Topic: Special Case: Cyberwear that's supposed to be removed occassionally

[Zhaleskra]

As you probably know, I'm working on an interpretation of Garrett from the Thief video games, and I'm dipping into SF and Xtreme for his mechanical eye. One of the cutscenes in Metal Age clearly shows his eye removed for maintenance, most likely lubrication based on the running liquid(s) in the scene. Granted, this being Thief, the eye is probably part magic part tech.

So I'm just wondering what kind of ruling I should use if a character has a cyberpart that has to be removed occasionally for upkeep? Thank you.

[jdale]

How often? What are the penalties for not doing so? Is this a real limitation that will sometimes hamper the character, or just a roleplaying thing that establishes what it's like to have cybernetics and reminds the players that there is something different about their character?

If it's a real limitation it would make sense to reduce the cost, based on your estimate of what proportion of the time penalties would apply, how severe they are (does it get a sense penalty, lose some capabilities, shut off entirely?), and how much trouble it is to prevent them.

[markc]

 I agree with JDale but woudl also through in how much $ it costs for the upkeep.
MDC

[providence13]

Having a lazy cyber/magic eye would be annoying. 
Not familiar with Harp, but you have a cool idea.

Easy ruling is to have it require maintenance for a duration of use. Needs to be lubed, tweaked and tuned 1/wk, month, whatever. Harder ruling would be -5/week.. etc (in whatever skill it affects) until maintained.

If you're into tracking these things, give it a penalty for every failed roll involving that cyber part. -5/ failed Observation (if that's a skill used in the game).

The PC game was very malleable for you to customize the code. I had shrunk the annoying compass  in the last game to 1/3 the size and removed the graininess to his eye while zooming. (Also reduced that annoying billowing fog between panels.) I remember other people liked the grainy, snowy image and some changed the color of zoom images to look IR.

It would be fun to have a list of malfunctions that can occur if the cyber part isn't kept in tune. Cyberspace had some good rules for this, IIRC.
Color off
Grainy image
Zoom malfunction
Compass off by X degrees
Eye locked in position

[Zhaleskra]

Here's how I built the magitek eye so far
Features

• Peripheral Vision
• Telescopic Focus

Drawbacks

• No Antiglare (thus why Garrett has to look away when he uses a Flash Bomb)
• Requires routine maintenance

Just need to decide on time frame. Thank you for your answers.