State of the Art: 2073 - PDF out now!, 41 pages, $7,95 Options

[Grinder]

The Edge of Now

Some people think that being state-of-the-art means being on the bleeding-edge of technology. That’s part of it, but only a small part. If you really want to be current, if you want to know what’s going on in the world and how it might affect you, you need to know about a lot more than new tech. You need to know about current events—like the speech Hestaby gave to the United Nations that put the dragons of the Sixth World into an uproar. You need to know what you’ll see on the roads, from new vehicles to re-purposed classics. You need to know about the latest research on Awakened plants and the exceedingly creative uses scientists are putting them to.

Take those elements and stir in up-to-date information on important people and places—like cagey intelligence ace Samantha Roth and the tumultuous nation of Thailand—and you have a dossier that can help runners stay current and make sure they know what’s happening now in the Sixth World. Because the runner caught up in yesterday is a runner that’s been left behind.

Drivethru

[JM Hardy]

And here I was just coming over to make an announcement. Thanks for saving me a post. Anyway, it's also on the Battleshop. Enjoy!

Jason H.

[Paul]

Thanks for the update.

[Grinder]

And here I was just coming over to make an announcement. Thanks for saving me a post. Anyway, it's also on the Battleshop. Enjoy!

Jason H.

You're welcome. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Sengir]

You need to know about current events—like the speech Hestaby gave to the United Nations that put the dragons of the Sixth World into an uproar.

I thought this was already covered in AU and Conspiracy Theories?

[JM Hardy]

I thought this was already covered in AU and Conspiracy Theories?

This has the full text and the Aztlan response.

Jason H.

[3278]

Do you guys get to control what gets used as the Sample file on Drivethru? Because as engrossing as the Hestaby speech is - and I rather enjoyed it - the reader only gets to see a small portion of what the whole book must actually be like. [And doesn't do much to build suspense about anything Hestaby might have said, since it includes that section in its entirety.] Perhaps a representative page from a variety of sections might be more illuminating for the prospective purchaser?

Does the Battleshop not have a sample at all? I can't speak for anyone else, but I wouldn't be likely to - okay, am not going to - spend eight dollars on something I can't see. While my perspective on the matter might not be the majority, neither is it non-zero; it would seem a [well-chosen] sample might produce at least an extra sale or two.

Nice to see a return to the SOTA books. I always felt the downloadable PDF was a natural fit for them. DLC, as it were.

[CanRay]

This has the full text and the Aztlan response.

Jason H.

You mean other than, "THAT PUTA DRAGON!"

[Bull]

For those interested, here's a run down on what's in the book:

1) Hestaby's Speech to the UN, Atzlan's official response, and Jackpoint discussing it.

2) Ares Arms Catalog December 2073 Supplement

• Vodianoi Assault Hovercraft
• Nizhinyi BMV-2 Vectored Thrust Armored Personnel Carrier
• Ruhrmetall Falkner Heavy Air Defense Vehicle
• Ruhrmetall KM 4 Keiller A5 Assault Tank
• Ares PLD Light Machine Gun

3) Character Corner featuring Col. Samantha Roth

4) Aetherpedia -- Thailand

5) 2073 Street Legal (Vehicle Write-Ups)

• Nassan Coda (Food Truck)
• Dodge Ram Industrial (Construction/Service Vehicle with varients for Garbage truck, Ladder & Bucket Ultity Service, Sewage Pumper, or Water Tanker)
• Evo DSV-Mariana (Mini-Sub)
• Galactic Knight (Orbital/Suborbital Plane)
• Krupp-Icarus (High Altitude Plane)
• Nissan EZ Eco (Forklift)
• Espirit Le Four (Tugboat)
• Krupp-Thyssen Airdox (Mining Vehicle)
• Mercury Oort (Station Wagon!)
• Leyland-Rovert Transport (Taxi)

6) 2073 Awakened Flora -- Chicago Flora

• Caldwell Lily
• Chicago grey
• Ghoul Caps
• Glammergold
• Helhounds Tongue
• Magnus Kudzu
• Prairie Smite

A nice mix of stuff. I've been really excited by the "Street Legal" stuff since I saw an early draft of the material about a year ago. I've been wanting to see stuff like dump trucks and the like for a while, so these "every day" vehicles are a nice touch.

Bull

[CanRay]

OK, I'm sold.

Too bad one of my old players isn't around where I live now. He has an absolute hatred of chuckwagons and food trucks... I'd be able to torture him with that so much!

[JM Hardy]

Do you guys get to control what gets used as the Sample file on Drivethru? Because as engrossing as the Hestaby speech is - and I rather enjoyed it - the reader only gets to see a small portion of what the whole book must actually be like. [And doesn't do much to build suspense about anything Hestaby might have said, since it includes that section in its entirety.] Perhaps a representative page from a variety of sections might be more illuminating for the prospective purchaser?

Does the Battleshop not have a sample at all? I can't speak for anyone else, but I wouldn't be likely to - okay, am not going to - spend eight dollars on something I can't see. While my perspective on the matter might not be the majority, neither is it non-zero; it would seem a [well-chosen] sample might produce at least an extra sale or two.

Nice to see a return to the SOTA books. I always felt the downloadable PDF was a natural fit for them. DLC, as it were.

Unfortunately, we don't control the previews on DriveThru--they automatically generate them. On the Battleshop, we need some updated software to provide a full-featured experience, and I'm told we're looking into that. Your points make sense as to why we'd want to have that sort of thing.

Jason H.

[CanRay]

OK... I pity any GM that lets me play a Ghetto game... That Station Wagon is going to be turned into one hell of a Battlewagon!

Of course, the first thing I'd need is A GAME I CAN PLAY IN!

...

Good job with this product! I feel I got my money's worth. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Tashiro]

Is this a smaller part of an incoming game book? I was expecting to see cyberware, metamagic, programs, and the like. I remember the old SOTA books from 3rd edition, and was expecting something closer to that. Not complaining too much, I've wanted to see awakened plants for quite some time, and the vehicles were interesting, but for the most part I was wondering 'are my players actually going to encounter / use a heavy drill?'

[otaku mike]

As the original writer of the part on Southeast Asia in SoA, and actually living in Thailand for 9 years, I'm very curious about that Thailand entry. Is it a recap of SoA, or was it updated ? Interesting bits to share?

Mike

[Bull]

Is this a smaller part of an incoming game book? I was expecting to see cyberware, metamagic, programs, and the like. I remember the old SOTA books from 3rd edition, and was expecting something closer to that. Not complaining too much, I've wanted to see awakened plants for quite some time, and the vehicles were interesting, but for the most part I was wondering 'are my players actually going to encounter / use a heavy drill?'

Generally speaking, the eBook line is comprised of shorter products. They're designed to be cheap and "bite-sized" to allow players to purchase just the material they're interested in. The format also lets us play around and do things that wouldn't be possible in print, like do the book in full color (Which SOTA 2073 is) and go back to the "Catalog" format for gear, something people have long requested but that simply wasn't possible with a regular print product.

Stuff taht would be in the original SOTA books can now be their own eBook. The Adept eBook that Critias wrote, for example, would have been something incorporated into the older SOTA 206X books. Plus, some of the print books have a different design to them, so material is getting included into them that likewise might have gone into a SOTA product, such as the gear in Spy Games or the stuff in Attitude. It's a slightly different approach to things, but it allows us to do more with the game world.

Plus, there also has to be freelancer interest and a proposal for the material. I don't know if anyone proposed new cyber or metamagics or whatever for SOTA 73.

As for the drill... Well, you never know. Much like the military vehicles, I think it's one of those things that you don't necessarily need stats for, really. But on the off chance that it does come up, then you're covered. And sometimes it will spark ideas. Honestly, I never even thought of including something like that mining drill in a game. Now? Now I'm envisioning an adventure with a scene at a corporate mining facility where the players may want to hijack one of those for some reason.

And I love the Station Wagon so much. The Oort is one of the coolest vehicles to get statted up in a long time. I think they may become the unofficial car of the Skraacha whenever they have to operate outside the Ork Underground (I'm just seeing this as a battle wagon for a pack of ork street gangers and it makes me smile. in the background, Low Rider by War is playing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Mike: I'm honestly not sure. I only gave the section a cursory glance. It's short, only a couple pages, and looks to be similar to the Almanac write-ups from 6th World Almanac. It mentions stuff post-Crash 2.0, so I imagine it's an update on the SoA material.

Bull

[JanessaVR]

I'm probably the ideal SR customer - whatever comes out, I buy it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

However, DriveThruRPG appears to be down now. I'll try again tomorrow. Good night.

[Christian Lafay]

[*]Mercury Oort (Station Wagon!)

SOLD!

[hobgoblin]

I wonder if we will see a "SOTA decade" physical book once enough of these pdfs have been made. Just observe the Runners Black Book...

[Aria]

For those interested, here's a run down on what's in the book:

2) Ares Arms Catalog December 2073 Supplement

• Vodianoi Assault Hovercraft
• Nizhinyi BMV-2 Vectored Thrust Armored Personnel Carrier
• Ruhrmetall Falkner Heavy Air Defense Vehicle
• Ruhrmetall KM 4 Keiller A5 Assault Tank
• Ares PLD Light Machine Gun

5) 2073 Street Legal (Vehicle Write-Ups)

• Nassan Coda (Food Truck)
• Dodge Ram Industrial (Construction/Service Vehicle with varients for Garbage truck, Ladder & Bucket Ultity Service, Sewage Pumper, or Water Tanker)
• Evo DSV-Mariana (Mini-Sub)
• Galactic Knight (Orbital/Suborbital Plane)
• Krupp-Icarus (High Altitude Plane)
• Nissan EZ Eco (Forklift)
• Espirit Le Four (Tugboat)
• Krupp-Thyssen Airdox (Mining Vehicle)
• Mercury Oort (Station Wagon!)
• Leyland-Rovert Transport (Taxi)

Still no half-way house between the Manservant and the Uber anthroform drones then? Shame, been waiting for one of those for ages...won't stop me buying this as soon as Drivethru is back up though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hobgoblin]

Was thinking something similar. But with there being no drones in the book, no big loss. One would have thought that Horizon would have started shipping one by now, for the growing AI population if nothing else.

[Tashiro]

Generally speaking, the eBook line is comprised of shorter products. They're designed to be cheap and "bite-sized" to allow players to purchase just the material they're interested in. The format also lets us play around and do things that wouldn't be possible in print, like do the book in full color (Which SOTA 2073 is) and go back to the "Catalog" format for gear, something people have long requested but that simply wasn't possible with a regular print product.

Stuff that would be in the original SOTA books can now be their own eBook. The Adept eBook that Critias wrote, for example, would have been something incorporated into the older SOTA 206X books. Plus, some of the print books have a different design to them, so material is getting included into them that likewise might have gone into a SOTA product, such as the gear in Spy Games or the stuff in Attitude. It's a slightly different approach to things, but it allows us to do more with the game world.

Plus, there also has to be freelancer interest and a proposal for the material. I don't know if anyone proposed new cyber or metamagics or whatever for SOTA 73.

A good answer. Hmm, now it makes me wonder, if I was to do a proposal or write-up for Shadowrun, how would I go about submitting it for inclusion? Hmm. Something for me to think about, I guess, once I'm done my current RPG project and get it published. :\

[KarmaInferno]

Still no half-way house between the Manservant and the Uber anthroform drones then? Shame, been waiting for one of those for ages...won't stop me buying this as soon as Drivethru is back up though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I am still of the opinion that the Evo Orderly from Arsenal was originally SUPPOSED to be a humanoid drone, given the fluff that it is supposed to allow "a single doctor can be on-call for hundreds of patients simultaneously". There is zero mention in the description of having a patient seat/bed like the Transys steed, and why would you really need to put multiple wheelchair drones in a game product?

Then the artist misinterpreted what he was supposed to be drawing, so the easiest "fix" overall was to delete the "humanoid" from the drone type as seen in the errata.

I for one would like that bit of errata to be rescinded. I did it in my home game, but I'd love to be able to see it happen in Missions so I can replace my gimpy Manservant.*



-k
* - or maybe not, my Missions rigger almost has enough cash to buy an Otomo. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[snowRaven]

Only thing I'm missing from the book really is more game stats for the plants:

- BDNB Solution. It says it's expensive but readily available in Quebec, but lists no price (just availability). It doesn't list any power, duration of effect, or the like.

- No prices for any of the plants, even ones listed as having been harvested 'over the years', or with low availabilities indicating it's easy to get ahold of them.

- None of the plants that have 'Spell Casting' as a skill lists a rating to use for the skill test, nor the Force the spells would be cast at.

- Only one of the poisonous plants is listed with a Power, Speed, etc.

[CanRay]

Maybe it's just the pre-tea morning, but what the hell is an Oort anyhow? OTHER than a Mercury-Brand Station Wagon. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Bull]

A good answer. Hmm, now it makes me wonder, if I was to do a proposal or write-up for Shadowrun, how would I go about submitting it for inclusion? Hmm. Something for me to think about, I guess, once I'm done my current RPG project and get it published. :\

Drop Jason a line, generally speaking. info@shadowrun4.com is usually the best email for this, I think. I'll poke Jason later and see if I can get him to reply.

Bull