Bionetics & Bioware in Shadowtech for Shadowrun (1st Edition). Respiratory System, plus the Drekpostings of The Smiling Bandit.
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM JOKE *airhorn sounds thrice*
This increases your lung capacity by augmenting your diaphragm to more effectively stretch the lung tissue and allow for more fresh oxygen intake with every breath – the game effect is that you can hold your breath longer.
I cannot remember, in any role-playing game I’ve every played for the past 30+ years, of a situation where the actual number of seconds my character could hold their breath was relevant.
Maybe this was different for you. In which case, sure, why not, get bigger lungs.
One of the aspects of the one-item-per-page format of the 1st Edition sourcebooks was that it left space for the inclusion of in-world commentary from shadowrunning NPCs, much in the same way you might today go onto Amazon to complain about the quality of vacuum cleaner filter you just purchased.
If you’re not using the Bissell 55HE01, why do you insist on living like a disgusting filthy pig?
And while I’ve refrained from including examples of these in my posts, the following series are particularly memorable. It begins in this section about the Extended Volume bioware:
The Smiling Bandit is a decker who makes their first appearance in Shadowtech and pops up a couple more times in later editions. His target, Wolfman, it’s not seen again, and I can only assume he named himself in honor of Wolfman Jack.
This is a risky piece of bioware, to say the least – in that it introduces organs into your body that produce and allow you exhale an aerosol delivery of a toxin (not a disease!). Neuro-Stun VIII is the only toxin in the 1st Edition corebook with gas as a vector – and admittedly, this is a good choice, because you literally can knock people out with your breath.
I’ll save the obvious jokes for The Smiling Bandit to make.
Shadowtech introduces a few more later in the book:
Adrenocorticosteroid Hormone (ACTH) – turns on someone’s adrenal pump, though why you’d want to do this with a toxin exhale, who knows. Included for completeness.
Cyanide – umm, yeah, that stuff. You’ve heard of it.
Hyper – a direct neural stimulator that dials up your senses to 11, to the point where a light tap on the shoulder is painful.
“To prevent accidental injury from the internalized toxin, the character is also partially ‘immunized’ against the toxin.”
Leaving aside the fact that ACTH is a naturally occurring hormone in the human body, why isn’t this partial immunization offered on its own?
Oh wait, it is, later in the Genetics section.
Regardless, you can couple this with a Toxin Extractor from a few pages, back, or invest in the next piece of bioware...
But first, take it away, Bandit!
As with the neural bioware, saving the best for last. The tracheal filter protects the character from particulate matter (smoke, pollen, dust) as well as reduces the damage code of an airborne toxin attack.
Such as from the Wolfman.
