| From: | Paul Gettle RunnerPaul@*****.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | FASA's priorities [was: FASA Deadlines...] |
| Date: | Thu, 07 Oct 1999 10:36:09 -0400 |
:To adapt something from one of my classes, of the possible products,
:most fall into three categories: Must have, should have, and nice to
:have. The BBB3 is the only product that falls into the must have
:category. Things like M&M, CC, and MitS fall into the should have.
:Finally, the GM Screen (IMO), and SRC3 fall into the nice to have
:category. I'm not sure about First Run and Shadowrun Light ... I
:would say that they're should have for new players and nice to have
:for oldtimers.
:
:The problem (IMO) with FASA's schedule is that their priorities are
:all over the place. They should be releasing (producing) must have
:products first, then should have products and finally, nice to have
:products. The problem is FASA is intermixing the last two and it's
:agrivating to those of us to see how the rules have been updated.
Ah, but you said it yourself right there. First Run and the Shadowrun Quickstart Rules
_are_ "should haves" _for_new_players_. If you hadn't noticed, the new players
are one of FASA's main reasons for the third edition. That leaves the GM screen and SRC3.
Maybe the GM screen is only a "nice to have" (though with the critters chapter
being emasculated down to "spirits & dragons" in the BBB3, the Critters
booklet was a "should have" IMO) but it has been an industry tradition that
whenever a publisher releases a game, a GM Screen is released soon after.
As for SRC3, I think there were a few people happy to see that book come out. Remember the
discussions on the list about how to adapt the Point System to line up with 3rd edition
chargen, and the 3-4 web pages that sprang up with homebrew 3rd ed. point systems? Plus,
if you look at some of the stuff in the SRC, particularly the how-to-GM-a-Shadowrun stuff,
it's very handy for the new players.
Given the current focus on drawing in new players, it looks to me like FASA's scheduling
priorities aren't that out of whack.
--
-- Paul Gettle, #970 of 1000 (RunnerPaul@*****.com)
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