From:	bluewizard@*****.com (Steven A. Tinner)
Subject:	Re: sidebars and trainingwheels
Date:	Mon, 9 Sep 1996 03:46:16 -0500 (EST)

>So it is ALL misdirection..I don't buy that..And I D@*m sure wouldn't waste
>any more of my hard earned cash in rule books full of that sort of thing
>either if I believed it for a moment..Afterall, I buy the books so I can
>run/play the same game as everyone else..Not so I will have to change
>everything to fit a universe I created..If I want a totally unique
>universe..I will start from scratch and do it all myself..I will grant that
>SOME of it is misdirection..However, I would say on average..Oh say 4% to 6%
>is deliberate misdirection..another 4% to 6% is accidental/ignorance inspired
>misdirection..maybe 3% is filler..leaving aprox 89% to 85% as helpful info in
>one way or another..

So play it that way, but realistically there's no way you're ever gonna be
playing SR the same as "everyone else."
There are so many unanswered questions, gaps in knowledge, and again,
deliberate misdirections that it's highly unlikely two people would ever
develop convergent game worlds.
Sure you can come close, and I'm nit picking here.
I still have to say that most of the sidebar comments are misdir.
Sure, a lot of it is useful as explanations, but FASA comes right out and
says that that's for each GM to decide.
Seen the Denver sourcebooks?
We decided that there wasn't a free spirit of Denver cruising around the
astral. Didn't particularly move us, so we axed it. No big deal, that's the
way these games work.
Trying to play an "official" game, or the same as everyone else is not only
impossible, it would be very, very dull.
By misdirection I don't mean filler, it's more along the lines of optional
information.
It might be true, or it might be someone's costly mistake. That's part of
the color of SR. The players realistically DON'T KNOW MUCH about their game
world, other than what directly affects them.
If we really want to nitpick, think about the whole immortal elves concept.
Most of this info has been presented as sidebars. I've run into a lot of
players who hate the concept, and have ditched it.
Misdirection? Oh yeah!
Start saying that it's all official rules material and you get some awfully
odd stuff floating around.


FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"I'm gonna buckle you're swash like it's never been buckled before!"