[X] My Assistant

[hermit]

So here it is. Part 1 of ... several.

What the fuck is wrong with that pdf file?
it's slow as hell, no matter if i download it or try and open in in a browser . .

I'm having that problem, too.

Review: Part 1

The Untethered Life
It's a good story, writing about a plausible background for a runner, giving insight into him. Not exactly novel, but it sets the mood well. Somehow, I get the feeling the author is craving Deus Ex 3's release. I don't know why ... not that it's bad (and not that I wouldn't long for that release), but it's somehow jumping your face a bit.

The Intern's Tale
That guy's annoying, but it seems he is supposed to be, so that's fine. What he says isn't really new, the crash-wank is a little overdone, but it's readable, structured and hasn't got any glaring carniverous rebel sells like War had. No war over potted plants either. Decent, fairly solid, though not extremly outstanding. It wastes half a page again, though. What the hell.

Street Life
This Intro fic is a little weird, but tied in with the chapter's shadowtalk by Fastjack, so it's well enough, even though I couldn't help but hear it in the voice of that seasme street dealer muppet in my head first time I read through it. Anyway, nice intro fic, even if a bit unusual. Useful info (very useful actually, in parts, a bit cheesy in others, but the Halo system is rather unfavorly commented by shadowtalk, making it pick and choose), even if that's the second in-world writer that ticks me off a bit, but hey, the Shadows is no place for nice people, so what the hell. Also, Jean-Paul! For everyone, not for anyone (I am not sure if this works in English as it should ...). So this was written by Lars Blumenstein, I guess? Or is this coincidental? And terrific ending. I was hoping for this, but not actually expecting it. Well played, whoever wrote that piece.

[Wesley Street]

My two-second review:

The Good: It's the successor to Sprawl Survival Guide and Shadowbeat. Lots and lots of detail provided to fill out the culture and feel of the SR universe. Plenty of call-backs to entertainment personalities, clothing, music and trends touched on in 1st. - 3rd. edition... as well as new up-and-comers. The art was solid throughout and ghoul skateboarders give me a chuckle. Also, fan-service for the boys in the form of 'Svetting' (the Urban Brawl equivalent of the Mardi Gras Special).
The Bad: Plenty of fluff on the music life but no crunch rules for performing as a band, a la Shadowbeat. Boooooo! Would also have liked to have seen some expanded Lifestyle rules that were only glossed over in Runner's Companion.

Gut reaction conclusion: Missed opportunities but Attitude delivers what it promised.

[CanRay]

From what I went through last night (Busy day yesterday!), I have to say about the same thing as everyone else.

Other than to add the fact that it was nice to see Bull starting to be a poster. Hopefully we'll see more of him.

Oh, and I think we got a backhanded insult on Page 20. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) I know it certainly seems to resemble me.

[Stahlseele]

Well, as long as he does not start to most more there than here *snickers*

[KarmaInferno]

The Iron Will exoskeleton seems ripe for min-maxing. It more or less gives you a Strength 8 and lets you wear Vehicle mods and accessories.

It's troll-sized, though, so not exactly subtle. Possibly a good base to build Power Armor around.

[edit] Noticing a number of spelling mistakes in the Bookmarks

[edit edit] Lady Gaga? Seriously?




-k

[CanRay]

Well, as long as he does not start to most more there than here *snickers*

Well, we'll just have to see if he continues to post in the Dumpshock Datahaven. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[BlackHat]

[edit edit] Lady Gaga? Seriously?

I wasn't fond of that, either. If Gaga doesn't seem tame (or just lame) in 60 years, there will at least be someone in pop culture who is at least as "outrageous", who would make a better bit of jargon (although we, the readers, would never have heard of this person before). Nobody talks about Madonna's "shocking" fashion choices, anymore. I don't think people a half-century from now will share our media fascination with Lady Gaga.

[sabs]

Actually For Anyone is proper American English (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Damn Americans.

[Sengir]

The Iron Will exoskeleton seems ripe for min-maxing. It more or less gives you a Strength 8 and lets you wear Vehicle mods and accessories.

What Body does it have?

[Doc Chase]

I'll have to buy it and give it a read through. Why does this always happen when I have papers due?

[Critias]

While I didn't write the intro, I will say that the writing for this book was done far before the Human Revolution material started filtering out into the public. IIRC, it was about a year and a half ago.

And then AH jumped ship, and someone else had to cook up an Untethered Life chapter and fiction piece. This one does actually does date to October-November of 2010, just for transparency's sake.

That said, Saber's not a Deus Ex knock-off, he's actually a Macon (an old borged-up combat Rigger of mine, from my Shadowland days, about '99-'00) knock-off. I described his old one-way reflective Protective Covers back in SR3 as "Oakley-inspired" shade lenses that snapped into place, and it always stuck with me as something that looked cool (in my brain), especially with his matte black cyberarms, too. Jason needed some intro fic on the quick, my buddy Reid had a birthday coming up, so a new character was born. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[hermit]

it always stuck with me as something that looked cool (in my brain), especially with his matte black cyberarms, too.

It certainly is, but also, that's why everyone was thinking Deus Ex 3. Not that I personally mind a lot.

Would you mind saying who wrote the Street Life section?

[Critias]

Would you mind saying who wrote the Street Life section?

Haven't the foggiest. I got Untethered Life and an inset text-box in another chapter. I haven't waded through BaseCamp to see who wrote what else, 'cause I was mostly worried about my stuff, then moving on to my stuff in other products. Even though I read over other chapters, I didn't memorize who wrote 'em. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I'm on my way out the door right now, but if I've got time later I'll take a peek and toss you a PM (if they haven't posted here themselves by then, or anything).

ETA: Or I guess Jason, whose job it is is to know who wrote what, can use a held action to post right as I do and answer the question.

[JM Hardy]

It certainly is, but also, that's why everyone was thinking Deus Ex 3. Not that I personally mind a lot.

Would you mind saying who wrote the Street Life section?

David Hill did the honors there.

Jason H.

[hermit]

Nice work, then.

[Bull]

Well, we'll just have to see if he continues to post in the Dumpshock Datahaven. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Heh. That'll be up to the folks who work on the Datahaven now. I'm fine with it if they want to keep using him, or they can have him hand off "ownership" to a new sysop.

I kinda co-opted the Datahaven concept for Virtual Underworld 93, a very loose, completely IC play by post subforum on the SR4 forums. It harkens back to the days of the ShadowTK mailing list, for those old enough to remember such things. Basically, an old school, old style BBS. In theory, it's something to use for Missions, a local BBS for players of Season 4 to chat on. I haven't really had the time recently to play with it much though.

And finally, yeah, the author of the music section kinda slipped me in there. We'd been talking about expanding the Jackpoint ranks a little, and Bull ended up being one of the first ones chosen to get added in. Guess he finally took FJ up on his offer. Of course, in the year and a half since the original DDH was written, Bull's daughter has been killed and he's jumped back into the shadows full time as a fixer and gotten heavily involved in the politics of the Ork Underground. So made sense for him to finally get involved again. Against his better judgment.

Bull

[ravensmuse]

Yay, Bull's back! I'd be glad to see him in published material.

So could someone let me in on the Lady Gaga bit? How was she used, bla bla bla?

[Wesley Street]

Gagaistic has become an adjective in the late 21st century. "An outrageous fashion statement designed to attract an audience."

Gagaists... the new Dadaists. I would have gone with "Bjorky". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[David Hill]

None taken. I lashed out, you jabbed back, all fair game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Btw, if you wrote Bogotá (I think you did?), you made several rather glaring spelling errors like 'carniverous' that should have been caught in a spellcheck. Of course, that's usualy what proofers are for, so blaming you for the mistakes down the chain maybe is a bit unfair. Still, carniverous ... what is it with English natives and vowels anyway? I notice that a lot. Not directed at you personally, I'm just wondering.

I don't know. I wrote part of Bogota. There were about four of us, I want to say. I know I write in MS Word, so spelling shouldn't be a problem in my work. But, it's not completely reliable.

Alright, then it's a Molly Millions/Gibson reference, I guess. Just, the similarities ARE striking.

Might be. I pepper most of my SR writing with Gibson references. It keeps me amused while I'm working.

[ravensmuse]

Gagaistic has become an adjective in the late 21st century. "An outrageous fashion statement designed to attract an audience."

Gagaists... the new Dadaists. I would have gone with "Bjorky". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Uh, kay. Yeah, I'm sorry guys, that's kind of dumb. And I say that as a fan of Gaga.

Bjorky does sound better.

[David Hill]

Street Life
This Intro fic is a little weird, but tied in with the chapter's shadowtalk by Fastjack, so it's well enough, even though I couldn't help but hear it in the voice of that seasme street dealer muppet in my head first time I read through it. Anyway, nice intro fic, even if a bit unusual. Useful info (very useful actually, in parts, a bit cheesy in others, but the Halo system is rather unfavorly commented by shadowtalk, making it pick and choose), even if that's the second in-world writer that ticks me off a bit, but hey, the Shadows is no place for nice people, so what the hell. Also, Jean-Paul! For everyone, not for anyone (I am not sure if this works in English as it should ...). So this was written by Lars Blumenstein, I guess? Or is this coincidental? And terrific ending. I was hoping for this, but not actually expecting it. Well played, whoever wrote that piece.

Nope. Street Life was mine. Glad you liked the ending.

[sabs]

especially since "Gaga" already has 2 seperate cultural references.
1) someone who is slightly crazy
2) babytalk.

That person went Gaga over the new ice cream flavor.

[hermit]

Yes, Jason already said. Asking because Jean-Paul is one of Andreas Schrooth's homebrew fashion labels that has been used in the German-only Berlin book. Did you make Jean-Paul up, making this a case of convergence, or did you hear of it ... somewhere?

especially since "Gaga" already has 2 seperate cultural references.

Actually it's also been used for a fashion label (derived from slightly crazy, like the singer) in the Berlin book. Generally, I'd keep the modern pop culture references down. Shadowrun books are not webcomics.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Ok what am I missing here? Are you guys saying the cover girl is supposed to be lady Gaga or something?

[KarmaInferno]

The Iron Will exoskeleton seems ripe for min-maxing. It more or less gives you a Strength 8 and lets you wear Vehicle mods and accessories.

What Body does it have?

Six!

You can technically mount a heavy turret on it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)

Ok what am I missing here? Are you guys saying the cover girl is supposed to be lady Gaga or something?

Nah, just apparently Lady Gaga has become the pop culture reference for shocking fashion, sixty years from now.

Despite the more Pink Mohawk elements of Shadowrun always having been even more extreme than she has ever been.



-k