Storm Front is out!, Leading to SR5! Options

[hermit]

Edit: For those short on time, patience or attention span, I added individual ratings to all chapters (save one, because there's not really much there to even be rated). I also added a tl;dr rating at the end.

Being impartial and try to stay as objective as possible for example.
Your personal opinion will of course always show through, but that should be kept to a minimum.
In this review your dislike of the product and CGL is clearly visible and everyone who reads the review to inform himself would always wonder if the book really is that bad or if its just you using hyperboles because of a personal vendetta.

In media reviews, impartiality isn't as important. That said, I do give props where props are due. You didn't even read what I wrote, so you making claims about the content of my review in total is a bit bold. And you know, your own opinion is showing here. Just as a heads-up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Ixal]

In media reviews, impartiality isn't as important. That said, I do give props where props are due. You didn't even read what I wrote, so you making claims about the content of my review in total is a bit bold. And you know, your own opinion is showing here. Just as a heads-up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I do not know what media reviews you normally look like, but unless you are talking among a group who you know have the same opinion as you a more professional tone is much more informative and convincing.
And I did not read more than the 1st chapter and a few glances of the others because I honestly couldn't stomach all the vitriol even though the underlying problems in the book are real.
Presentation matters as much as content. And in my eyes the presentation of this review taints to content so much so that it is unusable to use it for information of the product.

[hermit]

So you read things superficially, and judge them then? That's amusing on so many levels, considering what you complain about.

I do not know what media reviews you normally look like, but unless you are talking among a group who you know have the same opinion as you a more professional tone is much more informative and convincing.

Like? Not mentioning flaws, so it looks more fair and balanced? Maybe a little undue praise?

[tasti man LH]

In media reviews, impartiality isn't as important. That said, I do give props where props are due. You didn't even read what I wrote, so you making claims about the content of my review in total is a bit bold. And you know, your own opinion is showing here. Just as a heads-up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Impartiality is kind of important.

ESPECIALLY if it's the kind of review that people look to on whether to decide to buy a product or not. It's kind of hard to take someone's word seriously if they're reviewing a product from a company that they do not like. And while adding humor is fine, having your entire review dripping with snark will leave people with the impression that you aren't taking things seriously (or that you're taking one too many reviewing lessons from the Angry Video Game Nerd or the Nostalgia Critic).

(and for the record, I DID read your review in it's entiriety. and considering the rather divisive opinions on Storm Front, my personal conclusion on the matter is: "I guess I'll just have to pick up the book (the dead-tree version, not the PDF) and see for myself".)

[Ixal]

So you read things superficially, and judge them then?

As do you when you believe Pepsi.
And I do not call my judgment a review.

Like? Not mentioning flaws, so it looks more fair and balanced?

I forgot to delete the like. Guess that qualifies me as a CGL proofreader.
But interesting that you bring up fair and balanced. That review certainly fits their style. And personally I do not consider that a sign of quality.

[hermit]

ESPECIALLY if it's the kind of review that people look to on whether to decide to buy a product or not.

I will post a shorter review (with a lot less of the things I want to tell the writers) on DriveThru and other RPG sales pages, if that makes you feel better. This is not a review primarily intended for potential buyers. It is equal parts feedback to authors and a general posting of opinion on a fan message board. A potential customer could care less about my concerns for the line's direction.

I would mention the bad editing, though, since that is product quality.

As do you when you believe Pepsi.

Yeah, because people with a chip on their shoulder because they don't like being called out are a good, unbiased source.

You seem awfully preoccupied with personal attacks. Do you take personal offense in reading (or rather, not reading, in your case) opinions you don't like? And you demand fairness, but give none. Love blanket statements, but dodge responsibility for them. That's funny really. You sure you're not a fan of them? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Ixal]

I would mention the bad editing, though, sicne that is product quality.

Of course you should as you should mention all other bad things in the book. Just don't bury them under so much snark/vitriol so that the reader has to guess if those points actually exist or are just imagined.

[tasti man LH]

I will post a shorter review (with a lot less of the things I want to tell the writers) on DriveThru and other RPG sales pages, if that makes you feel better. This is not a review primarily intended for potential buysers. It is equal parts feedback to authors and a general posting of opinion on a fan message board. A potential customer could care less about my concerns for the line's direction.

Considering the nature of what Storm Front is, I don't think it would be the kind of thing casual buyers or first-time SR players would pick up on their first try.

Most of the buyers of Storm Front would be people that are already familiar with the meta-plot of SR, and I would think would have already been buying SR books long before Storm Front.

Unless if you're seriously telling me that there are people out there who buy this book because they think it actually is about storm fronts and other weather phenomena....

[Ixal]

Unless if you're seriously telling me that there are people out there who buy this book because they think it actually is about storm fronts and other weather phenomena....

Or people who want to start/get back with Shadowrun 5E and heard that this is a transition book.

[bannockburn]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure, why all these plots suddenly were required to 'end' or be wrapped up.
I guess, ultimately, this is a matter of creative freedom for the next edition. There is a LOT of baggage coming from 25 years of background, and in the end, I can only assume that this was a development decision.

On another on-topic note: I absolutely LOVE the Seattle chapter. I'm almost finished reading it and having played and GMed some of the Missions (I hope I haven't spoilered [yes, that's a word now!] myself too much) makes it feel like being a participant on the direction this took (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I hope the next Missions season will be incorporated into the material as well.

[tasti man LH]

^Considering that most of the resolved plot threads were fairly unpopular (at least from what I understand, as I have yet to be fully caught up on most of the 4e fluff), I guess they just wanted them done and over with so people won't have to deal with them come 5e.

[Angelone]

There has been a disturbing lack of Drop Bears in recent plot threads.

[Pepsi Jedi]

There has been a disturbing lack of Drop Bears in recent plot threads.

Or the Dreaded Drop-Bear Army of DOOM!

[tasti man LH]

...you people are INSANE...

I mean: air-dropping Drop Bears on corpsec as a viable tactical option?! Who does that?!???!

There's pink mohawk and then there's...that.

[Pepsi Jedi]

...you people are INSANE...

I mean: air-dropping Drop Bears on corpsec as a viable tactical option?! Who does that?!???!

There's pink mohawk and then there's...that.

You gotta admit. Corp sec standing around. They hear a 'Foompt!!" and a parachute comes down. They all draw down on it as a box about the size of a trashcan lands. They call out orders. Nothing happens. Finally one inches forward... at about 10 feet a proximity detector unlocks the box and out comes a pissed off Dropbear..... that's one hell of a distraction.

[Angelone]

Or just parachuting the Drop Bears right on corp sec. They'll be standing around joking and suddenly they are covered in parachute and claws.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Or just parachuting the Drop Bears right on corp sec. They'll be standing around joking and suddenly they are covered in parachute and claws.

INFECTED claws. lol

[RHat]

I will post a shorter review (with a lot less of the things I want to tell the writers) on DriveThru and other RPG sales pages, if that makes you feel better. This is not a review primarily intended for potential buyers. It is equal parts feedback to authors and a general posting of opinion on a fan message board. A potential customer could care less about my concerns for the line's direction.

To be fair, however, a review should observe a distinction between "not to my tastes", and "bad".

And I do think that there are some connections you're simply not making, too. For example:

[ Spoiler ]

A very important detail about the Denver stuff was that Ghostwalker knew Harlequin was going to be coming down on him with everything he had. He knew it, and knew that he'd have done the same thing. I suspect he arrested Perianwyr, who'd been a sort of pseudo-vassal for him, to keep him from being a target. As for wanting to get the people to safety, he may well be trying to change his image (corresponding, perhaps, with a shift in draconic politics; let's remember that he's not going to be allowed to rule with violence anymore without crossing the Loremaster). It's also possible that Zebulon wanted him to protect "her" people - a city isn't a city without its people.

It's also important to note that the thing Frosty was so sure Harley wouldn't do was specifically the Alamos 20K bombing of Wonderland club, and the general endangering of massive numbers of innocents, and for that matter how direct he was being.

It's also completely inaccurate to say that NetCat was aying paragons in general are first gen AI's. The specific statement:

> Oh, Dodger. You never really lost her. She’s your Paragon, somehow.
> Netcat

Note, specifically, the "somehow", implying that this is an exceptional case and that she has no idea how it's possible. That kind of runs against your theory - for your theory to be true, this cannot be an exceptional case.

And on a more general note regarding the whole Lofwyr/Alamais thing: it seems to me that the whole thing was about a battle of ideas as much as a military battle. If Lofwyr just got a ton of dragons together to kill Alamais and his followers, it would have proven nothing - and in fact, all it would have meant is that the next time a great wanted to advance such ideas, they'd be far more subtle about it. The point, then, was to demonstrate that Alamais was wrong; interestingly, this backs up Celedyr's edict and advances Hestaby's agenda. I'm not inclined to assume that's a coincidence. Note especially that Lofwyr has been shown in previous fiction to have been pushing for leniency towards Hestaby even while pushing for slaughtering Alamais and his contingent. And that Hestaby launched an attack against Alamais that notably softened up the compound, Alamais, and probably a few other dragons. It's quite possible there was a conspiracy between the three of them, and Hestaby's end of it just didn't work out as well as it was supposed to (it's also possible that it DID work out as planned, as she may now be in a better position to forward her agenda...).

[Critias]

Not to interrupt the argument(s), but FWIW I appreciate the feedback (I don't recall if I've come out and said which bits I wrote, but folks can probably take a few good guesses). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Pepsi Jedi]

Not to interrupt the argument(s), but FWIW I appreciate the feedback (I don't recall if I've come out and said which bits I wrote, but folks can probably take a few good guesses). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Which ones did you write?

[Critias]

Oh, c'mon. At least take a guess!

[RHat]

20 bucks on the Tír section.

[Wakshaani]

[ Spoiler ]

I finally finished the book and compiling my notes into something vaguely coherent. This is my review. Brace yourselves, it has a lot of text. And not all of it is nice.

Review Chapter 11: Escaping the Ghost Decade 6/10

This chapter greets me with a rather glaring error in canon. Halley's comet passed in 2061, not 2064 (the man himself passed in 1741). Sorry if that ruins the idea of a "ghost decade", but then again, the decade becomes 20 years on the same page. What.

This one's a problem. The Alpha document said '64 (I'd been working from the 6WA instead of the Comet, an error I caught early on, but did initially make.) but the Beta corrected it to the proper 2061. Either I transpowed a number, or it flickered during being retyped, or an edit just got misplaced. I'm not sure. This did mess with my 64-74 band by 3 years, but 'Ghost Decade' still worked, showing a slow build in the early 70's before really getting a few steps past. In essence, it technically ended in '71, but you didn't really have the nation feeling it for a few more years. That was caught and corrected, but the edit didn't "take" for some reason. My apologies on this one... I'll have to watch pages I send in a bit tighter in the future. And teh 20 year comment makes me want to ... hang on, lemme open up the PDF.

I don't see the note of 20 years ago, other than the "When working for Japanacorps back in the 50's", which is a nod to the 2050-55 era of Shadowrun, where the majority of teh Big Eight were based out of Japan and the culture was omnipresent. If you can show me where I missed it, I'll see if we can get those errors corrected for the print release. It's **probably* too late in the process to do that, but I'll ask.

Shiawase sees the Empress step down, being a good mother. Apparently, the conservatives won at Shiawase after all. Comes a bit as a surprise but hey, after all acting out of character is a plot device now - lemons and lemonade, I guess. Yamana sells all his Shiawase stock and goes on a world travel and nobody thinks twice (what again). More Shiawase children materialise and buy stock with money from where-ever because reasons. Also, Shiawase now is the largest agricorp in Europe, passing by SK just like that and completely ignoring Meridional Agronomics and AG Chemie Europa. The Tenno drastically changed in character, from inwards-looking New Way Patron to fascist Emperor of Fascististan.

Gah, Tadashi/Tadeshi is everywhere. I have no idea what happened there. That's a legit screwup that's in my final doc. Crap. That's pure weaksauce on my part.

Hitomi most certainly didn't step down to be a good mother. There's a lot going on there that you have to read between the lines of. "I want to concentrate on raising a baby" might be the official line, but everyone should know better than that. Yamana does sell his stock ... but, again, there should be some thoughts about why. You also have to wonder if a multi-billionaire that's been teh CEO of several of the world's largest corporations might not be someone that could be hired in the future in another, or who might use his Art Dankwalther-like wealth to take care of old rivalries, or, well, there's all kinds of ways that this story can go.

Soko's wealth has been mentioned in the past (Such as the previous Corporate book), noting that she could easily buy more Shiawase stock, but no one was selling. When Yamana sold his, she was first in line to buy it. Her daughter's married to Yamana, by the by, and is being left out in the cold. She went from being one of the three Orchids and a serious power player with a pushing-100 year old husband that'd die soon and leave her tons of stock to being forced to sell everything, her husband de-aged and far from death, and kicked out of her own family, left virtually nothing by her own mother. Someone's gonna be PISSED.

Shiawase was the second-largest EuroCorp as of Corporate Download (The second of the three corp books out there) having gathered up all of Fuchi's Euro assets. The "Passed up S-K" is a misread of what the line indicates, but, I can see how it confuses. With Aztechnology's current problems, Shiawase is now the largest food producing corporation in the world, with Saeder-Krupp and Horizon nipping at their heels. S-K makes more food in Europe, but Shiawase makes more worldwide. If Shiawase could scoop up some os S-K's EuroAg, then they'd start stretching their lead at the cost of their natural rival, taking advantage of Lofwyr's weakened state. It's a very Yamana-style gamble, but Tadashi backed off of it. That could be wise, that could be foolish, we'll see. Regardless, Shiawase's been leveraging their food surplus for several months, and is looking to expand it.

As for the Emperor... you have an interesting read on it. He's growing up, but there's still some power struggles between himself and the Megas. Shiawase is now solidly allied with him, but, well, there's an old saying about riding a tiger that should be remembered. A new wave of nationalism can work to his favor, but could work against him. Of course, with it is a rise of Shintoism and related religions, which hold the Emperor as a revered figure. Again, there's more going on here than at face value.

MCT is the unchanging icon by fighting a brutal corp war in Japan as loyal opposition (what?), which seems sort of contradictory - maybe they should lay off the bloodshed at home if they wanted to play ally? Renraku is ... somehow back again from never being gone, except from Seattle. Now it expands into South America because the people there are too poor to be of interest to megas and have no economies - apparently the authors have stopped considering SoLA canon? Renraku as Corp of Big Data is an interesting idea, though. They do have decades of datastores to work with after all, unlike Horizon. But a bit more consistency with established sources would be great.

Loyal opposition, yes. You simply can't stand up and say, "The Emperor is wrong! Screw his laws! We do it my way!" You'll get crucified by the public. You have to demonstrate being loyal, even while working to undercut policies that hurt you. Hiring deniable assets, then lamenting the death of public figures, or producing documents/photos that can swing a vote in private, etc etc etc. It's the sawn approach ... serene and peaceful on the surface, feet are churning underneath to make it move. MCT, same thing ... in public, they use careful wording and delays to fend off the Emperor's laws and "suggestions", while in the shadows, knives are bloody.

Renraku's section draws heavily from the third corporate book, where it talks about how Renraku has slid into South America and carved out a strong niche for itself, as well as a plan to try and bring the Southern Hemisphere up a bit. They took a serious hit in terms of tech, falling from the #1 computer corp to *barely* the third, and probably not even that after Crash 2.0 ... they needed time to lie low, rebuild, then have a comeback. They run the SIN database in most of the nations of the world, and are now taking over GridGuide, giving them unmatched access to data... building on their traditional strengths and adding a new flavor. There's more to them to come. Renraku essentially took 4th edition off ... it's time for them to get back in the game. (Oh, and Renraku buying up land all over Seattle was mentioned in Dirty Tricks, by another author, and I felt that it was a great way to start getting them back in Seattle and, by extension, the showcase city of Shadowrun. Always read previous books, always research, and run with things other authors introduce. I'm just a caretaker of the universe, not the owner. Vital to show it respect.)

The worst of this chapter may be its lazy writing. The author seems to think research is for losers, too (in a setting with 20+ years of baggage, splendid idea). But there's something else. Throughout the writeup, Baka Dabora writes like he is slotting a Mr. Miyagi personafix. It's the cliché of Japan, and rather groan-worthy. What really pissed me off is an unsolicited mini-treatise on how Exceptionalism is a bad thing if it is claimed by Japan, Rome, or England (Yamato-Damashii is evil, it seems, but, manifest destiny is not). That is again getting the author's own opinions into his write-ups in a thoroughly unpleasant way.

Not good enough, though not quite as bad as Aztlan's Triump [sic!] either. Too bad, since I like the principal idea.

Baka Dabora was chosen for a reason: He's a lifetime salaryman of Japanese birth. That he's "Drunk the Kool-Aid" and is getting swept up in the Yamato-Damashii should be seen more as it being a serious movement and less "Mr Miyagi". It's a cultural force with strength, and people are buying into it, even some who argueably should know better. Compare it to the 80's in America vs the malaise of 70's America. 2072, Japan started stumbling out of a decade-long recession, and is now starting to roar as they refill with pride and start to look at regaining lost glory. The Exceptionalism bit was added after I was worried that someone might read it as an anti-Japan rant, so I added more examples, to showcase that, in history, when this happens, well, I shouldn't have to say more. I didn't add America, but I also didn't add facism. If you read this as "America, AW YEAH!", well, that's certainly not the words on the page, nor the intent behind them. It's essentially saying, "These people believe that they're the best in the world and that they can do anything better than those who currently have things." It's the belief, not the people who have the belief, which is the central issue here.

There's also some infordump in here for newer players who haven't seen much of the 2050-55 stuff, where Japanese culture was amplified and sprayed around the setting. Prepping new players for some flavors that might start rolling out is never a bad idea. Someone, somewhere, will read this and go, "Wait... you don't get a pass for failing? What's up with that?" which can lead to research and reading, an exposure to a new mindset, and maybe, just maybe, a new outlook on things. I hope to expand on this more in the future, exploring the modern Samurai mindset and code, Bushido, and a few other concepts in the future.

So, right now, looking at the document printed and what came out of my notes process, it looks like some fixes didn't get in. That's on me, and afte rthe book's been in print for a month, I'll see if the higher-ups will let me give out some corrections. The original Word files aren't mine to give, obviously, but I can walk through some fixes. Where my original says "As everyone knows, when Halley's Comet flew by in '64" and the corrected text reads "On October 27th, 2061," it's a different read. I won't blame it on editing because it's more my job to have it right in the pass than it is for them to change things afterwards. The error was caught in proofing but the mistake made it through. It shouldn't hav ebeen there in the first place.

Grf.

So, I disagree with some of your comments, as noted, but I conceed a few as well. Tadashi/Tadeshi, in particular, is going to bug me for a while. Next asignment, I'm going to be watching even closer.

(Man, will all of this even fit in one post? Better copy n paste to be safe!)

[Bull]

On another on-topic note: I absolutely LOVE the Seattle chapter. I'm almost finished reading it and having played and GMed some of the Missions (I hope I haven't spoilered [yes, that's a word now!] myself too much) makes it feel like being a participant on the direction this took (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Just want to drop in and say... "Awesome!" That's what we were shooting for with Missions. We'll likely never be a major, big time, "OMG! Stop this or the WORLD ENDS!" set of adventures, but we wanted what you did in Missions to feel impactful and meaningful.

One thing about that section that really made me smile were all the little references to "This team I'm working with" and "These really promising up and coming runners that pulled this job". Because anyone who plays through the Season can then sit back and go "Hey, that was me!" Which is often something that's hard to do in Shadowrun. Too often the players end up being spectatcors to the big event, or at best escorting major NPCs around while they do all the important stuff. And we didn't want to do that. Even with my GM PC involved (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

(And as a side note, you guys do realize that EVERY character here is a GM PC to one degree or another? That's the nature of creating characters for fiction, there's very little difference between the two other than an actual PC you actually have a handle on their stats and they often have a much more detailed personality and backstory to work with. There *IS* the danger of making them a Mary Sue where everyone loves them, they always succeed, etc. But I don't like to play characters like that, and Bull is often deeply, deeply flawed, and I try and make sure that comes through. He's also probe to blowing up and losing limbs. It's also why I was against him becoming a Jackpoint Admin, but I got overruled on that one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

I hope the next Missions season will be incorporated into the material as well.

I hope that as well. I have some interesting ideas for Season 5 (I think), and we'll see how they play out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(If you're not subscribed to the SR Missions Facebook page, I posted a teaser of one of the Season 5 Contacts/NPCs there already, and more will be going up in the near future. I tend to use Facebook for most of my sneak peeks and teasers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Bull

[Bull]

20 bucks on the Tír section.

I'm surprised Critias hasn't gone and gotten skin grafts to give himself elf ears yet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)