[SR] Shadowbeating

[LibraryOgre]

So, I was considering things last night, and wondered...

How common would trolls be in the NBA? Obviously, with the Portland Lords, there's going to be a lot of elves, but what about trolls? I can picture trolls more or less dominating the game, simply with their reach advantage... toss the ball across the court to a troll who can flat-footed dunk (since the basket is shoulder height to a tall troll)*.

It would be like a team made up of Shaquille O'Neal.


*Is it bad that I know off the top of my head the height and weight of the average troll, but have to look up the height of a basketball hoop?

[The Glyphstone]

They might be banned from the NBA on those exact grounds, or shunted into an alternative Troll Basketball League.

[LibraryOgre]

They might be banned from the NBA on those exact grounds, or shunted into an alternative Troll Basketball League.

Shadowbeat wasn't clear on that. I know that trolls play in the NFL, and orks have been in the MLB for a while (mentioned as a historical note), but there wasn't anything said about trolls (or orks) in the NBA.

[The Glyphstone]

Huh. Well, if they're allowed in the NFL despite their mass and weight, maybe they're allowed in the NBA despite their height. Leaves you to wonder why anyone bothers with human players in either sport.

[LibraryOgre]

Huh. Well, if they're allowed in the NFL despite their mass and weight, maybe they're allowed in the NBA despite their height. Leaves you to wonder why anyone bothers with human players in either sport.

EVERYONE can get cyberware. ;-)

[The Glyphstone]

Isn't that like saying everyone can dope up with steroids in today's sports? Even in the Fourth (Fifth?) Age, either pro sports ban things like cyberware that gives an advantage on the playfield (smartlinks okay, wired reflexes no), or everyone has the things and it becomes something entirely unrecognizable compared to what we would call 'basketball' or 'football'. If a turn is two seconds of realtime, and enough initiative passes means someone is acting three or four times per turn, they'll literally be from one end of the court to the other in the blink of an eye.

[TheCountAlucard]

If a turn is two seconds of realtime...Actually three seconds of realtime.


they'll literally be from one end of the court to the other in the blink of an eye.Not quite; your IPs don't allow you to move further - you just react faster.

[The Glyphstone]

Actually three seconds of realtime.


My bad.


Not quite; your IPs don't allow you to move further - you just react faster.

Oh - I thought they worked like built-in White Raven Tactics items, giving you multiple 'turns' in the same 3-second span when mundanes only got one.

[Anderlith]

With all the meta-hate that is supposed to be going on in the Shadowrun world, I bet trolls are banned from normal NBA games, but I think that they would be getting there own League NTA (National Trollball Acc.) or something similar, cause lets face it, who wouldn't want to see that?

[comicshorse]

I think its mentioned that players are allowed a set amount of cyberware. Its the team's choice how they take it ( reflexes, muscles, extra body, cyber-limbs, etc)

[TheCountAlucard]

Oh - I thought they worked like built-in White Raven Tactics items, giving you multiple 'turns' in the same 3-second span when mundanes only got one.Well, they do, but you're still moving at the same speed. Get what I mean?

Let's say you're an ordinary schlub, running and gunning. You move once and shoot once.

Now, you have Wired Reflexes 3, for 4 IPs. You still move once, but now your reflexes are good enough that you can fire off four shots while running.

[The Glyphstone]

Well, they do, but you're still moving at the same speed. Get what I mean?

Let's say you're an ordinary schlub, running and gunning. You move once and shoot once.

Now, you have Wired Reflexes 3, for 4 IPs. You still move once, but now your reflexes are good enough that you can fire off four shots while running.

Okay, so it's not like D&D, where you could move once and shoot four times, or spend all four of your actions on movement - your movement in a turn is independent of how many actions you can take in that turn.

[John Campbell]

Sprawl Survival Guide goes a fair bit into professional sports in the Sixth World. Apparently the CAS Supreme Court ruled that metas couldn't be excluded from playing, under, presumably, equal protection clause, and the various North American leagues have taken that as universal precedent - though some leagues elsewhere do exclude metahumans.

Stickball allows sasquatches, too.

Shadowtalk indicates that teams have tended to mutally and unofficially agree to keep meta recruitment low, whether from racism or sportsmanship concerns, but that that's giving way to desire to win and the obvious advantages some metatypes have.

Sorcery is allowed only in stickball and urban brawl, and has some restrictions on usage there. Some sports allow physical adepts; some don't. Most sports allow limited cyber/bio-enhancement, the notable exceptions being soccer, stickball, and NASCAR. The NFL NAFL has increased the size of the field by about 50% to accomodate enhanced players.

There's been a general loosening of foul/fighting rules in most sports - consumers want to see blood, and the corps are willing to give it to them. A lot of the new sports are pretty much just fights with some trimmings added. Courtball includes bonus human sacrifice!

[LibraryOgre]

As the thread name hints, I'm taking most of my info from Shadowbeat, the best NERPS supplement ever, except for maybe NeoAnarchist's Guide to Real Life.

Metas:
*MLB (now the North American League): Elves are big (it's baseball that has the Portland Lords, my mistake). Orks are mentioned. No word about trolls or dwarves. According the the "Magic and Metahumans in Pro Sports" section, there are maybe a dozen metas in pro baseball, aside from the Portland Lords, which is almost all elf.
*NBA (now the NABA): 24 elves in the NABA. No mention of any other metatype.
*NFL (Now the UCAS and Freedom Leagues): 78 orks or trolls in the whole league.


Cyber:
MLB: Up to 3 points of cyber.
NBA: No more than Wired 1 or Boosted 2; "smartball" technology is allowed. No specified maximum, but you can't completely replace a limb, or alter height or reach.
NFL: Pretty much anything goes, except for completely cybered limbs or real weapons (i.e. you can't pack a cybergun or spurs, but you can have bone lacing). No limit on essence; radio implants and smartball is explicitly OK.

Really want to see a group of trolls play basketball.

[Dimers]

MLB (now the North American League): Elves are big (it's baseball that has the Portland Lords, my mistake). Orks are mentioned. No word about trolls or dwarves.

That's odd; dwarves should really crank up the difficulty for pitchers, given their itty-bitty strike zone.

[TheCountAlucard]

That's odd; dwarves should really crank up the difficulty for pitchers, given their itty-bitty strike zone.Yeah, but in return, they don't run as fast. And you can mitigate that difficulty partway with a smartball program for your cybereyes and such.

In fact, with that in mind, most pitchers are probably going to have a much lower amount of walks and such.

[LibraryOgre]

Yeah, but in return, they don't run as fast. And you can mitigate that difficulty partway with a smartball program for your cybereyes and such.

On the other hand: Dwarven catchers make a lot of sense

[Hawriel]

Okay, so it's not like D&D, where you could move once and shoot four times, or spend all four of your actions on movement - your movement in a turn is independent of how many actions you can take in that turn.

Shadowrun combat rounds have some stretch to them. I hope I remember this right its been awile. I think this is how it worked in 2nd/3rd ed. Dont know about 4th.

Depending on how many actions characters. How many characters or effects are going on. Or Tasks being performed a combat round can be several seconds more than the average time given in the rules. Basicly SR understands that some things cant actualy happen in a set round. So a little elasticity was put in. A highly cromed out street sam may get 4 actions but what he does may need more time for plausablity. !0, 20, or even 30 seconds can be added in needed. However it really only matters if time needs to be kepted track of. Other wise it's not that important.

Michael Stackpole has one shadowrun novel. A callection of short serial short stories invalving the same characters. One of the stories invalved a baseball player for the seattle "Sea Dogs". There was cyber used by the players, such as reflex and wired. The big one was knowsoft. Most players would jack in a knowsoft with the statistal abilities of historical players. Such as Babe Ruth, or Willie Mase. The chips where programed with different points in carear as well. So you could get a young King Griffy Jr. play against an old Regy Jackson. Only one personality, or period in history of that personality was allowed in the League at a time. Of corse many playeres did not use the knowsoft .

Last year my friends and I played a published adenture from the old FASA days that had a uban brall game in it. Basicly the runners joined the team. Magic (non phys ad) was not allowed in UB games. The same with a combat biker games from another published adventure. The leages went so far as having good spirit cover to make sure peaple complied.

[Leon]

Troll only courts where the hoop is much further up