[X] My Assistant

[the_dunner]

Catalyst Game Labs will be holding our monthly SR Chat next Saturday, April 19 at 10AM PDT. This month we’ll be doing something somewhat different from our regular Q&A with the developers and authors. Instead, to promote our upcoming campaign book Ghost Cartels, we’ll be giving fans the opportunity to participate in an “in character� chat with some of our regular JackPoint posters. In the guise of a Matrix discussion between our regular fictional characters, we’ll be offering fans teasers about the upcoming campaign and the events depicted therein.

The premise is simple: sometime in mid-August 2071, several JackPointers meet up on an open ShadowSEA chat host to talk with a few friends and acquaintances about recent events taking place in the Sixth World at large and Seattle in particular during the preceding months.

Feel free to join in and ask questions about what’s going on in the Sixth World and specifically recent events depicted in Ghost Cartels – just remember to post in character. Log on with your own character’s street name or just use your internet handle and join the fun.

Want to know who won the race for Seattle Metroplex governor?
Wondering who’s behind the hugely popular bioengineered awakened drug known as tempo?
Intrigued by the unique high and magical abilities tempo allegedly grants?
Interested in who just took out the Shotozumi-gumi’s senior sokaiya and why?
Would like to know which veteran Seattle runner has been killed in the gangland violence?
Concerned by the impact of the wide-spread syndicate warfare on your business?
Need to know why the Triads are fighting it out in the streets of Hong Kong?
Heard the latest buzz about the recent shifts in power among Neo-Tokyo’s Yakuza?

For the answers to those questions and many more, log on next Saturday.

As usual, the chat will be held in the Battlecorps Shadowrun Chat room.

[Prime Mover]

Slighty confused by this one, Unwired coming next or Ghost Cartels? You say ask questions contained in Ghost Cartels. You mean the info your giving or is that tease we'll see it before next weekend?

Please tell me were not still months away from Unwired ;(.

[hermit]

Hunh. Fun little idea. Who'll be the canon characters?

[Leofski]

Slighty confused by this one, Unwired coming next or Ghost Cartels? You say ask questions contained in Ghost Cartels. You mean the info your giving or is that tease we'll see it before next weekend?

Please tell me were not still months away from Unwired ;(.

Unwired is currently the next book out. By the chat, it could possibly maybe perhaps be out on PDF. I hope.

Then Cartels would be next (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) .

[Synner]

Unwired will definitely be the next book out and it is on final approach.

However, focusing this Chat on such a rules heavy book as Unwired without people actually having read the contents would be complicated and could lead to either getting bogged down with explaining how every rule is articulated in the big picture or simply seed misunderstandings as to how things are intended to work.

Ghost Cartels on the other hand is a setting-oriented campaign book, with plot lines that are both street-level and globe-trotting, that kick off in the Seattle Barrens and take you all the way through to the heart of South America (if you want). The storyline also shakes up the underworld status quo all around the Sixth World and has lots of potential fall out for those running the shadows in pretty much any sprawl you can think of.

Ghost Cartels, will also introduce a new format for campaign books, one that combines the fiction content of Emergence and Year of the Comet, with the track style campaign information of MobWar, Blood in the Boardroom, and System Failure, and finally the sort of ready-to-use extra-value content you would expect from a sequential campaign like Brainscan or Survival of the Fittest (such as Casts of Shadows, Grunt stats, location maps, and other goodies).

From the back cover text to Ghost Cartels:

The shadows are abuzz about the new drug in the sprawl. It takes the user on a unique trip, better than anything seen before. Druggies can't get enough of the stuff, and even beetleheads are giving it a shot. The drug's popularity shifts the balance of power between the syndicates, and soon the blood and bullets are flowing. Ghost Cartels drops the runners into the action, involving them in the drug deals and power plays shaking up Seattle, LA, Hong Kong, Neo-Tokyo and Caracas; and even takes them all the way to the dangerous jungles of South America.

[raverbane]

It's still April. Might be another April Fool's Joke.

[hermit]

Oh come on, get over it, will you?

[raverbane]

Oh come on, get over it, will you?

Well, it did take them 2 weeks to let us in on thier vastly amusing joke. So, it might take 2 weeks for some of us to get over it.

And since so many of us missed the 'obvious' clues of the joke, anything coming out of CG this month might be an April Fool's Joke. Or just a plain joke.

[Naysayer]

It's just plain amazing how many people - after first apparently having been personally offended by the notion of dragons as playable characters - now appear equally if not more horribly offended by learning that it was indeed the joke that many suspected it was.

[swirler]

It's still April. Might be another April Fool's Joke.

It's dead Jim...

stop beating it.

[Abschalten]

I for one think this is a pretty sweet idea, and I'll try to be there. If we're going all IC, I may just show up as my black magician, Bane. Might make for some interesting Q&A concerning the ramifications for the awakened.

[Blue eyes]

Sounds like a very cool idea, will be fun! Looking forward to getting some more clues about "Ghost Cartels" during the chat.

[Synner]

The one thing I can tell you about Ghost Cartels is that the plotlines therein and the overall tone of the campaign are dark, very violent, grim, and gritty. The book isn't geared towards either epic/high power or hooder campaigns, the spotlight this time is very much on the street and criminal aspects of shadowrunning - though the ramifications are global. Just a heads up.

[Fuchs]

Now that sounds promising. Too bad the only character of mine that would post on public forums IC is a flaky L.A. hacker (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) .

[swirler]

or hooder campaigns

hooder campaigns?

[Blade]

With "Robin Hood" shadowrunners. Campaigns where the runners run for the greater good.

[Aaron]

Well, it did take them 2 weeks to let us in on thier vastly amusing joke. So, it might take 2 weeks for some of us to get over it.
And since so many of us missed the 'obvious' clues of the joke, anything coming out of CG this month might be an April Fool's Joke. Or just a plain joke.

I, for one, am happy that they're spending their time making product rather than placating us. Besides, admit it: DS posters kept after it forever. I'm sure we were entertaining.

[hermit]

One question: What would the characters in that chat game know of the happenings in GC? Would they hear from that drug for the first time, or would they have a vague idea of what's going on?

[Synner]

The chat will be starting with the posting of several "news items" that will provide some context to proceedings. I will be also posting them here before-hand. If someone could post the relevant newsitems to any other boards that might have people interested, please feel free to do so.

[hermit]

Okay, will do that.

[DocTaotsu]

Will Ghost Cartels have anything on the Yucatan situation? Can we... you know, take a breather in Central America before we get down to South? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Synner]

No. Ghost Cartels will not touch the Yucatán directly (there's a very minor tie-in but that's it).

First news items

MORE DEATHS IN RISING GANG VIOLENCE
New Seattle Intelligence[NN] – 23 March 2071
SEATTLE, UCAS: The rising gang violence has seen the death tally rise by another fifteen last weekend. In this latest round of gang violence the Amerind First Nation gang and the Halloweeners were involved in a bloody turf dispute. NSI sources believe the escalating gang violence is related to the distribution of the new drug tempo (also known as "flipside"). Readers should note that while technically tempo is not illegal in the UCAS, several medical organizations and the UCAS Surgeon General's office have warned that the substance is highly addictive and that it's legal status will go under analysis by the relevant authorities in the near future. Metroplex authorities claim they are looking into the matter, but that right now Lone Star's hands are tied by tempo's ambiguous legal status.<full article>

NTPD MAJOR DRUG BUST
Pink Tentacle [NTT] – 01 April 2071
NEO-TOKYO, Japan: After weeks of investigative work, members of the Neo-Tokyo Police Department have conducted their first bust, seizing nearly a dozen kilograms of the street drug tempo that were being smuggled into Japan inside freeze-dried fish. The smugglers are believed to be members of a Korean organized-crime syndicate looking to expand into the Japanese market. NTPD detectives credit the bust to a reliable tip-off from a concerned citizen. While not classified as a narcotic in Japan, tempo falls under a general ban on importing spices or herbs without paying a tariff, a law originally passed to prevent the circumvention of standard trade regulations concerning traditional Chinese medicine. <full article>

DEATH IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
New Seattle Intelligencer [NN] – 16 May 2071
SEATTLE, UCAS: Chaos at the Garden of Eden tonight as Red Star paramedics failed to resuscitate 57-year old Toju Shotozumi, noted Seattle philanthropist and investor, following a bomb attack on the Garden of Eden Casino in Everett. Red Star were first on the scene, followed by CrashCart and DocWagon; EMTs later described it as a scene of carnage. No word yet on whom the other casualties might be, but sources indicate five other bodies were recovered at the scene of the explosion. Further details about the attack have not been released, but Lone Star and Garden of Eden, Inc. security have released trideo images of suspects in what is an ongoing murder investigation, but no arrests have been made yet. Lone Star sources have refused to comment on whether the attack is related to the recent rise in gangland violence and drug-related crime. Lone Star is under considerable pressure from the new Metroplex administration to crackdown on the escalating street violence. <full article>

LONE STAR TO RECRUIT FORMER MILITARY
New Seattle Intelligencer [NN] – 23 May 2071
SEATTLE, UCAS: In what is being called a response to escalating gang violence, Lone Star public relations spokesperson, Maxine Poocha announced today that Lone Star would be hiring former Metroplex Guard officers to bolster its overtaxed Seattle Fast Response Division. The move comes after weeks of escalated gang warfare throughout the city. Poocha admitted Lone Star FRT forces had been caught flat-footed by the sudden spike in gang violence. “We were unprepared to handle the level of firepower and military efficiency these gangs are operating with,� she stated. Poocha went on to say that the move would allow the police force to, “get out on the street in greater numbers and protect the city from its criminal element.� <full article>

Drug Razzia at Six Local Pharmacies
Keimzeit Beepscream Ticker - 04 June 2071
Northrhine-Ruhr, AGS: Six German pharmacies located within the Northrhine-Ruhr-metroplex area were searched by 70 police officers of the Landeskriminalamt (State Office of Criminal Investigation), Customs Investigation and Saeder-Krupp corporate guards yesterday. The accused, six pharmacists and one employee, are suspected to have provided the processed and refined drug to a yet unknown distributor within the metroplex area. “The confiscated amount of twelve kilos of raw tempo is high enough to supply the whole drug scene of the metroplex for a week� said an observer of the LKA. Due to the presence of armed representatives of Triple A monolith Saeder-Krupp, it has been speculated that corporate employees might be involved in this matter, though Essen has denied any connection. <full article>

[Critias]

The one thing I can tell you about Ghost Cartels is that the plotlines therein and the overall tone of the campaign are dark, very violent, grim, and gritty. The book isn't geared towards either epic/high power or hooder campaigns, the spotlight this time is very much on the street and criminal aspects of shadowrunning - though the ramifications are global. Just a heads up.

*flashes a big, bloody-knuckled, thumbs up*

Excellent, Smithers.

[FlakJacket]

Agreed, that and the fact that they're finally bringing biological/non-chip drugs to the fore. Better Than Life whilst certainly tying into the whole futuristic cyberpunk thing always from the early editions just seemed to strike me as a little silly considering how dominantly prevalent it was portrayed.

And does this mean that there will be no question and answer bit at all? I wanted to ask the Catalyst/IMR guys about if and when they might restart re-releasing old sourcebooks as searchable .pdfs, Shadows of Europe in particular.

[Synner]

And does this mean that there will be no question and answer bit at all? I wanted to ask the Catalyst/IMR guys about if and when they might restart re-releasing old sourcebooks as searchable .pdfs, Shadows of Europe in particular.

Not this time round. We're working on the pdf releases of the old stuff but theres a couple of obstacles in the way at the moment. I'll try to update everyone when there's some news on that front.