OK, I know I'm asking for a proverbial thwaking here, but wait until I'm finished.

With SR4 arriving (sometime), I was looking over one of my old charater sheets, and found an old post-it note written to myself. "Surge=revival?" it read, which brought an old idea back.

When the SURGE rules made it's debut, I had an idea on 're-creating' myself as a character in SR. Not at my current age, but adding the 61+years to it (which would put me at my early 90's). Already a capable mage, but by the time Haley's Comet returned, I'd be more or less in the Old Mage's Home, waiting for the inevitable. To make the long story short, my character-self lapsed into a coma when the Comet made it's inbound return, then re-awakened upon it's way out....this time, in a younger form (not someone else's, younger chronicologically, effectively jumping back almost half my 90+ age to mid-40's). I had shelved this idea & forgotten about it until just recently.

My question is this; even with all the effects SURGE produced, would this be possible, or just a bad idea even as a small footnote in the personal history?

(prepares for the worst)

Do whatever you like. Leonization can 'reverse' aging t oa certain extent. NO reason magic couldn't. Besides, the current SURGE options mostly stink (IMO). Just a bunch of different ways to turn into a weird pseudo-animal mostly. We try and give it more varietyi. I have a gargoyle shaman that SURGEd (GM rolled like a 24!) and ended up getting gargoyle traits, which wa a lot cooler than a tail or cyclops eye for frags sake!
We generally let SURGE do whatever ever the hell the GM wants. And for the most part, our GM's don't think getting gills and webbed feetrandomly is all that interesting. It has potential, but as is written, it's just off.

SURGE should be, more than anything else, a way for a GM and a player to wave a wand and get away with whatever the hell they want to. Just because the published examples and lists and charts and results all turn you into a catgirl porn star with one eye and a kangaroo pouch doesn't mean that's all it should be able to do.

If your GM decides to insist on SURGE checks, if you happen to roll poorly/well enough to get SURGEd, and if your GM doesn't hate your guts? You two should then be able to work out something cool as the end result of your (un)luck.

So, well, whether it can or can't do something is pretty much entirely up to you and your GM.

It was just sad. We have 3 players in the game. 2 Mages, and a rigger. both mages are initiates, and BOTH SURGED. GM rolled in the 20's (highest was 27 I think), and got a few successes. We didn't want to, but hey, dice don't lie. But at least there was some cool SURGE's!

*Twack!*

Well, there is a spell that places a person in near coma and slows their metabolism. Its not unreasonable to assume that a SURGE powered effect might be strong enough to freeze a person for decades.

If it is good for the story, run with it.

Also, it does not have to rejuvinate the character. He could just find himself 'dropped from the Reapers schedule book'. Think Gandolf. You could go around calling 70 years olds 'Damn long haired kids'!

BookWyrm:

That was pretty much how Sahandrian and I worked out my character. San was of the opinion that he would be between 200 and 300 years of age, tops, but with no experience as a Shadowrunner, which would be difficult to explain.

Between us, we worked out that "The Foreigner" (my character) was of part-I.E. ancestry, born ostensibly human (essentially an Immortal Elf with the "Human-Looking" Edge) around 1986 or so (at the latest), during the second 20th Century visit of Halley's Comet.

The idea was that he was pretty much a "normal human" until the Awakening in 2012. The rise in the mana level triggered the latent "Immortality Factor" in his genetic structure, arresting his aging process at his then-current age (25 or 26), but that was all. In other words, he still looks Human; aside from being possessed of a slightly-above-average appearance (Charisma 4), as well as quite tall (6 feet 6 inches/1.98 meters), his only distinguishing physical characteristic is that the irises of his eyes, nominally hazel-green in color, are mottled with small spots of silver and gold pigment.

When the Comet next appeared in 2062, his hitherto-dormant magical potential was activated, triggering his Adept powers. (BTW: Sahandrian's current campaign is set in 2064, so my character's Adept powers manifested themselves only two years ago game-time. That's why he's still acclimating himself to his new abilities.)

Sounds a little peculiar, I know, but it's the only way Sahandrian and I could think of to explain a lifetime of experience at his craft (he was trained as an assassin, and was successful at it, but lost his ill-gotten gains-- money, property, etc.-- in the Crash of 2029, and had to start over). He has yet to kill anyone in SR, on contract or otherwise, and his career as a Shadowrunner hasn't really begun yet.

(I transplanted an existing character from a now-defunct campaign set in 2055 to the new one, set in 2064. AFAIK, that campaign hasn't begun yet, mostly because of scheduling problems.)

Hope this helps.

--Foreigner

I'd been toying with creating new SURGE effects. This one gives me a few ideas...

Everyone, thanks.

Wagners, Weblife....the SURGE effect didn't suddenly just preserve my in-game self's form, it litterally reversed the aging process by half. But calling 70 year-olds "drekkin' long-hairs!" was funny. Yes, I could have made it so that he stayed 'elder'-looking, but I liked the idea of taking it to that 'revival' point. Thanks for your opinions.

Smiley, glad I could inspire.

*Thwake thwake thwake*

Maybe if your aura still looked 90+?

~J

is there not a 'computer illiteracy' flaw? I mean, the guy will keep looking for the mouse. Keep trying to type dos or unix commands in. No one will know what he is talking about.

"What is he muttering about? A Mouse?"
"I don't know, do you think it is one of those 'assistant' programs that people who don't know how to use comuters, use to use a computer?"
"I don't know, he dosen't strike me as the kind of person who would use Disney software."
"Besides, we all know those programs don't work worth drek anyway."

I thought it made sense.

He is old enough to have used a mouse. The runners have no idea what he is talking about and are discussing it.

(thwaks own forehead in understanding). But I wouldn't take the Computer Illiterate' flaw unless necessary. He may not be able to jack in, but he can at least operate them with passing or above-average skill.

Interesting idea, Spastic. Thanks.

And his deck (if any) would probably be running some hideously archaic OS. Like Microsoft XP.

Hssssss, Microsoft XP. I maintain it was the cause of the Crash of 2029. I prefer Windows 2000 Professional, updated.