Jet Set now available--mix it up with the rich and famous!, Get out with their money, your life Options

[JM Hardy]

Our latest campaign book, Jet Set, is now available for PDF purchase and print pre-order (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG), giving runners the chance to get a taste of the Grand Tour, mingle with Tír luminaries, and perhaps be contracted to kill Nadja Daviar. Here's the full summary:

THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE

Step this way! There’s no need for you to wait in line with the riff-raff, the common clay of dirty humanity. You can have something better. You can have the good life, filled with the finest food, the most expensive wines, and the most interesting people in the world. There’s a price to pay, of course. There always is. But take a ride, just once, in the aircraft the upper crust uses, and see if you don’t like it. Get a taste of this lifestyle, and see if you won’t do anything to keep it.

In Jet Set, shadowrunners get the chance to rub elbows with the rich and powerful of the world—the socialites, the corporate elite, the royalty, the movers, and the shakers. These are people who know how to get what they want, no matter who they need to step over to get it. The runners may be the help they need to get rid of their latest obstacle—or they could be the next bodies the rich and powerful leave in an expanding trail behind them.

Jet Set is a campaign book with information on the growing tension between Sixth World dragons, the mysterious motives and questions surrounding Nadja Daviar, the opening salvos in political battles that will shake cities and nations in the next year, and more. Filled with plot details, location information, and NPC write-ups, the book is a resource all Shadowrun players can use.

Jet Set is for use with Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.

Jason H.

[Murrdox]

This looks awesome just from the plot synopsis. I'm torn between buying the PDF right now, or waiting for the dead tree version.

[Garou]

I always wanted to kill Deviar. No particular reason i can tell. Maybe i am her infernal astrological opposite.

[snowRaven]

Leafing through the pdf right now...

I'll be back with more when I'm done, but so far:

HUGE LoL at the 'Top News Item' : (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif) Mr Goodman? Any comments? =P

Small question mark on the 'Today's Heads-up' and 'Incoming' parts...they make me wonder what happened to the stuff that was 'Heads-up' and 'Incoming' in 'Corporate Intrigue'...

For those wondering; yes, this book is done is the same way as AU and CI.

There are some very small layout changes, some excellent pieces of art (though a full-page b/w reprint of mihoshi oni seems somewhat a waste of space...), stats for some high-profile people (old and new), numerous tie-ins with Street Legends and it's smaller sibling, several NEW templates in the collection of people at the end, appearances by a number of people from way back, what looks like decent metaplot stuff, and...are you sitting down...there are maps! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

It seems that they have partially solved the previous issue of the chapters not being in chronological order by removing dates for many of them; while this may be a good thing, some of the events in there seem like they would be nice to have an official date for. Hard to tell at first glance, but I'm tentatively positive of the change.

It's not really the book I was expecting, at all (I was expecting something between Vice and Attitude for this one...dunno why), and I'm not at all sure why this one is labeled as a 'Sourcebook' when the others of the same style were 'Campaign books', but at first glance it looks like it keeps the current trend of improvement within the format -- AU was what it was, CI was pretty solid, and JS looks pretty good so far...

Final note: I was especially delighted to see stats for Mr Spinrad, since he is making an appearance in my own campaign this weekend.

[Patrick Goodman]

HUGE LoL at the 'Top News Item' : (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif) Mr Goodman? Any comments? =P

Loads of them. I'll start with this one: Y'know, sometimes I forget that people even read those things....

Once upon a time, there was a doppelganger of me placed in the game by a former freelancer. I killed "me" off back in SOTA64. For reasons that I won't get into here, I never got to tell the story of his murder or what I'd planned for Cavalier Arms. I had a chance to at least bring up CA in a way that shows I'm still thinking about it, even if I don't get to tell how/why he got killed and why Derrick inherits his shares of the company in the long-contested will.

Maybe someday.

If you're curious about how I wound up in game canon, you can look here.

It's not really the book I was expecting, at all (I was expecting something between Vice and Attitude for this one...dunno why), and I'm not at all sure why this one is labeled as a 'Sourcebook' when the others of the same style were 'Campaign books', but at first glance it looks like it keeps the current trend of improvement within the format -- AU was what it was, CI was pretty solid, and JS looks pretty good so far...

Emphasis mine.

As one of the proofers on that book, I'm going to chalk it up to an "ooops." I think we mentioned it at one point, but I've slept since then. I could just be making that up.

[The Jake]

This is the perfect book for our group right now. We're getting huge mileage out of Spy Games, Vice and now (soon to be) this. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

- J.

[snowRaven]

Loads of them. I'll start with this one: Y'know, sometimes I forget that people even read those things....

Once upon a time, there was a doppelganger of me placed in the game by a former freelancer. I killed "me" off back in SOTA64. For reasons that I won't get into here, I never got to tell the story of his murder or what I'd planned for Cavalier Arms. I had a chance to at least bring up CA in a way that shows I'm still thinking about it, even if I don't get to tell how/why he got killed and why Derrick inherits his shares of the company in the long-contested will.

Maybe someday.

If you're curious about how I wound up in game canon, you can look here.

Emphasis mine.

As one of the proofers on that book, I'm going to chalk it up to an "ooops." I think we mentioned it at one point, but I've slept since then. I could just be making that up.

Oh, I've been aware of your existance in canon for a long long time - even your death in SOTA64 - but I didn't know of the inheritance and I didn't expect that to be in there at all =D Lots of laughs!

Yeah, having this designated as sourcebook is probably one of the reasons I was expecting something totally different. Not that I'm complaining - there seems to be a lot of good material in there.

[Patrick Goodman]

Oh, I've been aware of your existance in canon for a long long time - even your death in SOTA64 - but I didn't know of the inheritance and I didn't expect that to be in there at all =D Lots of laughs!

Well, some people have come in late, so I thought I'd provide/link to the recap for their benefit. (For the record, being an actual character in canon is not as much fun as it sounds.) And you're not the only one who didn't know about the inheritance. Word of the will was going to pop up in something after SOTA64, but the Time of Great Unhappiness With the Game began for me soon after that, so it never got pitched, let alone written.

Until that hit the proofs, about three people knew about the will, the contesting of the will, and the inheritance. Then there were about a dozen people or so who knew about it, but none of the particulars. And now anyone who's read that page of JS knows as much as you do. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I can think of four or five people who know more about it than that. Besides me, there's exactly two people who know the whole story. Neither of them are working in any capacity for CGL at the moment. I would very much like to remedy this situation in the not-too-distant future. Nothing inspires me to actually finish a story like a deadline....

Yeah, having this designated as sourcebook is probably one of the reasons I was expecting something totally different. Not that I'm complaining - there seems to be a lot of good material in there.

It's a LOT of fun. Had a blast going through it.

[snowRaven]

I can think of four or five people who know more about it than that. Besides me, there's exactly two people who know the whole story. Neither of them are working in any capacity for CGL at the moment. I would very much like to remedy this situation in the not-too-distant future. Nothing inspires me to actually finish a story like a deadline....

Yeah, I can't seem to get much writing done at all unless I have a deadline... =( Recently started writing again after a long hiatus, and the only time now that I've been really inspired was pushing to get some stuff down on paper for a request. Hopefully I'll be able to write on a semi-regular basis again, thpough - even if only for myself.

Well, here's hoping you'll get the chance to do something with that tidbit. Sounds interesting =)

[toturi]

I killed "me" off back in SOTA64.

The story of how Patrick killed himself and lived to talk about it.

[Patrick Goodman]

It's a slightly-silly but oft-told tale. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I got tired of some people calling me out for putting myself in the game, when I had nothing to do with it.

But I gotta tell you, the only kind of suicide you should try is the one you know you're going to survive and tell tales about.

[CanRay]

It's a slightly-silly but oft-told tale. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I got tired of some people calling me out for putting myself in the game, when I had nothing to do with it.

But I gotta tell you, the only kind of suicide you should try is the one you know you're going to survive and tell tales about.

Which means now that he is writing for them, he really didn't kill "himself" off, and is only waiting for a time to do the big reveal! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Murrdox]

Any more detailed review?

I'm really liking what I'm hearing so far, but I'd love it if someone with the PDF would give a run-down of the chapters and their favorite features, what is good, and what is bad, what GMs will get out of the book, etc.

[snowRaven]

I'm hoping to get a more detailed look in tomorrow, if I can.

[Mäx]

Any more detailed review?

Copied from James Meiers post official forums

The Kingdom of the Air
Summary of high society activities like the Grand Tour.


Semiballistic Impact
The runners attempt to foil an assassination on a Tokyo to Seattle semiballistic flight.


Subroutine
Triad intrigue in an underwater casino.


Nine-Tenths
Some recipients of bequests in Dunkelzahn's will are being murdered, and a UCAS senator takes proactive measures.


Photo Ops
Celebrities visiting Bogota need to be protected.


Operation Blindside
Mujuaji settles an old debt to Hualpa by hiring the runners to infiltrate Aztechnology's Spindle space station.


One Step Ahead
Jean-Claude Priault hires the runners to target other megacorporations' military assets.


Aztlan Counterstrike
Raul Chavez is trying to rescue his reputation within Aztechnology before he gets shitcanned (or killed) for his failures in Bogota.


The Dragon Slayers
The dragon hunters that infiltrated DIVE seek out an artifact that Arleesh releases in order to teach them a lesson in tampering with power they don't understand.


Foreign Policy
S-K puts political pressure on High Prince Zincan after Hestaby's attack in Dubai.


Nine Lives
Soren Johannson of Ares is assassinating members of the "Nadjas" fixer network until the real Daviar sends a message of her own.


Shell Games
Lugh Surehand takes an interest in the Seattle gubernatorial election in protecting the New Century Party's nominee, and Jonathon Reed plays his role as nemesis.


Dragonchasers
Lofwyr is cementing his relationship with Lung by targeting Yakuzas loyal to Ryumyo.


Out of Egypt
Johnny Spinrad vs. Lofwyr over the theft of a priceless artifact in Cairo.


The Giggling Assassin
Buttercup takes action upon concerns about Kirilenko's actions regarding Chief Justice Hino from Corporate Intrigue.


A Taste of the Tour
The runners get involved in the Parisian stop of the Grand Tour.


Pure Wrath
The runners travel to London to influence the attempt to develop a private Matrix network.


Reclaiming Lost Sheep
Richard Villiers hires the runners to bring Miles Lanier back in from the cold. Only nothing is quite that simple.


Character Trove
This chapter includes the stats for many of the generic NPCs encountered throughout the book. However, it also provides profiles and stats on major and grunt NPCs.


Character Index
Self-explanatory

[snowRaven]

Alright, time for a more thorough look! I'll try to stay away from spoilers as best I can:

This is long; a summary and opinion on each chapter:

[ Spoiler ]

The Kingdom of the Air
Brief JackPoint info on the Grand tour, what life of the rich and famous is like, and some more info on a few of the top players; Johnny Spinrad, Danielle de la Mar, Dick and Sam Villiers, Great Dragons in general, and pribce Larry Zincan. Plus, an amusing anectode of a spirit bound into service as a busboy! Good info, and I found the info quite useful for the session we just played involving the Grand Tour.


Semiballistic Impact
I don't think I've seen a run onboard a suborbital since the first Harlequin book, so that alone intrigued me. There's some info on semi-ballistics, the security involved, including some unique problems that can arise when landing one. No real game stats or anything here, but quite useful even beyond the run. Personally, I think the main villain in this run is statted a bit weak compared to his description, but that will largely depend on the power levels of individual groups. There are decent options for tailoring this run more personally to the PCs, which I think is good.


Subroutine
I really like the concept of the club; it's inside a submerged shipwreck - very cool idea. The run itself is fairly standard, but the locale and some of the people involved have me looking forward to running this.


Nine-Tenths
Plenty of familiar names here - I really enjoy the many 'blast from the past' people that have popped up in the most recent books. Makes an old timer like me quite nostalgic! From the read-through, this run seems to start off fairly 'drab', but gains pace and uniqueness as it progresses. I find the back story to this quite interesting and engaging.


Photo Ops
Unprepared celebs cashing in on the war in Bogota by going all humanitarian and samaritan to improve their image? Not really my cup of tea, but it reaks of what rich and famous might get up to in a dystopian setting (or anywhere...). It has some interesting points, and I'm sure this one will exert a lot of groans from players and PCs alike...hopefully in a good way. Babysitting clueless (?) celebrities can go either way on the fun scale.


Operation Blindside
Another run onto a space station - as far as I know it's the third in SR history, and it comes quite close in time to the one in Corporate Intrigue. This chapter is only partly about that, though - it gets the runners involved in draconic affairs as well as Amazon-Aztlan affairs. Stats for Orbital DK appear here, but is completely lacking in knowledge skills...which I personally would see as one of the more interesting parts of that character - apart from that the stats are decent, but imo slightly on the weak side.


One Step Ahead
This is a run where I found the backstory seriously interesting. We're not given the full story, as far as I can tell, but it has very interesting possibilities. It requires some globe-hopping (something that seems to be standard fare these days) on jobs that I'm sure many would balk at (sneak onto an aircraft carrier; inflitrate a military base), but I think it could work. As written, the run requires Street Cred 7 and little to no Notoriety for the team to even be considered, which I think is a nice detail. There are suggestions on how to handle it in other ways as well.


Aztlan Counterstrike
Well-paid, difficult jobs in a war zone...need I say more? As written, it requires the PCs taking the initiative in applying for the job, and honestly I would just ignore it if the players didn't actively seek it out as described. It's not for everyone, and feels more suited for mercs, but with the right players and right team I think this could turn into a good and memorable run.


The Dragon Slayers
The shadowtalk intro section here is well-written, with a little rage-pun at the end of 'no more artifacts!' etc etc. I really like the set-up here and how it ties into the recent dragon stuff. This one can be quite a challenge for the runners, I imagine. There's a new type of focus introduced here - one that PCs aren't very likely to have much use for; that is, not a 'piece of gear' per se, but still interesting - and a new pair of artifacts. It does mention the possibility of runners bonding with these, but doesn't mention any karma cost or the like that I could find...


Foreign Policy
Here we get a first proper taste of how Lofwyr plans to deal with current events. I can really say much about it without spoilers, so I'll just say that it's risky.


Nine Lives
Base stats for the 'Daviars', which I almost found to be a bit on the high side (5 active skills at rating 6)., and fixed stats for Mihoshi Oni (her Unarmed Combat is now 6(Martial Art +2) -- but, her 'Edg' has been replaced by 'M' in the stat block...). Another globe-hopper, it briefly describes the café 'The Haunted Mug' in Seattle. The run itself feels a bit...off. I don't know how else to put it. High profile and risky, and the end might seem contrived, or a let down.


Shell Games
With ties to the Ork Underground, and Seattle politics, I think this will work excellently for runners involved in the Missions 4 plots. There's a few hot spot locations like The Big Rhino and The Goblin Market briefly described here (nothing much beyond Seattle Sourcebook-style basic info, though). I think this one has great potential, and a very 'old school' shadowrun feel to it. I really like this one -- it involves both high and low in one run.


Dragonchasers
Dragon-war stuff - globe-hopping again - and some faces familiar from Missions Season 2. The runners will likely feel a bit like benchwarmers on this one; they are more or less 'just along for the ride'; while there is potential for some challenging combat, the runners won't have much else to do here but listen to the game master speak and do (optional) legwork to figure out more about what's going on. I can't even see opportiunities for much interesting roleplay, unfortunately. This part would probably have been better as a longer fiction piece, imo -- it is interesting, just not very PC-driven.


Out of Egypt
Cairo. New art by Mr. Laubenstein. Rivalry between two powerful corporate CEOs. A statted magical artifact. Potentially lethal combat. Repercussions. I love it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)


The Giggling Assassin
Follow-up to stuff in Corporate Intrigue, and a very intriguing little piece of matrix involvement! This one might not be terribly challenging, but will require some thinking rather than shooting.


A Taste of the Tour
Paris and the Grand Tour spells job opportunities - applying persuasion to a lobbyist, playing paparazzi, social manipulations; not the average runner stuff. There are some easy rules suggestions for gambling in here - simple but good, and if they perform well, an opportunity to be guests in the Grand Tour and rub shoulders with the elite! Sats for Fianchetto appear here, and they look quite solid.


Pure Wrath
Another run with a very old-school shadowrun feel to it. Help set up matrix access in a run-down arcology inhabited by refugees, and stop conflict between different factions within. Of course, things aren't always as easy as they seem. Great opportunities for roleplaying, and some other diverse challenges as well.


Reclaiming Lost Sheep
Bring back Miles Lanier to Villiers. This connects to stuff in Corporate Intrigue, and of course a lot of SR back story with Lanier and Villiers. Globe-hopping, high-level job, with tough challenges. It may raise questions that aren't easily answered, but I think it's a neat little step in the ongoing Villiers-related plot-tangle (I am biased, since Villiers and Lanier are two of my favorite SR characters...)

We get stats for Johnny Spinrad, Claudia Romanov, Danielle de la Mar, Daviar-clones, Melody Tyger, Jean-Claude Priault, Alejandro Tepeyollotl, Ludmilla Reanka, Choi Mu, suggested stats for Jurojin (vague, but adequate), another Hans Brackhaus, Julian Sergetti, Fianchetti, Orbital DK.

The 'standard' stat blocks contain some named operatives for various groups and people (some of them quite good), stats for 'Elite' Security, Governmnet Security, Government Mr. Johnson, Noble Mr. Johnson, 10,000 Daggers Mercs, and a few varied 'usefuls' that are more mission/area specific or really just grunts (Protesters, for instance). Most of the stat blocks seem quite solid, though there are some choices that may seem contrived (giving 'standard' Elite Security the quality Magic Resistance(4), for instance). Many minor npcs, and some more important, lack knowledge skills.

There's a lot of great art, including a few new Laubenstein pieces. However, some of the reused art take up a lot of page space, and one piece of new art has been used twice within a few pages of each other - something that should've been caught, I think.

I've noticed several typos, but hardly any that require you to stop and think to figure it out. Giving Mihoshi Oni a Magic attribute instread of Edge is one that made me stop and react.

The few maps that are in the book look useful, but aren't really complex or large, aand some places where maps could've been quite useful are still lacking.

There are pretty good descriptions of individual locations in a lot of the chapters, and it seems like more page space has been devoted to such stuff. The more in-depth description of suborbital-travel was quite welcome - we haven't had decent info on that stuff since Shadowbeat, I think...

All in all, I think it's a good product. There are some runs that feel almost unnecessary, but most look very playable and quite enjoyable. The mix is fair, with many different types of job challenging many aspects of a shadowrunning team, and the book doesn't introduce a lot of new cities and places.

[Grinder]

Foreign Policy
Here we get a first proper taste of how Lofwyr plans to deal with current events. I can really say much about it without spoilers, so I'll just say that it's risky.

Ok, do it: use spoiler tags and tell us more. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[snowRaven]

Ok, do it: use spoiler tags and tell us more. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

First another point of critique: the table of contents doesn't have links to the different chapters, which is someting I find milföy annoying. I don't know why they do links in some of the books and not others...

So, more on Lofwyr's plans:

[ Spoiler ]

Players, stay out! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) Lofwyr is trying to get Hestaby removed from the Council and get leverage against her for use in the future. This means a fairly big pay for the runners, but also big risks:

[ Spoiler ]

The run involves sneaking an S-K Ms.Johnson into Tir Tairngire for a secret meeting with two Tir Princes, and a second run to kidnap one of Hestaby's technomancers (the leader of the Clutch, no less) from right under her snout at Shasta Lodge.

There's decent info on the Lodge itself and it's security(including a map), as well as info and stats on Tir Tairngire Border Patrols. There are no stats on the Tir Princes, though.

One thing that strikes me as a bit odd here is that the standard 'Shasta Shaman/Adept' at the lodge isn't an initiate. I'd expect a Great Dragon to require an Oath for those closest to it, but maybe that's just me...

[SincereAgape]

Picked this up last night. Managed to read the first thirty pages and skim through the rest. So far so good. The schemed and design is better then Artifacts Unbound. This new format is better then adventure supplements and the SR version of city sourcebooks.

Glad Catalyst is trying a new format for their supplements. Ghost Cartels is still the ideal SR 4th Campaign book IMO, but Jet Set, Artifacts Unbound, (Haven't picked up corporate intrigue yet) have been fun to read.

The addition of maps is nice, they could add a bit more and perhaps statistics for security buildings etc ala Cartels or Runner's Toolkit.

Quick question: Why hasn't any SR publishing company tried to produce a city sourcebook in the mold of Legend of the Five Rings "City of Lies aka Ryoko Owari" box set, 7th Sea's Frieberg box set, or any of the old Vampire the Masquerade (Chicago By Night series, DC by Night, Berlin by Night, etc etc). An in dept city campaign book?

[Grinder]

The schemed and design is better then Artifacts Unbound.

Where's the difference, the lack of time stamps in Jet Set aside?

[Prime Mover]

Laptop died recently so got I got Jet Set PDF on my iPad. Alot of the art looks like negatives. Is this a glitch in the reader or how the art looks?

[Critias]

Quick question: Why hasn't any SR publishing company tried to produce a city sourcebook in the mold of Legend of the Five Rings "City of Lies aka Ryoko Owari" box set, 7th Sea's Frieberg box set, or any of the old Vampire the Masquerade (Chicago By Night series, DC by Night, Berlin by Night, etc etc). An in dept city campaign book?

I'm a little confused by your question. This has been done (in various editions, with various degrees of fan popularity) with whole sourcebooks and/or boxed sets dedicated to Berlin, Denver, and Seattle, just off the top of my head.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Laptop died recently so got I got Jet Set PDF on my iPad. Alot of the art looks like negatives. Is this a glitch in the reader or how the art looks?

It's something that happens on the Ipad sometimes with rpg pdfs. Not all of them but sometimes the art is like that.

If you opened it up in acrobat on your normal computer (( if it was working)) It'd likely look fine.

I've got about 650 RPG PDF's on my Ipad. maybe 5% of them do this. If you have the Almanac it's art is very wonky on the Ipad.

[Prime Mover]

It's something that happens on the Ipad sometimes with rpg pdfs. Not all of them but sometimes the art is like that.

If you opened it up in acrobat on your normal computer (( if it was working)) It'd likely look fine.

I've got about 650 RPG PDF's on my Ipad. maybe 5% of them do this. If you have the Almanac it's art is very wonky on the Ipad.

Putting all rpg pdf's on ipad now. Thankfully I spent last fall doing backups of my most valuable files in a cloud. Newer Shadowrun books seem to be doing this about half the art in each book looking like a negative. Once I get another pc or laptop I'll sync to itunes and experiment some.

One more weird note, this only seems to happen in first half of each book. I wish ibooks gave you the option of opening the file up in another app.

[Bobby]

On the iPad i use Goodreader because I find iBooks too clunky and slow for PDFs - though it does fine with ePubs.

I've never noticed inverted art with my rpg books, but i could just be lucky - i've not tried them in iBooks to compare.