| From: | Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Shadowrun: Off course! (loong!) |
| Date: | Thu, 7 May 1998 20:26:53 -0400 |
> I think FASA (Mulvihill specifically) is quite a bit off lately.
>Mulvihill seems to basically hate the game we all love & wants to make
>all these drastic changes to make it more "his" game as opposed to
>Dowd's.
Mike doesn't hate Shadowrun. If he did, he'd be working on Battletech or
doing something else. He has some definite ideas about the game though,
and is incorporating them slowly. Cut him some slack.
> * Magic- without it, the game is Cyberpunk with different rules, NOT
>Shadowrun. The world would be nothing the same.
Damn it, I wish this concept would just die. FASA IS NOT DROPPING MAGIC
FROM SHADOWRUN!!! There, did I yell loud enough for you to hear?
>Quit screwing with magic,
>FASA. Don't fix what ain't broken. If you find magic too powerful, step
>up the competition, or tone down what mojo players get.
Magic in SR works great, better than any other system, I believe. But it
sure as hell isn't perfect and Steve Kenson and FASA are working very hard
to fix those elements that *are* broken; and there are things that are
broken and need to be fixed. That's probably part of the purpose for SR3.
>I have played
>since the day 1st ed. came out & have yet to have ONE person earn
>initiation...
Define earning Initiation. I've played since SR1 also and the majority of
PCs have to bust their ass to get the Karma to Initiate. So I don't know
what you are getting at here.
>See also the new rules for metamagic in the Companion.
What? What new metamagic rules in the Companion. Did I miss something
here? I've read that book numerous times and I don't recall any new
metamagic.
> * Cyber- bioware shouldn't let players off easy since it should be hell
>to get, not to mention it usually has side effects. Physads pay dearly
>for their power & don't get as powerful as a sam. The point is, sure
>you're supposed to pay for your edge but if you handle it right, so does
>everybody.
Unless I'm mistaken, there is a price to pay for cyberware and not only in
nuyen. The lower the Essence, the harder it is to use magic to heal them
up. That means hospital bills (hell, that means finding a hospital that
will take the SINless and certified credsticks) and time off that can't be
used for running. And if you want to run with cyberpsychosis-type stuff,
go for it, that's the province of ROLE-PLAYING!
> * Horrors, IE's & the Tirs, oh my!- I thought these were neat but only
>in real limited quantity. They are way overused now.
Agreed. And they are being scaled back; or can't you tell?
>Ditto all the super
>high level epic scale stuff. We're lousy plex rats... we have no part in
>this stuff.
Not every runner is a "lousy plex rat." And you seem to forget basic Chaos
theory, the Lorenz Butterfly Effect; even the affects of one tiny shadowrun
on one little corporate installation can end up having huge affects. So
even a lousy plex rat can actually shake the foundations of heaven, without
even realizing it.
And not everyone wants to run gutter punks. That style of game isn't for
everyone. It's the way CP2020 runs, but SR is open to far more variation I
think. I *like* my very upscale ex-corporate combat mage that drives
around in a Saab Dynamit and wears 10,000 nuyen worth of clothes. It's fun
for me to have that PC interact with gutter rats. I like that variety.
> * Non-shadowrunner campaigns- Theses are already way out of hand. Cool
>as a diversion, but ultimately a distraction from the point. We really
>don't need these 'other types of games' that keep pushing... can anyone
>say, 'Cyberpirates'? They can't do a Japan book, but they do give us
>'Blood in the Boardroom'... great.
Those other styles of campaigns were added for flavor, so that those people
who *wanted* to run a game like that could, and have a basic framework from
which to work in. Cyberpirates is much more valuable than just "Here's how
to run a pirates campaign."
And I think you are totally missing the point on Blood in the Boardroom.
It's changing the entire corporate landscape. I don't know about your
games, but in mine 90% of the employers of shadowrunners are corporate.
And that supplement creates a huge amount of potential adventure hooks.
> There's my dollar ninety-fine worth... if I seem a little harsh, it's
>just because I love ya Mulvihill, & I'd hate to see Shadowrun go the way
>of 'Vampire"...
Shadowrun will not turn into Vampire.
I really don't understand why you are being so harsh; much of it seems to
be on mistaken perceptions of the future of the game (i.e., magic is NOT
going away, despite the nasty rumor) or your own perceptions of the game
being a game of gutter punks and gangers.
If you want to run a gutter campaign, that's fine. But I don't want to,
and Shadowrun is big enough for both of those games.
I think you are missing so many points here, your perception of SR is way
wacked out from anything like consensual reality. But that's your right I
suppose.
Erik J.
"Ladies & Gentleman, the newest member of the band, the one and only Spice
Boy, GRUMPY SPICE!!!" <and the crowd goes wild!!!>
