Runner Havens and Street Magic., what the deuce? Options

[Montev]

Does anyone have any information on these books such as what they are going to contain or perhaps the release dates?

[Ranneko]

Well, asking for release dates is a little pointless, as they tend not to be met round here, so I would guess that we won't be getting those for a while. And even when we do, all it really would indicate that the book should be available some time after that date.

[Fortune]

No info on release dates for either of them at this time. As to contents ...

Runner Havens is supposed to contain enough detailed information on both Seattle and Hong Kong to easily stage campaigns in either of those locations.

Street Magic will be the advanced magic book for SR4, in the same vein as MitS, Awakenings, and the 2 Grimoires were in previous editions. Expect it to contain some additional Traditions like Wujen and Voodoun, more Metamagics, Spells, and Powers, along with Magical Threats like Toxics, Bugs, and various other Spirit types (including rules for Free Spirits), etc. Basically anything magic-related that hasn't yet been explained should be detailed in this book.

[Synner]

[6thDragon]

For what it's worth, October's Game Trade Magazine lists the release dates for Runner Havens as November and Street Magic as December.

[FrankTrollman]

As of last week, Rob was still in Germany and the proposals for writing on Street Magic had just all come in. Presumably, he'll decide who's writing which sections within a week or two from now.

And then the book can start to be editted as soon as the last section is finished. And then the book can start page setting and art assignment and such.

The book isn't even in its develeopment cycle - it's still in team assignment. I wouldn't start even asking how it's coming for at least 3 months. I think December is really optimistic. I know that a lot of potential writers have most of the game mechanics and flavor text fully conceptualized or even written already, but it's still going to take a long time to get the whole team squared away and on the same page with each other as to the direction things need to go. Remember, the whole book is going to be essentially a single PAN - a lot of these sections are going to have to talk to each other to get the game mechanics up and running.

The rules for ally spirits have to reference the rules for free spirits and the rules for metaquests. The rules for magical threats have to reference the rules for background counts. The rules for enchanting have to reference the rules for allies and should reference the rules for possession. The rules for expanded tradition management have to reference the rules for magical threats and vice versa. And copy/paste functions aren't going to work, because SR4 has different mechanics and different magical flavor.

There are a lot of choices to be made, and a lot of those choices have to be made in groups, and those groups have not met yet.

-Frank

[Montev]

Damn and seeing it show up in Previews magazine gave me the idea they were a little more ahead in the process.

Does anyone know anything about the GM Screen?

[Veggiesama]