Getting back my Shadowrun 1st Edition, And getting happy with it. Options

[CanRay]

Ah, the days when Rock 'n' Roll would save your soul... And the world.

[deek]

To me, the big difference was in the worlds in which SR1 and SR4 were written.

Take http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGo2rvfSuA and add basic fantasy elements: magic, orcs, trolls. You have the SR1 Universe as it was, complete with a Jim Steinman soundtrack. Science fiction and fantasy as seen by a world discovering the TRS-80 and Apple IIe.

Now Androids and iPhones are commonplace. We have some pretty good replacement arms ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6R5bm6qx2E ). One of the problems with SR4 is that we've caught up with and passed half the technology in the books. We keep trying to drag the Shadowrun world down a past we lived with technology we have, trying to reconcile Androids and iPhones with a world imagined from an era when cell phones weighed 2 pounds and cost $3,995.

To me, SR1 feels like steampunk in a way. Ages ago, Jules Verne wrote Science Fiction that we've gone so far past that it's become a fantasy never-was world. Steampunk is a romantic way to remember a future that never was, to jump into that world that was once the future and now has become an imaginary past. I like SR1, because it's future that never was.

"You're about to enter a world unlike a world you've ever seen before where rock n'roll is king, the only law is a loaded gun. Where the beautiful, the brutal and the brave all meet." .., Running the shadows, the only thing better than KVSR Rocks!.

And maybe that is where SR4 kind of took a step back. Instead of writers imagining a new future based on current day technology and trends, much of the writing filled in gaps to align SR4 with current technology and other events, generally speaking. So we have a matrix and commlinks that are not really far future, they are reality in 5-10 years and heavily based on current trends.

I agree though, that playing in an SR1 world is kind of steampunk. Playing in SR4 feels more like modern fantasy (meaning, races, monsters and magic) with all the matrix and 'wares making up the modern (or very close to it) component.

[sabs]

It would be nice to get a re-imagining. A real update on the tech, the matrix.

A matrix that actually looks far future, and not next 20 years. Also one that doesnt' badly copy the internet and screw it up royally in 7 different ways.

[Synner667]

It would be nice to get a re-imagining. A real update on the tech, the matrix.

A matrix that actually looks far future, and not next 20 years. Also one that doesnt' badly copy the internet and screw it up royally in 7 different ways.

There's a million SciFi games that do this, because that's basically the premise of the future.

Shadowrun only works as a very limited, near future SciFi/Urban Fantasy game.
As soon as you extend it into a meaningful future, it falls apart faster than it has done in the last 20 years of gametime.

A far future where tech and magic co-exist ??
The nearest you have to that at the moment might be WH40K, Septimus, Equinox...
...Though there's nothing wrong with kitbashing your own [I dimly remember some people on here talking about their SR campaign being set hundreds of years in the future] or using a generic rules system to put one together.

[CanRay]

At least Shadowrun has some excuse for technology falling apart. Having the entire cell phone and wireless communications network, including satellites, be completely wrecked by the Crash 1.0 would set people back quite a bit.

[hermit]

That's the canonic explanation Findley introduced way back.

[Tiralee]

That's the canonic explanation Findley introduced way back.

-A moment of silence.





Tir.

[deek]

At least Shadowrun has some excuse for technology falling apart. Having the entire cell phone and wireless communications network, including satellites, be completely wrecked by the Crash 1.0 would set people back quite a bit.

Which really isn't much of a stretch. We are only one immense solar flare away from frying all out satellites and electronics.

I guess my complaint is more just the feel. I remember playing SR1 and thinking how cool the matrix was, cyberware and the background technology. Playing SR4, 'ware simply got updated, the matrix was already mainstream (due to hollywood) and the background tech, well, actually had some stuff that was worse, and commlinks barely rival modern smartphones. Some of the tech is just way to close to reality which adds far more confusion than necessary...

SR of any edition is still the best mix of magic, matrix and tech, but when reality catches up (in many regards) to the game, the game loses its edge and feel.

[CanRay]

Hollywood is still backwards. It wasn't until Live Free Or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 that Filmmakers found out that UBS Memory Sticks existed, and stopped allowing people to download "The Internet" on a floppy Disc or CD. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

BTW: Watching an episode of "Sons of Guns", where a film crew wanted a blank adapted Ingram MAC-10 or MAC-11 (Can't remember which), one of the guys from the gun shop got to be an extra on the film. I, a civilian with only a passing knowledge of practical firearms, could tell that he was the only one in the shot that even handled his weapon properly. (One guy would have burned/pinched his hand badly if he had to shoot quickly! Not to mention mess up with the operation of the SMG he was handling.). Come on, Hollywood, veterans aren't that hard to find, and I'm sure they'd love to get in the movies! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

-A moment of silence.
Tir.

*Hangs my head down for a moment, then pouts a 40 on the curb*

[Fortinbras]

Come on, Hollywood, veterans aren't that hard to find, and I'm sure they'd love to get in the movies! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

We're how many years away from the advent of CPR and Hollywood still can't tell the talent to hold their arms straight?
These are people who dedicated years of their lives to knowing who Antonin Artaud is, they can follow direction if you give it to them!

[CanRay]

Hell, how long have vehicles and gasoline/petrol been around, and cars still blow up if you hit the gas cap with a lead .22. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[hermit]

Or present a computer with a somewhat believable user interface. Really, just watch CSI. The User interfaces there are a nightmare, not to mention hideously taxing on hardware. And don't even begin with the constant beeping at every key entered, or people using programs entirely with hammering a keyboard like they're epilleptic.

Arguably, most Actors know how to use a computer, given how many of them twitter. Or at least have knowledgable assistants who know. They can do it. I'm certain most playwrights do not type on a typewriter anymore either, but on a computer, so they ought to know.

The hell, Hollywood. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU.

[CanRay]

Ask my family and friends what happens to me when forced to watch "Hacker" movies. It isn't pretty.

Live Free Or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 was OK, as that was pretty much just an escape from reality anyhow. Even if it did finally introduce USB Memory Sticks.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm all out of bullets and need to take out a helicopter. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[hermit]

Die Hard 4.0 was okay. It had a lot of wacko hacker things but hey, action movie. It's the Die Hard universe where everything may explode at any moment. The computer sequences there actually are among the best in Hollywood movies.

And that scene is just smashin fun. I probably squeed in the cinema when I saw it. Popcorn hardly tasted so good as then.

[Critias]

We're how many years away from the advent of CPR and Hollywood still can't tell the talent to hold their arms straight?

Well, that's because if they hold their arms straight, they'll break the ribs of the poor schmuck actor/extra they're performing CPR on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[binarywraith]

Had to give this post some love. I recently re-located my hardback SR1 and SR2 copies, and lost a day or so just re-reading all the fluff in the base books. There really isn't any other game out there that can compare to the love that the writers poured into those books.

[CanRay]

I know finding a hardcover and softcover at affordable prices a few years ago was a happy time for me. Got SR4 BBB and Street Magic, which was a new release at the same time.

*Sighs* STILL waiting on my first game.

[pdboddy]

Best gun in the 1st edition was the saturday night special. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[nezumi]

Live Free Or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 was OK, as that was pretty much just an escape from reality anyhow.

I live in DeeCee. It was not okay.

(It was, however, hilarious.)