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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Book Club: Take Two

Posted by: Ancient History Jan 8 2008, 01:46 AM

Okay, so trying this again...anyone interested in participating in another Book Club thread? The best choices before us are Street Magic and Augmentation, with principal focus on the "fluff" instead of the "crunch"-though we can discuss the merits of both. Anyone have a preference?

Posted by: Ryu Jan 8 2008, 01:55 AM

Street Magic would be a preference, but due to unfortunate events both books of the household are somewhere else right now (should change around the weekend).

Posted by: bclements Jan 8 2008, 03:42 AM

I'm in, either way.

Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Jan 8 2008, 04:25 AM

I'd vote Augmentation because it has more fluff. But then, since Street Magic has so little, we should be able to go over it quickly and go on to Augmentation.

I think it may be better to keep each Book Review Topic seperate from each other (such as this new one seperate from the review of Emergence. Help keep it concise and fresh. Just a thought. I wouldn't worry about the other thread fading out.

Posted by: MaxHunter Jan 8 2008, 01:07 PM

I vote for augmentation, particularly because a: I have currently lost my hardcopy of street magic and because b: I haven't finished reading augmentation's fluff, so this thread could be motivating...

Of course, If Street Magic is selected I would still cooperate, however, my comments could probably seem rather vague... =P

Cheers,

Max

Posted by: augurer Jan 8 2008, 01:46 PM

Didn't there used to be forums created for each book when it was released? I really like the idea of the Book Club, but the thread got unwieldly as people jumped from topic to topic. It seems like it'd make more sense to have an individual forum for each book, and then people can post in Chapter specific threads, or maybe even finer granularity (e.g. for Augmentation, I could easily see a thread for industrial uses of Nanotech vs. medical vs. fashion).

It seems like there's a lot of mods that partake in the actual discussions in this thread, so maybe one of them will see this and make it happen?

Posted by: Ancient History Jan 8 2008, 05:01 PM

Well, Augmentation appears to be a favorite. Would a week be enough to read chapter one, y'all think?

Posted by: Jhaiisiin Jan 8 2008, 07:47 PM

Forgive my ignorance (and lack of PM/Search usage, given the state of the boards atm), but what exactly does the Book Club do? Use the fluff to help flesh out the world of SR4? Depending on the goal, I may be able to lend my own input as well (such as it is).

Posted by: Ryu Jan 8 2008, 07:50 PM

Certainly, I´ve gotten my friends copy and can participate.

Posted by: Ancient History Jan 8 2008, 07:53 PM

QUOTE (Jhaiisiin)

Each Book Club thread is basically dedicated to analysis of a given book, with posters reading about a chapter a week and posting their thoughts, observations, obscure references or puns, backstory, etc. It's not unusual for authors (like, well, me) to give their thoughts on things as well.

Posted by: Jhaiisiin Jan 8 2008, 09:17 PM

So just a general "Here's the book, what do you think?" kind of thread. Got it. Methinks I'll take a harder look at Augmentation and see if I can participate then. Sounds like a fun idea.

Posted by: Fortune Jan 8 2008, 10:29 PM

QUOTE (Jhaiisiin)

... what exactly does the Book Club do?

Bitch and complain!

Posted by: Magus Jan 9 2008, 02:19 PM

QUOTE (Fortune)

QUOTE (Jhaiisiin @ Jan 9 2008, 05:47 AM)

... what exactly does the Book Club do?

Bitch and complain!

It should be Bitch and Moan, Fortune.
The correct phrase is Bitch and Moan.

Posted by: Fortune Jan 9 2008, 02:31 PM

Moaning has too many erotic connotations for this situation.

Posted by: Stahlseele Jan 9 2008, 02:41 PM

there ARE cyberfetishists . . and people come up with their sex-stores about ghosts again and again *g*

Posted by: Ryu Jan 9 2008, 03:36 PM

QUOTE (Fortune)

Moaning has too many erotic connotations for this situation.

The immoral elf gets old

Posted by: Fortune Jan 9 2008, 05:21 PM

Note that I didn't say there were too many for any situation.

Posted by: JonathanC Jan 12 2008, 06:53 AM

I have a question. I've been away from Shadowrun for the better part of a year, so I didn't really get into Augmentation, and I'm just finding out about Corp Enclaves. I'm wondering if either book has what I'm really interested in.

For Augmentation, what I'm looking for is something to close the gap between mages and techies that Street Magic opened up. Can cyber-sams and combat hackers finally compete, or is this book just a reprint of Man & Machine, with some rules for how to make your cyberlimbs more expensive with some random features? Do cyber characters finally have a better upgrade path than "become a soulless zombie"?

Also, the book is subtitled as being a "med tech" book. I saw some chapters on fluff for cosmetic surgery...is any of the med stuff really that useful?

For Corp Enclaves, I'm hoping for a more detailed city picture than what we got in Runner Havens, which basically had some really plain maps and some adventure hooks.

Posted by: Synner Jan 12 2008, 09:35 AM

QUOTE (JonathanC @ Jan 12 2008, 06:53 AM)

For Augmentation, what I'm looking for is something to close the gap between mages and techies that Street Magic opened up. Can cyber-sams and combat hackers finally compete, or is this book just a reprint of Man & Machine, with some rules for how to make your cyberlimbs more expensive with some random features?

The short answer is: Yes. Seriously.

The long answer is: As you'll find if you look up the various Augmentation review threads some of the cool things Augmentation addresses and introduces include: customized cyberlimbs (and overclocking for those that really need it), modular cyberlimbs (and more options for those than you can shake your cyberpinky at), cyberware suites (rules for integrated cyber package deals), cyberlimb options, original bioware, biotech symbionts, a plethora of diverse new genetreatments, a variety of new nanotech that you will actually want to use. 95% of the material in Man & Machine, plus 75+ new upgrades and mods.

Options are also presented for new technologies: the aformentioned symbionts, biodrones (rig-able cybered animals), cyberzombies (nastier than ever), and finally "jarheads" (brain in a box riggers). The latter are new and not intended for PC-use at this point, but optional rules are presented for them if you really must go down that path.

But don't take my word for it. Please search for the various Augmentation threads on this forum.

QUOTE

Do cyber characters finally have a better upgrade path than "become a soulless zombie"?

Not really no, though the usefulness, variety and diversity of upgrades before you even come near the CZ theshold has never been so great - and there doesn't seem to be any game breakers in the mix either.

QUOTE

Also, the book is subtitled as being a "med tech" book. I saw some chapters on fluff for cosmetic surgery...is any of the med stuff really that useful?

There are a truckload of cosmetic cyber/bio/geneware options as well as traditional biosculpting and cosmetic surgery. Plus the medical and surgical rules are simple, straight-forward and easy to implement, and include rules for diseases and biowarfare agents, as well as advanced Damage rules.

QUOTE

For Corp Enclaves, I'm hoping for a more detailed city picture than what we got in Runner Havens, which basically had some really plain maps and some adventure hooks.

The format (and length) of Corporate Enclaves (and future books such as Feral Cities and Awakened Haunts) is the same as for Runner Havens. Los Angeles and Neo-Tokyo are profiled in the same detail as Hong-Kong and Seattle in the prior book (about 45 pages each), followed by shorter overviews of 5 other very different corp strongholds (Dubai, Europort, Manhattan, Nairobi and Tecnoctitlán).

Since the book has only been available in PDF there's been relatively few reviews, but those that have appeared have been quite positive. More will follow in the coming weeks since Corp Enclaves hardcopy should hit stores this week.

Posted by: Ryu Jan 12 2008, 10:16 AM

There are very good options in that book, really enhancing what you can do.

Current favorites:
- Orthoskin modifications (especially something that adapts you to temperature changes)
- Attention Coprocessors (enhance Perception even further)
- Math SPU (enhances decryption and, well, math)

Plus, I can combine the latter two options with a hot SIM-module and a datajack into a cyberware package, giving me a nice 10% discount on price and essence. Finally time to really read the book