Retconning through the editions, Post your favorite examples Options

[swirler]

*sings*
"LOOK OUT!!! for the shrinking trolls
Beware!! noone ever knows where they'll be!!!"

[b1ffov3rfl0w]

the language
I miss frag and chummer and hoop and decker
I mean i guess you can say it isnt retcon but it seems like it to me
they use f--- now
when the main characters in one of the old novels said that one of the guys trying to kill him said "He said f---, isn't that quaint?"

Like how you guys used to say "Christmas" for Xmas, and "ask" instead of "ax". Let me ax you, though, how can "hoop" mean "your ass" when it actually means a toilet seat? And why did Orks call humans "breeders"? Were all Orks gay? Don't Orks in fact breed way more prolifically than humans?

Back when we played SR1, we always cracked up at "chummer" and couldn't say it. I wrote an encounter where the team was meeting some grizzled old fisherman at the docks and when they first see him he's chopping up fish guts into a bucket.

[b1ffov3rfl0w]

Oh god, here I was reading the thread title, thinking if I might have missed any major timeline retcon like adding 9/11 to the SR-timeline or such... but calling the lack of Dikote in 4th edition rulebooks is hardly what qualifies as a retcon.

Fortunately (um) for them, most of Manhattan got leveled a few years later. Then again, I don't imagine FASA was like "oh no, it's almost 2006 and a huge earthquake hasn't hit the east coast yet!"

Dikote is ... um ... oh yeah, it's now too cheap to mention. Everything that isn't edible is dikoted as a matter of course. If you want non-dikoted stuff you pay the same (economies of scale, chummer) and reduce the ratings appropriately. Seriously though I expect it will be in a supplement.

Of all the stuff mentioned here, I find the shrinking trolls to be the most concerning to me. I like my troggies > 3 meters, my good sir!

Ah -- also they have extra teeth, for a total of 32. So everyone else actually lost teeth. I blame the Unseelie Tooth Fairies.

[KCKitsune]

I miss Shamans automatically having a totem... instead of having to buy a mentor spirit.

It's what made them different from Hermetics... and very very cool.

I also think that Shaman's shouldn't have to buy their totems either. There are good and bad things about each totem. They shouldn't have to buy their totem.

[Aaron]

I imagine Dikote has been around long enough that it's pretty standard in manufacturing applications for which it would make sense. Kinda like monofilament. Besides, if Dikote was going to be in SR4, it would have been in Arsenal, ne?

[Aaron]

I think that totems, like any quality, is most effective when used properly. One aspect of mentor spirits that I've found to be underused is the aid one gets in astral quests.

[PlatonicPimp]

Hey, no one mentioned "naked hacking" yet. Back in 1st edition, there was this special cyberware that was essentially a datajack only it had three prongs that popped out of your knuckles wolverine style. It allowed you to deck without a deck, with your naked brain. The origional dodger had one in the opening fiction and they made a big deal out of it. This got Retconned out of existence, primarily so they could introduce Otaku and have them be the uber cool naked hackers.

[b1ffov3rfl0w]

Ah yes, the Program Carrier. I think it actually got replaced in SR2, by the Cranial Cyberdeck (now replaced by the implanted commlink).

[Feshy]

I'm thankful they changed the cost of hermetic libraries. Rating squared times two grand for hardcopy? Yeesh. Though, it really made you feel like it was an achievement to get if it cost as much for a library as a sports car...

[Vegetaman]

I miss trolls being giant and being able to dikote my weapons. I only have SR3 and SR4 core rulebooks, so I don't really know a lot about the expanded mechanics of the game.

[Fortune]

I miss Aspected Magicians that don't suck.

[b1ffov3rfl0w]

I'm thankful they changed the cost of hermetic libraries. Rating squared times two grand for hardcopy? Yeesh. Though, it really made you feel like it was an achievement to get if it cost as much for a library as a sports car...

Pretty realistic, I think. Consider how much academic presses charge now, and then consider that those books don't require heavy chains of silver and iron and aren't bound in the skins of ... creatures.

[Blade]

Actually the program carrier wasn't retconned. It's even mentioned in Runner Havens.

[Prime Mover]

I find myself being nostalgic for past shadowrun moments and its fluff. Case in point slang, 20 years have past, we certainly don't normally use slang from the 70/80's except as a reference or joke. So we certainly cant expect 50's SR slang to still be in common use.

[Prime Mover]

Actually the program carrier wasn't retconned. It's even mentioned in Runner Havens.

Did'nt it say it caused cancer or something?

[FrankTrollman]

Interesting note on Running Speeds: back in first edition your running speed was per initiative pass. If you got an 11+ Initiative score you moved twice as fast. If you got a 21+ you moved triple speed. If you got a 31 or higher you moved quadruple speed. Add in some good athletics successes and it was quite easy to run 100m in less than 3 seconds.

But regardless, my biggest peeve is the Ghoul. In first and second edition, Ghoul transformation is a SURGE effect that will never ever happen to PCs. Then bang they decide to retcon it into a disease that you can inject yourself with as a super serum. And to combat that, they make special rules for player characters where they have to ride on the short bus if they turn into Ghouls while NPC ghouls still ride around big pimping.

Secondary to that was the revision on Shapeshifters that turned them into totally weak sauce when used by PCs, but left all the cool powers on the NPC guys.

-Frank

[Drogos]

Did'nt it say it caused cancer or something?

Nope, I believe that was the D20 system. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Stahlseele]

the point of Nukes not working in a magical world or at least being able to disarm them through magic . . and then they went and gave winternight magically powered/altered nukes that did not so much damage but more EMP . . oh and the second nice retcon: optical systems that are susceptical(spelling?) to EMP in the first place . . and the fact that nobody thought to make backups after the FIRST crash . .

[Spike]

Frank: Given that I've never used Ghouls or Shapeshifters in my games, I gotta hear more details about what you mean...

Given that digging up my old editions would be a monumental task of herculean proportions that is... I don't even remeber there being 'PC' rules for shapeshifters. If you wanted to play one you had to more or less extrapolate from the critters entry.

[Drogos]

Given that digging up my old editions would be a monumental task of herculean proportions that is... I don't even remeber there being 'PC' rules for shapeshifters.

I know it was an option in SR3 and IIRC SR2 as well. And yes, they were extremely gimped for PCs (not that I take issue with that. Nothing should make a PC Roxor without some drawbacks). As for SR1, I have no clue.

[Stahlseele]

for SR3, look into the Companion, there'S rules for shapeshifters and ghouls . . and then compare to the rules of NPC Shifter/ghoul . .
it's more or less like comparing a usual SR3 Decker with an otaku in some aspects . . the otaku just get to rock in the matrix and the Decker has to spend LOTS of money for his Deck

[Blade]

@Prime Mover: Yes, cancer and maybe some brain damage too.

the point of Nukes not working in a magical world or at least being able to disarm them through magic . . and then they went and gave winternight magically powered/altered nukes that did not so much damage but more EMP . . oh and the second nice retcon: optical systems that are susceptical(spelling?) to EMP in the first place . . and the fact that nobody thought to make backups after the FIRST crash . .

Well nukes (and nuclear power in general) in Shadowrun have always been complicated. Some did explode, some didn't (although we're not sure why), some did but not as expected...

As for optical systems, I recall that System Failures explains that the optical systems were immune to EMP, but not everything is optical. And there were backups, but most of them also held "backups" of the virus, IIRC.

[swirler]

I find myself being nostalgic for past shadowrun moments and its fluff. Case in point slang, 20 years have past, we certainly don't normally use slang from the 70/80's except as a reference or joke. So we certainly cant expect 50's SR slang to still be in common use.

sure they wouldn't use slang from 20 years before, but why would they use slang from 70+ years before, is my point, I guess
yeah chummer felt kinda stilted before but after you read enough sourcebooks and novels they all just kinda flow
or atleast they did for me
hell even the FPS community picked up on frag, of course thats for killing, but if you get fragged, you are fragged IMO
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[swirler]

I know it was an option in SR3 and IIRC SR2 as well. And yes, they were extremely gimped for PCs (not that I take issue with that. Nothing should make a PC Roxor without some drawbacks). As for SR1, I have no clue.

Yeah I had a Player run a werebear in SR2. He argued that he couldn't see why he couldn't be a werebear hermetic mage and have cyberware. I finally gave in just to shut him up. So I let him play with it for awhile but every person he met with astral perception looked at him like he was some abomination. His regen didn't work quite as fast as he thought it should have, various problems with things. Eventually it all built up and he had to go on an astral quest end ended up fighting against his cybered side. Basically he fought a mechanical bear made of gleaming chrome and wires. and he woke up to have his body having expelled all the cyber from him. By the time it happened, he kind of understood why I didn't think he should be able to get it in the first place.
kind of.

[cryptoknight]

Let me add

Slower healing times...

Double Body per day... means that grievous wounds take a couple days and you're back to good as new.

I liked how a Deadly wound had a longer healing phase than a serious wound.

30 days base for a deadly wound... and then you had a serious... it took a while to patch up... which just made more sense to me.