| From: | Earl ClayIII <phoenixflare@*******.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Shasdowrun: Off course! (loong!) |
| Date: | Thu, 7 May 1998 13:12:02 PDT |
Mulvihill seems to basically hate the game we all love & wants to make
all these drastic changes to make it more "his" game as opposed to
Dowd's. While he's certainly done some cool stuff, (Companion) he's also
made some choices ranging from simply a little bland (Corp War thing-
who cares?) all the way to near-disastrous (Rigger 2- so complicated it
makes riggers near unuseable). A few points:
* Magic- without it, the game is Cyberpunk with different rules, NOT
Shadowrun. The world would be nothing the same. Howling Coyote would be
in a camp, as would all the few surviving Injuns. They would NOT have
been able to get nukes or whatnot except for magic's help. Even had they
the atmosphere would be shot to hell. Same for the Tir's, Aztlan,
Saeder-Krupp, et al. Shadowrun's defining characteristic may well be the
bizarre & sinister mix of magic & machine. Quit screwing with magic,
FASA. Don't fix what ain't broken. If you find magic too powerful, step
up the competition, or tone down what mojo players get. I have played
since the day 1st ed. came out & have yet to have ONE person earn
initiation... See also the new rules for metamagic in the Companion.
* Cyber- bioware shouldn't let players off easy since it should be hell
to get, not to mention it usually has side effects. Physads pay dearly
for their power & don't get as powerful as a sam. The point is, sure
you're supposed to pay for your edge but if you handle it right, so does
everybody.
* Horrors, IE's & the Tirs, oh my!- I thought these were neat but only
in real limited quantity. They are way overused now. Ditto all the super
high level epic scale stuff. We're lousy plex rats... we have no part in
this stuff. It's only fun to deal with omnipotent stuff if you're
omnipotent enough to compete... which runners should not be.
* Non-shadowrunner campaigns- Theses are already way out of hand. Cool
as a diversion, but ultimately a distraction from the point. We really
don't need these 'other types of games' that keep pushing... can anyone
say, 'Cyberpirates'? They can't do a Japan book, but they do give us
'Blood in the Boardroom'... great.
There's my dollar ninety-fine worth... if I seem a little harsh, it's
just because I love ya Mulvihill, & I'd hate to see Shadowrun go the way
of 'Vampire"...
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