RE: [HOE] Doom sayers

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@poboxes.com>]

The ROEs are a huge pain (for a player) -- use them hard.  He wants a heavy
can, he gets all the stuff that sucks.  Can't go into towns easy, certainly
ain't gonna go for drinks with the boys after a mission, and will constantly
be butting heads with his AI.  The ROEs are THE drawback to being a cyborg.
My daughter is watching Aladdin right now, and as Aladdin says at the end
"super cosmic powers, teenie tiny living space" as Jafar becomes an
all-powerful genie, and trapped inside a brass lamp.  The AI is a cyborg's
lamp.  Then hit his spirit fetter a few times.  Let the manitou out.  When
the can is fighting for his _THIRD_ of the space inside his skull, he might
start wondering if being a tank is much fun.

Then send things after the can that don't give a doodle about armor.  Large
swarms of small bugs, electrical attacks (no examples come to mind, but
there's something that shoots lightning...  "You look like a giant lightning
rod, I think I hit you!"), spiritual/mental attacks (some syker powers,
etc.), rust monsters (hey, it could happen!), even an old fashioned Huckster
with Soul Blast gets to ignore armor.  Or even a good burning.  Pouring oil,
or even alcohol, all over the can, so that it seeps and drips inside the
armor plate, makes for a great roast-toasty smell!  Or even EMP effects,
from the Doomsayers this thread started out about ;-)
"Yeah, those samson units are cool, when they aren't sparking and smoking
like that."

All that said, if I get to play again, I will actually play a 'borg -- but
just an infiltrator.  Much easier to mingle with a crowd!

Jeff Y.

>
> > How do other Marshals feel about using Doom sayers (Green
<SNIP>
> 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.