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Message no. 1
From: grahamdrew grahamdrew@*********.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 02:02:14 -0400
Smed wrote:
>
> Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
> sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
> looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
> sourcebook.
>
> Thanks
>
> Smed
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @*****.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

I think everyone else has already covered the FASA sanctioned erattas,
but I've recently started gathering up errors that have been corrected
by other books or can be fixed simply with little fuss, and classifing
them as an unofficial eratta. Check them out at:

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Maze/1673/errata/index.html

(I realize they are quite sparse at this point, I;m working on it in my
off-time)
--
If a device is designed to do one thing really well, it can be
redesigned to do many things badly.
-Paranoia
Message no. 2
From: Smed smed51@*****.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 04:25:15 -0700 (PDT)
Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
sourcebook.

Thanks

Smed
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @*****.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Message no. 3
From: Brett Borger bxb121@***.edu
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 08:57:17 -0400 (EDT)
> Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
> sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
> looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
> sourcebook.

<rant>
Sorry that information does not exist. For years we ave been begging
FASA to print SR Errata, but they:
1) Claim they don't have errata for everything
2) Don't place the errata they have online
3) They will occasionally claim that they intend to place the errata
online. This is the case with the Rigger 2 errata. Originally it was
supposed to go online a "few weeks" after R2 was released. Then, they
pushed it back to a "few weeks" after SR3 was released. In the six
months since then, they've just stopped talking about it.

</rant>

Not that I'm, bitter. If you want to see a sweet errata set up, to
see how it should be done, visit http://www.sjgames.com. Even other
parts of FASA do it better...their Battletech site has a mostly
complete set of errata.

FASA's online support has always sucked, but it has only gotten worse
over time. Now we have a slow-loading, painful-to navigate site that
STILL doesn't offer us what we want.

To their credit, there are signs that the attitude might be changing.
By placing the unpublished bits of Renraku: Arcology Shutdown and the
Earthdawn Dragons book online, they may be saying that online support
is becoming important to them. But they are WAY behind other
companies.

-=SwiftOne=-
Message no. 4
From: Airwasp@***.com Airwasp@***.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 09:47:31 EDT
In a message dated 4/13/99, 8:57:02 AM, shadowrn@*********.org writes:
<<Sorry that information does not exist. For years we ave been begging
FASA to print SR Errata, but they:
1) Claim they don't have errata for everything
2) Don't place the errata they have online
3) They will occasionally claim that they intend to place the errata
online. This is the case with the Rigger 2 errata. Originally it was
supposed to go online a "few weeks" after R2 was released. Then, they
pushed it back to a "few weeks" after SR3 was released. In the six
months since then, they've just stopped talking about it.

</rant>

Not that I'm, bitter. If you want to see a sweet errata set up, to
see how it should be done, visit http://www.sjgames.com. Even other
parts of FASA do it better...their Battletech site has a mostly
complete set of errata. >>

Sorry for the weird quoting, I'm on another person's computer going through
aol.com at the moment.

As for wy SR is kinda bare on the FASA site, is that Battletech is the main
breadmaker for FASA, and the web-page chummer focuses a whole lot more on
BTech. And, as for things moving slowly, Mike M. is a little more worried at
the moment of making sure the products can get out on time now (as close as
possible even).

Give him a chance, especially now that FASA actually has a lot money in their
bank after selling off FASA Interactive to MS.

-Herc
Message no. 5
From: Brett Borger bxb121@***.edu
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 10:27:54 -0400 (EDT)
> BTech. And, as for things moving slowly, Mike M. is a little more worried at
> the moment of making sure the products can get out on time now (as close as
> possible even).

Don't get me started on THAT rant :)

> Give him a chance, especially now that FASA actually has a lot money in their
> bank after selling off FASA Interactive to MS.

Hey, he's got a chance to improve things. I see he's posted a nice
little message saying "we'll be putting errata and FAQ's here...but we
won't promise when".

My main complaint is that FASA has been really shortsighted about it
and simply hasn't made it a priority. It isn't a matter of money.
They could higher a high schooler for $20 to put up the files they had
and it would be better than what we've gotten.

Here's what other gaming companies offer on their sites:

1) Downloadable Character sheets
2) Errata
3) FAQ's
4) OOP products
5) Links to other sites
6) Downloadable mini-version to see if you like the game.
7) Status reports about recent releases and upcoming plans
8) Previews and samples from upcoming products
9) Information on submitting works

Some of these would take some real effort and time. Some of these
FASA either has or is implementing now. Others are simple, promote
goodwill among customers, and provide ADVERTISING.

Think, even if FASA took 1 hour, and put up a page that contained
PDF's of the SR character sheets, and had a banner ad for their other
games or the new product in this line at the top, a lot of people
would see it at no extra effort to FASA. Invest once, and sit back
and enjoy as the SR players take a look at the Btech page, or the
Crimson Skies or whatever.

Think of how much less email Mike would get, and how easy it would be
to answer more of it, if he simply mailed a copy of all his outgoing
mail to another account, then sat down once a month for 2 hours and
made a FAQ of it. The time saved in later email and the customer
goodwill would be worth more than 2 hours a month, I'm sure. And he
could get away with 4 hours every six months, I'm sure.

How about that Rigger 2 errata? What could possibly still need to be
done with it? Waiting for Rigger 3? (and the subsequent 4th
edition?)

Sigh. Sorry aobut the rant. I just really love FASA's games, and
really hate how they don't communicate well with their customers.
Like the announcement that SR:TCG wasn't going to be supported
anymore. Oh WAIT, we never got that announcement!

<pause to reduce sarcasm levels>

Anyway, I'm perfectly willing to accept that FASA may change and
improve, but after this much time, I'm not going to ignore that they
haven't done it yet. The little message from Mike didn't exactly
inspire me with confidence that anything will change soon:

"In order to get Shadowrun Third Edition and its follow-up rules
supplements, I had to remove myself from many of the other things that
I normally do. While some, like licensees and on-line game questions,
were picked up by others, other things, like the web, were not."

So in order to get all these SR3 supplements out, Mike had to stop
his normal work on the web page, which previously had given us...what?

"You will note that I very expertly dodged the issue of providing
dates for these events. Sorry chummer, but that's the way it has to
be right now."

After careful consideration, I've decided that I approve of this part.
While it still shows that FASA lacks the dedication to providing info
to the customers it needs (They should hire someone else, even a part
time high schooler or undergrad), if they aren't going to get it to me
soon, I'd prefer that they be honest and straight forward about it
(which they just were).

Anyway, like I said, I just think FASA doesn't realize how beneficial
a solid webpage will be. GURPS leaped from a decent game to one of my
favorites when I discovered how great their site is. SR3, with it's
focus on new players, really should start out with a good web page
now, before those new players decide not to look again.

-=SwiftOne=-
(BTW FASA, I'm happy to telecommute to do your pages. :) )
Message no. 6
From: David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 08:37:13 -0600 (MDT)
Smed wrote:
/
/ Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
/ sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
/ looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
/ sourcebook.

Check out http://shadowrun.html.com/hlair

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
ShadowRN GridSec
The ShadowRN FAQ
http://shadowrun.html.com/hlair/BuildHtmlFAQ.php3?title=ShadowRN&faqlistúqsrn
--
mailto:dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 7
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 19:08:43 +0200
According to Brett Borger, at 10:27 on 13 Apr 99, the word on
the street was...

> My main complaint is that FASA has been really shortsighted about it
> and simply hasn't made it a priority.

We had a very similar thread about a year ago, with roughly the same
complaints (and my main one, that FASA doesn't recognize the effort a lot
of us put into supporting the game, still stands AFAIC).

> It isn't a matter of money. They could higher a high schooler for $20 to
> put up the files they had and it would be better than what we've gotten.

Too true...

> Here's what other gaming companies offer on their sites:
>
> 1) Downloadable Character sheets

Which is _very_ easy to do -- just export the character sheet from the
rulebook to something printable, like PDF. Pinnacle seems to have done
exactly this with the sheet for Deadlands.

> 2) Errata

What boggles me about this one is that FASA _has_ them, but doesn't _do_
anything with them. Sure, compiling an errata takes time, so I can
understand it if they say they don't have them for all books. But making
one and then not adding it to a web page is just a little way short of
idiocy, IMHO.

> 3) FAQ's

Not something I myself particularly care for, but I can see how someone
who doesn't know the game very well would have a use for this.

> 4) OOP products

This is one category that it seems almost everyone would love to see, but
which for some reason FASA also ignores. (I don't think anyone needs to
bother telling me/us why, I think we know the cited reasons by now.)

> 5) Links to other sites

To quote you: Don't get me started on THAT rant...

> 6) Downloadable mini-version to see if you like the game.

I doubt FASA would do this if they've got the whatsitcalled Shadowrun Lite
coming out soon.

> 7) Status reports about recent releases and upcoming plans

Not vital, really.

> 8) Previews and samples from upcoming products

Which are there, from time to time. Unfortunately they tend to remain on
the site as "previews" for months after the product is out...

> 9) Information on submitting works

FASA did have these at some time in the past (I don't know if it's still
there) but I found they were ludicrously strict -- do this, don't do that,
only do such if we tell you to, and so on. It got weirder when I talked to
Mike Mulvihill about this last October in Essen (Germany); it seemed to me
he didn't really care for all the rules the submission guidelines set...

> After careful consideration, I've decided that I approve of this part.
> While it still shows that FASA lacks the dedication to providing info
> to the customers it needs (They should hire someone else, even a part
> time high schooler or undergrad)

Or a volunteer who can make a good web page and has the spare time to do
something for their favorite game. All FASA would need to do is send the
material to such a volunteer, and review it once they get it back.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
History's what you make it.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: 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?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 8
From: Shaun E. Gilroy shaung@**********.net
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 13:44:58 -0400
<snip about FASA web-site abuse :) >

I really believe the problem with FASA's web-site is that they need an
in-house webmaster to do the things that Brett outlines. Which, as far as
I understand it, they do not.

I recognize the Cold Fusion environment that the on-line store is composed
in and assume that is the case because whoever is hosting FASA.com is also
doing both site-design and updates. If a development house is involved in
the maintenance of a web-site, ...well, I work for one, they're damn
expensive for a small to mid-size business to contract work from --even for
just HTML work.

What it then comes down to is that FASA is updating the web-site when they
can budget the tab in. This is an impractical solution for a company whose
web-site maintenance is so vital to their customer-base (something
aparently Pinnacle, White-Wolf and SJG have recognized).

FASA ought to hire a webmaster that can develop in Cold Fusion for the
day-to-day maintenance of the site, and to add some of the features that we
have all been pining for. I really think that it could be a big pay-off
for them to do so.

I know that if I didn't play Shadowrun already, and I visited their site, I
wouldn't be drawn in by what I saw there --I would be utterly turned off.

They need to realize that the web is no longer an exotic thing, but a
working aspect of today's society. Those who fail to adapt --...

<disclaimer>
This rant is meant in no way to imply that they aren't doing a swell job
on the other fronts. But change/expansion is a fundamental part of running
a business for profit.
</disclaimer>



Shaun Gilroy [shaung@**********.net]
Online Technologies Corp.
Message no. 9
From: Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 13:22:26 -0500
:As for wy SR is kinda bare on the FASA site, is that Battletech is the main
:breadmaker for FASA, and the web-page chummer focuses a whole lot more on
:BTech. And, as for things moving slowly, Mike M. is a little more worried
at
:the moment of making sure the products can get out on time now (as close as
:possible even).

Hopefully that will change now that SR sales exceede BT sales. Roumour
is we're #1 at FASA, though I'm not sure if that's main rulebook unit volume
or cash sales.
Mike tries to correct the various printings as they come out, and Rob
Boyle has been sending the erratta to this list as Mike OK's them as part of
that process. SR3's 4rth printing (same errata as third) sold out in less
than 2 weeks (I think that makes it 41,000 SR3 books sold...) Maybe there
hasn't been a re-print of R2 lately, but with all those SR3 sales, I'd bet
one is due soon.


Mongoose
Message no. 10
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 12:28:16 EDT
In a message dated 4/13/99 6:22:11 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
smed51@*****.com writes:

>
> Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
> sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
> looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
> sourcebook.

The Rigger-2 errata has *yet* to be put anywhere that I am aware of.
Jon...are you listening???

-K
Message no. 11
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 12:58:07 EDT
In a message dated 4/13/99 12:09:29 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
gurth@******.nl writes:

>
> Or a volunteer who can make a good web page and has the spare time to do
> something for their favorite game. All FASA would need to do is send the
> material to such a volunteer, and review it once they get it back.
>
Sadly Gurth, this is not an easy option as we think it might be. I know of
several people whom have voiced this option to FASA. Apparently issues of
"is this FASA or is this personal" are being raised all over the place.

-K (who wishes he could get straighter answers out of FASA on this topic
himself)
Message no. 12
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 21:30:24 +0200
According to Ereskanti@***.com, at 12:58 on 14 Apr 99, the word on
the street was...

> > Or a volunteer who can make a good web page and has the spare time to do
> > something for their favorite game. All FASA would need to do is send the
> > material to such a volunteer, and review it once they get it back.
> >
> Sadly Gurth, this is not an easy option as we think it might be.

And I don't understand why this is not as easy as it seems. It looks
straightforward enough to me, or do they insist on adding legal stuff to
such a deal?

> -K (who wishes he could get straighter answers out of FASA on this topic
> himself)

IMHO FASA is taking some things much too seriously...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I will not take these things for granted.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: 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?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 13
From: Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 20:18:31 EDT
In a message dated 4/14/99 2:44:04 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
gurth@******.nl writes:

> > > Or a volunteer who can make a good web page and has the spare time to
do
> > > something for their favorite game. All FASA would need to do is send
> the
> > > material to such a volunteer, and review it once they get it back.

Additionally, think of this way. How man reviews would possibly erupt from
this exchange rate?

> > Sadly Gurth, this is not an easy option as we think it might be.
>
> And I don't understand why this is not as easy as it seems. It looks
> straightforward enough to me, or do they insist on adding legal stuff to
> such a deal?

Because Gurth, this is the States...and things are just stupendously ignorant
at times with regards to stuff like this.

> IMHO FASA is taking some things much too seriously...

I agree, but I know a bit more as to why they have too. Too many mistakes
made like this have cost plenty of groups a great deal in the past. For
instance...TSR....

-K
Message no. 14
From: Dvixen dvixen@****.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 18:07:04 -0700
At 12:28 PM 14/04/99 , Ereskanti@***.com annoyed me by writing:
>In a message dated 4/13/99 6:22:11 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
>smed51@*****.com writes:

>> Does anyone know where you can find Errata for FASA
>> sourcebooks on their website. I am specifically
>> looking for any fixes for mistakes in the Rigger 2
>> sourcebook.
>
>The Rigger-2 errata has *yet* to be put anywhere that I am aware of.
>Jon...are you listening???

The Errata for Rigger 2 is still in limbo, due to FASA wanting to get books
out reasonably on time, it got pushed back.

[rant at general anti-FASA sentiments lately]

Now let me guess. If FASA had gotten the Rigger 2 errata out before any of
the recent books, everyone would still complain, neh?

FASA does things the best they can, and bitching and whining is NOT going
to help matters any, it only gives them mroe stress, ESPECIALLY when
everyone decided to email FASA* to find out 'why this, why that'.

I'd like to think that FASA has got a good grapevine going, and that
compensates (I admit not 100% but it's better than total silence) for the
lack of updates of the website. Be thankful that Mike does respond to a few
when he has the chance. (And he gets plenty, I couldn't read that with a 10
day workweek. And people wonder why he sometimes is so silent? Or why he
had to drop off the list?)

Current news does get passed on, but still everyone thinks they have to
complain and moan.

Yes, I'm very anxious to see MitS, or M&M, but I know that things happen,
and that a release date is flexible. I used to work in a gaming store, boy
o boy, are release dates ever flexible, and it's not limited to any one
company.

Give the folks at FASA a break, the last couple of years have seen a lot of
changes, and it's not going miraculously get better in one day. The people
at FASA are working DAMN hard to make sure that if anything, the books get
out as close to the deadlines that were set two years ago. Yes, they set
deadlines WAY in advance, not always two years, but considering what can
happen in two years, I think they are doing pretty damned good.

So be patient, wait for the grapevine to get what you need, and then be
happy that you're not stuck in the arse end of nowhere without a phone.
Contacts. It's all Contacts. Piss off the Contacts, and they ain't telling
you diddly squat.




--
Dvixen - dvixen@****.com - http://shadowrun.html.com/hlair
SRFanFic's Keeper of the Rabid Woodchuck!
Current challenge: From the Point of View of an Inanimate Object.
Message no. 15
From: Airwasp@***.com Airwasp@***.com
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 07:51:52 EDT
In a message dated 4/14/1999 2:44:04 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
gurth@******.nl writes:

> According to Ereskanti@***.com, at 12:58 on 14 Apr 99, the word on
> the street was...
>
> > > Or a volunteer who can make a good web page and has the spare time to
> do
> > > something for their favorite game. All FASA would need to do is send
> the
> > > material to such a volunteer, and review it once they get it back.
> > >
> > Sadly Gurth, this is not an easy option as we think it might be.
>
> And I don't understand why this is not as easy as it seems. It looks
> straightforward enough to me, or do they insist on adding legal stuff to
> such a deal?
>
> > -K (who wishes he could get straighter answers out of FASA on this topic
> > himself)
>
> IMHO FASA is taking some things much too seriously...

Gurth, the problem with having someone other than FASA put official stuff on
their website eventually comes down to CONTROL, not expediency or ease of
getting the information out there. When the FASA site went down I did tell
Mike M. that if there was anything he wanted to be posted to the web, I could
do it temporarily under a different screen name of mine, and once the FASA
site came back online I would remove the information from the memory
allocated for the screen name.

And as for FASA taking some things seriously, I agree they do, but they also
have to do this to stay competitive and profitable.

-Herc
Message no. 16
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: FASA Errata
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 12:43:32 +0200
According to Airwasp@***.com, at 7:51 on 15 Apr 99, the word on
the street was...

> Gurth, the problem with having someone other than FASA put official stuff on
> their website eventually comes down to CONTROL, not expediency or ease of
> getting the information out there. When the FASA site went down I did tell
> Mike M. that if there was anything he wanted to be posted to the web, I could
> do it temporarily under a different screen name of mine, and once the FASA
> site came back online I would remove the information from the memory
> allocated for the screen name.

That's different than when someone else would simply turn FASA-supplied
data into HTML files to be put up at FASA's web site.

However, I suppose it will all make much more sense to people who think
commercially, as opposed to those with a mindset like mine.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I will not take these things for granted.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: 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?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

Further Reading

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