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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: snicker@*********.net (Snicker)
Subject: Why I DO still play Shadowrun
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 22:09:58 -0500
Simply put: cinematics. Using the D6 system, I'm far more able to control
the flow of my games. Shadowrun is a system geared around the concept of
getting wounded - but not dying - and the wounds having an impact on your
game. Each wound is a new cause for concern, making the players willing to
take some risks (rather than most systems where death lurks around every
incautious roll), and yet careful to avoid too much (unlike D&D flavoured
games where, as long as you still have 1 hit point, yer fine).

I also find that I'm able to fudge rolls more - even when I roll right in
front of my players (which I do often to give them more trepidation, and
less of a feeling like I'm in control. Lady Luck sits at the head of our
table. I just share the spotlight).

Finally, players just love the idea of burning everything for that one big
roll - taking all their combat pool (for example), hoping that they'll take
out the enemy before getting hit... Nothing like rolling 22 dice
;) Unless it's rolling 22 dice and getting 2 successes... *lol*

The world is fabulous. I convert all my cyberpunk stuff to Shadowrun,
because I just like the idea of Man, Magic and Machine. I have a really
neat sideline game I run where the players are kids with strange new
powers, in a near-post-apocalyptic environment (Cybergeneration set in
Chicago during the bugs... Ever wonder what was REALLY in that bomb? I
know I did...)

Anyway, I really enjoy the game, the world and I'm doubt I'll ever play
anything else as regularly. I'm actually starting to look at the Half-Life
2 engine to see if there's a decent way to turn it into what would be (for
me) the holy grail of Shadowrun: A customizable Matrix interface for
decking LIVE. Now that would rock.

Snicker
Message no. 2
From: nightgyr@*********.com.au (Smoke)
Subject: Why I DO still play Shadowrun
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 13:25:41 +1000
> Anyway, I really enjoy the game, the world and I'm doubt I'll ever play
> anything else as regularly. I'm actually starting to look at the
> Half-Life 2 engine to see if there's a decent way to turn it into what
> would be (for me) the holy grail of Shadowrun: A customizable Matrix
> interface for decking LIVE. Now that would rock.
>
> Snicker

Mate, if you ever do that and get it working I so want in its just not
funny. ;-)

I just love the feel of the world, the political machinations, the way that
there are no predefined classes you need to fit into, the way nearly
anything is possible and your imagination is your only limit in what you are
capable of - within the framework. I think it promotes far more roleplay
than DnD and its ilk ever could, gives far more of a feel to the world than
cyberpunk 2020 ever did, and as someone once said, the fact there is no one
single set of rules for everything is perfectly fine because i look around
the world today and other than basic necessity like the laws of
thermodynamics, nothing we do really fits under the one set of rules (aka
ways of doing things) so why force the rules of the game to conform that
way? I figure SR is far more able to be adapted for house rules than most
games Ive played without destroying the entire way the system works.

For me SR is about the background and the story. Thats why I keep coming
back time and time again.

Smoke
Message no. 3
From: nichlas.hummelsberger@*****.com (Nichlas Hummelsberger)
Subject: Why I DO still play Shadowrun
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 16:10:29 +0200
On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 22:09:58 -0500, Snicker <snicker@*********.net> wrote:
> The world is fabulous. I convert all my cyberpunk stuff to Shadowrun,
> because I just like the idea of Man, Magic and Machine. I have a really
> neat sideline game I run where the players are kids with strange new
> powers, in a near-post-apocalyptic environment (Cybergeneration set in
> Chicago during the bugs... Ever wonder what was REALLY in that bomb? I
> know I did...)

I remember the first time someone tried to explain shadowrun to me..
magic & fantasy? you're crazy! :)

The thing i love about shadowrun is the way i can make up my own
worldwide evil schemes, and how they don't seem *that* phony
everything considered.. and i my nex great campaign are going to start
in the early 50's so i can the whole metaplot going in the background.

Considering the rules, i love how magic is magical.. sure, there's
spells, but not everything works the same everytime, and magic can be
so much else.. voodoo, disease.. cockatrice?!

And i looove the idea of wounds.. and that the magic stuns you when
you use a lot.. nothing is assured, and keeps the players on the edge.
(of course.. it takes a little trust in the gamemaster to keep it
fun.. it would be easy to make it un-fun).

And nothing better in the genre has appeared before me yet..

(the only worldwide change i've made is *not* killing off 1/4 of the
world population in the past history.. i like a little over-population
in my game)

Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!