| From: | Twist0059@***.com Twist0059@***.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Shadowrun Novels |
| Date: | Sat, 17 Jul 1999 23:30:56 EDT |
D.N.M.vanNederveen@****.warande.ruu.nl writes:
> Again I ask you: what's the difference between a sourcebook telling you
> "BTW, Dunkie killed himself. A few people found out and made it public"
> (OK, in the novel they didn't, but how could peoeple otherwise find out
> about it) or a novel (or series) doing so with a bonus that it has more
> than a few pages to give you the details? Not just a few lines as we got
> with Bug City - in a _sourcebook_!!! If you had other plans with Bug City,
> the sourcebook spoiled your campaign as much as a novel would have. Your
> campaign would've been as historically inaccurate as it was now.
>
The thing is, the sourcebooks never come out and tell you "Dunk killed
himself" nor would they. That's what Shadowtalk is for, to provide rumor and
doubt. Even in Bug City just who set off the tac nuke is never revealed,
though hinted at, and the KE raid again is never proved. The novel Burning
Bright gave these answers, though it came out along with Bug City and didn't
step on any events that occur after the sourcebook's timeline. In other
words, the novel complemented the events in Bug City, gave you the depth and
flavor you want from the SR novels, and did it all without intruding on the
GM's adventure ideas he takes from the sourcebook. It's possible to run an
accurate campaign BEFORE the sourcebook's timeline finish, so that you can
interact with the events of Kyle Teller and the KE hit team, yet that can be
done in a historically correct manner since the sourcebook and the novel came
out in unison.
With PoaD, the first DHS novel came out almost a full year after the
GMs had been using the book, effectively destroying any plots and
conspiracies they had created. Saying you can keep your campaign correct
historically just by not letting the players read the novels is false; the
novels still happen, they are still considered part of the the SR universe
(the official part, it should be noted), and your campaign has now become an
alternate universe one. Which is wrong. The novels only exist because of
the RPG, so the players and GMs of the game shouldn't have to conform to them.
And what other plans would you have had with Bug City? I don't know
of any GMs who run their campaigns ahead of FASA's current year and date as
of the last sourcebook, so that the next sourcebooks can be introduced
smoothly. So August 2055 came along, Bug City happened, and the GMs got to
use it. Even if you were running a game in Chicago, the events in Bug City
still had no problem happening, and might have instead spiced up a game with
such a huge, disturbing event.
-Twist
