| From: | jjvanp@*****.com (Jan Jaap van Poelgeest) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | SR4 Conversion |
| Date: | Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:30:12 -0700 (PDT) |
> According to Jan Jaap van Poelgeest, on 24-7-05
> 23:40 the word on the
> street was...
>
[pre-crash = post-crash stuff]
I'm claiming that a fair conversion system would have
to allow "Sammy X" to be just as good on the streets
in 2070 as he would've been in 2065. Otherwise people
might just throw away their old characters, unless
they like a roleplaying challenge.
[If what I say is right, Dixons must give Gurth money
so he can keep up with the SOTA]
When converting an SR3 character to SR4 the 5 years
that pass between the "end" of SR3 and where SR4 picks
up have to be taken into account. The character would
not sit still in that time and it is unlikely a
zero-sum would result from its activities; the PC is
likely to at least try to keep up with the SOTA.
> All that requires is the GM to say "Did this
> character exist in our old
> campaign? No, I didn't think so either... Make
> him/her with SR4, or
> don't play at all."
If conversion rules were to be official, or are
adopted as a house rule by the GM this might still be
an issue. I do agree that a dash of common sense would
resolve any problems here. However, someone might
claim to be making an SR3 character that is to be run
through a conversion system for roleplaying reasons. A
good conversion system should not leave that character
any better or worse off for having gone through it.
Perhaps SR3 and SR4 are just mutually unintelligible
game systems, though... in which case we have to face
the ugly question of whether the developers haven't
strayed too far from the original.
I for one couldn't really care less in practical terms
(not in a gaming group ATM), but for the sake of
argument I would like to see someone come up with a
decent way to convert SR3 stats to SR4 to prove that
SR3 and SR4 are still vaguely related games.
This incidentally leads me onto another peeve of mine
that had only dimly sat in my mind previously, but
returned to the forefront as I was sorting through my
SR collection. All the location and sourcebooks
released so far have in fact been SR3-based. System
Failure will effectively nullify their validity and
provide plenty of work for SR authors as they'll have
to update old material to conform to new developments.
Conclusion: I end up spending yet more money to keep
up with the SR world without seeing any more depth to
its development (except, perhaps, by observing how it
has changed). Opinion: This Is Bad.
Solution: Start playing again, flesh things out
yourself. Answer: No time, just want books that
conform to current sense of quality.
Where gameplay is concerned, consider that all the
location sourcebooks (with the possible exception of
Awakened Lands & Wastelands) could become utterly
worthless as soon as SR4 hits the shelves. Sure, they
can still be drawn on for inspiration, but given what
we've been told about System Failure a number of very
fundamental changes would occur anyplace where
technology plays a significant role in everyday life.
The resultant GM guesswork might leave a campaign
utterly incompatible with canon once the next
sourcebook rolls off the presses.
I suppose it's always been part and parcel for the SR
line to continuously advance the storyline in order to
keep what is canon sufficiently vague for every GM's
interpretations and extrapolations to be as good as
canon. While I'm not super-aware (or skilled) where
RPG world development is concerned, it does seem as if
Shadowrun has been sitting on the slightly too dynamic
side of the fence; significantly outdating source
material published within the same edition just seems
bad form to me.
Take the whole comet thing; suddenly yet more people
with yet more funky mutations are running around all
over the world... and all that stuff about Joe's café
doing a great and tall latte frappé is still playable?
The GM decides (and can twist and turn it all to suit
the campaign), but I do think it's a bad thing if
changes to other aspects of a game world leave the
current canon too implausible (and thereby -IMHO-
unplayable). Perhaps sourcebooks should receive online
addendums when there is reason to suspect that their
contents are no longer sufficiently in line with
canon, but this might not be feasible from a
publishing point of view, let alone that it might only
cause more confusion.
Maybe RPG settings just aren't made for
standardisation. OTOH it would be nice to see a
quarterly (or demi-yearly), oficially (&
electronically) published (& possibly
subscription-based) "world events" newssheet, just so
the new material gets a chance to interact with the
old so that some important changes get canonised.
Perhaps these changes can even be player-submitted:
I'm imagining short news blurbs that can pass through
an approval process with the line developers. If
properly catalogued (think of the SR timeline) this
could even be a useful and long-lasting resource. OTOH
a well-crafted and comprehensive SR Wiki might be
quite capable of fulfilling this role (especially if
line devs and writers contribute to it!).
I do still hope that SR4 will see less far-reaching
gameworld developments, or that their occurrence will
at least be slowed down somewhat. I for one would
appreciate any additional time spent on crafting more
detailed settings and adventures. Perhaps this is the
route the line is in fact taking once the broad
outline sketch (i.e.: all the location books) and a
new, comprehensive ruleset (SR4) have been taken care
of.
By the way, I was wondering if anyone can confirm
whether the next upcoming SR4 sourcebook will be a
MegaCorp book.
cheers,
Jan Jaap
P.S.: I've not yet caught up entirely with the recent
flurry of list activity, so my apologies if this case
for a slower -or more comprehensive- plot development
cycle has already been made at length.
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