Re: [HoE] Junker/Cyborg Stuff

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

><<Well, I've got a review of Junkers Sourcebook coming out over at
>   www.azraelonline.com, and I pretty much dismissed the concerns that the
>   calculations were too complicated. I saved that for the Cyborg 
>Sourcebook
>   review. :)>>
>
>This wasn't a comment on what you'd written; it was more a leftover from 
>when
>Junkman cometh came out (see below).  If you don't mind my asking, what was 
>so
>complicated about Cyborgs?  Junkman was, in my opinion, much mroe complex.
>

I'm not sure that "complicated" is the world.  However, there seemed like 
there was _more_ adding/reccalculating going on with Cyborgs.  And that it 
was more...well, ongoing.  Once you build a Gadget, you don't really have to 
worry about slots and stuff like that (unless you're going to redesign it at 
some point, of course).  You know what its effect is, you know how much 
drain it uses and how much GR you need to keep collecting, and it's pretty 
much set.

With Cyborgs, you have to keep refiguring Drain as they turn certain items 
on and off.  Overloading is a bit more complicated than, say, a simple 
Stability roll.  Also, these kind of calculations and re-calculations 
typically occur in the middle of combat.  A Junker may "drag" the group down 
a bit by spending time on his gadgets, but he won't be doing it in the 
middle of a firefight.  :)

I also had some concerns on what Cyborgs seemed to be as the continuation in 
a steady stream of "arms" escalation.

But heck, read both reviews when they come out October 1st or so.  I believe 
Azrael even has discussion boards to respond to.

check it out at:

http://www.azraelonline.com

><<Well, I've worked on my share of sourcebooks, so I wasn't trying to 
>dismiss
>   John's efforts. But it did strike me (as it has since struck my players
>   drooling over the chance to create Junkers : ) ) that Miniaturize is
>   potentially one _very_ useful and oft-chosen Trick. It's not really 
>subject
>   to abuse per se that I've noticed so far (unless you get some really 
>absurd
>   roll - unfortunately my players occasionally do), but it does strike me 
>that
>   it might have got a little more explanation/scrutiny, and a little less
>   space devoted to some of the other Tricks.>>
>
>I agree that Miniaturize and a couple others were far more important to 
>junkers
>than most of those Tricks, and some of them felt a little tacked on.  But 
>giving
>too much more space to Mini would have made the other Tricks seem like just 
>an
>excuse to have Miniaturize.
>

We thought that anyway.  :)  The problem is that most of the Tricks 
are...well, flavor-type.  Is a Junker really going to need, say, the 
tool-creating one that often?  On the other hand, Mini is a major 
design-function Trick.

><<Don't know about the Listserv issues, as I try to stay clear of that kind 
>of
>   thing. Anything off-line you'd care to tell me, I'd be interested in
>   hearing.>>
>
>It's nothing too terrible, really.  But after Junkman came out, it got a 
>lot of
>flak on this list for having "too much" math, and being too complicated.  I 
>was
>a little distressed to hear that people whose opinions I trusted were so 
>afraid
>of a decimal point.
>--

I never have problems with decimal points as long as the system in question 
makes it clear what you do with those decimal points...  :)

From Whom It May Concern,
>Richard Ranallo, The Man They Couldn't Hang
>


---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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