Your top 5, What top 5 things would you like to see Options

[Nikoli]

Mine:
1> Combat rules that make sense, a knife should not be more damaging to a brick wall than a firearm (plinking calibre's not withstanding). I don't care how many pickup truck sthat troll can dead-lift, there is only so much force that can be applied to a weapon before it snaps.

2> Weapon creation rules that are used for all weapons in the game, that is, the Ares Predator or the Slivergun are reproduceable through the creation ruleset.

3> Matrix use/abuse more fun. If decking is so powerful, why aren't there more players willing to be propeller heads?

4> Removal of Open Tests, in favor of a more sensible, system. It needs to allow for the rare 1 int NPC to "get lucky" and spot you, but don't make it so common either.

5> Magic rules that make sense. If inivisibility affect the mind of the viewer, why does astral perception break it instantly?

[Bigity]

I don't know if I can come up with 5, but here goes:

1) Pictures of devices/guns/vehicles.

2) More maps. (as in floor plans, city maps (like in Denver), etc)

3) Some tweaking of the lethality of the game (I think it needs to be a little more deadly)

4) Maybe more of an abstraction of ECM/ECCM/ECD, etc etc. Maybe rolling up all of those into one rating/test?

5) More FanPro-provided (or at least supported) software tools. Generators, etc.

[Nikoli]

Actually, I'd like them to bring McMackie into the fold and work with him to design the 4th ed. version. Get him some much deserved props from FanPro

[DocMortand]

1) Rules that generally are in one place, streamlined and few rules "expansions"
2) Decking that is simplified so playing a decker is feasible in a group rather than seperately
3) Balanced Weapon Creation rules that fit everything else
4) re-seperate Magic from Science (never liked the increasing overlap myself)
5) Balanced Adept rules that are in one place

[edit] OOO! I second the maps idea!

[apple]

- revisited damage codes (like 8M heavy pistol /smg and 10M assault rifle /light MG)

- revisited prices and weights for equipment und ´ware

- less rules (and no rules for the construction of guns or vehicles ... modifications are ok)
- faster rules
- easier rules

- karma/point buy system with edges and flaws as the default character creation system

[Bigity]

That kind of thing would be awesome. Alot of guys have put in years developing stuff for SR, and it would great to see them continue so with support from the official developer. (Not that they don't get it now, but I'm sure there are things that would be helpful from FanPro)

[mfb]

in no particular order:

1. integrated melee rules. no differing rules for armed and unarmed combat.
2. realistic damage codes. a handgun should not have more penetrating power than a rifle.
3. simplified, unified, sensible matrix and rigging rules that can be built upon for higher complexity.
4. magic that can be purchased by the point, in or out of chargen.
5. my name on the playtester list.

[k1tsune]

1. Point system as main char creation system
2. Windlings
3. More AI goodness
4. A return of the Addiction flaw. (Kitsune needs her caffeine addiction to be cannon.)
5. Another agreement on the maps. At least for Seattle.

[Aristotle]

Let's see...

1.) Streamlined hacking/decking system that's as fun to play as standard combat or social characters, but not so involved and one-sided that those characters feel completely left out when the hacking begins.

2.) Streamlined, unified, combat system. All combat to be resolved the same way regardless of melee or ranged status.

3.) Full integration of any 'creation rules' in the core product. All weapons, spells, vehicles, cyberware, or whatever is backwards compatible with the corresponding creation system regardless of which book that creation system appears in.

4.) The continuation of the shadowrun 'feel'. I want some shadowtalk (less in the core product, but still some), metaplot, and all of the great story that continues to make Shadowrun such a unique and fun place to visit in my mind.

5.) I'll take a spot as a playtester too. :)

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Nikoli]

Care to elaborate?

[Wireknight]

1. All combat, melee and ranged, ought to end up with the same relative rules set. No more strange power-increased-by-staging effects that only apply to melee attacks, among other things.

2. Simplified, ideally unified, rules for rigging, decking, and other telepresence/augmented-reality based interaction systems. Even when someone is dedicated enough to learn both of the current systems, it's unlikely they'll be able to convince their GM to learn them as well.

3. Revamp the guns. From mounting points to damage codes, weapons in Shadowrun cause lots of people who are well-versed in real-life weapons to boggle. Introduction of a medium pistol might be a good start for this.

4. Telecommunications gear, including cyberware, has got to be revamped. Essence costs, concealabilities, capabilities, they're all far more restrictive than they should be.

5. Weights. Either they need to be done away with, or a reasonable system of determining maximum carrying capacity, and determining the individual weights of most objects, needs to be undertaken. Right now both seem broken.

[Backgammon]

CYBERLIMBS THAT ARE USEFULL!!!!

Also, vehicule that are not 100% invulnerable to normal ammo and 100% vulnerable to AV ammo...

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[DocMortand]

echo the playtester comment here as well. I'm definately going to upgrade as soon as it comes out.

[SporkPimp]

1) A runnable game from the corebook, that is not significantly different from the game that is run with the expansion books. Rules creep = bad.

2) Mechanics that are extremely Shadowrun-flavored, and follow the "first, do no harm" philosophy -- no new rules that are equally or more difficult than the SR3 ones.

3) A complete re-balancing of the technology levels, with consistent "this is possible right now; this isn't possible yet; this is being researched but is presently not viable" structure.

4) A more consistent tone in the artwork and fluff text. Shadowrun is a cute, fun game, but it's also a game about Shadowrunning -- no more artwork with street kids packing more heat than my troll weapons specialist.

5) Consistent rulesets by situation -- that is, if we can't have unified rules, can we at least make it so that all of the guys who are beating each other up in this very room use similar rules to do so?

-Albert

[k1tsune]

Oh. Yeh. Playtest too. Hee.

[Aristotle]

I have another...

6.) An easier way to build antagonists/NPCs. Maybe there is an easy way to make and run them in 3e, but I never figured it out. With other people often being the primary opposition in almost every adventure/campaign, I found myself spending hours generating character templates for different encounters. I don't know if such a system is even possible in a classless game, but man would it make my life easier.

[DocMortand]

Or at least a simplified way to make groups of NPCs...the antagonists generally need to have more color than the average NPC, so I'd always take more care in creating them.

[RunnerPaul]

1. Dropping of the 1980's tech assumptions. Laser sights have not been bulky enough to justify a -1 to concealability for a very long time. The Pocket Secretary should be the size of an iPod at the most, and perhaps half the size of a USB flash-drive at best. Under the current rules, your Pocket Secretary has the same concealability as an assault rifle.

2. Concealabilty needs a revamp. Right now, it's a catchall stat that covers size/bulk, visual obviousness, resistance to being found during a pat-down, amount of metal content that can trigger a metal detector. These different attributes, while sometimes linked, are not always. When they're wildly different, it's hard to pin down the rating.

3. Revamping of personal electronics in general, and particularly personal computers. When you look at the per Megapulse pricing on personal computers, compared to per Megapulse pricing on other items, it's hard to reconcile the differences. In cases where you need a certain higher price per Mp for game balance reasons, such as decking, they should come up with in-game fluff to explain why (decking requires ASIST Processing Grade memory, which operates at a higher clockspeed and requires extra error checking routines, which is why it's more expensive) In places where you get a standard amount of storage for cheaper than normal, cover whether or not that storage can be cannibalized with an Electronics B/R Test, and if it can, make sure that it's balanced. Finally, make sure that per Megapulse pricing for storage media is priced sanely, so that certain character types such as media hounds and detectives, who may be making a lot of trideo recording are still viable character types without having to resort to online storage accounts.

4. Extrapolate current technologically-driven social trends. Camera Phones are turning everyone into photojournalists & amateur pornographers at the same time, giving us not a Big Brother, but a Little Brother instead. Churches and Theaters are investing in cellphone jammers that render the devices unable to connect to the network even if an uncourteous person leaves them on.

5. Re-evaluate copy-protection and the impact of filesharing on both software, and entertainment media, and paydata in general. While it's true that if decker utilities were freely fileshared, it'd be that much easier to develop IC countermeasures for them, but on the flipside, deckers should be able to rip configuration logs from hosts, as well as their own combat utilities' analysis of any IC it defeats and return that data back to the decker community to make it easier to write the next generation of utilities.

*Bonus* I know you only said five, but this one's small: Get the stats for the Camo Jacket and the stats for Camo Clothing right: the Camo Jacket is an armored jacket with a camo pattern; the suit of Camo Clothing is like a regular suit of armored clothing with a camo pattern and slightly better impact protection. Between Errata, Revision Changes, Errata to Revision Changes, New Books, and Errata to New Books, the developers lost sight of Fields of Fire's original intent for these items a couple of times.

[MYST1C]

[apple]

Oh yes, better amor rules ... I mean amored jacket and amored clothings layerd are so incredible unwearable compared to a security or military amor ... why?

SYL

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Aristotle]

Okay, I'm really breaking the rules of the thread...

7.) I'd like to see something done with equipment sizes for differently sized metahumans. I generally dislike the current "metahuman modified" system used for weapons. I understand how much larger a troll hand would be, but why would a troll bother modifying a pistol at all? I dunno... something about that never seemed right to me.

[Adarael]

Let me first discount wanting to see revision of all the busted-ass rules that appear in the game - such as cyberlimbs, weights, light vs heavy pistols, etc. We can take that for granted, because it's sorta the point of a new edition. At least, the point beyond updating the world and making more money.

So...


1) Total integration of the new matrix into the lives of damn near every citizen, in a true transhumanist/posthumanist way. Make people without integration the equivalent of mountain men or the amish are now - or at least start leading that direction. One of the problems of Shadowrun's previous editions is that technology was supposed to rule lives and govern daily activity, but it's been relatively late in 3rd edition that we've seen real evidence of that.

2) Expanded rules for 'types' of Hermetics, and some extra variety for them. Long have I and my mage-playing brethren been given the short shrift in terms of interesting variants in favor of a thousand and one Shamanic totems. Not to mention paying a bajillion more nuyen for our power.

3) Sensible vehicle rules. I'm not holding my breath.

4) Resolution to the General Saito/CalFree situation. Because five years of a retarded situation only makes it more retarded.

5) Cyber/Bio/Nanoware revision. Give the new batch of Shadowrunners the 'bleeding edge' feel that we got when the first goldenkids packing Bioware came out (immediately post-printing of Shadowtech). Low-profile, subtle ware with a penchant for aiding people in unexpected ways - such as facial-resculpting nodes, quickchange hair and skin, headware packages that detect drone sensor locks, et cetera. Ware that doesn't make you a borg, but makes you *perfect*. Perfect movement. Perfect eyesight. The perfect smile. stuff that makes it so you don't need to fight, rather than lets you fight like a maniac. And finally, ware that lets you fight like a maniac. For those times when it has to happen.

Let's give the old-timers, the ones who've been running since 2055, the feeling that they're rusting.