Any idea how many unofficially recognized gangs ? There must be hundreds of them .
No clue.
But I'd venture to guess one per neighborhood.
Neighborhood being defined as an area with X socio-economic-ethnic status, so there are multiple 'neighborhoods' in each borough.
Always had a bit of a problem with Rippers.
Scratchers = No problem, they replace your fingernails.
Wolvers = Only issue here is they'd "sheathe" along your forearm, and when used they'd have to lock your wrist in place.
Rippers?
They must "sheathe" in the back of the hand, thus probably extend between or across/thru the knuckles not the fingertips. Beacuse if they were 3 inch and extended thru the fingertips that means you'd have no finger joints, and that's a "bit" of a problem.
Scratchers = No problem, they replace your fingernails.
Wolvers = Only issue here is they'd "sheathe" along your forearm, and when used they'd have to lock your wrist in place.
Rippers?
They must "sheathe" in the back of the hand, thus probably extend between or across/thru the knuckles not the fingertips. Beacuse if they were 3 inch and extended thru the fingertips that means you'd have no finger joints, and that's a "bit" of a problem.
The following is not R. Talsorian Games official. Just something I made up to address the same concern:
In my old games, they were a flexible metal filled with a liquid solution. An electric current from a small battery in the fingertip caused the solution to turn solid once the rippers extended. A second current would convert it back into a liquid before the rippers retracted.
One of my players, with a techie character, made clever use of this by hitting the hands of a ganger martial artist who was tearing through the party with her rippers with a small electric jolt using a baton, a phone battery, and the Jury Rig Skill. The rippers went limp and the fight turned in the PCs favor.
Maybe, thats one thing I think Cyberpunk is great because it comes outside of the game industry, he obviously wasnt thinking game industry when creating Cyberpunk. Just needs to hope CDPR takes full advantage of it, not just do what game industry does. Wolvers and BigKnucks sounds like game industry but Slce and Dice doesnt.
Don't even need to poison it.
She/he kisses you, it fires into your mouth and rips out your cerebellum. Double damage for head hit, armor obviously doesn't help and I can't recall if BTM counts to reduce damage? I'd typically say no, because more muscles and better cardio isn't going to help when a cybersnake burrows into your brain from your palate.
@JGrayatRTalsorian thoughts on BTM vs cybersnake damage?
Well sure but that would leave a lot of forensic evidence that someone was assassinated.
I'm talking like stealth assassination. Let's say your hired by a corporate agent to kill his boss, cause he wants that position. If his boss was assassinated, he'd be prime suspect #1.
But if his boss had a heart attack or an aneurysm caused by a hard-to-detect and very rare poison, it would keep a lot of the attention away from the agent.
So would poison.
If someone dies for no apparent reason after they eliminate a brain aneurysm/hemorrhage and heart attack a toxicology scan is next on the list. And ALL poisons leave traces.
I'd say it does help, actually. BTM doesn't just represent how strong your bones are or how tough your skin it. Its also how tough you are and if you're able to keep operating even in a "there's a bullet in my brain" situation. That being said, I don't think it would help enough to mitigate the damage.
Poisoned lipstick would be easier. Cybersnakes leave a LOT of forensive evidence. They aren't subtle.