WHAT IS A Distinctive Style?
The Sixth World setting as depicted in Shadowrun, Fourth Edition game materials is a vibrant, multi-cultural society, one pervaded (and to a certain extent jaded) by a global media culture that constantly floods the market with new trends and styles. While megacorporate monoculture and approved dress codes dominate a wage slave’s workplace and living enclave, personal dress style, body art and modification, and even cosmetic augmentation is increasingly popular in all circles of society as a form of selfexpression. What is distinctive also varies with the local culture and sub-culture; something that stands out in a Seattle nightclub, might be unremarkable in feral Chicago.
In 2070, cybernetic modification and replacement is not uncommon. Bioware, genetech and nanotech are seen as the modern solutions, while cybernetics are often seen as slightly crass and the poor man’s option. That said, most augmentations don’t carry a social stigma, and are even viewed as a sign of ambition and self-improvement. Nonetheless, any augmentation that significantly deviates from the human norm, any blatantly transhuman modification, or excessive amounts of visible augmentation, are still frowned upon and will draw attention.
Exactly where to draw the line depends on the gamemaster and the game being played. Players should consult the gamemaster as to whether Distinctive Style is appropriate for the feature, metatrait, implant, or mannerism being chosen for their character. As a rule of thumb, for such a feature to qualify as distinctive, it must be obvious, attention-grabbing, glaring, or jarring. Excessive or glaringly obvious cyberware, inhuman biomods, gross transgenic phenotype modification and so on should all make the short list, as should a number of augmentations and cosmetic changes.
For instance, while colored hair will not normally constitute a Distinctive Style, sporting a fluorescent green mohawk might; while cybereyes are the mostsold cyberware on the planet, glowing red eyes with no irises are so in-your-face artificial that they would qualify; a cyber-fetishist with obvious multi-limb replacement would certainly qualify, as would anyone with visible changeling traits, supernatural features, or one of the relatively rare metavariants hailing from different corners of the globe.
What constitutes a Distinctive Style in any given campaign varies significantly; it is up to the gamemaster whether a player’s choice qualifies. The Distinctive Style quality is intended to be flexible enough that gamemasters can easily decide whether or not it is applicable.
