Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => The Secret History => Topic started by: Cranstonvm on <05-06-12/0012:51>
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I know they are bad but why?
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They take over metahumans to exist seems to be one of the big reasons.
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Also, they're the reason that no sane person goes into Chicago. That might have something to do with it.
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I know they are bad but why?
Take a cockroach. An average, ordinary, everyday cockroach.
Tough bugger to kill, huh? And is, what, the size of the palm of your hand at most?
Now make him the size of a Troll, with the Dermal Deposits and Chitin that implies.
That's ONE TYPE of Insect Spirit.
Got that part? Good.
Now here's the next part: They see Metahumanity the same way Locusts see grain.
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I know they are bad but why?
Take a cockroach. An average, ordinary, everyday cockroach.
Tough bugger to kill, huh? And is, what, the size of the palm of your hand at most?
Now make him the size of a Troll, with the Dermal Deposits and Chitin that implies.
That's ONE TYPE of Insect Spirit.
Got that part? Good.
Now here's the next part: They see Metahumanity the same way Locusts see grain.
Mr. CanRay, you're always a source of inspiration *Nods*
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Which is why the Ares metaplot (current) hooks appeal to me so much.
I actually decided to get my players to accept a Shadowrun HorrorRun in which they are food being placed in a testing facility for Ares to test their insect program. They are not the infected, but the food. With the possibility of infection as they are also testing how dangerous releases would be.
After they get done feeling like the locust lunch grain store I will let the genie get out as it were, and they will be "conscripted" to help Ares (who just used them as food, again, if they survive they have unique skills against the hybrid) put the genie back in the bottle. Genie being a queen hybrid with some inspiration taken from Sil in Species, Dren in Splice etc, Alien(s) etc.
Bugs are horrible, and great for putting the fear of the Paranormal back into your players. Whether we call them Insect Spirits or Invae they are nasty, predatory abominations ripe for use by GMs who enjoy a bit of Horror in the 6th.
And if you ever feel like running a retro adventure. Universal Brotherhood. Amazing run that. Bug City is likewise an amazing piece of Shadowrun writing.
Alexis
*smiles*
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Canray is a source of inspiration but he's also right.
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Canray is a source of inspiration but he's also right.
I just wish I could have learned the hard way too. :'(
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And if you ever feel like running a retro adventure. Universal Brotherhood. Amazing run that. Bug City is likewise an amazing piece of Shadowrun writing.
QFT.
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I just wish I could have learned the hard way too. :'(
I do feel sorry for you there. I still remember the abject terror the first time I went through Missing Blood, since the guy who was running things for us at the time hadn't even let us see the fraggin' cover. We didn't have any idea what was about to happen. It was like Aliens on steroids before it was all over.
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I know they are bad but why?
Take a cockroach. An average, ordinary, everyday cockroach.
Tough bugger to kill, huh? And is, what, the size of the palm of your hand at most?
Now make him the size of a Troll, with the Dermal Deposits and Chitin that implies.
That's ONE TYPE of Insect Spirit.
Got that part? Good.
Now here's the next part: They see Metahumanity the same way Locusts see grain.
Thanks
Another question about insect spirits. Do they operate like a tactical network, like in unwired 124-127? Or could they with the right people possessed?
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I think the reason insect spirits are so damn evil are that they were the first big magical meta threat in SR (if I remember correctly). Before the Horrors and Earthdawn tie ins, the bugs seemed to come out of nowhere. I started playing the second ed and I remember the little blurb about how insect spirits were a dangerous and evil presence. That was it. And when I read more into the world it just blew me away. (I'm also jealous that I never played Universal Brotherhood properly when it came out back in the first ed days).
I think the cool thing about the Bugs are that they offer so many options. You can do a straight bug hunt, a psychological horror run, a post-apocalyptic survival mission in Bug City, the whole deal.
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Is anyone else concerned that while Dunkelzahn put out bounties on blood mages and toxic shamans, insect shamans were conspicuously absent.
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Tough bugger to kill, huh? And is, what, the size of the palm of your hand at most?.
Do you have baby hands or giant roaches up in Canuckistan?
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Seriously. Palm-sized cockroaches would have me reaching for a Predator, if not something bigger.
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Thanks
Another question about insect spirits. Do they operate like a tactical network, like in unwired 124-127? Or could they with the right people possessed?
As a GM, I'd say it would depend on the insect. Ants certainly would ("The perfect warriors."), but Mosquitos wouldn't.
If they work in unison IRL, then I'd say, yeah, they have a TacNet going if they're close enough to the hive. But that's only me as a GM, I don't think there's an official ruling on it.Is anyone else concerned that while Dunkelzahn put out bounties on blood mages and toxic shamans, insect shamans were conspicuously absent.
Blood Mages are bad because they bring The Horrors closer, and Toxic Shamans are new and should be investigated. Insect Spirits, bad as they are, are still a part of nature and the Manasphere. I can see why he left them out.Do you have baby hands or giant roaches up in Canuckistan?
Only seen them in captivity, at a science center that I worked for, and I have average palms but long fingers. Maybe what I saw were Monsters that aren't seen in North America.Seriously. Palm-sized cockroaches would have me reaching for a Predator, if not something bigger.
Sunday Edition, it's hard to squash a bug with the butt of a pistol. :P
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Has any information about bee spirits been mentioned? I wonder what their honey is like :o
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Harrow's Hive, Chicago. Feral Cities.
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Harrow's Hive, Chicago. Feral Cities.
Interesting...
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As they maybe dont have exact equivalent of TacNet, they have Hive Mind power, and thats also a bit...scarry...
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As they maybe dont have exact equivalent of TacNet, they have Hive Mind power, and thats also a bit...scarry...
too say the least eesh :o
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"We are the Invae. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
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Greaaaaaattttttt Insect Borg ....... now where did I put my Jean-luc and Worf
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CUBE metaplane :O
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"We are the Invae. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
"Resistance may be futile, but it beats capitulation."
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"We are the Invae. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
"Resistance may be futile, but it beats capitulation."
*racks back the slide of my Predator and tosses Canray a Street Sweeper* Here here.
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What?! Another INVAEsion?
Pulls out great canister and plugs in sprayer...
You better put on your gas masks, guys. It is suposed to be safe for human, well there is Ares logo on the side of it...
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uh ya after what I've read n such <puts mask on> Ares might be in bed with the buggies
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I am still torn on which one Ares would toy with for Hybridization and Weaponization if they are indeed in bed with bugs.
I am thinking Ants; soldier armies seem to me of all the bugs, like something Knight might touch.
Considering it is believed that is what drove his long time partner out of Ares I lean towards him actually green lighting the claimed R&D that broke their partnership.
If so, I would think ants, as it would still be "militaristic" following his attention to KE, and his potential past in the military as well as his control issues. If he could in some way simulate the role of Queen with Pheromones, well, imagine him with an army of Ants under his direct and complete control.
Bugs, so much nasty brought to mind. I could talk about Bugs in Shadowrun all day.
What is your opinion on which bug Ares would toy with and your reasoning?
Alexis
*smiles*
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I think War said something about Ants being the only ones remembering how to combat properly.
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Ants and Wasps are my first two picks, they're both incredibly aggressive, militaristic, and since they're Hives, so long as Knight has control over the Queen, he can control the Hive, though obviously not to the degree that he thinks going by some of the fluff in Conspiracies.
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Or what it out and out says in Street Legends.
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Who says I'd use the butt of a Predator? Smartlink that sucker.
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Well, you could beat it with a smartlink, but that's a sensitive piece of equipment that you really don't want to de-zero.
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Who says Knight is in charge maybe the queen is humoring Knight hmmmmm. I think I'm going to buy more shares in raid ..............
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Who says Knight is in charge maybe the queen is humoring Knight hmmmmm. I think I'm going to buy more shares in raid ..............
Lots of possibilities.
Me, I'm investing in a Spider Shaman!
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So if we narrowed it down to ants or wasps.
Knight is ambitious. I personally think he would go for gargantuan ants or garuda wasps. Why shoot for less than the best soldiers. The mere thought of Garuda wasp based wasp spirits scares the bajeebus out of me.
http://www.scienceomega.com/article/259/scientists-discover-the-king-of-wasps
6.35cm long (2.5 inches) nearly 3 times the mass of a common wasp.
That or Jewel Wasps, but they would be too damned dangerous. Poison is too strong in them.
Hmm thoughts to chew on.
Alexis
*smiles*
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Fraggin' Cazadores!!!
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Ants and Wasps are the two most likely types. Maybe Beetles. Remember, though, that Street Magic allowed for virtually any insect spirit type and to just use the rules for the types of insects listed. Hence, Bee and Locust spirits. So it's just a matter of choosing what you think is most approrpriate and going to town.
As they maybe dont have exact equivalent of TacNet, they have Hive Mind power, and thats also a bit...scarry...
Just to be clear, that is a sanctioned Optional Rule.
They are attacked by up to a dozen of flesh-form wasp soldiers. These bugs work frighteningly well in small unit tactics thanks to their hive-mind telepathic connection. If the gamemaster is feeling particularly sadistic, they could use the bonuses that tactical AR software (Rating 4) can give [JM: Emphasis mine] (see p. 126, Unwired) to reflect the spirits’ unit cohesion and tactical awareness. This is especially encouraged if the runners are proving to be too difficult for the spirits.
And that's in Part Two of Five in that particular adventure.
You're welcome. :D
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Three words Nosferatu Mosquito Shaman the main villain in the game I am running right now.
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Where the drek did I put my Von Helsing
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Slot that where is my pet Alucard when I need him, bloody hell, Nosferatu Mosquito Shaman ugggh....we need bigger guns!
Alexis
*smiles*
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I think the one who tried to kill Soaring Eagle was a beetle.
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Slot that where is my pet Alucard when I need him, bloody hell, Nosferatu Mosquito Shaman ugggh....we need bigger guns!
Alexis
*smiles*
and chocolate!!
(someone guess the film)
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Never mind, was covered already.
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Now I have the urge to write up an adventure or something featuring a Dragon Wasp Shaman.
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I know they are bad but why?
They aren't bad! They are happy wonderful fun times that eat your face and infest your children! Nothing wrong with that! All-American, even!
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They aren't bad! They are happy wonderful fun times that eat your face and infest your children! Nothing wrong with that! All-American, even!
As American as Wall Street!
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as american as william shatner and tricia helfer!!
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They aren't bad! They are happy wonderful fun times that eat your face and infest your children! Nothing wrong with that! All-American, even!
As American as Wall Street!
And apple pie
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They aren't bad! They are happy wonderful fun times that eat your face and infest your children! Nothing wrong with that! All-American, even!
As American as Wall Street!
And apple pie
Apple Pie™, please. We don't want to get sued!
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as american as william shatner and tricia helfer!!
[anti-joke chicken]Aren't they Canadian?[/anti-joke chicken]
[devil's advocate]
Note that the rumors talk about Ares doing hybrid experiments with insect spirits not actual bonding/possession. That could mean something along the lines of grafting harvested tissue or pheromone glands. A cyber spur made from a mantis chitin claw may actually work very well against all spirits, not just other bugs. Likewise, bugs can recognize their own, so if you harvest that sensory organ, you can use it to detect hidden bugs.
[/devil's advocate]
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I see where it could be construed that way.
Rumors are just that, rumors. I have seen "He is playing with insect spirits" "He is playing with hybrids" and "he may be doing more with the bugs than he let on" among others Leaves a lot of nebulous room.
I see him using Queen Derived pheromones implanted in female trained agents to control a hive minded type of spirit, then using prisoners who would be internally nixed under Corp law as "subjects" for said "soldierization".
But that is just me.
Alexis
*smiles*
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A cyber spur made from a mantis chitin claw may actually work very well against all spirits, not just other bugs.
So "Instant Weapon Focus, just add Karma", essentially?
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The reason you should run from Insect sprits, imagine this at 20 times its size
(http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/demotivational-posters-camel-spider.jpg)
(http://www.highlightskids.com/media/kids/highlightskids/import/science/stories/images/ss0501_bigbugs2.jpg)
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(http://www.highlightskids.com/media/kids/highlightskids/import/science/stories/images/ss0501_bigbugs2.jpg)
That beetle is strong enough that an average-size person could stand on one and it wouldn't squish. They weigh about 100g-120g and can carry 850 times their own body weight.
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The reason you should run from Insect sprits, imagine this at 20 times its size
(http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/demotivational-posters-camel-spider.jpg)
(http://www.highlightskids.com/media/kids/highlightskids/import/science/stories/images/ss0501_bigbugs2.jpg)
NO NO NO !!!
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I remember that the first introduction of the Insect Spirits (The Universal Brotherhood) creeped out my players in a way no other game ever had, with the exception of Call of Cthulhu(tm).
Spider shamans might not be your friends; but if you can assist them against a hive, they might be willing to help. (Spiders are not insects, although they're not always friendly in the mythology.)
And it makes for a better story for Ares to think they can control their experimentation, and even have some successes against the bugs...right before it all falls apart.
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Spider shamans might not be your friends; but if you can assist them against a hive, they might be willing to help. (Spiders are not insects, although they're not always friendly in the mythology.)
in place of the spider I give you an Ant-lion. Go ahead hit it with your combat axe, remember they like nice big pit traps
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mEJaLZRN3Yg/Tq14lN7YNuI/AAAAAAAAA4c/5na2KI8H2KU/s1600/antlion-2.jpg)
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You guys can quit posting pictures of bugs any time now. Really.
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but Patrick the awakened plush scorpions wuv you
(http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/9nxdj.fchy5/v/vspfiles/photos/WR-11663-2T.jpg?1334318362)
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Spider shamans might not be your friends; but if you can assist them against a hive, they might be willing to help. (Spiders are not insects, although they're not always friendly in the mythology.)
Ok. Now for something different. Since the times Ive read Anansi Boys from Neil Gaiman, I have really twisted feelings about Spiders in mythology. For those unaware, try Anansi, or Akan, in wiki, but rather read the book.
Nice add to shadowrun universe, I can imagine that intended by developers :)
But even if not, there was some Spider story elemnt in cannon books...i just cannot recall what it was...
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There is the Street gang called the spiders, but they are nice and safe and have absolutely nothing to do with "Spider"...damn I glitched on my Con roll
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in place of the spider I give you an Ant-lion. Go ahead hit it with your combat axe, remember they like nice big pit traps
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mEJaLZRN3Yg/Tq14lN7YNuI/AAAAAAAAA4c/5na2KI8H2KU/s1600/antlion-2.jpg)
Keep this in mind: whenever you see an antlion that looks like that, it's just the larve.
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Keep this in mind: whenever you see an antlion that looks like that, it's just the larve.
Shhhhh! I wasn't trying to scare them all away yet
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but Patrick the awakened plush scorpions wuv you
The plushies I can deal with. They're even kinda cute, in their own way.
The real ones, though? They skeeve me the hell out....
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You guys can quit posting pictures of bugs any time now. Really.
I agree wholeheartedly. I get my weekly dose of heebie jeebies while watching Infested or extreme infestation on animal planet.
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but Patrick the awakened plush scorpions wuv you
The plushies I can deal with. They're even kinda cute, in their own way.
The real ones, though? They skeeve me the hell out....
Same with those damnable furbies . That tops the list of evil right up there with pigeons
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You guys can quit posting pictures of bugs any time now. Really.
Hey Bull, Patrick wants to see your picture book of the super-happy-fun-time you had with the bugs in Chicago! ;D
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Keep this in mind: whenever you see an antlion that looks like that, it's just the larve.
Shhhhh! I wasn't trying to scare them all away yet
What's to be freaked out about, the final form is harmless. Looks like a mayfly or a dragonfly if I remember right.
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Guys, don't post pics of spiders, insects, etc. Some people have pretty bad phobias about those.
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Guys, don't post pics of spiders, insects, etc. Some people have pretty bad phobias about those.
People have phobias about everything. Do we have to show no pictures in order to prevent people from freaking out over clowns/mimes/needles/belt-fed shotguns at a wedding? ;D
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Lemme rephrase. *I* have serious bug phobias, mainly spiders. And I have ban powers. the end. :)
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Example of use:
Ban power
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Lemme rephrase. *I* have serious bug phobias, mainly spiders. And I have ban powers. the end. :)
This one now wonders what new phobias developed in the sixth world
Fear of the infected, Fear of Goblinization, Fear of Evil Bust-A-Move Monkeys?
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0wRJjXvyZ1I/SD44kzkRllI/AAAAAAAABls/J6nujQmcQgc/s400/robomonkey.jpg)
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aww its a cute ...wtf dam you morg I spilled my coffee. No no no to monkey terminators jeesh
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Lemme rephrase. *I* have serious bug phobias, mainly spiders. And I have ban powers. the end. :)
And I'm still allowed to post... Why? ;D
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Lemme rephrase. *I* have serious bug phobias, mainly spiders. And I have ban powers. the end. :)
And I'm still allowed to post... Why? ;D
Because you humor me. :D
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Lemme rephrase. *I* have serious bug phobias, mainly spiders. And I have ban powers. the end. :)
And I'm still allowed to post... Why? ;D
Because you humor me. :D
*Scribbles something down on a notebook* *Pops smoke*
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why are they bad? cuz black flag/raid/whatever is in this can of bug death ISN'T WORKING!!!!
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RAID+Detonator Cap= Improvised Bug Bomb. or as the Chicago natives put it: The Official Can of Whoop Ass
Learn to love, or learn to be lunch.
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Personally, I think it might be cool to have a "male" Mantid in the party... maybe one that's decided he'd rather not do the whole "boy toy" -> "lunch" routine.
Be a great excuse to have a Mantid with "Spirit Bane: Mantids", at least. ;)
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Too bad the come out just as females
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Too bad the come out just as females
That we know of so far.
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Too bad the come out just as females
That we know of so far.
Don't feed the troll CGL Powers-That-Be!!
Yeah, that's what I meant . . . honest . . . .
:-X
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Don't feed the troll CGL Powers-That-Be!!
Yeah, that's what I meant . . . honest . . . .
:-X
Actually, I've been specifically asked to keep throwing out ideas.
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it's only so they can throw YOUR ideas out.
or so i was told, i swear.
:-X
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Considering the source of them, I'm not surprised they're all destined for the garbage.
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Touche'
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Touche'
Thanks, the overwhelming support of the community here has me wondering why I bother to even get out of bed any longer...
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i, for one, enjoy your ideas and comments, and find myself just trying to give you a little crap. maybe i should lighten up on it a bit. it was only in fun.
and any others not jesting, can right well frag off.
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Touche'
Thanks, the overwhelming support of the community here has me wondering why I bother to even get out of bed any longer...
Because if you didn't, we'd have no one to laugh at?
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I have an obvious reason why insect spirits are bad. Because this is Shadowrun, and everything is out to get you. Especially anyone who claims to be harmless, or interested in helping out of the goodness of their hearts.
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I have an obvious reason why insect spirits are bad. Because this is Shadowrun, and everything is out to get you. Especially anyone who claims to be harmless, or interested in helping out of the goodness of their hearts.
And that's different from the real world, how?
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Too bad the come out just as females
Actually, if you read the fluff in Street Magic, Mantids have a very strict gender separation between sub-types. Every Caretaker- and Worker-type Mantid is male, while all the other castes are all-female.
EDIT: Redundant repetition is redundant.
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Don't feed the troll CGL Powers-That-Be!!
Yeah, that's what I meant . . . honest . . . .
:-X
Actually, I've been specifically asked to keep throwing out ideas.
Applause for ideas, really.. Keep 'em coming - maybe I'll absorb some of your creativity.
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I have an obvious reason why insect spirits are bad. Because this is Shadowrun, and everything is out to get you. Especially anyone who claims to be harmless, or interested in helping out of the goodness of their hearts.
And that's different from the real world, how?
Because, in the real world most charity groups aren't trying to crawl inside you and use you as a meat suit.
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Depends on who you talk to.
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if you have to ask why the bugs are bad... you're already one of them. Kill him! Kill him quick! "Goes to get his RAID Polearm*
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if you have to ask why the bugs are bad... you're already one of them. Kill him! Kill him quick! "Goes to get his RAID Polearm*
Never got over Chicago, did you Bull?
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if you have to ask why the bugs are bad... you're already one of them. Kill him! Kill him quick! "Goes to get his RAID Polearm*
Nuke him from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
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if you have to ask why the bugs are bad... you're already one of them. Kill him! Kill him quick! "Goes to get his RAID Polearm*
Nuke him from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Tried that in Chicago, didn't work too well. Need something better than a nuke.
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if you have to ask why the bugs are bad... you're already one of them. Kill him! Kill him quick! "Goes to get his RAID Polearm*
Nuke him from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Tried that in Chicago, didn't work too well. Need something better than a nuke.
That's because they detonated inside a powerful magical barrier. But perhaps Thor?
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Naw, to small a nuke and it wasn't deep enough. A bigger bang deeper in would've worked, at least better.
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It was supposed to be a bigger bang. It didn't detonate properly. Nukes don't in Shadowrun.
Sometimes, they just disappear in midflight, as well.
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Yes, it was supposed to be a bigger bang. However, as told in Burning Bright, I believe, they launched it into the building the bugs had claimed as their new hive just before they completed a massively powerful barrier ward around the building. The ward snapped shut just before the blast, containing it and amplifying the radiation inside the Cermak crater. In other words, the tac-nuke should have vaporized the entire neighborhood, if not most of the CZ, but the ward kept things contained. Magic + Nukes = Strangeness Happens.
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I wonder If Nuclear devices of various different natures have similar undocumented strangeness
How is a hot fusion reactor affected by magic
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How is a hot fusion reactor affected by magic
Badly.
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Badly.
The question then, how many are still running as of crash 2.0?
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Quite a few. There weren't any reports of catastrophic failures, if that's what you mean. Probably because someone wisely thought, "You know, we really ought to put these reactor controls on a network that isn't hooked up to the Matrix, just in case some idiot decides to cause a meltdown from the other side of the world."
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Quite a few. There weren't any reports of catastrophic failures, if that's what you mean. Probably because someone wisely thought, "You know, we really ought to put these reactor controls on a network that isn't hooked up to the Matrix, just in case some idiot decides to cause a meltdown from the other side of the world."
Yeah, the only problems were EMP and Magically-Enhanced Nukes on fault lines, but they typically don't build Nukes near there either for the same reason as they kept the controls offline.
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On the subject of Nukes and Bugs. Cannon-wise does anyone know if Insect shamans can become Toxic like other traditions, if so how would becoming toxic change the magic tradition? Have there ever been anything on the invae being corrupted by the horrors?
is there a named Bug Queen arch villain yet? we could use a few I think considering how well the bugs can plan.
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On the subject of Nukes and Bugs. Cannon-wise does anyone know if Insect shamans can become Toxic like other traditions, if so how would becoming toxic change the magic tradition? Have there ever been anything on the invae being corrupted by the horrors?
A pox on that thought!
is there a named Bug Queen arch villain yet? we could use a few I think considering how well the bugs can plan.
Well, there was this one named Euphoria...
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Call me a dunce but I don't recall where Euphoria is from Mirikon
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I recall only Desolation Angels...Mantis women gang...well they are mostly supposed to be ..bug hunters...
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Call me a dunce but I don't recall where Euphoria is from Mirikon
It's from a first edition adventure aptly named "Queen Euphoria".
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It's from a first edition adventure aptly named "Queen Euphoria".
nope I don't have it, that would explain a great deal
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long and short of it Morg is that a sim starlet was hooked on royal jelly and then inhabited with a bug spirit queen. Adventure module was a pain for my team because the friggin bugs killed all our contacts halfway through the adventure and my character went on the warpath. Its why he ended up in Chi town prior to the Cermak blast.
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:'(
I want memories like those.
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:'(
I want memories like those.
Oooh. New spell idea 8)
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:'(
I want memories like those.
Oooh. New spell idea 8)
Already there, in Street Magic. Alter Memory.
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I was think of an Implant Memory spell, actually.
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or Implant Nightmare :)
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Same principle.... :D
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Magic/Ritual version of a PAB unit?
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I was think of an Implant Memory spell, actually.
Alter Memory already allows you to do that. You may add, alter, or erase one memory. Net hits determine how complex and detailed the memory is. The victim may roll Willpower every (Force) months to try and reduce the net hits. When net hits equal zero, the memory is back to normal.
That last part is the tricky part of the spell. 'May' implies that they have to actually choose to roll Willpower, implying that if they don't have reason to believe that they've been Jedi mind tricked, then they don't get to roll. What this means in the long term is that if you structure the memory in such a way that the change seems natural, it may last indefinitely unless they are presented with evidence of something else happening.
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maybe on subconscious level there is always some kind of feeling that something is wrong. Well, this kind of feeling i got every
friday evening saturday morning.
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Nothing implies that in the spell description. Of course, even if that happened, the answer would be a quickened or permanent version of Control Emotions to make them calm.
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:P
nasty
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I work third shift in a gas station. I have plenty of time to come up with evil things I can do.
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Like
1st: Something
2nd Running the shadows
3rd Gas station
???
Good cover ;D
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or Implant Nightmare :)
No thanks, my nightmares are bad enough as is.
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no guys you have it all wrong, we implant Ray with a simsense recorder and then give him a cut of the profits for the new line of horror films.
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no guys you have it all wrong, we implant Ray with a simsense recorder and then give him a cut of the profits for the new line of horror films.
Before, or after we find people with their eyes clawed out by themselves?
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no guys you have it all wrong, we implant Ray with a simsense recorder and then give him a cut of the profits for the new line of horror films.
Do we determine the profits the way Hollywood, does? Where Return of the Jedi still has not turned a profit? Or do we do it
the REAL way?
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no guys you have it all wrong, we implant Ray with a simsense recorder and then give him a cut of the profits for the new line of horror films.
Before, or after we find people with their eyes clawed out by themselves?
The eyes are your cut.
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Andyou thought they didn't care, Ray.... ;)
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Andyou thought they didn't care, Ray.... ;)
They don't, they just want the money.
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Andyou thought they didn't care, Ray.... ;)
They don't, they just want the money.
Aw, you know us so well!
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Andyou thought they didn't care, Ray.... ;)
They don't, they just want the money.
Aw, you know us so well!
More like I know myself.
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Ray, before.
mara, both.
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Mmmm, Queen Euphoria. Only adventure I know of in which, if you're paranoid enough, you can completely shortcut 95% of the nastiness. First adventure I ever wanted to run solo.
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Slot that where is my pet Alucard when I need him, bloody hell, Nosferatu Mosquito Shaman ugggh....we need bigger guns!
Alexis
*smiles*
and chocolate!!
(someone guess the film)
I waded thru all that to see if someone did guess. So I'll give it away.
Split Second (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105459/) with the awesome Rutger Hauer!
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Yes, it was supposed to be a bigger bang. However, as told in Burning Bright, I believe, they launched it into the building the bugs had claimed as their new hive just before they completed a massively powerful barrier ward around the building. The ward snapped shut just before the blast, containing it and amplifying the radiation inside the Cermak crater. In other words, the tac-nuke should have vaporized the entire neighborhood, if not most of the CZ, but the ward kept things contained. Magic + Nukes = Strangeness Happens.
I like to think that all of the canon and novels and such only have ONE partially successful Nuclear weapon explosion, because it is just too easy to pull a Snow Crash, and roll around with a cheap nuke warhead bought from the Russians. I also like to think that the only reason that nuke did go off was because of a massive dump of temp edge by those involved. Basically, praying the damned thing blew.
All this is so GM's have a very good reason to have a nuke the PC's invested so heavily in getting is just another dud. Sixth World happened, and nuclear weapons just don't have the same chances of success anymore. And yes, I know the nuclear threat in the Third Shadowrun book with Twist was due to some sort of repeated Great Ghost Dance ritual. It's just another example of "Nukes don't work. Stop playing with them."
So, yeah. About the bugs, what DOES work against infested bug forms other than FAB III?
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Actually, Lacynth, nukes do work. Winternight used a couple modified nukes during Crash 2.0 on fault lines. Israel nuked Libya, which is why there's a nice open space for Desert Wars. The fact is that nukes do work, but they aren't 100% reliable, partly because most of them are either old, made by people who barely understand the tech, or both, and partly because magic can sometimes interfere. The Cermak blast failed to destroy Chicago because a megahive of spirits combined their power to make an uber-powerful ward to keep people out while they converted the people they snatched, and the nuke went off inside that ward. What you got was the nuclear equivalent of the chunky salsa rules. Radiation is far higher inside the blast zone, and negligible outside.
The reason nukes aren't used more often? Well, Weapons of Mass Destruction, in all their forms, tend to be the kind of things that, if you use them, you better have a DAMN good reason, or people will gang up on you and go wild. Nuking people is bad for business. Cleaning up radiation is hard, as the SOX shows. And the PR flak you get from using one of the most horrible weapons known to man tends to counter any benefit. Thor shots are more tactical, with less long-term damage, but there's a reason why all the megas and several nations around the world still have nukes in their arsenals. But they are still in the 'last resort' category.
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My college had Nuclear Chunky Salsa once in the cafeteria.
Cleared out nearly the whole campus.
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Nukes are:
not working properly, and mostly not because they are obsolette, but because something is influencing them. Some say Gaia. IDN. Even Czermak blast wasnt what they expect it to be. Otherwise no more buggies in CZ. And about that PR thing: do you realize, that when Chicago "Bug City" incident and Containment zone happened informations remain hidden and silent for more than 5 years before first info on real state of events leaked? And when it does, it hadnt caused any major powershifting, even Ares wasn forced to compensate anyone etc...PR is overrated a bit.
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Actually, in the four instances where nukes have been actually used since the upswing of the mana cycle began, you've had:
Lone Eagle incident - Failed due to unknown causes
Libya - Worked like a charm
Cermak - Contained within a VERY powerful barrier
Crash 2.0 - Magically altered nukes didn't behave as they were supposed to.
In two of those cases, there wasn't any question about magic directly influencing the nukes. Cermak was literally buzzing with magical activity. In addition to the ward, there were all the people getting converted to bugs inside the building. In Crash 2.0, a bunch of crazies took some nukes, and started trying to magically enhance them. In both cases, there was magic directly in play trying to screw with the function of the bombs.
In the Lone Eagle incident, either no one knows why the bomb didn't go of, or no one is telling. It could be that there was magic affecting the outcome, either in general or consciously guided (remember, the immortal elves, at least, were active in the US back then, preparing for magic to come back all the way). It could also have been a dud. Yes, any machine has the possibility of a breakdown, sometimes even a catastrophic breakdown. It doesn't even have to be obsolete to break, either. Only restricting myself to the US space program, I'll give you three examples of SOTA tech that failed catastrophically because of minor problems no one caught: Apollo 1, Apollo 13, Challenger. All three craft were SOTA at the time. All three had major failures because of something minor. Apollo 1 had a pure oxygen atmosphere, and yards of velcro and other flammable materials in it. One spark, and it was a funeral pyre. Apollo 13 was critically damaged when a wire caused an arc in one of the oxygen tanks, which made it explode. And Challenger blew up because of a faulty valve smaller than a football.
Do you know why, at the height of the Cold War, the US had enough nukes to vaporize the USSR at least ten times over? Because they EXPECTED some of the rockets to fail or even be intercepted. You launch several missiles, so that you are sure that at least one will hit the target.
And actually, the Chicago hive was kicked over on August 22, 2055. The spin was a new wave of VITAS, yes. But on October 1, the Cermak blast happened. Nuclear detonations are quite distinctive, so there was no denying the blast. On January 21, 2056, the Bug City upload hit Shadowland, and was spread through the Shadow Matrix. From there, it spread to the public awareness, despite the UCAS government's attempts to silence it. There was some blowback against KE, but most of it was subsumed in the face of the fact that THERE WERE GIANT FRAGGING BUGS TRASHING CHICAGO! Kindof falls into the 'last resort' category, for most people. But someone using nukes for anything that wasn't so cataclysmic? Yes, there would be hell to pay.
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NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Nuclear weapons still exist in the Sixth World,
even if their dependability has been questionable
since the Awakening. Some postulate that the
Earth’s manafield effects rapid nuclear reactions,
while others believe that Gaia has some sort of
cosmic veto power over nukes, but the fact remains:
nuclear weapons have become unreliable.
The game-master is encouraged to decide for herself when and
where nuclear weapons detonate as designed, with
the general guideline that the smaller the nuke, the
more reliable it is—and a reminder than even a small
nuclear explosion can dramatically alter the land-scape
of a city or even a nation, so they should be
used cautiously.
In the case of a nuclear detonation, the forces
unleashed in a full-scale nuclear blast are beyond
the scope of the rules of a role-playing game. Small
“suitcase nukes” are more conceivable; in game
terms, the Damage Code for the smallest feasible
nuclear device would be over 130P, –6/m. Generally,
though, a nuclear device is mainly a plot device;
simply choose the area devastated (a minimum of
a 20m radius). Use the following guidelines to determine the
radiation effects of a nuclear blast. The area devas-tated will be an area of deadly radiation poisoning,
with a concentric circle of equal radius beyond that
is a severe radiation zone, another radius will have
moderate radiation, and the radius beyond that will
be an area of mild radiation poisoning (see Radiation,
p. 167, Arsenal).
My posts on this topics were inspired by highlited text. and weather is too damn hot for further theories, so I leave with that.
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is there a named Bug Queen arch villain yet? we could use a few I think considering how well the bugs can plan.
Well, if you go by SOME rumors, Damien Knight might fit the bill...
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Libya - Worked like a charm
Of course that one worked! Doc Brown was involved! ;D
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Libya - Worked like a charm
Of course that one worked! Doc Brown was involved! ;D
So Libya fired off a bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts? They must have felt pretty dumb.
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So Libya fired off a bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts? They must have felt pretty dumb.
That's what they get for trusting a Mad Scientist. ;D
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Actually, I was talking about when the Israelis finally got tired of Libya's drek, and nuked the hell out of them.
As for the bit about nukes being unreliable, I would say that they aren't any more or less reliable than they are today. You know why you don't have a lot of dud ammunition? Because people fire off a lot of them, so you get the kinks worked out. Except you don't have people shooting off a bunch of nukes to perfect the design. You have a bunch of weapons that, on paper, should work, but because you haven't test fired any of them in over a hundred years (Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was in 1963), you don't know if they will work. Weapons are reliable because they have been tested. An untested weapon is inherently unreliable.
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Actually, I was talking about when the Israelis finally got tired of Libya's drek, and nuked the hell out of them.
Yeah, and Libya's response was a bunch of pinball machine parts. :P
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@Mirikon: IDN what are you trying to defend. Ive just posted what is RAW and continuig discussion on reliability of nukes seems to be waste of time. For me, it is simple...every single one out of two nukes used to kill people succeeded. 100%.
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Sichr, what i think he's getting at is that since we have effectively stopped all nuclear testing, we have designs that are untested and while the paperwork says they should work better than those that have been used in the past, we havent seen any of the designs tested in the feild where in all actuallity nukes are hard enough to get to go off in the first place. Theoretically a bumble bee should not be able to fly, but tell it that. theoretically the current crop of nuclear warheads should work fine so long as their tritium detonators havent degraded due to radiation or have been recently replaced, but we wont know for certain, (because believe me they have changed designs since the last UNDERGROUND test in the early 60's ) and wont know until some are set off.
in short what he's saying is that the reason they dont work as designed in SR is that their designs might just be flawed.
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Exactly. Weapons design is a process of trial and error. And even if the design is sound, there are always going to be errors in the manufacturing process. Large production runs weed out these errors by product testing. They make enough Ares Alphas and test fire them enough that they catch things like the firing pin being missing most of time. The smaller the production run, and the less the product is used/tested, the greater the observed effect of those errors when they crop up. To take an example, if you look at statistics, the Apollo program had a 13% chance of catastrophic failure (2/15).
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I know I'm coming into this thread quite late, and the question may have already been addressed, but what has happened to the Universal Brotherhood. Do they still exist? I know all the stories about them up until sometime after the cermac (spelling?) blast, when they were starting to be shut down/wiped out.
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The Universal Brotherhood was shut down before Chicago became Bug City, Glor. About a year before, IIRC. Ares and the UCAS (among others) were trying to quietly deal with the hives without causing a panic, after they'd been given evidence of the UB being a front for the bugs. The excuse given depended on the jurisdiction, but tax evasion was the most common one. Yeah, that's right. They brought the UB down allegedly for tax evasion. Hey, it worked for Capone, right? Anyways, with the UB officially shut down, Ares and others began moving against the hives, eliminating them where they could. When Ares raided an old warehouse that had belonged to the UB, searching for bugs, they uncovered the Chicago hive, and all hell broke loose. Not long after, Ares forces trapped inside the CZ used Damocles (AKA a small tactical nuke) inside the building the bugs had relocated to, resulting in the Cermak blast.
Since Bug City, the Universal Brotherhood doesn't exist. Period. There are some old abandoned chapterhouses, of course. And in one of the Missions (Brothers United, IIRC) you have a few old bug shamans trying to bring over a new queen. Oh, and then there's some of the insect shamans and queens that Ares has been experimenting on. More on that in Conspiracy Theories, a short story in Street Legends, and the upcoming Sacrificial Limb adventure.
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Theoretically a bumble bee should not be able to fly, but tell it that.
This commonly perpetuated statement is utterly false (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1076/is-it-aerodynamically-impossible-for-bumblebees-to-fly). Bumblebees aren't capable of fixed wing flight, true. However, bumblebees do not have fixed wings. They flap their wings. Also, the guy who first came to the conclusion that bee flight shouldn't be possible was blind stinking drunk at the time, and immediately realized his mistake when he sobered up. Unfortunately, by then the myth had already spread to every humanities major on campus. Scientists have fully understood the aerodynamics behind bumblebee flight for more than 80 years.
Similarly, we understand the principles behind nuclear fission quite well. There have been over 2000 nuclear test detonations worldwide since 1945.
Additionally, the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 only banned the test detonation of nuclear devices in the atmosphere, underwater or in outer space, to prevent the spread of radiation and release of electromagnetic pulses. Nuclear testing continued to occur underground in the United States until 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty wasn't signed until 1996 (and probably never existed in the SR universe) and has still not yet been ratified or implemented, and may never be.
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Bumble Bee 1.0 couldn't fly.
Version 1.5 could only glide.
Version 2.0 could fly.
Apparently they are working on a version 3.0 that can reach close to light speed. :P
The link you gave is, unfortunately, no better than the myth itself. No one really knows the origins of the bumble bee myth, and this story is just one of many. Using it as "the" reason is no better than perpetuating the myth itself. http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?action=post;topic=7158.150;last_msg=138719 (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?action=post;topic=7158.150;last_msg=138719), on the other hand, is a much better story.
P.S. How do you insert a link under different text?
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I'm not too worried about bees; they've been airborn for a long, long time. It's when Scorpions learn how to fly that you can consider me checked out.
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P.S. How do you insert a link under different text?
[url=http://domain.com/webpage]The text.[/url]
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P.S. How do you insert a link under different text?
[url=http://domain.com/webpage]The text.[/url]
Thanks Narrator
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I know I'm coming into this thread quite late, and the question may have already been addressed, but what has happened to the Universal Brotherhood. Do they still exist? I know all the stories about them up until sometime after the cermac (spelling?) blast, when they were starting to be shut down/wiped out.
2XS by Nigel Findley is a great SR novel that tells the tale of how it came about.
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I guess that means Burning Bright tells the tale of how it all came to an end?
That was my favourite SR novel, ever.
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I need to figure out who I loaned 2XS to. I need to get that back. :(
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I guess that means Burning Bright tells the tale of how it all came to an end?
That was my favourite SR novel, ever.
Yes, and some fairly good battles in Burning Bright too. There's several other books with Tommy Talon in them. I've read some, but not all of them. I tend to find them far above average as far as SR novels go.
My favorites however are 2xs by Nigel Findley, Changeling by Chris Kubasik, and the Kellan Colt trilogy by Stephen Kenson. Lone Wolf by Nigel Findley is good too, as well as Nyx Smith and the novels with Bandit the Racoon shaman in them.
I've come to believe anything written by Nigel Findley is pure gold, but sadly he's passed away. I'm starting to feel that way about Kenson, especially after reading the 3rd ed. Seattle Guide, which provided me with literally dozens of shadowruns to GM.
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I need to figure out who I loaned 2XS to. I need to get that back. :(
I'm on my fourth copy.
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I've come to believe anything written by Nigel Findley is pure gold, but sadly he's passed away. I'm starting to feel that way about Kenson, especially after reading the 3rd ed. Seattle Guide, which provided me with literally dozens of shadowruns to GM.
Steve hasn't totally abandoned Shadowrun. He did write Seattle 2072 and Tommy Talon's entry in Street Legends.
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I guess that means Burning Bright tells the tale of how it all came to an end?
That was my favourite SR novel, ever.
Yes, and some fairly good battles in Burning Bright too. There's several other books with Tommy Talon in them. I've read some, but not all of them. I tend to find them far above average as far as SR novels go.
My favorites however are 2xs by Nigel Findley, Changeling by Chris Kubasik, and the Kellan Colt trilogy by Stephen Kenson. Lone Wolf by Nigel Findley is good too, as well as Nyx Smith and the novels with Bandit the Racoon shaman in them.
I've come to believe anything written by Nigel Findley is pure gold, but sadly he's passed away. I'm starting to feel that way about Kenson, especially after reading the 3rd ed. Seattle Guide, which provided me with literally dozens of shadowruns to GM.
tommy talon do not play in burning bright the mage name ther is kyle teller
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tommy talon do not play in burning bright the mage name ther is kyle teller
Apologies, my mistake. It's been a very long time since I read that book and I've read some of the Talon books more recently. Got blended all together. I guess mages all look alike, kinda like dandelion eaters.
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tommy talon do not play in burning bright the mage name ther is kyle teller
I think folks just get "Burning Bright" and "The Burning Time" mixed up, from time to time.
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Cartographing an Alien Landscape: An introduction to the nature of Insect Spirits
by Lt. John „Prospero“ Ashcroft, 3rd Astral Recon and Support.
Recorded at the First Joint Forces Bug City Symposium held at the Wrigly Dome, Chicago, 2056.
When looking at Insect Spirits, we are tasked not only with the problem of that which we do not know, but also the many misconceptions and prejudices regarding these entities that abound. Most personnel that has to deal with them directly, especially the mundanes, tend to see our opponents as insects of a very large and dangerous kind. This, however, is pretty far from the truth. The beings we are facing here are spirits first and foremost, astral constructs that only subject themselves to the paradigm of insecticism, just as the group categorized as Spirits of Man styles itself after our outlooks and mannerisms. They are only pretending to be insects, so to say. That is why we should ask ourselves the question why they choose to do so.
If we follow the reasoning of Laurent, Greenbaum et al. that the Astral is an expression of earth's manasphere, important aspects of our planet will form something like an astral echo. It seems quite logical that the insects, being the most numerous and diverse order of animals there is, will also have a strong astral representation. However, this is not true for similar copious life forms such as bacteria or plants. Instead, metahumanities' impact on the Astral seems disproportionally large.
This might be explained by Millar and Sorenson's Theory of Mana Manipulation through the Collective Subconsciousness. According to it, the Astral might be influenced by the accumulated “background noise” of people's thoughts, thus being more a representation of our earth's spiritual side than the biological one. Any followers of shamanistic teachings in the audience may now feel free to shout “Told you so!”.
It seems quite obvious that the subconciousness does have an impact on mana manifestations if we look to spirits summoned by metahuman conjurors. A very high percentage of these astral constructs have predominantly anthropomorphic features, even if they are supposed to represent abstract concepts such as the elements. Thus, it is not inconceivable that even so-called mundane elements of our planet's mana sphere could have a certain influence on phenotypic expressions of the astral plane. Furthermore, this would also suggest that the long-suspected hive mind of insects rivals the “willpower” - for lack of a better term – of our individual selves.
I hope I was able to make clear that Insect Spirits are neither demons from some kind of hell, nor a magical weapon of mass destruction. They are dangerous and a threat to metahumanity, but ultimately just a natural part of our world like their mundane counterparts. Mankind has always been in conflict with nature, and this is simply a new round in this age-old battle.
However, there is a very important point to Insect Spirits that sets them apart from other dangers in our point of view. It is their disposition to actively seek us out, to become a part of our society and to subvert it from within that scares us so much. This is completely unrelated to their biological counterparts, who certainly have no idea about what they are doing when they crawl through our living room. Insect Sprirts, on the other hand, make a conscious effort of becoming a part of metahumanity, and making us become a part of theirs. The Universal Brotherhood incident has taught us that they prefer human hosts even if animal ones would be more readily available and the risk to themselves would be smaller.
The fact that the Universal Brotherhood concept appealed so much to the Insect Spirits that they made it a part of their living proofs that they have a certain understanding of metahuman ideas and can actually interact with us on this basis. The creatures that are uniformly regarded as being strange, alien and incomprehensible might be closer to us than we are currently willing to admit. Actually, the virtues promoted by the UB, including concepts such as cooperation, harmony and self-sacrifice, are things that insects of the hive-building variety practically embody. Even this event's esteemed chairman-in-absence, Mr. Damian Knight, would certainly agree on them, judging from his Address to the Cooperation in the Light of the recent Events in Chicago.
Also, we have to keep in mind that human individuality has been identified as a great source of problems by the military, the corporations and other institutions alike, and over the decades there have been countless tries to eliminate this chaos factor from the equations. Now, the UCAS military as well as Ares Macrotechnology are without doubt shining exceptions here, but their representatives will certainly agree with me that the competition treats human resources much worse and is quite willing to exploit them in any way possible.
These points relate to the behavior of the Insect Spirits in a startling way. It might just be a coincidence, but I feel that we should not dismiss any possible explanations at this point. Thus, please consider for a moment the possibility that the metahuman subconsciousness could also have an impact on the nature of these seemingly unrelated spirits. What if the insects' hive mind could be capable of giving spirits a paradigm they could embody, but not a purpose for them to fulfill? What if another strong force would then bleed into their being in order to fill this emptiness?
Now, this is all just speculation on my part and scepticism is advised, but it is a fact that Insect Spirits have tried again and again to fuse with metahumanity, and despite our best efforts they could not be stopped yet. Maybe they are doing it in order to become something that is larger than the sum of its parts. Maybe they try to fulfill what we are only dreaming of.
Thank you for your attention.
Note: Lt. Ashcroft's integrity was called into question after this highly controversial speech, but Internal Affairs did not manage to question him anymore. He suffered serious injuries and a psychological breakdown during a mission soon after and went AWOL as soon as he had recovered. Rumors are that he has found refuge in the so-called shadow community.
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>>>>>[Sorry, sounds like hippy dippy wants to be an insect shaman (maybe is) bull drek to me]<<<<< --Wolfgar
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Hi Vanguard, did you write that? Because its brilliant, very well put together.
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Thank you very much. Yes I did indeed. Prospero was my first 4th ed. character and I'm still quite proud of him.
Actually, he's just suffering from a bad case of dissociative disorder thanks to a hefty dose of PTSD and now thinks insects are the better humans. Of course, the other PCs suspected him to be a flesh-form spirit or insect shaman and were totally creeped out by the guy. Guess it didn't help that the GM allowed me to take Friendly Spirits (Insect Spirits) ;)
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Realy good one.+1, Bext time you can tell us something about the "landscape" of Insects metaplane...
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Realy good one.+1, Bext time you can tell us something about the "landscape" of Insects metaplane...
a desert seashore, with little doors to places full of tasty things (our world)
sorry, too many readings of "the drawing of the three"
didachick! dadachack!
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hm...I had something more...Geigerish..in my mind...
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Realy good one.+1, Bext time you can tell us something about the "landscape" of Insects metaplane...
Thank you :)
Actually, that is somewhat difficult for me. As GM, I run the Metaplanes as a dream-like environment that reflects the perceiver just as much as that what is being perceived ("We don't see things as they are, but as we are." - Anais Nin). Well, I've got this story idea in my head, and the hero visits The Hive at one point without knowing where he actually ended up. It appears as a night club to him, chock full of bodies only partially visible in the dark that dance in perfect unison to an alien beat. Every person, every single movement has its place and purpose, but he is completely unable to participate. The idea is that he is scratching on the surface of something that is both primal and sublime, a totally different universe he just does not belong to.
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Perhaps this will help in describing it?
Metaplanar Gazetteer: The Hive
The writhing, organic mass known as the Hive is believed to be the original home of the insect spirits, or perhaps just some metaplanar world that they have completely overrun. If there is any surface to this world, no visitor has ever seen it. Instead it seems to be an endless labyrinth of dark, humid tunnels humming with a constant, maddening buzz and crawling with insect spirits of all types. Countless Queen and Mother spirits have hives here, and they are all in perpetual war for space and resources—perhaps why they seem all too eager to travel to Earth.
Few magicians who have traveled to the Hive survive very long. Hostile insect spirits will defend their branch of the Hive to the death and a visiting magician is seen as a hostile trespasser who threatens the Queen or Mother. Even if the magician manages to avoid the insect spirits, he will suffer from Evanescence as his metaplanar form slowly loses cohesiveness (see p. 148). There are dark rumors that a magician can stay in the Hive indefinitely if he undergoes a metamorphosis into an insect, but there are few who are willing to go to that extent.
Most of the magicians visiting the Hive are Ares bug-hunters and their visits are noisy and violent attempts to utterly destroy Queen and Mother spirits. To get around the need of a native guide to take them to this deep metaplane, the Ares bughunters have redirected concealed astral links into the Hive that they can follow like a trail of breadcrumbs at a later date. Since these links can be followed in either direction, however, Ares keeps the origin and terminus of the link under close guard (both the linked magician and the item).
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Thanks for going through the trouble of writing that down for me, that's really nice. However, I know that excerpt, but it fits my vision of the metaplanes only so far. To me, the Ares bug hunters encounter The Hive in this form because this is what they expect and want. They set out to wage a war against the insect spirits, trying to change the world through violence,and so the metaplanes reflect this by creating a violent environment. The hero in my story is suffering from feelings of alienation, so this is the aspect the metaplanes embody for him.
When dealing with magic in Shadowrun, I like to be as vague as possible in order to encompass both the hermetic and the shamanistic world view, so that neither one is essentially the one and only truth. Sticking to a subjective (magic) reality is the best way to do this, IMHO.
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Which actually means you get very specific, but for that mage only. If your mage is going to the metaplane of insect spirits while feeling alienated from humanity, I'm certain that the Hive will feel much, much nicer than the one the Firewatch teams encounter - because the insect spirits are going to be trying to convert him into an insect shaman.
Metaplanes are, in their way, NPCs in and of themselves, especially the 'home plane' of any spirit you happen to be going to. Think of their goals, then of how they'd react to the mage at the time of his/her travel there. Craft subjective reality depending on what those goals, attitude, and targets are ...
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After beating my group over the head numerous times that some teens were being lethargic because of Essence Loss, not due to some Sleeping Drugs, my group finally found out just how damaging Insect Spirits are when they were later attacked by said teens in Flesh Forms.
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Actually, in the four instances where nukes have been actually used since the upswing of the mana cycle began, you've had:
Lone Eagle incident - Failed due to unknown causes
Out of curiosity, has it been anyone Else's head canon that these "unknown causes" was straight up sabotage?
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and remember, "unknown" may really mean " we claim it's unknown, because the truth is just embarrassing"
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Or, "Someone figured it out, but caught a lethal case of dead before they could report in."
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and remember, "unknown" may really mean " we claim it's unknown, because the truth is just embarrassing"
On both sides (Russian defenses failed, US nuke failed, both sides keep shut to maintain the idea that something worked).
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After beating my group over the head numerous times that some teens were being lethargic because of Essence Loss, not due to some Sleeping Drugs, my group finally found out just how damaging Insect Spirits are when they were later attacked by said teens in Flesh Forms.
Now I'm confused. In what way is essence loss related to insect spirits? On another note, how did you convey an abstract game element like Essence in in-universe terms?
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Now I'm confused. In what way is essence loss related to insect spirits? On another note, how did you convey an abstract game element like Essence in in-universe terms?
Lack of essence means easier taking over the body for a Flesh Form or any other possession.
I describe it as being part of the users "Essence", a measurable amount that Hermetic Mages have been able to study in depth over the years. Lots of papers have been written about it.
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Not sure, but IMO it is the more essence, the better...characters with lower essence tends to be harded to influence with magic
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Lack of essence means easier taking over the body for a Flesh Form or any other possession.
That's a house rule, isn't it? How did they manage to drain the essence?
I describe it as being part of the users "Essence", a measurable amount that Hermetic Mages have been able to study in depth over the years. Lots of papers have been written about it.
So you've turned it into an in-universe element. Clever :)
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In Another Rainy Night, I make reference a time or two to the "psychic energy in a person's aura" when referring in-universe to vampire chow, if that helps any.
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Well, I describe stuff like this as "this person's aura seems to be damaged in some way", but without the tell-tale signs of cyberware, Aura Deficiency Syndrome or something like that, it would not be obvious to my players whether the damage was caused by Essence Drain, heavy substance abuse or anything else. I tend to avoid the term "Essence" in in-universe speak as far as possible.
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You know...you even need sucesfull Asensing test to recognize that character has Cyberware. It is not aparent on the first glance.
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Yes, I do know that. I was refering to what you can glean from an aura through assensing, as per the table on pg. 191 SR4A. If a player achives enough hits to measure the target's Essence, I'd drop some hints that the aura does not look well if that would be the case. ADS is already obvious with 1 hit, though.
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In Another Rainy Night, I make reference a time or two to the "psychic energy in a person's aura" when referring in-universe to vampire chow, if that helps any.
Good read. Highly recommend this book. Firm favourite on my eBooks on my Ipad.
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It's worth remembering that karma has an in-universe existence as something you can give to free spirits.
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It's worth remembering that karma has an in-universe existence as something you can give to free spirits.
But what does karma mean in the setting. Are you signing over your 'potential'? Or is it like something else?
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Why would they not just use those terms? We do.
We reference the "Essence" of life and building up good "karma" all the time IRL. why make up things when the game terms work just fine.
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For some reason, I don't know how phased someone would be if the Spirit offered power in exchange for 'karma', most people would go 'sure'.
It would only be later that the deal maker would notice that their 'skills' etc aren't improving no matter how had they train (or they improve slower, which might not be noticable at all).
In the game universe, I don't think people would notice losing karma very much.
Unless mages have a more detailed understanding of karma?