| From: | Mad Hamish h_laws@**********.utas.edu.au |
|---|---|
| Subject: | SRIII meets its steely doom. |
| Date: | Thu, 16 Sep 1999 11:04:37 +1000 |
>Okay so they have published a third edition.
Quite a while back.
> What is it? Well they
>recompiled the 45 or so books I have bought over the last ten years into
>about five new books.
Nope, the books that have really merged are
SR2, Cybertechnology, Street Sam, Shadowtech, Grimoire, Awakenings, Fields
Of Fire
7 books in all.
Which are covered/to be covered in SR3, MiTS, Cannon Companion, Man and
Machine
All the others can be used without much hassle.
> 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.
No, there are significant changes between SR2 & SR3. IMO they are mostly
improvements.
> 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.
It's still pretty much unique. The only other systems I can see which have
a world mixing magic & technology are TORG & Rifts, neither of which is
anything like the same feel.
> 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.
That depends on the source book.
Street Sam, Virtual Realities, Rigger etc were all mechanics books.
> 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.
And the 1st & 2nd ed atmospheric sourcebooks can still be used.
What's the problem?
>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. 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.
It's a better balanced system.
>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?
The point is that the location sourcebooks
a) have covered a lot of the main areas
b) are still useable with 3rd ed
Mechanics sourcebooks aren't so they are the priority at the minute.
>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.
How the hell does in cost $400?
SR3, MiTS, Man & Machine, Cannon Companion
What else do you need?
If you're paying $100/book I'd change where I buy things.
> It costs me the time it takes to read and
>relearn the "new" rules. Fine. I guess I can deal with that.Do I want? No,
>not really. But if I do not then I limit my game. Something I do not like to
>do.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.
--
****************************************************************************
The Politician's Slogan
'You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all
of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Fortunately only a simple majority is required.'
****************************************************************************
Mad Hamish
Hamish Laws
h_laws@**********.utas.edu.au
h_laws@******.net.au
