Physics, Cat Girls, Shadowrun

[Xuincherguixe]

So I was lurking in the Dumpshock forums (a good place to lurk for Shadowrun information) and a question comes up about the movement power.

Can it increase an objects speed past that of light. This got me thinking. Shadowrun is a world in which real world physics most certainly do apply. So. There also exist cat girls in Shadowrun.

Did any of them die? Is that really fair because this is the kind of game where questions about magic and physics collide with each other all the time?

Should I add to the gaming thread, "When you try to apply real world physics to Shadowrun, the state of the cat girl cannot be determined to be dead or alive until it is observed" ?

[Rasumichin]

Shadowrun is a world in which real world physics most certainly do apply.

Unless the rules say otherwise.
Like, when you use a bow that does more damage than an AVM or your adept is able to run faster than mach 1 (both examples are SR3, but still), which should be impossible when you apply real-world material sciences resp. biology.

Or when they have anything to do with balistics.

Just because the game takes place on an alternative earth (the timelines begin diverting in the late 1990s) doesn't mean real world physics apply just as we know them.

It's a game, after all.
The only reliable laws of physics we have are the game rules.

So. There also exist cat girls in Shadowrun.

They certainly do. In fact, they are given as examples for extreme cosmetic surgery in the SR4 core rules.

Did any of them die?

Most likely.

Is that really fair because this is the kind of game where questions about magic and physics collide with each other all the time?

The awakening screwed over a bunch of assumptions about physics, taxonomy and stuff (six-limbed vertebrates, viruses that change your species and so on), but catgirls don't die from in-game discussion.
You have to do this outside of the game.

Still, this happens so often that you need to produce new catgirls with abovementioned surgical methods.

Should I add to the gaming thread, "When you try to apply real world physics to Shadowrun, the state of the cat girl cannot be determined to be dead or alive until it is observed" ?

Certainly.

[Citizen Joe]

I think that the movement power was USUALLY limited to spirits. As such I don't think they can maintain it outside their presence. To me, that seems to limit the maximum speed to the fast speed of Astral travel. Which I think is pretty fast, but I don't recall exact numbers.

[Kurald Galain]

Well, if you increase an object's velocity past light speed and aim it in the general direction of said catgirls...

[Rasumichin]

I think that the movement power was USUALLY limited to spirits. As such I don't think they can maintain it outside their presence. To me, that seems to limit the maximum speed to the fast speed of Astral travel. Which I think is pretty fast, but I don't recall exact numbers.

Fast astral travel has a speed of about 6000 km/h.
Multiplied with a sufficiently high magic attribute, this can lead to enormous speeds, but will certainly still be slower than the speed of light.

Therefore, catgirl-violating discussions should be unnecessary.

Edit : unless otherwise noted in a critter's description, the movement power can be maintained within LOS.

[Xuincherguixe]

Well, if you increase an object's velocity past light speed and aim it in the general direction of said catgirls...

The particular power in question seems to not actually increase the amount of damage things do, according to one poster (in interestingly enough, a separate thread). So it would only deal regular damage to said cat girl.

It has been said that it's a time dilation affect so while you do actually reach a point faster, your velocity has not been increased.

But then, it's not like Catgirls are hard to kill in Shadowrun anyways.

[NotCC]

[QUOTE=Xuincherguixe;3039302]It has been said that it's a time dilation affect so while you do actually reach a point faster, your velocity has not been increased.QUOTE]

I would call this Teleportation, and since the byproduct of teleportation is randomly spawning catgirls I belive that the species is safe.

[Kurald Galain]

It has been said that it's a time dilation affect so while you do actually reach a point faster, your velocity has not been increased.

In regular physics, this is a contradiction in terms. Time dilation occurs because you're going faster.

[MrNexx]

Actually, I had an idea for Shadowrun that would've benefited from this.

Astral Gateway power. Bring a lot of goods into the gateway, then go to another point, where an astral gateway lets you out.

It's not teleportation, but it IS fast travel.

[HidaTsuzua]

Physics in Shadowrun has always been fun. I must admit I haven't seen the ability to exceed the speed of light, but I remember the huge spirit spaceship (which I always thought would have problems). At least your mass now factors in damage when you hit something.

[Roderick_BR]

Maybe the rules in Shadowrun causes something else to die.
I just played 2e once... =P

[horseboy]

Physics in Shadowrun has always been fun. I must admit I haven't seen the ability to exceed the speed of light, but I remember the huge spirit spaceship (which I always thought would have problems). At least your mass now factors in damage when you hit something.

What? No mage has ever survived a space shot. (At least not in 1st or 2nd. What those Philistines did to it....) How were they able to go up there and summon something?

[talsine]

What? No mage has ever survived a space shot. (At least not in 1st or 2nd. What those Philistines did to it....) How were they able to go up there and summon something?

a space station full of magicaly awakened plants providing a small, and reletivly weak, mana field. And mages don't die in space as long as they don't go astral, when they do that, their astral selves are ripped appart their bodies go into a coma.

And knowing is half the battle

[Recursive]

It gets more confusing when the catgirls discuss physics...

(queries his (mundane) cats on what effect that should have)

...apparently in that case, God kills the neighbor's small yappy dog.

[Tekraen]

a space station full of magicaly awakened plants providing a small, and reletivly weak, mana field. And mages don't die in space as long as they don't go astral, when they do that, their astral selves are ripped appart their bodies go into a coma.

And knowing is half the battle

If you're summoning something in the mana sink known as space, you'd better have:

A heck of a lot of mages;
A heck of a lot of blood sacrifices;
A heck of a lot of plants to provide a stronger mana field than could sustain a Force 1 Spirit.

Edit: As an aside, it turns out with the current SR4 ruleset (before they fix it) one can make a Galactus-class Blood Spirit. Destroyer of Worlds and all.

[Goober4473]

"When you try to apply real world physics to Shadowrun, the state of the cat girl cannot be determined to be dead or alive until it is observed"

Schrödinger's cat girl?

I love it.

[goat]

As an aside, it turns out with the current SR4 ruleset (before they fix it) one can make a Galactus-class Blood Spirit. Destroyer of Worlds and all.

Giant guy in purple suit, cloud of doom or anti-organic mechanoid swarm-thing?

[talsine]

Giant guy in purple suit, cloud of doom or anti-organic mechanoid swarm-thing?

wait, you mean Galactus has other forms? WTF!

(i try to pretend that the movie and Ultimate versions don't exist. Sure, they might make more sense, but they are way less cool, i mean, giant hat + purple pants = WIN!)

[MrNexx]

Giant guy in purple suit, cloud of doom or anti-organic mechanoid swarm-thing?

Mechanoids?

[HidaTsuzua]

What? No mage has ever survived a space shot. (At least not in 1st or 2nd. What those Philistines did to it....) How were they able to go up there and summon something?

Magic users can survive in space until they tried to do something magical. Going straight to space from the astral plane is more or less suicide as well. In Third Edition, space casting is possible if you were crazy good (Magic rating 10+ and luck). I believe it isn't as bad (still mana warp levels) on space stations. Starting PCs will still be killed, but very experienced ones might pull it off. I don't know how 4th does it.

As for the space ship ally spirit, you'll have to full it enough life energy to keep it going in space and/or make it extremely high power. The big advantage is the constant fuelless movement. That and humor value of having an ally spirit the size of a city block. I'll have to hunt down the thread though I doubt it's still around. Even if you couldn't reach space, you could still fly around in style.

[horseboy]

Magic users can survive in space until they tried to do something magical. Going straight to space from the astral plane is more or less suicide as well. In Third Edition, space casting is possible if you were crazy good (Magic rating 10+ and luck). I believe it isn't as bad (still mana warp levels) on space stations. Starting PCs will still be killed, but very experienced ones might pull it off. I don't know how 4th does it.

As for the space ship ally spirit, you'll have to full it enough life energy to keep it going in space and/or make it extremely high power. The big advantage is the constant fuelless movement. That and humor value of having an ally spirit the size of a city block. I'll have to hunt down the thread though I doubt it's still around. Even if you couldn't reach space, you could still fly around in style.

Ah, WizKids didn't know what they were doing, gottcha!