The Layout is horrible, sometimes about 1/3 of a page is just plain white. The Cover Art and Layout of the front- and backcover of Corp Guide just don't fit with the other books, because they used a BT scheme.
The Books are flawed by mistakes, in grammar and spelling as well background wise.
Sounds like the loss of Adam is hitting them rather hard.
There a new freelancers without deeper knowledge of SR. The Freelancer, who rewrote Ancient Historys MCT text asked in which order the books were released.
Aren't there like super-talented and dedicated fans willing to step up and fill this role? (In fact, afaik that describes Robert long before the debacle that caused him to leave CGL.)
I mean I assume the Shadowrun fan base is not as rapidly anti-CGL as this thread is.
In my opinion, if CGL keeps the license, they will ruin SR in the next 2 years.
You may be right, but whatever happens with the license I hope Shadowrun isn't ruined by CGL or anyone.
What it can't survive is more crap where the plot and the setting don't involve the players.
Well it is kind of a catch 22. I mean plot NEEDS to involve the players but Big Plot (kind of) CANNOT involve the players because you can't have every player group in the position to save/destroy the world because they will all take different actions essentially none of which can be canonical. So it is a conundrum.
Then again in DOTA the runners are hired to bodyguard Frosty while she does shit that according to her (implied) stats she could effortlessly do herself without their help so yeah I dunno. I mean it is not like she even like isn't willing to get her hands dirty. She is there. Doing the runs. Why do the players even need to be there?
Crap like Tir na nOg and Lagos is incredibly damaging to the game because there are no hooks for the players. Yes, it's hard to get into the Tir. Yes, your shit doesn't work right in Lagos. But those places don't have anything the players want. There's nothing to steal and no corporate presence to pay you money.
Well I mean I kind of sort of liked the direction that Denver Missions and Ghost Cartels were going in, moving the game from being about corporate operatives to being more about organized crime and criminals doing crimes against the law (CRIMES) but I agree that there is LITERALLY NOTHING YOU WANT IN AFRICA. IT IS AFRICA. I happened to PC that particular run and even though our GM did an amazing job with the material as written, my PC is still bitching about having to go to fucking Africa. He had to seriously revise his runner's code.
Rule #1. Do not go to Africa.
A good high level setting is certainly possible for SR. People were pretty happy with Arcology Shutdown. It had lots of danger, and a bunch of cutting edge tech devices crawling around that you could pick up, an a bunch of really rich people who were imprisoned and in danger inside. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the branch manager's daughter?
I dug it big time but I mean there REALLY should have been a full-sized campaign adventure to accompany it with maps and stats and all that stuff...GMs enjoy making that stuff up but creating something the size of Renraku Arcology is an epic undertaking that the devs should have taken some of the responsibility of. In other words, more "Ghost Cartels" than "Emergence" in terms of format.
I guess Brainscan was a pretty cool adventure that did a lot of that but it also kind of ended the Arcology Shutdown event and also involved a lot of high level plot.
Unfortunately, the present crew doesn't understand the "Why don't I just take the A Train, downtown?" test for any plotline or setting. It's the Sixth World, there are boats, and cars, and airplanes. If there isn't a pressing reason to give a shit, people will just go somewhere else. I mean just look at that crap Jason was talking about where he envisioned going with the Spy Games book. Doing psy-ops to try to convince a group of Mormons to vote one way or another on a non-binding resolution in the Denver Assembly. Oh fucking joy! Laying groundwork for possible long term changes in local fucking politics by sucking up to insular minorities. WTF?
The chat I was linked to unfortunately was pretty reasonable and did not have the "Mormons are the boss of both Ghostwalker and Aztechnology" discussion that was advertised. The dumbest suggestion I saw in it was that Ghostwalker could be "seduced" (like by a mortal human woman??) which did not come from Jason.
I have yet to see the "OMFG MORMONS" plotline. I hope the first time I see it isn't in a published SR product. : (
Basically, to extend the setting, you need four things:
* Passable mechanics.
* Engaging writing.
* Passing the "why do I give a shit?" test.
* Not having the plot be fucking retarded.
I don't disagree, although I would argue that we already kind of HAVE the first one in SR4 (except the fucking incomprehensible matrix rules and various stupid quirks of RAW that hopefully everyone is ignoring anyway). As long as they don't take a big steamy shit all over the mechanics for SR5 this is one less thing we (and by we I guess I mean the fans) have to worry about.
But those other three...yes...are a concern.
* First, no "memes". Jason is very adamant that at no time should the adventure surrounding a megacorporate level advertising firm have anything to do with mental manipulation. Seriously.
What? What? What? Why? Why? Why? What rationale is there for this?
You look at that shit and what's your reaction? I would imagine it has something to do with "What the fuck does Aztlan care about people putting evidence of shit they broadcast themselves on the trid?" But it could just as easily be "Why the fuck are the PCs involved in this shit, considering that there is absolutely no reason to sen foreigners to do that when local talent would be so much better prepared?" And it could just as easily be "Why the fuck is Horizon involved in that, when Amazonia could go public with the same accusations without hiring a firm from the Northern Hemisphere at all?"
Why Horizon? Probably they could not think of another CORP that has anything to do with Aztlan/Amazonia at all, and even Horizon is a huge fucking stretch (I mean LA is geographically the closest to Amazonia I guess but that's about it).
If they ABSOLUTELY needed a third party for some reason what about using the CAS (they get like nil plot as is) or Ghostwalker (I don't know, Hualpa flies up and asks him a fucking favor) not that they need MORE GD/IE involvement but at least it would make SENSE, moreso than HORIZON.
I mean seriously, using less lethal armaments and then taking prisoners back to pyramids for public executions is not a "secret" about Aztlan. They are fucking public executions. In fact, they go on and on about how barbaric and unhygienic it is to let enemies die on the field of battle instead of letting them die in a sanitary sacrifice to feed the sun god. Executing prisoners of war is totally a thing they publicly do. To actually get a gotcha on them regarding executions, you'd need to fin evidence of someone being taken and promise a prisoner exchange and then getting executed anyway. Heartless corpses doesn't mean shit by itself because Aztlan is proud of that.
I agree that IN GENERAL with the statement "Aztechnology does not give a fuck about PR" and/or Aztechnology is IMMUNE TO PR (people still buy their products in spite of the whole BLOOD MAGIC thing) but is there actually canon evidence in the fluff and fiction that they have been THAT blatantly murderous before?
And no, of course I wasn't referring to you! 
