Size is relative (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

But yeah there should be parks and some "city forrests" around. You cen see some of it in the left corner.

Indoor park, I presume. The old Krupp family mansion is in it, too, IIRC.

While the picture is just there to give you en impression, it may not show the the whole picture (and it's also from a time where Neu-Essen is under heavy construction). So besides huge residental ares, there are also some smaller green spaces here and there, as well as a possible indoor park within the arcology.

By the way, this image (or rather a section of it) is available as a free poster from DriveThruRPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/97967/

Not so different from Alt-Essen then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Just a reminder that we're still happy to have people review this one. Market Panic dropped sooner than I thought which threw everyone off by a bit.

But we haven't forgotten the Megas! They're kinda big, after all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Admit your own mistakes:
Thou a minor one I falsely wrote in page 165 that Ætherlink owned a 9% share of DeMeKo: It's actually a 8% share. Also it's said that Scale is Lofwyr's "executioner", while in my text file he was just his "executor" - thou this may sometimes include to execute someone.

I always thought Lowffie 'fired' people directly, preferably to well done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I still need to go through my chapter, find the parts that can't be re-used, and give y'all a "Director's Cut" of the 10,000 words I went over when I misread my contract.

I hope you get time to do this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yeah, a few parts were more timing (Like the chapter conclusion), one part was to showcase an element of sexism, some plot hooks, some details about operations ... nothing, you know, utterly *vital*, but nice for color.

Don't know what your chapters are, but there might also be a mismatching story about the space lift.

Jup, MCT chapter sais S-K completed the space elevator (p. 114 and 117), while S-K chapter talks about S-K beeing behind schedule because of the trouble the corporation had (p. 166).

@ Wakshaani

As I got the impression you wrote Renraku, what is LGSK Electronic Holdings?

I did, yeah. Drop me an Email and I'll sling some detail your way.

AFAIK I dont have your address.

I thought you did! Went to check my inbox, and nope. Well, time to fix that, eh?

Sorry for the absence. I stopped for personal, non-SR reasons, will pick up again now. This running review is sober for now.

I’ll drop my review schedule (by chapter as in the book) for this one, and will review Saeder-Krupp now. Given that I just bought the German book, that seems only appropriate. Plus, Sasha was really looking forward to this. Horizon, MCT, NeoNET and Renraku are to follow, as would be normal.

The chapter is structured as usual – first history, then an overview of the corp, then a more in-detail look at corp structure, then culture (and more structure, actually), and finishing with major (non-Lofwyr) players in the corp and an overview of SK’s headquarters, and a final warning about Lofwyr’s legendary vengeful nature. There’s also a German-only SK Germany section, but it’s not that notable as to need a description here.

One thing I noticed: Information density in the whole article is really high for a gaming book. While this makes reading a bit tougher – you can’t just crossread – it also shows how the author wanted to maximize content here, something I appreciate. YMMV, of course.

The history segment is solid, with some blanks being filled in (a bit on Michel Beloit’s maneuvering before Lofwyr), on Lowyr’s takeover, and on SK’s more recent history, such as the 2060 corp war, the founding of the NEEC, the inter-dragon conflict of 2073-75, and the current AI bodysnatcher crisis. I would have liked to see some reference to the European Reconstruction, which seems to have been a precursor to the NEEC project (or at least could have been soft retconned as such) and Alamaise sabotaging it, though. But history-wise, the 40s are kind of a black hole in SR lore.

Corp structure isn’t surprising, but contains a surprising wealth of new info anyways, how SK adjusted to the many challenges thrown before it. Some parts were amusing (like Dresdner and Commerzbank merging to stabilize the latter, heh), all of it was helpful to get a grip about what SK does in various markets.

I did really like the segment on corp culture. A clear, concise description of the interior workings of Krupp culture, from totally innocent corporate scouts (black neckties? Sorry Sasha, but it IS obvious to think of) to the Accentives program to corporate legislation, PR, finance management, and internal security. The Imperium romanum structure definitely suits Krupp and finally gives a guideline of how this mess is organized, one that doesn’t force a whole lot of lore to be hard retonned.
I would have appreciated a name and short description of Krupp’s scrip (since Cents are stated not to be scrip), but neither of the other corp chapters have any either, so it might just not have been on anyone’s radar. German replacing English as Europe’s lingua franca is a surprisingly current thought (though I cannot see it, given how hideous German seems to be to learn).

A description of SK’s global activities follows, offering another wealth of densely packed information about SK, which is nice, but oddly placed and a segment on SK’s corporate forces (but nothing on the Seemacht carrier. What happened to it?) and internal and external intelligence services. Nothing very surprising here, though SK Prime is notably downgraded from core holding AND intelligence agency to primarily Intelligence Agency only.

Finally, the major non-Lofwyr NPC are given some exposition. Lots of familiar faces (Scale, Brackhaus, Romanov, Hyvönen), but also new additions, sich as Basima Disaruíz, Awrah (a female Brackhaus?) and Harold Two Moon. Also, the Neu-Essen info from the German-only Rhine-Ruhr sourcebook gets at least condensed into an international book. Finally, yes, he’s out to get you if you cross him. Also, the Brackhaus myth is extended to pre-Lofwyr time. BRackhauses apparently have been around for a really long time.

Overall, well-written, very high information density, solid work.

More review! This running review is brought to you by Google, the evil company in complete denial.

So, Horizon. Not my favourite mega, given that the writeups in 4E supplements mostly were oozing smug Silicon Valley arrogance (not intentionally, unfortunately), and that it was a distinct authors' pet in early 4E, and could do no wrong. That Horizon was used as a vessel for some bizarre in-world public mood swings, like about AI, and in a tell-don't-show way, didn't help. Neither did that it was a test bed for Eclipse Phase, a world with a very different mood from Shadowrun.

The current writeup is solid. It goes with the changing perception of the corporatized Internet as something not altogether good and questions the sincerity of Horizon’s googlish do-good-and-make-sude-it’s-high-on-everybody’s-newsfeed policy of charity. The history section has some inaccuracies – the Twins are just forgotten, and I don’t think an event that sinks half of southern California and has water flowing uphill a lot would be quite as forgettable – and the Deep Lacuna is incorrectly blamed on Halley (it was the cause of the Twins, rather), but for the most part it is a reiteration of canon, which in this context is a good thing. There’s even an attempt to criticize monopolized private media, something sorely lacking from previous, libertarian-leaning Horizon write-ups.

Current Events brings us up to speed with Horizon’s state in the late 70s, after losing a lot of its flair and the media war against the Azzies. It also covers the Horizon campaign nicely, from Christy Daee’s death due to software development screwups (A Fistful Of Nuyen) to the attempt to murder POWs and blame Aztech in Columbian Subterfuge, which apparently failed in official canon. And, of course, the Events in The Twilight Horizon, the Vegas Mancer Massacre, and the way the Consensus failed, are covered. Whoever wrote this was diligent with research, and I tip my hat to you. I do not think that a corp hat treats technomancers okay but really cares about the bottom line most is just as evil as a corp who cuts up mancer brains for giggles and mad science, but it might well have appeared to some mancers who had high hopes in Horizon. And gunning down protesters always is a stupid idea (much like direct democracy).

The chapter sums up, streamlines and somewhat corrects the narrative about the Consensus (the idea of digital democracy) and how it brutally misfired, tarnishing Horizon forever. Well written and pretty plausible (and with more than a dash of healthy criticism of social media echo chambers that threaten real, actual democracy in the real, actual world). It also covers what Horizon tries to do about this (ethics algorithms based on Asimow’s (fundamentally broken) Three Laws, which don’t work in the real world with real facebook’s immense hate speech problems). Add to that an apparently abysmally handled internal ranking reset (remember, in Horizon, the project manager of a work group is whoever has the most Likes) and a looming attack on Horizon’s AAA status, and Horizon has come into SR5 thoroughly humbled.

The next section gives an insight into Horizon culture, and here, as well, the Valley Boy bluster from Corporate Dossier has been dropped in favor of a more modern, critical look on “online democracy”. It highlights the fluid and unique structure of the corp and remains in line with previous canon without its often annoying authors-petting of the corp. It also describes the social consequences – constant awareness that you are being watched and evaluated and that the resulting Likes and Dislikes determine your career, for example (and the bullying this structure leads to). It is followed by notable subdivisions, pretty much the same since Corporate Dossier despite some updates – Charisma Assoc., Horizon Project, Horizon Transglobal (still no idea what it does now that Eclipse Phase is its own system), Pathfinder Multimedia, Singularity (now with a lot less technomancers) and the Dawkins Group. Nothing exciting, but solid stuff, the kind this book is meant to deliver.

All in all, good writing and a decent read to bring new players up to speed about Horizon. Would have benefitted from a bit more detail on Horizon’s local divisions (like how their involvement in Asamondo played out for them) and a missed opportunity to point out that Horizon owns Disney and SR fiction prophesied Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars before it happened, which is a slight bummer. But props for the mostly (Twins!) well-done research.

Welcome back Hermit (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And reviews!!! Yay!!

The US errata guy could do it.

SYL

One quick note, in reference to my first review: In the German book, Fuchi has been changed to NeoNET and Guatemala to Yucatán.

My thought was that S-K is (beside being the dominant corporation in Europe) a well regarded employer. So many people strife to work for them and would learn German in advance, as they think this would give them an advantage. Besides Germany would be (like today) a very - if not the most - influential nation within the NEEC. In addition Germany is the 3rd biggest economy in SR (after Japan and UCAS). So there are several factors which - in my eyes - would lead to an increase use of German in the business world, even thou it's hard to learn.

To be fair and in addition to Heremit's review: My chapter includes several cases of odd phrasing and other mistakes, as my English is not as good as I wanted it to be.