The SR4 History Project, - using the SR4 rules for earlier times Options

[Jürgen Hubert]

From what I've seen so far, the SR4 rules seem to have a lot going for them - the rules are much cleaned up, and according to the poll floating around here, most people plan to switch to them as soon as possible.

However, Shadowrun has a rich backstory and history - the timeline that started with SR1 now spans two decades, and there have been numerous tumultous changes in the world that had vast politicial repercussions. And it often was a lot of fun to do run through these times - Bug City, the presidental elections of 2057, the Arcology Shutdown, the Year of the Comet...

So how about trying to get the best of both worlds by using the SR4 rules for these earlier periods?

Of course, this is easier said than done - after all, the SR4 rules reflect the setting as it is in the year 2070, not 2050. There have been lots of technological and social developments in the two decades, and using the SR4 rules for 2050 should mean making some adjustments to them.

The main problems I can see are:

- The drastic change in the way the Matrix works after the 2064 Crash. The rules adjustments should convey the feel how the old Matrix worked - a seperate virtual reality realm, with deckers depending on cyberdecks and otakus requiring datajacks. On the other hand, recreating the entire old Matrix rules shouldn't be the goal either, since these were an unholy mess to begin with.

- Price and availability of various pieces of hardware, cyberware, and bioware, including their first release to their general public. Ideally, we would have a year-by-year table when the various items become available, and what they cost each year. This would convey a much better sense of technological development over time than the cumbersome SOTA rules...


Your thoughts?