| From: | Scott W iscottw@*****.nb.ca |
|---|---|
| Subject: | SRIII meets its steely doom. |
| Date: | Sun, 12 Sep 1999 11:51:23 -0300 |
] Okay so they have published a third edition. What is it? Well they
] recompiled the 45 or so books I have bought over the last ten years into
] about five new books. With some minor revision they fost this off on me and
] charge me 30 dollars for a main book and 20 dollars for supplemental
] material. All of which I already have.Gee thanks.
Well, remember that many players simply don't have those 45 or so
books. Revising, updateing, and condensing them into a couple books
like Magic in the Shadows et al. is a good thing for that reason alone.
Not to mention the fact that they're darn good books.
] I remember in 1989 ,when the first edition was published, picking up the
] main book and saying Wow! This is incredible. At that time SR was a major
] change from the fantasy roleplaying games of the day.
Still is, for me. Now if I could only get my group to stop buying
new Palladium stuff, I'd be all set :)
]It was also fairly
] well written-in terms of mechcanics. Like anything it had its growing pains
] as it came into its own as a system. The many years I spent playing the
] first edition bring back found memories. Then the second edition hit the
] stands. What I liked the most about both the first and second edition was
] that the mechcanics was a secondary consideration. SOurce books dealt
mainly
] with the world of Shadowrun. From any of the location source books to
] ShadowBeat(A book that doesn't see as much use in some peoples campaigns as
] it could.) the people at FASA painted a wonderous picture of a gritty
] technomagical future in which anything was possible. The only limits of the
] game was your own creativity.
Hate to repeat myself, but it still is, to me at least.
] Now I realize I must sound like someone wishing for the glory of
yesteryear(
] despite the fact that yesteryear wasn't so glorious). In some ways that is
] very true. I do not as yet have a comprehensive picture of the third
edition
] and so I will limit my remarks.
Wise move :) You've just robbed most rebutters of their primary retort.
]There are are some very good things that
] have come out the third edition so far. Some additional explanation of the
] mechcanics never hurts, and niether does some revision. Like anything that
] grows and has a life of its own it must be allowed to take its own course.
] What bothers me is what I see as a shift from the "roleplaying" to the
] "rollplaying". It would seem to me that the third edition is better suited
] to a numbercunching game accountant who wants to see the scales balanced.
Could you expand on this? I don't see that that's the case, but
maybe if you gave me some examples, I could try and shoot 'em down (or
be cowed by your superior argument, whatever works).
] The slow death of location and "color" sourcebooks bothers me. These
are, to
] me, what made Shadowrun so different from every other system it competes
] with. Since its inception FASA has always strived to throw out just enough
] bones to keep the hounds lean and viscous. Now they starve us?
They sure as heck don't! Now, while I don't want to get the whole
atmosphere thread going again (is that in the FAQ as a
"not-with-a-ten-foot-pole topic" yet?), I'd just point out that, as
Manx said, nothing's stopping you from using the old "colour" material,
as no rules change can mess with that aspect of Shadowrun. Also: New
Seattle, Corporate Download, MitS; Colour, colour, colour.
] So now what?I can not just ignore the third edition. It would be stupid for
] one, immature for another, and my players would gut me. So now it costs me
] 400 bucks to revise my game.
Would you have spent that much if new books for 2nd Ed. came out? I
would have :) But yeah, point taken. However, what's stopping one of
your players from getting the core book? Why can't they each pick up a
seperate book? There are ways to cut your costs.
] It costs me the time it takes to read and
] relearn the "new" rules. Fine. I guess I can deal with that.
Good. T'ain't no excuse, pardner.
] Do I want? No,
] not really. But if I do not then I limit my game. Something I do not
like to
] do.
Wait...I thought the best thing about Shadowrun was that the only
limit was your own creativity? Now it's a book? You don't need to buy
it, and if you cave and buy it, you don't need to buy MitS, or all the
other rules revisions. Wait for Year of the Comet, or the other colour
books coming out in the next year or so.
] So thanks FASA. Spare me a fourth edition, and we'll forget about this.
] Anyways.I look forward to any responses.Please allow me to see this from a
] different perspective.Show me the good things I missed.
Hopefully, you have, or will. But if you can't, or don't,
s'okay...there are plenty of die-hard,
keep-that-3rd-edition-book-away-from-me shadowrun players on this list,
and they survive, happily. I'm not one of them, but to each their own
:) Do what you like, it's as simple as that.
-Boondocker
P.S. I even heard that FASA recently repealed the famous "Third
Edition Decision," which entitled their Game Police to investigate
anyone caught still playing 2nd Ed., and then break their knuckles,
soap their windows, and subscribe them to countless spam lists. So
you're safe ;)
