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Posted by: Abdul Alhazred Aug 12 2011, 09:42 AM

Finally getting a group togather to play SR4A and I like to hold physical copies in my hand while at the table. What books other than SR4A are must buys ? I'm considering Arsenal, and Augmentation. I already own the first printing of Street Magic (The new red cover update worth it to rebuy ?) and SR4.

I saw that Arsenal has a new cover. Does it include any new errata or updates ? Or just new cover art ?

SR4A - Any reprints of this book, or picking any up kosher ? I have SR4 and want to get the newer version for my group to paw at. I wish I could snag the LE version but I've hit nil on any online stores. They lie to me and say they have it in stock and then refund my money a day later saying out of stock.

Should I buy Augemtation NOW - or wait until a cover swap like Arsenal ?

Unwired being passed around worth it ? Or just grab the PDF from DriveThrouRPG ?

Posted by: Tanegar Aug 12 2011, 10:16 AM

I'm fairly sure most of the LE copies went to pre-orders. I know some were sent out to FLGS's, but I'm sure they've all been snapped up by now.

I own copy #862.

Posted by: Mäx Aug 12 2011, 11:20 AM

It has page references updated to SR4A, but it apparently has no errata what so ever, not even the ones that where in the last printing.

Posted by: suoq Aug 12 2011, 12:44 PM

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=70781 - $50 for the 5 core expansions in PDF.

Note that when buying PDF from DriveThru, if/when the book is updated, you can download the new version. This has the benefit of you still having the old version, just in case.

I don't recall what eratta Arsenal has, if any, but all the SR4 page numbers are updated to SR4A.

Posted by: Bigity Aug 12 2011, 01:07 PM

And in regards to Street Magic, the 3rd printing also was reverted to the 1st printing, pre-errata state. Kind of a disturbing trend for those of us who buy physical books at all.

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred Aug 12 2011, 01:30 PM

.. they rolled the errata back ? Smooth.

Guess I'm skipping on a Arsenal, and Street Magic. The guy at the booth told me that Arsenal/Street Magic had no problems and were the latest and greatest. Guess.. not so much.

The newest edition of SR4A still good to grab ?

suoq - The new updated editions w/o errata don't sound like updates. Are these PDFs different than the physical books in that capacity ?

Posted by: Bigity Aug 12 2011, 01:43 PM

You can get the 2nd printing of Street Magic, that has most of the errata. The third printing was meant to have more as I understand it but obviously that didn't end up being the case. I'm not sure of the status of the latest PDF version.

The old version of Arsenal is ok, just missing current page references to SR4A and some errata. The PDF version I believe is all corrected now.

I don't know, I think there is only one edition of SR4A.

One thing to note is that official errata is non-existing for most of the newer books. CGL doesn't appear to have any interest in making any, or even cannibalizing the German company that has made errata for their editions. Hopefully now that they are back in the black (assuming that's even the case with the shenanigans of last year), I'm expecting some work in that area.

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred Aug 12 2011, 09:35 PM

Sad thing is - I'm still considering buying the new - incorrect printings. Damn my fanboy lust.

Posted by: Bigity Aug 13 2011, 01:39 AM

Yea they know they have us by the short hairs, that's for sure.

Posted by: ravensmuse Aug 13 2011, 02:44 AM

For my personal worth, I'd grab all of the "character" books -

SR4A - The prettiest and best put together book ever
Street Magic - Still have my first run printing my (then) girlfriend picked me up at Gencon when it came out
Augmentation - Great for cyber, bio, nanites, some (small) shout-outs for trans-folk, cyberzombies, cyborgs, and first mentions of biodrones
Arsenal - Guns! Guns! Guns!
Unwired - Yeah, it kind of reinforces the technomancer = cyber-mage factor, and some of the cyber is kind of wonky. Still a great book.
Runners Companion - Let's you expand character options. Finally gave us SURGE rules (which I realize I'm one of the few GMs to use / encourage people to use them), drakes, AIs, ghouls, and expanded character backgrounds. A little sloppy, but still worth owning

I still need hardcopies of everything after Augmentation, unfortunately, but I'm waiting for the money to come together for me.

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred Aug 13 2011, 03:00 AM

Would you buy the newest non-errated printings ? Or try and find the older copies ?

Posted by: TheOOB Aug 13 2011, 08:57 AM

Personally I think Street Magic and Unwired are the best of the two books, because I feel the greatly expanded on two sub-systems of the game there were largely glossed over before. Arsenal is great, and defiantly good to have in dead tree form as most the book is tables and stats. Augmentation and Runners Companion are both good, but dead tree copies are not necessary because there isn't a lot of info you would need to reference during play.

Posted by: ravensmuse Aug 13 2011, 10:31 AM

Honestly, what OOB just said makes sense. I just like having hardcopies of books to own and squeeze against my chest and tell them that I love them...er, I mean, display on my bookshelves in my living room. For friends. Yes.

The funny thing about the errata stuff is that they stopped even trying after...Arsenal, I think. But now I'm thinking Augmentation. Hm. Since you already own a red cover copy of Street Magic, you're just as well off buying whatever you can find now. It's not really going to affect matters.

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred Aug 13 2011, 01:53 PM

I have the blue copy of Street Magic. Prolly the first printing of it.

Posted by: TheOOB Aug 14 2011, 06:02 AM

I also have the blue copy, and I've never felt the need to drop $30 on a new copy, and I play magic characters almost exclusively.

Posted by: CanRay Aug 14 2011, 06:33 AM

I really need to get a copy of SR4A that isn't a limited edition...

Posted by: ravensmuse Aug 14 2011, 10:25 AM

If you have a blue cover, then again, no big deal. Just thought that I'd read you had one of the reds