I love me some GURPS (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I still find myself mostly reaching for the 'Shadows of' series as well as Corporate Download and Sprawl Survival Guide. Hell, even Dragons of the Sixth world was amazing.

I still remember when I first got copies of Cybertechnology and the Street Samurai Catalog and how much I enjoyed reading them.

ShadowTech is still brilliant.

Especially the back and forth between Wolfman and Smiling Bandit!

It's kind of telling that back then, even splat books had a better narrative arc than Cutting Black.

that's not exactly the *highest* bar, mind you.

Sounds like a fun group... good luck... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm going to need it.

Now quick question to everyone here: Intuitive Hacking allows a character to perform a single action type without an associated program. And the alternative rules replaces the program level with the attribute. So if both rules are used would it be fair to say that the hits on the action are limited to the Intuition attribute.


Example: A character with Logic 6 / Intuition 4 / Cybercombat 2 and an Attack program 5. Said character takes Matrix Attack as the Intuitive Hacking.

Normally with an attack program he would have 7 dice, but with the alternative rules he would have 8 dice but limited to 5 hits. Would it be fair to say that he has 8 dice for the roll, but since his Intuition is 4, he is limited to 4 hits?

Most of the reason I still hold onto my SR books is the quality of writing (and I'd add Year of the Comet to that list too...I know, I know...)

What's wrong with Year of the Comet?

Ghostwalker, Changelings, SURGE...

Apparently someone felt that even with the plethora of cosmetic cyberware there weren't enough freaks running around, and after Dunkelzahn got offed there needed to be a new wizwurm to be a whipping boy.

See? This is what I mean. Bring up YotC, this is the stuff that comes out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

I don't have any problems with SURGE or changelings so I don't see a problem.
Then again I was someone who LOVED 1st edition D&D psionics.

"Real Life Cat Girls! The Gods DO want us to be happy!"

Well, gene-ware and cosmetic bio-ware were & are a thing, too. So SURGE is really just another Pink Mohawk option.

Kind of sad that Denver got turned into draconian North Korea by Hardy, though.

My personal canon is that nothing has happened since Running Wild, myself.

Well since this thread is literally about everything anyway, how about something actually about not being able to meet in person.

Who might be available Saturdays for Game By Discord? Some slots for 2068 4th ED are coming open.

Having fun reading all this stuff at least.

I'm going to eventually have to ask people where to put stuff. I always have problems figuring out where to put stuff.

It was kinda going that way already, just didn't happen at draconian speeds.

There's a huge difference in playability, though.

Cold war, siege scenarios are sustained conflicts - great for Shadowruns.

A draconic enforced total lockdown? That setting is... done.

So removing the UCAS, especially the UCAS military from the Seattle equation? Removes a lot of tension.

Yeah, I don't mind when situations are resolved or the plot moves on, but recent plots are really more "PCs are along for the ride" while important people accomplish important things.

That kept happening in 30 Nights- the author of that took control of the story pacing away from GM and players. There were quite a few situations where if the players try to investigate or move the plot on their own, their stopped with an insurmountable wall: people take cyanide pills for reasons never explained to avoid capture/interrogation. A safe is impenetrable to anything the PCs try (Until it is broken later, when the Almighty Plot says it's the right time). An RFID tracker simply stops working. All electronics are broken and cannot connect to the matrix, except for the ones that can.

The UCAS withdrawal from Seattle might've been interesting, but they have the timeline on events wrong. Or more accurately, they aren't exploiting the timeline well. As it stands:
* Seattle leaves the UCAS
* Sea Dragon moves in, with her own agenda

If you got Free Seattle, you'll know that the Sea Dragon had some influence on Seattle's departure, this wasn't an opportunistic grab. However, the PCs' involvement in this is by... interdraconic theft, that is largely unrelated to the Free Seattle movement

Compare this to the FASA adventure in Native American Nations: The PCs aren't aware of the ramifications of their actions at first, but soon find themselves involved in a plot to stop a toxic mage from causing chaos or disruption among the NAN. The PCs' actions, ultimately, will not strongly affect the metaplot, but the GM and PCs are free to incorporate those consequences into their own timeline.

A better way to include these events might be:
* The "Free Seattle" movement has been a fringe movement for a long time. UCAS presence in Seattle is tense, but it is a stable element. A "free Seattle" is an unknown entity to the NAN, the Tir, and the corps. However, recently it's been gaining traction.
* Rumors in Cutting Black point towards the Sea Dragon fueling some of this movement's rise. What does she have to gain from all of this? etc, etc
* Tensions between the UCAS and megas start to tip corporate interests more towards a free seattle: Sanctions on Ares might lead to legislative reform.
* The corps are split, of course- some prefer Seattle stay in the UCAS, but others would benefit from a restructuring.
* The Tir isn't on board with having a dragon-backed nation next door (Even if Sea Dragon is only an influence, not a ruler like Ghostwalker), and becomes an odd ally of the UCAS.
* Urubia leverages some old allies in the Salish-Shidhe to push against a Free Seattle, to spite the Sea Dragon, if nothing else. This is because the Sea Dragon recently stole one of her eggs. This won't turn out well for Urubia, as she's out of her league. However, Urubia has some draconic-law precedence to back her up since stealing eggs is frowned upon. It's a even more severe breach in protocol to steal one from its mother, as typically the mother petitions for a great dragon to take care of the egg. Great dragons love their traditions, and they aren't keen on anyone starting up conflicts with the namegivers so soon after their own civil war.
* Urubia's influence isn't too significant, so this leads to rifts in the NAN on whether or not to support UCAS. Some wounds don't heal that quick over time, and there's certainly plenty of folks in the NAN that would rather have an unstable, independent nation next door instead of a UCAS military base.
* Now, at the end of it, the Free Seattle movement does succeed. The Sea Dragon's influence isn't as large as she'd like, perhaps a bit undercut since her schemes were outed. The new Seattle is at odds with the Tir, tense with the NAN, and has different relationships with the corps than it did before. Some of the corps that were previously doing well in Seattle are now struggling, and maybe even Renraku, of all corps, makes a comeback.

So instead of Cutting Black being the aftermath, Cutting Black would instead detail how the political tension of Seattle rises. This tension has been fairly dormant in canon since the Tir softened and the NAN also faded from view, but the newcomer Sea Dragon is bringing old rivalries and tensions to bear as she pushes for a free seattle. Cutting Black might talk about some of the things Hestaby was involved in before her exile from draconic society- perhaps this is why the Sea Dragon's taken an interest? Further complicating things is that some of the younger dragons in the area, like Urubia, seem to be at odds with the Sea Dragon. This is unusual, since typically they would get stomped on in such a situation (A la Perianwyr via Ghostwalker). However, rumors about the Sea Dragon stealing Urubia's egg means that Urubia is desperate for any way that she can get her egg back or get revenge on her.

(Although that's another thing- why did the great dragon bother stealing the egg anyways? Typically, the younger dragons petition for an older one to take care of their eggs. If the Sea Dragon wanted one, and asked for it, presumably Urubia would've been thrilled. I digress.

This all would give CGL a way to 1.) Draw out the conflict a bit longer, since it is rife with intrigue; 2.) Make references to some older missions (like the NAN ones), or even make a full comeback of some of these tensions, in an appeal to the older crowd who loved all the intrigue surrounding Seattle. This is tricky, though, since it could come off as CGL rehashing old plotlines. The introduction of draconic intrigue as a "new player" may be enough spice for something like that; 3.) Fully involve players in the plot- instead of "Free Seattle" being a headline in the news, they are now fully involved in new corporate, political, and draconic tensions as a result of this.

I'm sure there's plenty of holes in my plan, I just made it up in like 10 minutes. The intent here is that the PCs are protagonists: even if, ultimately, they have little to no impact on politics at large, they still are a driving part of the plot.

PCs as protagonists? What madness is this? PCs are tourists along for the ride, nothing more! If you let PCs do stuff they might... *shudder* have fun.

See, the worst part about inflicting the plot upon the PCs is that I don't even get to show off how cool my GMPCs NPCs are in comparison to them! I have to show off some author's super cool GMPCs NPCs!

Your 10 minute idea sounds waaaaay better than damn near anything CGL has done in years. I think the problem lies in exactly what Fuel Drop and you mention; that some of the writers seem too intent on writing novels featuring their favorite characters rather than adventures for players and GMs to show off their own characters and make their own mark on the story. They are not, in fact writing adventures, but rather novels or screen plays (bad ones at that).
Maybe they should take some courses on writing adventures or at least remember it is a role playing game, not a movie or whatever.
Of course none of this matters since CGL has long since stopped listening to anything on Dumpshock.