Corporate Guide and three classics released!, Blood in the Boardroom, Corporate Security, and ShadowTech also out Options

[JM Hardy]

Just wanted you to know my copy of Acrobat Reader (the most recent version as of late March) is erroring out on the font HFVNOS+AlexaStd which is preventing me from reading anything but the shadowtalks, the main text is just a bunch of dots.

Also, why is the fiction intro italicized the wrong way? It may be all the vodka I've had this evening, but it's making me dizzy trying to read.

Hmm . . . Anyone else having trouble with the preview? It looks fine on my screen (and the intro fiction isn't italicized on mine, in either direction), but if other people are having problems, I'll try to fix them.

Jason H.

[Abstruse]

Hmm . . . Anyone else having trouble with the preview? It looks fine on my screen (and the intro fiction isn't italicized on mine, in either direction), but if other people are having problems, I'll try to fix them.

Jason H.

I'm using version 7.something, which is WAY outdated for Adobe Reader. Going to update it and give it another shot and let you know what the results are. I thought I reinstalled from scratch when I had to format, but I guess it's whatever came on my image.

[Abstruse]

Yeah, definitely a version issue. No italics and the fonts are all working now. Definitely did not like Adobe Reader 7.0...

[JM Hardy]

Yeah, definitely a version issue. No italics and the fonts are all working now. Definitely did not like Adobe Reader 7.0...

Okay, good. Glad it's working now!

Jason H.

[JongWK]

- The megacorps joint strike against Aztlan/Aztechnology codenamed Reciprocity took place in 2048, not 2044. In my opinion, materials from Aztlan and Corporate Download don't leave room for a debate about it being the result of an Omega Order. There could be as much debate about Art Dankwalther killing being an Omega Order. The Corporate Court is a business court. Physical persons can't get AA status, they are legally out of its scope. So, at least, I wouldn't say "most people would agree".

From System Failure's Epilogue:

“That bastard Dankwalther,” said Villiers, still on the floor. “He got me.”

That didn’t make sense to Lanier. Dankwalther had been taken care of days after the Novatech IPO and Corporate Court Omega Order. “Seems to me like you got him,” said Lanier. “His assets have been seized, his organization is in ruins. And he was nuked from orbit.”

Boom. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Ancient History]

For reference:

MITSUHAMA COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES
Corporate Slogan: “The Future is Mitsuhama”
Corporate Status: Public corporation
World Headquarters: Kyoto, Japan Imperial State
President: Toshiro Mitsuhama
CEO: Takeshi Mitsuhama
Major Shareholders:
Toshiro Mitsuhama (21%)
Samba Oi (13%)
Yuriyasu Shin (11%)
Oguramaro Saigusa (10%)
Akae Uehara (10%)
Major Divisions: Mitsuhama Africa, Mitsuhama Asia, MCT Australasia, Mitsuhama Automatronics, Mitsuhama Computers,
Mitsuhama Europe, Mitsuhama Financial Group, Mitsuhama Industrial Technologies, Mitsuhama Latin America, Mitsuhama
Magical Services, Mitsuhama Media, Mitsuhama North America
Major Subsidiaries: Mitsuhama Music, Mitsuhama Software, ParaShield, Pentacle Distributing, Inc., Zen-Marsh Chemicals

Mits uhama Computer Technologies
Corporate Slogan: “The Future is Mitsuhama”
Corporate Court Ranking (2072): #3
Corporate Status: AAA, public corporation
World Headquarters: Kyoto, Japanese Imperial State
President/CEO : Toshiro Mitsuhama
Chairman of the Board: Samba Oi
Honorary Board Advisor: Taiga “Tiger” Mitsuhama
Major Shareholders: Toshiro Mitsuhama (21%),
Samba Oi (13%), Shin Yuruyasu (11%), Saigusa Oguramaro
(10%), Uehara Akae (10%)
Major Divisions: Mitsuhama Africa, Mitsuhama Asia, MCT Australasia, Mitsuhama Automatronics, Mitsuhama Computers, Mitsuhama Europe, Mitsuhama Financial Group, Mitsuhama Industrial Technologies, Mitsuhama Latin America, Mitsuhama Magical Services, Mitsuhama Media, Mitsuhama North America

Major Subsidiaries:
Computers: Mitsuhama Computers, Black Lotus Software, Dolmen Data Systems, Aekei Heuristic Technologies, BrainWave, Inc.
Robotics: Mitsuhama Automatronics, Elk-Sedge Systems, VOR Robotics, Drive-Ware Technologies, Astin Remote Systems
Magic: Mitsuhama Magical Services, Pentacle Distributing, Inc., HermeTech Associates, Pentacle Press, Ambrosius Publications, Pentagram Publishing, Mitsuhama Thaumaturgical Research
Entertainment: Mitsuhama Media, Confederate Broadcasting Company, Soonan Simsense, Sakura Studios, Mitsuhama Music, Highstar, Inc.
Heavy Industry: Mitsuhama Industrial Technologies, Automation Systems, Inc., Zen-Marsh Chemicals, Takai Development Corporation, Mitsuhama-Benguet Mining
Mundane and Magical Security: Petrovski Security, Parashield
Recent Acquisitions: Meechi Games (toys and games), CodeBlue Biotech (bioware and biotechnology)

Now, I want to be clear that both are for the most part derived from past material - Corporate Shadowfiles, Corporate Download - the percentage ratings of the Four Oyabun haven't changed much in twenty years; MCT has always been headquartered in Kyoto, etc. And Jason did a bang-up job of compiling the various subsidiaries. But other parts (i.e. all the major divisions) were obviously copied from my profile for the corp - hell, the ones that I didn't make up out of whole cloth (Mitsuhama Africa, etc. vs. Mitsuhama Media, etc.) weren't even listed as major divisions previously. The slogan, crappy as it is, was mine.

[Abstruse]

Now, I want to be clear that both are for the most part derived from past material - Corporate Shadowfiles, Corporate Download - the percentage ratings of the Four Oyabun haven't changed much in twenty years; MCT has always been headquartered in Kyoto, etc. And Jason did a bang-up job of compiling the various subsidiaries. But other parts (i.e. all the major divisions) were obviously copied from my profile for the corp - hell, the ones that I didn't make up out of whole cloth (Mitsuhama Africa, etc. vs. Mitsuhama Media, etc.) weren't even listed as major divisions previously. The slogan, crappy as it is, was mine.

If you showed me both of those blind to see if one was derivative of the other, I would have to spend at least 30 minutes if not longer going through the old books. I know you're being paranoid with everything that's going on, but is a slogan and a couple of divisions which are kinda logical (the two examples you gave above...hell, I think I used Mitsuhama Media in a game back in 2004) worth getting all worked up over? I don't want you going all Hulk Smash over someone else deciding that a AAA-rated company might have a division in Africa...

[lehesu]

AH, I'm not sure what you expect me to believe at this point. You say that they've copied the major divisions that you created wholecloth. How much of this stuff can be credited to your intrinsic creative genius and how much can be credited as a common-sense development of an existing concept? If you "invented" MCT Latin America, when MCT branches for the other regions existed, can we really be surprised if your successor decides to add it? I bet most people trying to flesh out MCT would figure that to be a no-brainer.

[Zen Shooter01]

I really like this book so far. "The Megacorporate Shuffle" chapter is very well written, making material on the workings of big corporations very accessible to the layman reader,and opening up a lot of possible adventure plots. "Corporate Life" is a great section, too, bringing a lot of new color to the 6th World.

I haven't read the individual corporation entries yet, but I find the argument that Horizon is "too nice" unconvincing. When you've got ten AAAs, having all ten of them be pure evil would be boring and unrealistic. In the real world, some corporations are less evil than others, some national governments are less evil than others. And adventures that force good organizations to make hard ethical decisions can be very compelling.

And even with a nice Horizon, there's no shortage of villains in the 6th World.

And I was happy to see the release of this book as a sign of life from troubled Catalyst.

[Abstruse]

BTW, I have to ask...was the art unfinished or something? It looks like the artist didn't finish drawing in all the helicopters. And it doesn't feel like a stylistic choice either...like he left blanks he was going to fill in later and you guys didn't wait...

[Cardul]

So, guys..you know, while I have not gotten the pdf yet, I am wondering: Is it really that bad on Horizon?
I mean, everything I read about Horizon previously scares the crap out of me. Not because I think it is a
"good guy" corp...but because I could see that happening today. Horizon is possible the most evil corp...
because no-one believes it is evil. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making the world think he
didn't exist."

[Caduceus]

The lack of a Jackpoint login page is really kind of terrible. As a GM, I've been relying on those to determine "when" I'm getting the information from each book (i.e. when in game time is the information from the book current), which affects how I plan my metaplot. It bugged me that I didn't have that in Seattle 2072, and it bugs me even more here, since this is more of a traditional sourcebook (for lack of a better term). Were the Jackpoint login pages really all Adam?

[LivingOxymoron]

So, guys..you know, while I have not gotten the pdf yet, I am wondering: Is it really that bad on Horizon?
I mean, everything I read about Horizon previously scares the crap out of me. Not because I think it is a
"good guy" corp...but because I could see that happening today. Horizon is possible the most evil corp...
because no-one believes it is evil. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making the world think he
didn't exist."

Here's the thing... I read it and I STILL came away thinking they were downright evil, but a new kind of evil. My take on it was that they were the other side of the Aztechnology coin, but we haven't found out what their big secret is.

To expand and expound a little bit, 20 years of SR literature and metaplot have led to few concrete, recurring conclusions, but in every book through 4 editions, the following statements are true:

1.) Aztechnology is evil
2.) Aztechnology screws runners
3.) Aztechnology has a massive PR machine that keeps the public ignorant of their evil

The Horizon chapter was written from the perspective of Sunshine, a Jackpointer and KSAF investigative reporter (Note to Adam Jury: On Pg. 95, in the sidebar, its listed as KSFA. Should it be KSAF? KTHXBYE!). Sunshine spent an amount of time with the corp trying to dig up dirt, and found none. The whole chapter is a glowing review of their awesomeness and corporate responsibility. I would totally go work for them.

Except for a couple of things:

1.) The whole P2.0 system... yeah. Once people get comfortable with it, social manipulation can take place. Just like Aztech did with the Aztlan Matrix Voter system.
2.) Much mention is made, and backed up by Jackpointers, of their professionalism and honest dealing with runners. Hell, one commenter even said its hard to run AGAINST them, because you might end up blowing up bleeding edge software designed to help Autistic kids communicate and you'll feel like poop for doing it.
3.) The Dawkins Group. I don't think the naming of this group was a coincidence. Think about it. Think about what they do. And also your comment about the Devil.
4.) At the end of the chapter, after the brief discussion of "The Consensus", we are treated to an email, directly to Jackpoint, cryptically saying that (to paraphrase) "Its just a database! Its totally not an AI!" I personally don't think it IS an AI or hivemind, but then we are told that the email came directly from the office of Gary Cline (who also chearfully offers Sunshine his position at Horizon back).

My analysis:

Horizon is something or someone that has spent the better part of the last several decades carefully watching and analyzing events... Veracruz, Chicago, the Arcology, Crash 2.0... and has formulated a plan to use massive social engineering and deception to further their goals. They seem squeaky clean because the ARE. Aztechnology pretends to be, but their name is mud among the powerful and shadow community. The best way to keep anyone from discovering the skeletons in your closet is to have none. I think that they are engaged in a carefully calculated plan to build themselves up as the good guy to the world at large, perhaps even by staging runs on themselves to prove it. Once they've convinced everyone that they can do no evil, no one will believe the evil things they do.

That's just my take.

[Grinder]

So, guys..you know, while I have not gotten the pdf yet, I am wondering: Is it really that bad on Horizon?

Depends on who you ask - hermit obviously is settled in his opinion that Horizon is portrayed in a too friendly way and the Writer's favourite corp, while other people around here may disagree with that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Synner667]

So, guys..you know, while I have not gotten the pdf yet, I am wondering: Is it really that bad on Horizon?
I mean, everything I read about Horizon previously scares the crap out of me. Not because I think it is a
"good guy" corp...but because I could see that happening today. Horizon is possible the most evil corp...
because no-one believes it is evil. "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making the world think he
didn't exist."

Personally, I've always hated the whole "Corps = evil" thing.

Good and Bad are dependent on the amount of spin...
...Very Bad corps just don't work or last, look at the recent events to see that.

All corporations have good point, all corporations have bad points, all corporations are made up of people who do good and bad things.

Having all/most Corps = Bad is just lazy.

In the realworld...
..Apple is good, google is good, microsoft is bad - but they each have opposite things, too [apple = working conditions in factories; google = obsessive data mining; microsoft = charity donations].

[kzt]

THE MEGACORPORATE SHUFFLE

...

- For a long time, it seemed like SR megacorporations only had a CEO and a bunch of individual shareholders. It worth reminding the board of administrators has some power within a corp. I think it would deserve a longer explanation, to explain for instance that even if Damien Knight owns 30% of Ares and has proxy rights, he only has one vote on the board, and need allies or puppets there.
The comments on how incestuous boards are would be true... nowadays. SR megacorporations are really different from the RL companies we know. It's not a problem when the CEO of a banking corp can sit on the board of a pharmaceutical company. But it doesn't work when both corps have a banking and a pharmaceutical subsidiaries that compete. Fuchi head of security sitting on Renraku board was a big issue. This may still work with AA and A corporations that do not have overlapping interests. Also, corporate outsiders are typically institutional shareholders (banks, pension funds and the likes) pick. AAA megacorporations have very few of those. Individual shareholders rather vote for themselves and their relatives.
Still, that's the kind of board I gave to Esprit in SoE (plus the aristocratic angle). I would also have a Pacific Rim Bank representative sitting on the board of most japanacorps. But I don't think it would work as a general rule, when the corporations most people are thinking about are the AAA.

Essentially SR megas are essentially world wide keiretsu (of various nationalities, but all the same), but it doesn't appear that any developer for SR actually has bothered to do even basic background reading on how various large corporate structures work. Instead they seem to want to pretend they are all General Electric run personally by Bill Gates because they think they understand that.

[toturi]

They seem squeaky clean because the ARE. Aztechnology pretends to be, but their name is mud among the powerful and shadow community. The best way to keep anyone from discovering the skeletons in your closet is to have none.

Now that is something I can buy into. That Horizon is so bad that they are good.

[kzt]

The slogan, crappy as it is, was mine.

What's the Mitsuhama song? I mean, doesn't everyone know that all Japanese Corporations have to have a company song?

Like here

Toyota Holds Company Entrance Ceremony

Tokyo, Apr 1, 2009 - (JCN Newswire) - TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) held its annual company entrance ceremony today in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, to welcome new employees to the company.

TMC Chairman Fujio Cho, President Katsuaki Watanabe, 23 other executives, five Toyota Motor Workers' Union officials and representatives from each TMC division took part in the ceremony, which was held at the Toyota Sports Center.

The 2,436 new employees present (compared to 1,973 at last year's ceremony) comprised 200 in administration, 771 in engineering, 260 in clerical fields, 1,139 in production and 66 in health-services.

The 30-minute ceremony included the appointment of new employees as official TMC employees, an address by Watanabe, the taking of the company oath and the singing of the company song.

[Deadmannumberone]

The slogan, crappy as it is, was mine.

Technically, no. If memory serves correctly, RCA used the slogan "The Future is RCA" when they were marketing the first TVs in the 1940's, plus a parody of it was used in Robocop 3 in the form of "The Future is OCP".

[hermit]

I mean, doesn't everyone know that all Japanese Corporations have to have a company song?

I thought American companies have those, too?

hermit obviously is settled in his opinion that Horizon is portrayed in a too friendly way and the Writer's favourite corp

Yes. The whole "Horizon wins at everything!" fad is growing very tiresome. Especially if most of their their 'Revolutions" of the SR business landscape and "innovative products" have been around since VR 1 and Shadowbeat.

Personally, I've always hated the whole "Corps = evil" thing.

Good and Bad are dependent on the amount of spin...
...Very Bad corps just don't work or last, look at the recent events to see that.

Did I miss where any American bank actually had to pay anthing for what they did (and, given how the cartel they formed with the rating corps works right now, still do) to the world?

All corporations have good point, all corporations have bad points

Not Horizon. It doesn't have any bad points worth mentioning, which is mostly what grates me about their portrayal.

In the realworld...
..Apple is good, google is good

You live in a strange world, man.

[TW]

Were the Jackpoint login pages really all Adam?

No, they were all Peter (Taylor).

[Abstruse]

I thought American companies have those (company song), too?

No other company I've ever worked for has, but my last job was with Unisys, who hired someone in the late 80s/early 90s to come up with one. It's hilariously bad. Google it.

[Stahlseele]

For reference:




Now, I want to be clear that both are for the most part derived from past material - Corporate Shadowfiles, Corporate Download - the percentage ratings of the Four Oyabun haven't changed much in twenty years; MCT has always been headquartered in Kyoto, etc. And Jason did a bang-up job of compiling the various subsidiaries. But other parts (i.e. all the major divisions) were obviously copied from my profile for the corp - hell, the ones that I didn't make up out of whole cloth (Mitsuhama Africa, etc. vs. Mitsuhama Media, etc.) weren't even listed as major divisions previously. The slogan, crappy as it is, was mine.

Wait . . 6WA?
Are we not talking about Corp. Guide right now? O.o

[hermit]

No other company I've ever worked for has, but my last job was with Unisys, who hired someone in the late 80s/early 90s to come up with one. It's hilariously bad. Google it.

An online magazine I read had that song featured a few months ago. Is why I thought this is as common in America as it is in Japan. Yeah, it is totally hilarious. Is this song actually used in work life there? I hope not, somehow ...

[Bull]

Essentially SR megas are essentially world wide keiretsu (of various nationalities, but all the same), but it doesn't appear that any developer for SR actually has bothered to do even basic background reading on how various large corporate structures work. Instead they seem to want to pretend they are all General Electric run personally by Bill Gates because they think they understand that.

SHadow2run corps weren't (and still aren't, really) structured based on real world corps. They're modeled after the fictional Megacorps we imagined in the late 80's. OCP from the Robocop movies, and pretty much every Japanese based corporation in fiction around the same time.

Now, times have changed, and they've updated the corps a bit, and done things a bit differently with some of the newer corporations, but the fiction remains consistant because of how they were originally structured in 1st ed...

It's also a lot simpler for storytelling purposes to have the corps personified in just a few individuals. Damien Knight defines Ares. Villiers defined Novatech. They're much more interesting than a bunch of Board of Directors, and they're a lot easier for a casual fan to keep track of as well. Not everyone has Ancient History levels of minutia retention. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bull