From:	Frank Pelletier <jeanpell@****.IVIC.QC.CA>
Subject:	Re: FASA's On/Off Course?
Date:	Tue, 5 May 1998 12:46:12 +0000

Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM> once wrote,


> I am asking the question of exactly what the subject says. Is FASA drifting
> on/off course in it's storyline. I am not implementing a Spoiler Warning of
> any kind, so just in case anyone may think this is a "sensitive topic", you
> have been warned. NO BOOK is sacred in this post.
>
> In your own opinions of course :)
>
> My Opinion?
>
> I think they are hitting a snag that I've suddenly started putting together.
> I have noticed some things, between the more recent "editor guided novels"
and
> the sourcebooks that are either recently released or out now.

Read my previous post on that (Damn Books)... I think all SR novels
basically suck, compared to the fine game they're supposed to represent.

> Lofwyr mentions being in control of the IE's in Technobabel.
>
> There are possibilities that at least some of the IE's may be getting "removed
> the game activities".

And a good thing too. IEs were the scapegoat/plausible explanation for
anything from fovae to human achievements to jiffy-pop popcorn. Damn!
Madagascar seems fucked up! IEs... Tir Na Nog is a land full of mystery.
IEs... Humanity grew from nothing to develop a superb cultural
background, thanks in part to the works of geniuses like Leonardo
DaVinci...IE...

Get rid of them, keep them, I don't care... Just don't put them as the
central figures behind everything.

> The Horrors are gone (good/bad/indifferent) thanks to a Dragon's Sacrifice.

I'm ambivalent on the subject. On one hand, I think a few horrors
filtering through would had that "horror" feeling in some games, dark,
damp corridors, no sounds, only the ragged breathing of something in the
darkness... ya know, "Alien"-like runs.

But, if you use horrors in the same fashion as you use IEs...then get rid
of them... Leonardo was an IE... Hitler was an horror... whoopie...

> Magic is being "reversed" in some aspects, better defined maybe, yes, that
> much I give and accept. But the development of Magic within the game
> mechanics of SR as a whole are taking a definite new tangent.

We have to wait for SR3 and the new Big Book O' Magic for that. I guess
since the mana curve is supposed to go up, we're going to see bigger and
better uses for magic. If the changes are for the better (Magic is more
focused, less chaotic, less "I got 20 focus hidden in a metaplane")

> If I didn't know any better, I would say that certain people now in command of
> this "RPG Ship" are definitely changing the course of it. I know two, no
make
> it three, people who have had conversations in attempts/negotiations to get
> material published/accepted to FASA that have given me a similar story. They
> were met with the response of "you have no idea what direction SR is going, go
> away". At least in one of those individual's cases, the conversation was more
> "graphically descriptive".

We all know IEs and horrors and that crossover thing were Dowd's
brainchild. Mr. Mulvihil seems to me more corporate/punkish/street
level-inclined. And I say amen to that!

> What is -SR- then? (snipped)

Nobody truly knows where SR is headed, except the DLOH. And that's good.
Imagine is everyone threw in their ideas at FASA, begging them to accept
THEIR views of SR...

I know for a fact that I personally hate too much magic...I'm more of a
cyber/matrix/punk type of player... I like it dark and gritty. I also
know for a fact that someone like Vagabond lamented the departure of the
"ED-crossover" idea from current SR products.

But still, we play the same game... That's the beauty of SR, or any other
RPG... Play like you damn want shall be the whole of the law, or
something :)

But we shouldn't rush and pressure FASA into putting out products that
satisfy a small niche of players, not all the SR players. The Net is
there for that. If you're looking for something specific, a trip at the
Archive (www.interware.it/shadowrun) could solve your problems... or fine
publications like the TSS (www.interware.it/users/adamj) fill in that gap
quite nicely.

> Ideas, Guesses, Flames, Retorts, Commentary, Peanuts, Popcorn???
>
> -K

2 hotdogs with the works, and a Michelob...thanks.

Trinity
------------------------------------------------------
Frank Pelletier
Trinity@********.com, jeanpell@****.qc.ca
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