| From: | Mark Fender markf@******.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | "Atmosphere" and "atmosphere" books |
| Date: | Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:38:53 -0500 |
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?
>
> And I think that is the crux of what you are getting at. This whole
> thread about atmosphere has gotten assinine. People here can no longer
> see the forest for the trees in their lemming mad rush qualifying books
> as atmosphere or not. I'll be glad when the leader of this blind panic
> throws himself first off the cliff.
> Since the start Shadowrun has always presented itself to give the
> reader a sense of how things are in Shadowrun as well as being a good
> read. Textbook style approaches to books were only used when no other way
> was possible to present the material. With only a few books in the long
> line having to resort to straight forward presetation of material and a
> line of novels, I find the quest for this mythical atmosphere completely
> unexplained.
> Too many people here seem to have no knowledge of what they have and
> no grasp of what they want. The persistance of this topic is proof
> enough. I hope this question made at least a few of these people rethink
> this line of thinking.
>
Mmm. Sorry. Didn't cause me to rethink. Mainly because I'm not in the camp
of Shadowbeat and NAGRL as being atmosphere books. (NAGRL provided very
little Real Life info - just info for Shadowrunners.) My big thing about an
atmosphere book is that there is no description of what your average person
does. Just Shadowrunners. There is no info on what sort of entertainment the
average person does. Is the theater still alive? Who knows.
Have the standards and practices of mass media continued to slide? Who
knows.
While cyberware is nice for runners, does the average man make use of it?
Are there 'otaku' (original use of the word) communities sprung up
everywhere?
Shadowrun is in a long line of cyberpunk games. Yet there are no 'cyberpunk'
themes explored except for cyberware and waging war against corporations
(Which isn't actually done in most cyberpunk literature). How is SR
cyberpunk? Is it? Should it be? It's common knowledge that SR is set in
2060, yet there is no similar readjustment of culture. That's 90 years in
the future! Things are bound to change. These changes need to be explored.
These are the questions I'd like addressed. It doesn't necessarily have to
be a separate 'atmosphere' book, but this info would be nice in fleshing out
the world a little more.
