Catalyst's garbage, Are there any SR books worth reading since "War!"? Options

[Wakshaani]

I wouldn't say so. Your stuff usually is at least mediocre (though I can't say I remember everything you wrote and probably came down on something; it happens). You're new and have difficulties with canon sometimes, but you never made up scalpels of jew mauling +3. Neither do you actively troll fans and accuse them of not doing enough to work around your mistakes and instead dare to complain about submarines traveling up a 120 ft waterfall. Look, at least with me, some bloopers by new authors will not send me into a frothing rage; I'll just call them out. Stuff that is either as offensive as the cute plot hooks in War!, the Fucking Mary-Sue Corps, or screws with immersion, suspense of disbelief and canon all in one like the Triump of Aztlan, on the other hand, has that potential.

Oh lord no, when I screw up, I *want* to be called on it. Only way to get better is to find your mistakes. I think only ... hrm. 1, 2, 3 ... three things I've done, plus two April Fools, are out thusfar. There's a PDF one that I just got back for a new pass on which, hopefully, will open a few campaigns up for people, and there's an adventure on the way as well. Hopefully, people will enjoy them, but my big goal is always to give campaigns more angles. I want every page to have at least one hook of some kind that can be turned into something by a GM... a suggestion here, a name dropped there, SOMEthing. I know how much people care up products, taking chunks they want and leaving the bones behind and that's fine. I just want to make sure that you always walk away with something on your plate.

Canon's tricky, since I'm sort of a research addict. Nothing should ever go against Canon, but that doesn't mean that a game should be calcified, either. Take old stuff and grow it, rather than *change* it. If mutiple sources contradict, figure out which one should trump, clean it up, and move forward. Mind you, my big issue of late has been scale ... I like the focus on a much smaller scale than SR4 did, while other people like going Epic. Critias and I have really hit it off, despite having wildly different ideas of power levels. He's just *awesome* and he puts up with me being the #2 elf fan, so. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If there was any one thing I'd want, however, it's to have a "FASA offices" type thing, where we could have a crew of writers, editors, and artists, that all lived in the sme city and shared a common office. Communication is the lifeblood of any sort of moving=parts venture like a comic book company or Shadowrun's backstory and not touching base with one another can be problematic. We've had to do some re-writing in teh wake of some calls here or there, but it also gave us new opportunities.

For instance, I originally had Sirrurg flying into Puerto Rico under the cover of hurricanes to try and dodge the "Thor Strike, everything dies" issue, but Jet Set came out while I was writing that and, in there, the Corporate COuncil takes all the orbital weapons offline. That tidbit had slipped past many writers, and once it got out there, it opened quite a few doors for other actions to be undertaken while the "I Win" button was down. To be perfectly honest, I'd have been fine with them staying offline forever, but, it's pretty obvious why the corps would want otherwise, and they win these discussions. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Glyph]

If we dig through Catalyst's garbage, we might find discarded printouts of the new core rulebook.

Why bother? It would just be some old drafts of the new rules, probably wouldn't have limits, or matrix bonuses...

I'll help you look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[hermit]

Okay how is that different than the mary sue wildcats, paladins etc.There are plenty of super special secret soldier groups in the SR universe why is one more so much worse. I obviously missed this ebook, but somehow I doubt it goes further than the crap about paladins.

That refers to the Free Marine Corps (FMC, see?) and their terrible writeup in 10 Mercs. For the record, I liked the FMC's idea until 10 Mercs and stormfront. There are two other descendants of the US Marine Corps, the UCAS Marine Coprs and the CAS Marines (in some sources called Ferrets, specifically so in Just Compensation).

It does go further than paladins or Wildcats (which might be annoying but not personally insulting to anyone) because it's dragging real-world nationalism into the setting. There's paladins and there's Tom Clancy. While not going the full way, it is approaching the type and level of offensiveness of War!.

I don't know what this means. Can someone help me out with what it means to be a "Mary Sue", please and thanks?

There you go.. That's pretty much the standard definition. See also here (careful, TVtropes will take an hour of your life as payment, and here as well as here for semi-fun tests to run characters through.

Oh lord no, when I screw up, I *want* to be called on it. Only way to get better is to find your mistakes. I think only ... hrm. 1, 2, 3 ... three things I've done, plus two April Fools, are out thusfar.

Huh. Which would those things be? Well, 'The Ghost Decade' from stormfront obviously. What else?

There's a PDF one that I just got back for a new pass on which, hopefully, will open a few campaigns up for people, and there's an adventure on the way as well. Hopefully, people will enjoy them, but my big goal is always to give campaigns more angles.

You're writing the Battle of New York? Or has that been cancelled entirely?

I want every page to have at least one hook of some kind that can be turned into something by a GM... a suggestion here, a name dropped there, SOMEthing. I know how much people care up products, taking chunks they want and leaving the bones behind and that's fine. I just want to make sure that you always walk away with something on your plate.

Well, in general terms, and with your particular work too, this is something that has been managed. Even with books I have no love lost for, there usually is something useful.

If there was any one thing I'd want, however, it's to have a "FASA offices" type thing, where we could have a crew of writers, editors, and artists, that all lived in the sme city and shared a common office. Communication is the lifeblood of any sort of moving=parts venture like a comic book company or Shadowrun's backstory and not touching base with one another can be problematic. We've had to do some re-writing in teh wake of some calls here or there, but it also gave us new opportunities.

For instance, I originally had Sirrurg flying into Puerto Rico under the cover of hurricanes to try and dodge the "Thor Strike, everything dies" issue, but Jet Set came out while I was writing that and, in there, the Corporate COuncil takes all the orbital weapons offline. That tidbit had slipped past many writers, and once it got out there, it opened quite a few doors for other actions to be undertaken while the "I Win" button was down. To be perfectly honest, I'd have been fine with them staying offline forever, but, it's pretty obvious why the corps would want otherwise, and they win these discussions.

I can see how this can get very frustrating for a writer. And while a FASA offices situation seems out of the question, maybe mandatory online conferences are not? But I know neither CGL's strategies there, nor their internal workings or if such a conference skype/chat/whatever is even feasible schedule-wise. But communication is key in collaborative writing, and it seems to me this doesn't really always happen with CGL's products.

Other than that, the orbital weapons are, I think, a necessary counterbalance to magical forces like dragons.

Mind you, my big issue of late has been scale ... I like the focus on a much smaller scale than SR4 did, while other people like going Epic. Critias and I have really hit it off, despite having wildly different ideas of power levels. He's just *awesome* and he puts up with me being the #2 elf fan, so. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm kinda torn there actually. As a player, I prefer not-too-epic runs; I love the way Missions season 4 dealt with that. As a reader of sourcebooks, though, I want to see the big picture, the epic stuff, the politics and machinations of power, Alachia and Brane Deigh throwing cakes at each other, that sort of thing. Ever since Land of Promise (and probably a bit before), I like where SR is taking the elf lands again, after being very, very, very disappointed with their handling in early SR4.

[Wakshaani]

Huh. Which would those things be? Well, 'The Ghost Decade' from stormfront obviously. What else?

My first work is the appendix in the Twilight Horizon, introducing a whole lot of Simsense tech. It was something that'd been lying fallow for years and there was a huge opening. It probably would have been better as a PDF, but, A) the chapter needed doing and B) it would have been in the place of CanRay's Sim Dreams, so, glad it didn't go that way. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

#2 is a PDF which is getting re-written currently. A few bits I later wrote drew from it, so it'll be a tad out of sequence, but still works.

#3 was April Fools of 2012, with Kunoichi, the lesbian Elf ninja stripper, because it needed to be done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

#4 was the Dirty South section of Dirty Trilcks.

#5 was the Ghost Decade in Stormfront.

#6 is this year's April Fools, with the hoverboard and humanoid drone.

I also chipped in with some Shadowtalk in the 2050 book and Stormfront (The lead of the Fastjack chapter was amazingly kind and asked if anyone wanted to step into some shoes to say their goodbyes. About everyone got a line in. Downright personal, that.)

I did about half of the Archtypes in SR5, which was a *huge* honor.

I have a Mission adventure on the way, and that's as far as my current Catalyst workload takes me. I've gotten to do some L5R stuff, and I have a bit down the road for Cartoon Action Hour as well. As noted, this isn't a huge body of work, but it's ongoing.

You're writing the Battle of New York? Or has that been cancelled entirely?

Not me, and not cancelled last I heard. The original writer had to bow out when the due date was approaching, causing a bit of a scramble to find a replacement. I was tempted, but it just didn't fit into my schedule while I was running for office. I'm not sure where that one's currently at.

Well, in general terms, and with your particular work too, this is something that has been managed. Even with books I have no love lost for, there usually is something useful.

Good! That part's tres important.

I can see how this can get very frustrating for a writer. And while a FASA offices situation seems out of the question, maybe mandatory online conferences are not? But I know neither CGL's strategies there, nor their internal workings or if such a conference skype/chat/whatever is even feasible schedule-wise. But communication is key in collaborative writing, and it seems to me this doesn't really always happen with CGL's products.

Other than that, the orbital weapons are, I think, a necessary counterbalance to magical forces like dragons.

Yeah, there's talk, and everyone on a book has a line of communication with one another, but nothing beats being able to go down the hall and go, "Hey guys, I was thinking about using blank in a story. Are they still alive?" You can put up all manner of things on a billboard, interplay between creators can result in whole new things, you get a better feel for the big picture, etc etc etc. Online meetings also have to deal with real life schedules and so on. It's the way things are and I get that, but having an HQ to operate out of and core organization is unbelievably useful.

And yes, orbital can counterbalance dragons, but there's not much to counterbalance them. It's a sort of "I win" button, which has uses, but also gives you a default that obliterates discussions. "What happens if a rogue element Thor's the Aztechnology HQ?" and all that. I get jittery when anything's in the position of be-all end-all in power scales.

I'm kinda torn there actually. As a player, I prefer not-too-epic runs; I love the way Missions season 4 dealt with that. As a reader of sourcebooks, though, I want to see the big picture, the epic stuff, the politics and machinations of power, Alachia and Brane Deigh throwing cakes at each other, that sort of thing. Ever since Land of Promise (and probably a bit before), I like where SR is taking the elf lands again, after being very, very, very disappointed with their handling in early SR4.

Critias is the king of all Elves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I like what he's doing better than what *I* planned. A few writers still have "Elves are uber awesome and the bestest at everything and you rock and they suck whee!" poisoning from the initial Immortal Elves and Tir writeups from waaaaay back in the day, but the society that the Tir brought in is *fascinating* and the rebellion and aftermath gave a ton of room for exploration ... but nobody ever did until Crit. I owe him huge for that.

[Udoshi]

And yes, orbital can counterbalance dragons, but there's not much to counterbalance them. It's a sort of "I win" button, which has uses, but also gives you a default that obliterates discussions. "What happens if a rogue element Thor's the Aztechnology HQ?" and all that. I get jittery when anything's in the position of be-all end-all in power scales.

That is one of the many things that bugged me about Storm Front. Aztechnology finally being the first to gear up and throw money at taking down a dragon in a SERIOUS way, and not being allowed to finish the job.

If you're going to have a massive gamechanger like that, at least follow through on it.

[Fatum]

For all I know, there are bunches of antisat weapons, from lasers to kinetic penetrators, that can hardly be countered by the target. So it's not like the weapon platforms in space are invincible.

[imperialus]

You're probably in the wrong line of work if you can't take criticism nerdrage, lol.

Fixed it for you.


For what it's worth, I just finished reading Sim Dreams and the Eurowars history and quite enjoyed both of them. I'm not sure who wrote them (as in I don't know which freelancer's real name matches up with which username) but I think they were well written. Are they high literature? Of course not, and the story about Bull at the end of Sim Dreams left me quite confused but the whole shadowtalk section in Sim Dreams was fantastic.

Oh, and I want to know what the heck is up with the sheep.

[kzt]

For all I know, there are bunches of antisat weapons, from lasers to kinetic penetrators, that can hardly be countered by the target. So it's not like the weapon platforms in space are invincible.

Orbits are pretty darn predictable. A mobile multi-megawatt anti-aircraft laser could certainly make a sat nice and toasty if it's got the right sensors and wavelength.

[Larsine]

For what it's worth, I just finished reading Sim Dreams and the Eurowars history and quite enjoyed both of them. I'm not sure who wrote them (as in I don't know which freelancer's real name matches up with which username) but I think they were well written.

Check the names here: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=30621

[Shinobi Killfist]

That refers to the Free Marine Corps (FMC, see?) and their terrible writeup in 10 Mercs. For the record, I liked the FMC's idea until 10 Mercs and stormfront. There are two other descendants of the US Marine Corps, the UCAS Marine Coprs and the CAS Marines (in some sources called Ferrets, specifically so in Just Compensation).

It does go further than paladins or Wildcats (which might be annoying but not personally insulting to anyone) because it's dragging real-world nationalism into the setting. There's paladins and there's Tom Clancy. While not going the full way, it is approaching the type and level of offensiveness of War!.

I'll take your word for it since I don't have it. Though nationalism is about the last thing I'd accuse Catalyst of. Maybe the writer was a marine or something, but from thier products nationalism does not seem to be high on their priority list.

[Charon]

To answer the OP question, War was a low point but I liked quite a few of the products after that.

I liked most of Storm Front, especially the political stuff (Tir and Seattle). I was titillated by the short bit about Fear of the Dark. Yes! The monsters are back in black! I was getting tired of the civil right angle. I loved the bit with Fastjack at the end. Yes, possession has been done before in SR, but this is the kind of slowburning possession you could possibly inflict on a player. I am eager to learn more.

I mostly liked also books like Jet Set, the Artefact serie etc.

Really, the thing that annoys me the most in all those books is the number of mistakes and weird sentences. It's jarring. Doesn't anyone proof read this stuff? I am not even a native speaker and yet they jump to my attention. Sheesh.

Anyway, overall I like most metaplots of the 73-75 period and haven't regretted my purchases.

[lokii]

And yes, orbital can counterbalance dragons, but there's not much to counterbalance them. It's a sort of "I win" button, which has uses, but also gives you a default that obliterates discussions. "What happens if a rogue element Thor's the Aztechnology HQ?" and all that. I get jittery when anything's in the position of be-all end-all in power scales.

Nah, orbital weaponry can be defeated in a number of ways using magic or technology or combinations of the two. Even comparatively low tech approaches work, like poisoning the drop orbits by bursting another orbital object. With Thor shots yeah there is a high vertical velocity, so I guess that amounts to powerful magic to counter the kinetic energy, but there is nearly zero horizontal velocity! Shouldn't a spirit of the air using domain type powers be able to push the shot to the side? Now, the time to ground is short and you have to take the distance from the earth at which a spirit cannot operate into consideration. So I don't know if something like aiming at a lone desert compound and hitting a bustling coastal metroplex instead is possible, but there should be potential for pretty hefty collateral damage.

[Fatum]

I'll take your word for it since I don't have it. Though nationalism is about the last thing I'd accuse Catalyst of. Maybe the writer was a marine or something, but from thier products nationalism does not seem to be high on their priority list.

Let me quote some highlights from their write-up:
"one of the most honorable, reliable, and capable units in the world, they still adhere to the traditions and ideas of the old United States Marine Corps. When they first formed, they had approximately 150 members. Today they have almost three thousand with armor, aviation, and naval units";

"-Semper Fi! -Oooh-rah.";

"Free Marines met heavy resistance during egress and suffered almost forty percent casualties [of 315] during a fighting withdraw with Aztlan forces. Aztlan casualties were estimated in the thousands";

their flagship is a 884m-long marine assault vessel, supplemented by two marine transport vessels, one of which was stolen from the UCAS (and the CIA failed at sinking it afterwards despite numerous attempts) and the other served as a museum ship before a few shadowrunners stole her and the FMC brought her back to combat readiness;

"much of their equipment is still second hand or obsolete. Outsiders see this as a detriment, but Free Marines have embraced this and make up for the lack of modern equipment with intense training.  is training has elevated the skills of the average Free Marine to near those of most Special Forces and created a very unique mindset. Individual Free Marines are highly motivated and tenacious (bordering on fanatical) individuals who take every advantage in combat. One Aztlan commander once wrote about a Free Marine: “When he ran out of ammunition, he used his knife. When he lost the arm holding the knife, he used his hand and feet. When we got close, he used his teeth. It took over fifty rounds to finally kill him and he still took sixteen more of my men with him to the hell where he was spawned.” Many insiders believe that if the Free Marie Corps continues at their current rate of expansion, they will become the newest top-tier mercenary unit in the world within a decade".

[Cain]

Really, the thing that annoys me the most in all those books is the number of mistakes and weird sentences. It's jarring. Doesn't anyone proof read this stuff? I am not even a native speaker and yet they jump to my attention. Sheesh.

Yes, but apparently we're ignored much of the time. I do what I can, as do the other proofreaders, but the final decision is in the hands of the editors.

[Shortstraw]

I love your work, CanRay.

It is good but needs Mungo to be great.

[lokii]

Let me quote some highlights from their write-up:
[..]

I had no idea. That is pretty darn mary-sueish. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Okay, orbital weapons and Mary Sues aside, I actually wanted to say something about a reference wiki. In a sense the current English wiki has a different focus from what I believe is needed. It tries to reconcile sources and create a cohesive account on a Sixth World topic. Inevitably the article writers put their own interpretation into the text and take a lot of the original style and subtlety out. This is necessary since shadow dossiers and similar text forms are converted into encyclopedic articles. But if you write new Shadowrun pieces you want to be exposed to the original material instead. Especially so to understand the wiggling space the old material leaves, as opposed to the more definitive statements that go into a summary article.

So actually much less is needed from a reference wiki and that lowers the bar for achieving it considerably. For example have a look at this article from the English wiki: http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/San_Francisco It should not look like this. It does because I added a bunch of references when a discussion about San Francisco came up in a different thread. But it has yet to be transformed into a real article. I would argue though it is exactly what you want for a reference wiki. You take single info bits, you structure them, give the reference and at most note possible contradictions. Forget the fancy footnotes used in the San Francisco article "osb.23" and "swa.121" will suffice. Writing an article on a topic from say three different sources takes a lot of time. Putting all info fragments from the three sources into an article skeleton, much faster. Now, there are a few more things I would add, short summaries focusing on mood and themes. Tables and lists of facts. Tropes would be fun. But the core is structured info bits plus reference, it should give a start into the original source material and that is all.

To the form: I would definitely do it as a public wiki but maybe with a closed user group for write access. It should be possible to make articles read-only for non-users but make discussion pages writable for everyone. So non-users can still contribute, but worries about the quality are allayed by having selected editors responsible for changing the articles based on public input. I would also make it public for a different reason. The reference articles can be used as a start for articles in the encyclopedic wiki. And of course you can take a well-referenced wiki article and dissolve it down to facts and references. Catalyst would not necessarily have to do this, really anybody with the willingness to invest in the infrastructure could set up such a wiki (or just use a wiki farm.) I assume since the articles are much less work than those for the standard wiki there is some chance it might take off. -- No guarantees of course. -- Once it does the writers for official Shadowrun will probably come because it can help them with their research.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Let me quote some highlights from their write-up:
"one of the most honorable, reliable, and capable units in the world, they still adhere to the traditions and ideas of the old United States Marine Corps. When they first formed, they had approximately 150 members. Today they have almost three thousand with armor, aviation, and naval units";

"-Semper Fi! -Oooh-rah.";

"Free Marines met heavy resistance during egress and suffered almost forty percent casualties [of 315] during a fighting withdraw with Aztlan forces. Aztlan casualties were estimated in the thousands";

their flagship is a 884m-long marine assault vessel, supplemented by two marine transport vessels, one of which was stolen from the UCAS (and the CIA failed at sinking it afterwards despite numerous attempts) and the other served as a museum ship before a few shadowrunners stole her and the FMC brought her back to combat readiness;

"much of their equipment is still second hand or obsolete. Outsiders see this as a detriment, but Free Marines have embraced this and make up for the lack of modern equipment with intense training.  is training has elevated the skills of the average Free Marine to near those of most Special Forces and created a very unique mindset. Individual Free Marines are highly motivated and tenacious (bordering on fanatical) individuals who take every advantage in combat. One Aztlan commander once wrote about a Free Marine: “When he ran out of ammunition, he used his knife. When he lost the arm holding the knife, he used his hand and feet. When we got close, he used his teeth. It took over fifty rounds to finally kill him and he still took sixteen more of my men with him to the hell where he was spawned.” Many insiders believe that if the Free Marie Corps continues at their current rate of expansion, they will become the newest top-tier mercenary unit in the world within a decade".

Sounds like the Marine Corps to me... Semper Fi and Ooooh-Rah!. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Bigity]

Q: How does one steal an amphibious assault vessel?
A: In a Hollywood action movie (so pink mohawk?) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Shinobi Killfist]

Sounds like the Marine Corps to me... Semper Fi and Ooooh-Rah!. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It sound what marines think of the marine corps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Though honestly wildcats and paladins have bigger legends than that.

[hermit]

It sound what marines think of the marine corps.

That's the polite way of putting it.

Though honestly wildcats and paladins have bigger legends than that.

Paladins maybe, Wildcats? Hardly. For one, they're an actual special forces unit, not Lv 2 goons. Also, nowhere had they ever such a description. And neither Paladins nor Wildcats develop from a tiny footnote into the wold's biggest mercenry unit in one PDF and one splatbopok writeup.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

It sound what marines think of the marine corps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Though honestly wildcats and paladins have bigger legends than that.

Heh... True... We do have some interesting "legends" in the Corps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Without a doubt. Those Native Americans and Elves are.... well, never mind.

[Shinobi Killfist]

That's the polite way of putting it.


Paladins maybe, Wildcats? Hardly. For one, they're an actual special forces unit, not Lv 2 goons. Also, nowhere had they ever such a description. And neither Paladins nor Wildcats develop from a tiny footnote into the wold's biggest mercenry unit in one PDF and one splatbopok writeup.

Maybe I am missing it but the PDF was 10 mercs. It was probably about the top 10 merc units in the world, a world where merc untis play on the same field as special forces and standard military units. If the book was Special Forces I am sure each of the special forces untis would have write ups just as awesome or more awesome. Were te other merc untis descriptions like Met 10,000 yeah there are 10,000 of them but they suck. And yeah the Wildcats may not have had a write up their legend is spread out through the fiction and setting of the world and they are made out to be unstoppable in combat, the best fighters on the planet vs the more ninja style elf forces. I am kind of tempted to buy this PDF now to see how bad it is, it sounds Awsul if it is getting people this riled up.

All I see from the parts quoted is kind of the standard feel for a Marine, tough, highly trained, a bit insane and poorly equipped with a few cool stories for exploits which I think every military unit in history probably has. Without seeing the write ups for the othe merc units it is hard to say how over the top it is compared to the others though. As people seem to have an issue with it I assume the disaprity is large.

[bannockburn]

10 Mercs is, in fact, about a whole cross-section of merc units. None of them are top tier like MET2000, 10.000 Daggers or Tsunami, which are described in more depth in other supplements.
In general, the PDF was worth its price, and the write-ups were interesting, but the FMC is a full-on Mary Sue, even there.

For the record: MET2000 is not 10.000, nor do they suck. They consist of 200.000 soldiers, most of which are upgraded with cyber- and bioware. They have their own secret service, they have various troop types and heavy hardware. They are a corporation and they are good, just as the other three I mentioned. They are so big in fact, that they have several special units, as well as a navy and an airforce and also the logistics to ship their troops across the world.
I don't have hard numbers about Tsunami and 10kD, but they are in direct competition with MET2k, so it is probably safe to assume that they are rather good as well.

The FMC on the other hand came from a throwaway comment about Kane freeing his ladylove from Aztlan claws, where they had a troop strength of 300 and lost a few guys. They earned a few million, generous how Kane is, and got an America-Class assault carrier for their small fleet of all in all 3 vessels.

This is where they stopped being cool.
The FMC writeup suddenly boosts their numbers to 3000 because "haha, we're good at keeping our numbers secret". They win all their fights and get all the money.
Then suddenly, Storm Front.
MET2000 and Tsunami cease to exist in the war about nothing, because of zombie dust. Completely. Despite the fact, that MET2000 has 40% of their numbers in permanent posting with the AGS Bundeswehr.
Who waltzes in and pacifies the area under the authority of the UN? That's right. The FMC. Who is now, suddenly, one of the supreme merc units of the world? Yes, you guessed correctly. The FMC! 10.000 Daggers have apparently no problem with that and quietly step aside letting the oo-rah boys in blond and blue be the heroes.

So yes. This right there comes across as one writer's fanboy-ish attempt to bring back American exceptionalism, despite the fact that the UCAS don't matter anymore as a nation, and neatly killing two elite merc units just because. Good thing that a few rejects from the actual Marines academy at Parris Island are able to let the star-spangled banner fly so very high.
Oooh-rah, indeed.


So, despite how caustic the initial post is (and I find it very offensive, especially because the OP just went back to lurking after his vomiting of words), there are some works that are not the result of editorial issues.
Some writers do write garbage, and the FMC is one of those instances.

In all fairness to that particular writer though: I enjoyed most of the rest of 10 Mercs, especially the THUNDER CORPS!
Credit where credit is due, and sometimes everyone makes a mistake.

[Shinobi Killfist]

Then suddenly, Storm Front.
MET2000 and Tsunami cease to exist in the war about nothing, because of zombie dust. Completely. Despite the fact, that MET2000 has 40% of their numbers in permanent posting with the AGS Bundeswehr.
Who waltzes in and pacifies the area under the authority of the UN? That's right. The FMC. Who is now, suddenly, one of the supreme merc units of the world? Yes, you guessed correctly. The FMC! 10.000 Daggers have apparently no problem with that and quietly step aside letting the oo-rah boys in blond and blue be the heroes.

So yes. This right there comes across as one writer's fanboy-ish attempt to bring back American exceptionalism, despite the fact that the UCAS don't matter anymore as a nation, and neatly killing two elite merc units just because. Good thing that a few rejects from the actual Marines academy at Parris Island are able to let the star-spangled banner fly so very high.
Oooh-rah, indeed.

Having read that part of storm fornt and having no idea what the FMC was I did not see it that way at all. It was a merc unit going in after the shit already went down and pacified a area that was more mobish than organized resistance. I more eye rolled at the idea of the UN having any say in anything in a Shadowrun setting. And as for their sudden increase in numbers millions and Kane talking about you could do that. I leave the nationaism crap alone since I have no idea if that was behind it It is about as fun as calling someone a racist.

[bannockburn]

Please don't lay words into my mouth. I said American Exceptionalism. This is a thing, just as patriotism is. Both get tiring for people outside of America very quickly.
I never implied nationalism, nor racism.