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James McMurray
My campaign runs in 2052 so I don't bother reading the more up to date sourcebooks (mainly because I don't own them:) ). Can someone tell me what SURGE is? I've heard lots of people here ticked off abot it, so I'm curious.
Herald of Verjigorm
Get Year of the Comet. It's all in there. Sudden Unexpected Recessive Genetic Expression if the expansion of the acronym helps. It makes about 1/6 all-meat mundane humans a bit of freakish, and has a little chance of affecting others.
hyzmarca
Sudden Unexplained [something that begins with an R] Genetic Expression.

Basicly, Haley's Comet came by and caused people to grow horns, tails turn green, Goblinize or De-goblinize, Awaken, become Duel Natured, create a mobile background count, grow horribly painful spikes, and other wierd stuff.
ITs all in Year of the Comet.
RunnerPaul
Surge? Coca Cola's attempt to add a third major brand to the highly competitive Yellow Citrus Soda w/extreme sports themed advertising category (the other two being PepsiCo's Mountain Dew and Coca Cola's own Mello Yello). However this attempt was doomed to failure (as many of Coca Cola's experiments have been over the years), in part because one of the major drivers of the Yellow Citrus Extreme Soda category is caffine content, of which Surge had only 51 miligrams per 12 oz can.
Crimson Jack
Doesn't it sound totally awesome?! Man, SURGE is really cool. My character grew a rhino horn and furry tail. Dude, it's so rad! sarcastic.gif
durthang
QUOTE
However this attempt was doomed to failure


Yes, but Surge actually tasted good.
vapor
ahhh, but mountain dew is made from the squeezings of the adrenal glands of snowboarders...



true story.
Fortune
QUOTE (hyzmarca)
Basicly, Haley's Comet came by and caused people to grow horns, tails turn green, Goblinize or De-goblinize, Awaken, become Duel Natured, create a mobile background count, grow horribly painful spikes, and other wierd stuff.

You left out the best part ... Anime-style Kitty Cat Porn Stars! eek.gif
Crimson Jack
QUOTE (Fortune)
QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Feb 14 2005, 11:11 AM)
Basicly, Haley's Comet came by and caused people to grow horns, tails turn green, Goblinize or De-goblinize, Awaken, become Duel Natured, create a mobile background count, grow horribly painful spikes, and other wierd stuff.

You left out the best part ... Anime-style Kitty Cat Porn Stars! eek.gif

That's the one good part about SURGE. wink.gif
BigKnockers
Out of interest, what skill would surged claws use. Could you use Killing Hands with them?

What bugs me about Surge is that it's meant to be a 1 or 2 point flaw having "strange" coloured hair, even though every rocker out there has a weird coloured do.

Say, if someone SURGEd green skin. After the SURGE they decide to get orthoskin or dermal sheath. Wouldn't these two replace the skin? Would that mean that the SURGEe would have to fork out a boat load of karma unless he got green orthoskin/dermal sheath?
nyahnyah.gif
toturi
QUOTE (BigKnockers)
What bugs me about Surge is that it's meant to be a 1 or 2 point flaw having "strange" coloured hair, even though every rocker out there has a weird coloured do.

Yes, but does the rocker have green do down there?
BigKnockers
It's actually physically hurting me holding back, but there are so many bad places this could go at this point.

Must.......resist.........temptation....
Jrayjoker
QUOTE (BigKnockers @ Feb 14 2005, 09:37 AM)
It's actually physically hurting me holding back, but there are so many bad places this could go at this point.

Must.......resist.........temptation....

With a name like BigKnockers it seems you have faild your will to resist already.
BigKnockers
Hey, I wasn't the one who dragged this into the gutter wink.gif
Nikoli
QUOTE (BigKnockers)
Hey, I wasn't the one who dragged this into the gutter wink.gif

So, we've moved a few steps up on the moral ladder then?
BitBasher
Remember SURGE is only as cheezy as the GM makes it. A good GM will have it actually make the world darker, more opressed and neurotic.
BigKnockers
Thats exactly the path I went down. That got me thinking that if I was being oppressed because I had green skin, I'd probably want to do something about it, and if it makes me a little more damage resistant all the better (ala orthoskin/dermal sheath). But the whole karma paying off the "flaw" makes things a bit funky in my mind.
Fortune
QUOTE
But the whole karma paying off the "flaw" makes things a bit funky in my mind.


I've always had a problem with that for a number of different Flaws. I believe if a character resolves something in-game that would eliminate the Flaw, then it shouldn't automatically either have to be 'paid off' or be replaced by new ones.
James McMurray
So SURGE is basically just a way to screw with the players?
Nikoli
In essence, yes. Just like that brand, spanking SOTA deck that just happened to be unsecured in a hallway during a run...
Tanka
Well, not really "screw with." It can be used to introduce other elements (like furry porn stars and humans with osteobicuspis) or just for flavor.

Although making them roll for effects can be kind of funny. Actually managed to get a player that was playing a Stealth Adept and had some outrageous skin and hair. Really irked him, but he handled it well.
RunnerPaul
QUOTE (durthang)
Yes, but Surge actually tasted good.

Your local bottlers must have been using a different formula for the syrup than mine were, because whenever I tried it, it tasted of the metaphorical arse. One time, about six weeks after it had been introduced in my area, one of the local supermarkets tried to clean their inventory of the stuff by giving away a free can with any purchase (including a $0.25US pack of Bubble Gum), to whoever wanted it. Still took them a month to be rid of the stuff.
Kanada Ten
Interestingly enough, they have left the actual cause open. And while it seems likely that gene shift and astral expression are the root, the rather tiny percent effected make showing those cases that were genuine SURGE and those that might have been a mad geneticist's revenge hard to separate.

The fact that it can be used to create surprisingly powerful critters is often overlooked, even beyond Demon Rats (who are more intelligent, more social and more powerful than their Devil brethren) and Shamblers.

These are some examples of what I do [to NPCs] with SURGE. I too, dislike the Edge/Flaw value system ascribed to it, but it mostly works if used separate from other types of edges and flaws.
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