|
I don't know if I would say that "running counter to a totem's spiritual desires" is the only way a shaman can turn Toxic, but it's sure as hell the most common way. If you start redefining the spirit into being something that it actively isn't, that's basically the express train to Toxic Shamanism. However, there's plenty of shamans who turn toxic by committing too hard to the spirit's ideals too, though that mostly comes with a loss of identity and a lack of perspective on the world around you. And then there's the less accurate but more dictionary-literal definitions where Gobbet is a shaman who lives in and regularly ingests toxic substances 
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 17:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 22:09 |
|
|
KataraniSword posted:I don't know if I would say that "running counter to a totem's spiritual desires" is the only way a shaman can turn Toxic, but it's sure as hell the most common way. If you start redefining the spirit into being something that it actively isn't, that's basically the express train to Toxic Shamanism. However, there's plenty of shamans who turn toxic by committing too hard to the spirit's ideals too, though that mostly comes with a loss of identity and a lack of perspective on the world around you. At least in older editions, the books specified that there were two different types of toxic shamans. I forget the specific terms the used for each, but one twisted a totem's ideals into something horrible and the other turned on the ideals entirely. So, for example, Dog is about loyalty and protecting those close to you (your pack). One type of toxic dog would treat even minor perceived threats to their pack with wildly disproportionate cruelty and violence. The other type would want to torture and kill the people who used to be closest to them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 17:14
|
|
|
I dont know posted:At least in older editions, the books specified that there were two different types of toxic shamans. I forget the specific terms the used for each, but one twisted a totem's ideals into something horrible and the other turned on the ideals entirely. So, for example, Dog is about loyalty and protecting those close to you (your pack). One type of toxic dog would treat even minor perceived threats to their pack with wildly disproportionate cruelty and violence. The other type would want to torture and kill the people who used to be closest to them. You can see a faction of the latter Toxic Dog Shamans in the recently released film Strays. That movie… it’s too disturbing for me to watch, whether the villain deserves their fate or not. Let’s leave it at that. As for incel shamans… let’s just say my Shadowrun characters and their allies would be very motivated to hunt down the toxic examples of such people. Again, not saying more.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2023 19:13
|
|
|
achtungnight posted:You can see a faction of the latter Toxic Dog Shamans in the recently released film Strays. That movie… it’s too disturbing for me to watch, whether the villain deserves their fate or not. Let’s leave it at that. We are talking about that lighthearted and dumb movie with two dogs, one of them voiced by Will Ferrel?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 16:34
|
|
|
Mindopali posted:We are talking about that lighthearted and dumb movie with two dogs, one of them voiced by Will Ferrel? Yes. Like I said, let's leave it at that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 22:44
|
|
|
achtungnight posted:Yes. Like I said, let's leave it at that. I smell deep-seated trauma and shall not dig any further.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2023 22:54
|
|
|
Not trauma. Just disgust.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2023 00:41
|
|
|
achtungnight posted:Not trauma. Just disgust. ...Right, let's leave it at that. SO HOW ABOUT THEM MARINERS?! 
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2023 21:52
|
|
|
Gilgamesh255 posted:SO HOW ABOUT THEM MARINERS?! The bug spirits were about to eat them, but then they watched a game and decided they didn't want the indigestion
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2023 21:57
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:The bug spirits were about to eat them, but then they watched a game and decided they didn't want the indigestion The Mariners are still around as of 5th Ed, because major Shadowtalker (and future JackPoint admin) Slamm-0! got his handle from his love of baseball, and his pirated trideo stream of the Mariners game is a detail in one of the setting pieces that introduces new players to how deckers and technomancers are different (via his baby momma Netcat) in 5th Edition’s Run Faster. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this story before in thread too. Also, the BoSox got screwed over extra hard on one of the events that preceded the Boston Lockdown, as a Dragon experimenting with and infected with CFD fell out of the sky onto the Green Monster while there was a game underway at Fenway. Most of the team (and their fans in attendance) probably died in the aftermath. GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Oct 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2023 22:06
|
|
|
The curse of the Bambino is something else in shadowrun.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2023 05:10
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:The curse of the Bambino is something else in shadowrun. Rumors say, that your only warning that the Great Bambino is near is when he taps his bat on the ground, before promptly batting your brains out.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2023 07:04
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:The curse of the Bambino is something else in shadowrun. BRB gotta homebrew a new Mentor Spirit.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2023 07:18
|
|
|
Lemniscate Blue posted:BRB gotta homebrew a new Mentor Spirit. You don't want that spirit. it's very weird.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2023 19:22
|
|
|
The actual MLB team missed the playoffs by one game. I believe that they are the only extant franchise to have never played in the Series. Meanwhile, the Twins had a worse record than them yet got into the playoffs because they were #1 in a god-awful division. Edit: Oh, and the NL apart from Atlanta was so shite this year that two NL teams made the playoffs with only 84 wins. Poor, poor Mariners.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2023 02:26
|
|
|
Harebrained schemes new game just came out, lamplighter's league, for these who hadn't seen it. I played it a bit, it's... well, some game design decision are kinda annoying, not gonna lie.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 08:28
|
|
|
And sadly, even before that game was released, HBS was hit with layoffs of 80% of their staff 
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 08:31
|
|
|
Also, 80% of them got fired a few months back. From a functional standpoint HBS is no more.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 08:32
|
|
|
By all appearances, Paradox bought them, realized "wait what the gently caress do we do with a company that makes licensed games, we don't do that at all," and answered their question by culling the team completely, pushing the unfinished game out, and calling the whole thing a loss.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 09:35
|
|
|
Yup, especially since they have confirmed that they wanted to make Battletech 2 but Paradox refused since they didnt want to pay Microsoft for the license.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 11:34
|
|
|
Sucks to hear that there was such a bad mismatch between them. It makes sense, but it's still a pretty bad blunder.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 13:00
|
|
|
Holy.... drat it, I wasn't aware. And just like that, the company that made some absolutely great games was shot to shreds. However, I wonder if that wouldn't have happened either way with the commercial failure of lamplighter's league. Small to mid-sized studios are very dependant on the success of every game due to them potentially taking years to be made. Hell, the studio that made shadow tactics and the desperado 3 games, all great games that make you hit your head against the desk and bring you to the fundamental realization that you never were a smart person, announced they would stop making games, despite them being rather succesful. Simply because banking several years of work on a single game is way too risky. Not a good time to be a middle sized development company.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 13:49
|
|
|
It might not have been bad/a failure if they dev crew hadn't all been fired.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 13:51
|
|
|
I had high hopes for Lamplighter's League, and am very sad that Paradox killed HBS. The game might not have been great, but HBS had a strong history of making good games and should have been given way more rope than just having one ambitious failure. Apparently Paradox is writing off ~$23m in dev costs for Lamplighter's League, which doesn't seem like the type of loss that should get a company with a history of success eviscerated. Reminds me of how Larian almost died before being able to hit it moderately big with Divinity: Original Sin - they had to essentially push out Dragon Commander as an unfinished product to get some income in order to survive the dev time for D:OS even with the extra million dollars from Kickstarter. It's real fuckin' hard out there for smaller devs.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 15:00
|
|
|
Mindopali posted:Hell, the studio that made shadow tactics and the desperado 3 games, all great games that make you hit your head against the desk and bring you to the fundamental realization that you never were a smart person, announced they would stop making games, despite them being rather succesful. Simply because banking several years of work on a single game is way too risky. Mimimi is shutting down as well? poo poo, that sucks! I had no idea, because as you said, their last few games have been pretty successful. Shadow Gambit just released a month or two ago to rave reviews, good buzz, and I assumed at least decent sales.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 15:00
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:Reminds me of how Larian almost died before being able to hit it moderately big with Divinity: Original Sin - they had to essentially push out Dragon Commander as an unfinished product to get some income in order to survive the dev time for D:OS even with the extra million dollars from Kickstarter. It's real fuckin' hard out there for smaller devs. I remember that too. Heck, CD project red nearly went bankrupt after one of the two first witcher games, can't remember which one, when they weren't that big. At least the little hands and talents that made the shadowrun games still exist, I hope they find employment again fast. I dont know posted:Mimimi is shutting down as well? poo poo, that sucks! I had no idea, because as you said, their last few games have been pretty successful. Shadow Gambit just released a month or two ago to rave reviews, good buzz, and I assumed at least decent sales. Sales were apparently so-so, and the studio stated that's it's just no livable to work on a single game for years and then bank your survival on it. So they went out before a bad game would bring them crashing down in flames for real.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2023 15:52
|
|
|
Part 33 - Beyond Natural Boundaries  Is0bel remains stuck in her computer, untalkative about anything new because we haven't gone on her personal run yet, so we start our crew mingling right from Gobbet today as well.   Heyya, pal.[She puts her hands on her hips, sending Madness scurrying.] Are you ready for your next lesson? No offense, but your last lesson was kind of terrible. Yeah, well, I never claimed to be Teacher of the Year. I make mistakes, same as anyone else does. But if you're looking for a moral, I can promise you that this story has one. In fact, I'm gonna put it right up front where you can see it. So. Do you want the lesson or not? If you don't, just say so. I've got better things to do than try to teach you if you don't want to learn. All right. Before we start though, care to share your thoughts about that last run? Man, if every job we get could be about going to fancy parties and stealing their food and booze, I'd be a happy camper. I don't understand why those trid types get in their weird rivalries, but I sure as hell won't turn down money to help them blackmail each other. And listen, Seattle... I'm all for making allies where we can, but do you really think making somebody *better* at being a vampire is a good plan? I know she said she owes us, but come on. I don't know how trustworthy a leech is. I like that we got paid, but I can't help feeling we've created a monster that's gonna come back to haunt us later.Now that's just silly, vampires don't haunt people, you're thinking of ghosts. It might come back to "bite" us later, or maybe it'll turn out to really "suck" for us, or... what were we talking about again? Alright, I'm ready for the lesson. Okay. This lesson is about people like Auntie Cheng, and why we need them. There won't be a Q&A session after this story, but I want you to listen up. It's important. I'm all ears. All right, so here's the up-front lesson: Fixers are important. You can’t just go to a Johnson yourself and get a job. I mean, you *can,* but you shouldn’t. It's a bad idea all around. The reason why it's a bad idea to cut people like Auntie Cheng out is because you need someone to vet your clients. That's important. It protects the whole team.[She takes in a breath. Lets it out slowly.] ...You, ah, you remember the lesson from last time? The one about Tsui and the Shiny Object? How could I forget?Let's see, the group's run to steal the "Shiny Object" thingy went bad at the end, and was only salvaged by Gobbet tossing the thing to the team shaman Tsui who used it to summon some manner of unspeakable monstrosities which ended up bailing them out by aggressively dismembering all opposition. Never got to hear what happened after they got out though. Well, after the run was over, we went back to the Sinking Ship for some R&R. Tsui had told us that the client would be sending a boat to collect the Shiny Object in the morning. All that we had to do was keep the thing safe until the handoff. We were in a celebratory mood. We'd killed an evil wizard and stolen a priceless artifact... a good night's work by anyone's standards. Honu and Egret got good and drunk in record time. Tsui went back to his cabin with the Shiny Object to... I dunno, stare at it for a while, or something. I retired to my cabin and crashed out. It'd been a long night. I used to get that every now and again in the Barrens. I learned to listen to it.[She nods.] Yeah. It's a lot like a panic attack, really... that full-body certainty that something is *wrong.* So I got up to investigate. If something was wrong, I wanted to know, and if it wasn't, I figured that I might as well get in on the party. I stepped out into the hallway, and my foot slipped. I came down hard, landed on my rear end, and found myself sitting in a pool of blood. That's not good.[She shakes her head, grimacing.] No. No, it was pretty bad. So it was pretty obvious by this point that something had gone horribly wrong. My first thought was that the Shiny Object might have... I dunno, unleashed something. After what I saw it do in that warehouse, I wouldn't have been surprised. I shook that off pretty quick, though. I knew what this was. Our client was playing us. He'd hired us to steal the thing, and rather than paying us for the job, he'd sent another team to take it away. Given what happened at the warehouse, I'd still have assumed that the Shiny Object was to blame. Sure, I get that. It did some scary poo poo back in that warehouse. But it'd also been sitting dormant for a long time before Tsui and I stole it. Anyway, I got up and brushed myself off, and then I beelined for Malvina's cabin. She was the closest thing that the Sinking Ship had to a leader, and the strongest Rat shaman on the raft. Why go to her? Why not head straight to Tsui's cabin?[She stares at you blankly.] Because I'm not an idiot.Now let's not draw any hasty conclusions when the story's not over yet. Sorry - that wasn't aimed at you. But think about it for a second... if there was a retrieval team coming for the Shiny Object, and they were strong enough to handle Tsui *while he was holding it,* what chance would I have of stopping them? I figured that it was time to bring out the big guns. Malvina was the one whom I could get them from. [She bites her lip, grimacing at the unpleasant memories stewing in her head.] Deep down in the pit of my gut, I could feel the thrumming vibration of the Shiny Object. That heartbeat feeling that I had in the warehouse - it was back, and stronger than ever. Whatever that rock was, it was awake. I kinda figured that hanging onto that thing was a bad idea. Hey, I didn't like being close to the thing, either. But it was our payday for a job, and we didn't have a choice. We *had* to hold it.  It was Cadmus. My friend. He jammed the muzzle of his Super Warhawk into my cheek so hard it hurt, then grabbed me by the belt with his other hand. I wasn't going anywhere. Just over his shoulder, I saw Malvina. She didn't look amused. Note to self: if Heoi ever comes under attack, don't start knocking down my friends' doors. Yeah, that's a good note. Wish I'd had you there at the time to keep me from doing it.[She smiles weakly.] Adrenalin and abject terror can make a girl do some stupid things, I'll tell you what.[The smile on her face dies. She looks away.] Anyway, it wasn't an attack. There were no hostile invaders on the Sinking Ship, and our client had nothing to do with what was going on.  ...As it turns out, betrayal *hurts,* Seattle. Malvina felt it, and I felt it too. Tsui had been a friend. I'd just risked my life to save his, like, four hours ago. And he'd tricked me into helping him do something unthinkable. Why do you think he did it? Why all of this over a heap of junk floating in a bay? I dunno. Maybe he'd gone toxic. Maybe he got ambitious and wanted to be the king of our little aquatic hill. He didn't discuss it with me first, or anything. I'd be willing to bet that something had gone rotten in Tsui long before we ever met. He was pretty damned good at hiding it. Maybe it happened recently. He could have been possessed.[She holds up a hand.] I don't know why he did it. Frankly, I don't care. The only thing that's important here is that he did. So what did you do? What could I do? I didn't have a whole lot of options, and Cadmus was kind of on edge. Like, red-faced and screaming. So I opened my mouth, and I fast-talked my way out of it. I started off by doubling down on my loyalty to Malvina, Cadmus, and the status quo on the Sinking Ship. Swearing my undying friendship, you know the drill. I did a good job of it, but they still looked a little iffy. Iffy with a Warhawk is bad. So I volunteered to prove myself by stealing the Shiny Object back from Tsui. That follows, I guess. I mean, he only had it because of you, right? That was the idea, yeah. I mean, I didn't have a choice... I'd inadvertently helped to arm the bastard who was tearing our friends and neighbors apart. I don't think I could've cleared my name without taking his weapon away again.Must've still had a fair amount of trust in her, if she'd actually been on Tsui's side then she could've just as well planned to go and betray them for her co-conspirator.  Did you get a good view of them this time? Yeah. I wish that I hadn't, but I did. I don't really know how to describe the things. They were like animals, but wrong... too many tails, bones in the wrong places, huge open sores. That kind of thing. They were spirits manifested in physical form, I think. Most of 'em took the form of rats, swarms of insects, rotting things... all of the old pestilence tropes. Sometimes there were colonies of things, all tangled together and moving as one. Not the sort of thing that I want to see again... ever. But anyway. Long story short, I got the Shiny Object back from Tsui. It wasn't easy, but I got it. How'd you manage that? Lies and misdirection. Trickery. Rat helped. Some of the things that Tsui let loose actually came in handy. He'd summoned so many of them that he couldn't hope to control them all, and that gave me an opening to use them to my advantage. I managed to trick my way past Tsui's supporters and the astral menagerie that he'd summoned. Wasn't easy, but I did it. Then I stole the Shiny Object, and all was right with the world. ...And yeah, I'm intentionally glossing over the details. I had to do some things that I'm not proud of, and people died because of it. But I got the damned thing, and I got it back to Malvina.Pretty major part to gloss over, let's hope that we don't one day end up as one of these little details that die terrible deaths as a result of "some things" she does... What happened then? Long story short, Malvina put the Shiny Object to better use than Tsui ever did. She took to the thing like she'd grown up using it. We still lost dozens of people, but Tsui's side lost more. Cadmus was critically wounded, but he pulled through. After the skirmish, Malvina held an assembly, and she told everybody that there'd be new rules for life on the raft. Anyone who refused to follow them could leave, and if you broke them, you were done. The Rules of the Sea, and all that. In the wake of Malvina’s ultimatum, five survivors left the Sinking Ship. I was one of them. Why did you leave? I had to go. We may have washed the blood off of the decks, but the energy of the Sinking Ship had changed. It wasn’t the carefree haven that I'd loved anymore. And as sensible as Malvina’s rules were, I wasn’t up to living under them. We parted on good, but sad, terms. And, as you'd expect, we drifted apart over the years. It's funny... I hadn't even thought of Malvina or the Sinking Ship in years. Not until I decided to teach you your previous lesson, and it all came flooding back in.[She pauses. Turns to you.] That's the story. It's finished. But I wanna circle back on the lesson that I gave you up front, because it's important. We need Auntie Cheng to bring us work... that's obvious. But we also need her to keep us honest. To be sure that we, on the team, are playing straight with one another. So anyway. That's the lesson. If you've got follow-up questions, go ahead and ask 'em. What did Malvina do with the Shiny Object? Well, first she used it to get rid of the things that Tsui had let loose. Then she put it away for safekeeping. It's probably still there on the Sinking Ship, ensconced in some shrine or other. Held under lock and key. She should have tossed the thing into the bay. Yeah, agreed. I didn't like it, either. But then, she'd already proven that she could handle the thing, and it did help her put down Tsui's mutiny. Plus, she's a shaman. We deal with dangerous magic beyond mortal ken on a daily basis. It's not that weird for us.Dunno, things seemed to get pretty drat weird with the previous shaman who had that thing on his hands, not all under the same job description are made equal. But well, at least this story didn't end up with the revelation that she'd brought the death relic with her to this boat instead or something.  Like I said, I'd have preferred it if she had ditched the thing. But in the end, it wasn't my choice to make. From what little I've heard, she's still in power over there, so I guess that it worked out okay. And Tsui? What happened to him? That walking colostomy bag was already dead. Eaten by his own monsters after I took the Shiny Object away. Turns out, he wasn't much good at controlling them without it.[Her voice fills with grim satisfaction.] He didn’t even live long enough to watch his mutiny fail. Thanks for the story, Gobbet. Sure. And Seattle... thanks for listening. These lessons are for your benefit, but I think that they help me, too. And it's nice to be taken seriously every now and again. Who says that I take you seriously? I never copped to that.  We leave Gobbet to Gobbet things and head downstairs to see if our curious rigging specialist is tinkering with anything today.   Welcome back, my friend.[He leans against his desk.] Is there something that I can do for you...? Quiet night in the shop, huh? Yes, yes. A quiet night.[He takes a drag on his cigarette.] One best suited for contemplation, planning, and visions of the future. Care to pick up where we left off last time?[His smile widens. Light gleams off of strong, sharp teeth, lending him a predatory appearance.] If you like. I must confess, I have rather enjoyed our talks... it is good to have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of. Sounding board, huh? That's what I am to you? A figure of speech, please forgive me. I am, by nature, a solitary creature... I must confess that I sometimes forget how to interact with others. You are more than a sounding board. You are my equal, and a friend. [He returns his attention to you with a smile.] But enough of this maudlin talk. You had questions for me - go ahead and ask them, please. I will answer whatever I can. You said that you sometimes forget how to interact with other people? An idiosyncrasy of mine, I suppose. When I get lost in my own head, relating to others becomes... difficult.[He smiles apologetically.] It's nothing personal. Just a quirk that I occasionally struggle to hide. You're doing a pretty good job of it. You've always been friendly with me. Ah, but when you come down here, we talk about things that are relevant to my interests. That makes it easier. In any case, thank you. Your kindness is appreciated. So the last time we talked, you hinted at Koschei being special in some way. I want to hear the full story. Yes, I had figured that you might. Tell me. Have you noticed anything... unusual... about Koschei in the time that we have worked together?Well, for one he can apparently fire shotgun blasts with the accuracy of a rifle which is pretty messed up. But like, on a more fundamental level? He seems to react to your moods. It's weird, he's almost more like an animal than he is a drone.[He nods, his lips pursed.] Yes, a good observation. Koschei's behavior could be described as animalistic, and for good reason. And? You wanna tell me what that reason is? His behavior is not dronelike because he is not a drone. At least, not in a way that you would understand. He is a prosthesis. Explain. The principle is really very simple. You can think of him as a cyberlimb, if you will. We may be separated by distance, but he is joined to me as surely as a replacement leg is to its wearer. Hang on - you're telling me that you're *always* rigged into your drone? Your drone can't be a part of you. It's a machine that you control through your datajack. And tell me: what is a cyberlimb? Is it a part of its owner, or a machine that has been grafted onto a cripple? That's different. Why? Because of proximity? Yes, a cyberlimb is physically attached to its owner, but it's the *neural* attachment that matters. A cyberleg is not a peg leg. A cyberarm is not a mechanical prosthesis. They become part of their wearers because of the way that they interface with the brain and the nervous system. *This* is the connection that Koschei and I share. Koschei acts as a home for my primal, animal impulses. The id, to use Freud's structural model of the psyche. The analytical portions of my mind - the ego and super-ego - live on in me. They govern the id, and, by extension, Koschei's behavior. One would hope it remains impossible, a murder-horny drone is disturbing enough without it being literal-horny as well. Just saying, if we ever wake up to that thing humping our leg, us two are just not going to be friends anymore. How can a drone have those sorts of instincts? He doesn't. They are *my* instincts, streamed into him on a continual basis. They lend him a semblance of life... albeit one driven entirely by my reptile brain. If the stream were interrupted - by my death, say, or a malfunctioning datajack - Koschei would fall as lifeless as any other machine. But barring such an interruption, he will remain a part of me. One day, perhaps I will perfect him, and a part of me will live on in his chassis after the meat of my body dies. But for now, I am satisfied to live with him as a combined entity. Man and machine, joined through a form of neural parabiosis into a single being... A beautiful first step into a posthuman future. Okay. So you've rigged your drone to act as a home to your most destructive impulses. I've gotta ask... why? As a proof of concept, primarily. There are other advantages, of course... I shouldn't have to explain the value of a combat drone that *wants* to kill. I guess that if I have to know a mad scientist, I'm glad that he's on my side.[He snickers.] Well said, my friend. And the feeling is mutual - if I must associate with violent criminals, I suppose that I am happy to call them friends. But if my relationship with Koschei alarms you, we can discuss other matters... the weather, perhaps. The choice is yours.Right, apologies in advance to whichever future adventuring group whose obvious main villain we've been leveling up. But anyway, there was the other thing that we talked about before... Then tell me why you think we're going to beat the essence limit. You hinted at it before, but I want to know. I could do that. I have already shared quite a lot with you, and you haven't run off screaming. A good sign, I should think.[He studies your face, peering at you through the gloom.] But tell me, Taz... are you certain that you *want* to know? Some secrets are less pleasant than others. You might prefer to leave this stone unturned. Say what you have to say, Racter. I don't run from things because they're unpleasant. Very good. There are things that you don't know about me, my friend. Important things. Please tell me that this doesn't end with you hitting on me. Ah... no. I'm afraid not. I am not... how to put it? *Whole.* What are you talking about? Your cyberware?[He nods.] Yes. But not my datajack, or the headware that you can see. I am sporting a great deal of replacement material. You can't see it, but I assure you, it's there. There was an accident, you see. A shop accident. I barely survived it. I keep my enhancements hidden out of respect for your feelings, and those of the other members of the team. Other people have found them... how to put it... unsettling in the past. Unsettling? How so? The enhancements themselves are not the problem. The extent of the damage that they were meant to correct, however... [He sighs.] That is a different matter. drat, either the cosmos decided to make this guy's life particularly eventul, or the Russian science scene is even more intense than we imagined. Hang on. You lost *everything* below the hips? Yes. A traumatic loss, to be sure, but not so terrible as you might think. By every conceivable measure, I have been improved since the time of the accident. I am more than I was before, not less. I'm not sure that I can imagine anything worse. Then you have a poor imagination. Look at me, my friend. I have legs - better ones than the pair that I was born with. And my reconstruction has yielded other benefits that more than make up for any tissue that I might have lost. And so, yes, I have lost the entire lower half of my body. The full ramifications of such a loss are obvious. But in return, I have gained *so much more.* At will, I can goad my brain into producing whatever sensation I wish. I can poke at the wiring of my own consciousness, and I can reroute that wiring as I see fit.Oh yeah, definitely main villain material. Suppose having experienced life in such an unusual way does explain a lot about the posthumanism zeal though. All right. So you're half machine. What does this have to do with the essence limit?[He spreads his arms.] Look at me, Taz. I have a shred of essence left in me, and only barely that. But I suffer none of the ill effects associated with traumatic essence loss. How can that be? A quirk of psychology, long viewed as an illness but never properly understood. What I now understand to be an evolutionary adaptation to a posthuman future. We *will* conquer the essence limit, given time. Natural selection will see to it, and I am the proof. So what about these stimulus generators that you've been implanted with... how do they work? The technology is rather akin to simsense, but considerably more powerful and flexible. Most simsense experiences - those found in BTL chips, for example - are structured around basic narratives that provide their users with context. But if you strip away the veneer of escapist fantasy, what you have left is an extremely powerful toolkit. You mentioned operant conditioning before. Have you tried that with this toolkit? Reprogramming yourself? All that being said, I must be careful not to overstep my bounds. Reprogramming the brain is a risky endeavor, however great the temptation might be. I've never heard of anything like that on the market... not even in the shadows. I'm not surprised. They're Russian technology, government funded and quite experimental.[He sucks on his cigarette, a thoughtful expression on his face.] The project was canceled shortly after I received my implants. Something about graft and corruption on the administrative level... yet another example of good science derailed by bad politics. Have you heard of anyone else who's gotten these implants? I know of a handful of other recipients. From what I've heard, the others were all driven quite mad. To be handed control over the inner workings of one's own brain is a tremendous responsibility.[He shrugs.] Perhaps the others were less well-equipped to handle it than I am. Or maybe they've driven you insane, too. Ever considered that possibility? Of course. Considered, and rejected.[The corner of his mouth curls into a wry smile.] Granted, I could be wrong about that. Perhaps I am mad. But then, what would that say about you, and your willingness to associate with me?Mostly that we're very poor and desperate, and in a sufficiently messed up situation that a half-mechanical guy hardcore into mankind shedding its collective flesh accompanied by a very literal emotional support drone and the ability to play his own brain like a piano is like, pretty decidedly on the reasonable end of the people we associate with on a daily basis. Well, be careful with those things, Racter. The last thing I need is you wigging out on me. I have carried these implants for over twenty years, my friend. I know how to handle myself. You have nothing to fear. So what else have you been keeping from me? I know that there's more to the story than this. There is, my friend. But nothing that can't wait till tomorrow. You have a lot to process, I'm sure, and I would like the remainder of the evening to myself. But if you come back later, I will finish the tale. Sure, Racter. We'll talk tomorrow. Very good. Rest well. Well, we've learned a lot about our companions today, some of it fascinating and some of it disturbing and a lot of it kind of fifty-fifty between the two. And we still have an actual ghoul samurai left to catch up with, so let's get to that next time, and then get some air before heading for our next job.  Is0bel's comments about the previous run if she felt talkative:  I have to admit, I had a lot more fun in Repulse Bay than I thought I would. Parties aren't really my thing, and I'd rather be slicing IC than cake. But how many people can say they went on a run to blackmail a rich guy and ended up fighting his vampire mistress? Nobody on Shadowlands would believe me if I told them the story. Not even a little. I don't get why Shenyang hired shadowrunners, though. There are a dozen better ways to blackmail Ma - get a decker to plant evidence of embezzling, hire the triads to crash his sets and intimidate his crew, burn down a sound stage or two. The way I figure it, he wanted to hire us because he's friends with Ma. It's a messed up friendship, but it's there. I can't say as I understand why you'd want to teach a vampire to be a *better* killer, but okay. I mean, I understand the whole "friends in low places" angle, but we're talking about a vampire. They're dangerous. They kill people for food. I hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the rear end.Racter's: I can enjoy a social gathering as well as anyone else, but our client - and our targets - were contemptible people. Trideo programs. Soap operas. Intellectually bankrupt, saccharine-sweet family dramas without an ounce of inventiveness behind them. This pap that these fools produce is a poison for the mind.[He takes a drag on his cigarette. Blows the smoke in a plume.] At least we had the encounter with the vampire to make things interesting.---  Also while the in-game representation maybe doesn't 100% match with his story, Racter does have replacement legs and reduced Essence in his cyberware equipment menu which kind of reveals ahead of time that he lacks a large part of his original fleshy bits.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2023 21:03
|
|
|
Racter continues to be the absolute best.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2023 21:48
|
|
|
Every time Racter is not on screen, I am asking "Where is Racter?"
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 00:07
|
|
|
GimmickMan posted:Every time Racter is not on screen, I am asking "Where is Racter?" He's right over there. ... And over there, too. ... This is a confusing question.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 00:13
|
|
|
Can't get enough of those Racter conversations, he's got quite the presence. Definitely an absolute favorite.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 00:36
|
|
|
Gobbet talking about the Shiny Object makes me think of It shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiines!
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 04:09
|
|
|
Clearly getting that Shiny Object and giving it to Racter is a great idea.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 14:15
|
|
|
achtungnight posted:Clearly getting that Shiny Object and giving it to Racter is a great idea. It would be pretty much inert in his hands. Racter is the polar opposite of magically active.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 23:04
|
|
|
The Lone Badger posted:It would be pretty much inert in his hands. Racter is the polar opposite of magically active. Which is why it's a great idea!
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2023 23:09
|
|
|
Racter is a nightmare of a person and also a great character and party member. Honestly not sure how he put his impulsiveness/desires into the drone, though. That seems like it'd definitely go wrong given how wrapped up those things are in, well, all of the rest of us.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2023 01:23
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:Racter is a nightmare of a person and also a great character and party member. Honestly not sure how he put his impulsiveness/desires into the drone, though. That seems like it'd definitely go wrong given how wrapped up those things are in, well, all of the rest of us. To his credit, he had over 20 something years to tinker and perfect the formulae. As he says, he used to be quite impulsive, I guess it didn't go without some hiccups. But I suppose a scientific mind and enough luck to stay alive will lead you to a proper solution sooner or later. Also, no wonder folks love Racter. He's one of the few RPG's companions that fits the "token evil" buddy, but unlike many it's not gratuitous. You know where he comes from, where his medical condition comes from, how it led him to think the way he does. And even if you don't agree with it, the reasoning makes sense and he's not just a "evil for evil's sake" sort of character. On top of that, he's cultured, can be witty, and has one heck of a style with Koshei. Gaichu's pretty great too, what with being born and raised in a company with a very specific set of morals quite removed from the usual right or wrong. I'd say the biggest problem with that is that it makes other characters - who might have been less inspired during writing - stand out more. But that's a good problem to have I think.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2023 06:27
|
|
|
It's notable that both Racter and Gaichu were stretch goals on the games kickstarter. That's why they are more or less removed from the main story. It seems like the devs took that as license to go wild with their designs.
I dont know fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Oct 21, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2023 12:19
|
|
|
How much Essence do you start with? Because 2.5 doesn't really feel like "a shred". Like, yeah, it's not much, but I'd say "a shred" is closer to 1 or less than.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2023 14:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 22:09 |
|
|
Kith posted:How much Essence do you start with? 6 points.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2023 14:38
|
|