| From: | Bull <chaos@*****.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Quick Eulogy for the passing of SR2 |
| Date: | Mon, 6 Jul 1998 04:17:03 -0400 |
Ok, anyways, despite the enormously long weekend, I've decided to plod
along and report all of this while it's fresh in my mind. Who knows how
I'll feel tomorrow after a good nights sleep :]
Anyways, on with the show. This is what FASAMike announced at Origins
fduring the seminars about SR3. He really went into detail about
everything, so...
The details, in no particular order:
1. One of the best and biggest additions isn't a change so much as
something that was very curiously missing from the first two editions of
the game: A detailed explanation of just what shadowrunning was, and who
shadowrunners were. And there is a new piece of fiction in this area as well.
2. Examples. LOTS of examples. This is one area of the book that really
makes it "user friendly". They used examples quite frequently.
3. Initiative gets a slight facelift. This is one I partlicularly like
for various reasons <g>. Basically, the action order has been rearranged
slightly, so that everyone gets to go early in the round, and the
speedsters get all there extra actions later in the round.
Basically, you roll initiative. Everyone goes once, starting with the
highest initiative total. Once everyone has gone once, subtract 10 from
your rolled initiative. Everyone that still has a positive number gets to
go a second time, and so on. It works very well, and fixes the problem of
speedsters vs. magic.
4. Skills. Skills get a major overhaul as well.
-- There are now only General and Concentrations of skills.
-- Active Skills were broken up a lot, especially Firearms. Instead
of a general firearms skill, you now need to learn Pistol, Rifle, SMG, etc.
Then you can Concentrate in a certain type of pistol, or whatever.
-- You get 10 more points per priority than you used to using the
Priority System before. These are used for Active SKills only.
-- You get your Intelligence x 5 in Knowledge Skill points to buy
Knowledge Skills. These cover everything from theory skills to 20th
century comic books.
-- Skills are all linked directly to an attribute now. Your skills
are also limited by your attribute ratings. They cost more to buy above
your attribute (both at Char Gen and during game play with karma).
-- The Skill Web is gone. Instead there is a list with all the
skills grouped with similar skills. You can default to these skills or
your attribute only. No more making Eti tests using your firearms :]
5. Phys ADs are now known as simply Adepts. All the other magical adepts
are now known as Aspected Magicians.
6. Trolls/Elves are now priority C on the race Priority. Dwarves/Orks are D.
7. Etiquette is now chosen like every other skill. You can buy general
Eti, or you can specialize.
8. NPCs have no threat pool any more. Instead they get normal dice pools.
9. They modified the way you get Karma Pool. It's now 1 for every 20
instead of 1 for 10.
10. There will be rules for ways to burn Karma.
11. There is a section that discusses how to set Target Numbers.
12. There are several pages that explains exactly what the skill ratings
mean. They really emphasise the fact that 5-6 is a VERY high rating for
the skill, not "average". :]
13. MAGIC! Honestly, it didn;t look like any really drastic changes got
made. Basically, they reworked the philosophy of how magic works, things
like how Auras interacted and that really fixed a lot of the major problems.
-- Spellcasting is now based on your Sorcery, NOT the force. Force
still detrmines Opponents TN, the effect of the spell, etc. But you roll
your Sorc now instead of the force ewhile casting. I like this since it no
longer means that low level spells are more likely to fail :]
-- Magic Pool has been replaced by Spell Pool. This is now calulated
by adding Int, Will, and Magic, divided by 2 or 3 (I think), instead of
being directly related to the sorcery skill.
-- Spell Locks no longer exist. Instead you have Reuseable Spell
Foci (I think theya re called) that you bond, then you have to cast a spell
into it every time you activate it, and it works at the successes of that
casting. The real difference ebtween this and the locks (other than the
recastings) is that this doesn;t mystically disappear when activated, and
can easily be taken away or stolen.
-- Grounding has been almost eliminated, apparently. Not sure how
the new stuff works, but...
-- The carification of just what and where magic came from helped
explain things like Critter Powers and how they worked.
14. Street Gear! Lots of detailed minor street gear. Stuff like tools
and little stuff :] Woohoo!
15. Legality Ratings added
16. Recoil Compensation has been added to the weapons lists, so that you
know about any built in Recoil Comp.
17. LMGs got moved to Heavy Weapons (The newer version of personal gunnery
skill. Gunnery now covers Vehicle Weapons).
18. List of where weapon mounts go on guns.
19. BTLs, SINs, and the various Credstick rules added.
20. Rules for Spurs, and for using two spurs at once.
21. Boosted Reflexes and Bonelacing added.
22. Most of SSC stuff is added to basic gear lists.
23. Rules for Using Biotech with things like Medkits (Just how do these
work? :))
24. Manifestation gets renamed for Mages and Spirits. Don;t rememebr
which is which, but one gets called Materialization instead of
Manifestation, and the other remains Manifestation. This distinguishes
between what Astral mages do to get seen, and what Spirits do to move to
the physical realm.
25. Alphaware is in and is now basic gear. Price dropped to double
regular cyber. This means players now get to diecided money vs essence
when buying basic cyber.
26. Cyberlimb updates. Two different types, Synthetic limbs vs. Obvious.
Obvious are the big metal clunky kind, but they're cheaper and easier to
add mods. Synth are disguised, cost more, and are harder to add things.
27. Working with the above are guidelines for obvious cyber in public, and
how people react (Not Cyberpsychosis, I think, but more a social reaction).
This also has a section for wearing armor in public.
28. Cyberlimbs get strength boost. Instead of all cyberlimbs having a
strength 3, they start at the "average" strength for the race they are
designed for. 4 for Elves and Humans, 5 for Dwarf, 6 for Ork, and 8 for
Troll, I think.
29. Astral perception gets some modifiers, things like light, etc.
30. Overall, it looks to be a good book. The Manuscript that we got to
see looked fantastic, and it had some of the B&W art in it already. Good
stuff... :]
Well, anyways, that should answer your questions, and if not, I probably
can;t but will try.
Night all, time for me to sleep...
Bull
