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Message no. 1
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 01:40:07 -0400
A couple questions for those in the know. (After pissing off Mike Mulhulvil,
I am no longer "in the loop".)

First, is there such a thing as Target: Awakened Lands in the works? If so,
when is it planned for release?

Second, will it cover Awakened Siberia? I ask because I wrote about thirty
pages on Siberia for the NERPS Guide to the World, only to have them all
destroyed by Target: Smuggler's Havens. I'm looking to rewriting me stuff,
but if it the region is to be covered reasonably soon in an official
product, I'd prefer to direct my efforts elsewhere.

Thanks,
Wordman
Message no. 2
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 15:40:20 -0400
At 01:40 AM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
>A couple questions for those in the know. (After pissing off Mike Mulhulvil,
>I am no longer "in the loop".)

Geez, what did you do? I'm just *barely* inside the loop myself...

>First, is there such a thing as Target: Awakened Lands in the works? If so,
>when is it planned for release?

That's the rumor. No ETA.

>Second, will it cover Awakened Siberia? I ask because I wrote about thirty
>pages on Siberia for the NERPS Guide to the World, only to have them all
>destroyed by Target: Smuggler's Havens. I'm looking to rewriting me stuff,
>but if it the region is to be covered reasonably soon in an official
>product, I'd prefer to direct my efforts elsewhere.

I can't imagine them going over Sibera yet again, with the sole exception
of possible new information, and specifically new info on Vladivostok, that
may come out of the Corporate Download sourcebook, due...sometime...within
the next six months I believe.

But I have little to no reason to believe that Siberia will recieve any
further dedicated coverage.

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World
Message no. 3
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 21:19:21 -0400
>At 01:40 AM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>A couple questions for those in the know. (After pissing off Mike Mulvihill,
>>I am no longer "in the loop".)
>
>Geez, what did you do? I'm just *barely* inside the loop myself...

Well, maybe "pissing off" is overstating the case a little. I actually don't
really know his feelings on the matter, but I do know I'm not getting stuff
from FASA anymore.

Anyway, the whole thing was really stupid, right out of a bad sitcom. A
while ago, I installed Outlook Express at work (switched from Eudora). About
two days later, I got a confidential e-mail from Mr. Mulvihill. It was long,
and so I spent about 90 minutes (time that I really should have been
working) to craft a reply, complete with quoting the sections of the mail to
which I was responding.

While writing this message, I got an emergency e-mail from one of my clients
in Israel. We traded a handful of short messages to resolve some problem,
and all the while I was writing this reply to FASA. I was still getting used
to using the new mailer, and somehow (I think with a stray drag and drop) I
added the address of my client to the "To:" field of the reply I was making
to FASA. Mistake number one.

I got the problem with my client straightened out, and spent the remaining
20 minutes of writing the reply in peace. Then, I sent my reply to Mr.
Mulvihill without double-checking the To: field. Mistake number two.

So, basically, I sent some confidential stuff to my client by accident. The
ironic part is that my client has never even heard of role-playing games,
much less Shadowrun. At this point, I still hadn't realized what happened.
Then I got mail from Mike asking "who is <client's address>? The stuff I
sent was, of course, confidential" and so on.

My first reaction was "how in the hell does Mike know my client?". It took
me several minutes before I realized what happened. Even though I'd never
signed (or even been asked to sign) a non-disclosure, I felt bad. I felt
worse for sending a message like that to a client. Very non-professional.
(As, of course, is spending 90 minutes on a game that I should have been
spending on them. At least I didn't bill them.)

I apologized to Mr. Mulvihill, explaining who my client was and so on, but
basically the damage was done. At least, I think it was, as I have not
received any other stuff from FASA. On the other hand, far previous to this,
Mr. Mulvihill sent me a snail-mail letter indicating he was going to send me
some stuff and he never did, so maybe this is just the way FASA works.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Onward...

>But I have little to no reason to believe that Siberia will recieve any
>further dedicated coverage.

I guess now I need to figure out how I'm going to rewrite the thing. And
where I'll find the time. What would people like to know about Siberia?

Thanks for the intel.

Wordman
Message no. 4
From: Fixer <fixer@*******.TLH.FL.US>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 08:42:12 -0400
On Mon, 28 Sep 1998, Erik Jameson wrote:

->At 01:40 AM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
->>A couple questions for those in the know. (After pissing off Mike Mulhulvil,
->>I am no longer "in the loop".)
->
->Geez, what did you do? I'm just *barely* inside the loop myself...

<clueless>
There's a loop?
</clueless>
]:-)

Fixer --------------} The easy I do before breakfast,
the difficult I do all day long,
the impossible only during the week,
and miracles performed on an as-needed basis....

Now tell me, what was your problem?
Message no. 5
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 12:22:53 -0400
At 09:19 PM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:

>>Geez, what did you do? I'm just *barely* inside the loop myself...
<SNIPPED STORY OF ERRONEOUS E-MAIL ADDRESS PASTING>

Ouch, that stings. I've *nearly* done that a few times to what would have
been disastrous results...

>I guess now I need to figure out how I'm going to rewrite the thing. And
>where I'll find the time. What would people like to know about Siberia?

Well, you have Target: Smuggler's Havens, right? I haven't read it in a
while, but there is that section of Siberia that has that Awakened
state/region, right? I mean, much of Siberia seems to be barren and not
very interesting aside from that big railway. There is that one region, I
think it's around a lake (or am I combining things?), that's very Awakened
that could be potentially very interesting. I would also say Vladivostok,
but I presume that the corporate book will have at least a little more
intel about that city.

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World
Message no. 6
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 19:24:49 -0400
>At 09:19 PM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Well, you have Target: Smuggler's Havens, right? I haven't read it in a
>while, but there is that section of Siberia that has that Awakened
>state/region, right? I mean, much of Siberia seems to be barren and not
>very interesting aside from that big railway.

That's the point. To me it has the _potential_ to be extremely interesting,
but T:SH did not make it so. A couple things I really like about Awakened
Siberia:

1) Magic probably affects lifestyle more than technology does, at least
outside cities.

2) Not very many cities. Lots of wilderness. There are some stories you just
can run in the city.

3) Filled with metahumans, most of which were either a) persecuted by
Russian pogroms or b) escaped from the clutches of the Japanese empire. A
city of Oni would be a blast to run in.

4) Living with the legacy of Russian military/industrial complex (hell,
probably even from Stalin's day). I'd guess much of the tech and weapons
they have are Russian designs from years ago. I kind of like that sort of
Twilight:2000 feeling.

5) Very little infrastructure, especially roads. Foot travel tends to be
more interesting from a role-playing perspective. And everybody loves
helicopters.

6) Very strange political alliances. They'd be close to Amazonia, most
likely, but they are probably a source of telesma (and probably orichalcum),
which would possibly make the close to Aztlan as well. They probably bother
the hell out of Japan and Russia, who don't like each other much. There
would probably be some upper level dragon-type stuff as well.

7) I get the feeling that Siberia has tons of metahumans, but few elves,
which I like immensely.

BTW, the "big railway" is actually in Russia. In fact, it practically
defines Russia's Asian territory.

> There is that one region, I
>think it's around a lake (or am I combining things?), that's very Awakened
>that could be potentially very interesting.

Lake Baykal. Low-level war zone combined with telesma smuggling. Interesting
indeed.

> I would also say Vladivostok,
>but I presume that the corporate book will have at least a little more
>intel about that city.

Again, this is firmly in Russian hands. Still, Vladivostok would have
influence over Siberia to a certain extent.

Anyway, the whole reason I was writing this is now gone, as NERPS is
abandoning the Guide to the World. Maybe I'll do it as a side project.
Message no. 7
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 11:34:37 -0400
At 07:24 PM 9/29/98 -0400, you wrote:

>>state/region, right? I mean, much of Siberia seems to be barren and not
>>very interesting aside from that big railway.
>
>That's the point. To me it has the _potential_ to be extremely interesting,
>but T:SH did not make it so. A couple things I really like about Awakened
>Siberia:

Hrmm...I guess I just have a hard time personally taking Shadowrun out into
the wilderness. I know others that have done it well, but it's just
something that's generally a bit more difficult for me.

>1) Magic probably affects lifestyle more than technology does, at least
>outside cities.

Hmmmm...possibly. Or at least there'd be more reliance upon magic, for
protection and healing.

>2) Not very many cities. Lots of wilderness. There are some stories you just
>can run in the city.

You mean "can't run in the city" right? I'll go with you on that one, but
I just don't much go in for that myself.

>3) Filled with metahumans, most of which were either a) persecuted by
>Russian pogroms or b) escaped from the clutches of the Japanese empire. A
>city of Oni would be a blast to run in.

An oni city-state perhaps? Or maybe that would be village-state? I think
there's sufficient room within FASA's Siberia to still do this sort of
thing. Not at the national level like I recall in your NERPS article, but
still...

>4) Living with the legacy of Russian military/industrial complex (hell,
>probably even from Stalin's day). I'd guess much of the tech and weapons
>they have are Russian designs from years ago. I kind of like that sort of
>Twilight:2000 feeling.

I'll agree here too. Late 20th Century tech, including guns and military
vehicles. A lot of runners would just scoff at that sort of thing, until
they start bleeding profusely that is...

>6) Very strange political alliances. They'd be close to Amazonia, most
>likely, but they are probably a source of telesma (and probably orichalcum),
>which would possibly make the close to Aztlan as well. They probably bother
>the hell out of Japan and Russia, who don't like each other much. There
>would probably be some upper level dragon-type stuff as well.

If there's little infrastructure, I'm not sure they'd really have any sort
of solid alliances or relationships with other nations. I can see Amazonia
and perhaps Azania. But Aztlan? They've got too much of a rep for
slashing and burning without thought about their environment. You're
probably right about Japan and Russia. Dragon stuff? Well, if that floats
your boat. I don't see why too many dragons would have an interest there.

>7) I get the feeling that Siberia has tons of metahumans, but few elves,
>which I like immensely.

That is kinda cool.

>BTW, the "big railway" is actually in Russia. In fact, it practically
>defines Russia's Asian territory.

Tell's you how long it's been since I read Smuggler's Havens, eh?

>Anyway, the whole reason I was writing this is now gone, as NERPS is
>abandoning the Guide to the World. Maybe I'll do it as a side project.

Officially? I've sort of dropped NERPS for various reasons (I will reply
back to you Gurth), so I haven't been paying much attention. Last I saw it
was being considered, but nothing concrete.

I'll probably do my Guide the World thing, totally revamped of course, for
posting on my own site. If the NERPS Guide is ever ressurected and certain
things occur, I'll donate it back to NERPS.

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World
Message no. 8
From: Patrick Goodman <remo@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 12:50:29 -0500
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 10:34 AM

>>There would probably be some upper level dragon-type stuff as well.
>
>Dragon stuff? Well, if that floats your boat.
>I don't see why too many dragons would have an interest there.

Lots o' magic, and a great place to get away from the madding crowds for the
weekend?

Personally, I don't see what's so special about Mt. Shasta that keeps
Hestaby there, but that's just me.

--
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Siberia in Target: Awakened Lands, you may also be interested in:

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