The Shadowrun Situation

Fucks · Post by **Fucks** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:30 am

http://catalystgamelabs.com/download/se ... trigue.pdf

http://catalystgamelabs.com/download/se ... eories.pdf

Plot hooks, plot hooks, plot hooks. And nothing more. Metaplot? What's that?

hermit · Post by **hermit** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:12 am

It's campaign books. And we all know the best campaign books are those filled with NPC and plot hooks.

Kot · Post by **Kot** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:52 pm

Stahlseele wrote:
Kot wrote:They have guys like Raben-aas on paycheck and use that kind of low-end graphics. A shame...
Ahem . . it seems he DID that picture . .

Then he's not in the best shape lately. A shame. I liked his B&W works. A lot.

PDF's: I kinda liked 10 Jackpointers. And I don't find it 'retarded' that the corps know about those shadowrunners and won't 'turn them into a bloody smear'. You can't blackmail a bloody smear, or pump it for info, or ride on it's matrix traffic, and cleaning bloody smears costs money...

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:07 am

Kot wrote:
Stahlseele wrote:
Kot wrote:They have guys like Raben-aas on paycheck and use that kind of low-end graphics. A shame...
Ahem . . it seems he DID that picture . .
Then he's not in the best shape lately. A shame. I liked his B&W works. A lot.

PDF's: I kinda liked 10 Jackpointers. And I don't find it 'retarded' that the corps know about those shadowrunners and won't 'turn them into a bloody smear'. You can't blackmail a bloody smear, or pump it for info, or ride on it's matrix traffic, and cleaning bloody smears costs money...

I paid for 10 Jackpointers, and I regret it. I spent most of the short book wondering why I'd given real cash for it and wishing that I had a return option.

Horizon is supposed to be this big scary media giant, so it makes sense they have some dirt of folks. Black mail and turning NPCs into informants can be interesting, but the amount of info and the format they presented it in basically turned the book into a gallery of dead men. And worse yet, dead men I didn't really care to use in any of my games.

The time and effort that went into that product could easily have been spent on a much more worthwhile project.

As for the mystery of CGL's inverted product focus: Look no further than the developer. Writer. Editor. Then, developer. I'm passionate about Shadowrun, and we can smell our own.

Centurion13 · Post by **Centurion13** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:52 am

Heh. Someone hacked the forums over at CGL's Battletech site.

Everyone is going to have to re-register. After they get the site back up, of course.

Talk about anarchy. There are going to be a lot of pissed off fanboys jonesing for their fix, if post count is any indicator.

Cent13

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:01 am

In case you were wondering: that wasn't me. I only hack their servers to read what they are doing to Shadowrun via their champagne room and such. I don't delete anyone's information, nor do I check on their Battletech progress at all.

I don't even know who that hacker was or what constituted the "security breach" they are talking about.

-Username17

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:13 am

FrankTrollman wrote:Something probably unwise

Might want to change that. I doubt anyone thought of you anyway.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:23 am

I highly suspect he's being sarcastic.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:28 am

Tell that to the pep squad who should show up soon.

Hi, Taharqa!

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:35 am

No, they totally know that I sometimes read their secret correspondences. That fact is not secret. And doing that is, technically, "hacking". It doesn't take a lot of computer know how (which is good, I don't have a lot of computer know how), but it is hacking by the literal definition. Given their incredible paranoia and internal accusations and password changes and so on, it's not even like they haven't been treating it as such.

So yeah, of course they suspect me of whatever hack torched their Battletech forum. For fuck's sake, they were discussing whether or not I was responsible for a proofing pass getting reverted (hint: no). The fact is, I don't change any of their data. I just read their secrets and talk about them.

-Username17

Kot · Post by **Kot** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:46 pm

So, you're basically a shadowrunner.

P.S. I don't care if me voicing any of my opinions here will be taken as a threat, or anything. There was a time when i thought of becoming a freelancer for CGL. That was before I've managed to read AH's summary of the Artifacts finale and the High Magic book...

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:04 pm

Kot wrote:So, you're basically a shadowrunner. :P

P.S. I don't care if me voicing any of my opinions here will be taken as a threat, or anything. There was a time when i thought of becoming a freelancer for CGL. That was before I've managed to read AH's summary of the Artifacts finale and the High Magic book...

GIVE ME WHAT I DEMAND! OR I'LL BECOME A CGL FREELANCER! ò,Ó;,

hermit · Post by **hermit** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:13 pm

*gives stahlseele a cookie*

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:14 pm

Yay! *noms* =^.^=

Centurion13 · Post by **Centurion13** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:55 am

Seems like it's the culmination of several attempts to do the site in.

They get no sympathy from me. The money that could have been spent on site security updates was probably used to gold-plate Loren L. Coleman's shower head.

Cent13

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:39 am

Centurion13 wrote:Seems like it's the culmination of several attempts to do the site in.

They get no sympathy from me. The money that could have been spent on site security updates was probably used to gold-plate Loren L. Coleman's shower head.

Cent13

Money? Hardly. There was a good stretch there that Jason's twitter feed was sprinkled with bitching about how he was having trouble setting up the forums.

Why was the line developer for Shadowrun setting up forums...? I know it's a small company, but if you give a shit about the work being done the guy should work on his primary task and take over these side projects as time permits. Especially when you already have a community online, reguardless of how butthurt they make you. When books come out looking like War! and you were dicking around building a forum it looks pretty fucking bad to anyone paying attention.

Also, MilSpecTech is out now apparently. I'm not going to say much until someone throws it up somewhere I can get a look at it, but if you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover they could at least make the cover look a little interesting.

Centurion13 · Post by **Centurion13** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:17 am

Huh. The guy who did that message is also the line dev for Shadowrun?

Pardon my ignorance in these matters. It just seems odd that a fellow who uses 'accessing' twice when he means 'assessing' and substitutes 'who's' for 'whose' is in charge of anything that involves the printed word.

Cent13

adamjury · Post by **adamjury** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:59 am

The Shadowrun and BattleTech forums are run by completely different people, and last time I had any access, were on completely different servers.

hermit · Post by **hermit** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:12 pm

Pardon my ignorance, but what message?

Why was the line developer for Shadowrun setting up forums...?

Because the money that should have gone into a Shadowrun sysop went into subventioning the Giant Robots franchise?

Also, in the preview, the Jackpoint login screen mentions something called 99 Bottles (tagline:"Stories from the decadent cites of Asia don’t always involve drunk tourists and sex parlors in dark alleys."). Anyone knows what that is? Sounds like a short story collection? Or a collection of plot threads without relevance, like War!'s Hot Spots, just maybe with less Nazi shit this time?

Also,

*There are hotspots in the world. Some are hotter than others; take a look at one of the big ones right
now. [Tag: War!]

LOL.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:25 pm

This Message:

CLASSICBATTLETECH.COM FORUMS

Due to a security breach the forums are being taken down indefinitely while the damage to the system is accessed. Because of the nature of this breach it is unlikely we will be restoring a backup of user accounts as it is impossible to know who's passwords and accounts have been compromised.

We are currently accessing our options and will get the forums back up in one form or another as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Jason M. Knight classicbattletech.com System Administrator

Fucks · Post by **Fucks** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:03 pm

hermit wrote: Also, in the preview, the Jackpoint login screen mentions something called 99 Bottles (tagline:"Stories from the decadent cites of Asia don’t always involve drunk tourists and sex parlors in dark alleys."). Anyone knows what that is? Sounds like a short story collection? Or a collection of plot threads without relevance, like War!'s Hot Spots, just maybe with less Nazi shit this time?

JM Hardy wrote: 99 Bottles is an experiment--"enhanced fiction," where we present a short story, then some of the game rules so you can take elements of that story and put them in your game. More details to come!
Jason H.

hermit · Post by **hermit** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:44 pm

Well, I hope the access passwords for the damage and the options are not compromised then. But it seems like someone hacked the user database and messed with password info? That's pretty bad. Although my sympathies are somewhat limited, too, it's not really fair to take frustration about CGL's handling of it's franchises out on the fandom of another franchise. They had better shut down BattleShop to make a point ...

Also, thanks, Fucks. So it is short stories that have stats of proponents after them, something they wanted to do with novels for some time. If it wasn't the current crew, I'd even be inclined to say that's an interesting experiment. Want to shoot Stryper in the face? Now you can! Of course, the stories then better reflect things that make SENSE by the rules ...

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:06 pm

Dangerous territory for them. Shadowrun fiction has had trouble following the rules well before the current regime was in charge.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:56 pm

Otakusensei wrote:Dangerous territory for them. Shadowrun fiction has had trouble following the rules well before the current regime was in charge.

i know . . i just read the spells and chrome anthology . .
The summoned the fucking Necronomicon and some of the old ones . . Eldritch Horrors . .
AND THEY PULLED THE FUCKING NECRONOMICON STRAIGHT FROM AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY WHERE THE BELIEF IN THE HP LOVECRAFT HAD MADE THE BOOK REAL!

hermit · Post by **hermit** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:34 pm

AND THEY PULLED THE FUCKING NECRONOMICON STRAIGHT FROM AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY WHERE THE BELIEF IN THE HP LOVECRAFT HAD MADE THE BOOK REAL!

What. WHAT?!