Stimular Inc. Personal Archetype Simulations   A   R E T R O S P E C T I V E This is a relatively new research effort (2019) in the world of SimStim (Simulated Stimulus) and Moddies (Personality Modification Chipware) made possible through Stimular Inc.'s research and experience in Real-Time Sim-Stim Console Gaming (see the End Game 2090 module for I.C.E.'s CyberSpace). The basics are that of a real-time personality module (basically a character from one of the Stimular Games such as Solidon's Quests) with skills and everything needed for the actual video-game being chipped into a real-time, real-world interface, allowing the "player" of this video-game character to be in-character in real life - allowing for a selection of skills and abilities the player does not have in real life to be used, as they are programmed responses of the "character" archetype they have loaded. This research line was originally dropped as there were several limiting factors, not the least being that the "player" was required to carry a SimStim videogaming rig around with them at all times since that quantity of character information couldn't be stored in a standard "HeadGame" interactive Chip. Additionally "players" had a disconcertingly hard time meshing their character's perspectives and skills with the real-world "gaming" environment. The end result on combat-oriented characters (and what SimStim video-game has non-combat characters?) was a strange duality where the player's persona removed itself from most interactions and allowed the Personal Archetype to handle the situation, which was initially mistaken as CyberPsychosis. Stimular considered selling the technology to corporations to create instant black-ops teams by making a Real-Time Archetype of ideal Black Operations Teams and loading these over the personality of the team members in question. The problem was then that the technology could be easily copied or stolen (although few companies other than Stimular have the experience necessary to code new archetypes, other companies could just buy one archetype and hardware and make copies of it), and even if it weren't, the Black Operations teams would be too easily traced back to the Stimular offices. Eventually they just placed the whole project on the back burner, and focused their attentions back on their SimStime gaming branch. Recently a StimGamer and researcher at Stimular read up on the past work with these Personal Archetypes and experimented with stripping down the Archetypes to an amount of information that he felt he would be able to assimilate without over-riding his own personality. While the final result was still too large to be burned onto an APTR/MRAM combo chip, he did find that he was able to operate the character to real-world interface without much trauma to his own persona, as long as he kept the sessions relatively short and never slept while under the StimGame rig. T H E   S T A T E   O F   T H E   A R T The stripped-down version of the Real-Time Archetype Simulations put together by Phineas Dessman are currently being evaluated by the new president of Stimular Inc, Mr Edward Bardini, and a team of techs and sales executives to see what can be done with it. In the mean time, Phineas Dessman has allowed some of the information on the tech to leak to his friends and some others "in the scene". "Dessman Boxes" as they are currently nicknamed, incorporate a "Player Character" information framework into which Phineas has loaded a small selection of appropriate skills. Currently the Player Character archetypes are restricted to those he already has access to, and he has kept to the basic characters from the Solidon's Quests games (Borok the Barbarian, etc). He plans on building less stereotyped frames or even an "open concept" character framework, but not really being a programmer, he has left this in the hands of the rest of the R&D department at Stimular. Currently the Archetype Templates don't override the operator's persona as long as the total amount of APTR and MRAM information is kept at a minimum. The amount a person can handle without problems varies, but is obviously affected by that person's ability to operate inside a StimGaming environment (so the StimGamers who designed and built these units are much better at assimilating the data than the general public). Currently the maximum safe level seems to be a person's COOL/WILL plus their StimGame skill level in APTR or MRAM skill levels (Gaming skill at 1/2 it's actual level can be used instead of the specific StimGame skill level). The next stage (using open-concept archetypes), should allow for at least double this amount. Even with this reduced data-load, the Archetype will slowly begin to merge with the operator's conscious and subconscious through extended use of the rig, which is applied as a temporary humanity loss during the use of the Dessman Box. There is an immediate Humanity Loss applied while the rig is in use - this is based on the amount of data load compared to the operator's maximum data load (COOL + StimGame). If the Data Load is half this level or lower, then the HL is D3. Up to the full data load is 1D6 HL. Exceeding this load causes an additional HL of D6 per 2 skill levels, until the Personal Archetype has taken over the operator. An additional HL of 1d6 is applied for every 8 hours the operator is wired into the archetype without at least a 4 hour break or a full sleep cycle without being plugged in. In addition there is a 2d6 HL applied any time an operator sleeps while plugged into the archetype. So far this looks like a significantly worse version of standard MRAM and APTR chips, except that since the operators are interacting with the skill programs and the real world systems simultaneously, they can actually learn the skills instead of forever having to rely on the chipware. In effect, the operator gains IP at twice the normal rate in all Archetyped skills until the operator's own skill level is equal to that of the Archetype. The rig itself is essentially an improved "Black Book" Microcomputer with more RAM and an improved processor, hooked up to either trodes or interface plugs. The extended RAM requires more space, and for that purpose there is currently a secondary data storage box wired to the main unit. Of the current prototypes, all but one are in their basic form, and the last has been built into a fanny-pack style unit worn around the waist (which will probably be the final form for the units if the design is aproved). G A M I N G   N O T E S First off, this tech was designed as part of a campaign to allow a group of low-end PCs to acquire some much-sought-after skills. The tie-in with Stimular was developped since the characters in question had already played the End Game 2090 modules, and had therefore developed the StimGaming skill to significant levels, as well as having a good knowledge of the layout and location of Stimular's R&D labs. The idea is for the characters to learn of the existance of the Dessman Boxes through whatever channels (since they'll be quick to listen up on any rumours attached to the Stimular name), and then steal themselves the prototypes. Once they've learned all the skills included in the prototypes, they will discover that Dessman is now working independantly since the design was axed by Stimular, and is willing to re-program the Archetypes with more skills the characters need, for a fee or a service (once the players manage to find him and convince him to work on their units).