Mosca Syndrome

Yeah, it's a go, as far as I can tell.  I'm hoping to get it started this week, but don't have all the info on all three characters yet.

Eraser, a new version of Porter certainly works well for me.  It'll take place, say, a couple of weeks after the job in the original Streetlight Serenade game took place.

The other side of the coin is making (for example) weaponsmithing not a bonus that's given as a reward but a pre-requisite for having your handgun skill cranked up so high.  There would have to be some pretty bizarre circumstances for someone to get really good without having some knowledge of the workings of their equipment.  I mean, they might not be expert weaponsmiths, but they would have to have a couple of points at least for it to make sense.

Same thing with a race driver.  He's got to have some kind of knowledge of the principles of suspension adjustment or engine tuning to be able to tell his crew chief what they need to do to the car to make it perform better on a given track.

Please tell me nobody was taking that seriously...I mean, dual .25 automatics in earmuff holsters?  Izza joke, mon!

Oy.  Okay, if you want the real skinny, my preferred urban carry weapon is a small wooden farmhouse.  Mess with me and you're WWW (Wicked Witch o' the West), chum.  Now if anybody starts in on the relative stopping power of farmhouses vs. three-story walk-up brownstones...well...I just dunno, dear hearts, I just dunno.  My Uncle Fred packs a sawed-off shotgun shack and has never had a problem.

Of course, some poor drunk Scotsman visiting Houston was running around in people's backyards, banging on their doors, and making a general ass of himself some 10-15 years back.  He was just carousing, but one frightened homeowner, thinking he was a housebreaker, shot him through a glazed door with a .25 auto.  The result?  One bullet, one dead Scotsman, one very sad illustration of the difference between two distant places' ideas on what is "good clean fun."  Stuff happens.   Maybe you're a 6'6" brother in Chi-town, maybe you're a drunk Scotsman in Houston.  Who really wants to find out, given the choice?

Okay, that should do it.  email characters to:

Syndromeda@ev1.net (I have reactivated that address)

Okay.  There has been some PM concern that the basic book is doesn't have enough choices for armor.  Rather than open the door and allow the supplements to come charging in  , I'll toss up my own list of armored garments.  We should be able to come up with just about anything based on this.  These prices/SPs/Evs override whatever is in the basic book:

Heavy Leather

The SP is 4.  The biker's choice for over a century, it's mostly available in darker colors.  A good quality basic jacket will cost you 200 bucks.  A matching vest or set of pants will run you 150.  A trenchcoat is 400.

KVC

A fabric that combines the ballistic resistance of Kevlar, Spidersilk, and similar fabrics with the shiny, fetishy look of PVC.  Available in almost any color.  The SP is 8(sheer).  It's not cheap.  A shirt or jacket will run you 300, a vest or a pair of pants will set you back 200.  A trench or a form-fitted catsuit will run you a cool 650.  Considered "Urban Flash" at the very least.

Sheer Kevlar

Light fabric with good ballistic properties.  The SP is anywhere from 6-10(sheer)--no price difference, your choice of SPs for a given garment.  A shirt will run you 50, a pair of blue jeans lined with the stuff or a form-fitted catsuit will cost 150.  A skimask can be had for 30eb.

Armorhide

Light leather on the outside, but bonded  with sheer Kevlar, or one of the other usual suspects, for armor.  The SP is 12(sheer).  A jacket or a pair of pants costs 250eb.  A trench will set you back 650eb.

Light Kevlar

SP 14.  The heaviest thing you can wear and still be discreet.  The typical weight of standard-issue police body  armor.  Basic styles will cost you 200 for a jacket and 150 for a vest or pair of pants.  A SWAT-style entry balaclava will cost you an even 100eb.

Medium Kevlar

Anyone who cares will know that you're wearing armor.  The SP is 16.  The EV penalty is -1.  A basic jacket costs 300, whereas a vest or pair of pants costs 225.  No commercial manufacturers are offering this type of armor in anything but the most basic and functional styles.

ArmorTrench

The edgerunner's favorite cliché.  Big and heavy and obvious.  SP18, EV -2.  Costs 800 bucks and tells the whole world that you are either looking for trouble or already in it.  Considered "Urban Flash" to those in the know.

Heavy Kevlar

The big stuff.  Everyone knows you're armored up, and you don't care--you're just worried about stopping the bullets.  SP is 20, EV is -2.  A jacket will cost you 350 and a set of pants or vest will be 250.  It's also not very stylish overall.

Door Gunner's Vest

Hope you don't plan on moving around much.  Heavy, stiff vest with little room to move.  EV is -3.  The good news is that the SP is 30, meaning it'll stop almost anything short of an armor-piercing rifle slug.

Metal Gear

Heavy articulated hard armor designed to stop small arms fire while still allowing some freedom of movement.  A suit including a sealed and filtered helmet will set you back 1350eb.  Of course, you'll look like a dork if you walk around all day in this stuff, and draw a lot of unwanted attention.  But if the op is that dangerous, it may be just what you need.  SP is 25, EV is -2

Steel Helmet

Old-time combat pot.  Very Retro.  SP10.  30eb.

Nylon/Kevlar/Aramid Helmet

More modern military helmet.  SP20. 100eb.

Armored Motorcycle Helmet

Stylish lid for the two-wheeled set.  SP14.  400eb

This is by no means a definitive list, but is a thrown-together "available at the mall" compilation meant to provide more choice than what the basic book allows without having to say "yes" and "no" on an item-by-item basis to the things in the chromebooks.

Step Seven:  Gear Up.

Characters are going to have a total of $5000 starting cash to spend on gear and cyberware.  We are sticking to the basic book for both of them.

There are some things to keep in mind when buying gear.  A lot of this is system-oriented stuff that may affect your purchases.  Otherwise I wouldn't bother with posting it--too much worry about game mechanics will get in the way of the story.  You see, once we get this going I intend to be making the die rolls myself using your own character sheets as a guide and simply reporting what happens as it happens.  I'm going for a fairly "literary" game rather than one where there is open discussion about how things work and game mechanics--such a discussion could go on for a month in a forum like this, and that's time I'd rather spend roleplaying.  But likewise, it wouldn't be fair of me to tell you to buy things only to find out that it cripples your character concept.  So I'm going to give you an idea of how things are going to work so you can choose with a little knowledge.

GUNS:

1.  I'm gonna use Phipps' damage chart, the one he based on 3g3, as a basis for damage, with a couple of mods.

3.  Don't forget that certain guns are going to be illegal, and while they are all available to buy at the start of the game, they may be harder to find once it gets started.  

2.  At the start of the game there's just going to be two kinds of bullets available:

a.  Regular Bullet:  The standard bullet for that caliber.  The plain old bullet typically designed for use against people.  Hollowpoints, plain lead, jacket slugs, whatever.  They all fit into this category.  Simplicity is the key.  They do damage as the Phipps chart lists.

b.  Armor Piercing Bullet:  Bullet designed to penetrate armor at the expense of tissue damage.  The specific technology is unimportant to me.  Maybe it's teflon-coated, or depleted unobtanium, or whatever.  It's just designed to go through armor.  Their penetration rating is doubled on the Phipps chart (he does this with a more precisely calculated number--1.5 I think, but I wanted the AP bullets to be scarier and am willing to sacrifice a little realism for it) and the end damage to flesh is quartered after all is said and done.

Whacky bullets (exploders, incendiary, dual purpose, etc.) aren't really going to be common enough in this game to bicker over.  If you run into some, I'll give a description of what it's supposed to do and worry about the mechanics on my own…

Note that when ANY attack scores a hit (no matter how well the attack was rolled), I'm gonna roll a d10.  If it comes up a 1, the attack was a graze and can do a maximum of one point of damage.  If it's a 10 (0), the damage modifier is doubled (though penetration is unaffected).  Anything in between, the hit goes as normal.  This is just an added step of chaos in the system that removes some of the "guarantees" in a fight, both for PCs and Bad Guys.  

ARMOR:

There are regular Armors and there are Sheer armors.  Sheer armors include all skinweaves and any soft, thin armor that's sp10 or less.  Because they are so thin, they have certain limitations:

1.  They only convert projectile or edged weapon damage into a nonlethal "stun" damage.  Stun damage counts against stun saves and REF penalties but not death saves.  The first box of stun damage takes a minute to wear off.  Every consecutive box takes twice as long as the last.  If you take four points of stun damage, it will take four minutes to lose one, two minutes to lose the next, and one minute to lose the last.  A good night's sleep will wipe them all out.  

2.  They are not figured into the armor layering scheme below.  Sheer armors don't encumber you at all.

3.  Sheer armor can only stop so much damage.  If an attack strikes a sheer armor that has a penetration rating higher than the 1.5x the armor value, the sheer armor is ignored completely--the attack went through like a 20mm round through wallpaper.  

Example:

Wally thinks he's clever and puts on six layers of sp10 armored catsuits.  In addition to looking stupid, any bullet with a penetration rating of 15 or better is going to slice through all of them and he'll be no better off than if he'd been wearing plain old pajamas.

4.  In those cases where sheer armor is actually worn on top of non-sheer armor, the armor underneath is still useful for stopping that damage that has been converted to stun damage.  

5.  Sheer armor doesn't do JACK against impacts, like baseball bats, clubs, or fists.  It's just too thin to be any help.

Regular Armor SPs are just added up to determine the total SP vs. the attack.  However, I hate the Pillsbury Doughboy and have a set of Draconian EV penalties depending on how much regular armor you try to layer.  Armor isn't made to be layered, and when you wear more than one layer of armor you're basically just asking for it.  

total SP additional EV

20-23     -2

24-27     -4

28-31     -6

32-35     -8

36+        -10

These penalties apply to your REF and MA and are IN ADDITION TO the EV penalties of whatever garments you might be wearing.  If you aren't wearing more than one layer of regular armor, you needn't worry about the layering penalty.  If you insist on layering, you'll end up immobile REALLY quick if you're not careful.

If you are wearing regular armor over sheer armor (a good idea, as the sheer stuff can save your hide), the bullet first hits the regular armor, and the remaining penetration rating is worked against the sheer.  Example:

Elvis is wearing an SP14 police vest (regular) over an SP8 sheer catsuit.  He gets nailed in the chest with a 20-guage shotgun slug(16/1.3).   The vest stops 14 of those penetration points, meaning the slug is now (2/1.3)  The underlayer is SP8 sheer, so the 2 points will be converted to stun damage.  The modifier means 2.6 points are done.  I round up for damage, so it's 3 points of stun damage.  

This system is intended to reward simplicity in armor schemes.   In the game, I am going to be handling the numbers, so just pick something that makes an ounce of sense and fits with the character concept and won't get you hassled by the cops and you should be fine.  

Subdermal Armor:

Subdermal Armor gives no rated EV penalty in the book and an SP of 18.  That's a lot, and with my Draconian armor penalties you find yourself unable to even put on a leather jacket without sending yourself into EV territory if you have it.  Subdermal armor is bulky and ugly, so this would make sense, but in the name of helping with someone's character concept, I am going to rule that Subdermal Armor is actually SP12.  Same price, same humanity cost, same bulk and ugliness (the DIFF awareness check only applies when you're clothed.  Bare-chested, it's obvious.)  

CYBERWARE:

Cyberware is as the book states (as above for subdermal armor).  Easy enough.  The only catch is that the humanity costs are static instead of varied.  If the humanity costs are listed as a point value (1 point, 2 points, etc.), then that's the value they use.  If the costs are listed as a die roll, just take the number of d6 required and multiply it by 3.5.  If there is a modifier (like 1d6+1), add it.  Once you have totalled up all your humanity costs, take your LUCK, double it, and subtract that from the total cost.  Note:  The LUCK bonus cannot raise your humanity beyond its original natural level.

Example:

Gonark the Impressive has a starting humanity of 70 (EMP 7) and a LUCK of 6.  He cybers up to the tune of 45 points of humanity cost.  He doubles his LUCK and subtracts it from the cost:  

45-12=33

His total starting humanity cost is 33 points, leaving Gonark with a humanity of 37.

Step Six:  Fleshing out...

STYLE, PERSONALITY, and AFFECTATIONS

It's up to you, as long as it makes sense.  

LIFEPATH:

Not bothering with it.  Just come up with a sensible background that makes your character somewhat believable.  I'll come up with some friends, enemies and contacts for you.  If there are some contacts you really want, you can suggest them, but remember these are not intended to be terribly well-connected PCs.

Step Five: Skills (etc.)

We are not using skill packages.  Just take 60 points, minus whatever you put into your Special Ability, and distribute it to whatever skills you want, as long as you follow one of these three guidelines:

OPTION 1:"Specialist"--One skill at +6, Unlimited skills at up to +3

OPTION 2:"Diversified Specialist"--Two skills at +5, Two skills at +4, and unlimited skills up to +3

OPTION 3:"Jack of All Trades"--Unlimited skills at up to +4

A couple of things to keep in mind when buying skills--I realize that some of these are just nitpicks, but I have used them for so long that it's ingrained now:

*we're not using any skills (or special abilities, for that matter) that aren't listed on the basic CP2020 character sheet.  

*I'm moving "Pick Pocket" to be a REF-based rather than TECH-based skill

*If you choose "Play Instrument," you can choose at the start whether you want it placed under TECH, REF, or EMP to reflect the way you play the instrument.  For example, B.B. King plays with EMP.  Yngwie Malmsteen plays with REF.  The guys from Kraftwerk play with TECH.  Keep your concept in mind when choosing.

*In the interest of simplicity, Brawling, Martial Arts, Fencing, and Melee are all rolled into one skill called "Hand to Hand Combat" or HTH.  HTH reflects the sum total of your ability to hurt people with your body or with handheld weapons, and to keep from being hurt by same.  Since we are going easy on game mechanics, we are not going to dwell on certain "martial arts" and their relative strengths and weaknesses (strike bonuses, etc.).  You'll get your HTH as a damage bonus on successful attacks, even when weapons are concerned (yahoo!).  Of course, so will the bad guys.  You can call your character's style of fighting whatever you want, be it Ninjitsu, Boxing, or Clown-fu.

*I am going to be using a very simple, almost modifier-less version of combat.  About the only modifiers are going to be for called shot and blind shooting/blind strike, both of which will increase the difficulty by one level (essentially a -5)…keep this in mind when allocating points to combat skills, which will represent your character's ability to attack while moving, in bad light, moving targets, etc.  In other words, you may not need to dump as many points into those skills as you might think.

*Thrown weapons are going to be handled under the Athletics skill, even if it's some kind of "Martial Arts" weapon.

*You can add additional languages over and above the freebie points described above, but no language skill can be greater than your character's native tongue (defined as the language of the society the character GREW UP in).

Step Four:  Special Ability.

Pick a special ability.  You can have ONE at up to +5.  Alternately, you can put no points into a special ability and pick one later to develop with IP.  If you take no special ability now, there will be more points for your other skills.

Keep in mind that there is going to be a set amount of starting cash for each character, so don't worry about money when/if you choose an SA.

Step Three:  Skills (Languages)

Start with Languages.  You have your characters INT level worth of points in your native language, defined as the primary language of the area your character grew up in.  You then have your INT worth of points to spend on other languages.  You can spend that much on one other language and be perfectly billingual.  You can divide it up among several if you like.  I would suggest taking English as one of them, because this game is going to be set in a US city.

Step Two:  Stat points

you get 60 points for stats to distribute however you want.  Your character is certainly an above average specimen, but not a superhero or anything.  Keep these rules in mind when distributing points:

*No natural stat (unmodded by cyberware) can start above 10.  You can have as low as 1 if you like, just know what you are getting into if you do.

*You are going to have a set number of points for skills--there is no "pick-up skill" amount calculated from REF and INT.

*Increasing attractiveness via cosmetic surgery costs double for each point above the first you want to increase it by.  The first point will cost $600, the second $1200, the third $2400, and so on.

*We're starting out with only the gear/c-ware listed in the original book (I have the 2nd edition).  Other stuff may appear in the game, but I don't want to bother with the other supplements.  Keep this in mind when you are distributing points so you don't count on some super-gear from one of the supplements that isn't available.

*Your save is an AVERAGE of your BODY and COOL stats, not just straight BODY.  BTM is still calculated from BODY, though.  Round up if you get a value ending in a half for your SAVE.

*LUCK points can be used for a "do-over" on failed or fumbled skill or save rolls at the rate of three LUCK points per "do-over". To use a do-over, mention an OOC message that you would like to do so.  LUCK points regenerate at one point per day in GAME TIME, so it may be easy to run out if you have a busy day.  Also, Luck saves are based on CURRENT luck, so if you've worn yourself down, you might find yourself less lucky than the other guys if something random is happening to one of you.

Okey Dokey.  This thread is for the newer SS game that's starting up.  The old Character Factory was convoluted with revisions, peanut gallery assessments of gun damage, and other stuff.  I'm leaving the old one for posterity, but this is gonna be the set-up for the newer game.  It may look the same as before, but if you've already made your character, you might want to walk your way through to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Here Goes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay.  This thread is for the step-by-step process of building characters.  If you have a character you already like and want to bring in, you'll need to rebuild him/her to these guidelines....

FIRST OFF, LET ME SAY:  DO NOT POST YOUR CHARACTERS HERE!  AFTER YOU FINISH THEM, PM THEM TO ME.  The whole party doesn't necessarily get to know everything about you.  The characters will know each other from somewhere and probably have worked together before, but you may have secrets you want to keep.  

Step One:  Concept.  Try to think in terms of people who are either clawing their way up or are coming down hard--falling from grace, as it were.  Survivors, to be sure, but troubled pasts are encouraged.  The typical skill level is going to +3 or +4, so it's not a high-powered game...leave the mob kingpin and deathsolo ideas in the garage.  

Roles that would work best in this game are:

Media, Techie, Medtechie, Solo

Roles that will be less appropriate but will still work are:

Nomad, Fixer, Cop, Rocker

Roles that won't fit at all and I really won't consider:

Netrunner, Corporate

"Roles" isn't really right here--the only thing in this game that determines a role is special ability.  We'll get to that later, but just so you know, you won't be obligated to stick to skill packages when you're building the character.

What:  Dual bookmatched Raven .25 Automatics, chrome finish with Abalone grip panels.  "Love" is engraved on the slide of the left one, "Hate" on the slide of the right.

Where:  Concealed in a specially designed set of holsters that, to the casual observer, look like a standard set of big fuzzy earmuffs.

When:  Whenever it's chilly out.

Why:  Pure style, homes.

Who:  Me, you idiot!  Geez, you're thick!

How:  Crikey!  Last time I wore earmuffs, I placed the pads over my ears so that the band went over the top of my head.  It's not rocket science.  When someone gets all up in my face, I clap my hands over the earmuffs and start yelling "LA LA LA!  I  CAN'T HEAR YOU!  LAAAAA!"...if it goes "condition red," out come the Ravens!  Boo-yah!

(Yes, I know a lot of people are extolling the virtues of noseguns these days.  They are pretty handy.  However, I am far too pretty to have one of those things cluttering up my face.)

Sounds great, especially in an car-heavy urban environment...as long as the character isn't too one-sided.  

"Pure" driver characters tend to have a lot of the same problems as "pure" sniper characters or other similar archetypes--they spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for the action to suit their specialty.  

A techie or solo or medtech or whatever (since there are no skill packages, the only thing determining "roles" are Special Abilities and the names other people call you) who also happens to be an ace wheelman is probably the way to look at it.  The 60 (instead of 50) skill point thing will hopefully help with that.

Yes, same character rules.  It's been a while since I went through it, but I think it pretty much 'splains everything.

I think Eraser is putting a fixer together, so another one of those might be awkward.  No word from Chalkline yet.

Correction...use 60 points for the skills in Step Five, not 50.  I have edited that post to reflect this, but if you've already gotten past it, go back there and get the ten extra points!

You're in if you want it, Wilphe.

That fills it up.  I'll PM C-junk and see about getting it moved back to the land of the living.

Looks like my Quarantine-punk idea was a wash.  Too much effort to build a new setting.  However, I am planning on starting another game in the same environment as my old Streetlight Serenade game (see "Mortified Games" for details).  It's low-level sleazepunk stuff...thugs, fixers, corrupt cops, ripperdocs, dirty little jobs for dirty little people.  

I've already got two players, and a third would round things out nicely.  Any takers?  I think one player is considering a fixer, and the other hasn't weighed in yet.

Eraser, Chalkline, if nobody steps up to the plate, how about an NPC third player?  Perhaps some not-too-bright bruiser whom you can trust and is good at taking orders ("Bruno, grab that guy and keep shaking him until he tells us where the money is!"  "Bruno, try to move that dumpster so it's in front of the doorway"  "Bruno, drive us to the Tiki Lounge!")?

Okay, BW.  No worries.    

I'm kind of curious to see how one of these games works with just two players (perhaps with an NPC party member).  I've got a funny feeling it'll move nice and quick.

Eraser, Chalkline, go ahead and come up with some kind of concept and PM it to me and I'll see which of my many little scenarios will fit best.

Okay...Eraser and Chalkline are in.  I got one more slot, but can run it just as well with two players if there's no takers.  Bookwyrm's got dibs if he wants it, since he was in the game I flaked out on a while back.  

Eraser (and others):  Yeah, same character gen. as before.  Get something in mind, but don't work too hard until I have a vague plot ready in case it calls for certain types.  Shouldn't be more than a couple of days.  Odds are, though, that anything that would have worked in the old game will work in the new one.

It works the other way, too.  Your ideas may give me ideas for plots.  If you have a concept in mind, PM it and inspire me....

Hoo-wheee...

Okay, have in my spare time worked on timelines and basic clans and stuff, and have come to the point where it's clear that this setting is indeed more effort than I'm willing to put into this.  It's practically a whole other game, and that kind of energy could better be channeled into writing fiction if I were so inclined.  

Also, I worry about doing something like that in an online game where questions cannot be asked and answered "on the fly" like in "real life"....it could bog down pretty quick with questions like "How is (aspect of life X) handled here?", and I'd feel obligated to come up with a semi-sane way of handling (aspect of life X) and why it's that way.    

That said, I think I might be interested in getting another game going in the same setting as Streetlight Serenade (check the "mortified games" section for details and to see how that game was going--kind of a fun read).  I am more comfortable and fluid in that kind of setting and it's a lot closer to what everyone else is used to.  

Anyone interested in that?

Still toying with the idea and hashing out a timeline.  It's turning out that it's a lot of effort to turn out even a half assed-version of even a small, closed society and make it playable,  and the premise stretches plausibility far enough to where it requires a lot more thought to justify some things.  Even such basic things as currency (or lack thereof) have to be heavily thought-out and hammered into place.  

In other words, it's enough of a departure from normal CP that it's almost like writing a whole other game, and I don't know that I'm up to the task.

Feel free to send ideas, guys, but it's kind of up in the air as to whether or not it will be worth the trouble so far.

Not to nitpick or belabor the point, but I still can't see how it would be quicker than fast drawing anything else.  If I'm quick-drawing a pistol and firing, I just have to pull it clear of the holster and pull the trigger.  A fixed-blade knife only needs to be pulled out and slashed/thrust.  An empty-handed strike just needs to thrown (no weapon you have to pull out of a holster or pocket should ever get a bonus over an empty-hand strike, IMO).  Even if you can take one of these collapsing batons and whip it out and strike in one fluid motion, I still can't see a initiative bonus over those other things, which can all be looked at the same way.  It doesn't make you react faster, and it doesn't make your muscles move faster.  

It might give a bit more reach in such a situation (you can nail someone in the head while still out of range of their melee attack), but when the combatants are within striking distance (pointblank range) the game doesn't really discriminate, so reach isn't an issue.  

Or perhaps a +2 (or similar) damage bonus over a standard club when used by someone who knows what they're doing and can do the cool whip-out-and-strike-with-one-motion move would be in order.

I guess it's all up to the individual GM.  Personally, I'd just treat them as sticks that have a good damage rating (like a Tonfa or something), but also get the benefit of a pocket concealability rating.

Hmmm...

I've always had a problem with the effectiveness of "sheer" armors, like a kevlar T-shirt, bandana, or the ubiquitous skinweave.  

Think about it.  Even if the skinweave on your forehead can ballistically stop a 9mm slug, it doesn't mean your bell isn't going to be rung pretty bad, or that your skull isn't going to be cracked and the pieces driven into your frontal lobe.  

And a baseball bat or tire iron hit isn't going to be changed at all, save for maybe less blood loss (but more swelling from internal hemmorhaging in the case of a skinweave)

I mention this because you may have to modify the rules to make it work, and players are more receptive to mods when you make a good case for them.

There's a couple of approaches for sheer armor and layering. My immediate thoughts on a rule mod are below.  This is assuming you treat armor layers individually rather than just adding them up as one SP:

1.  Make any sheer armor SP only turn damage into temporary stun damage.  Yeah, your skinweave may have stopped the burst of 9mm autofire from killing you, but stunned on the ground is as good as dead if the other guy's still moving and attacking, and the temporary blow to your REF (from all those boxes of "stun" damage that may take several minutes or even hours to go away!) isn't going to help you win even if you aren't stunned.  Skinweave can be the difference between living or dying, but is not a panacea for flying handgun bullets.  

How long does this stun damage last?  Try this:  for every point of stun damage you have, it will take 2 to the (stun damage) power minute to fully recover.   One box of damage?  It takes 2 minutes.  Two boxes?  4 minutes.  Five boxes?  32 minutes.  Eight boxes?  256 minutes.  The more stun damage you take, the longer it's going to take to get over it, at least up to the point that regular damage is healed--this last part keeps the character from being rendered comatose for a thousand years if they get hosed down by one of those .22 Gatlings in nothing but a skinweave birthday suit.

2.  Make it so that if the damage exceeds the SP of the sheer armor, the sheer armor has no effect whatsoever, and, if a garment, is destroyed in that location.  In other words, if you have a skinweave and an SP10 T-shirt and get hit with 14 points of damage, the T-shirt doesn't touch it (and is ruined in that location) and the skinweave doesn't, either.  Should have taken cover, worn better armor, or not been there in the first place!

3.  Make it so that sheer armors are the only ones that can be layered without extra penalties above and beyond EV.  MAke it so that any non-sheer armors carry an extra -2 to REF and MA PER LAYER beyond the first, in addition to whatever penalties the garments themselves bring to the party.  This will really cut down on the doughboy effect, and make it simpler to treat armor as individual layers because nobody will want to be caught dead in "Michelin Man chic" in the first place.

4.  Subdermal and skull plating and cyberlimbs will still mean some characters will have pretty high SP levels, especially when combined with even only one layer of armored garments.  Sometimes that's just the kind of PC they want to play.  Not much you can do about that, unless you count the myriad numbers of other ways to hurt someone.  Flamers, molotovs, acid squirtguns, AP rifle bullets, powered monokatanas, gas, microwavers, electrical weapons, big honkin' trucks, judo throws from tall buildings, pipe bombs, C-SWAT, restraint glue bombs, net guns, whatever.  If word gets out that badass X is impervious to weapon Y, nobody's gonna try to use weapon Y to kill him.  Nosy cops may want to know what's up with this walking tank.

Which leads to "fraggle"  meaning "small annoying creature that's easily separated into fragments."

Others that come to mind:

Skinbag

Grease-stain

Burger (armored ones being a "Burger on a bun")

But in any game I run, it's pretty unlikely that any full conversions are going to have the kind of sense of humor necessary for this sort of thing.