alternativly, require a threshhold for the athletics test depending on the effort he has to make. For every die the he beats the threshhold he moves a certain number of meters based on his quickness (I don't remember the runnign rules off the top of my head) and for every die below the thredhold he slips a number of meters based on his body.

Really simple answer: tell him that the wall in not magnetic.

Easy math with chance of success: Look at how much a single leg in question can hold up. Multiply by .9 to indicate the extra forces of moving up without actually finding any real value. If that number is greater than or equal to the total mass of the PC in question, he can use normal walking speed with an athletics (climbing) test to increase his effective quickness for going up. If it is not enough weight, that give him a base wall-walking speed of quickness/2 (shuffling along) and halve the successes if he tries to use the above speed increase option.

If he asks why that's your ruling, tell him some random person online said it would be easier than finding out the real answers.

Let me clarify why I thought he would have a modifier. The friction and the wall are irrelevant, he can stick to it, and run around on it.

My reasoning for why he would have a reduced running distance is rather than pulling him into the ground, gravity is pulling him opposite to the direction he is running. It'd be about the same as trying to run into a very strong headwind.

Okay, so his legs can stick to the wall without him falling off. My only thought is, doesn't having the rest of his body weight hanging down behind him make it very, very awkward, if not impossible?

Awkward, yes, but no more impossible that performing a situp. If he knows how to manipulate his center of mass and has decent strength in his back and abdomen it should only be mildly uncomfortable.

The knees would be a problem, but he has cyberlegs. I'm sure they can be locked in place.

i would imagine so, as despite the legs working with gravity towards your soles, the rest of your body has to account for it. I would think some sort of magnetic hand/feet combo would be more useful for easier climbing, and movement.

Well if he needed both feet to have enough magnetic attraction he could only barely hold himself sideways on a wall. Lets say he was close to the 100 kg limit. He would need his high leg is pointed up 45 degrees and his low leg is pointed down 45 degrees (fairly big split) as well as leaning forward to keep his body close to the wall (at least straight up from the hips). That would put 50 kg of upward force (I know kg isn't really a force, but do the conversions yourself) on each leg, 50 kg pushing into the wall on the lower leg, and 50 kg trying to pull away from the wall on the upper leg. Given the precariousness of his situation, I wouldn't let him run up at all. If he was a scrawny 50 kg, I'd let him walk awkwardly, but no more. Of course he could make a running start. I'd say he could get up the wall as far as he is tall before slowing to a half walk speed. OTOH, it is a fantasy game. Do as you please, but running is not realistically feasible--when you run, by definition, both feet are off the surface at the same time. AHHHH

I'd require a strength test, too...you'd have to have some strong ab muscles to not bend backwards.

{Edit} Now that I think about it, you'd need to have all your muscles above the knee strong enough to support your own weight freehanging.

In SR, the World Trade Center isn't destroyed, so that's one building you could walk up in SR.

IIRC it was destroyed along with most of New York City in the earthquakes. 2005, was it?

~J

As far as I knew, it was toast, but it's been a while since I read about NY.

You could always wait a few months and see.

I was meaning more along with "most of New York City" rather than it specifically... but I wouldn't put it past them.