Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => Gear => Topic started by: JmOz01 on <12-07-15/1933:47>
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Is there such a thing? Basically with Chrome Flesh can you purchase used cultured bioware
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"Used cultured bioware", no. You can't have something specifically tailored for your genetics, that you got 2nd hand from somebody else.
However, CF pg 70 says "omega cyberware is often first-generation, just cheaply made and a knockoff of more popular ’ware." So it's possible you got your implant from the same store that sells Okelees and Raibam sunglasses too. The sidebar on CF pg 71 talks about omega-grade having drawbacks. The book suggests drawbacks like not giving the full bonus, or little quirks in operation. But that's for Cyberware, plus it sounds boring.
For bioware, I'd probably lean towards things like negative qualities. Like a mild allergic reaction to the implant, permanently saddling you with a -2 to everything you do. Or maybe a Weak Immune System. Maybe there's something you can take for it, but the prescription is rather hard to come by, and the only people who take that medicine are people like you. So even asking about getting some, tells people what you've got in your innards. "Hey man, you know where I can score some El Cheapo?"
Or maybe the "implant" is really an organ harvested from a Changeling or something. Little does anyone realize, their unique genetics make them universal donors. But it also means your ordinarily mundane aura is going to have a very bright spot just above the kidney. Plus, someone is eventually going to come looking for their bits and pieces back.
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Marcus pretty much nails it.
As always, talk to your GM to see what'd be fair, butif you can bring some fun ideas along, it should feed some neat stories.
Of course, cultured is most often used for stuff in your nervous system, so getting knock-off nerves, brain tissue, or spianl implants ... well. Hope you like having a 'pins and needles' feeling in your fingers, 24/7. :)
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While it may seem a stretch, I think if your table wanted to, you could use the game mechanics for used 'ware on cultured bioware and just say this is what you get when you go to the guy who graduated last in med school (lower nuyen but higher Essence) for your cultured bioware.
However, I like the ideas here about omega 'ware and negative qualities too.
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Marcus pretty much nails it.
As always, talk to your GM to see what'd be fair, butif you can bring some fun ideas along, it should feed some neat stories.
Of course, cultured is most often used for stuff in your nervous system, so getting knock-off nerves, brain tissue, or spianl implants ... well. Hope you like having a 'pins and needles' feeling in your fingers, 24/7. :)
Hypercalcemia, twice. Both times the neuropathy wasn't just my fingers but all over my body. Couldn't sleep while it was going on until the steroids brought the calcium levels back down. So yeah, no knock-off nerve tissue.
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Is there such a thing? Basically with Chrome Flesh can you purchase used cultured bioware
Effectively yes, when you pick Omega Grade with "*1.25 Essence Cost" drawback ... but calling it Used raises various people's hackles / pedantry / other.
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Is there such a thing? Basically with Chrome Flesh can you purchase used cultured bioware
Effectively yes, when you pick Omega Grade with "*1.25 Essence Cost" drawback ... but calling it Used raises various people's hackles / pedantry / other.
Yeah just because it was tailor made for your genetics doesn't automatically mean it was made particularly well.
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'Used'? No. But there's definitely the chance you could find the Oklees or Frada style bioware. Because trusting cheap knockoffs is a great thing to do. Hell, I'd even be generous, and have them work as they're supposed to, until you get a Glitch on a test modified by the 'used' bioware. Then... well, lets just say I'd get creative. And coming from someone who has played the game of twisting Wish spells in D&D, that's all I'll say about that.
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And coming from someone who has played the game of twisting Wish spells in D&D, that's all I'll say about that.
I never really understood why people were particularly proud of doing stuff like this.
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That guy syndrome
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Apologies for derail, but this reminded me of an infamous DM we had. It was always a game of 'how will he be killing us and can we survive'?
Some of us would go through characters so quick, we stopped naming them and just gave numbers.
To bring it back, I think even cultured bioware can be 'used grade', just not literally pulled out of someone else.
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And coming from someone who has played the game of twisting Wish spells in D&D, that's all I'll say about that.
I never really understood why people were particularly proud of doing stuff like this.
You've never seen some of the really, really stupid things people will use the Wish spell on. Or the people who try to turn Wish into an 'I Win' button. Also, considering that half the entities that can provide Wish for you (including high level casters) are indifferent, at best, and more likely malevolent or actively hostile to those making the wish, it makes sense. Djinn, demons, fae, and trickster deities being some of the most common sources of Wishes.
Even when not dealing with entities that may or may not purposefully 'reinterpret' imprecise wishes, when casting spells that can alter the fabric of reality, it pays to have plentiful object examples of why one should be very careful in wording your Wish.
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So why not just ban it?
To bring it back, I think even cultured bioware can be 'used grade', just not literally pulled out of someone else.
This is true, though "used" has a particular connotation that people tend to scream about (despite the rules agreeing with you). I think this is the point of Omega-grade ware, personally.
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I'll second that. The game mechanic for used is more like an abstract. I also see higher grades similarly. That it doesn't always represent better and better tech, but a more holistic aftercare program too that helps you adjust to your mods (hence, lower essence cost).
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I like the idea of the grades, but Used shouldn't have been listed among them.
Standard / Alpha / Beta / Gamma / Delta / Omega are all properly sequential. They make sense (except for the writers, who listed it Delta / Gamma b/c wrong alphabet lol).
But "Used" should be a modifier, not an official Grade. What if the original owner paid out the nose for tippy top quality, and you got it 2nd hand from them. Does it go from Gamma / Delta, straight down to Used? Or shouldn't it maybe just Tier down a little bit.
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Yeah, I agree.
Certainly there is "used" (as in, pulled out of someone's body and resold) Alphaware around. The actual quality of the ware shouldn't change, unless it was damaged in removal or degraded by the system it was implanted in, but probably should cost less since it WAS ripped out of someone else.
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Gamma-Delta was due to Delta already being in use. It *should* have been Gamma, then Delta *now*, but, it didn't fall out that way, so, we'll have those two flipped for a while.
I used Gamma to try and get us at least lined up in terminology, even if it goes, in essence, "A, B, D, C," at this point.
*grumble*
Nothing I could have done on THAT front, Delta's been around for, what, fifteen years now?
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Yeah, I agree.
Certainly there is "used" (as in, pulled out of someone's body and resold) Alphaware around. The actual quality of the ware shouldn't change, unless it was damaged in removal or degraded by the system it was implanted in, but probably should cost less since it WAS ripped out of someone else.
Not listed anywhere, so it's just headcanon, not official at this time, but my take has always been that 'recycling' cyberware drops the quality by a step. So, that tailor-made Betaware for Bob is just Alphaware for anyone else ... still good quality, but it isn't 'tuned' for them. Alpha drops to Standard, while Standard drops to Used.
Helps explain where all the stuff comes from. :)
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I've always gone with anything removed becomes "Used" quality regardless of the initial quality.
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Coming from a more free defined game system background, I tend to look at effect before I look at fluff. (Ie. You want to say your cyberarm is a used delta grade, but has the stats of alpha, then you take alpha). The "advantages" of having delta (prestige, etc...) gets balanced by "disadvantages" (hotshots looking to make a name for themselves)
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I like the idea of the grades, but Used shouldn't have been listed among them.
Standard / Alpha / Beta / Gamma / Delta / Omega are all properly sequential. They make sense (except for the writers, who listed it Delta / Gamma b/c wrong alphabet lol).
But "Used" should be a modifier, not an official Grade. What if the original owner paid out the nose for tippy top quality, and you got it 2nd hand from them. Does it go from Gamma / Delta, straight down to Used? Or shouldn't it maybe just Tier down a little bit.
If you are gonna use Greek lettering, Alpha=standard
so:
Alpha 1
Beta .8
Gamma .7
Delta .5