Silver Threads in Cyberspace

[SuperPheemy]

First off, thanks for all the Cyberware advice. I'm working on the second major part of my Cyberpunk campaign: Cyberspace.

I've decided that the Cyberdeck is going to be "Extra-Dimensional Movement" to Cyberspace. I'm leaning towards the Cowboy's (or Cowgirl's) characteristics being translated as follows:

STR: Defined by Avatar program (Base 10)
DEX: Defined by Cyberdeck Statistic
CON: Defined by Avatar program (Base 10)
BODY: Defined by Meat Body
INT: Defined by Meat Body
EGO: Defined by Meat Body
PRE: Defined by Avatar Program (Base 10)
COM: Defined by Avatar Program (Base 10)
PD: Defined by Avatar Program (Base 10)
ED: Defined by Avatar Program (Base 10)
SPD: Defined by Cyberdeck Statistic
REC: END defined by Cyberdeck Reserve, STUN defined by Meat Body
END: Defined by Cyberdeck Reserve
STUN: Defined by Meat Body

It seems a little complex at first, but I'm figuring that the Meat Body and the Cyberdeck will stay fiarly consistient while the Avatar can be upgraded/ switched out more regularly.

[prestidigitator]

Sounds pretty cool. You could build it as a Multiform that is Linked to the EDM. Alternately you could just buy bonuses to the Chars that are different and link these to the EDM (possibly with some Side Effects to reduce those that might be lower). I'm not sure if EDM has a leaves-physical-body-behind type Limitation, but I think there is one for Desolidification, so you could adapt that--if it is appropriate.

[ghost-angel]

Assuming the Cyberdeck is bought and built as a Computer...

I'd make the Avatar Stats powers on the Deck itself.

Or perhaps change the 'standard computer' as presented in the rules to a 'normal character sheet' and do the same... once in Cyberspace you become the Character/Deck.

This could essentially be Multiform if need be.

[Ganesh]

I'm a little surprised that PRE is defined by your avatar, not yourself. COM being defined that way is obvious, but...

I tend to think that differences in PRE between online and in real life mostly come from psychological limitations that don't apply in one realm or another (Shy, or Flames Compulsively) and different social skills (Writing online tends to be much more useful than Fast Talk, and all those empathy abilities based on body language aren't as useful as being able to read between the lines, and the langauge dialects are different.

In general, if you can't get your point across well and effectively in cyberspace, I'm not at all clear how buying a better avatar would reasonably affect that.

[prestidigitator]

In general, if you can't get your point across well and effectively in cyberspace, I'm not at all clear how buying a better avatar would reasonably affect that.

I would agree in general, but remember that Presence doesn't just represent how well you are able to express yourself. It also represents the degree to which you impress those around you (examples tend to give larger creatures greater Pre and smaller creatures less; see the Bestiary). So, depending on how cyberspace is represented in the game world, giving yourself a more impressive avatar could potentially give you bonuses to your Pre. This in turn, while not making you any better at actually expressing yourself, tends to make people pay more attention to you when you express yourself, and place more importance on what you say.

[Blue]

I worked something up 2 years ago but couldn't convince any of the heroes to "turtle" into the net (None of them have cyberware). Now where did I put that...

[Ganesh]

I would agree in general, but remember that Presence doesn't just represent how well you are able to express yourself. It also represents the degree to which you impress those around you (examples tend to give larger creatures greater Pre and smaller creatures less; see the Bestiary). So, depending on how cyberspace is represented in the game world, giving yourself a more impressive avatar could potentially give you bonuses to your Pre. This in turn, while not making you any better at actually expressing yourself, tends to make people pay more attention to you when you express yourself, and place more importance on what you say.

Ah...good thought. Good special effects can certainly make you more convincing, even without added substance to you arguments (ref: entire field of advertising) while many webcomics that might otherwise be amazing are merely interesting due to the crappy artwork. And you can't exactly fold that into COM...it gets too clunky too fast.

Part of the difficulty is that PRE, like STR, is a bundle of things all claiming to be the same, linearly quantizable thing. ::shrugs:: But such is the nature of the beast.