Message no. 1

From:	ROBERSON@***.EDU
Subject:	Books as Foundations
Date:	Sat, 30 Jan 93 00:36:12 CET

Gentleman,please the keep the following in mind when asking about rules
in the books or bringing in Shadowrun novels to support any arguments
concerning the Shadowrun background or game mechanics.
The authors of the books are like individual GMs and enjoy throwing
interesting elements into their stories if only to suprise and amuse the
readers. The authors are not attempting to create new rules are even a basis
for extensive additions and revisions to existing rules. They are simply using
what has been historically know as "poetic license", a practice utlilized
by story tellers from the African Savannah to Shakespeare to Ridley Scott.
Any strange and unusual (by Shadowrun standards, anyway) elements in the stories
are like the individual quirks peculiar to our respective campaigns. Anything
new introduced in them should be rare and difficult to replicate. Therefore,
any fantastic elements from the novels serve as poor foundations for any
argument, especially involving rules. As for settling upon ways to handle
any unique situations in the novels within your own campaign, I suggest
individual GMs handle it. By no means are they indications of mainstream
events.
J Roberson
A Gentleman will walk but never run.