Rebooting Shadowrun, ...because it's trendy in Hollywood Options

[Czar Eggbert]

I've been thinking alot about this lately, and so has the rest of Dumpshock it seems. If you were going to reboot Shadownrun, how would you do it? Think of it like a Manga, or a Marvel Ultimate title. Keep the themes (Japanese domination, Magic, Native American influence, Deckers, etc. ), but bring it into the 21st centuary. Try to keep as much of the flavor as possable but twist the themes to fit the current generation. For example in my world the SIN would take on a much more dominate role, witout one you could not buy anything in a leagel store. Maybe rewrite the NAN background a bit, maybe deemphasize the Mayan 2012 aspect. I would push the awakening back by about 20-30 years possably give it another catylist, maybe the discovery of the Akashick reords at the base of the Sphinx.

To the writers (Both offical and non), How would you reboot this great IP to capture todays teenagers without alienating completely longtime fans?

Czar Eggbert

[Ravor]

Short answer, I don't think you can.

[remmus]

Short answer, I don't think you can.

agreed, especially if your trying to make it "hip" for a age group that just spells disaster, either you like shadowrun in it´s current form or you don´t, seams a good IP enought if it spawned 3 games ( 4 if your count the "shadowrun" game for the PC/Xbox 360, personally I don´t)

[Weaver95]

Short answer, I don't think you can.

I would have to agree with that sentiment.

that said - there's a couple 'old' storylines I wouldn't mind seeing return in some form or another. Like....an exploration of the issues within both of the elven nations for example. I'd like to see some level of existential threat from the Horrors somehow show back up in the game (full disclosure - i'm a rabid Call of Cthulthu fan). I'd really like to get an update on the various/sundry corporate intrigues for 2072. Also, I'd like to see more details on europe, the middle east and North America. Did the Ordo Maximus ever go away, or are they still trying to make daywalking Blade style super vampires a reality? what about the various draconic intrigues that have been hinted at time and again? plenty of stuff there to play with. Or maybe a Threats 3 book/PDF could be posted.

I'm not really looking for a reboot of the game, i'm looking for updates on the geopolitical/magical situation around the world. it doesn't even have to be comprehensive, just an update of the world from where the last fanpro book(s) left off would do quite nicely.

[Cthulhudreams]

Any reboot would require getting rid of the japanese stuff and adding stuff about climate change.

[remmus]

Any reboot would require getting rid of the Japanese stuff and adding stuff about climate change.

and since we all know all Japanese stuff=awesome we know that won´t happen :3

[Synner667]

Oooh !!

Interesting idea...

I guess you need to determine the core ideas of SR, and go from there.

Interesting that there seems to be so many threads about SR, but looking at older versions, variants, etc.

Hmmm...
...I might set up a forum, seperate from Dumpshock, for people who want to explore such things...

[Czar Eggbert]

and since we all know all Japanese stuff=awesome we know that won´t happen :3

I'm not to sure of getting rid of the Japanese influence, just look at Japan and robotics. Add in that the ASIST technology comes from Japan and you get Japan back on top.

As for climate change, that already has a current hook with the Great Ghost Dance and the Back to Nature Magic. This could be the Native American, Aborigonal push that leads to the GGD. I never liked the whole concentration camps thing.

CE

PS I just relized I am the ULTIMATE lurker. 7 years 7 Posts!

[KCKitsune]

Well... one thing that can be done is getting rid of the NAN influences. Also, the Balkinization of the US could be removed. It would make more sense that way...

Anyways, in another way, you can consider SR 4.0 as a "reboot" of the franchise.

[remmus]

Also, the Balkinization of the US could be removed. It would make more sense that way...

yeah more suitable to make the US a hellish wasteland, because the way the US has been acting these later decades if they don't shape up that´s where they are gonna end up.

[Cthulhudreams]

Shadowrun doesn't function with strong states, because otherwise their would be a recongiseable worlld as we know it (without, I might add, serious criminals for hire pretty much everywhere), so you need to do something about the EU, China and America.

[KCKitsune]

Shadowrun doesn't function with strong states, because otherwise their would be a recongiseable worlld as we know it (without, I might add, serious criminals for hire pretty much everywhere), so you need to do something about the EU, China and America.

What happened to China in canon SR? I don't remember anything "bad" happening to them.

[Thanee]

For example in my world the SIN would take on a much more dominate role, witout one you could not buy anything in a legal store.

That's actually the case. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Stahlseele]

What happened to China in canon SR? I don't remember anything "bad" happening to them.

Got balcanized too. One of the smaller sections is actually ruled by a class that consists entirely of magicians.

[Cthulhudreams]

It reverted to pre 1935 china, i.e. the warlords.

[Stahlseele]

Also, as for a Reboot.
I had written up an idea for an alternative way to bring the change from 3rd ed to 4th ed about.
Not a Second Matrix Crash 2.0, but something that's been looming over all of our heads the complete 20 Years of Shadowrun.
World Wide Corp War utilizing the Matrix as one of the main means of attack and defense alike.

Basically, after Micro$uck decided to give out a Cease and desist order to Shadowrun Online, a Shadowrun MMORPG that was close to alpha state by then, i came up with the following.
The runners somehow use the corporation of MicroDeck(yes, they are in there) in general and William B. Gates the 2nd(yes, he is in there too) in special to infiltrate/attack the matrix sectors of 3 or 4 of the big AAA Corporations simultanously. Every time leaving evidence for another 3 or 4 of the big AAA Corporations having done it. But ultimately all traces lead back to MicroDeck. So, all out Matrix War starts. Then of course, it gets physical. The smart runners should have bought into Stock of Arms-Corporations. Then let this more or less shadow war continue for some weeks, until they figure out that it was MicroDeck all along. Watch Microdeck get obliterated and everybody is happy. Use this as the Background for 4th Edition. Not the silly OOOH SCARY GERMAN NAZI TERRORISTS WITH MAGICAL NUKES AND A SECOND CRASH VIRUS AND ALL OF THE AI'S AND THEIR SILLY LITTLE OTAKU-TRIBES FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT FOR ALL OF US UNTILL IT ALL COLLAPSES!

[DigitalOYABUN]

yeah more suitable to make the US a hellish wasteland, because the way the US has been acting these later decades if they don't shape up that´s where they are gonna end up.

Really remmus? really?

Before I get into the history lesson lets look at the American people's charitable contributions to other countries (its in the hundreds of millions and climbing although in a recession), not to mention the billions the US spends on countries....and here's the history lesson...that have been destabilized by the colonization/decolonization/neo-colonization of European powers.

Yep, our world is shaped the way it is by European colonization, a fact often overlooked, but hey who can read the history books with your thumbs under your noses in disrespect.

Lets look at a few incidents, and/or places

The Arrow incident: for those of you that dont know about this, its the Opium Wars. Seems European Powers wanted Chinese tea, the chinese only dealt in silver and when that started running scarce in Europe they got ingenius, they sold opium to chinese...for yep...silver, oh they grew the opium in another colonized country by the way.

Africa: All colonized by European powers, and its such a tangled mess it's to length to get into here.

The Middle East, now there's a hot topic eh? colonized? parts of it.Exploited by European powers? definately.

Seems when it comes to the US everyone has short memories of the good things we've done, and not all of them for our European allies...Suez canal, US sided with? Europe is the wrong answer.

So please remmus, before you drop remarks about how the US has acted up in these last decades please read a history book and give some small measure of thought as the why the US has had to 'act up'

[Jhaiisiin]

This is totally the wrong forum to debate US foreign policy.

[DigitalOYABUN]

This is totally the wrong forum to debate US foreign policy.

In all actuality it wasnt so much about US foreign policy as it was a history discourse.

[Marwynn]

I'm alright with reboots as long as they're there to fix storyline probems. Stuff that didn't make sense, and expand on what needed expanding on.

But the problem with a reboot is that you cheese off your loyal fans for a chance to attract new ones, if that was even your goal to start with. So SR's progression through the years where it constantly reinvents itself is the best compromise.

The NAN, for example, would have been a possibility but I can't buy it being that large. There's the whole Immortal Elf thing I as a 4th Ed play know virtually nothing about from 4th ed sources. A few other inconsistencies and whatnot.

Also, while I like the iPod-grit of the 2070s, I do miss some of the 80s feel, especially when reading of deckers. But that's just me, I'm a fan of BattleTech too and its 80-ness is also transitioning through the art into something distinctively in-universe but modern at the same time.

SR has evolved, and that's something many gameworlds never do. They honour the franchise by building on it instead of starting over.

[Ravor]

Meh, either way it probably didn't do any good, you can't teach an idiot new tricks.

[Semerkhet]

Anyways, in another way, you can consider SR 4.0 as a "reboot" of the franchise.

This.

SR4 marks some pretty serious changes in tone and setting and significantly (but not enough) updates the view of future technology. The influence of Japan and the NAN has already been de-emphasized. China has been emphasized a bit more. What we now call Global Terrorism has always been in SR, but now it's being phrased in terminology that has come into popular usage in the last eight years. Corporate dominance over national governments has been de-emphasized. I've seen Global Climate Change addressed in the new Running Wild sourcebook. The fluff at the beginning of Unwired talks about a bunch of social phenomena, like citizen journalism, made possible by the internet and miniaturization of communications and computing technology.

I could go on in this vein but I think the point is made well enough. SR4 is the reboot. It is the "re-imagining" of the franchise through the lens of the first decade of the 21st century. You can argue about the extent of the reboot, or whether it is a good or a bad thing, but it has already happened.

I heartily approve.

[cndblank]

I just run my game in the 2050s.

I guess that counts as a reboot.

All the wireless is there except for Full VR. For that you need a connection to the matrix or a satellite uplink.

The Big but is that no one sends really valuable paydata wirelessly. I can down play genetics and nanobyte technology except as plot devices. And as for Technomancers it is techno what? My group has ran in to one but doesn't know what they are facing.

Works real good.

And I know what is going to happen when (Not that I follow the time line slavishly).


It would be hard to reboot the Sixth World with major changes because the designers had to made certain decisions so that the players could focus on surviving in the 6th World rather than on how it came to be.

The USA, China, and the EU had to be broken up or the Corporations couldn't take over.

They also wanted the magic to be back for at least one or two generations.

That and the break up of the USA had to old news.

And those design decision still stand which is the mark of a good design.

I agree that the NAN would not be as big. They don't have the population even if they took everyone with a drop of Native America blood.

[Warlordtheft]

It reverted to pre 1935 china, i.e. the warlords.

Hence why we don't have any shadowrun fans in china (the books are banned).

[Semerkhet]

(China) got balcanized too. One of the smaller sections is actually ruled by a class that consists entirely of magicians.

Though China as a unified national power has not been retconned into the SR timeline, I think we can view the growing emphasis on Wuxing, Lung, Hong Kong and the Triads as a gradual shift away from Japanese dominance and into a more balanced depiction of Asian political and economic power. At least compared to SR1 which hardly mentioned China except to imply they were seriously f*cked.