So, does anyone use therapy?

[prototyper]

So, does anyone use therapy?

Hiya Deviants,


So, back when I was playing and/or running CP2020 (*sniff, SO LONG Ago *sniff*) players would treat EMP as a big old one-time use bucket to buy cyberware against, despite there being rules for therapy right in the book (and looked at me funny when I pointed it out). So, I was wondering, did anyone out there actually engage in voluntary cyber-therapy and actually USE the various therapy rules in the book? I know punks are busy, but an hour on the couch once a week with Dr. Hardnerve seems like a doable thing for a 2 humanity point return. So, punks, didja keep yer head on straight .... didja?

 

[Tramp-Graphics]

I haven't really needed too. Most of my characters that do have cyberware, is relatively minimal. One has a pair of cyber-eyes, one has a cyber-hand, another has one cyber-arm and a mask, and the last has two cyber-arms with no enhancements. and all of them have minimal Humanity loss. My other characters are completely cyber-free.

 

[Suhiira]

I've never personally run a character that had that much cyberware. Never had more then two Humanity loss, and I built my characters with one more point in Humanity then I wanted assuming I was going to lose a point.

However our GM did use it, and one character in particular NEEDED all the help he could get, he was close to a full borg conversion by the time the campaign petered out. I seem to recall he had one Humanity if he missed a session. The player did a pretty good job of playing a very cold-blooded anti-social character who had limited trust even in long-term teammates. Of course his team name/call sign, "Chains", might have been a hint ...

 

[Sardukhar]

We had a couple players over the years try it. Not typically voluntarily. I think I had a character go in for a full rebuild once...

Usually people that need it, don't get it. They go down hard instead.

 

[guidokpd]

I have had a few players go to therapy. In typical player fashion the character that went the most did not want to pay what the specialists charged. He decided to go to couples therapy instead and talked one of the other characters into posing as his wife. He never got any humanity back but they did get closer as a couple. They avoided the questions about sex.

Like most things we did not use the rules in the book. If I remember right, in the book they begin by removing all the characters cyberware.

 

[prototyper]

I think that is what most of my players thought. However, on page 74, it mentions seeing a cybershrink once a week and getting back 2 HC a week til you get your starting EMP back. Page 76 is where they talk about the much more drastic version that you mention, where you get 2 whole EMP back a week until you are back to starting EMP. I showed it to them, but I guess they kept confusing the two... Whatcha gonna do?

 

[Suhiira]

To clarify, our GM ran therapy as a continual thing IF you kept your cyberware. Yeah you got a couple humanity back, as long as you continued your weekly sessions.

 

[eraser7278]

If I remember right, in the book they begin by removing all the characters cyberware.

there's actually 3 instances where rules for therapy are brought up. your recollection refers to the one in the main book, pertaining to instances where c-swat will drag a cyber psycho in kicking and screaming to get "therapy"...which involves ripping out all the cyber not directly relating to life support.

the second one provided is in chrome 2, with a multi layered system giving better results for increasingly more invasive types of therapy. seeing a shrink once a week means you can eventually get back 25%, checking into a rehab like clinic gets you back 33%, and ICT where a team of psychologists jack in and "rewire" your brain into one that doesn't crave the taste of deep fried babies... that'll get you back 50%.

then there's the third option, the fabled Scandinavian clinics. rather expensive, but allowing you to walk out of the clinic nearly as sane as you were before the dragoon conversion :robo:

as for myself, i've made use of them in the past but always as a pre game occurrence, or something that happened when a character was "out of commission."
one does have to wonder though... what effect should honesty during the process play? is the average edgerunner going to open up about all the dangerous, illegal and plain old fucked up things they have done in their career? if they hold back during sessions, should they get less or no benefit from them? are there still HIPPA shield laws in place to stop the therapists records becoming evidence? hell, is Dr./Patient privilege even still a thing?

it could be a little inconvenient to get some therapy done to offset some new cyber, and then years later have session notes show up at your trial recounting the time you used your wolvers to skin a man alive :detective:

 

[Suhiira]

Ahhhh ... session notes are wonderful things.
I keep a few relevant to character when playing, and a few more for a group when GMing.
One of the guys I frequently play with is a note taking fanatic. He keeps a cross-indexed file of notes and a calender of not only significant (and semi-significant) events in the campaign but the weather.
In the Harn campaign I've been continuously running since about 1984 (yes, same campaign for 30 years) I often build on previous events or drop hints about things that won't become significant for years. It's always amusing when half way thru a session he comes up with something that happened or I said 15 years ago that's relevant. Of course he's just as often wrong. More then once I'm improvised a connection to something he's brought up that I didn't originally plan for (of course I NEVER let my players know this) and that's part of the reason the campaign has lasted so long.

 

[guidokpd]

Ah, yes. It has been a long time since I have read the books. We play our modified version. House ruled that the cheapest therapy was 1000 euro per session. The characters get one HL back per session up to the max they started with. This is only for skills. Getting therapy does not let the characters ware in excess of their original humanity.

One of my characters did get a lot of therapy. It was during a break. We skipped forward 5 years during a game and the GM had us write out what we did during those years.

I do think that therapy would be hindered by the fact that Edgerunners would not want to tell the whole truth.

A 30 year campaign? Nice! Have you had the same characters for that long?

 

[Suhiira]

A 30 year campaign? Nice! Have you had the same characters for that long?

About 75% original characters.
In most cases the player wanted to try something different after a while. But a couple were "death to stupidity". I'll usually allow a miraculous event of some sort to save a character from a "bad luck" death. But if they have ample warning and still insist on doing something ... well ... in those cases they earned what they got.

 

[blank_redge]

Interesting question.

While I would allow people to use the various therapy rules, none of my players have elected to do so yet. Most of 'em haven't been able to afford any big-ticket purchases, and most of 'em haven't opted for the 10,000 bonus eb for cyberware (the one that comes with a fun to-be-determined catch.)

We do have a few heavily augmented characters, but they're mob hitmen, so they don't particularly need a high EMP rating.

 

[weregeld]

This has come up in my game. Cybernetics being the fastest way back into action following a major injury (or insult depending on my mood) several PCs in my game are dependent on having a high empathy to be effective. I play therapy as half psychological treatment half physical tharapy. One of the few good things to come out of the robocop remake was a scene early on of a vet learning to use his cyberarms. I also make it risky because a Cyber therapist is required by law to report Illegal cyberware or surgeries.

 

[Frankensteel]

I used therapy for a female solo once, a near psychopath ganger with wolfers called Blondie who wanted redemption/sanity after a few "anger management" issues.

First, you have to be rich to pay the bills (It was the case, thanks to a big money extraction job) then you must tell all your dirty little secrets to a stranger (Your traumatic gang initiation and rape, plus others unpleasant things likes murders and assault), not easy when your are a paranoid boosterganger with lot of skeletton in the closet. :secret:

So, Blondie gives up her therapy and extracted her wolfers for more subtle (and managable) cyberwear, too bad her doctor was shot to death in a drive by never solved by police. (Hush hush, don't tell ! Kiss it bang-bang) End of the story.:angel: