Whatever happened to Carl Sargent?, This is like an X-File, you guys. Options

[Neurosis]

So, Carl Sargent. Professional parapsychologist specializing in research on psi ability and the afterlife. D&D writer throughout the 1980s, Shadowrun (Streets of Blood, Nosferatu, Black Madonna, Imago, numerous sourcebooks [off the top of my head, London]) and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying writer throughout the early 1990s. Based on my googling, no one has heard from him since 1994 since he abruptly stopped publishing fiction/games/research and completely and utterly vanished from every spectrum of public life. Absolutely nothing was heard about him for 16 years until 2010, when two unsourced edits were made to his Wikipedia page; one was made to look like he died, and a second was made to reverse that one. (Which considering his profession and field of research is at least slightly spooky, if you think about it.) Various inconclusive discussion topics about him can be found via google, some suggesting that he was crippled in a car accident, some refuting this.

What happened to this guy? Where did he go without telling anyone in 1994? Is he alive or is he dead?

Does anyone have any theories or even better, insider knowledge about him? This mystery is fascinating to me--of course for what it's worth I certainly hope he's still alive and well.

[Tias]

Very interesting. I loved Black Madonna, it was what got me interested in Shadowrun in the first place, would hate to learn anything happened to him :-/

[OneTrikPony]

Project Imago? I don't think I have that one. Is it fiction or source book? I thought I had all the FASA stuff.

[Tiralee]

Imago - aka "yet another dick-punch-in-ye-old-England" (Adventure FAS 7309)

Actually, setting it in England made an interesting and mostly low-key run into a merry carnival of pain - Players LOVE it when the Lord Protector's office gimps their profligate magic use and smuggling in gear increases the street price ~ x 20.

Basically it's a ghostly romance, the ghost being in the machine after a promising elf decker genius (Anyone else get a really strong IE vibe from him?) was offed. Thing is, he'd managed to incorperate aspects of his personality into unique crystal chipsets that your players are hired to find as well and fix as well a figure out who gacked the decker's girl.

Oh, and the OPFOR is Zeta-ImpChem, from memory. Who at the final chapter dump milspec-armoured heavies onto your team via assualt chopper. While you're holed up in a god-damned castle. With nothing but a force 3 claymore weapon focus to assist (Unless you take the horribly cheap monster cop-out version, or surrender to the goons.)


Pros: It's an original concept, lots of fun if you're based in England/Europe. (Lots of legwork too, good roleplaying hooks) Good villains and a company you'll grow to hate with a firey passion.

Cons: Set in England, gun-happy/magic using runners avoid. Some severe railroading, especially during the re-integration (if you even get that far) and the difficulty curve ramps up a TON for minimal (for the effort) reward. Not to mention some scary loose ends, like Zeta-ImpChem (!), the existance of hard/software (supposedly undecypherable by mere mortals, but we're a clever bunch...) that copies your personality/memories and the fun in having to get your ass out of England ASAP before the Lord Protector's office wings on by wondering what happened to a this heritage-listed castle....


Regarding the Author: I've no idea, but I do like it how they have historically tended to read this forum, even if infrequently.



At least it's not "Celtic Doublecross"
-Tir.



Oh! Amazon has it, and have a review,

"Great Britain awaits! There's bound to be trouble when Seattle-based shadowrunners are imported to take care of business in the United Kingdom. A valuable employee of one of Britain's largest megacorporations may be missing, and Transys Neuronet will be damned if they're going to let anyone on their side of the pond know about it. The search takes the runners through Scotland, the city of Edinburgh, and to darker corners of the Matrix than they ever dreamed existed. It's a complex puzzle of betrayal, friendship, isolation, hatred, blinding love, vengeance, and, in the most bizarre twist of all - life after death. Imago is an adventure for Shadowrun. It includes high-level dealings with the realms of magic and the Matrix, separately and in unique combination. The London Sourcebook, Virtual Realities, and The Grimoire are recommended for play, but not required. Imago has been designed for use with Shadowrun, Second Edition, but can be used with the first-edition rules."

[Neurosis]

Oh jeeze, sorry, I had a brain fart with the original post--the 2E adventure is just called Imago. ("Project Imago" is the name of the 4E adventure I wrote (it's in Corporate Intrigue) that was a followup that looked at how far Transys had gotten at reverse engineering some of the tech used in Quicksilver's deck 20-odd years later.)

And yeah, Imago as an adventure is a bit of a punch in the dick for all of the reasons listed. : ) I like it though, I'm in the middle of running it for my group now and I'll see how the rest of it plays out.

"Great Britain awaits! There's bound to be trouble when Seattle-based shadowrunners are imported to take care of business in the United Kingdom. A valuable employee of one of Britain's largest megacorporations may be missing, and Transys Neuronet will be damned if they're going to let anyone on their side of the pond know about it. The search takes the runners through Scotland, the city of Edinburgh, and to darker corners of the Matrix than they ever dreamed existed. It's a complex puzzle of betrayal, friendship, isolation, hatred, blinding love, vengeance, and, in the most bizarre twist of all - life after death. Imago is an adventure for Shadowrun. It includes high-level dealings with the realms of magic and the Matrix, separately and in unique combination. The London Sourcebook, Virtual Realities, and The Grimoire are recommended for play, but not required. Imago has been designed for use with Shadowrun, Second Edition, but can be used with the first-edition rules."

I'm pretty sure this is the jacket summary of the product actually, not a review.

Anyway yeah Carl also wrote a TON of other stuff for SR including the London Sourcebook and a BUNCH of the novels. But whatever happened to him?

[Patrick Goodman]

I dropped Sean Reynolds a note on Facebook to see if he's heard anything in the intervening years. If/when I get a response, I'll let you know.

[Neurosis]

Thanks, Patrick! I'd be a little amazed if it were that simple. As far as I can tell this has been a mystery on the internets (in the Parapsychology community just as much as the TTRPG community) for decades.

[Snow_Fox]

Imago was set in scottland, not engliand- for God's sake don't make that m,istake if you're in Scottland or they force feed you haggis and read Robert Burns at you. it was an advnture where the runners have to compile the lost parts of a SOTA deck created by a deck corp hacker.

As for Saregent he also wrote the London Source book, one of the earliest and best SB's. I like Streets of Blood but I know a lot didn't.

It seems almost appropriate that someone writing for SR should just vanish like that. Do any of the old FASA crew who haunt the site have any ideas?

[3278]

Has anybody just asked Mark? It's no bueno to forever being tie him to some dude he used to work with, but Mark's still in the industry, working as a publisher, I think, still in the England.

[CanRay]

Streets of Blood and Nosferatu were two of my favorite novels!

I cried when I read one of the characters in Street Legends and found out just how boned he got, AGAIN!

[Neurosis]

Has anybody just asked Mark? It's no bueno to forever being tie him to some dude he used to work with, but Mark's still in the industry, working as a publisher, I think, still in the England.

This is a good idea, but I'd certainly feel awkward asking, personally speaking.

[Wakshaani]

Loved the London book, never read the novels (Bad Wak!), but Imago ... never set well with me. It's form back in teh day, when the 'rules' of Shadowrun weren't really set, but, even by those standards, the Quicksilver Deck just ...

Bleah.

Good ADVENTURE, well written, but the core concept bothered me then.

Oddly enough, these days, what with E-Ghosts and Jack B Nimble and suchlike, nobody'd really bat an eye at it.

I'm curmudgeonly today. *grump* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[CanRay]

Get up on the porch with Bull and I. We got a rocking chair for everyone.

[Seriously Mike]

Giorgio Tsoukalos has the answer:
ALIENS.

[Wakshaani]

He picked up a street urchin a few years back. Kid calls himself Jack and is one Hell of a wiz when it comes to computers. He's around 13 now, so in a few years, he'll go solo...

[Patrick Goodman]

Thanks, Patrick! I'd be a little amazed if it were that simple.

You were right, it wasn't. Here's Sean's response, quoted with his permission:

Hey!

I've never actually talked to Carl; his accident was before I started working at TSR, and the info I posted actually came from other people at TSR. Because I posted the news about him in a public forum, people quote me on it as if I were an authority, but I'm just the messenger. This question comes up about once a year. Last year, I tried to track down more info from Jim Ward and David Wise, but they didn't have any more recent info. :/

- Sean

[Neurosis]

Mark Gascoigne seems like the next logical step on the chain. At least we know that the accident actually happened. That's something.

[Snow_Fox]

Crippled in a car accident? Doesn't that sound like his english hacker?

What about trying Peter Taylor, who was briefly the line director, who lives in Portugal?

[The Jake]

Crippled in a car accident? Doesn't that sound like his english hacker?

What about trying Peter Taylor, who was briefly the line director, who lives in Portugal?

Yeah I was pretty sure Carl had a stroke or something bad. Car accident sounds about right...

- J.

[Neurosis]

Crippled in a car accident? Doesn't that sound like his english hacker?

What about trying Peter Taylor, who was briefly the line director, who lives in Portugal?

I didn't think that their time with the game really overlapped that much, although I could be mistaken. My "Knowledge: Shadowrun Developer History" is not at the best rating in the world.

True or false...Carl was line developer for a while, right? During like the end of 2E or thereabouts, toward the end of the FASA days?

[Adam]

I didn't think that their time with the game really overlapped that much, although I could be mistaken. My "Knowledge: Shadowrun Developer History" is not at the best rating in the world.

Their time didn't overlap at all.

True or false...Carl was line developer for a while, right? During like the end of 2E or thereabouts, toward the end of the FASA days?

True, and then he pulled his disappearing act. I think that's an over-drinks story, though ...

[Daddy's Litt...]

Break open the sake then.

[Machiavelli]

Whatever happened to him, i hope he is "relatively" fine.

[Neurosis]

Agreed, Machiavelli.

Mainly it's just...really baffling that he could have vanished so mysteriously for about 18 years and no one seems to know (or no one knowing is willing to say) exactly what happened to him. I'm trying to think of anything comparable happening to a similarly visible figure in any field and drawing a blank.

[Daddy's Litt...]

Howard Hughes