[X] My Assistant

[Grinder]

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.

Almanach der 6. Welt - more info @pegasus.de

[Grinder]

/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.

This.

[Blade]

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.

She's written a decent article about Corporate Living in the Corporate Guide. She can give insights into the way corpers think.

[Sengir]

Almanach der 6. Welt - more info @pegasus.de

That's just the German Edition of the 6WA, I think he meant Die 6. Welt

[ravensmuse]

That's the one, yup.

[Wesley Street]

She's written a decent article about Corporate Living in the Corporate Guide. She can give insights into the way corpers think.

I don't have a huge hate-on for /dev/grrl and I can see the rationale for why she would be the voice for this section. But as an ex-corp employee Nephrine could have fulfilled the same purpose.

There have been attempts in the past to portray /dev/grrl as some sort of child prodigy which could explain her inclusion in Jackpoint. But the "durr, like, what's that?" tone some writers give her undercuts that.

[ravensmuse]

Yep, and that's part of the problem. There are a lot of previously established characters in the Sixth World, specifically on Jackpoint, even, that would fulfill the need that /d/ (this is my own private joke) is supposed to be filling. So she jars against previous established canon, and she doesn't bring anything new or poignant to the table. No offense to Aaron either; I can totally see creating a character and then having other people use and abuse her.

To sum up my problem with /d/, I present you this comic. But reverse the position - it's one girl shouting "Barbie Horse Adventures!" in the middle of the lineup from The Usual Suspects.

She doesn't fit, please acquit.

[Eimi]

Is the elf teenager hacker in that one chapter story about a team dealing with their johnson on a job to infiltrate a sports stadium supposed to be /dev/grrl? I mean, I kind of thought she might be, what with being a teenage hacker that's still SINned enough to still be attending school and whatnot, but I wasn't sure.

The character in the story was certainly annoying and surly enough to fit some of /dev/grrl's shadowtalk personality, and exudes the whole "arrogant child/teenage prodigy" attitude quite profusely.

[CanRay]

Come on, guys, a few bad 'Runs, finding out about Shedim, maybe being kidnapped by some Insect Spirits, she'll be just like the rest of the cynical screwheads that are on JackPoint.

Just need to roughen her up.

A lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Come on, guys, a few bad 'Runs, finding out about Shedim, maybe being kidnapped by some Insect Spirits, she'll be just like the rest of the cynical screwheads that are on JackPoint.

Just need to roughen her up.

A lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Indeed... Problem Solved... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Grinder]

That's just the German Edition of the 6WA, I think he meant Die 6. Welt

D'oh! That's what I meant too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/twirl.gif)

[Fatum]

D'oh! That's what I meant too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/twirl.gif)

Damn you guys, now I'm spending my next two months hunting it down, waiting for it, and then trying to decipher the contents.

[ravensmuse]

Die .6 Welt is one of the reasons I'd like to learn German, yes.

[Fatum]

Damn wurst-munchers get all the cool toys! Off with them!

[CanRay]

I want to be able to read German now, too... Seems the books are getting rave reviews here...

Hey, did the German company put out a version of War!?

[Fatum]

Not that I know of. They have an awesomely-designed book on Berlin, though.

Now, it's not like learning the basics of German is that difficult, if you know any languages with grammar genders, cases, and such, already. So, if you want to, you can :3

[CanRay]

I couldn't learn French.

In Canada.

In the city said to have the largest percentage of Francophones in Canada outside of Quebec.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why a Tree is Male and a Table a Female!

[Fatum]

Well, because that's how things are. Why are ships female in English?
Also, if you find consolation in it, a table is male in German, as well as a tree.
You just learn the nouns along with the gender-defining articles, and that's it.

[Sengir]

I want to be able to read German now, too... Seems the books are getting rave reviews here...

Hey, did the German company put out a version of War!?

Not yet, but it's in the making. http://sirdoomsbadcompany.wordpress.com/20...einsatz-status/

Note that the cover is just a mock-up, they will probably do something about that black bar at the bottom. Content-wise we are promised "some corrections", the inclusion of MilSpec Tech (a tradition started with SM and Digial Grimoire), and an exclusive AGS addon with information about the Bundeswehr, MET2000 and Argus.


And English speakers are more or less expected to get the genus wrong in German, just like the stereotypical Russian omits articles (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[CanRay]

Why are ships female in English?

Tradition?

And if they were male, they'd be gay? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) All that docking and everything. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

Let's get back to 6WA and /dev/grrl bashing before I start getting bashed by gays. Drag Queens fight dirty!

[Fatum]

And English speakers are more or less expected to get the genus wrong in German, just like the stereotypical Russian omits articles (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

That's because the English an articles make no the sense.
And the rules for when you need them are super-nonintuitive.

Also, I believe "gender" is the proper term for "Geschlecht", "genus" is "Gattung".

[Sengir]

D'oh, you're right...and what can be more intuitive than making boys and men male, girls neuter and women female?

[Fatum]

Well, if you think about it, it makes a certain amount of sense.

[ravensmuse]

I'm slowly, but surely, picking up Japanese. Spoken Japanese. I haven't even tried to learn it written yet, because there is a lot of kanji to learn. I'd at one point wanted to join a fantranslation group and become like, internet famous, but alas...

Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand, I would love to have some of the foreign material out there published. Yes, I know a lot of it is crap, but it also covers parts of the setting that we over here in America haven't seen a lot of. Specifically, I'm thinking of the Paris material apparently in the French release of Corporate Enclaves (right?), the Shockwaves! adventure that Germany had that exposed Proteus (yes, I'm aware that there's a summary on the Shadowrun website; I'd like the whole thing, thanks), the material on the SOX, and then some of the Japanese releases. I know, I'm weird.

I know there's a sort of translation on Die .6 Welt out there, and I'm trying to hunt it down now to link to for you folks.

[ravensmuse]

Ah ha, ha ha, double post.