Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 14:25:06 -0500
Gurth said:
>> How many cyberpunk books added in magic, or is that generally considered
>> not to be cyberpunk? Is Shadowrun based on any specific book or
>> sub-genre?
>
>I don't read many novels, but I think very few blend cyberpunk with
>fantasy in the way SR does. True cyberpunk, IMHO, is like Shadowrun
>without the magic, IOW much like the world portrayed in CP2020.

There are two movies out, that while they're more film noir than
cyberpunk, definitely have magic undertones that could easily be
incorporated into an SR game. They're 'Cast A Deadly Spell', with Fred
Ward; and the sequel 'Witchcraft' with Dennis Hopper this time in the
role of Phil Lovecraft.
The way magic is casually used [ I loved the zombie construction
workers ;-] and is a part [ abeit slightly strange] part of everyday
life {cop using it to light his cigarette], gives a good feel how it
might be in the world of Shadowrun.
The movies are definitely grade B, but worth a watch. I think
they're only avaliable on video, but you can occasionally catch them on
one of the movie channels.
A couple of spells in them could easily be adapted to SR.
Message no. 2
From: Tim P Cooper <z-i-m@****.COM>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 17:12:15 EST
On Fri, 4 Apr 1997 14:25:06 -0500 "Fisher, Victor" writes:

> There are two movies out, that while they're more film noir than
>cyberpunk, definitely have magic undertones that could easily be
>incorporated into an SR game. They're 'Cast A Deadly Spell', with Fred
>Ward; and the sequel 'Witchcraft' with Dennis Hopper this time in the
>role of Phil Lovecraft.

Ack!! Do you know how long I've looked for "Cast a Deadly Spell"... no
video place around me seems to have it. I saw previews for it somewhere
and wanted to see it...

Well I'll have to go look for them agian....

~Tim
Message no. 3
From: Denzil Kruse <dkruse@***.AZ05.BULL.COM>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 11:32:00 MST
On Fri, 4 Apr 1997 14:25:06 -0500 "Fisher, Victor" writes:

> There are two movies out, that while they're more film noir than
>cyberpunk, definitely have magic undertones that could easily be
>incorporated into an SR game. They're 'Cast A Deadly Spell', with Fred
>Ward; and the sequel 'Witchcraft' with Dennis Hopper this time in the
>role of Phil Lovecraft.

Cool! That's the name! My roommate was talking about a movie with Fred
Ward in it, and told me it was pretty good. Then couldn't tell me the name.

I read the short story for Johnny Mnemonic, and it was pretty good. I
didn't like the movie that much, but liked some of the ideas in it. I liked
the way the Yakuza hit man was portrayed in the story and Neuromancer much
better than in the movie.

A movie I did like is called Nemesis. I didn't like the sequels, but this
first one was pretty good. The main character kept getting hurt and losing
more essence to cyber replacements. The gunfights were pretty good as well.


Most other movies end up being Terminator knockoffs or just too cheesy and
unbelievable, even for Hollywood. I don't mind bad special effects (I grew
up with the original Star Trek) but don't see any excuse for cheesy plots.

As for books, I looked in the back of a friends Cyberpunk book (the RPG) and
it had a bibliography of suggested reading.

Thanks for your input (and output).

Denzil Kruse
d.kruse@****.com
Message no. 4
From: "Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 14:56:33 -0400
Denzil said:
>A movie I did like is called Nemesis. I didn't like the sequels, but this
>first one was pretty good. The main character kept getting hurt and losing
>more essence to cyber replacements. The gunfights were pretty good as well.

Hey, I totally forgot about this one [and I have it in my
collection, too. DOH!] The production values are kinda cheezy, but it
had a more fun storyline than many other 'cyberpunk' movies out there
[now this one should have gotten the treatment Johnny Mnemonic did]. The
gunfights were definetely Shadowrun material.
Bruce Willis is coming out witrh a new movie this summer called The
FIFTH ELEMENT. I just saw the previews, and it looks HOT!!! THe only way
I could describe it is BLADERUNNER, 2 centuries later! The attention to
detail in the costumes [not the usual Star Trek 'gloss overs'], sets,
buildings, flying 'spinner' cars; we were going wow in the movie theater
[ and I'm pretty damn jaded, too] Hopefully, the movie lives up to it's
promo. As Doctor Who might say, 'Time will tell'.
Message no. 5
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 11:10:06 +0100
Denzil Kruse said on 11:32/ 7 Apr 97...

> I read the short story for Johnny Mnemonic, and it was pretty good. I
> didn't like the movie that much, but liked some of the ideas in it. I liked
> the way the Yakuza hit man was portrayed in the story and Neuromancer much
> better than in the movie.

I (still) haven't seen the movie, but I did read the short story a couple
of years ago. The bits I have seen of the movie made me decide not to
watch it...

> A movie I did like is called Nemesis. I didn't like the sequels, but this
> first one was pretty good. The main character kept getting hurt and losing
> more essence to cyber replacements. The gunfights were pretty good as well.

I think I saw that one too, it was for a large part set on some tropical
island or something, right?

> Most other movies end up being Terminator knockoffs or just too cheesy and
> unbelievable, even for Hollywood. I don't mind bad special effects (I grew
> up with the original Star Trek) but don't see any excuse for cheesy plots.

Don't go to the movies for the next couple of years, then :) The only
things Hollywood seems to be able to come up with currently, are lots of
very good special effects without any kind of story behind it...

> As for books, I looked in the back of a friends Cyberpunk book (the RPG) and
> it had a bibliography of suggested reading.

You can also look at some of the CP2020 players' web pages, at least one
of them has a list with more books and movies that form good background
material for cyberpunk games.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
They seem to have recycled their plowshares.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1:
GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+ PE
Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Message no. 6
From: Adam J <fro@***.AB.CA>
Subject: Re: cyberpunk novels {and movies}
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 12:51:43 -0600
At 11:10 4/8/97 +0100, Gurth wrote:

>> As for books, I looked in the back of a friends Cyberpunk book (the RPG)
and
>> it had a bibliography of suggested reading.
>
>You can also look at some of the CP2020 players' web pages, at least one
>of them has a list with more books and movies that form good background
>material for cyberpunk games.

Gurps: Cyberpunk (another of my bargain bin finds:) has a couple pages of
cyberpunk books/magazines/comics, and also mentions Shadowrun when talking
about integrating magic into a cyberpunk campaign. Sadly, that was the
hilight of the book ;)

-Adam

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about cyberpunk novels {and movies}, you may also be interested in:

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!