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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Shadowrun everything

Posted by: 252 Oct 24 2003, 03:07 AM

Well I'm trying to make a time line for the whole book and source book and adventuring book.

I have recently acquired a ton of the older novels(which I could never get my hands on. Maybe I just don't go to the right stores, or maybe they don't exist near here.)

Okay so where to start and all that other stuff.

Does anything pre-date the secret of power series.

Posted by: Mr. Man Oct 24 2003, 05:50 AM

You mean like http://archive.dumpshock.com/ArchiveExplorerIndex.php3?

Or maybe you like something with http://www.wizkidsgames.com/shadowrun/shadowland/article.asp?cid=37602.

Posted by: 252 Oct 24 2003, 12:07 PM

I am more trying to find a list that says

Lucifer deck came before or after Herlequin
DOA/DNA came before or after Harlequin back

of course it could look like this

Never deal with a Dragon
Choose your enemies carefully
Find your own Truth
2XS
Burning Time
Run Hard, Die Fast

Of course I'm not saying this short list is at all right, however I think that they may be. (I haven't read them all and I want to start at the beginning so to speak.)

Now if those websites you gave me gave those I should be ashamed to say that I got nothing even close to that.

Posted by: Pistons Oct 24 2003, 12:30 PM

For the novels, most of the time the copyright date should be a good guideline as to when they came out. For the rest of the books, check the book #'s.

Posted by: Ancient History Oct 24 2003, 12:35 PM

Book numbers are a very rough guideline as to when books came out. I suggest tracking through the Shadowland sections in the beginning, and correlating dates in time stamps, at least until you get up to, say, FanPro.

Posted by: BIG BAD BEESTE Oct 25 2003, 05:22 PM

The shadowtalk entries in the earlier books (1st Ed) had a time-date stamp for easy reference. Most of the second Ed books you have to look a litlle harder to correlate the events happening along with the novels. with third Ed you should first and foremost check the initial post entry blurb by Captain Chaos for the posting date and then read the text carefully to find out how recently it has been updated by shadowtalkers.

As for the order of books, you should start with the novel Into the Shadows and then the Secrets of Power trilogy. (Note that Into the Shadows was re-released with a different starting chapter between Never Trust An Elf and Streets of Blood. Also note that the Wolf & Raven stories are set around this time - some even predating those books previously mentioned, as Michael A Stackpole wrote them before the 1st Ed was even finished for publication.)

As for timelines, watch out for the year tracks from Blood in the Boardroom and Dunkelzahn: Portfolio of a Dragon - these cover a lot of ground and are quite intensive to cover with everything else. Best of luck in your endeavours Term.

Posted by: 252 Oct 26 2003, 02:30 AM

Into the shadows new beginning(chapter) ummmm you mean they rewrote a section of the book or what.

As well what are you trying to say is significant about the change of the chapter(obviously that in itself is a huge change, but related to the other books what does this have to do with anything?)

Posted by: Fortune Oct 26 2003, 03:30 AM

QUOTE (252)

Into the shadows new beginning(chapter) ummmm you mean they rewrote a section of the book or what.

The original first chapter (in the oversized paperback) was also used as the first chapter to the novel Choose Your Enemies Carefully. When Into the Shadows was re-released as a normal novel in the Shadowrun line (#7 IIRC), it contained a new first chapter.

Posted by: Jérémie Oct 26 2003, 11:59 AM

I will got what your looking for, but not right now I'm sorry. By the end of year I think.

Posted by: Larsine Nov 23 2003, 09:34 PM

Maybe you are looking for something like this:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/shadowrun/adventure%20dates.html

and this:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/shadowrun/sourcebook%20dates.html

There was also somebody (Mason?) that had a timeline for the novels, but they don't seem to be online any more.

Lars

Posted by: Nath Nov 23 2003, 09:47 PM

QUOTE (Mr. Man)

You mean like http://archive.dumpshock.com/ArchiveExplorerIndex.php3?

This being said, this above links toward an old, outdated version of the Maniha-Marcucci Timeline Explorer. The latest URL is http://timeline.dumpshock.com *free advertising from a very satisfied customer

Posted by: BIG BAD BEESTE Nov 25 2003, 05:45 PM

QUOTE (Fortune)

QUOTE (252 @ Oct 26 2003, 12:30 PM)

Into the shadows new beginning(chapter) ummmm you mean they rewrote a section of the book or what.

Erm, actually Fortune the first chapter of that oversized Into the Shadows novel was repeated as the first part of Never Deal With a Dragon not Choose Your Enemies Carefully. That one was the second novel in that series (The Secrets of Power trilogy).

As for the impact of referencing the Into The Shadows stories. They were written by different authors and had some form of link to an overall plot that was detailed in the final two chapters written by Michael A. Stackpole - Would It Help To Say I'm Sorry & It's All Done With Mirrors. Overall they were self-contained shadowruns by different teams on different objectives for different Johnsons. Some of them were very tentatively connected to the final plot/theme.

When the second version of Into The Shadows was released it had a new starting chapter that touches upon the introduction of Bugs into the Sixth World, since FASA had relesed Queen Euphoria and the Universal Brotherhood scenarios/campaign pack since then. A little awkward reading because suddenly you had a chapter which broached events about three game years out of sinc with the others. It also didn't tie in to the overall plot ending either. At least, I couldn't see any reference when I read it - it left me more than a little confused to tell the truth.

OK, finally we come to the novel Wolf & Raven, which is one of the best collections of short SR stories ever. These stories are set around the final two chapters of Into The Shadows because they are all writrten by the same author who continues on with the same runner team. They expand and prelude those final chapters and are well worth the effort in reading. As will become apparent if you track down a copy of that book, it took some years for Mr. Stackpole to get them published in that format - he's written a whole explanation in there which is really interesting to read through. It gives a little insight into the pre-release of the Shadowrun system as a whole. Anyhow, many of these stories were published originally in Game Designer's Workshop's Challenge magazine (no - not Games Workshop, I'm talking about the guys who did Traveller, Twilight 2000 & Dark Conspiracy here), and was nice to finally get my mits on the missing chapters in the saga of Wolfgang Keiss and Dr. Richard Raven.

Posted by: Fortune Nov 25 2003, 10:29 PM

QUOTE (BIG BAD BEESTE)

Yeah I know. What can I say, except that it sucks to be senile?

Posted by: Adam Nov 25 2003, 10:50 PM

QUOTE (BIG BAD BEESTE)

OK, finally we come to the novel Wolf & Raven, which is one of the best collections of short SR stories ever.

Wolf & Raven, IMO, doesn't feel much like any other Shadowrun material. Being that it was written before Shadowrun was truly defined, though, it's not surprising. It's interesting, but not anything I would give to a potential player while saying "This is Shadowrun."

Posted by: BIG BAD BEESTE Nov 26 2003, 04:02 PM

True enough there Adam, but the characters are way cool. While those stories may not essentially be the SR we all know and love (and have contributed to) over the last 15(?) years, they still bring out the street level campaign and raw feel that addicted me to the Sixth World in the first place. For a starting GM I'd recommend them just for the fact that they are so basic and deal with the group without having to include references to the whole plethora of data written since then.

Aside from that I still find them highly enjoyable to read - Mr Stakpole's style is fluid and humorous and truly brings out the character's personalities. I'd rather read about a character's life and their personal dilemas than their list of weapons and cybernectic enhancements anyday.

Oopsie - apologies, I seem to have hijacked a thread. Naughty BEESTE!