And the 20 Billion (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) question: what question did I forget to ask?

You left out novels, Missions, ebooks, convention modules, FAQ, and official webfiction. To the comments!

I would say that anything which has the publisher's imprimatur on it should be considered canon. Which, yes, would include official webfiction, missions, and even (sadly, in some cases) the novels. (Thankfully, the 360 in-name-only video game does not count.)
I really don't even see how it's debatable.
You may not -like- a particular piece of canon; that doesn't make it not so. It just means you don't like it. I still have a hard time accepting the Big D's death but I still accept it as fact in my campaigns.
To start debating whether or not something that is officially published is or is not canon edges on slipping into silly debates -- like the kind Harry Potter fandom has over whether the epilogue is "real" or not, or the Harry & Hermione 'shippers who wish the Weasleys would go away. (I swear I'm not a huge HP nerd. I just read a lot of TVTropes. Honest.)

EDIT: Just want to clarify, I'm not directing any of this at SkepticInc. I'm not attacking you for putting the poll up or anything. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Oh, and the German/French/Japanese/other foreign editions.

Not to worry. Stating the opinions that people would like to debate is not something I take as an attack. I'd rather everyone did so. To the Comments!

Yeah, I suppose that's all canon too. Granted, it's generally obscure, hard-to-find canon... Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Here's what the poll looked like at 5 votes:

http://yfrog.com/0rscreenshot20100623at738p

Small sample size, but I'll bet the final results look pretty similar.

Cheers, -- N

I've read through some of the Sixth World Wiki and I find it sparse. I'm guessing there is an issue of copyright limiting what can be posted there? Writing something to match canon that spans well over a thousand dollars worth of material gets to be a bit of a problem. Investing the kind of time needed to index all of that on one's own dime before writing anything isn't really feasible, and there's no way that setting will get streamlined if no one is allowed to do so. I guess Catalyst Games might have a "canon bible' to keep track of everything setting-wise that they provide to bankrolled writers, but I somehow doubt it.

hi hi

Option 4: Whatever the GM wants to be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

And the 50-odd German-only novels.

Which GM does a writer use? I'm pretty sure tossing a table of House Rules at the beginning of a publication would be a great way for the writer to get tarred and feathered at conventions.

Comments by Synner indicate a bible was at one time a priority, but it never got completed. More than once I've contemplated trying to compile a big-ass infodump (great band name?) but lord it's a daunting idea.

Daunting, and touches on the legal issues that have been being focused on recently. For instance, would CGL allow such a thing to be posted, or can it only be done if we cross our fingers and hope no one decides to sue? If it can be posted, where can it be done, and what use is the public allowed to make of it? Does it become CC when it's posted to the internet, or is that a rumor akin to the "if the professor isn't here after five minutes, we can't be held responsible for skipping class" rule?

It would allow freelance writers to do a better job for the system, but it can also be argued that it would keep people from buying sourcebooks and is therefore a bad idea for CGL. It might just not work with their business model.

Oh, I neglected to mention that I wasn't going to post such a thing. It was only going to be for personal use so I don't have to go through three sourcebooks, eightyears apart, to see things progressed with a corp or country or shadowtalker. I'm fairly certain posting any such compilation would be a cease-and-desist waiting to happen. AH's site is probably about the best you could do.

I see there are a number of the SR writers lurking the sight to discuss the CGL problems. If any of them peek at this, can you give us some insight on how the canon decision process goes when writing and editing?

For SR authors, all "official" sourcebooks, rulebooks, and ebooks are canon.

Novels are generally not canon, though they provide at least a guideline of events and characters.

Missions, convention modules, webfiction, etc. are nominally canon, but most of the freelancers seriously don't have the time or interest or ability to familiarize themselves with the contents of all of that.

Foreign sourcebooks are...sort of a weird ground. Most of them are translations of American books, but with additional original material to flesh out their local settings; in previous editions they had more original works. The freelancers writing for the American audience try to keep the European audience in mind, usually through the tireless efforts of the European freelancers, who are also the go-to guys on the foreign original material and plotlines. So, nominally canon, mostly.

Foreign novels are so far out there, we can't even name them. Not generally canon.

Which is a shame. It'd be really cool if you work something out with them (like perhaps only making it current through the previous edition). Or maybe they'd even hire you as a part time writer/data compiler? I know I'd pay for a huge compendium.

Semi-off topic, is the reason for the Sixth World Wiki being rather incomplete a brush with legal issues, or just a lack of enterprising souls to fill in articles?

I thought, especially with Shadows of Europe, that a lot of the German stuff was pulled into canon. I think that gives a good argument that all of it is.

/Karl Kombatmage!

except there are (has been) some huge differences between the German rulebooks, particularly setting books and the North Am ones. Troll mushroom kingdom I'm looking at you.

What's with all the German material? Do they really go that nuts for SR?

That's...quite a stack of source material. Going off a quick look at the reference section on the Sixth World Wiki, that's something like 115 books, plus two magazines. And that isn't the fiction books, or the foreign books, as you way. Urk.

Well, before we left some of us had a copy of about everything Shadowrun that was ever printed in English...and I think Adam has an enviable collection of the foreign sourcebooks, the dastard.

Digital or paper? I'm just curious as to the size of the content, measured in meters. I'm guessing it might rival a Troll, and I'm somewhat intimidated.

Paper. Most of it occupies two and a half shelves, not counting the novels (2 more shelves), Earthdawn stuff ('nother shelf), and various magazines/minis/DMZ, etc. (1/2 shelf + cubbyhole).

Hell, I think I'm missing maybe a dozen tops of the sourcebooks/adventures/etc. and I've got about 30 of the novels. Collected over 20 years half a good chunk of them coming off ebay, amazon, and half-price books. I figure you could get the whole batch (or at least all but a couple of the hard-to-find ones) for about a grand.