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.

[Fortinbras]

I kinda like it.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

/dev/grrrl quite possibly is Jack's niece or something.
Yeah, I don't like her either.

[CanRay]

She does fit a niche that I think only one other Shadowtalkers have: A Corporate Upbringing.

Fine, she doesn't know the best about a lot of stuff, due to her Corporate Education (Read: Brainwashing that obviously didn't take), but she does know a fair amount about how Suits live their lives and how they go about their day, an invaluable asset. And she's young and impressionable, so they can twist her mind the way they like... I mean, tell her the truth about the world and prepare her to protect herself against the worst of it.

I'm protecting FastJack, BTW. She needs a big smack of "Learn to research before asking". There's lots of files available on Black BBSes.

And if she is related to FastJack, she's more likely a Great Niece. He's in his early '70s after all.

[Wesley Street]

SWA was yet another missed opportunity. Yeah, the art was nice but the format of the book was a disappointment. The timeline was annoying (especially the major typos that a blind man would have caught) and failed to touch on anything that wasn't globally reaching. So pretty much every piece of fluff from 1st ed. and 2nd ed. published adventures was ignored unless it tied into the Bugs.

The actual nation entries suffered from too-many-writers syndrome. The UK, CalFree, Tir na Nog, Tir Tairngire, the UCAS, the NAN, and the AGS had entire books written specifically for them so I expected a hell of a lot more than what I was given. I don't understand why the Algonkian-Manitou Council warranted an entire boring entry yet we received zilch for the Korean peninsula, Indochina (War! also dropped the bomb [pun intended] by overlooking the Dega Alliance conflict in Vietnam), the South Pacific, or any other part of China that wasn't Shaanxi or Hong Kong. Wasn't a quarter of Shadows of Asia set aside for China? No mention of the historic rift between Palestine & Israel actually healing as of 2065... which makes the entire Jerusalem area much more interesting and ironic considering the perpetual warfare and balkanization of the rest of the globe. The Middle East was barely touched! Why? Hello! Alliance for Allah or New Islamic Jihad ring a bell? Those were pretty big events!

The whole "well, we wanted to write a book that touched a little bit of everything" argument holds no water when it fails to set out to even accomplish that. And what's even more disappointing is that this should not have been a difficult project to develop! Seriously, all the writers really needed to do was copypasta one of the three Shadows of... books from 3rd ed., excise the shadowgibberish and update it. There was no rules creation involved. All the history was already there and just needed a bit of tweaking. SWA could have been a smashing success!

Also... why does every map of North America show (former) state borders in the NAN? Don't the tribal councils have better things to do than maintain artificial jurisdictions set up by 19th century Caucasian settlers? That drives me nuts.

[Eratosthenes]

You don't like /dev/grrl because she's...girly? Huh?

You know girls do exist? The type that like pink fingernail polish, etc. etc. drekcetera. And some are techie. She's a character, like all the others. I hate Clockwork, for obvious reasons, but I also realize he's a plausible character in the setting.

As for the setting/layout? You found it confusing? How? All the documents, IIRC, directly pertained to something in the timeline box (with perhaps a few exceptions). And I saw the potential for a ton of hooks and plotlines amidst the vast variety of fluff presented. Heck, the entire book was fluff, detailing the kinds of things that go on. And the chats supplied ideas/hints/pokes at runs that were done in the past (which could form the basis for runs of the future...The Future!) Nevermind the plethora of alternative locations, allowing for the occasional run outside the borders of whatever chosen locale.

(As for state borders, that's probably more for the reader than for accuracy; one could argue that the new powers-that-be maintain the old organizations/power structures/political divisons for management purposes)

[Fatum]

You know girls do exist? The type that like pink fingernail polish, etc. etc. drekcetera. And some are techie. She's a character, like all the others. I hate Clockwork, for obvious reasons, but I also realize he's a plausible character in the setting.

I haven't met a single pink-fingernail-polish girl who'd be a world class professional (which Jackpoint is supposed to unite). Actually, who'd be above barely qualified middle-level management.
See, the problem with /dev/grrl is exactly that: she does not seem to be competent enough in anything to warrant her being invited to the VPN. She's a hacker? Big deal, there's a bunch of better ones there already. A corp kid? Don't make me laugh, those are some deep secrets she's unveiling... Not that I care that much, in fact, compared to the rest of the drek CGL is printing, a bit of useless shadowtalk is really not that significant.

Also, I believe we've discussed SWA already, and it's... well, let's just say, underwhelming, and complicating the matters where it's supposed to clear them up.

[Megu]

I kinda like it.

...I like /dev/grrl too. She's adorable, which is probably why she's not getting the Let Me Google That For You treatment when she asks dumb questions.

[Angelone]

/dev/grrl does confuse me with how she got invited to the board, over say posters who have been in the shadows longer and have been given conditional access to Jackpoint before, such as Lei Kung or Pyramid Watcher. I was under the impression she was a technomancer, not a hacker though. I have no real problems with her.

Edit- I don't miss Fatima at all. Good call on that, killing off the Jackpointer who probably brought the least to the table while still showing they can die.

[Mäx]

Seriously, all the writers really needed to do was copypasta one of the three Shadows of... books from 3rd ed., excise the shadowgibberish and update it. There was no rules creation involved. All the history was already there and just needed a bit of tweaking. SWA could have been a smashing success!

Why would anyone buy a book thats copypasta of books they allready own?

[ggodo]

/dev/grrl does confuse me with how she got invited to the board, over say posters who have been in the shadows longer and have been given conditional access to Jackpoint before, such as Lei Kung or Pyramid Watcher. I was under the impression she was a technomancer, not a hacker though. I have no real problems with her.

Edit- I don't miss Fatima at all. Good call on that, killing off the Jackpointer who probably brought the least to the table while still showing they can die.

I miss Puck. He may have been one hell of a confusing traitorous otaku, but I thought he was interesting. I didn't even notice Fatima was dead.

[Fatum]

Why would anyone buy a book thats copypasta of books they allready own?

Did you buy 6WA?

[Mäx]

Did you buy 6WA?

Yes, its not a copypasta of previous books, at least as far as i have noticed.

[Angelone]

I miss Puck. He may have been one hell of a confusing traitorous otaku, but I thought he was interesting. I didn't even notice Fatima was dead.

Oh wow, I forgot Puck was gone. I miss him too, he was an interesting character. Fatima really wasn't.

[ Spoiler ]

She dies during Ghost Cartels. I cheered, actually.

Maybe I should have spoilered she was dead in my above post... Oh well.

[Wesley Street]

Yes, its not a copypasta of previous books, at least as far as i have noticed.

It would have been a better book if it was. Obviously that wouldn't have been the ideal approach. But it would have been better than what we got.

I'm amazed that anyone could drop the ball on a fluff book that rehashed existing locations. The heavy lifting had already done for the writers by the 1st-3rd ed. crews.

I was under the impression she was a technomancer, not a hacker though.

/dev/grrl is not a technomancer. So far as has been revealed amongst the Jackpoint crew that title belongs solely to Netcat.

[Fatum]

Yes, its not a copypasta of previous books, at least as far as i have noticed.

The history section is pretty much a compilation from previous books; the geography is a few additions (of dubious quality) strapped on top the badly copypasted material from the same source.

[Ancient History]

To understand /dev/grrl, you have to understand Aaron Pavao, her creator. Aaron is an intelligent soul, and we have fought tooth and fucking nail about everything from fluff and mechanics to how much we, as individuals, loved the game, so please take the following critique with whatever size grain of salt you feel necessary.

/dev/grrl is a waste of ink. She's (loosely) based on some student or other of Aaron's and she is the single most annoying, worthless, pointless, non-Immortal Elf munchkin in the shadowtalker pool, and that's saying a lot. Her nominal point of existing is to be the voice of youth on the boards - which is fine, considering the next-youngest, Slamm-0!, is in his later twenties with a baby on the way. The problem starts when you get to the fact that she's a child genius (stretching things a bit), and an elf (dammit, not another elf), and has some weird cultural mish-mash background that seems "cool" (I honestly forget what all she's supposed to be, but I swear there was Irish and AmerInd in there at one point).

Don't get me wrong, you need a character willing to be stupid and inexperienced enough to ask dumb or innocent questions, because it's a great excuse to cram exposition into a text. The problem is, the character is so stupid and inexperienced they have nothing valuable to actually contribute. /dev/grrl does nothing, knows nothing, her major contribution involved a fantasy-land field trip to the wilds of Mongolia, and she posted her homework on the virtual fridge in Jackpoint for the adults to grade and argue over.

Not that Aaron is alone to blame. I mean, he created her, but other writers used her too. The damned thing is, nobody knows what the hell to do with her. I had her babysitting Piston's nieces at some point.

[CanRay]

I can think of a few ways to work with a character like that. But I'm a sick, twisted fellow who loves to torment characters badly. Perhaps some folks might consider my character Speedster in the same group as /dev/grrl... But I hopefully gave her a bit more of a personality and interesting history...

That bit of information is useful, AH, thanks for the heads up as to the creation of the character.

[ravensmuse]

You don't like /dev/grrl because she's...girly? Huh?

You know girls do exist? The type that like pink fingernail polish, etc. etc. drekcetera. And some are techie. She's a character, like all the others. I hate Clockwork, for obvious reasons, but I also realize he's a plausible character in the setting.

Not to toot my own horn here, but are you familiar with my posting habit on Dumpshock to any degree? I've talked a whole bunch of times about how I have a girly-girl as a fellow gamer and a wife, and how I encourage that sort of thing in the gaming hobby. Hell, I mentioned the fact that I've fought for more LBGTG characters in the Shadowrun universe in the very opening post.

But that's not why /dev/grrl annoys me. She annoys me for the simple fact that she simply doesn't fit in to the rest of the Jackpoint crew. In fact, it's kind of why I name dropped Hanibelle, Netcat, Fatima, and others - especially 'Cat - because they're not just females but that they're really great, strong female characters in a hobby where you don't get that sort of thing. You get chicks with giant guns, or cyber-elf-ninja-River-wannabes that serve as masturbatory fantasies for the male audience. That's kind of a generalization, but please, feel free to flip through the vast majority of artwork featuring a female in it - and there you go.

For that point, /d/ just doesn't fit. What niche does she fill? Why would Fastjack - arguably one of the greatest deckers in the Sixth World - invite some newbie girl that has to be handheld through the secret history of the world to his private VPN network filled with hardened, toughened mercenaries? It doesn't fit, and it stinks of trying to fulfill a need that isn't really needed.

As I said: if they needed someone to be a dumb noob window for us readers, just use GnuB; he's well known enough for old schoolers to get a nostalgic buzz out of, and he actually fits into the established milieu that is the Jackpoint community.

As for the setting/layout? You found it confusing? How? All the documents, IIRC, directly pertained to something in the timeline box (with perhaps a few exceptions). And I saw the potential for a ton of hooks and plotlines amidst the vast variety of fluff presented. Heck, the entire book was fluff, detailing the kinds of things that go on. And the chats supplied ideas/hints/pokes at runs that were done in the past (which could form the basis for runs of the future...The Future!) Nevermind the plethora of alternative locations, allowing for the occasional run outside the borders of whatever chosen locale.

(As for state borders, that's probably more for the reader than for accuracy; one could argue that the new powers-that-be maintain the old organizations/power structures/political divisons for management purposes)

I'm not going to spend my whole night responding to this, but to sum up: instead of discussing the actual big events of each year presented, we'd often get something entirely unrelated. You get one quick magazine article - sometimes about a much smaller, who cares event, instead of seeing the reactions to the Big Event. I'm thinking specifically of things like the Native War, the Year of the Comet, Goblinization Day...just random articles that no one cares about.

It smacks of "get this book out so that we can make money off of it" and it sucks. Do yourself a favor: look around Dumpshock for discussion on the German sister book that came out a few years ago - I think it's called Die .6 Der Welt (and here comes the Germans to correct me, thanks guys) - and see what the book should have been - a book worthy of the twenty year anniversary of SR.

[ggodo]

Oh wow, I forgot Puck was gone. I miss him too, he was an interesting character. Fatima really wasn't.

[ Spoiler ]

She dies during Ghost Cartels. I cheered, actually.

Maybe I should have spoilered she was dead in my above post... Oh well.

Now I feel like I need to read that. Well, It sounds like she got a better send off than Puck. Little blurb at the front of a chapter my ass.

[toturi]

I wonder... how good/bad are her social dice pools supposed to be?

[Fatum]

Now I feel like I need to read that. Well, It sounds like she got a better send off than Puck. Little blurb at the front of a chapter my ass.

Eh, I believe, in fact, that Puck being captured by MCT and experimented on was in a little blurb at the front of a chapter. So it's not really "gone" yet for all we know, is it?

[CanRay]

Well, parts of him are gone... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[ggodo]

Well, parts of him are gone... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

I guess what matters are which parts, and is otaku brain in a jar feasible.

Also, anyone know when SixthWorldWiki comes back up? I really want to figure out who Fatima is.

[Critias]

Not for nothing, and I don't mean to show a hand too soon or anything -- but Puck's certainly neither entirely "gone" nor forgotten. There are some plans. Some of us writers liked the little bastard, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)