Cyborgs, WAS: [HOE] Doom sayers

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> Here is my possible problem though.  That late lamented martial
> artist's player is working up his next character -- a Cyborg.  I
> don't want to say no categorically, but what's going to give him
> pause at AV 4?  He's wanting to make a heavy can, although he'll tone
> it down to light if I insist.  Either way, though, the armor would
> likely be the same.
> 
> I can come up with plenty of threats directed at a 'borg, but I don't
> want to be that lame.  I would like to spend maybe half or more of
> the total time on the many packaged adventures and dime novels I have
> on the shelf, but I wouldn't want them all screwed up by a tank on
> legs.
> 
> My question is, how difficult is my job (challenging them to the
> limit while being entertaining) going to be with a heavy cyborg in
> the group (stand-out plasma gun, armor, samson unit, and so on).  I
> can work against his ROEs to some extent, but I draw the line at
> having every random raider suddenly packing AP ammo.

I agree with the lameness of the old "You see 4 goblins and a red dragon"
philosophy. A few things to keep in mind:
Word is going to get around that this posse has some serious power/armor
in it now. So adventures where the enemy are expecting the posse should
have a higher threat level (AP ammo, missiles) as the wussier guys
realized it wasn't worth it and went home.
RoE have been covered pretty well.
Another thing to use is the old mob of townies demanding that the cyborg
(and all his friends) get out of their town. If the posse has any decency
their not going to blast some townies for making them leave (it's their
town) and eventually their going to get tired of not being able to buy
supplies (or having to leave part of the posse behind everytime they go
into town, the cyborg, and someone to WATCH the cyborg to make sure he
doesn't get all squirrely).

Finally, keep in mind that that armor is an external system, and so cannot
be repaired by the SRU. With that level of armor you should probably look
into making some armor degredation rules (each time a massive damage
attack does at least X wounds the armor value drops in some areas by one,
for example).

 Theo McGuckin
	"Putting the Mentor back in Tormentor"