Best Seattle sourcebook? Options

[silva]

Hi.

Got excited with anniversary edition and decided to try SR again after a long hiatus. So now I want a Seattle sourcebook.

Ive listen good things about Runner Havens. How does it compare to the previous (New Seattle and Seattle sourcebook) ? What is the best Seattle sourcebook in your opinons?

And, what are other great "setting" sourcebooks out there ?

[Ancient History]

If you're willing to wait a few months, the new sourcebook Seattle 2072 will be out.

[silva]

Really? Now THAT is great news.

Maybe with the visual treatment of anniversary edition? XD

[Ancient History]

I'm certain when it gets closer to the street date you shall see an art preview on shadowrun4.com and be able to judge it yourself.

[Malachi]

Hi.

Got excited with anniversary edition and decided to try SR again after a long hiatus. So now I want a Seattle sourcebook.

Ive listen good things about Runner Havens. How does it compare to the previous (New Seattle and Seattle sourcebook) ? What is the best Seattle sourcebook in your opinons?

And, what are other great "setting" sourcebooks out there ?

Runner Havens is also good because it contains equal treatment on Hong Kong as it does Seattle. It is the opinion of many people that the write-up of Hong Kong in RH is better than the Seattle one. As for settings sourcebooks, there are quite a few. The setting sourcebooks from SR3 are still very relevant.

Besides Runner Havens the other settings books that have been released in the SR4 timeline are Corporate Enclaves (more "civilized" corporate-controlled cities, Neo-Tokyo and Los Angeles are the major locations), and Feral Cities (cities with no rule of law, Chicago and Lagos are the major locations). Each of these locations books has 2 "major" cities that are featured, and then several "secondary" locations that receive a few pages of treatment.

If you can find a cheap copy of New Seattle I would consider it worth buying. Because Seattle is the focus of the entire book it does go into more detail than RH. Other SR3 setting books that I think are good: Shadows of North America, Shadows of Europe, Shadows of Asia, Target: Wastelands, Target: Awakened Lands. Obviously, though, only purchase locations books where you could see setting your runs sometime.

[mercurywave]

What I have seen of our group, we use the Seattle Sourcebook 1990. I believe its 2nd ed. It really gives us a vivid look at the areas, and spurs allot of imaginative discussion.

There is nothing like a full sourcebook focused on a single region, that's why I think the Runner Havens book is a waste. Especially if you already have the older books. That is unless you want a few notes on what has happened since the last crash.

[BIG BAD BEESTE]

The Seattle Sourcebook circa~1990 is actually 1st edition, but still the best for outright character. Still the best for actual maps of the city's districts (even though they can be improved). It is written mainly in character as an annoted guidebook rather than as a full document by a shadowrunner, but in that sense is more like a real game prop/handout. Gotta love the colour adverts though. My favourite is the one for The Big Rhino.

[Wesley Street]

I love those old color photo adverts. The London Sourcebook ones are awesome too, especially the domestic placement agency with the elf maid and ork butler.

[Snow_Fox]

for me the original Seatle SB is the best, it gives a feel for Seattle a place where people live and get by, the other book all seem to be more ofcused on the corps. When I went to Seattle last year in RL I took it with me. strangley it helped

[Sykoholic]

I'll second what Snow_Fox said. For sheer character and detail, "Seattle Sourcebook" is the best. It came out for 1st Edition but since it is purely fluff and contains few (if any) game mechanics, it can be used for any edition. Each district is given a seperate chapter as is the Renraku Arcology. Since it was released for 1st Ed, some of the information is obviously out-of-date. For instance, Outremer wasn't part of the metroplex at the time so it isn't detailed.

Hopefully, the aforementioned Seattle 2072 will include a detailed downtown street map like the one in the SSB. *hint, hint*

[Mystweaver]

I think the general consensusn is that 1e Seattle Sourcebook is the best... which I agree with as well. New Seattle adds little imo though is still useful, just don't get your hopes up after reading 1e.

Likewise, I still prefer all the 1e books over the later editions for their annotations and visual representations of gear and vehicles such as Fields of Fire. Considering we run 3e, we actually still use some of the bits from Fields of Fire as the weapon mechanics have changed very little.

Malachi says it all though... those books mentioned are all very good (i.e. the Target: "..." and Shadows of "..." books).

London Sourcebook is also brilliant, but its a completely different feel to Seattle because of well... lots of reasons as you will find out if and when you read it....

London is a great campaign setting and a great place to send your seattle runners to when they think they are hard and suddenly realise they cant get a gun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cardul]

I was never able to get new Seattle...was there really that much change between teh SSB and New Seattle? Heck..I have not really seen much change between SSB and Runner Havens...

[Mystweaver]

I was never able to get new Seattle...was there really that much change between teh SSB and New Seattle? Heck..I have not really seen much change between SSB and Runner Havens...

No, not really SSB is really all you'll ever need (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Though, I have not read Runner Havens

[Cybersushi]

for me the original Seatle SB is the best, it gives a feel for Seattle a place where people live and get by, the other book all seem to be more ofcused on the corps. When I went to Seattle last year in RL I took it with me. strangley it helped

Gobogen and I did the same last summer. We tracked down a few RL spots of famous SR sites. We really had a blast. Seattle is a great city.

[Sykoholic]

One thing about downtown Seattle that I've never seen mentioned in any of the source material is the fact that from about 6th Ave to 1st Ave is all down-hill. You can enter a building on 1st Ave, take the elevator up three floors, and exit at ground level on 2nd Ave.

[Wesley Street]

That's pretty much true of any city with a hilly landscape.

[Daddy's Litt...]

Yeah, when Snow fox came back from Seattle last year that was the first thing she and her husband commented on. And I quote "Big freaking hills!" "F'ing stairmaster of a city!"

[Sykoholic]

That's pretty much true of any city with a hilly landscape.

I don't get out much (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Snow_Fox]

Yeah but Seattle's spectacularly steep. I wrote this before, that names like "Queen Anne Hill" are not mildly discriptive but in fact massive understatments. The docks in Seattle harbor are not straight out from the shore but go at an angle becuase the sea bottom shelves rapidly too.

[Method]

Yep, and most of the intestate highways (like I-5 and I-90) are hundreds of feet above the surface streets....

[Snow_Fox]

a few things not mentioned in the books are the steepness of the hills, bicycle mssngers in downtown seattle my ass, and the fact that that alaska way in downtown is elevated, two tiers and pretty amazing as a place to meet under or shoot from. also the map showing the Public Market is not quite right, they mark the wrong building.

The other thing is that the map don't give you a feeling of how close the other land is, how narorw puget sound is around Seattle. I grew up in westchester New york, on the coast so I was always htinking it was like Long Island Sound, miles accross, but it's not. it's fairly narrow which means sneaking into SS lands is much easier than we thought. also the lakes are a big part of the cannal.

A final (from me ? HA!) summation of the books would be the later SBs give and update of the corp levels and such but the original SB was the one that discribed the CITY of Seattle, not just the power brokers

[blindfox]

hell, every citizen who doesnt have wheels prolly works up to about a 3 or 4 athletics just from walking the damned streets. if it werent for the athletic conditioning i get outta ft. lewis i'd likely dread my trips to seattle far more than i already do. (plus parking is a bitch and a half if you're not riding yer motorcycle).
i always get the most SR feel from the place when i go thru chinatown on jackson in the international district