Propwash's Shadowrun Manuscripts |
Propwash's Shadowrun Manuscripts |
Sep 19 2004, 02:24 AM
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#1
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Shooting Target Group: Retired Admins Posts: 1,784 Joined: 28-July 04 From: Cleveland, OH Member No.: 6,522 |
Hey folks,
I thought I'd report a bit on what I got from Propwash's Shadowrun Archive sale. I know there's a thread dedicated to it, but ... well, that thread's gotten a tad bit out of control and hijacked. So, it didn't seem unreasonable to start a new one. Also, I wanted to at least touch on some of the stuff I found while going through things. There's a few anecdotes here that *I* at least found amusing, and I thought others might too. I contacted him Propwash a few weeks ago, when he initially mentioned that he had hauled away a ton of Shadowrun stuff that he needed to get rid of. I took a look through his listings of stuff, and put down a deposit on several of them. Today I made the drive up to Kalamazoo (from Cleveland) and picked up what I reserved. I've just taken a first look through *some* of the stuff. But, I'm finding the stuff fascinating, and I wanted to share some of it. I snagged the original Shadowrun core rules, Universal Brotherhood, both of the Corporate books, the original Earthdawn core book, The Worlds Without End manuscripts, and quite a few other items. I've just looked through the Shadowrun core and skimmed the UB books, but I thought people might be interested in the kinds of things I'm finding, and also a few specific things that caught my eye. First off, the orignal Shadowrun stuff is printed on old school Dot Matrix Fan fold paper, with the editors comments scrawled in the margins. I'm having a blast looking through the comments. What's funny as hell is that the editors were constantly ripping on the examples that the authors used. When you consider how buggy many of the examples were in 1st edition, the irony is just amazing. Here's a few of the editorial comments that caught my eye: Under Ranged combat modifiers Running : Can't shoot (This was X'd out, and the word bullshit! is written next to it in red marker) I think I found editorial requests to define what a burst is about 20 times. The editor requested that point blank range be added for all weapons. Armor was initially counted as automatic successes against all damage. This was highlighted with the words "Let's Talk" written next to it. The Reaction stat was listed as Reaction time. Under diseases, Aids was listed. This was Crossed out with a huge "NO!" in red next to it. The definition of the word "Frag" was crossed out. The Troll example character Smedley was renamed to Grinder. This was reversed about 3 or 4 times, both ways. There's a timeline, which may have seen print, but I didn't recognize it readily. It placed the date October 2nd, 8238 BC as the Beginning of the Fourth World. I found chapters for the Native American Nations and the Free City of Denver as submissions for NAGNA. I've got Paul Hume's original outline for the Grimoire. At the time, it was entitled BBOM. (Big Book of Magic?) I found the adventure "Maria Metallica" which was obviously retitled to Mercurial. Photocopies of maps of North America and Seattle, with the authors marking off the various countries and regions. I have the original, hand drawn map for the Food Fight! adventure. I have the original Hand Drawn maps for UB. Also, the proposal for UB. In it, Kubasik mentions that the scenes at the UB chapter house were based on personal experiences dealing with the Dianetic's office in LA. That's all that I was able to get through tonight. If people are interested in this material or have particular questions about specific items, I'll see what else i can turn up. Otherwise, I'll probably post some additional comments as things strike my fancy. If you do find this material interesting, I'd strongly encourage you to contact propwash and ask him about availability of some of the other manuscripts. He's, quite literally, still got a garage full of materials. It's pretty amazing how much stuff is left. I'd have loved to have picked up more, but my basement is only so big, and my free time to go through the materials is finite. |
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Sep 19 2004, 03:01 AM
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#2
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
Ah, if only I had the time, money, and space...or if I could move into Propwash's garage for a summer with my scanner and a few heavy-gigabyte hardrives...Thanks dunner.
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
Sep 19 2004, 03:03 AM
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#3
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Guests |
The UB-Dianetics thing is hilarious.
BTW, what is the definition of "frag?" |
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Sep 19 2004, 03:12 AM
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#4
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,156 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Fresno, CalFree Member No.: 4,252 |
Killing of an officer by enlisted men.
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Sep 19 2004, 03:12 AM
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#5
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Senior GM Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 1,406 Joined: 12-April 03 From: Redmond, WA Member No.: 4,442 |
Smedley the Troll holds up his middle finger and says "frag off".
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Sep 19 2004, 05:01 PM
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#6
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,408 Joined: 31-January 04 From: Reston VA, USA Member No.: 6,046 |
In the Vietnam-era US Army, we had a real problem with enlisted soldiers killing their pain-in-the-ass officers, often by tossing fragmentation grenades into their tents. Now fragging has connotations of screwing someone over or backstabbing them. So I think frag=f*ck if used like 'he fragged me over' but not a literal description of a sexual act. |
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Sep 19 2004, 05:10 PM
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#7
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,889 Joined: 3-August 03 From: A CPI rank 1 country Member No.: 5,222 |
'Frag' = 'kill' in online gaming, especially FPS's, might well be the most common use of the word these days, however. And that about covers it, so people can get back to discussing Propwash's archive stuff.
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Sep 19 2004, 06:09 PM
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#8
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Shooting Target Group: Retired Admins Posts: 1,784 Joined: 28-July 04 From: Cleveland, OH Member No.: 6,522 |
The deleted definition was something along the lines of "to copulate." So, frag = F*ck.
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
Sep 19 2004, 06:57 PM
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#9
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Guests |
Wow.
I never thought such a straightforward question would elicit such non-sequiturs. |
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Sep 19 2004, 06:59 PM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 1-September 04 Member No.: 6,621 |
It means both, so get back on topic.
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Sep 20 2004, 01:03 PM
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#11
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Karma Police Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 1,358 Joined: 22-July 04 From: Gothenburg, SE Member No.: 6,505 |
That was on topic. Popwash´s archive stuff apparently contains the original authors intended definition of the word 'frag' in the shadowrun universe. Wanting to know what that was is on topic and damn interesting. It has after all been discussed before (many, many times wich may be the reason people get so edgy about it).
I don´t have anything else to say eccept I´m looking forward to more amusing anecdotes from the archives. This is a great thing going on. |
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Sep 20 2004, 09:33 PM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 746 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 459 |
LOL :)
I'm sorry, I find it amazing people could't figure out what "frag" meant in Shadowrun simply from the usage. |
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Sep 20 2004, 09:41 PM
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#13
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Are there any notes that could shed light on what "drek" means? ;)
~J |
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Sep 20 2004, 10:10 PM
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#14
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,756 Joined: 11-December 02 From: France Member No.: 3,723 |
Any Yiddish-English dictionnary or lexicon, or a lot of them at least :P |
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Sep 20 2004, 10:13 PM
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#15
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I point to "frag" as an example of our inability to rely on a preexisting definition :P
~J |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
Sep 20 2004, 11:36 PM
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#16
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Guests |
Then you obviously don't recall it's use in the Seattle sb as a substitute for (cover your eyes, children) Fuck. More to the point, I was interested in what the creator's definition was, since it has been used in many different forms--most of which are basically so that fuck doesn't appear in a book (which in this game just... !). For all I know, the definition that would have appeared in the book was in a rather novel or light-hearted context (yeah, I know. In SR1? Shocking).
I find it amazing your colleagues can make such gross factual errors in SBs. Over a decade playing this game, and I want to see how Weisman and Dowd, et al. might have used the word "frag" without using the word "fuck." And since the definition is sitting in the_dunner's lap (literally or figuratively), why the Hell shouldn't I ask? Why must I spend 90% of my time here explaining myself, when so many others get a pass? |
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Sep 21 2004, 12:06 AM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 1-September 04 Member No.: 6,621 |
It's the number. You are no longer version compatible. Time to upgrade to version 3.0 :D |
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Sep 21 2004, 12:07 AM
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#18
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Or at least the 2.6.4 patch.
~J |
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Sep 21 2004, 02:02 AM
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#19
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Shooting Target Group: Retired Admins Posts: 1,784 Joined: 28-July 04 From: Cleveland, OH Member No.: 6,522 |
Just a bit of an update.
I had about 50 eBay auctions end yesterday. So I spent most of yesterday and tonight boxing stuff up to ship out. (As an aside, my very nice copy of UB only sold for $25. Boo, hiss. OTOH, since I've got a "good enough" copy for running it, the original manuscripts, and about 9 edits and proofreads of it, I probably don't need two regular copies anymore. :oops: ) I did get a chance to glance through and sort a few things. I've got the original author's copy of Dunkelzahn's secrets. Along with about 5 different edits of it. That's the next thing that I'll be going through. I did take a glance through Denver and Corporate Shadowfiles too. Other than to say that the editor's really reworked Findley's writing style, I didn't come up with anything particularly fun on first pass. I want to go through the Earthdawn design notes soon, but I need to re-read the original first. Since I don't have a hardcopy of ED any more, that means going through the HTML'd CD release. (ick) It's also two banker boxes full of manuscripts. That'll take a couple of days. Tomorrow's gaming night, don't expect any major updates until Thursday at the earliest. |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
Sep 21 2004, 02:26 AM
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#20
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Guests |
Be still my heart... |
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Sep 21 2004, 02:28 AM
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#21
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,066 Joined: 5-February 03 Member No.: 4,017 |
I knew I should've rented a truck and gotten there earlier.
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Sep 21 2004, 05:01 AM
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#22
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 118 Joined: 20-June 04 Member No.: 6,423 |
You know dunner, you really should just set up a SR webpage and call it "The Smoking Slivergun" or something and post scans or photos of the archives on it.
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Sep 21 2004, 05:48 AM
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#23
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,049 Joined: 24-March 03 Member No.: 4,323 |
Or perhaps, "The Dikoted, Ally-Inhabited, Drone Silvergun"
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Sep 21 2004, 09:15 AM
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#24
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I was going to do this, but the stuff is all still copyrighted. If we do it, it'll be illegal. ~J |
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Sep 21 2004, 10:41 AM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 241 Joined: 20-September 04 Member No.: 6,682 |
still, I'd like to see a lil website with at least a few juicy excerpts.
I can't wait to hear about some the design notes for big D's folio. |
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