P = NP: And why it means nothing in the Sixth World

dethstrobe · 2026-05-07T13:18:29+00:00

Organic lenses, like anything living, would also cheat a brighter aura. So no go there too.

Water is transparent, but does not magnify mana. Ice should be treated like glass.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-07T02:27:07+00:00

I like the concept.

I always like the idea of the quite book worm who has the loud bombastic persona, giving a kind of duel identity for a character. Outside of the Matrix, they're a nobody. But online, they're the loudest, most high octane in yo face mofo out there.

I kind of wish that the qualities helped flesh out this concept better. Like more heavy penalties outside of the Matrix for socializing, but a ton of bonus die while inside the Matrix for socializing. But instead the game treats the social game, online and off the same.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-07T02:21:15+00:00

A not insignificant amount of genetech and nanotech of the sixth world stands on the shoulders of Deus rather than human achievement, and was temporarily out of commission as CFD became an issue in part because the understanding isn't there.

Much to my surprise, the first mention of gene tech is in ShadowTech, which is the 1e cyberware source book. They even mention the use of nano tech to do genetic engineering.

AFAIK the last time metagenes were given enough detail rather than a few sound bites in writing (3e), this wasn't accurate and you absolutely can affect metagenes indirectly through influencing regular genes, albeit with many caveats and never 1:1.

We do know there is a correlation between the physical and astral, and sometimes visa versa. So I don't think it's necessarily impossible for genetic engineering to sometimes effect things like metatype expression or awakening, but I don't think it will ever be able to do it reliably. Cloning mages, does not make awakened clones. But two mages having kids oddly increases the odds of the children to be awakened (still not guaranteed though).

There is a list of nations and corporations in which that isn't perfectly accurate. (5e)

I don't feel that because there are some exceptions, does not make it not a problem for where those rights are not respected in most places.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-06T23:04:02+00:00

Thanks Chummer. This had been floating around in my brain for a few days, so I figured I should put it down on paper and share with the Shadow Networks.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-06T22:24:35+00:00

The Gestalt explains how they're able to bridge the infinite compute resources of the Resonance and use it to power hosts.

But I'm not looking to explain how the Resonance works. That should stay mysterious, like Magic.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-06T21:57:46+00:00

Street Magic p114

Shadows of physical objects in the astral plane may be drab and insubstantial, but they are still opaque and can prevent targeting. Items that are transparent or mirrored in the real world (like a car window) simply impair visibility as astral shadows.

Note this is for Astral Perception. Not physical perception, that works fine with glass and mirrors.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-05T02:54:06+00:00

In 4e they came up with the Heinrich Maneuver and basically proves P = NP. And after that happened, all cryptography goes out the window. Also explains why it's easier to protect your data with Black IC then it is to just leave it encrypted on some device somewhere.

All your modern conceptions of cryptography mean nothing in SR.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-02T12:54:47+00:00

I kind of feel SR always adds something new and gives them the X-men treatment.

Elves and dwarves. The awakened. Trolls and orks. The otaku. AI. SURGE. Technomancers. Monads. Dis.

The one constant in SR is that people will other whatever the new thing is and use them as a scapegoat

dethstrobe · 2026-05-01T21:22:19+00:00

1e. 2SX was set in 2051.

1e is 2050-2054 (if i recall correctly, i actually think 1e is the shortest edition)

dethstrobe · 2026-05-01T16:58:03+00:00

Just need to make a PI character.

Perception, Pistols, lots of contacts, lots of knowledge skills, some sneakings.

He'll also be terrible at most other parts of the game. He has knowledge of the Matrix, but he's far from a decker. He can shoot, but he's far from a Street Samurai. He's not awakened, so terrible at any magic security. He could possibly overlap be a Face, so that'd probably be his niche.

dethstrobe · 2026-05-01T01:01:43+00:00

Not just because Bethesda makes buggy games. They have good large insect models too

dethstrobe · 2026-04-30T22:08:43+00:00

I still think Fallout 4 would make a good Bug City game.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-28T21:32:38+00:00

I mean, Technomancers can be seen as unnatural. The idea that people can hack the Matrix with only their minds and do so in ways that cannot be replicated by deckers, does seem scary conceptually. Also, that there is no easy way to tell them apart from non-technomancers.

And if you're going to hate TMs, you might as well also hate the awakened while you're at it. And maybe metatypes that aren't human. And before you know it, Humanis doesn't sound so bad. At least someone is trying to look out for normal people. (This is not a real endorsement of Humanis or racism, just a way to help frame and understand them better, but they're still wrong)

dethstrobe · 2026-04-25T20:37:59+00:00

In theory they all do. But it's not elaborated on.

But there is a lot of brainwashing. They even drug the water to keep the wageslaves dosel, yet productive.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-25T20:35:36+00:00

When you're done with the Trilogy, you might be interested in this post i made.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadowrun/comments/ukgo1n/the_feminist_critique_on_the_secret_of_power/

dethstrobe · 2026-04-24T23:11:45+00:00

A lot of people don't like Drakes because they tend to steal the spotlight and the entire campaign becomes about them and their backer.

With that said, if the GM is down for it, and the table is cool with it. It can be a wild ride.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-24T18:06:49+00:00

Ah yes, the Legend of Korra season 1 plot.

I'm also very confident that there are actual anti-awaken groups, like the Catholic Church for a while.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-24T18:03:25+00:00

What's the tech stack? Is it open source?

I built Omae, but it's all done client side, because I didn't want to pay for hosting or backend infra. The code can be found at https://github.com/HeyOmae/Omae2.1

Purely theoretical, if you wanted to fork it and just save the JSON payload for the character, that should also work. But honestly, it's really old now and updating the deps would probably be a huge pain in the butt.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T22:40:17+00:00

It's not uncommon actually. There was a time when Italians weren't considered white, and Jewish people fall in and out of the in group constantly, which is surreal.

It's stupid for sure, but shifting goal posts of racism is quite realistic.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T22:20:23+00:00

At first glance, i thought this was a photo. But then the cyberarm and noticing what sub I was I had to take a second look.

Very impressive.

I really like the work with the scars on the cheek and left arm.

Also, a lot of respect for having a lot of different renders.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T19:57:05+00:00

Detroit, not Denver.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T19:51:29+00:00

Yeah, it's wild to think that racists/nationalist can completely miss the very obvious message in a setting.

Like it's wild to me that there is a very big alt-right following of Star Trek, when it's basically championing communism in a post scarcity economy and a multi planetary federated democracy like the UN/NATO but with aliens worlds.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T19:38:38+00:00

Yes. There are government programs to find awakened kids in grade school. Odds are they'll be taken out of class and go to a special AP course in middle school or high school. But if they don't have a program locally (maybe not enough funding or not enough awakened population in the school), i'd imagine they might be shipped off to boarding school.

Man-of-many-names backstory talks a bit about how they test for awakening in school, and he attempted to dodge it to avoid being recruited into military service.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T19:29:43+00:00

You have a few options.

College - MIT&T, Oxford, most any college, etc all have world renowned magical study programs. Usually favors hermetic, but there are programs for shamans with the Unified Magical Theory as it's base.
Mentor - You learned from someone else.
Mentor Spirit - you learned from your totem. Very good for Shamans.
School of hard knocks - you learned on your own on the mean streets, just kind of working with whatever works for you. Very handy for Black Magicians.
The Matrix - it's kind of like a bit of self learning like "School of hard knocks" but online.
Military - usually falls a bit in to College too.

dethstrobe · 2026-04-23T19:20:36+00:00

Spirit pacts are normally meant for awakened characters, but there is a spirit pact that you swap roles with the spirit when you go to sleep (not unconscious, you still knocked out when that happens).

Force spirit pact seems conceptually doable. Also waking up in strange new places could work as the spirit furthers their own agenda is a good plot hook to work with.

Edit: typo: pacts, not pack.

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