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Message no. 1
From: cmd_jackryan@***.net (Phillip Gawlowski)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:15:46 +0000
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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</lurk>
Graht wrote:
<snip>

> Or, it was a major fragging earthquake on a scale that would have
> knocked down every building in California and neighboring states.
> That's not an earthquake with an epicenter, it's a massive drop/slip
> along 300+ miles of faultline. At first it sounds like a cool idea,
> until you start to think about it and the actual results of that much
> energy being released.
>
> I'm gonna go with option 1 and say that he map is "not to scale" ;)

I have a theory for you all paranoids...

[Spoiler Header: Do not read on if you are a player and not familiar
with Threats 1 or Bedrohliche Sechste Welt! I *mean* it!]



























Okay, my 0.02Nuyen:

Actually, I got the idea (partly) from a German Shadowrun-Mailinglist:
It was/will be Winternight.

They are collecting nuclear warheads, and nobody knows what they want
with those. They are working on ways to enhance them. They hate the
Matrix (It being from Loki, and all).
They hit California (for whatever reasons) with their nuclear arsenal
and a lot of people get the Beserk-BTL chips (don't know how they are
called in English), and hit major Matrix nodes, crashing it completely,
forcing a wireless approach this time (after optic fibre in the
aftermath of '29).

The nukes split off a part of california.

I guess the campaign to close the gap between 2060 and 2070 will feature
this conspiracy.

Well, enough paranoia for me, tonight.

<lurk>
- --
Phillip Gawlowski

Bastard Gamemaster from Hell

"We are proud to deliver any round in under 24 hours"

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Message no. 2
From: Steve.Garrard@********.co.za (Steve Garrard)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:58:39 +0200
Phillip Gawlowski wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> </lurk>
> Graht wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > Or, it was a major fragging earthquake on a scale that would have
> > knocked down every building in California and neighboring states.
> > That's not an earthquake with an epicenter, it's a massive
> drop/slip
> > along 300+ miles of faultline. At first it sounds like a
> cool idea,
> > until you start to think about it and the actual results of
> that much
> > energy being released.
> >
> > I'm gonna go with option 1 and say that he map is "not to scale" ;)
>
> I have a theory for you all paranoids...
>
> [Spoiler Header: Do not read on if you are a player and not
> familiar with Threats 1 or Bedrohliche Sechste Welt! I *mean* it!]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Okay, my 0.02Nuyen:
>
> Actually, I got the idea (partly) from a German Shadowrun-Mailinglist:
> It was/will be Winternight.
>
> They are collecting nuclear warheads, and nobody knows what
> they want with those. They are working on ways to enhance
> them. They hate the Matrix (It being from Loki, and all).
> They hit California (for whatever reasons) with their nuclear
> arsenal and a lot of people get the Beserk-BTL chips (don't
> know how they are called in English), and hit major Matrix
> nodes, crashing it completely, forcing a wireless approach
> this time (after optic fibre in the aftermath of '29).
>
> The nukes split off a part of california.

Yeah, see this is where is gets a little gray. I can understand the argument
that something like this adds excitement and diversity to the game world,
and if they can provide a VERY good SR-specific explanation (like magic
cleanly cut the land away from the continent somehow, and the "island" was
then teleported to its new location, simultaneously teleporting the water at
the new location to the old location, so as to nullify the secondary effects
of such an upheaval), then I would be more inclined to accept it.

However I also understand the flipside, which is the real-world laws
argument. Any explosion with enough power to split a continent, fault lines
or no, is gonna devastate everything for hundreds of miles and probably
affect plates the world over. Tsunamis the size of China would sweep the
oceans and flood thousands and thousands of square miles of coastline across
the globe. The entire climate would likely shift. And all this is assuming
you could actually generate enough channeled explosive force to accomplish
the split in the first place.

While some here would argue that none of this matters because it's a game, a
storytelling exercise in a fantastical world, I would argue that while I
agree with that premise up to a point, there is the ever-present "suspension
of disbelief" that Kori mentioned. This is a term often used in Hollywood
pertaining to action films and the like. There is only so far you can push
the envelope of what people are willing to accept, in spite of what they
know, before they're all gonna start walking out of the theater. Hollywood
has the advantage of special effects to further stretch this boundary
(Independence Day, for example...big floating spaceships are ridiculous, but
they looked kinda cool and blew s**t up and we forgave them because of the
eye candy).

But when you start asking people to believe that something has not only
caused California to split from the continent, but also that this was
achieved in such an isolated way as to leave most of the planet unharmed,
well...


Slayer

"Beware my wrath, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
- Unknown Dragon



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Message no. 3
From: graht1@*****.com (Graht)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 07:47:41 -0600
On 8/19/05, Steve Garrard <Steve.Garrard@********.co.za> wrote:
> Phillip Gawlowski wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > </lurk>
> > Graht wrote:
> > <snip>
> >
> > > Or, it was a major fragging earthquake on a scale that would have
> > > knocked down every building in California and neighboring states.
> > > That's not an earthquake with an epicenter, it's a massive
> > drop/slip
> > > along 300+ miles of faultline. At first it sounds like a
> > cool idea,
> > > until you start to think about it and the actual results of
> > that much
> > > energy being released.
> > >
> > > I'm gonna go with option 1 and say that he map is "not to scale"
;)
> >
> > I have a theory for you all paranoids...
> >
<snip>
> >
> > The nukes split off a part of california.
>
> Yeah, see this is where is gets a little gray. I can understand the argument
> that something like this adds excitement and diversity to the game world,
> and if they can provide a VERY good SR-specific explanation (like magic
> cleanly cut the land away from the continent somehow, and the "island" was
> then teleported to its new location, simultaneously teleporting the water at
> the new location to the old location, so as to nullify the secondary effects
> of such an upheaval), then I would be more inclined to accept it.

Well, since GenCon has started, I think it's safe to do this. If not,
I'm sure someone will sue me ;)

This is from the last playtest version that went out just before layout started.

"CalFree finally saw the last of Saito, but not the last of its woes.
In early 2069, a pair of major earthquakes coming from the San Andreas
Fault line and the San Pedro Shelf caused widespread flooding and
destruction, killing tens of thousands. Much of Southern California
and the Central Valley found themselves dropped below sea level and
were inundated with tidal waves. While San Francisco and the Bay Area
were mostly spared, waters have flooded most of the Central Valley and
Los Angeles (which, if nothing else, had at least fortified their sea
walls in the more affluent corporate areas decades ago). They say that
the floodwaters may recede after a year or two, but we'll see.
Meanwhile if you want to visit, you'll either have to fly or learn to
swim."

So according to this, the map is wrong, and the flooding isn't as bad
as the map makes it look (otherwise some sections dropped 500+ feet
and there's no way a 10-20' sea wall would stop that). If we went by
the map then *millions* of people would have been killed by the
flooding.

--
-Graht
Message no. 4
From: pentaj2@********.edu (pentaj2@********.edu)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 11:53:54 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Graht <graht1@*****.com>
Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 9:47 am
Subject: Re: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)

> So according to this, the map is wrong, and the flooding isn't as bad
> as the map makes it look (otherwise some sections dropped 500+ feet
> and there's no way a 10-20' sea wall would stop that). If we went by
> the map then *millions* of people would have been killed by the
> flooding.

I would still argue in terms of scale (LA is, as some on DSF have
noted, basically a bowl), but...

I cannot tell you how much happier this makes me.

Except to ask: Who failed to notice this minor detail on the map?
Message no. 5
From: graht1@*****.com (Graht)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 11:01:58 -0600
On 8/19/05, pentaj2@********.edu <pentaj2@********.edu> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Graht <graht1@*****.com>
> Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 9:47 am
> Subject: Re: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
>
> > So according to this, the map is wrong, and the flooding isn't as bad
> > as the map makes it look (otherwise some sections dropped 500+ feet
> > and there's no way a 10-20' sea wall would stop that). If we went by
> > the map then *millions* of people would have been killed by the
> > flooding.
>
> I would still argue in terms of scale (LA is, as some on DSF have
> noted, basically a bowl), but...
>
> I cannot tell you how much happier this makes me.
>
> Except to ask: Who failed to notice this minor detail on the map?

Heh, the map was never given to the playtesters ;) We didn't see it
until you did.

--
-Graht
Message no. 6
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:09:56 +0200
According to Graht, on 19-8-05 19:01 the word on the street was...

>>Except to ask: Who failed to notice this minor detail on the map?
>
> Heh, the map was never given to the playtesters ;) We didn't see it
> until you did.

Nor, I might add to answer other questions, did we get to see the
history chapter (that Graht posted part of) until just before it went to
layout, so there was no chance there, either, of asking "Just how much
of California is going to disappear into the Pacific Ocean?" :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
de limme
-> Possibly NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ 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. 7
From: pentaj2@********.edu (pentaj2@********.edu)
Subject: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:14:14 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Gurth <gurth@******.nl>
Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 1:09 pm
Subject: Re: The new SR4 map (Contains Spoilers!)

> According to Graht, on 19-8-05 19:01 the word on the street was...
>
> >>Except to ask: Who failed to notice this minor detail on the map?
> >
> > Heh, the map was never given to the playtesters ;) We didn't
> see it
> > until you did.
>
> Nor, I might add to answer other questions, did we get to see the
> history chapter (that Graht posted part of) until just before it
> went to
> layout, so there was no chance there, either, of asking "Just how
> much
> of California is going to disappear into the Pacific Ocean?" :)

Gaahhhhhh.

<stares daggers at FanPro...Whichever one....>

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