| From: | Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | New Seattle (Review?) |
| Date: | Sun, 7 Feb 1999 11:22:38 EST |
In a message dated 2/6/1999 3:46:41 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
anders@**********.COM writes:
>
> I just picked up the Seattle II book. No review yet, but NO map of
> downtown
> Seattle, and NO real street address for the Renraku Archology (1 Renaku
Ave,
> or whatever, indeed). Some selected shorts from the old Lone Star book, and
> out. Not even as exhaustive as the old Seattle book. --Anders
Okay, I'm doing the no-no of reading/reviewing. Reading it backwards (not
literally, but you probably know what I mean). I really enjoy the tidbits of
the political information, as well as the expansion/update concerning the
criminal information about the Mafia, Yaks, Gangs, Rings...etc...
I also like the list of the megacorporations that are involved in the United
Corporate Council for Seattle, as well as the tidbit information concerning
each members immediate, Seattle, concerns.
I think I'm agreeing, in that a fair portion of the book is updating the
information that has existed in the previous books (Lone Star, Seattle,
Aztlan, Tir Tairngire(sp?), Bug City, Super Tuesday, Threats, etc....). And
yes, I've found stuff that is referenciable to all of those (Empowerment
Coalition??!!?? Gack!!!). Sure, it would have been nice to have maps and
such, but after I thought about it, it occurred to me that due to the events
of "the Awakening", the cities that make the Seattle Sprawl haven't really
been able to expand into their outward regions very much. Hence, a map of
Seattle and it's surrounding "suburbs" is more than adequate for the purposes,
and even gets a group to think/plan more IMO.
As for addresses Anders, I don't know, I really think that having that kind of
stuff in the index form in the back is nice. I personally at least, do not
give a $hit what the address for the Arc is. Any pilot-capable character (up
to and including rollerbladers ;) don't have a negative intelligence, and
hence won't be able to miss it when they visit... 8-P
Admittedly, I am still seeing a loose variation on "leading the clients" with
the FASA books format. It's cool that you, and the apparently others at FASA
Corp, believe your players are more intelligent than other game universe
players (simply because the material presented is nicely written (even if I
did find at least 7 editing errors just by skimming so far), but you are as
yet NOT giving to the fact that several players need to be damn near hand
fed/led into doing something.
Come on folks, adventure hooks are nice, but they are not NICE! They lead us,
as players/GMs into giving or creating stuff that eventually gets changed or
altered by FASA further down the road. It would be nice, just once in a
while, to have *something* defined as more than a tidbit. Sure, the infights
between the O'Malley's and the Bigio's is cool (and may effect certain games
here at HHH ;), but something I didn't find beyond Underworld (and even this
I'm not certain yet) is where "Uncle Al" came from. Information on him (this
is an example btw) is lacking, but what he gives us in New Seattle is
*AWESOME* IMNSFHO, and is just the kind of "hand leading" for some player/gm
types that I am referring to. More than a tidbit, but not every detail.
I am going to be going through the City/District stuff over the next couple of
days, so you're all likely to hear more about my rantings after that point...
-K
(Padre' is *still* going to hunt and kill someone, something, *ANYTHING*....to
get what he wants... ;-)
