Time Travel - to equip or not?

[jacobmuller]

Background
I've a group who've professed the desire to Shadowrun but also to Time-Travel.
Shadowrun being cinematic leaves me options for weird science.
I plan on handling the TT as creation of duplicates at target. The originals are left in a coma until the dupes die. If dupes die in less than HT hours, it's a light coma (fright check table result 28); exceed HT and it's result 29.
Dupes will be Fragile-Explosive but the explosion is gore ala Dr Manhattan from Watchmen, that rapidly becomes Joss Whedon vampire death (pixie dust and vanish). Fright Checks all around.

Problem
Equipment: do they get to take it with them or not?
Options
1: no way to create at target - do it Kyle-Rease;
2: yes, it goes, but it's made of pixie dust, cue HT checks for firing guns and parrying weapons;
3: if it goes it stays - no way am I allowing that;
4: if it goes and is perfect, how does it come back when the dupe dies? Just handwave it because otherwise it's too Terminatory?

Magic won't work prior to the event. Tempted to ban non-humans for similar reasons but more tempted to just surprise the player by giving him his dupe minus racial template... Wardrobe malfunction if equipment allowed LOL

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

Problem
Equipment: do they get to take it with them or not?
Options
1: no way to create at target - do it Kyle-Rease;
2: yes, it goes, but it's made of pixie dust, cue HT checks for firing guns and parrying weapons;
3: if it goes it stays - no way am I allowing that;
4: if it goes and is perfect, how does it come back when the dupe dies? Just handwave it because otherwise it's too Terminatory?

You could let them bring anything swallowed, like 12 MONKEYS.

You could let them home in on similar stuff - so the dupe forms grasping one of whatever the original was holding. That might combine with the way the dupes are "aimed". If everyone grabs the frame of a Caprice Classic, they materialize clutching a Caprice Classic - maybe a used car if they go forward, maybe a cop car if they go back to when it was new.

[sn0wball]

No equipment will also mean no clothing - which is funny a few times, but might become boring after some time. If I recall correctly, Magic spells usually allow clothing and everything carried on body, that is, in pockets and so on. This doesn´t make that much sense, but isn´t bad from a meta gaming point of view.

Or there could be a weight limit for the equipment carried, like, a certain small amount is riskless, but exceeding it carries the risk that some or all peaces do not arrive intact or not at all.

[Flyndaran]

Equipment that they have an emotional attachment to follows them. It's what allows them to take their upper layers of dead skin and hair along. As well as clothing unless they were nudists.

[sn0wball]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Equipment that they have an emotional attachment to follows them. It's what allows them to take their upper layers of dead skin and hair along. As well as clothing unless they were nudists.

I can already hear the Street Samurai lamenting about his deep, emotional attachment to his Panther Assault Gun ... ;)

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sn0wball

I can already hear the Street Samurai lamenting about his deep, emotional attachment to his Panther Assault Gun ... ;)

That's why our gurps-y lords invented signature gear and the GM backhand for argumentative players. :)

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

You could let them bring anything swallowed, like 12 MONKEYS.

LOL that'd be like the nudity problem - funny the first few times: I Can take my pistol - but only in pieces and shoved Where?

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

You could let them home in on similar stuff - so the dupe forms grasping one of whatever the original was holding. That might combine with the way the dupes are "aimed". If everyone grabs the frame of a Caprice Classic, they materialize clutching a Caprice Classic - maybe a used car if they go forward, maybe a cop car if they go back to when it was new.

That could be Really nice - go in holding an assault rifle and wearing body armour and armoured trench coat - arrive holding crossbow and wearing mail and a leather cloak... Beats the nudity problem and kills Many paradoxes. Might even alter the dupe brains so TL based skills are edited... Totally unrealistic but this is a cinematic cyberpunk fantasy time-travel gig. Any players complaining can force a reality check on their dupe - who'll then explode into pixie dust.

As for weapon bond - I'll save that idea for a "realistic" SF game. Meanwhile the Street Samurai's dupe can have a bond with his semi-auto-crossbow. Or chariot mounted scorpion...

[sn0wball]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

That could be Really nice - go in holding an assault rifle and wearing body armour and armoured trench coat - arrive holding crossbow and wearing mail and a leather cloak... Beats the nudity problem and kills Many paradoxes. Might even alter the dupe brains so TL based skills are edited... Totally unrealistic but this is a cinematic cyberpunk fantasy time-travel gig. Any players complaining can force a reality check on their dupe - who'll then explode into pixie dust.

What about Skills ? Will the dupes skills also adapt ? Given GURPS granularity in weapons skills all that Low-Tech hardware will be pretty useless in the hand of a High Tech warrior. That leads to the next question - will the PCs know beforehand whether their assualt rilfe turns into a Bow or a Crossbow ?

Why not adapt an idea from GURPS Time Travel - only period gear appears ? This can apply to everything from clothing to weapons. There were actually rules about the chances of a successful transition of the gear - it was best for actual historical pieces, worse for replicas from old material, still worse for modern replicas.

By the way, what about cyberware ?