So I have an associate who's been kicking around ideas for player characters with me. I'll give you one he came up with, and ask the community how they think it'd be possible to deploy this in a reasonable fashion in the game: The PC in question is a former intelligence officer from whatever we're calling Russia in this game. He's fully cyberized like the Major, with a body that looks at least two decades younger than his brain's actual age, but unlike her the people who built his new body didn't have consistent access to top-of-the-line components, and as a result his body doesn't have quite the same level of physical superiority -- in fact it gives him a few problems similar to a human body about his real age. It was Aramaki, just before the creation of Section 9, who convinced him to defect on the promise of obtaining upgrades for him, one part at a time; having faked his death, he now deploys his skills in surveillance, wiretapping, and close-quarters gun combat for the Ministry for Home Affairs. So what would you recommend for implementing this? I think it's interesting enough that I'd let his creator try it -- the defective cyborg body seems like a way of keeping him from physically outshining the rest of his team. (His creator also decided he's going to have the Addiction setback -- after he realized his new body wasn't susceptible to cancer or lung disease, he rapidly became a chain smoker.)

I just wanted to share my experience GMing Lost Patriot and my players' feedback. First, our progress has been slow as we have been stopping to discuss and really learn the rules/mechanics. We've had two full sessions and are just starting part 3 (the players have learned of Lloyd-Cook's kidnapping and have found the boat, but we ended the session before getting stuck into the action scene because it was getting a bit late). The characters are Niet - a foreigner (Irish) who's reason for joining Section 9 is a mystery. He's an explosives expert and the teams "tank". Kenjiro - a former spy who worked undercover in the US before his cover was blown on mission. He made enemies and has joined section 9 in hopes of keeping a low profile and putting his skills to use. Hiro Osaki - a former yakuza who got his spine broken in a job gone bad. While in prison he was offered a cybernetic replacement and a pardon if he joined Section 9. The simulation - They handled it well, Kenjiro snuck in through the lobby to access the building's cameras, Hiro used a grapnel to climb the side of the building and repel into the apartment, Niet used a grapnel to swing from the building across the street, flash banged the whole room, including the hostage (Batou docked their performance score for that). They then systematically took out each terrorist and succeeded pretty handily. Syke - Kenjiro went to the local PD to see what they know and learned about the influx of weapons in the entertainment district. Hiro and Niet went to see one of Hiro's old underworld contacts, got into a small scrap with a Blue Eyes gang member, and learned about Syke. They then inflitrated the flat. Hiro snuck up the fire escape to get a view of Syke inside the flat, Niet went into the bar on the ground floor to watch the door so Syke couldn't run out while Kenjiro went up the main stairs to confront Syke. Kenjiro (with an exploding Presence die) convinced Syke to let him into the flat. Syke drew a gun from under a table before opening the door (Hiro noticed from outside and warned Kenjiro). Niet noticed the Blue Eyes gang members roll up and the team assumed that they were there to help Syke. Taking the initiative, Hiro decides to shoot Syke and injures his gun arm. Syke screams and the gangers rush the stairs/door to the flat. Niet follows behind. The lead ganger draws a hand canon and points it at Syke. Hiro leaps in an stun batons Syke. Kenjiro tries to calm the situation causing Syke to offer to talk if they don't let the gangers get him. Firefight happens, we spend time deconstructing the differences between dodge and dive for cover. Hiro ends up shooting out (destroying) one ganger's right leg. Kenjiro shoots out another ganger's right leg. The third ganger who was in a knife fight with Niet decides to retreat. Hiro chases him down and shoots out his right leg. They take Syke back to HQ for interrogation, learn all that there is to learn, infect him with interceptor nanites and make him call Lost Patriot with a bogus story about Syke having a group of nationalist paramilitary who need weapons. Lost Patriot calls Syke back, says he wants to help but has more pressing matters right now. Kenjiro, who is monitoring the nanites notices the boat clue. Then the emergency meeting about Lloyd-Cook's kidnapping and a bit of RP to find his location and that's where we are as of today. Things the players noted: They love the mission maps. They are clear enough to know where things are without the ambiguity of vaguer implementations of "zone based combat" without the strict restrictions of full on grid based battle maps. They also noted that they would be very easy for a GM to make on the fly. It took a while to figure out the value of different defensive options. Not that the rules are unclear, just that they brought some assumptions (like Dive for Cover was assumed to also be a dodge, even though there is nothing that says that) and we had to reread and discuss the dodge and dive for cover rules a couple times before they clicked. In the first session, they were kind of cold on the 3-point Ghost Whisper effect, but once they realized that to dodge most gunshots they would need at least an 8, often more, they quickly admitted the value and two people burned 3 GW to avoid taking bullets. They like the Requisition system as a means of choosing specific gear for their mission (they spent about 30 minutes discussing and planning their load outs for the rescue mission), but they are feeling how much they have to sacrifice when they want a specific, high cost item (in this case Therm-optic camouflage). Niet's player was bummed out when he asked if he could bring a fuchikoma and I said "no". Overall I'm enjoying GMing it and the group is enjoying playing it.

A guide for creating special skills. One thing I think Mantic could do for *Ghost in the Shell* players is create a guide for developing special skills to serve as a reference. Such a guide would allow Game Masters and players to create skills accordingly while ensuring balance and preventing the game from breaking—especially since special skills function more like advantages than innate or learned abilities.

Came up in a game tonight - what is 'superior' about this over just a wired connection? Thoughts were it might stop the danger of being hacked back on a failure. Cheers