The Shadowrun Situation

Juton · Post by **Juton** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:46 pm

It looks like the hope that Shadowrun will change hands anytime soon are dashed. Catalyst announces a long term extension with Topps.

Ice9 · Post by **Ice9** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:15 pm

sabs wrote:I would honestly be happier if hackers rigs were.. things they put together, then disabled and destroyed as need be.

What a hacker should have is a fairly robust development 'system' that they use for building their own software. If it was possible for hackers to 'build' special little software and hardware tools for specific runs.. like 1 cheap one shot magic items.

On a run, a hacker should be using a fairly standard 'laptop' with some customized addons specifically for that job. At the end of the run, that laptop gets dropped in thermite.

I like this idea. It would also be an interesting part of the pre-run preparation - decide what kind of devices and programs to bring. It would especially be appropriate for exploit programs - the first time you use one, it's very effective. Then over the next few days news gets distributed, those holes are patched, and it's time to write a new one.

In this context, I could see the possibility of large two-hand decks - extremely overclocked machines, with more processors and cooling than an implanted or phone-sized device could provide, useful for brute force attacks or distractions. They'd be a specialized tool though, like a rocket launcher, not something you carry everywhere.

kzt · Post by **kzt** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:12 am

OgreBattle wrote:Im just wondering right now bit in real life what costs more, a nice assault rifle or a nice laptop

Baring the current craziness, they are about the same cost. You can get a cheap AR-15 for about the same cost as a decent laptop at Costco ($800). A top end AR-15 is the cost of a high-end Mac laptop ($2500). A Chinese AK is the cost of a refurbished netbook at Walmart ($200).

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:21 am

OgreBattle wrote:Im just wondering right now bit in real life what costs more, a nice assault rifle or a nice laptop

AK-47 go for 20 bucks a kilo or so, if you know where to go to buy . .
a really nice laptop will set you back up to 3000 bucks . .

kzt · Post by **kzt** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:27 am

Well, the Chinese guns are a lot cheaper if you buy in bulk, and buy ammo too. There was a deal for 500,000 Type 56s and 10 million rounds of ammo for $64 million, delivery included, that got stopped by the cops in Italy. Though Norinco did want End User Certificates, which cost $500,000 in bribes to get.

Oops, was only $40.9 million before the mafia profit margin was added.

Pulsewidth · Post by **Pulsewidth** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:36 am

FrankTrollman wrote:In character, there are supposed to be magicians who can equal a tank. Hell, there are multiple magic-only factions that fight against factions that have tanks on a reasonably equal footing. Hard capping magicians at the point where they couldn't hurt a heavy vehicle is extremely out of character for shadowrun.

What's the harshest cap you could apply to magicians without breaking the setting?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:00 pm

Pulsewidth wrote:
FrankTrollman wrote:In character, there are supposed to be magicians who can equal a tank. Hell, there are multiple magic-only factions that fight against factions that have tanks on a reasonably equal footing. Hard capping magicians at the point where they couldn't hurt a heavy vehicle is extremely out of character for shadowrun.
What's the harshest cap you could apply to magicians without breaking the setting?

Probably about 12. Of course, you'd still need to do something about heavy vehicles so that they didn't collapse into a singularity by having impossible numbers, but that goes without saying.

-Username17

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:46 pm

Cover for SR5

also, there will be a short story anthology for backers of SRR it seems.
http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/2013/02 ... velopment/

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:23 pm

Do you really need to put EVERYTHING onto the cover? Especially the troll in the background looks like and afterthought.
This cover makes sense only to people who know the game already, I guess they have given up on drawing in new players and just want to bleed the remaining customers and maybe draw in those saps that will play the new computer games but don't know any better...

It kinda amuses me how the mages and techies both do their thing now by waving their hands in the air.

Nnot sure they could have done anything that did not annoy me at this point. At least the artist does not suck quality wise.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:30 pm

what would you have put on the cover

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:50 pm

Look at 2nd and 3rd edition. Just put in the usual archetypes, sam, mage, techie. A handful people most, commiting some crime that does not include urban warfare, with a corporate squad and several people doing the exact same thing.

Maybe some corporate effigy in the background, not every logo ever made put on every flat surface.

Also I would not make the biggest thing happening be a battle of mages. Shadowrun is NOT about battles of mages. I have a massive hard on for the magic stuff in SR and I don't want that to be the core of the game.

What is the dwarf rigger even doing up there? What is that supposed to tell someone who doesn't know that's a dwarf or rigger? The slightly annoyed looking hacker guy would have sufficed and you can imagine he is doing some future tech stuff, but the dwarf is basically doing the same shit, twice. At least the mages get to do do different things, i.e. summoning monsters and shooting lightning.

And what is the sam doing? For one he kills drones with swords (i.e. if you want to keep the meat happy, give him enemies that don't matter but fit into his fetish. the guards have no reason to attack him in melee because they have guns, so he can't be killing them) BUT the only working drones we see are shooting at the security guys. Is the ork just fucking stupid? Or ist the rigger a third party trying to kill both?

Too much shit is too much.

It seriously annoys me when an artist doesn't know when to stop and adds more and more shit to his design. I'm seriously surpised there is no dragon flying around the towers further back.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:57 pm

To be fair, in the SR world there's probably every corporate logo ever made on every flat surface that can have a logo put on it.

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:02 pm

Fair enough.

In other news, my spelling is horrible. I don't even write the words I want to write. WTF.

Incoherent babbling, full speed ahead!

sabs · Post by **sabs** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:59 pm

You have a 4 man shadowrunner team, going up against a 6 grunt, 2 special corp sec team. Why is that too much?

The rigger is looking at the Drones, the Sam at least has a sword and a gun

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:30 am

It's not terrible, but it's kinda busy. I guess it's a progressive thing that they dropped traditional art on the cover in favor of Poser work, less of a shock when that's all you see inside.

Way to go all out for the core book, CGL!

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:50 am

Is that meant to be a hologram of an insect spirit or an actual insect spirit?

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:28 pm

Rawbeard wrote:What is the dwarf rigger even doing up there? What is that supposed to tell someone who doesn't know that's a dwarf or rigger? The slightly annoyed looking hacker guy would have sufficed and you can imagine he is doing some future tech stuff, but the dwarf is basically doing the same shit, twice. At least the mages get to do do different things, i.e. summoning monsters and shooting lightning.

And what is the sam doing? For one he kills drones with swords (i.e. if you want to keep the meat happy, give him enemies that don't matter but fit into his fetish. the guards have no reason to attack him in melee because they have guns, so he can't be killing them) BUT the only working drones we see are shooting at the security guys. Is the ork just fucking stupid? Or ist the rigger a third party trying to kill both?

It looks like there are two sets of drones; the front group's to the right, and the back group's, one to the left and one destroyed. Given that, the dwarf rigger is probably part of the back group, and decided to sneak up to the front lines because of poor planning.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:51 pm

notice that the drone the samurai dismantled had swords for arms for some reason

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:52 pm

There's not enough tits that's what, there's nothing in the cover that makes me feel lascivious.

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:54 pm

Stahlseele wrote:notice that the drone the samurai dismantled had swords for arms for some reason

Without those swordarms those drones have no reason to fly in close enough to get fucked up by the samurai. I'd say that is a very good reason!

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:19 pm

as awesome as robot-samurai may be, i think it's kinda silly . .

also:
as both SRO and SRR seem to be good on their way, what are feelings about these here? O.o

Fucks · Post by **Fucks** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:39 pm

Stahlseele wrote:as awesome as robot-samurai may be, i think it's kinda silly . .

SR needs more close combat drones!

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:21 pm

Stahlseele wrote:as both SRO and SRR seem to be good on their way, what are feelings about these here? O.o

SRR is basically "Shadowrun" in the same sense as the Shadowrun XBOX first person shooter was "Shadowrun". They lost me the very instant they said that were going to have different planes of existence for Hermetics and Shamans to project into. Maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll be bad, but it's not really attempting to be Shadowrun, it's just attempting to be Shadowrun-like. It's Jordan Weisman making a computerized Cyberpunk Fantasy Heartbreaker and cashing in on his name and the name of Shadowrun to get a crowdsourcing revenue stream for it.

SRO is basically the same thing except they are trying to get an MMO going on half a million dollars, which as I understand it is asswipe money for the medium. So I'm certainly not holding my breath there.

As for that cover, it is terrible. It's as cluttered as the AD&D monster manual, but it's trying to be a single scene with some sort of narrative going on. But because it's so cluttered, that narrative is really hard to figure out. There are too many "things" in the frame, making it basically useless except as a "Where's Waldo" for Shadowrun fanboys. And if that was the goal, there probably should be some garbage somewhere, because the conspicuous lack of dirty alleyway does more to harm the "Cyberpunk" image than just about anything else they could do.

Really, as a Shadowrun cover, you want to get across "Man, Magic, Machine" as efficiently as possible. So, like either of the Shadowrun companions:

You can take issue with the art style or the art quality, but they aren't busy and effectively tell the audience that magic and cyberpunk are in the house.

-Username17

Rawbeard · Post by **Rawbeard** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:37 pm

I totally forgot about the SRR hermetics/shaman nonsense. And now I know why I forgot. Bah. SR can't have nice things.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:34 pm

http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/2013/0 ... y-box-set/
the hell?
this could actually be a bit usefull @.@