Use his commlink, throw things, and play his guitar?

He's a ganger, sure, but that doesn't mean that every single skill he's going to have will relate to being a ganger.

I'm not sure why you can't say... Cyberlimbs have provided an extra box on the Physical Condition Monitor for a while now...

Not being snarky, just doesn't seem like something that would fall under the NDA, since it's *not* a change.

On another note, other typos notwithstanding, that Ganger is starting with an *enormous* amount of money. I think his starting nuyen is supposed to be 1500 plus (3D6 x 60), not 1500 x (3D6 x 60).

Because we all got a Very Special Message at GenCon last year as a reminder that NDAs loom over our heads like an executioner's axe, and I just got kind of gunshy, mostly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I've been working on SR5 characters, playtesting, etc, for so long that to be honest I didn't remember (off the top of my head, at 3:00 in the morning) whether it was the rule in the current edition or if I was blurring things from my memory, so I defaulted to "don't say too much, THEY WILL KILL YOU."

Thanks for the confirmation, though, and, yes, for outright stating where the +1 box comes from.

I agree that I'd have rather seen the ratio changed than the amount of Karma you can spend on cash adjusted, but I'm not going to sweat over it. Just one small correction, though. It looks like the ratio is 1 karma to 2000 nuyen now, not 2500 as in the past.

With such a large spread in the priority allocated nuyen and the karma purchased nuyen dropping, I'm wondering where the gear prices have gone. It'll be interesting to see.

I like that the character has a few rating: 1 skills to represent things like maybe picking a few locks or patching up a buddy a few times. One thing to keep in mind is that characters get that karma to round out character creation, and that is probably where a lot of the low-rated skills come from (in other words, he wasn't getting a skill of 1 when he could have improved a skill of 3 to 4 instead).

No worries, I really do understand being gunshy, I guess. They say when you have a job you love, you never have to work, and I sure wouldn't risk it, either. You just had me worried for a moment that it *wasn't* the cyberlimb, and it was coming from some other change.

Some've gone up, some've gone down, some're all new (like the new generation of cyberdecks). I'm still not 100% on-board with every single price for every single piece of gear, but...all in all I like where some of us compromised after a few knife-fights behind the scenes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I'm knee-deep in making some characters right now, and while money invariably feels a little tight I'm not finding myself unable to fit gear to concepts, personally. I've been able to put together the character I wanted to put together, even with some of them being very, very, gear-heavy (sammies and riggers and whatnot). I've always got the feeling I'd love more money, mind you, but I guess that's just the nature of the beast (and it means I'd be eager to sling dice and collect some nuyen, were I actually playing these characters).

I liked it. Specifically, I liked the interactions between the runner and his fixer (?), the runner and the girl, and the runner and the general populace. I think the whole piece captured the essence of the setting and the dystopia, while still playing on a sense of familiarity without it feeling clichéd. As the chapter intro for character creation it's brilliant. The story gives a nice intro into how someone got into running in the first place.

The combat scene was meh, but that's my overall irritation with combat from first person storytelling. I just plain prefer third person for physical conflict.

That all said, I give it two thumbs up. I'd it read again and recommend it to folks who like Shadowrun short stories.

-Temperance

So the rules text seen in the preview is not the one that we'll see in the finished book? Okaaaaaay, I guess.

They never promised the full chargen chapter. It's a 'preview', designed to give a peek, not give away all the goods.


-k

There is a difference between revealing only a small part of what will be in the final product and revealing a text that will not be in the final product at all.

Given the timeframe to put together the preview, they were likely assembled from whatever drafts of the 5E corebook that were available at the time they started, so it's possible the text has been updated or revised since then. This can happen if you are on a tight schedule and can't wait for the product to be finalized before generating promotional material.

In addition, the missing info you were looking might simply be in a different part of the chapter, that we haven't seen.

Or... the info might actually be in there. I went back through the preview PDF:

Page 65:
"The special attributes are Edge, Magic, and Resonance; if you want your character to have a high rating in one or more of these areas, make sure you select a row with plenty of special attribute points."

Page 66:
"Special attribute points may be spent entirely on Edge if the player chooses not to play a magic user or a technomancer, or they may split these points as they see fit between their Edge and Magic or Resonance attribute ratings if the player so chooses. These Special Attribute Points may only be allocated on Special Attributes. They may never be used to raise Mental or Physical attributes. Any unspent Special Attribute points disappear following the character creation process."

From the chargen examples on page 67:
"James thinks the human metatype is best suited to the role of technomancer, and he has decided to use row D in the Metatype column. As a human character, he receives 3 Special Attribute Points that he wants to spend on Edge and Resonance."

"Rob has decided to build a troll street samurai and has chosen Priority B for his metatype, even though this priority level does not give any Special Attribute Points to a troll character."

Page 70:
"Row E has no Resonance options, so James rules that one out and chooses Priority Level B. This gives him a Resonance Attribute Rating of 4 (which is added to the 2 Special Attribute Points he dedicated to Resonance in Step Two)"

I will agree this could have been made more explicit in the rules text, instead of just appearing in the example.

Additionally, I would have reserved the actual spending of Special Attribute Points til after Step Three, since you don't know if you're going to HAVE a Magic or Resonance attribute til then. Or can you possibly have Magic or Resonance attribute despite being a non-Awakened character? Unclear.


Anyone who wasn't already planning on maxing their Magic or Resonance score I guess. People do such things.


Unclear, since the full adept ability section wasn't included in the preview.



-k

You might notice that Armor got cranked up as well. There was a lot going on behind the scenes. I still don't quite agree with the damage codes, but I made my case and the decision wasn't mine. But yeah, combat is brutal. In some cases, with my ideas, it might have been worse, so the world is probably better off.

Critias already covered most of this, but I'm going to add my two cents anyway.

For "Girls With Guns," I was given a short chunk of art notes (which, amazingly enough, pretty accurately describe the art that got included with the story; the artist did a knockout job there) and told, "Here's the art notes; build a story around this."

I had no idea what the image was going to look like; I had an idea in my head, but never saw a blocked-out sketch or anything of the sort. So I made a conscious decision not to have that particular scene in the story, since I wouldn't be able to match it. I included all the elements: the Predator IV lying on the ground, the dwarf girl, the gangers. I strongly implied that she dove for the pistol, but I made the choice not to show that actually happening.

Frank is a male dwarf, about 30 and prematurely gray; the ganger who accosts him is about 16, I'm guessing, but that hardly matters. Frank looked old to him, but that's a perceptual issue. The art notes specified a dwarf girl (who I turned into a panhandler) diving for an Ares Predator IV while random gangers tore things up. I'd have to go back and look, but I think it did mention a restaurant. The diner was my choice. Shifting the action away from the dwarf girl for most of the story was also my choice, since I knew GwG would be going in front of character generation; I wanted to make the story about someone new getting into shadow work, and how that sometimes happens by accident.

I did not ever actually see the image until well after the story was turned in; I was singularly impressed that the artist and I had gotten as close to each other's ideas as we did without actually ever collaborating. He had a little higher-end restaurant/foyer thing going on than I did; maybe he saw this going down at the food court or something in a mall, as you said. The point, though, is that he had no idea what was in the story and I had no idea what was in the art. Would it have been cool to have that kind of collaboration? Yeah, but it wouldn't be at all practical.


Well, you can stop worrying. They frequently don't have any clue where the things are going. And we as writers typically have no idea what the art's going to look like, either. It's just the nature of the biz.

That's what I was going for. Awesome! I'm glad it worked for you.

The combat was secondary or tertiary to the rest of the story anyway, and it was never meant to be all that impressive, so I can live with this.

Glad you enjoyed it.

THose are the exact pages you're see in release. However, the Character Creation CHapter is 30 pages long. The preview is only the first 10 pages or that or so.



What about the word "preview" don't you understand? No one said it wasn't going to be in the final product, just that it wasn't the complete final product.

Next time, I'm telling Jason not to bother with all this, and just treat everyone like a Mushroom until the book is released. Nothing but headaches.

I'm interested in seeing how cyberlimbs work. The ganger example has a cyberarm that doesn't list any attribute mods, so will we finally logically have cyberarms that automatically match your PC's stats with the option to install upgrades above your racial max?

Actually said "decent". That wasn't meant to be a slight or a poor review. For a chapter opener on character creation it was a good example of an origin story. I love vignettes as flavor setters and this one succeeded.

Patrick, just re-read the story And I have to say that I, too, like it!
Especially the "need some reality-check from time to time"-angle and the hidden reference to Hudson Hawk (that was intended, was it not? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) )

I misread, then. Glad you enjoyed it.


Which one?

"All I wanted was a goddamn omelet." instantly reminded me of Hudson Hawk saying " I didn't want to do it. All I wanted was a cappuccino." (00:21:40) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I was going for that kind of feel, but it wasn't a conscious nod to Hudson Hawk, no. Most of my cultural references get smashed by Jason (he's good at that sorta thing), so I've stopped trying so hard, but any time I can get a Bruce Willis feel to something I write, I'll take it. I did get a mild Terminator reference into "Sleeping With the Enemy," which I enjoyed immensely.

If those are the same pages that are going to be in the release, how in the world is the chargen chapter not being in the preview fully an excuse not to state the rules in the relevant rules sections? Or for using the terms (like "qualities" in that example on p.64) not previously defined in the text?

If those are the exact pages we'll see in the release, how does that work with the things that were pointed out as mistakes (Dwarves losing thermo vision, trolls paying extra for cyber/bio). Are these just things we're going to have to wait for a never-coming errata for? I was under the impression that they were things that made it into this preview, but not the final release, but this statement seems to indicate otherwise.

Keep in mind Armor values spiked by 50% and there is a 2 stat defense system and less bonus dice on the to hit side.There will be a lot more clean misses and hits with a net hit or 2. I don't expect to see the pcs missing all that often but security guard bob with 5 agility 4 pistols shooting at the 7 reaction 5 intuition street sam will miss a bunch. Give that sam 5 body and 12 armor and he takes 5 DV off that ruger shot. If form fittihng is in or in soon take another 2ish boxes offf and it looks like SR4 damage to me. Though a standard HP is 8DV-2AP, so no one will use the warhawk outside of style. I'd of put the ruger closer to a rifles damage of 11DV so people have a real choice between single shot massive damage or 2 shots with good damage. Assuming(SA and SS) mean the same things. The big damage spike seems to be melee. 12DV on a 7Str for the combat axe? I assume Str+5 no 1/2 str stuff anymore. Kind of absurd with a beefed up Troll, it becomes instant inescapable death on a hit. Here soak 20DV-4AP on a grancing blow.

I've decided to give this edition a try, but my question is this: Will there be another 2050-era sourcebook at some point?

I want to support SR, but I don't want to play in this current timeline quite frankly. Or will the rules be a little more compatable with playing that era out of the box? (with mages vs shaman again, decking making some kind of return, etc)