From:	Herbert Wolverson <hfw373s@***.SMSU.EDU>
Subject:	Re: FASA's On/Off Course?
Date:	Wed, 6 May 1998 02:16:32 -0500

Hello!

> >If it does, I guarantee right now that I'll stop buying SR stuff and
> >keep what I've got. The original premise for SR (IMHO) was a
> >cyberpunk game where magic was just beginning to return to the earth.
> > The way the game's bg is written, you simply CAN'T get rid of the
> >magic and still have it be SR. You can LIMIT it, yes. But if it
> >totally gets removed from the game you no longer have SR, you have CP
> >2020.
>
> Agreed. But I could quite happily play Shadowrun if magic was never
> introduced to it.

Just to be different, I strongly disagree! (Although this isn't an attempt
to start a flame war, promise!). If you take away (or even minimize to a
great extent) the magic in Shadowrun, you don't have a game I'd touch with
a D&Desque 10' pole. I mean, you might as well go and pay CP2020, or any
other cyberpunk type game where guns and mods are god.... even the CP2020
alternate reality stuff seems to have realized how much more interesting
a bit of magic(k) makes things.

I personally think its a great shame that FASA seems to be de-emphasizing
the Enemy. Deemphasizing the immortal elves would also be a mistake, IMV,
but I don't see them going that far. I have run (and written) a great many
games that have involved these two elements (as well as many that haven't),
and I think they both add to the tapestry that is the Shadowrun setting....
remove the components, and the colour fades. Now, I must confess to finding
any game with more than a few minutes combat utterly boring (one thing SR
gets right is quick, lethal combat), so gun-heavy type games never get
my vote. If politics is the main focus, a bit of magic and the intrigue
added by such things as immortal elves, always helps.

Although I do risk creating a World of Darkness type Shadowrun. :-)

Take care,
Bracket.