Who deserves Shadowrun?, A quick pool to see who would do the best work with the license. Options

[augmentin]

The first poll was CGL vs. the unknown. This is a follow up poll based on opinions voiced in other Dumpshock threads. I'm pretty sure this won't have any effect whatsoever on Topps' decision, but it's a fun exercise...

[fazzamar]

Oh God, not WotC.

[Minchandre]

I think Catalyst is doing a bang-up job, myself. In fact, the biggest problem, I'd say, is that it seems like many of the writers are themselves fans, which can inject biases.

[Bull]

I'm not touching this list except to note one thing...

Jordan Weisman already bought the Shadowrun proprty once from FASA. He didn't really do much with it beyond licensing it out to FanPro, then sold it (along with Wizkids) to Topps. Jordan is involved in two other copmanies right now, Smith & Tinker and Wells Entertainment, neither of which is a publishing company.

I would also note that Jordan is, or at least was, good friends with Randall and Loren, and has been for a long, long time.

His name keeps getting thrown around a lot by folks. So the above is just something to keep in mind.

Bull

[OneTrikPony]

And in a game with this much history, 20+ years IRL and 70 years in game, Writers who are not fans would inject massive amounts of bullshit, conflicting information, and setting contradictions.

Ever heard of Rifts? That game fucking SUCKS. Not for the crappy antiquated and incomplete game engiine but because so many writers have completely ignored or been unaware of what has come before. Rifts also has 20+ years of history and it's become a god damned train wreck there's no consistency major points of the setting get entirely screwed up from one sourcebook to the next. It's a fucking nightmare to GM or write for. And it's been under the "supervision" of the original designer Kevin Seimbeda for it's entire history.

Now think about shadowrun. Through 4 editions you have almost no setting conflicts, very little retconning(sp?) and only one slightly cumbersome setting upheavel in the transitin from Decking to Hacking and the WMI. That's an astounding feat considering how many owners and developers the setting has gone through. The realetivly smooth flow of the metaplot, setting locations, and major characters from edition to edition, from License to license, from developertodevelopertodeveloperto... is entirely due to the efforts of people--the freelancers-- who know their SR backward and forward.

This is why it terrifies me that JM Hardy might be scrambling for any monkey who can write prose to patch books together and pump out product. There has been a serious Brain Drain at CTG. And I know there are some good people left but I'm worried that the remaining SR knowledge is spread way too thin to maintain the quality of the past 20 years.

I have over 4 linear feet of SR material sitting on shelves cheek-by-jowel behind me right now. You can read straight through it all and never find a major conflict or contradiction and most of it is fairly good read. That happens when writers know their shit.

There are people who are good SR writers who will never work for catalyst. There are people who work for catalyst who are good SR writers. But those people who are working for catalyst could just as well work for Posthuman.

So Posthuman would be my vote. At least we'd get a known quantity with proven ability doing layout again. Maybe they'll take a shot at getting the IP next round after thisone. But that won't be any use if JM doesn't keep his eye on the prize and lets some hacks fuck things up.

[Bull]

This is why it terrifies me that JM Hardy might be scrambling for any monkey who can write prose to patch books together and pump out product. There has been a serious Brain Drain at CTG. And I know there are some good people left but I'm worried that the remaining SR knowledge is spread way too thin to maintain the quality of the past 20 years.

Couple of points here...

1) Not all the freelancers are new. Despite appearances, there's only been a couple active freelancers who have left. There are a number of others who are unhappy with things, but have said that is payment issues get straightened out, they would still write for Shadowrun.

2) Just because someone is new does not make them bad. Honestly, when Bobby first got involved? I thought "Jesus, their letting this kid uberfanboy write for the game? WHat kinda crack are they on??" Hell, Mel Odom didn't even know what Shadowrun was a couple months before he wrote his first Jack Skater novel, and I maintain that it's one of the most faithful books that relates the feeling of a team of average Shadowrunners.

3) They are scrambling, mainly because Bobby pulled his contract on material that was finished and was on the next track to being published. I don't blame Bobby for his choice, but it puts Jason in a bind. So he's working to get a new writer. I know exactly who and what Bobbby's referred to (which is the situation you're referring to, indirectly), and yes, the writer is new to Shadowrun. They are not new to writing, from my understanding. And whatever they do write will be proofed by people who know the world.

I'm not saying that Posthuman couldn't handle Shadowrun. Considering they're the core of FanPro US that took over from FASA, obviously they could. ANd they'd do a damn good job. But Adam has basically said flat out that they're scrambling to get the funding together so they can get back to producing their own game, Eclipse Phase. If CGL doesn't get the license renewed, they are definitely my first hope for the license, but considering how much the license is rumored to cost, I can't see them pulling it off without a LOT of outside help.

Bull

[Delta]

I think we can leave West End out of the poll, considering that Eric Gibson has already announced the selling of most properties of WEG yesterday, I think this much-kicked dog can finally rest in peace.

[Grexul]

I voted for CGL for continuity’s sake, although if I thought the Tom Dowd and his Columbia College graduate assistants were legitimate I would go with them in a heartbeat!
After that I would like to see either Posthuman or RedBrick get the license since their products convey a similar atmosphere or tone.
Piazo did a good job of picking up the D&D 3.x pieces with Pathfinder, but they were already producing material for that edition already.
WotC… no… just no.

Grexul

[Ol' Scratch]

I think we can leave West End out of the poll, considering that Eric Gibson has already announced the selling of most properties of WEG yesterday, I think this much-kicked dog can finally rest in peace.

Ooh. Maybe we'll get a rebirth of Torg.

[Patrick Goodman]

Oh, man, not this again....

[Mesh]

I voted for wotc to spread community warmth and fellowship.

[Ascalaphus]

Did CGL forgo renewal of the license then? The constant speculation threads were getting a bit too long to keep up with, but I'm curious if there's any real news.

[Patrick Goodman]

Did CGL forgo renewal of the license then? The constant speculation threads were getting a bit too long to keep up with, but I'm curious if there's any real news.

No, some people just appear to like spreading FUD.

[Kagetenshi]

Now think about shadowrun. Through 4 editions you have almost no setting conflicts, very little retconning(sp?) and only one slightly cumbersome setting upheavel in the transitin from Decking to Hacking and the WMI. That's an astounding feat considering how many owners and developers the setting has gone through. The realetivly smooth flow of the metaplot, setting locations, and major characters from edition to edition, from License to license, from developertodevelopertodeveloperto... is entirely due to the efforts of people--the freelancers-- who know their SR backward and forward.

Someone has apparently forgotten the tendency of the USSR to blink in and out of existence.

~J

[Bob Lord of Evil]

I can answer the title question.

The company that deserves to publish Shadowrun is the one that has been granted the rights to do so. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

[Patrick Goodman]

I can answer the title question.

The company that deserves to publish Shadowrun is the one that has been granted the rights to do so. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

QFT.

[Doc Byte]

RedBrick would be my favorite, considering they already do the 4th and 8th world.

[Robineng]

My favorite would be anyone who can keep up consistency with the previous editions and can keep up the same quality in publication as there has been.

[Fuchs]

If the quality is in the same ballpark I'd like to have a company that pays its debts and other obligations without being forced to hold the license.

[Thanee]

Jordan Weisman already bought the Shadowrun proprty once from FASA. He didn't really do much with it beyond licensing it out to FanPro, then sold it (along with Wizkids) to Topps. Jordan is involved in two other copmanies right now, Smith & Tinker and Wells Entertainment, neither of which is a publishing company.

AFAIK S&T got the FASA Interactive licenses from Microsoft...

The last thing I have in mind from Jordan Weisman was that tabletop... name eludes me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[LurkerOutThere]

RedBrick would be my favorite, considering they already do the 4th and 8th world.

Funny, they'd be my least favorite for just that reason.

I'll give my thoughts in orders of company based solely on my own experience with their products.

AEG - No, oh please god no. Do you like well produced well edited books that are internally consistant and mechanically play tested? Do you your company to give your RPG the resources it needs to succeed rather then just seeing it as a courtesy to fans while at the same time admonishing those fans to pick up the the latest revised copy of the main edition book which introduced on average 1 problem for every 2 corrected. Then two years after milking you for said book a new edition will be released. In short if you like all these things AEG is the publishing company for you but you also may need the railroad spike removed from your skull.

CGL - My preference, good quality certainly beats fanpro to death in a lot of areas, I like a lot of the direction they've taken the game in.

Mongoose - Lets be clear I like Mongoose, I've liked a lot of what they've done but they more then anyone in my mind they are a jack of many trades master of none organization. That's not to say I don't think they could handle it, just that their focus is bit spread out.

Piazo - Havn't read their stuff, can't comment

Posthuman - I'm still working through eclipse phase but PH basically suffers from association with fanpro for me. WHat didn't I like about fanpro's tenure? Well there's a few things but lets sum it up generally as Year of the Comet, what was one of the things that YOTC inflicted on the gameworld? Catgirls and other misc. furries. I'm 10 pages into EP and i've already hit my first furry, wonderfull.

Redbrick - Personally I've always felt Earthdawn was like the corpse that Shadowrun is chained to. I understand that others tastes differ but I'll just flat out state that it doesn't make any sense for all the sixth world's ruling powers to be holdovers from the fourth world, obviously this tends to color my perceptions of Redbrick.

SmithandTinker - As others have stated ST's got their hands very full and last I was aware were trying to get capital together for their electronic game related products.

Tom Dowd - Errrr sure I guess.

West End - Not familiar, can't comment

WoTC - I guess however i don't think SR would get the attention it deserves and the D20 Mechanic that everything WOTC makes is banged into will make the game clunk something fierce. Other then that I have little experience with them.

[Drats]

Like others here, my allegiance lies with the setting, and therefore with the freelancers, authors, and designers that have thus far done such a wonderful job of guiding it. Should the bulk of them continue (or resume) working with Catalyst once things iron themselves out, then Catalyst gets my vote. If not, I'd like to see the license to go whoever is best capable of assembling the greatest concentration of established SR talent under one roof (without gutting the game and turning it into a sanitized, 14-sourcebook-per-year commercial venture suitable for marketing to junior high kids, thank you very much WotC.)

[Ancient History]

Honestly, when Bobby first got involved? I thought "Jesus, their letting this kid uberfanboy write for the game? WHat kinda crack are they on??"

T'be completely honest, I thought the same thing. We can't all be Don Rosa.

[Stahlseele]

And yet, your stuff is awesome O.o
Also: AEG? @.@
Isn't that, like, a German Electronics Company? x.x
I say Pegasus Spiele. They do the german part of Shadowrun, simply have them expand to take over the english sector as well . .

[TomDowd]

I have graduate assistants??

Son of a....

:::goes off to find them and put their sorry asses to some good use:::

TD