Human Rocker/Face.

I'm looking at David Bowie being a character in the Shadowrun world. Not him creating a character to play ingame.

I think he would actually be many clones but at least one would be an AI. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/indifferent.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/indifferent.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/indifferent.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/indifferent.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/indifferent.gif)

A David Bowie Album

If anyone, Billie Idol would be an AI.

I'd argue they didn't even infiltrate Aztech, the Azzies were willing allies, whereas the UB was taken over. But anyway, the obvious difference is what would have come after the advance party, namely a full invasion rather than Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

On the other hand, those spirits in the White House artwork do look a bit like bugs...and then there is the "something evil in the Resonance" part, which meshes neither with bugs nor Horrors...so maybe all three at once, because if you are already jumping the shark, why not double down on it?



@Sendaz:

That was my first thought as well, I in one's IP and A anytime...but Fast-Talk and Palming are marked (A), that does not make sense.


Don't be silly. Cat-apults, scorpions, rams and other siege weapons are obviously used with Animal Handling (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

OK, seriously: Grouping "repairing drones" and "shooting stuff with drones" together makes a certain sense, because people who know how to do one of those things will usually also know the other. Just naming the result "Engineering" makes no sense at all.

I can kind of see Palming as an Anytime as it is minor movement, but yeah Fast Talk needs at least a few seconds of talking to sway/befuddle/convince someone.


*Stares in Star Trek* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Makes sense I think.
If only to get the test out of the weapons skill all together and makes using the drone an abstraction or virtualization of the real activity. A real weapons skill can be an assisted test.
Repair and using can be considered tool use which is logical.
Which also can mean Engineering can be used for things like software, building or physical modifications of electronics, one can hope. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Well, listened to a couple of the podcasts and learned to things, I still hate podcasts and it's The Enemy. Terrors, Crawlers, Horror Marks, feeding on emotions...and for good measure, some guy leading a bunch of Seelie refers to them as "the enemy".

I don't really understand the podcast craze either. I mean, it's okay if you want something to listen to while doing overland drives, but as a medium to transmit information it just sucks. A text is way more efficient in that than a podcast.

Of course, unless you're an Iconerate.

Yep, I should have said " I still hate podcasts if there's no transcript or text form" -- it's not that the medium itself, just that I have to put up with it...


Sooo, some text-based summary of stuff going on:

Chicago: Had a Horror doing its thing, but it got contained and according to Streetpedia, that particular Horror didn't come over just now, but was already there for some time


DC: Named as gone dark by Glitch, somebody claiming to be Kay St. Irregular also send messages to that effect, but later another Kay St. Irregular says he wasn't even there, plus Bull and Slamm-0! say the reports are fake. Then again, we have an artwork of the White House under attack, surrounded by a cityscape that seems to be blacked out except the Ares tower..https://i.imgur.com/txIHG2L.jpg

Detroit: Glitch mentions "all the noise in Detroit". It also has its own podcast, but...podcast

Dover: Lyran is there, says her spirits refuse to go out because of "corruption"

Nashville: Glitch reports "I've got two different feeds streaming in front of me right now. One of them shows rioting in Nashville. The other one shows normal nighttime traffic in Nashville, with the whole city looking peaceful."

Newark: Named as gone dark by Glitch

Philly: Named as gone dark by Glitch

St. Louis: Named as gone dark by Glitch, corroborated by drone footage from Glitch, which shows "something" moving only visible against the backdrop of the night sky, and somebody with tentacles for a face getting thrown out of a window.

Somewhere in the matrix: Netcat went catatonic and is rambling about "Deep. Deep. Underneath. Under. Underneath." and "Deep. Underneath. Rising.". Let's just call it Computhulhu awakening, probably by the blackouts like Fuchi shutting down woke up Mirage.

At some point, Aztechnology history was to be much more subtle and interesting than that. The corporation was initially funded and run by druglords, who supported an aztec-inspired traditionalist political platform. The blood mages faction gained a lot of power within Aztechnology and Aztlan, but according to Corporate Download, after Darke/Oscuro failure, the other factions onboard were nonetheless able to start a purge and force them into hiding. Per Corporate Guide, blood mages were rare and no longer calling the shots, at least openly, with hint of a new secret leader. As far as I can tell, it's War! that completely walked back on this, with the mention of Aztlan fielding a blood mage battalion in Colombia, and similar open display of blood magic since.

I can only guess coding software, aka software engineering, is nonetheless part of the Electronics skill rather than Engineering. Had they labelled those skills "Rigging" and "Decking", the point would have been somewhat clearer.

For thirty years, Shadowrun has tried to have a skill-based system (rather than class-based) and some level of role protection at the same time. Many debates about SR rules, karma vs. nuyen, "Magicrun", technomancer vs. hacker, the cost of cyberdecks, the breakup of the firearm skill... are just different facet of that fundamental problem. All skills have the same cost but they have different value, depending on what role they're used for. By streamlining the number of skills while still enforcing role protection, skills start more and more to look like "class ability".

APEX? Though I thought that was the German Berlin metaplot. Or maybe Alice. Or the Null.

i figured it was related to the fact that nobody knows how the hell the entire basis of the matrix works is about to become significant.

because after all, what i really wanted was for them to double down on the stupidity of deciding to just base the key supporting pillar of everything of danged near anything of value in the world on something that nobody understands and which just happens to be kicking around after repeated multiple worldwide crashes that are caused by the previous incarnations of the matrix being suborned by rogue godlike AIs. that totally sounded like a course of action that would be reasonable for the world's largest corporations that essentially benefit from stability and stand to lose everything from everything going to hell back when they first introduced the idea, so obviously it should continue to be front row centre rather than pretending like it never happened. [/sarcasm]

Chasing up on this, Opti did say the following:

Optimistic Chad: And I'll.just say the terror plotline in the podcasts is not an official plotline. It was an unused area, that's why I ran with it. I wouldn't expect a full on terror plot tied to 6th.

-------------------

So at least we don't have to expect a major Terror plot line for 6th to contend with, it was more a spot bit of storyline. Which is kind of good as after Shedim, Bugs and CFD, it would be nice to start off the new edition without the immediate Big Bad.

So bugs.

I hope so (so thanks for the heads up, Sendaz), but given all that stuff about "Elder Gods" in recent books and that tentacle face I'm still a bit skeptical...

Yeah, the current writers' idiocy appears to be turning into Call of C'thulhu via Matrix, all because not a one of them knows enough about computers to explain how the Internet works with the assistance of Google for research, or the presence of mind to talk to anyone who does.

Anyway, all of this will tie nicely in my current homebrew campaign.

Well, in my campaign, "CFD" is virus based on the skillsoft code that makes you "know you know," which Neonet and Eurotronics tried to weaponize as a HUMINT tool to make someone gullible about everything he's told. The virus does spread through the nanomachines that are used to maintain datajack and other DNI in an unontrolled fashion, because almost none of the manufacturers of cyberware maintenance equipment used in cyberclinics properly implemented the recommanded standard for wiping memory cache between patients (Eurotronics actually was the only corp to properly do so, leading their engineers to believe it should work that way with other brands).

The result is an epidemy of people believing and supporting conspiracy theories, like "Amazonia and Aztlan went to war over carnivorous trees," "the Corporate Court has sold Mars to a group of AI", "Celedyr is using Neonet money to be elected 'king of all dragons'", "new Matrix protocols were implemented to justify a price hike on hacking gear", "I am controlled by AI living inside nanomachines", "the Turkish nationalist are actually manipulated by the Armenian mob" and so on. A growing number of users of Jackpoint are infected, as well as people within corporate management and intelligence services.

Have a great Independence Day!

See, that? That's smart, and interesting; although in the wrong hands it could turn Shadowrun into Alpha Complex.

@ Nath Nice!

Have you read High Aztech by Ernest Hogan? Not an SR novel, but a fair cyberpunk book. Premise is several nations develop a virus that basically rewrites peoples brains to make them more religious via hallucinating they are speaking with their various gods, which in turns makes them more loyal to the nation backing said mythos.
Of course each nation preprograms their own particular mythology into it, the protagonist gets infected with an Aztec mythos and chatters away to his patron goddess, but it could easily have been down by nanites for similar purposes.

Magic in 6th comment dropped

https://www.shadowrunsixthworld.com/2019/07...35rLvcaSGgxmerI


Be interesting to see what they do with reagents now that limits are gone and Force isn't declared, will they help reduce Drain or boost effects...

I suspect Edge will be the new Force factor and will give you a choice to overcast. You can regain some Edge as soon at it is used now so after a few spell actions you can be back to full after burning all of it.

or after getting shot at while wearing heavy armour, or shooting at someone with crappy armour. those will also enable you to overcast. or maybe if you do enough backflips with a synthacardium boosting you (they've indicated a number of augmentations give edge, so i'm not feeling too optimistic about the chances that performing otherwise useless acrobatics in the middle of anything else won't give you edge if you've got the right 'ware).

Yet, the alternative.....
The same character performing the same moves, and nothing that evades damage is useless, doing so while jacked up on some drug with all the initiative bonuses......
Is an Elite?
Because Nobody else, at least nobody else not willing to destroy their essense has a chance to even attempt the same let alone survive the encounter?
Because their go to skills are useless due to limits and expensive Edge?
At least now any character has a better chance to tip the balance by just doing what they do best.

given a choice between a system where wearing heavy armour makes you better at everything (but only so long as you're getting shot at, otherwise you'll be no better than anyone else) and a system that encourages you to cyber up for combat in a CYBERpunk game, i'm gonna take the one that encourages me to cyber up, thanks.

of course, this is a false decision you're presenting me with here, because there is a system that does not feature stupid edge OR stupid limits. which is why you'll notice i didn't say i'd choose the one with limits in it, but rather the one that encourages you to cyber up. there's nothing wrong with 4th edition that isn't already wrong with 5th edition, and frankly i'm expecting to find out that there's nothing wrong with 4th edition that isn't also wrong with 6th edition either, so if the devs want to win me over to 6th edition they're going to need to avoid adding a lot of stupidity to it. so far, the edge rules i've seen are doing a good job of persuading me that i probably won't need to go very far into this new edition before deciding that i can wait for 7th edition (or later).

as i've said earlier, i'll probably buy the core rule book eventually just to get a better look at the full thing. but so far, the stuff they're so proud to show off makes me want to update *less* than i would have been before seeing it.