| From: | ArkAngel <DUNN@******.BITNET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Gencon Fasa Update... |
| Date: | Wed, 25 Aug 1993 14:30:00 EST |
If your interested read on. If not, delete it now!
Well now, from whats been sent out, I gather no one has given you guys
a GenCon report just yet. I'll take that burden on my own shoulders. I'm not
entirely certain if you guys have chatted/BSed about Earthdawn yet, but I'll
start there. ED is FASA's new FRP. It's set in the SR universe lots of
thousands of years ago before recorded history. It's a pretty dark world, but
it looks like a very well developed one. The basic rule book goes for $30, and
looks like its going to be worthwhile. Earthdawn also has 3 new races
introduced. THese are T'Skrang (lizard men) Obsidimen (rock men) and Windlings
(18 inch tall pixie types.) At the Earthdawn conference, they explained that
these creatures exist in ED, and not in Shadowrun because ED is a much higher
magic setting. If the magic level is dropped even the slightest bit, Windlings
drop dead, Obsidimen becom one with the earth, and T'Skrang devolve into
lizards. These creatures could not survive in an SR2 setting. If GMs feel
otherwise that's fine. HOwever, conversions for SR2 are not recommended...
The GMs screen comes out in 3-4 weeks, and products will be coming out for it
about one every 6 weeks. Earthdawn is NOT compatible with SR2, but some of the
same characters in SR2 are also in ED. (Certain Dragons and Elves... I'm not
naming names, I'll just let you guess... ;-)
Next on the list are the things that will be coming out for SR2. In
general, I didn't make note of the adventures. I just took down the
sourcebooks. I also found out some stuff that was cancelled, etc.
First off, on the cancelled list: Sprawl maps. Tom made some vague
reference to it, saying that it was lost somewhere. Basically, this looks like
a case of Don't expect it any time soon. It's still in production, but as
seems typical at FASA something went wrong. I don't exactly know what.
Next cancelled is City of Angels. Tom said it struck too close to what
happened in the LA riots. It was being written by Ray Winniger. Ray was also
the author of Underground from Mayfair games. Underground is a dark future
superhero game (doesn't make sense to me, personally.) The primary setting for
Underground is LA, and Tom said that some of the original manuscript for City
of Angels may or may not be incorporated in the Underground LA sourcebook.
With that thought in mind, SR2 players might want to check this product out.
Alright, now onto the actual products that ARE Coming out. THe first
of these will be Tir Na Nog. Ireland will coming in October. Tom said that
this will include a new form of magic useable by Elven Mages. Apparently, this
magic will be somewhat of a cross between Hermetic and Shamanic magic. My
guess is that it will be similar to the magic in Earthdawn. However, I could
be totally off base on that one. All Tom could really say was that the Elves
had a really bizarre way of looking at life. Since all magic operates based on
your world view, this effects the way htey cast...
Next, in December, look for the German Sourcebook. This is going to be
a seriously hacked version of the one released in Germany. Tom won the Origins
Chainsaw editing award on this one. I believe the German version is well over
300 pages, the US version will be significantly shorter. We're talking 100+
pages shorter. He did make vague references to some of this data appearing in
later European sourcebooks, however, these later books do not have a definitive
date yet. The German sourcebook will include a new form of magic also. It's
going to be something vaguely witch like. Sort of a totemic magic, but with
totems completely different from anything Shamans have. (Somebody more
familiar with German myths might recognize the names, I personally don't
remember them... and neither does my notebook :-(
Six weeks after that, and adventure called Eyewitness comes out. I
know nothing about it..
Next on the list is Fields of Fire. THis sounds funky. It's going to
be a complete Mercenary sourcebook. Everything you need to know on small group
military tactics... Who should go where, how they should be armed, and what
maneuvers to be used will be detailed here. There will also be some new toys
in this book. Tom mentioned that there might be a flamethrower, however, he
also mentioned that carrying a flamethrower into the magically active streets
of 2050 is an altogether bad idea. (SO, I tell my Force 1 fire elemental to
manifest in that cylinder on his back and...)
After this, I think the next project is the Adventure Celtic Double
Cross. I could be wrong on the timing of this one... The name says it all.
Next is the Hawaiian Sourcebook/adventure. The tentative title is
"Surf's UP!" but, that will probably be changed. (They wanted a cover with a
troll surfing in carrying his HMG blasting at a bunch of gangers in black
leather on the coast... but once they added the laias some people just didn't
go for it...) Hawaii is an independent kingdom now. THere weren't a whole lot
of details invovled, but it looks like it's going to be a combo tourist
attraction/organized crime capital. I could be wrong on the specifics
though...
After that, comes the Lonestar sourcebook. With this book, Lonestar
won't just be an appetizer anymore. They'll be the main battle. Lonestar
paramilitary squads will be introduced. ALso, rules for how to imprison your
runner will be included. This one sounds pretty nasty. I believe Nigel
Findley is doing at least a portion of the work on the project. Basically,
once a runner is arrested by lonestar, his chummers will have about 24 hours to
rescue him. If they don't he's gone for good. Prisons basically amount to big
dark holes deep in the ground. The only way prisoners are kept track of is by
there SINs. If your SINless, nobody's gonna be able to retrieve you...
6 weeks after that comes the Denver Campaign boxed set. This one
sounds pretty wild. A full poster sized map of Denver and similarly sized maps
of all of it's sections will be included. Then, two books will come with it.
One will be for the PCs with rumors of whats going on, etc. The other will be
for the judge. The judge can then go through the book and assign what's true
and what isn't true about all of the NPCs. These turths can then be added up
to get a point value for each GMs Denver. E.G: a Denver around 10 points will
be: SO I take my panther cannon and blow up the third Lonestar operative who
was armed with a streetline special. While a Denver around 100 points will be,
So, after that PC died, I'll start generating a new one. Hey, I'm only on my
third guy tonight, and we're two hours into the session...
After Denver, things get pretty vague. Harlequin's Back is slated for
sometime in the not too distant future. Tom said that if you've been following
FASA products closely you'll be able to tell something about it. Sounds like
the conversation in the back of Tir Tairgire is what he's referring to here.
The product that was going to include the Hellions in it has been
shoved far off into the distance. No immediate word on that one either.
Rumors were spread about Paramormal animal totems, in response to the
stuff in Striper Assassin. (I haven't read it, somebody said somethinb about a
Gargoyle totem?) However, Tom said this isn't coming anytime soon.
People asked about a space sourcebook. Apparently FASA now has
somebody who used to work for NASA with them, but this won't be too soon. It's
a long distance project.
They are currently working on an entire book detailing corporate
security. This one could be released in '95, and it sounds positively EVIL.
THe guy who's doing it works for the Feds now, and he's got good sources. When
this comes out, the Running community is going to be VERY unhappy. I believe
this will also include some info on magical security.
Several people asked about Vehicle design rules. He said that he was
unable to do this personally, and wasn't certain if such a project would ever
be released. Instead, he said that they might come out with more books of
vehicles with optional mods for them. He mentioned that design rules might be
a good project for internet... I spoke up about Kage-Car, and about how we got
stuck after doing the Engines... If we actually finish that project, they might
be interested in seeing it...
One other thing which might be done is a complete revision of the
decking rules. While the same numbers, etc would remain, a high speed system
to run it may appear. A lot of people seemed in favor of it, but Tom said not
to expect it before Fall of '94. Basically, he wanted something that would run
decking like a video game. He also talked about a GMs assistant that would
allow for the matrix to be setup on a PC or Mac. The GM could then program the
matrix in, give it to the decker and tell him to go sit in a corner with it.
When he finished it, he would simply return to the table with whatever info he
was able to secure... Tom said 3 people had started this project separately,
saying that it would be no problem. He hasn't heard back from any of them
since they started it... ;-)
Oh yeah, Tom made an official ruling on Cyberware and Shapeshifters,
Vamps, etc. He said anyone who has spent the essence points on the cyberware
and is later infected retains the cyberware. However, they cannot have new
cyberware installed. One other thing. He also said that if a PC becomes
infected with this, kill them off immediately. The game becomes completely
unbalanced when PCs with these abilities enter it. The system was never
designed for such creatures to be PCs.
That's all that comes to mind at the moment. If there are other
questions, I might be able to answer them...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Dunn@******.jcu.edu-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
First law of RPG adventure writing:"In any given scenario, there are 4
possible player actions, the three reasonable ones the GM expects, and the one
the players ultimately divise and use."
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