Loose Alliances, Whats this? Options

[Berzerker]

I was trying (in vain) to figure out when to start hounding my gaming store for Shadows of Europe and I found a listing for FPR 10669 Loose Alliances. Whats this book going to be? And do we know when SoE will be in stores?

[Kanada Ten]

[Traks]

Yup. I really hope that it will happen soon, because some irresponsible people *wink wink* said something about book going to printing and stuff.

[Synner]

Yes, SoE has been off at the printers for a few weeks now. This can take anything from 2-4 weeks plus shipping times.

Loose Alliances is a book on the organizations that don't fit in corporate or underworld books (with minor overlap). There'll be some serious political stuff, international organizations, some extremists, some polilcubs, some old favorites and some entirely new.

For reference, the announced SR releases for 2004 includes:
Shadows of Europe
Mr Johnson's Little Black Book
Loose Alliances
Running Wild
SOTA64
Shadows of Asia

[Leoric]

And anybody knows what "Running Wild" is supposed to be? :lick:

[MrSandman666]

Yet another SOTA? :|

[shadd4d]

I'm guessing it's a critters book for all the stuff that has popped up, such as the genginnered stuff in Schockwellen, additional spirits, stuff that was cut from previous books (PA of NA, E), plus all kinds of spirits and paracritters.

Don

[Crisp]

[MrSandman666]

For some reason this just looks like a money-making machine to me. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Fanpro making money and all but I've never really seen the great value of SOTA63 in the first place. I've heard people raving about it here on DSF and flipped through it in a shop more than just a few times but for some reason I have a problem spending 20$ for it.
Maybe I'm just too dumb to see it...

[Abstruse]

New metamagic, new gear, new genetech, new security, plus tons of background info on the Shadowrun world...why would anyone want a book like that, or a new one like it every year? :P

Besides, watching Smiling Bandit and KAM converse again was worth the money in my opinion :P

The Abstruse One

[MrSandman666]

Hm, I'll look at it again (!) when I have the time. And probably I'll decide that I won't buy it - again.
For some reason all the stuff in there just doesn't add much to the game for me. I've never seen the relevance. I mean, I've just quickly glanced over it. Is the content really so good?

[shadd4d]

The content is good if you have the books it updates, namely Shadowtech, Corporate Security, Fields of Fire, plus the slight preview of the Sprawl Survival Guide in the end. The info in thsoe books was great and usable. Genetech, as it is in SOTA, is great and works off the bioware rules. Corp Tech is interesting and useful, the downside is having to have Corp. Security to get some of the prices (yes, my mage did have the camera system in his squat). Fields of Fire flavour text was awesome; it's one of my favorites. the Soldier of Fortune delves more into the "what do I actually do for a living" rather than the mentality of a merc as presented by Matador. The majority of the new material is magic, some genetech, and the culture section. The culture section becomes interesting when the runners play "Spot the Shadowrun" with all the news stories. That's an idea bonfire right there.

The other side game is flipping through the book and seeing which pictures were in DidSII and in this book. So far, I count 6.

I liked the purchase. That and Shockwaves.

Don

[Crisp]

I just happened to re-read it over this weekend, and I must say it's a rather nice book, IMHO.

You get some new mods (genetech), are you saying you don't want--nay, NEED!--more options for your street sam? Along with some cool background and some terrifying things (you think your Troll Tank is tough? Well let me shoot you up with some Ebola-Plus and then we'll see who's tough...)

You get several new metamagical techniques (Psychometry is perfect for a Mage-Detective type and Absorbing is just COOL!)

You get to learn that Lisbon is known as "The City of Sin," this was just SO cool when I found out--guess where I live...
Also, all that talk about explosives got me thinking about making a demolitions expert.

You get a whole bunch of new security gadgets to throw at your players ( from Pheromone detectors--the bane of all Faces to nanotech walls that literally have eyes)

And finally you get a really nice chapter on what's hot in pop culture/current events. Like shadd4d said, playing "Spot the Shadowrun" can be lots of fun.

[Connor]

So, now that Shadows of Europe is basically done and off to the printers and should be showing up in the next few weeks does that mean the pace of releases is going to speed up a bit? I mean, I completely understand the issues behind SoE taking so long, so that's cool, but can re realistically expect most of the upcoming releases this year?

I can see MJLBB, Loose Alliances, and Running Wild to not take a huge amount of effort to do, but I can't see the three of them being released by years end. SOTA64 is sort of in the same boat, and is SOTA63 ever going to be reprinted? I still haven't been able to find a copy and they have a habit of only showing up on ebay when I can't afford books.

I certainly don't expect SoA for at least another year or so at this point. Anyways, if anyone out there has some sort of general idea as to the progess of any of these books (if any) that would be great.

[Caine Hazen]

Not that I want to be a doubter...BUT..... 6 books in 6 months basically, when SOE was touted at GenCon last year.. I hope so (I want more books!!!) but I'll looks for the last few titles in 2005 :(

[Synner]

Just to set the record straight, certainly SoE has had a troubled gestation, however it isn't entirely responsible for the delay in the release schedule.

Regardless, the current situation, as Adam has already mentioned on these Forums, is that FanPro plans on releasing SoE and MrJLBB in quick succession. I don't think I'm breaking any confidence by saying primary writing on Loose Alliances is also wrapped - although a book can take anywhere from a month to 6 months in editing. Running Wild and SOTA64 are in development right now.

Whether FanPro will be able to release them all this year is anyone's guess, but I'm pretty sure Rob Boyle will be doing his best to see that it happens.

[Nath]

As far as I understand, FanPro LLC does not work like an engine, when restarting it does not need to gradually accelerate. When Dragons of the Sixth World came out five months late in May 2003, Sprawl Survival Guide still came just two months later in july. The developments are staggered, one book is in the final layout while one another is in writing and a third one taking submissions. When things are blocked everything got blocked, because Rob Boyle concentrates on the problem. When it restart everything restart with the same time lag between each book. FanPro LLC was able to release five or six books in 2002, it can be done again if luck stays good and cash is in to fund the releases.

It's like traffic jams: probably lived that, you leave at 7 AM, you got caught in a traffic jam at 7:30 on the highway, making you reach downtown at 8:30 at the wrong hour too, and you get at work only at 9:30. If you had left at 8:00, you'd find the highway empty at 8:30, reach downtown at 9:00 and get at work at 9:40. You leave one hour later but you arrive only ten minutes later. It's just that. In addition to be a big and ambitious book, SoE have been unlucky enough to be caught in troubles at two different stages of its development.

Still, as a reminder of FanPro records of releases schedule, IIRC:
07/2001 : Year of the Comet
11/2001 : Target: Awakened Lands (delayed 3 months)
01/2002 : Threats 2
05/2002 : Shadows of North America (delayed 2 months)
07/2002 : Target: Wastelands (delayed 2 months)
09/2002 : Wake of the Comet (delayed 2 months) and SOTA:2063
12/2002 : Survival of the Fittest (delayed 1-2 months)
05/2003 : Dragons of the Sixth World (delayed 5+ months)
07/2003 : Sprawl Survival Guide
09/2003 : Character Dossier

That's 9 or 10 books (depending if you count the dossier or not) over 27 months, one book every three month. Now if you add SoE as a release for june 2004, it lower the score to 10 or 11 books over 35 months, which still make an average of a book every three and half a month. And as said above, as far as we known things could run perfectly and with the rythm of the second half of 2002 back (yeah, also, the same could have been said after DotSW release, yet, only two books were released before things got wrong again).

EDIT: Recount made, that's 10-11 books over the 27 months and 11-12 books over 35 months.

[Lindt]

The real question is how much am I blowing on books at GenCon this year... Cant wait to see SoE, its been a great thing to read thru the old boards for.

[Connor]

Well, I realize that FanPro has been doing a good job and they've gotten a bit of bad press or what have you because of the Dot6W and SoE delays, but over all, as you've pointed out Nath, things are pretty on schedule. I didn't mean to come off so pessimistic, I was just curious how far along the other books were in their given cycles. And Synner seems to have answered any questions I had.

I'm glad the status on the other books are progressing well. It'll be nice to get a new round of SR books this year.

[Veracusse]

Just out of curiousity what topics is SOTA 64 going to cover? I know that this has been covered on this board already, but I don't know where to look. Thanks.

Veracusse

[Kanada Ten]

I'm only going to relate what I've seen posted in various places. There will be another Culture Shock section and a section or subsection on Adepts.

[Abstruse]

Hopefully they'll branch adepts out a bit more. I mean I like my gun and melee adepts, but that's about all you see from them. They're either really good at firing one specific type of gun, or they're really good at cutting people up. I think an Improved Ability (Social Skills) would be kinda neat...using your body language to subtly manipulate people through magic...

The Abstruse One

[Veracusse]

I just hope that they will look at other areas such as Finance in the Sixth world and how it relates to Shadowrunners. Maybe that is a culture shock issue. But what I want are things that add to the flavor of Shadowrun.

[Nikoli]

I could see a Shadowrunner run "Boiler Room" type scenario at some point.

"You go over there and convince them to buy this stock or you're fired."

[kevyn668]

Shadowrunner: <draws gun> "Buy this stock or I'll fire." :D