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Message no. 1
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 11:37:27 -0800 (PST)
What's the latest on the status of the future
Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks? I remember reading
before there would be some kind of atlas or
encyclopedia of the Shadowrun world coming out in the
near future.

-Scott

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Message no. 2
From: adam@************.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 14:45:32 -0500
At 14:37 1/18/2003, Scott Hiller wrote:
>What's the latest on the status of the future
>Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks? I remember reading
>before there would be some kind of atlas or
>encyclopedia of the Shadowrun world coming out in the
>near future.

The 2003 release list is:

"Dragons of the Sixth World" - Sourcebook on the goings on and secrets of
the draconic powerplayers of the SR Universe.

Sprawl Survival Guide: Life on the streets, travelling information, and
life for the everyday person.

Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book: Gamemastering stuff, maps, NPCs, and all
that other stuff GMs need.

Shadows of Europe: The nuclear wastelands that is Europe. Oh, just kidding.
This book will - as the title suggests - be in a format similar to Shadows
of North America.

Shadows of Asia: Ditto. This will followup on a lot of the Year of the
Comet events and how they've affected Asia, especially Japan. SONA/SOE format.

Flashpoint: Pacific Northwest: This book will cover various stuff happening
in the PacNW - Seattle stuff, Salish border war, etc. This book will
probably be a track-style adventure book like Blood in the Boardroom, with
some source material.

State of the Art: 2064: In the same format as SOTA: 2063, updated Culture
Shock and other material. Likely contents include Law Enforcement, Military
stuff, and 2-3 other sections.

The Atlas idea was canned, at least for the forseeable future; development
decided that it would be better to do Shadows of $X books first, as opposed
to building a world Atlas and /then/ writing Shadows of $X books on the
same subject.

Adam
Official Shadowrun Page: www.shadowrunrpg.com | adam@************.com
Message no. 3
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 11:25:23 -0800 (PST)
Sounds like a lot of cool stuff is being planned for
'03! Thanks Adam!

I was also wondering maybe you guys could put some
mechanics on designing cities and towns that aren't
covered in any of the Shadowrun® source material in
one of the GM-oriented books you're planning for this
year. That would let people have the freedom to set
adventures wherever they wanted while still adhering
to the Shadowrun® game mechanics.

Just an idea. What do you think?

-Scott

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Message no. 4
From: adamj@*********.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 16:24:29 -0500
At 14:25 1/19/2003, Scott Hiller wrote:

>I was also wondering maybe you guys could put some
>mechanics on designing cities and towns that aren't
>covered in any of the Shadowrun® source material in
>one of the GM-oriented books you're planning for this
>year. That would let people have the freedom to set
>adventures wherever they wanted while still adhering
>to the Shadowrun® game mechanics.

I'm unsure as to what 'mechanics' you need for designing a city. Could you
list some examples of what these mechanics would cover?

Adam
--
| Editor, The Shadowrun Supplemental: http://tss.dumpshock.com |
| adamj@*********.com | http://www.talkinabout.com | UIN: 2350330 |
Message no. 5
From: sf_fuller@********.com.au (Simon & Fiona)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:33:23 +1100
----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Hiller <scotthiller2002@*****.com>
To: <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 6:25 AM
Subject: Re: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks


> Sounds like a lot of cool stuff is being planned for
> '03! Thanks Adam!
>
> I was also wondering maybe you guys could put some
> mechanics on designing cities and towns that aren't
> covered in any of the Shadowrun® source material in
> one of the GM-oriented books you're planning for this
> year. That would let people have the freedom to set
> adventures wherever they wanted while still adhering
> to the Shadowrun® game mechanics.
>
> Just an idea. What do you think?
>
> -Scott
>

It could be a fun game for the list to do a basic description of their home
town in Shadowrun times. Nothing to detailed, just a few adventure hooks and
a bit of info on what runners might need to know. Maybe a Blackberry Cat has
sunk its claws into the mayor, or maybe a rogue security firm has taken
over.
I live in a part of Sydney which I think was obliterated according to canon,
so I can't say much. Ah well.
Message no. 6
From: adamj@*********.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 18:44:06 -0500
At 18:33 1/19/2003, Simon & Fiona wrote:

>It could be a fun game for the list to do a basic description of their home
>town in Shadowrun times. Nothing to detailed, just a few adventure hooks and
>a bit of info on what runners might need to know. Maybe a Blackberry Cat has
>sunk its claws into the mayor, or maybe a rogue security firm has taken
>over.

I'd be completely interested in publishing a variety of 1-3 page writeups
on various cities in The Shadowrun Supplemental -- just the basic
information such as Demographics, Government, Crime, Politics, Corps,
Important Landmarks, Interesting Unique Things, and Plot Hooks. I feel the
above information is enough for any GM to start fleshing a city out on his
own, and there's /plenty/ of bars, clubs, restaurants, etc in other
sourcebooks that can be easily dropped into any city on the globe, with a
few adjustments for regional colour.

Adam
--
| Editor, The Shadowrun Supplemental: http://tss.dumpshock.com |
| adamj@*********.com | http://www.talkinabout.com | UIN: 2350330 |
Message no. 7
From: justin@******.net (Justin Bell)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 18:45:41 -0500
At 10:33 AM 1/20/2003 +1100, Simon & Fiona wrote:

>It could be a fun game for the list to do a basic description of their home
>town in Shadowrun times. Nothing to detailed, just a few adventure hooks and
>a bit of info on what runners might need to know. Maybe a Blackberry Cat has
>sunk its claws into the mayor, or maybe a rogue security firm has taken
>over.
>I live in a part of Sydney which I think was obliterated according to canon,
>so I can't say much. Ah well.

which part of Sydney?


--
Justin Bell
justin-sig@******.net
Message no. 8
From: sf_fuller@********.com.au (Simon & Fiona)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:29:15 +1100
----- Original Message -----
From: Justin Bell <justin@******.net>
To: Shadowrun Discussion <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 10:45 AM
Subject: Re: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks


> which part of Sydney?
>

The outer west, Richmond to be exact, 50-60 km from the Sydney CBD. I don't
have the book but I understand that the outer suburbs were lost.
Message no. 9
From: justin@******.net (Justin Bell)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:34:47 -0500
At 12:29 PM 1/20/2003 +1100, Simon & Fiona wrote:


> > which part of Sydney?
> >
>
>The outer west, Richmond to be exact, 50-60 km from the Sydney CBD. I don't
>have the book but I understand that the outer suburbs were lost.


it's kinda vague, really. I was wondering if places like Warragamba and
Prospect would be taken out, cause if they were then there would be no
water supply

I'm originally from Silverdale, out by Warragamba, thus the interest.




--
Justin Bell
justin-sig@******.net
Message no. 10
From: sf_fuller@********.com.au (Simon & Fiona)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:50:35 +1100
----- Original Message -----
From: Justin Bell <justin@******.net>
To: Shadowrun Discussion <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 12:34 PM
Subject: Re: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks


>
> it's kinda vague, really. I was wondering if places like Warragamba and
> Prospect would be taken out, cause if they were then there would be no
> water supply
>
> I'm originally from Silverdale, out by Warragamba, thus the interest.
>
>
Now that's an interesting point. I can't see how they'd protect something so
vulnerable as the dams, so maybe SR Sydney is dependant on desalinisation
plants. Or maybe they dug up the old Tank Stream :)
Message no. 11
From: justin@******.net (Justin Bell)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:58:21 -0500
At 12:50 PM 1/20/2003 +1100, Simon & Fiona wrote:


>Now that's an interesting point. I can't see how they'd protect something so
>vulnerable as the dams, so maybe SR Sydney is dependant on desalinisation
>plants. Or maybe they dug up the old Tank Stream :)


of course, they had the popn of the Sydney metroplex at 17 million, I
think. So desalination was really the only way to go. But the book seems to
not include anything about this at all.


--
Justin Bell
justin-sig@******.net
Message no. 12
From: Gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:46:28 +0100
According to Scott Hiller, on Sun, 19 Jan 2003 the word on the street was...

> I was also wondering maybe you guys could put some
> mechanics on designing cities and towns that aren't
> covered in any of the Shadowrun® source material in
> one of the GM-oriented books you're planning for this
> year. That would let people have the freedom to set
> adventures wherever they wanted while still adhering
> to the Shadowrun® game mechanics.

Ehhhm... I'm having a bit of trouble imagining what you'd need game rules
for when it comes to writing up a city. You're not suggestion something
like a building points system for cities, are you? :)

*Okay, if I increase the population to just above 50,000, that gives me
enough points to add a hospital, but I'd better also add a police station
to deal with the extra crime that population brings...*

Maybe, if this is what you want to do, you should get yourself a copy of
one of the versions of SimCity :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wat wil die man in hemelsnaam?
-> Probably NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ P(+) L++ E W--(++) N o? K w(--)
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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 13
From: Jconstable@*****.com (Jconstable@*****.com)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:52:12 +0000 (GMT)
On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, Simon & Fiona wrote:

> a bit of info on what runners might need to know. Maybe a Blackberry Cat has
> sunk its claws into the mayor, or maybe a rogue security firm has taken

Forgive my ignorance, but what is so special about a blackberry cat? is
this some paracritter I havent heard of?

cheers!

--
john@*****.net http://www.kript.net/shadowrun
SRGC SR1+ SR3++ !SR2 h b++ B--- UB IE+ RN+ !W ma+++ gm M-- P-
HK227, 1500 nuyen. One clip of Ex Explosive, 280 nuyen. The look on the
dragon's face when you put a six round burst into the head of Michaelangelo's
David? Priceless. - Mercer (forums.dumpshock.com)
Message no. 14
From: korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 05:08:18 -0800 (PST)
--- Jconstable@*****.com wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, Simon & Fiona wrote:
>
> > a bit of info on what runners might need to know. Maybe a
> Blackberry Cat has
> > sunk its claws into the mayor, or maybe a rogue security firm has
> taken
>
> Forgive my ignorance, but what is so special about a blackberry
> cat? is
> this some paracritter I havent heard of?
>
> cheers!

Excerpted from Paranormal Animals of Europe:

Blackberry Cats (felis nigra): Awakened critter, found all over
Europe. Similar in size to a housecat, but massing out higher (15kg
average). Always black. Suspicians point on the one hand to great
misfortune if you see one of these, and on the other to great fortune
if one lives willingly in your house. Extremely cunning critters,
virtually impossible to surprise or trap.

Powers: Accident (LOS),Adaptive Coloration, Blindness (LOS),
Compulsion (LOS), Darkness, Desire Reflection (LOS), Enhanced
Movement, Enhanced Reaction, Enhanced Senses (Low Light), Hypnotic
Howl, Illusion (LOS)

Weaknesses: Catnip (I kid you not). Willpower (6) to resist moving
toward the smell. If exposed to it (eaten, sprayed with, etc)
suffers +2 to all TN for 6D6 Turns.

Summary...every GM has one or two of these hiding somewhere...just in
case you think Evil cannot also be Cute (Note: many gamers think Cute
= Evil, but a few have not yet learned...). ;>

======Korishinzo
--professional blackberry cat breeder

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Message no. 15
From: Shannon@*****.co.za (Shannon Buys)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:19:47 +0200
Ice Heart wrote:

Blackberry Cats (felis nigra): Awakened critter, found all over
Europe. Similar in size to a housecat, but massing out higher (15kg
average). Always black. Suspicians point on the one hand to great
misfortune if you see one of these, and on the other to great fortune
if one lives willingly in your house. Extremely cunning critters,
virtually impossible to surprise or trap.
<snip>

Quick question, would a mage be able to sense anything funny about awakend
critters aura's? E.g. Would a mage who didn't know what a Blackberry cat
was, be able to figure there was something fishy about it, and possibly
what, just by seeing it's aura?
Message no. 16
From: korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 05:41:05 -0800 (PST)
--- Shannon Buys <Shannon@*****.co.za> wrote:
> Ice Heart wrote:
>
> Blackberry Cats (felis nigra): Awakened critter, found all over
> Europe. Similar in size to a housecat, but massing out higher
> (15kg
> average). Always black. Suspicians point on the one hand to great
> misfortune if you see one of these, and on the other to great
> fortune
> if one lives willingly in your house. Extremely cunning critters,
> virtually impossible to surprise or trap.
> <snip>
>
> Quick question, would a mage be able to sense anything funny about
> awakend
> critters aura's? E.g. Would a mage who didn't know what a
> Blackberry cat
> was, be able to figure there was something fishy about it, and
> possibly
> what, just by seeing it's aura?

Can a mage tell that another person is a mage just by seeing their
aura? Or a werewolf in metahuman form? Can they tell an aura from a
projecting mage at a glance? Can they tell another mage is assensing
immediately upon assensing the mage? I would roll the mage a
perception test, and pass on the fact that the cat was Awakened if
the perception test generated the correct number of successes. Of
course, the cat could play with the mage's perception using its
powers too. I once had a blackberry cat decide that it wanted to
play with a mage, so when assensed, it made sure the mage saw what he
wanted to see (that the cat was a valuable resource). The player,
ever gullible, even voiced his character's desires without any
prompting, making it very easy to tailor the cat's use of Desire
Reflection. The mage thought that the cat was a paracritter whose
hair, nail shavings, and even bodily waste, would be valuable. So
his assensing test showed him that the cat was Awakened, and had
concentrations of mana around the ends of its fur, in its claws, and
in the puddle of pee on the mage's new boots. Do you have any idea
how hard it is to keep a straight face when a PC actually severs
relations with their talismonger contact because the talismonger
refuses to buy vials of cat urine? I do believe that was the only
player I never cautioned against taking Bad Karma for their Hermetic
Mage. It just fit somehow. :)

======Korishinzo
--hey, maybe I should blame my Evil GMing on blackberry cats




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Message no. 17
From: Gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:20:18 +0100
According to Jconstable@*****.com, on Mon, 20 Jan 2003 the word on the street was...

> Forgive my ignorance, but what is so special about a blackberry cat? is
> this some paracritter I havent heard of?

It's an apparently normal (though large) black housecat, but with quite a lot of
paranormal powers. A description is in Paranormal Animals of Europe, and "witch's
cat" seems a pretty good way to put it into only a few words.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wat wil die man in hemelsnaam?
-> Probably NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ 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. 18
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:03:41 -0800 (PST)
Sure. By mechanics, I am referring to figuring the
security levels, population, demographics, whether or
not there's any Background Count, RTG Security levels,
etc. that the City or area might have in accordance to
the Shadowrun® universe as pre-determined by you guys.

Of course, people could always do whatever they want
when drawing up stats for a city not covered by you
guys.

Basically, stuff like Population, demographics and
generally where stuff is, number of districts, what
Megacorps are active in the City, what Shadow groups
(if any) are active in the city, what other policial
or religious groups (or fringe cults) are active in
the City, where the main Shadowrunner hang-outs are
and where Shadowrunners tend NOT to go, what gangs are
there, what threats are there, etc.

I know it's impossible to abstract ALL this stuff and
a lot of it has to be left up to the GMs imagination,
but if there is a way to help GMs whip up a general
framework idea for a non-covered city (and go from
there) then there should be a way to do that.
-Scott

> I'm unsure as to what 'mechanics' you need for
designing a city. Could you list some examples of what
these mechanics would cover?


Adam

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Message no. 19
From: adamj@********.dumpshock.com (Adam Jury)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 15:27:36 -0500 (EST)
On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, Scott Hiller wrote:

> Basically, stuff like Population, demographics and
> generally where stuff is, number of districts, what
> Megacorps are active in the City, what Shadow groups
> (if any) are active in the city, what other policial
> or religious groups (or fringe cults) are active in
> the City, where the main Shadowrunner hang-outs are
> and where Shadowrunners tend NOT to go, what gangs are
> there, what threats are there, etc.
>
> I know it's impossible to abstract ALL this stuff and
> a lot of it has to be left up to the GMs imagination,
> but if there is a way to help GMs whip up a general
> framework idea for a non-covered city (and go from
> there) then there should be a way to do that.

I'm unsure as to how any of this would be "mechanics," though. Guidelines,
yes - although I think you could distill it down to the phrase "Do some
research, use your imagination, apply some logic." in the end.

I'm not trying to be difficult, I just really don't see what you're asking
for.

Adam
Message no. 20
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:31:13 -0800 (PST)
Cool! I was thinking that, since Seattle is pegged as
the MAIN Shadowrunner City, the stats for other cities
could be based on Seattle.

For example, take POPULATION: find out the SHADOWRUN
Seattle population (I believe it is 3,111,000) and
take the CURRENT Seattle population (563,374). Figure
out the percentage of increase. Multiply that
percentage of increse to the CURRENT population of the
City you're working with. This is the BASE INCREASE.
Next, find out the random population increase or
decrease: roll 1d6 (1-3: decrease. 4-6: additional
increase). Roll 2d10 (percentile dice) to find the
PERCENTAGE of decrease or additional increase. Add or
subtract this number to or from the BASE INCREASE
figure. Then, calculate the TOTAL Shadowrun population
for that city.

Now, to figure out the Demographics, look up the
AVERAGE Metahuman population percentage (In Sprawl
Sites on pg. 6, it's listed as being 10% to 25% of any
city population). The Human population would therefore
be 90% to 85%. Figure out the average % (I got 87.5%).
Now, roll 1d6 for the HUMAN population. 1-3: decrease.
4-6: additional increase. Roll percentile dice.
Obviously, the percentage cannot go above 100%, so if
it does according to the dice result, re-roll or move
the decimal point one space to the left (ex: 47
becomes 4.7) which will create a more realistic Human
population percentage. Subtract the Human population
percentage from 100%. The remaining number is the
percentage of metahumans in your city. Now, just roll
percentile dice based on the remaining percentage of
population for each metahuman group (Elf, Dwarf, Ork,
Troll). The remaining metahuman percentage of the
population will decrease after each roll.

For example:
City A:
2003 Pop.: 100,000
Percentage of Seattle Population Increase:
5.5220865713 (That's 552%, folks!)
Multiply 100,000 by 5.5220865713= 552,209
Roll 1d6: 1. This is a DECREASE in pop. off of 552,209
Figure Percentage of decrease (roll percentile dice):
70. -70%
Factor it in: 552,209-70%= 165,663
Result: 165,663 is the Shadowrun population of City A

Now, figure out the Human/Metahuman demographics
particular to City A:
Average Human Population: 87.5%
Roll 1d6: 2 (City A has FEWER Humans than the average
City)
Roll Percentile: 41. (City A has 41% FEWER total
humans than the average Sprawl)
Figure out Human Population Percentage (87.5% minus
41%)= 52%
City A has a 52% Human population.
Now, figure the Metahuman population demographics for
each major group (Subtract 52 from 100. The result is
the total percentage of metahumans): 48
Elf: 37% (rolled a 38 on percentile)
Dwarf: (subtract 37 from 48: 11. Roll percentile): 4%
(rolled a 36)
Ork: (subtract 4 from 11: 7. Roll percentile): 4%
(rolled a 59)
Troll: (subtract 4 from 7: 3. Roll percentile): 3%
(rolled a 87)
Other: (subtract 3 from 3: 0. No need to roll
percentile)

One other thing I like to do is generate a CULTURAL
Demographic overall outline of a city, then use that
also when I generate NPCs. For example, in D.C., there
are a LOT more African American people than there are
Caucasian people. And that should be reflected in the
game if an adventure is set in D.C. Also, by the same
token, different neighborhoods also can have different
cultural demographics. In Chicago, New York, and other
large cities, you got your Italian neighborhoods, your
Jewish neighborhoods, your Black neighborhoods, your
Puerto Rican neighborhoods, and your Mexican, Chinese,
Korean, Ukranian, Japanese, Russian, Greek, Arabic,
Hindu, Scandinavian, Polish, Irish, or Mixed, etc.
neighborhoods. If a neighborhood is 99% Black, for
example, the chances of a Character having a non-Black
Contact there is very low. The same goes for any other
dominant culture found in a certain neighborhood.

Also, to figure out the area (physical SIZE of a city,
you can apply the same principle to figuring out its
area as you can for figuring out its population.

Also, there could also be a way to determine the
OVERALL Security Rating for any given city. For the
OVERALL, you could roll 1d8 (1ªA, 2ª, 3=A, 4=B,
5=C, 6=D, 7=E, 8=Z). This would create a +/- Modifier
for Security Ratings of distrcts or neighborhoods.
Here's a scale I thought would work:
OVERALL SECURITY ROLL/District-Neighborhood Security
Modifier
AAA: -4
AA: -3
A: -2
B: -1
C: 0
D: +1
E: +2
Z: +3

As for Government, it is possible to come up with a
list of TYPES of governments running a Sprawl, a
State, a Provence, etc. (ex: Democratic, Technocratic,
Republican, Libertarian, Megacorporate-backed,
Syndicate-backed, etc.) Maybe there could be Security
Modifiers affected by the types of government, too. Of
course, there could be more than one type.

As for Crime, that would also be linked to the
security level: I remember in the original Shadowrun
Sourcebook, they had something like a Felonious Crime
Rate figure. Seattle had a 15 per 1,000 per annum.
Maybe that could be linked to the Security Rating. A
rage could be 1 (NO Crime ... at lease No Crime
REPORTED) to 20 (a Criminal's HAVEN). That could give
an indication as to how many gangs and crime
syndicates there are and how strong they are.

Politics: This could be tied to the type (or types) of
government.

Corps: This could be figured by way of using a Chart
made up of types of industry (taken from Corporate
Download). Somehow, figure the dominant type (or
types) of industry. Match that up with the megacorp
stats in Corporate Download. That's what kinds of
corps are dominant there.

Important Landmarks: I like what you guys did with the
SpaceNeedle in Seattle and the Sears (IBM) Tower in
Chicago. Maybe, depending on the results of the above
info, landmarks could still could have been destroyed.
Or they could have been converted to other uses like
the Empire State Building in NYC. The best resources
for Landmarks (Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Acropolis,
the Colluseum, the Autobahn, the Pyramids, the Dome in
Jerusalem, the Great Wall, the St. Louis Arch, the
D.C. Monuments, the Golden Gate, the different
historical districts of different cities. Some cities
like Williamsburg, VA are entire historical districts
all their own!) are probably in encyclopedias. From
there, extrapolate the Shadowrun version of these
landmarks.

the Interesting Unique Things and Plot Hooks would be
the provence of the GM's imagination. But the above
info could provide a solid base from which to start
and STILL adhere to the Shadowrun Universe.

I mean, it is unlikely there will be any Sourcebook
info written up on places like Peoria, IL or Missoula,
Salish-Shidhe ... but this option will allow GMs to
generate stats for places like that if they want to
run an adventure there.

Also, there is (and will be from what I understand)
enough general source material that will cover each
area of the globe which will affect the state of these
different cities and locations not specifically
covered.

>From here, the city could be adequately fleshed-out by
the GM when concerned with bars, clubs, restaurants,
etc. Also, obviously, Shadowrun Tokyo is going to be
different from Shadowrun Warsaw, but the goal is to
provide a basis for GM's to build the framework of a
city as it would exist in the Shadowrun Universe. From
there, the GM can research and flesh it out as he
would like for the purposed of his adventure. They
could set an Adventure from anywhere from Addis Abeba,
Ethiopia, to Moscow, to New York City, to Taylorville
IL.

-Scott

I'd be completely interested in publishing a variety
of 1-3 page writeups on various cities in The
Shadowrun Supplemental -- just the basic information
such as Demographics, Government, Crime, Politics,
Corps, Important Landmarks, Interesting Unique Things,
and Plot Hooks. I feel the above information is enough
for any GM to start fleshing a city out on his own,
and there's /plenty/ of bars, clubs, restaurants, etc
in other sourcebooks that can be easily dropped into
any city on the globe, with a few adjustments for
regional colour.

Adam

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Message no. 21
From: shadowrun@******.com (Paul)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 17:41:02 -0500
---------------------- multipart/mixed attachment
At 04:31 PM 1/20/2003, you wrote:


>For example, take POPULATION: find out the SHADOWRUN
>Seattle population (I believe it is 3,111,000) and
>take the CURRENT Seattle population (563,374). Figure
>out the percentage of increase. Multiply that
>percentage of increse to the CURRENT population of the
>City you're working with. This is the BASE INCREASE.
>Next, find out the random population increase or
>decrease: roll 1d6 (1-3: decrease. 4-6: additional
>increase). Roll 2d10 (percentile dice) to find the
>PERCENTAGE of decrease or additional increase. Add or
>subtract this number to or from the BASE INCREASE
>figure. Then, calculate the TOTAL Shadowrun population
>for that city.
><snip>

While a very interesting and intriguing read with some valid points for
GMs, I think there are some rather unique issues related to Seattle and
it's geographic location that would have to be considered as explanations
of the massive population increase... Realize that the current population
of Vancouver is about 2 Million people... Is there a Vancouver anymore in
the Shadowrun world? And if yes, then how many people of non-native ethnic
background live there... and what about Edmonton and Calgary... and those
are just the major Canadian cities in NAN territory. There would have been
large migrations when the NAN forced people to move out of former USA and
Canadian regions. A better choice for your calculations would be a place
like Chicago (before Bug City), Detroit, or Washington DC...

Epilogue

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Message no. 22
From: Gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:51:11 +0100
According to Scott Hiller, on Mon, 20 Jan 2003 the word on the street was...

> Sure. By mechanics, I am referring to figuring the
> security levels, population, demographics, whether or
> not there's any Background Count, RTG Security levels,
> etc. that the City or area might have in accordance to
> the Shadowrun® universe as pre-determined by you guys.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are essentially asking for is a
set of tables that you can roll on to determine the statistics of any city?

--
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Wat wil die man in hemelsnaam?
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Message no. 23
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 20:22:54 -0800 (PST)
On Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003, you wrote:
While a very interesting and intriguing read with some
valid points for

GMs, I think there are some rather unique issues
related to Seattle and

it's geographic location that would have to be
considered as

explanations

of the massive population increase... Realize that
the current

population

of Vancouver is about 2 Million people... Is there a
Vancouver anymore

in

the Shadowrun world? And if yes, then how many
people of non-native

ethnic

background live there... and what about Edmonton and
Calgary... and

those

are just the major Canadian cities in NAN territory.
There would have

been

large migrations when the NAN forced people to move
out of former USA

and

Canadian regions. A better choice for your
calculations would be a

place

like Chicago (before Bug City), Detroit, or
Washington DC...


Epilogue

Granted, Seattle has its own situation going on in
Shadowrun. And, true, I was mainly thinking of the,
CFS, UCAS, and CAS cities (as well as some foreign
ones). To address your question, as far as cities that
have experienced a drastic demographic shift (like
Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, etc.), the GM could
simply transplant the majority demographic from
Caucasian to Amerindian. Then, they could go ahead and
assign demographics to the different tribes in that
nation in accordance to the listings in the Shadows of
North America. This can also be done for other cities
in foreign lands: Israel, Turkey, France, the Chinese
States, Amazonia, Argentina, Iraq, India, Egypt, Iran,
etc. where there are different cultures living
together.

According to many published Shadowrun sources, there
IS still a Vancouver in Shadowrun. Check out Shadows
of North America as well as the main Shadowrun 3rd
Edition book for starters. Both offer very nice and
complete descriptions of Vancouver.

One question I have, though, is what happened to
Vancouver, WASHINGTON? That city's right across the
Columbia River from Portland. In Shadowrun, it's in
the SSC, Poertland's in the Tir, and the Wall would
cut Vancouver off from Portland ... a city from which
it was the recipient of an economic boon. What's
become of it now? And how would one differentiate
between the Vancouver across the river from Portland
and the Vancouver up north along the coast?

-Scott

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Message no. 24
From: scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject: More Shadowrun Location Sourcebooks
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 20:33:10 -0800 (PST)
On Tue, 1/21/03, Gurth wrote:

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are
essentially asking for is a set of tables that you can
roll on to determine the statistics of any city?

Yes, exactly. It could be in the Game Information of
the Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book (or something
similar) that's being planned according to Adam. This
info certainly would NOT require a seperate book for
itself, rather it may fit better as part of a Game
Information section of one of the planned books for
'03.

-Scott

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