Finally got around to reading the Sixth World Almanac, Alternatively: can /dev/grrrl please go away? Options

[ravensmuse]

So, yeah. I've had this for awhile, but haven't really had the opportunity to really delve through it. As I'm running a Denver campaign at the moment, I thought that the information in it would be helpful to the campaign, and provide an update historically as to what was going on. As well, it was advertised to sell the "history" of the Sixth World, so I was all, "okay, let's read this."

So I did. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't much impressed.

You all know my leanings at the moment in regards to CGL. If not, you can read the sig. I just want to make sure people understand that what I'm about to say is not to nay-say CGL or its writers, blah blah blah - I just want to get my thoughts down and share them with friends.

Let's start with the History / Timeline section. Summation: Not impressed. This was billed as the complete Shadowrun timeline, with every little event mentioned in some way. Yes, a lot of history is given - in little sideboxes. The main event is a collection of false documents showing what was going on around the time of each event. Which is cool, in theory - I'm the sort of nerd that would get into that sort of thing. But in practice, it's confusing, even for someone who has for years read these books. I actually had to stop and consult the Sixth World Wiki, on a few events, and I also had to look at what exact year it was in order to tell what the hell the document was even talking about. This is not good design; this is the opposite; it is undesign.

Also, this is my first brush with /dev/grrrl. And I want to throttle her. "Like, hi, I'm like, a shadowrunner, and, um, stuff?" First off, why would 'Jack invite her into a private, heavily experienced, heavily professional setting, when all she's going to do is ask dumb questions like, "um, yeah, what happened at the SOX? Tee-hee!". The cognitive dissonance threw me off when I was actually involved in reading the runner commentary.

Secondly, look at how she talks! Argh! This is more apt for someone reading ShadowSEA or any of the other sorta-gray 'runner messageboards out there.

But my main problem with her is that she is such a false character, it's nutty. You want to introduce a sympathetic female runner? You've got one in the form of Netcat. I know she's not everyone's cuppa, but at least she's a female character that isn't so...I hate to use the term, feminine. /dev/grrrl is a sixteen year old with pink fingernail polish using a unicorn avatar in an environment where one talker is a ghoul, another is an immortal elf, and another is a BTL-burned ex-addict. She's so girly, and so obviously forced that it feels like there was an admission from on high that they needed to fill a key demographic. What key demographic? I can't talk transgender cyberware in an Augmentation thread without being jumped on by twenty or so people, but suddenly there's some tween, Twilight lovin' faction in the fandom we need to fulfill? Que wha?

If you want to use an obvious "newb", just have 'Jack invite GnuB on, because at least he'd make sense and have a callback to a (sort of) fan favorite. /dev/grrrl is so false it's jarring. See? The mere fact that I wrote more about one stupid character than I did about the shitty timeline writing kind of gives a hint here, folks. Or you could always point at the name itself, blech...

Secondly, the Atlas itself. While it is a good resource, and bears some of the best shadowtalk, it also isn't as, well, wide-ranging as I'd hoped. I'd hoped for more information on certain key areas, like a little more on Australia (seriously, they got a piece of fiction and one write-up? Huh?) and some more on corporate interests in Russia. Tunguska got a shout-out, which I dug, and there's interesting stuff in there about the JIS. Hell, I'll give that the Denver write-up was pretty expansive.

But it just felt like there should have been more. It felt like something was missing, and I can't put my finger on what. I will say that I note obvious inclusions of plothooks for (now) plots coming out - the fallout of tempo, the escalating love for the terrible War! plot - and I can see a few that might be on the horizon. But seriously, these felt like quickie write-ups tacked on to take advantage of the name.

All in all, just not impressed with this and actually dismayed by, *sigh*, /dev/grrrl. As a quickie resource, fine. As what it could have been? A great guide to get a newbie SR gm / player caught up to speed? Terrible. The timeline is useless and has its ass kicked by the Sixth World Wiki. The locations? Better, but needed more fleshing out. /dev/grrl? Thrown out a well. I'm sorry, I just had to get that out there. I'm turning into hermit, or something.