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Message no. 1
From: Bull <chaos@*****.COM>
Subject: The ABCs of Shadowrun
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 17:18:19 -0500
OK, this was too much fun to pass up :]

Charybdis, general cool person and Op on #Shadowrun made this and I felt it
funny and cool enough to pass on :]

Bull

===========================

Okay, chummers. This one probably deserves a little explanation. It all
started on Undernet's #Shadowrun channel. We, the users and the ops, were
all really bored. And, as I often do when I'm bored, I
started posting children's songs. So someone said I should only do that if
the songs were related to Shadowrun. And like the smart-hoop I am, I
suggested that if nothing else, we should create the ABCs of Shadowrun,
sort of a primer for children on the SR terms... What followed was an
interesting game where we all tried to come up with Shadowrun words for
every letter of the alphabet-- and tried to best each other with more and
more creative words for each letter. But while this was fun and passed the
time, I realized that it really couldn't serve as a true
primer for kids. After all, it had no rhyme or meter. Weren't all nursery
rhymes written in iambic pentameter? So I set out to rectify that problem,
and this was my solution. So, without further ado, I give you the ABC's of
Shadowrun (Dr. Suess, eat your heart out <g>).


The ABC's of Shadowrun
By Charybdis GreyDragon


A starts us off with Aztechnology, chum.
If they're involved, walk away... Better yet, run.
A is also for Armour, and Astral, and Ares,
And APDS Ammo which somehow everyone carries.

B is for Bullets for every sam's gun.
And also for Barriers, so spirits can't come.
B is for Barghests and Banishing too,
Something we hope our team's mages can do.

C is for Combat, the core of it all.
And also for Contacts whom all runners call.
C is for Conjuring--like elementals and spirits,
And for the Cockatrice that paralyzes those who get near it.

D is for Dunkelezhan, the Dragon, Big D,
Who left quite a will for the world to see.
D is also for Decking, for skating the IC,
And for Dwarves, and for Drain, and for six-sided Dice.

E is for Elves, who run both the Tirs
And for Elementals which a sane runner fears.
E is for Essence which most sammies lack
And for Explosives, a favorite attack.

F is for Fuchi, of cyberdeck fame,
And also for FASA, who gave us the game.
F is for Firearms, Force points, and Flechette,
And F is for Foci, a great Astral threat.

G is for Gaming, which we all like to do,
And for the Gamemasters, the proud and the few.
G is for Grenades, Gas vents, and Guns,
All our wiz Gear that we need on our runs.

H is for Hermetic, the path of the Mage
And for Harpies, best viewed in a cage.
H is for Hearth spirit called for a service or two,
And for Heal, a spell that just might save you.

I is for Iggies, your Initiative dice,
And for the bane of the decker, that classic black IC.
I is for Insect spirits, the bugs that invaded Chicago
And also for Initiation and the adventure Imago.

J is for Johnson, the great corporate liar,
Who hands out the nuyen to runners for hire.
J is for Jacks, used for decks and for rigs,
And also for Jail, which no runner digs.

K is for the magical squid called the Kraken
And also for Karma earned for shooting and hacking.
K is for Kage, a defunct Shadowrun Zine
And also for Krupp, after Saeder, I mean.

L is for Lowfyer, the great corporate wyrm
And L's for Lone Star, the police services firm.
L is for Lifestyle, which runners should buy,
And also for Legwork-- do it or die.

M is for Manhunter, the gun made by Colt
And the oft chosen spell, the force 6 Manabolt.
M is for Matrix where the deckers all play
And it's for Monowhip used in Melee.

N is for Naga, the magical snake
And for the Nuyen we all hope to make.
N is for Nature spirits, summoned by shamans
And for NPCs-- both the unique and the common.

O is for Orichalcum, the magical metal
Which is used in the foci talismongers all peddle.
O is for Orks, who with a few trolls can be found
Deep below Seattle, in the Ork Underground.

P is for Paranormal like some animals are
And for Projectiles-- weapons used from afar.
P is for the Programs which the deckers all use
To break into systems and their data peruse.

Q is for Quickness, which is one attribute
Of the combat pool used to dodge and to shoot.
Q is for Quebec on the UCAS's north border
Which also has runners disturbing its law and its order.

R is for Riggers with their vehicles and drones
And for Renraku who built that Arcology home.
R also is for the gun the Ruger Super Warhawk
And for the Radios we use to subvocal or talk.

S is for Sammies, Spirits, Shamans, and SINs
And also for the Shadows we live and run in.
S is for the beleaguered city, Seattle,
Where so many runners work and do battle.

T is for Totems, the odd spirit guides
And also for Trolls with their tough dermal hides.
T is for Tactics to give you an edge
And T's for Trauma patches, so you don't end up dead.

U is for Unexplained Genetic Expression, UGE,
And also Unarmed Combat, like Tae Kwon Do or Ti Chi.
U is for Universal Omnitech, a corp with biotech facilities
And Universal Brotherhood: "Unleash your inner abilities."

V is for Vehicles to escape after your runs
And for Vanquisher and Vindicator, both miniguns.
V is also for Vashion Island, armoured attire,
And V's for VITAS and the dreaded Vampire.

W is for Wendigo, sometimes confused with the Yeti
Who would rather eat you than eat soy or spaghetti.
W is for Wards to protect you from spells
And for Willpower which protects you from magic as well.

X starts very few words that deal with runs
Except those annoying X-rays which detect hidden guns.
X does end a few, though, on the simsense scene
Like Dir-X and Full-X, that format supreme...

Y is for the contact, the Yakuza boss;
He is one Johnson you had better not cross.
Y is for Yamaha Pulsar which fires a charge
And for the Yedi which is fuzzy and large.

Z is for Zurich-- the Orbital, I mean
Where the great Corporate Court is known to convene.
Z is also for Zero Perspiration, chum,
And Z's the alphabet's end, so now I am done.


((With thanks and apologies to AdamJ, Skye, Dodger, DocRaven, Bull, Dvixen,
Krilion, and the other Undernet #Shadowrun ops and regulars who not only
put up with my silly whims but also willingly-- or not so willingly--
played my goofy little ABC game...))



*******************************************************

Peace,

Charybdis GreyDragon
charybdis@*******.cnchost.com
http://www.krilion.cnchost.com

**Humpty Dumpty was pushed! **



--
Bull, aka Steven Ratkovich, aka Rak, aka Chaos, aka a lot of others! :]

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Message no. 2
From: Stefan <casanova@******.PASSAGEN.SE>
Subject: Re: The ABCs of Shadowrun
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 23:49:20 +0000
> OK, this was too much fun to pass up :]
>
> Charybdis, general cool person and Op on #Shadowrun made this and I felt it
> funny and cool enough to pass on :]

Dang this was just a real blast ... loads of fun ....

"J is for Johnson, the great corporate liar"
"L is for Lowfyer, the great corporate wyrm" isn't it spelled Lofwyr?

Well it was great ... much credit to the makers ...

/Stefan


------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Frag you and the datastream you came on!" - Sinjin the decker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
... E-Mail .............................. casanova@***.passagen.se ...
... HomePage .............................. http://hsl.home.ml.org ...
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 3
From: "Leszek Karlik, aka Mike" <trrkt@*****.ONET.PL>
Subject: Re: The ABCs of Shadowrun
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 01:06:02 +0000
On 20 Mar 98, Bull disseminated foul capitalist propaganda by
writing:

<snip>
> H is for Hermetic, the path of the Mage
> And for Harpies, best viewed in a cage.
> H is for Hearth spirit called for a service or two,

Wouldn't this be better: "H is for Hearth spirit with a service or
two,"?
The original line somehow seems a bit to long...

<snip>
> L is for Lowfyer, the great corporate wyrm
This is "Lowfyr". Typos, typos... ;>>

[...]
> Which also has runners disturbing its law and its order.
Are those "its" needed here? They feel a bit funny... (Granted, I'm
not an English expert.)
"Which also has runners disturbing law and order"
Hmmm...

<snip>
> And also Unarmed Combat, like Tae Kwon Do or Ti Chi.
That should be "Tai Chi".

<snip>
> And for the Yedi which is fuzzy and large.

Yedi, like in Yoda, yes? Furry and large am I, too. When nine hundred
years old you be, fuzzy too will you be.

Oh, you mean Yeti. Sorry... ;>

<snip>

THAT WAS GREAT, GUYS!!!

("Unleash your Inner Abilities")


Leszek Karlik, aka Mike - trrkt@*****.onet.pl; http://www.wlkp.top.pl/~bear/mike;
Amber fan and Star Wars junkie; UIN 6947998; WTF TKD; FIAWOL; YMMV; IMAO; SNAFU; TANJ
Geek Code v3.1 GL/O d- s+: a19 C+++ W-(++) N+++ K? w(---) O@ M- PS+(+++) PE Y+
PGP- !t--- 5+(-) X- R*+++>$ tv-- b++++ D+ G-- e h--*! !r-- !y-*
Go ahead, jump. 100,000 lemmings can't all be wrong.

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