Arsenal, Is it any good? Options

[Reg06]

I just went out bought the Shadowrun core book (I've played before, but after relocating it has taken a while to find players), and because I have no self control in these matters I purchased Augmentation. It was a toss up between Augmentation and Arsenal, but it matters little as I'll probably be buying Arsenal soon anyways.
So, is Arsenal any good? What sort of stuff does it include? More melee weapons? And specifically, does it include more types of bludgeoning weapons (things like a big maul, or two handed hammer)?

Thanks

[DocTaotsu]

Yes, it's worth buying.

The compiled charts in the back are almost worth it by themselves.
It basically includes more of everything. Melee and otherwise, plus it has a bunch of other random crap that you can throw into your game for flavor or ignore because it's too much trouble.

All in all I thought it was worth the cash.

[Kyoto Kid]

...Form fit armour, tres chic armoured clothing, Military Grade armour, more bang bangs (& some really big ones too), Missiles & rockets & mortars (oh my), a drum fed GL, a Gauss Rifle, Lasers, explosives, 11 pages on demolitions, more vehicles, more drones, Battle Bots, custom weapons, Manatech, spy toys-- [gasp...deep breath]

...yeah, I'd say it's worth it.

[CanRay]

Toys. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smokin.gif)

I pretty much consider any "Gear Book" to be a "Must Buy", but that's just me.

But, yeah: Guns, cars, explosives, drugs, and all the other good stuff that makes Cyberpunk so dark!

Everyone in my group is fighting over it as they plan and build characters, so I consider that a sign of a good buy.

[DocTaotsu]

Honestly I can't imagine playing a game without Augmentation, Arsenal, and Street Magic (Pfft, good work CGL, you could have named the magic book Aracana something and we could have referred to it collectively as AAA or the Triple A. Now it's not nearly as confusing as it could be.)

BBB?
AAA?

[Daier Mune]

Arsenal as a weapons book isn't all that impressive, really. you get like a dozen pistols that all do roughly the same thing, with one or two unique designs.

as an expanded gear book and GM resource guide, its fantastic. i may not be interested in the guns (and normally i'm all about the guns), but the martial arts and weapon mods and manatech make it totaly worth it.

[Blue eyes]

Definetly a must buy! A great addition to the other core books.

Btw Synner indicated in yesterdays chat that more drones and vehicles will be added in a future book, good news! I wonder which book that will be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[reepneep]

Two words: Combat Anthroforms. How did we live without them? Those and the gun and vehicle mods... and the chemistry rules... and the expanded demolitions rules... just go buy the damn book.

[Stahlseele]

how we lived without them?
HOW WE LIVED WITHOUT THEM?
In my time we did use cybernetics to make us into our own combat anthroforms!
we had to do things by hand uphill in both directions!
i'd say Augmentation is more important than Arsenal, but if you allready have Aug, then yeah, get that Arse

[DocTaotsu]

Augmentation is pretty key to the street sami (which I think is pretty universal to any SR game), but Arsenal has something for everyone.

Except the hacker.

Because he gets his own book.

Weirdo.

[vladski]

I just went out bought the Shadowrun core book (I've played before, but after relocating it has taken a while to find players), and because I have no self control in these matters I purchased Augmentation. It was a toss up between Augmentation and Arsenal, but it matters little as I'll probably be buying Arsenal soon anyways.
So, is Arsenal any good? What sort of stuff does it include? More melee weapons? And specifically, does it include more types of bludgeoning weapons (things like a big maul, or two handed hammer)?

Thanks

Arsenal is the one book I would say that any SR game (no matter the focus or how advanced) should have beyond hte BBB (core rules). There's truly something in there for every character.

The rest of hte books, Augmentation, Street Magic, etc. are more niche books and you can run a perfectly acceptable game just straight out of hte BBB. Of course, you probably want a good setting book as well. If I had to choose only one, it would probably be Shadows of North America and/or Runner Havens. And, unless you are planning on using Tecromancy to any extent, stay away from Emergence. I haven't cracked it since I originally bought it when it first came out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) For me, it was a waste of nuyen.

If I was limited to only three books to run an SR game on a deserted island, I would say give me the BBB, Arsenal and probably Street Magic. Of course, I wouldn't want to do that. I own probably 85-90 percent of all the SR stuff in one form or another from all four editions, and use all of it, at least occasionally, except the core rule stuff from editions 1-3 (and still used Rigger 3 and the Cannon Companion for my own conversions until Arsenal came out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) )

And no, there are no big mauls or two handed hammers. That's the kind of stuff that can be extrapolated from other weapons.

Vlad

[Zen Shooter01]

It's amazing and essential.

[Wasabi]

Arsenal is like the old Cybertechnology, Fields of Fire, the Corporate Security Handbook, and Rigger 3 all combined, then gift wrapped with a host of new items. It rocks.

[Sir_Psycho]

Arsenal is a very good book. In the same way SR4 is a good unification of rules into a simpler, more intuitive system than SR3, Arsenal takes a whole lot of gear that is useful to all Shadowrunners and puts it in the one place, rather than having books that were a little more class specific. The lack of flavour and context can be solved by picking up some SR3 books, which are still very relevant.

[hobgoblin]

Arsenal as a weapons book isn't all that impressive, really. you get like a dozen pistols that all do roughly the same thing, with one or two unique designs.

thats guns for you. for all the noise those in the "know" produce about them then end of the story is that they are all metal tubes that have bits of metal forced down them thanks to a chemical reaction at one end...

and that funny enough, sums up anything non-rocket thats used to kill people today at range...

still, i think we would get a lot of noise if SR went the blue planet way and having exactly one weapon pr class (with 2-3 special ones, total, for flavor in the gear book).

[imperialus]

still, i think we would get a lot of noise if SR went the blue planet way and having exactly one weapon pr class (with 2-3 special ones, total, for flavor in the gear book).

I agree... I know it sounds stupid but half the time I buy guns based on what I think 'looks coolest' even if there isn't even a drawing for it, or my vision of it's drawing is totally different than the picture in the book.

Really, I mean what's the real difference between an Ares Alpha and an AK97 modified with an underbarrel grenade launcher and a smartlink? Style, and price. The Alpha looks like something a baddass out of a sci-fi movie should have. An AK97 looks like something a kid in Sierra Leone should be toting around.

[Daier Mune]

i meant that more of a "yeah theres alot of options, but who cares?" they give us alot of light pistols, i've never seen a character that uses light pistols. they give us a big selection of assault rifles, but it doesn't matter since the Ares Alpha is still the best you can buy (cheaper than buying a AK97 and upgrading it, too). anyone who's a sniper now grabs the Desert Strike at character Creation.

as i said, as a weapons catalog for the player characters, not that thrilling. as a GM resource for outfitting NPCs, fantastic.

[Method]

First, let me concur with these many others- go buy Arsenal.

But in the interest of informed consent I will tell you that my biggest complaint (actually my only complaint really) is that some of the artwork sucks balls. Some of the artwork is really good- mostly the stuff recycled from previous gear and vehicle books plus some of the new gun drawings by biometal79. But a lot of the new stuff looks like it came out of a Jetsons cartoon, and thats just not the way I envision the dark gritty world of SR.

Now having said that, this is a pretty minor complaint, since the whole point of playing a PnP RPG is to use your imagination. I just disregard the silly pictures as it suits my fancy and revel in all the super-sweet awesomeness that is my Arse (sorry I couldn't help it). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Reg06]

Excellent. Thanks for all the great answers, I'll be picking it up fairly soon.

[PlatonicPimp]

Hey! I use light pistols all the time. Unlike SR3 they can now actually hurt someone.

[reepneep]

Hey! I use light pistols all the time. Unlike SR3 they can now actually hurt someone.

The character I'm using right now is using holdouts and does pretty damn well for a non-sammy. He's a match for at least two mooks.

[DocTaotsu]

Also a light pistols fan. Especially since so many of them come in "Not detectable by MAD scanner" flavor.

[DocTaotsu]

Also a light pistols fan. Especially since so many of them come in "Not detectable by MAD scanner" flavor.

[Sir_Psycho]

First, let me concur with these many others- go buy Arsenal.

But in the interest of informed consent I will tell you that my biggest complaint (actually my only complaint really) is that some of the artwork sucks balls. Some of the artwork is really good- mostly the stuff recycled from previous gear and vehicle books plus some of the new gun drawings by biometal79. But a lot of the new stuff looks like it came out of a Jetsons cartoon, and thats just not the way I envision the dark gritty world of SR.

I have to agree here. It's not only that some of the art was downright average, but the layout of images is horrible. Mismatched resolutions in completely different and jarring styles that are actually juxtaposed. To have one of biometal's drawings next to the "street sweeper" illustration (which by comparison, looks like a crayon drawing) is pretty bad.

Personally, I would have cut out the gear images that weren't biometals. We really don't need a picture for every gun.

[CanRay]

I do. With the stats so similar, the main reason to get a particular gun over another is style! Do you want something that goes along well with your Neo-Tux, or do you need something that will intimidate every fraggin' punk on the block while it's still in the holster!

That said, yeah, the jarring styles was kind of strange. It was more telling in the vehicles, where they included old pics in the 80s and early-90s styles of vehicles, beside the "Electric Shaver" cars.

...

Actually, I'm glad they included the old pics. I like how the older cars looked from previous editions!