Message no. 1

From:	Mike Goldberg <m_goldberg@**.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject:	Cyberpunk and humor?
Date:	Sun, 4 Dec 1994 13:39:02 MST

An interesting thought "debate" has been sprung from Mr. Craig's thoughts to
Herr Doom's to Brian Rogers. I would like to say a small thing about my
thoughts on the issues.

As I recall, and I don't know how many of you remember, I have embarked upon a
more amusing post. That being how DragonEyes saw the raid on Ganz's fortress,
right before Ganz died and Count von Doom went into a coma. Normally, I post
emotionally serious posts. I do this out of a sense of what is more real to
me, and therefore will hopefully achieve the result of being frightening
realistic for others. I have always strived to keep realism a part of the
game. It makes the things my characters go through hit more to home.

Obviously there is only so much realism in any role-playing game. Let's face
it, having magic come "back" in 2011, with elves, dwarves, Orks, and trolls,
and other stuff is more than a little amusing. But also keep in mind this, as
Herr Doom pointed out, shadowrun is in a cyberpunk setting, which by all the
items put out by FA$A alone, is a grim, dark view of the future. My characters
all are thought up to be inside this grim universe.

One last thing needs to be addressed in my mind, before I'll stop rambling on.
It is the mere fact, that just because a character is portrayed in a "serious -
grim - dark light" doesn't mean it needs to be apologized for. I personally,
have worked pretty hard to achieve grim - dark posts, but that is truly where I
think Shadowrun should be. I don't feel that anyone on the list needs to
apologize for posting in a serious nature. To me, it seems that it is merely a
part of the world which we are striving to create stories in.

It is far easier to mold a story into a large structure of stereotypes of a
genre than it is to fight it, and come up with something totally different.
And the amount of time constrants that we all write under come into play with
this. I can only speak for myself, but it is truly hard for me to dedicate the
time needed to write something out to my satisfaction.

Well just thought I would throw in my few thoughts to the pot.

Mike