Shadows in Nihon, Shadowrun japan need a update Options

[TheWanderingJewe...]

given how much influence the Japanese corps have in the shadowrun world. one would think a Shadowrun Japan source-book would be in the offing. I've seen atleast three different treatments online for Japan...including from Japanese SR fans, but I feel info is pretty scant. I'm considering taking a crack at making a framework fora update version of SR japan. Would anyone want this?

[Sendaz]

The semi-official line is they are not going to do just stand alone location books as it is not cost effective, though they will probably do something down the road as mini e-books or as a combo book doing a location tied in with another subject.

Would be interested in seeing your take on a Japan update as they have had quite a few upheavals in recent years.

[TheWanderingJewe...]

Yeah. I'm also going to to give it a bit more background history ,not really change anything, but add more depth) as well as work on with some of the Japanese material which is a bit...different to make a more satisfying whole

[hermit]

There's relatively decent info in Japan overall, better than on, say, the CAS, but it's scattered across a large number of books. Main sources include: Corporate Enclaves, Shadows of Asia, Corporate Shadowfiles, Corporate Dossier, Anarchy Subsidized, vice. There's more, though.

Personally, I defaulted on Neuromancer for fleshing out Tokyo a bit. It's the old Chiba port that hasn't been built yet ... and some sites - clubs, especially - from the Bridge Trilogy, too. But that's just me being an unapologetic Gibson Cyberpunk fanboy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Shemhazai]

I've wanted the Japan book since 1st edition. I wasn't really happy to see London, Hamburg, and two Native American Nation books but no Japan book.

[Spielmeister]

I've wanted the Japan book since 1st edition. I wasn't really happy to see London, Hamburg, and two Native American Nation books but no Japan book.

I agree. Given how much the Japanacorps affected the makeup of the early Shadowrun I constantly expected them to come out with a book detailing Japan. Sadly I have no personal experience to help flesh one out.

[DeathStrobe]

Well, I don't think an early SR source book of Japan would have been very playable. It took the SR writers a while to get them to the point where you could actually run the Shadows of Neo Tokyo in Corporate Enclaves.

Before in SR 1 and 2 you couldn't be anything other than human. You couldn't be anything other than Japanese. And you had to be male. Then you had to be a suit working for one of the 5 Japanacorps. That really hamstrings the campaign.

But now we got all kinds of interesting plot hooks to work with. The young divine emperor who is at odds with the rest of the government. His vampire technomancer queen who is one of the lead shareholders of one of the major Japanacorp. The return of metahumans and their trouble integrating in to Japanese society. The 3 Japanacorps working together to strengthen Japan but undermine the other Japanacorps. A great dragon trying to become greater than Great. Probably more stuff I can't think of off the top of my head.

And to add to hermit's list of books, Sixth World Almanac and Storm Front also have more info on Japan too.

[hermit]

Hitomi isn't a vampire. Can't be because resonance and magic are mutually exclusive. She just at one point was really hot for one.

As for the Japanese race situation, personally I am handling this much like the American race situation: It's gotten a whole lot better since the dark days, but better doesn't equal 'everything's awesome'.

On the whole, state-sponsored racism isn't much of an issue anymore, but corp-sponsored racism still is all over the place, though a little muted and more indirect than "cattle car train to death camps" as before. And individually, all bets are off. Japan has a certain tendency towards seriously oddball right-wingers (Masamune Mifune anyone?), and even if not everyone might actually hate metas, that doesn't mean they want one for a neighbour or aren't prejudiced like it's 2040 anymore.

[DeathStrobe]

Hitomi isn't a vampire. Can't be because resonance and magic are mutually exclusive. She just at one point was really hot for one.

Well, she's kind of a snowflake character that can break the rules. She was infected with HMHVV by her father, then cured with an experimental serum, if I recall correctly.

[hermit]

Yeah, that's true. Then she was made a 3rd Edition 'mancer by Psychotrope/Mirage. Still, she never was both at the same time. the only person who can be infected and a mancer was/is Grid Reaper (he's considered alive in run Faster, but I think was reported dead in System Failure).