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#1
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Target ![]() Group: Members Posts: 42 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,356 ![]() |
Hey hey,
Loose Alliances is currently in the printing/shipping process, and should be in stores late this month. A pre-release version is currently available at the two ebook venues that offer our products: * Loose Alliances at BattleCorps * Loose Alliances at DriveThruRPG If you haven't checked it out yet, you can read a 16 page preview of the book here. Loose Alliances Product ID: 25006 | Print Price: 24.99 | Pages: 164 Authors: Elissa Carey, Dan Grendel, Robyn King-Nitschke, Christian Lonsing, and others Cover Artist: Marc Sasso Corps don't give a drek about the runners they hire. That's why they call us expendable assets. And forget working for the Mob or the Yakuza -- once you're in, you're part of their family for the rest of your life. Lucky for us, there are swarms of other factions looking to claim their piece of sprawl -- and who are willing to bypass the law to do it. Policlubs, magic groups, religious factions, black marketeers -- and those are just the ones on my block. Hooking up with an organization has its advantages -- resources, steady employment, backup -- but pick the wrong group to run with and you'll regret it when they kick you to the curb. So what's it going to be chummer? You can't roll solo forever." Loose Alliances is a sourcebook for organizations and third party groups that operate by their own set of rules in the Shadowrun world. From political factions and religious groups to relic hunters and Tamanous organleggers, it provides a wealth of information on the more obscure parties in the shadows and the benefits and drawbacks that comes with them. |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#2
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Guests ![]() |
The UN has a military now. That's hilarious. So is, "The UN prefers efficiency..." (63). Made my day. So did the reference to UNATCO, and JC Denton, and how familiar it will probably seem to many readers.
The tone of the Neo-Communism subchapter is infuriatingly annoying though. |
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#3
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Moving Target ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 470 Joined: 2-January 05 From: Quebec Member No.: 6,924 ![]() |
What the...UNATCO and JC Denton is in there?
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#4
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Guests ![]() |
Yes.
UNATCO is a component of the UN. There is a shadowposter with the nick "JC Denton" talking about taking shadowrunning jobs for the UN using diplomatic cover as part of a megacorporate observer team. BTW, Dunk was the President, not the President-Elect. Kind of annoying. I'm also curious as to, oh, I don't know, what's going down in North America. |
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#5
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Moving Target ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 932 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Orlando, Florida Member No.: 1,042 ![]() |
A very cool book, at first look. A very intelligent book, too, handling its complicated political and social material with elegance and without treating the reader like a semiliterate - hooray for SR, aiming at something higher than the lowest common denominator!
This raises my hopes for 4th edition. I've got mixed feelings about PDF. I get the book two weeks sooner and eight bucks cheaper, no trees had to die...but what about my local retailer? (I know...I'll go and buy eight bucks worth of comics tomorrow. |
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#6
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Shooting Target ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Validating Posts: 1,618 Joined: 29-January 03 From: Montevideo, Uruguay. Member No.: 3,992 ![]() |
Oh, come on. Ted's so kewl and lovable! :rotfl: |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#7
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Guests ![]() |
My annoyance is beyond the capacity for sarcasm.
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#8
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Shooting Target ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Validating Posts: 1,618 Joined: 29-January 03 From: Montevideo, Uruguay. Member No.: 3,992 ![]() |
Heh, ok.
Will you post a review later on? |
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#9
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Runner ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 ![]() |
For what its worth, Loose Alliances has become one of my favorite SR books ever, because of the way it does address some pretty deep issues from environmentalism and religious fundamentalism through to fascism and communism without ever getting bogged down or preachy. It also represents the first time I've seen something like this addressed in a roleplaying game with this depth and relevance. The 3-dimensional Islamic material in particular, despite its SR slant, might prove an eye-openner for some used to a much more 2-dimensional portrayal - of course we're probably getting into trouble with some for crossing the line again on religion. |
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#10
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Moving Target ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 144 Joined: 11-April 05 From: San Antonio, USA Member No.: 7,317 ![]() |
How so? I don't have the book yet, but I was looking forward to seeing how they did the Neo-Communist. |
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#11
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Freelance Elf ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 ![]() |
They "did" it from the point of view of an ADHD suffering 12 year old riding a sugar high, apparently. |
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#12
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King of the Hobos ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,117 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 127 ![]() |
It's written from the point of view of an otaku kid that likes to refer to themself in the third person. Personally I found it rather amusing, but then humour is a rather subjective thing. :) |
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#13
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Target ![]() Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 6,993 ![]() |
Radical Edward, anyone? Snoof |
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#14
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Immortal Elf ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 ![]() |
ed's not capable of maintaining interest in a single subject for that long. ein would have had to compose it from ed's scrambled notes.
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#15
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Like I said before, maybe, but SL will get it first. I just finished the book last night. And the quickie review I did yesterday afternoon of the first two chapters... You don't want to see that. |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#16
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Guests ![]() |
This, you have to see. These are the first two sentences of the Neo-Communism subchapter after Cap's intro.
I don't like paying good money, especially $22 for a PDF, to have to read a bad ripoff of Ed from Cowboy Bebop, which is exactly who Ted is. This isn't funny. It's pathetic. You want my review on SL from yesterday? Here it is
This came later when I finished the Vigilia Evagelica subchapter
The Verjigorm worshippers or something, perhaps, because we really needed a shadow war between the RCC and the Horror followers. This book is, without a doubt in my mind, the most derivative and unoriginal SR book ever published. |
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#17
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The King In Yellow ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,922 Joined: 26-February 05 From: JWD Member No.: 7,121 ![]() |
Okay, I got LA marked for immediate purchase.
And maybe they actually wanted to avoid being drawn into the dirty, filthy business that is US interior politics. Besides, I always just assumed there still is an NRA in my gaming group. Comes in pretty handy when you try to locate arms fixers in UCAS towns (unless you happen to be meta, japanese or black). These people are fun to deal with both from a GM and a player perspective. I also play a militiaman sammy who is decidedly what you could call a right-wing republican (basically, part Al Bundee, part pre-politics Bush and part that guy from 'Falling Down').
Wow. Talk about knee-jerk reflexes. |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#18
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Yeah, well studying the UN for six months back in HS for Academic Decathlon didn't exactly leave me with a great deal of admiration in the first place.
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#19
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The King In Yellow ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,922 Joined: 26-February 05 From: JWD Member No.: 7,121 ![]() |
1. Just because it prefers efficiency doesn't mean it is efficient. GM or DaimlerChrysler would prefer to build quality cars, too, for instance; doesn't make their cars any more high quality.
2. Just because it is inefficient today, doesn't mean it, as an organisation, wouldn't prefer more efficiency. All it'd really need is a good kick in the arse, and for all I know from SR lore, the corps made sure it got it's kicking. And the greenie states donating troops to the UN isn't so far off. If more would do it, the scandinavians and Germany (under a leftie government) would propably do that. 3. US High school is hardly the place to look for accurate information on anything remotely related to politics or the world outside US borders. |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#20
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Guests ![]() |
Great. I'm not about to debate the UN or American HS education (nice trolling, though) here, and so as far as I'm concerned this conversation is over.
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#21
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Runner ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 ![]() |
Aegis (and Infolio and CIS and Argus previously featured in SoTA64) doesn't work for everyone they were for the select few who don't have their own intelligence resources but have the money to afford to outsource them. Whether you "buy it" or not it is in fact based on a a couple of existing companies that do much the same business today (one American and one French).
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#22
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Resident Legionnaire ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,136 Joined: 8-August 04 From: Usually Work Member No.: 6,550 ![]() |
What the hell? So everyone who's in the NRA doesn't like metas, japanese or blacks?
I don't know how much you looked into these companies, but their intel is often suspect at best. Not to mention, some intelligence is a lot more useful when you can be sure you're the only one who knows it. These companies should be used more for "fact-checking" leads you already have. They could never hold a candle to the CIA or any comparable intelligence service. Also, is there any reference to the Foreign Legion in the U.N. chapter? IRL the Foreign Legion is the UN's dirty workhorse. Still, I find the idea of the U.N. troops and their "greenie" contributors to be somewhat floofy. Could the UN accomplish anything without the United States (or UCAS) providing the lion's share of military contribution? |
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#23
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Moving Target ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 932 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Orlando, Florida Member No.: 1,042 ![]() |
Crimsondude:
It's the 6th World, not the 6th North America. And you may have heard that FanPro has their headquarters in Germany. You may also have noticed that a lot of Dumpshockers, representing SR players as a whole, are from places like France and the UK. The information on the factions in 6th World Islam applies also, one might suppose, to the millions of Muslims in North America. Likewise for the information on global Catholicism. Likewise for the politics of metahuman rights. There are also women in North America, so we can suppose that women's rights groups probably have a toehold there. The information on fascism and antifascism specifically mentions Tir Tairngire, Aztlan, CAS right-wingers, and the Illuminates of the New Dawn. And it's a little ridiculous to rant so venomously about just one section in the book, just because you don't like the tone. |
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#24
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Moving Target ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 144 Joined: 11-April 05 From: San Antonio, USA Member No.: 7,317 ![]() |
Thanks for giving me your opinion on the Neo-Communist section Crimsondude.
That was the part of the book I was looking forward to the most. Any ties mentioned to the People's University in San Franisco? |
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Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_* |
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#25
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Yes, and yet they don't include a noncompetition clause in their standard contracts.
No
No
Apparently so. I was half-surprised the UCAS was a Permanent Member of the Security Council Oh, and I haven't even gotten to the Islamic groups. What annoys me is that there is no real reference to any effect on the Western Hemisphere. I find this especially interesting since the largest Persian community in the world outside of Iran is in Los Angeles, and that there are several cities (namely, Detroit) with large Iraqi and Arab communities, or their influence (monetary or otherwise) should still be felt in NA. But what do we get? The hang out of some IUM members in Seattle. Wow. Now, perhaps this is just initial disappointment of expecting the same quality as SOTA64, which rocked my socks, but it's just not there. And maybe when I do a full review of the book things will be more clear and less tinged with that disappointment. There's so much potential ... |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th July 2025 - 07:22 PM |
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