Shadowrun computer game, amateur conversion of NWN looks good Options

[Tanka]

RA was never meant to be an SR game. Just Cyberpunk.

Considering there's only psionics, and not full-blown magic...

[JaronK]

Firefly was the best Sci-Fi show I've ever seen... it wasn't just Sci-Fi, it had levels to it. The whole thing was a metaphore for the post Civil War United States, mainly, and had a whole bunch of depth from there. Not to mention... but I could go on and on.

The real first episode was two hours long and amazingly good, not to mention hilarious. A friend of mine got the full DVD set (well worth getting by the way, and I usually don't like watching the same thing twice) and I got hooked immediately. Just a wonderful show. Thank goodness they're making a movie of it, but I'm sad the series got cut off so soon. It looked like a great one.

JaronK

[DrJest]

[mintcar]

Ouch. Sorry for not knowing about your favourite show. It´s just that I´m living up here in the frozen north with only THREE channels to tune in on my eyeTV box, believe it or not. None of them are Fox either, from what I´ve heard I should be thankful for that by large. Unfortunatly, the only american shows I get are some comedy shows and some docu-soap trash, along with highly aclaimed shows like sopranos and white house.

But I´m gonna check out Firefly via the magic of broadband internet.

Now, has any of you Shadowrun-experts-extraordinare been in contact with this CaoticDysfunction? Is his vision of Shadowrun likely to add up to anything, as far as story and mood are concerned? I´m sort of a sceptic myself, but I think it´s worth a shot to try and spread this around and maybe get some people interested. It can only increase the possiblility of this turning out well.

[Caine Hazen]

Just cause I'm here to push buttons in life.... Star Trek sucked, Bab5 is the worst show ever, and Firefly was pure and utter crap. The TV needs real Sci-Fi and those weren't it.

As for the NWN mod, it looks good. I cotemplated actually joining their team with our lil 3d art studio, but my partner had a rough set of quarters and we couldn't keep a schedule. I am looking forward to playing this though...hell if I get all set up here soon, maybe I'll run a dedicated, persistant world server for Dumpshockers and Bulldrekkers everywhere

[mintcar]

YJOoOpee!

[Arethusa]

[DrJest]

[kryton]

B5 had a good deal of character development and epic plot. Granted the first two seasons slowly started to build up steam but once there all hell broke loose. Come one how many shows (besides soap opera's) do you get two addicts, one messiah like character, and two major wars. (Drak and Centari) I thought B5 had tons of character development from the psychic going from a humble follower to an angry revolutionary to Gkar going from an angry warrior to a humble priest/philosopher.
Granted Babylon 5 wasn't hard science fiction with lots of space opera and religious elements.

Farscape did have some "odd elements" but Scorpius/Harvey has to be the coolest enemy/side kick ever. I think that's what made the show so interesting was that everything was always changing. The farther you went the more "screwed" John Crighton was. Hell even he said, "We're so Screwed". It was a tad campy but it was very creative and had a nice sullen mood to it. I think it's what Dr. Who should have been. It's a shame they had to cancel the series but I am glad they were able to bring it to a close for fans. The show didn't have allot of character development save maybe for Rygel a tad. It was very creative and bold in scope. I have to admit I really liked all the sets they put together and the characters in episodes where never bland.

Star Trek - It just needs to be put on the back burner for a while. They need new writers to bring some life back into the series.

SG-1 isn't too bad. I'm starting to get into it. It's not my favorite show but its fun. I like the blending of alien technology and modern society. To see different government agencies fighting for alien technology ect. It has a nice "This is what the X-Files should have been" feel to it. It's very touch in cheek.

None of these shows are superb works of fiction or literary masterpieces. They're fun shows. They're meant to be a tad pulpy but that's what's so good about them. If I remember right even Dickens was serialized in London News papers. They do raise the bar above Star Trek and I think that's a good thing. I see Star Trek and Star Wars Episode II as what happens when sci-fi gets over serialized.

[John Campbell]

[Arethusa]

I have to take some disagreement with that. While the vast majority of Star Trek is just obsessive and poorly written fanservice, it isn't all terrible.

[Tanka]

TNG was a good series. DS9 was sort of OK. Voyager wasn't too shabby.

The first Star Trek movie? Oh, man, don't even get me started.

[Kagetenshi]

TNG was good, would have been better if they'd just let Yar bloody well stay dead. DS9 had bright patches. Early Voyager was pretty decent.

~J

[DrJest]

DS9's bright patch, for me, was the Dominion War. It was a brand new experience for Star Trek - not just a full-scale war on the screen, but one in which the Federation wasn't kicking posterior all over the place.

But drop back a couple of decades. Look at Blake's 7, Doctor Who, ST: TOS. Forget for a moment that they had a special effect budget of £2.87. There's some great writing in there.

Or look at Sapphire and Steel (kind of blurring the line between Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror) - it's amazing how much chilled spine you can get with a handful of actors, two sets and a computer-generated 2-dimensional blob :)

[SDX]

Just thought I'd add a little something in here - I'm SDX the creator of the SRN project. I know that most of you are probably a little sceptical, so I want to try to explain a little bit about what's actually going on. Maybe you'll give it a chance, maybe not. Basically SRN is an extension of D20MM, which yes, is d20 based modern conversion for NeverwinterNights. Now you can look at it two ways - its d20 so it can't get close to Shadowrun... its a completely different system, or you can look it as a video game version of Shadowrun - and as far as video game versions of a P&P game go, certain concessions have to be made.

The firearms from the original d20 system were a bit... odd. The new system that I created is more like RL, and fits well with SR. First you've got to have a weapon - its got an icon, and its own model just like anything else. You've got to have the type of bullets you want to reload, and you have to have an empty magazine. You reload, and hey - its loaded. It doesn't do it automatically for you in a firefight, and if you want to reload faster you have the option of dropping the magazine free versus replacing it in the inventory which saves you a few extra seconds of combat time.

The matrix system copies the character entering it, and allows you to have both a meat body and a matrix "body", and allows for you to be killed by the corp security while you're trying to unlock that door and shut down the cameras behind it.

The damage system, although modified, is similar to how SR works. You have a threshold of damage you can take before going unconscious. If you think about a video game where you die almost as soon as you get shot, and think about the fact that a PC rather than a GM is running it (and therefore the die rolled that kills you can't be fudged for a "serious injury that takes weeks to recover from), you might understand how cold, and aggrevating this can be. I did weeks of testing before I changed the system, but it works. In any case, it allows for you to continue to be attacked if your fellow runners can't protect you, or if you don't have a street doc with you.

Cyberware can be damaged, just as in P&P, and that'll make it hell trying to get anywhere to get those cybereyes repaired... you go blind and you're not going to be able to see as a player... so there isn't any real way to say "ok, well since I know this street like the back of my hand I'm going to...", you're going to really have to do it. 'Ware like Move-By-Wire can cause TLEx and CCSS, which can really ruin your day... but if you don't get it you really have an edge... of course the law of averages IS against you... so it might be a short lived character.

Seattle is being built completely from the maps - right now the downtown area is about 25% complete, with all the local restaurants, club penumbra, the arcology... everything. Why? Cause it needs to be as close to P&P as possible... so as close as the engine will allow.

Weapons can be concealed behind you're lined coat - although some more so than others. That large machine gun will be a lot more obvious than the uzi...

And although it is level based, a well placed frag will ruin your day... even if you are a high level.

Oh, and as far as it being 3rd person - I set it up so when you're decking you can have either 1st or 3rd... and might allow either module wide.

And the biggest thing to me is there isn't any power gaming. You're gonna start off at the bottom of the food chain - and if you survive you might make it big. You don't know the guys up top from the start... don't expect to get into Dante's Inferno... don't expect to know Harlequin, or anyone else really. You've gotta earn your contacts, and you've gotta earn your right to call yourself a runner. And if you think you're really hardcore, you can start off as a Renraku employee working in the Arcology at the time of the shutdown - you make it out alive and you're going to have to find a new line of work, and so running the shadows after your harrowing experience might just be the best route to go. The NPCs all have likes and dislikes, and "emotions". You might be able to get one to like you enough to want some sort of relationship - to take em back to the apartment... of course you've got to own one first. You can have a seperate safehouse, you've got to eat, and rest, and drink... otherwise bad things will happen... such as death. And there is weather - dynamic of course, so you never know when it will, and when it does if you're out in it it will have an effect on you... hours out in the cold rain will take their toll.

Beyond all this, it's fun to play with other players. We did a server test last night around the Reraku Arcology area, I placed a few halloweeners to test combat, and when we survived that fight we tested PVP. It really was fun - I'm honestly extremely pleased that everything works that well. So, believe it or not. This game is going to be as much like 3E Shadowrun as possible, down to the smallest detail. And although I can't rewrite the engine it runs on, it is possible to have SR. And it will be a MMORPG - provided we can get donors for the server costs (otherwise it'll be a 8 player server heh).

[Eyeless Blond]

Sounds pretty interesting to me; too bad I don't have NWN or I'd check it out. (And no I'm not getting NWN; last time I started playing a computer game two days passed without me noticing and I was fifteen minutes late for a midterm; I quit cold-turkey after that. :P)

So long as you can deliver on what you've promised, and you can get away as much as possible from the idea that high levels make you basically invulnerable to the actions of one (or several) low-level people, then I think people will be moderately happy.

[Thomas]

OK, so I own NWN and I downloaded the rar files and ran the Install. But I don't know diddly about modules or anything beyond just playing NWN. Is there a quick start guide for how to get SRN up and running fast?

[SDX]

[mrobviousjosh]

Please tell me you can use a controller. Without the ability to hook one up to your PC, driving with a mouse sucks!

[frostPDP]

One thing - I remember visiting your site and being completely clueless as to what I needed to download.

Perhaps this how changed, but I'd be willing to convert my NWN into a SR. I just need to know how! :)

But from what I've seen it looks pretty damn cool.

[Pthgar]

Everything about that show was done right. Low tech levels in outer planets, no sound in space, a perfect merging of sci-fi and western, cursing in Chinese, everything.

I own the box set. It has two un-aired episodes. I am a rabid fan. , in case you couldn't tell.

Joss Whedon is a busy man. Ashtonishing X-Men, Serenity, and the new Wonder Woman movie.

[Shadow]

Well not everyone is going to like it. But if you watch it in the order it was intended at least you will be judging it on its own merits.

And Doc, the window was a hologram to let you the audience know that something strange was about to happen.