From:	JonSzeto@***.com JonSzeto@***.com
Subject:	"Atmosphere" and "atmosphere" books
Date:	Fri, 20 Aug 1999 01:28:16 EDT

Several recent, um, "discussions" have been talking about the supposedly
recent lack of "atmosphere" and "atmosphere books" (like Shadowbeat).
While
in a chat room tonight (yes, the AOL Thursday night Shadowrun chat), I
suddenly found myself wondering:

What the hell exactly IS an "atmosphere" book?

What is in such a book? What makes it different from a place book, gear book,
character book, or novel? Why would you buy it INSTEAD OF a place book, gear
book, character book, or novel?

What kind of subject matter does an "atmosphere" book talk about? What
specific content? What kind of point of view? Who is supposed to be the
"speaker"? How is it told?

What is NOT in an atmosphere book? Is there one particular subject or topic
that absolutely MUST BE AVOIDED? Any one particular way of telling stuff that
is ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN?

What about game information? And I do NOT mean rules. I mean guidelines,
suggestions, and stuff along the general lines of "Hey gamemaster, if you
want to use stuff like this in your game, here's a rough idea of how to do
it"?

And while we're on the topic, what about rules? Yes? Some? Few? Absolutely
not?

What's the player supposed to get out of it? How does it contribute to his or
her gaming sessions?

What's the gamemaster supposed to get out of it? How does it contribute to
his or her campaign?

What's a newbie supposed to get out of it? What's an old-timer who's been
around since the first edition supposed to get out of it?

Thoughts?

-- Jon