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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Alexander Shearer <alex@******.NOSC.MIL>
Subject: UB...what /do/ we know?
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 01:04:06 -0800
Well...Shadowtalk is probably easily suppressed, if it matters (check
out the SR fiction line). In our running of the first UB module,
everyone lived, but we all went away so bloody spooked as to not
speak to anyone other than some very, very close friends. The only
reason we lived was how frighteningly hyped a group we were...and we
didn't even do more than trash one site and save one person - we were
afraid to even try another locale.

You have to assume that only one team of runners actually did the UB
thing, really..it being the same adventure, after all...

So what could one team do? Not much. That leaves the team from 2XS
to blather about it: Again, that's not much. All in all, not much
is the word of the day for info on the UL. I certainly know that an
earlier post I did (on the Talk list) decrying the UB was actually
way out of character, as no one in their right mind says things like
that.
Message no. 2
From: Ivy Ryan <ivyryan@***.EFN.ORG>
Subject: Re: UB...what /do/ we know?
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 12:40:31 -0700
What do "some" GMs let their players know would have been a much better
title.

On Fri, 15 Jul 1994, Alexander Shearer wrote:

> Well...Shadowtalk is probably easily suppressed, if it matters (check
> out the SR fiction line). In our running of the first UB module,

I beg to differ. Wanna try to suppress Internet? Same problem, only
it's harder to suppress Shadowland.

>
> You have to assume that only one team of runners actually did the UB
> thing, really..it being the same adventure, after all...

We had three teams, Euphoria, Missing Blood, Total Eclypse. Plus the
"lost" datafile that Speedline and 'Rocks both managed to recover within
35 minutes of each other. And Sister Sinister is a Gang, not a "team".
There are 27 of them, ranging from merely good to outrageous. (The
2 outrageous ones have the 350+ Karma Pools) As I said in my other
posts, getting the news out wasn't hard.

> So what could one team do? Not much. That leaves the team from 2XS
> to blather about it: Again, that's not much. All in all, not much
> is the word of the day for info on the UL. I certainly know that an
> earlier post I did (on the Talk list) decrying the UB was actually
> way out of character, as no one in their right mind says things like
> that.
>
Well, SS hunts bug nests as a matter of course. We invented, and
distribute for nothing three anti-bug spells that are available all over
the SRII world we play on. We put the information out on every newsline
in every capital in the world, using Frames to release it. There was a
lot we could do. So we thought it was kind of a duty of ours to do it.
We have a couple of members who have definitely slotted too many "paliden
vs the dragon" chips, but they're sisters too.

What bothered me was the comment about killing any character who showed
any knowledge about the UB or bug spirits. It isn't a secret on some
worlds. So I cannot bring any of my characters into Shadowtalk, nor can
my roomate. OK.

But it smells of "cheater GMing" to me. In SRII the yaer is 2055, not
2052, and a lot has happened that FASA hasn't caught up to. Mainly
because they are now 4 YEARS behind their original production schedule.
(The schedule they talked about on GEnie in early 1991) Our world runs
at 2055. Anyone who isn't there yet is crocking their players.

Anyway, I'm off this list. I haven't got time for that kind of GMing, or
that level of "play".

Ivy
Message no. 3
From: Janne Jalkanen <jalkanen@*********.CERN.CH>
Subject: Re: UB...what /do/ we know?
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 23:25:14 +0200
On Fri, 15 Jul 1994, Ivy Ryan wrote:

> I beg to differ. Wanna try to suppress Internet? Same problem, only
> it's harder to suppress Shadowland.

Well, I personally don't believe most of the stuff that floats around
Internet. Just see any comp.sys.*.advocacy groups and look at the rumours,
for example. :)

> There are 27 of them, ranging from merely good to outrageous. (The
> 2 outrageous ones have the 350+ Karma Pools) As I said in my other
> posts, getting the news out wasn't hard.

Erm. 350+ Karma Pools? *chokes on his food* You are running a pretty WILD
party there :)

> Well, SS hunts bug nests as a matter of course. We invented, and

With a 350 Karma Pool you might even succeed. My players see wet dreams
of a Karma Pool of 10. <insert evil GM grin here> The point is, my
players don't have the necessary power/connections to pull off anything
like that. And thus, they are too afraid to even try it.

> But it smells of "cheater GMing" to me. In SRII the yaer is 2055, not
> 2052, and a lot has happened that FASA hasn't caught up to. Mainly
> because they are now 4 YEARS behind their original production schedule.

So?

> (The schedule they talked about on GEnie in early 1991) Our world runs
> at 2055. Anyone who isn't there yet is crocking their players.

Hm? Pretty harsh words there, Ivy... Why should we all stick to the same
time pace set by the FASA, when most of us don't stick even to the rules?
If I'd set our pace so that we'd be in 2055 now, most of our PCs would be
starved by now. I am running a rather low-power campaign (as you might
guess :) and they really do not get that much money anyway.

I guess my point is that I like to set my pace a little bit slower. That
way I can easily see what is going to happen in the future and have time
to modify my world to it. Also I can run my own stuff inbetween FASA
published scenarios - which have, I must admit, grown pretty scarce
lately when my Antarctican campaign took wind. (BTW, does anyone have
rules for fire/cold?)

> Ivy

Janne Jalkanen ///! For those who have to fight for it
jalkanen@******.cern.ch /// ! life has a flavor
Janne.Jalkanen@***.fi \\\/// ! the protected will never understand
-'Keep on going...' \XX/ ! (anonymous, Viet Nam, 1968)
Message no. 4
From: Ed Matuskey <MATUSKEY@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: UB...what /do/ we know?
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 00:17:13 -0700
Just a side note.......

There have been a couple characters (one of them mine) who have
knowledge (and even dealings) with the Insects (my character, Brandon
Lowe (soon to appear on the cast list, really!) is a hermetic who is
dealing with a Wasp group. There have been one or two Mantis followers
as well.

My point is, you can have players with knowledge/experience of Insects:
you just can't have them spouting off about the UB. This violates the
"Don't screw with the world" philosophy set up in the FAQ. It may
seem restrictive, but it's one of those guidelines that keeps the
list from dissolving into total chaso (er, chaos). ;>
-Ed

Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!