Storm Front is out!, Leading to SR5! Options

[Nath]

If a car is going slower than I can walk, then I can tell it's not a very good car. If I can play better games without a sourcebook than by using it, then I can say it's not a very good sourcebook. This can mean that I'm either an extremely fast runner or talented gamemaster, or that this car/sourcebook is just bad.

Obviously, it would be incredibly difficult to have several authors writing over a hundred pages of fluff that would be entirely useless. Even the much reviled War!, in spite of all its flaws, had me considering sending my players back to war-torn Colombia as a follow-up to Ghost Cartels (with some notable rewriting though). But as far as the process of reviewing a product goes, it worth saying when one chapter contribution to the overall interest of the book is small or null. Not to mention cases where simply taking into account events from a book as background would actually derail your game for no added value (like, say, if you were running a campaign based out the Genoa-Milano-Turin area).

Now, just a little extra step required and we'll be back at "If you don't like it, don't buy it."

[hermit]

I'm --not-- saying that the book is perfect, but there's plenty you can do in the Fall of a Dragon chapter with out it being a shitty game.

Can you give ... let's say, five examples?

Now, just a little extra step required and we'll be back at "If you don't like it, don't buy it."

But never talk bad about it! Other people might not buy it otherwise, and that'd be very unfair.

[Pepsi Jedi]

If a car is going slower than I can walk, then I can tell it's not a very good car. If I can play better games without a sourcebook than by using it, then I can say it's not a very good sourcebook. This can mean that I'm either an extremely fast runner or talented gamemaster, or that this car/sourcebook is just bad.

Obviously, it would be incredibly difficult to have several authors writing over a hundred pages of fluff that would be entirely useless. Even the much reviled War!, in spite of all its flaws, had me considering sending my players back to war-torn Colombia as a follow-up to Ghost Cartels (with some notable rewriting though). But as far as the process of reviewing a product goes, it worth saying when one chapter contribution to the overall interest of the book is small or null. Not to mention cases where simply taking into account events from a book as background would actually derail your game for no added value (like, say, if you were running a campaign based out the Genoa-Milano-Turin area).

Now, just a little extra step required and we'll be back at "If you don't like it, don't buy it."

With out trying to be rude, there's another option. That being, if someone can't find story hooks or ideas in the chapter, maybe they're not so much better than the book or the writers as a Gm.... maybe they're not as good as they think?

Again. I'm not going to sling an insult, but yes, it's easy to plot runs around that chapter. If someone can't think of anything what so ever, to the point of thinking the chapter useless or almost useless.... that possibility exists, that the fault isn't in the book, or the writers, but perhaps in the GM who can't think anything up from what's given.

Not every chapter has tons and tons of stuff you can do with it. I pointed out a few in my review. I just don't see the dragon one as such a thing.

I guess people's mileage will vary. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Grinder]

I guess people's mileage will vary. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ok then, leave it with that and don't continue this discussion. It's getting repetitive and is bordering on baiting.

[Troyminator]

kicking back to read on the Ipad.

What program(s) do you use to read PDF's on the IPAD?

[Pepsi Jedi]

What program(s) do you use to read PDF's on the IPAD?

Goodreader. I've got a bit over 600 RPG's on PDF on both my Ipads. Works great. Out of all of those... maybe 4 or 5 didn't work at all. Those being older stuff.

Only costs $5 as an app. it was the first app I bought on my Ipad 1 on release day. Used it pretty much every day after. I've got it on my NewIpad as well. It works on both. You can even upload wirelessly to your Ipad via goodreader. Every time I buy a PDF now, I download to my desktop, then pop open good reader, connect and toss it onto my Ipad. Takes a few seconds.

[Troyminator]

Edit

[tasti man LH]

PDFs can be imported into iBooks (via iTunes on your computer) or there's the Adobe Reader app floating around on iTunes.

[Troyminator]

This is like watching mimes debate, or something.

Heh! As I haven't read it yet, I am scrolling past and with, for me, superhuman restraint, nor looking at the spoilers. Almost seems like a tennis match: watching the "spoilers" go back and forth. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotate.gif)

[Troyminator]

But it has gotten to a point where some kind of guide would be really nice to have. I don't even have a good sense of how much is out there.

I have been wondering this too, lately. Is there a place to find a CGL bibliography of the SR 4th edition books that are in print? I have gone through the "JackPoint" sections at the beginning of the book that I have to see what is "linked". I have googled all of those listed and can't find some. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please and thanks?

[Troyminator]

I recently saw (less than a week ago) that the "Jackpoint" section at the beginning of most books has a date on it of when the person has logged in to JackPoint. Is this a way of telling/showing the order of when the books were printed?

[Grinder]

Well, let's hope so.

[hermit]

I recently saw (less than a week ago) that the "Jackpoint" section at the beginning of most books has a date on it of when the person has logged in to JackPoint. Is this a way of telling/showing the order of when the books were printed?

Nope, some books have been dated forward or backward. But it's useful for telling when the book's content happens in-game.

[Patrick Goodman]

Nope, some books have been dated forward or backward. But it's useful for telling when the book's content happens in-game.

This. That's our primary use for that date, though I desperately miss date stamps on shadowtalk....

[Troyminator]

Thanks for the help, all. I really appreciate it. I hope to buy my copy of Storm Front on Thursday so I can finally make good sense of what I've read here.

[bannockburn]

I have been wondering this too, lately. Is there a place to find a CGL bibliography of the SR 4th edition books that are in print? I have gone through the "JackPoint" sections at the beginning of the book that I have to see what is "linked". I have googled all of those listed and can't find some. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please and thanks?

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=38650

[CanRay]

This. That's our primary use for that date, though I desperately miss date stamps on shadowtalk....

I miss that breaking the date-stamp was a sign of being an uber-Decker!

[Stahlseele]

actually, it was a sign of sloppy editing and later retconned into that . .

[hermit]

Seriously?

[Stahlseele]

as far as i know/remember, yes.
it was an oversight first by the author who forgot and then by the editor who similarly overlooked that bit.

[hermit]

*grumbles something unintelligible and kicks a stone*

[Patrick Goodman]

Stahlseele, I think I've lost track of the conversation. What the heck are you talking about?

[Stahlseele]

The Shadowtalker without the Time/Date-Stamp in the older Books.
i am notoriously bad with names(occupational hazard) but i remember some freelancer or something like that admitting that it started out as an error and was kept in and explained away as worlds best decker who manages to outdeck fastjack by doing that . .

[hermit]

The Smiling Bandit, in ... Shadotech I think.

[Patrick Goodman]

If you're talking about the Anonymous poster, yeah, I think that's true.

Ray and I were talking about the time/date stamps from 1st and 2nd edition, where only the really cool ones like The Smiling Bandit and The Big D had non-standard DTS. That seems to be where my confusion is coming into play.