[wildeyes]

One of my characters is interested in the move by wire system. I've read on the forums that using move by wire can have some pretty bad consequences for your body. I haven't actually managed to read anything about what these consequences might be. Can anyone clue me into what kind of bad stuff might happen? I want to talk to the player and discuss the situation with him once I have some more information.

[RythmnSylver]

well in the book it says that the Move by Wire works by essentially keeping your entire body in a state of constant seizures monitored and controlled via your augmented brain. not only does it give you a tendency to twitch at odd moments from the small software glitches inherint to the MbW system but, if any really bad glitches happen you could tear up your muscles with little thought, not to mention breaking your own bones from the inside.

[JustADude]

well in the book it says that the Move by Wire works by essentially keeping your entire body in a state of constant seizures monitored and controlled via your augmented brain. not only does it give you a tendency to twitch at odd moments from the small software glitches inherint to the MbW system but, if any really bad glitches happen you could tear up your muscles with little thought, not to mention breaking your own bones from the inside.

And by "really bad glitches" we, of course, mean someone hacking your PAN and turning the control system off.

[lurkeroutthere]

Previous generations of move by wire had issues, those have mostly been resolved. If anything the major problem of current generation move by wire is it makes your movements look unnaturely fluid.

Mostly it's a question of: How much do you hate on 'ware?

If you hate on ware lots and want it be pointless or detrimental to play 'wared individuals because they had the audacity to not play one of the magic using master race? Move by wire makes them twitchy barely restrained inhuman monsters. They can't hold a coffee cup without potentially smashing it if a car backfires outside. They can't sit still, they generally operate like a speed junky needing a fix.

Basically there's a historical thing going on. At one point move by wire literally made you the fastest thing on two legs. In order to compensate for this, and reflect that it was cutting edge tech it had some pretty significant neurological downsides. Now however every mage that can cast a force 4 spell is just as fast as the fastest street sam at character creation. So there is little need for such things.

[Mithlas]

According to Augment, there's also TLE-x, which is basically neural-augmentation that gives you degenerative neural disorders in the forms of recurring seizures. I definitely wouldn't go for it in a starting character, but I've never been an uber-augmented character anyway. Too hard to sneak through checkpoint security.

[Justice]

I always differentiated between Wired and Move-by-Wire by allowing the former to be tureen off. That way, sometimes the character reacted to a situation on instinct, faster than their intellect could catch up.

[Twitchy D]

If you are looking for an in-game detrimental effect, move-by-wire causes seizures and a form of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, which is statted up as a disease in "Augumentation", somewhere in the, you guessed it, disease section. There are ways to offset it though, basically involving intense brain surgery or drug treatments. Another issue behind the tech is that it's essence expensive as well as costly. I don't think that move-by-wire users tend to have it on 24-7, though. More likely it has an on-off switch for it like wired reflexes. A benifit that it has over wired reflexes is that it also allows the user to utilize skillsofts, besides increasing their initiative.

Hope that helped.

[All4BigGuns]

Simplest answer is that there are none aside from the massive Essence cost of it unless a quality is taken (yes, to have TLE-x, it requires taking a Negative Quality). If the quality is taken, there is no issue.

[Mithlas]

Negative qualities can also be gained during the course of play (Enemy being a common one). That being said, I would hesitate to slap something like TLE-x onto a character, because it can quickly become a significant hindrance at the worst time, the player(s) would likely feel too encumbered by it to enjoy continuing to play the character (I'm thinking of a specific group here, your mileage may vary), and gaming is about having fun more than technical realism.

[Glyph]

Currently, there are a plethora of qualities to represent neural damage, buggy 'ware, or people whose systems have been thown out of whack, one way or another, by their extensive augmentations.  If a character does not take one of those qualities, then I would not apply any of those penalties.  Unless your game has the optional rules for buggy second-hand 'ware, cyberware damage, and so on.  If so, I hope you also use the optional rules for things like magic loss and acquiring geasa during play, to keep it fair for everyone.

Move-by-wire, like other initiative enhancers, can have long-term effects - generally, this should not come up in play; it is like a character smoking.  Sure, in 20 years they might be messed up, but for the time frame of the game, it doesn't really come up.  Plus, if the runner lives that long, they will probably be able to afford gene therapy for any problems from their 'ware.  One tangible, in-game disadvantage is the move-by-wire, like synaptic boosters, but unlike wired reflexes, cannot be turned off.

[wildeyes]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The character in question has had the system for quite some time, according to his back story, he's a retired black ops agent, who's skills have deteriorated over the years due to abusing his body with alcohol, so it might make sense for him to take one of those negative qualities. I certainly won't hit him with any of them without talking to him about it first, and I do enjoy the idea both magic and augments in my games (I had my first session as a character building/ team get together role-play session last weekend). My groups pretty experienced with RPGs, so I'm sure we will be able to make some interesting character themes and what not together. Thanks again everyone!

[Mara]

Over all, I figure the only drawback is: slight muscle twitches when you are at rest or sleeping. I figure the modern system CAN be turned off while older systems could not(remember: it was a separate implant, with an Essence Cost, to turn Wired Reflexes off). I, generally,
still, try to shy away from MBW, usually preferring Synaptic Booster over any other method of Init Boosting.

Also, Wildeyes, please forgive Lurkeroutthere. He is rather paranoid about magic since, it seems, in his games the GM lets mages get
away with anything. In my experience: The game is Troll with HV Heavy Machinegun-Run.

[Unahim]

As long as nobody starts bringing up focus addiction, I won't be clamouring for 'Ware to make others enrvous wrecks, either.

[Bastwolf]

Is it possible to control a person who is using MbW through hacking? Durring a side mission our GM allowed me to have a small army of 4 dead trolls that all had MbW. I hacked them and connected them together so I could command them all at once.

[Thrass]

it is questionable and ultimately up to the gm...
why?
because the stirrup interface used for bio drones ist just a modified mbw and it works just like that