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From: Matt Breton <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Amerindian Expansion Set [Overview]
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 19:36:53 -0500
The Amerindian Expansion set is comprised of 140 cards, divided fairly evenly across the
eight
different types of cards. While the set features (obviously) the Amerindian Runners, I've
tried
fairly hard _not_ to give them too much power; while I expect the set to create several
new deck
types, they should blend right in with existing decks like Chrome-Bruisers, Decker
Thieves, and
Street Gang decks.

* What Is The Amerindian Expansion?

I first proposed the Amerindian Expansion Set on this list back in July (July?). I was
promptly
flooded with suggestions mixed with death threats, which ranged from ho-hum-done-that to
whoa!-wish-I'd-thought-of-that (the suggestions) and mildly scathing to downright
FBI-call-
inducing (the death threats).

There are several highlights that I'd like to draw people's attention to:

- The Kiva Objectives. This is what sparked the whole concept -- what if you only could
win by
making one particular run? The Kivas also brought about a new concept, of Objectives that
affected the entire gameplay, not just the shadowrun being made against them. For
fifteen-point
Objectives, they're tough - but when the game's at stake, they have to be.

- Servants of the Worm: I thought my head had exploded went this came off my pen. I
think I'm
going to print up a zillion of these and give them away.

- The Blood Mages. I've gotta give Teos a firm handshake for tossing these fellows my
way.
They're not _exactly_ how he presented them, but they definitely make mages a _lot_ more
interesting to play in the game. And I have a few in reserve, too.

- The Bahos: Cyrill Locke proposed these; again, they're not exactly the originals, but I
think
they work very well: 3¥ for a skill increase, plus the opportunity to do some _really_
funky stuff.
At a cost -- but everything has its price.

And there are a few negative points as well. There are no new game mechanics in AEX (well
-
possibly one; the concept of 'caches' underneath other cards -- retroactively, The
Warehouse
and The Hideaway now have 'caches', and some future card might affect them - but that card
may never come to be.) There are a few card effects which are very similar: discard cards
rfom
hands, which a lot of people requested; Recon Challenges (even though it's not always
called a
Recon), which no-one did, but the cards showed up, and, like uninvited guests, it's
morning and
they're still here.

There are also far, far too many Awakened Challenges. But that's my personal opinion.

There were a number of themes that never quite developed as far as they should have: I
wanted
to do a lot of Challenges that didn't trigger the alarm (or had very little direct effect
on the
shadowrun); a number of effects that made being Anti-social or having negative Reputation
a
_good_ thing for a change; and I really wanted to work Deckers and Mages into distinct
roles,
which, um, didn't happen the way I planned it.

But I _like_ this set. There could always be more, though. Which brings me to....


* What I'm Still Looking For:

Feedback! While the set is 'finished', it's not necessarily unchangeable; in fact, if
anyone finds a
horridly nasty combo (and I'm sure I overlooked _something_) I'd love to hear about it.
But
please, before you respond, read the entire set through, several times; try them out in
game
play.

Flavor text! And pictures --- both descriptions of pictures that you think go along with
them, and
(for those artists in the shadows) .JPG or .GIF files -- original or appropriated
material. New
titles for cards like "Barkeep" and "Spectacle" -- I wince when I see
what I've written.

New cards! There're a number of cards I'd like to evict from the set. Vision Quest.
Seal
Hunters. Buckshot. The Dreaming World. Not so much baaad cards - but cards that don't
(to
me) do much that's important -- cards that could be stronger, different, more bad-assier.


* Where Does This Stand with FASA?

Mike and Jim have both seen the majority of cards in this set; a few last minute additions
escaped them, however. They're willing to let it be 'net-official', even though that
brings about its
own problems. My personal viewpoint is that they're there to have fun with: if your
gaming group
likes them, all the better - use them. Before they're adopted for official use, there
should be (at
least) a net-wide vote process of some sort. I'm willing to play vote-taker, and,
afterward,
net.DLOH and answer questions about the cards, their usage, and their intent.


* What Next?

Sometime in the middle of the sumer, a number of cards working with Detectives were kicked
about. This loosely ties in with a _very_ small collection of net.cards I have, called
'Seattle By
Gaslight' - again, detectives, Lone Star, and mysterious screams in the night. If enough
people
are interested, I'll post a 'core' of thirty-two cards to be developed around, much the
same way
Amerindian was introduced. In a way, Lacroix (the bounty hunter) is meant to tie these
two
expansions together, and he introduces another method of comparing Runners, by their
relative
number of skills.


* Additional Credits:

I'd like to thank everyone who submitted ideas, intentionally or not, or inclusion in the
set: I've
tried to properly identify who suggested what card. As cards changed, merged and split
off from
one another, this became increasingly difficult. This set, really, is joint property:
share and enjoy.


- Matt


Amerindian Expansion Set
- 18 Objectives
- 25 Challenges
- 15 Locations
- 12 Contacts
- 26 Runners
- 20 Gear
- 12 Specials
- 12 Stingers

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Amerindian Expansion Set [Overview], you may also be interested in:

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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.