From what I have seen here so far... Options

[Jürgen Hubert]

...I think I am going to like SR4.

The limitations on the maximum starting attributes and skills avoid the old problem that the players have lots of sixes in several attributes and skills, while still giving them the opportunity to specialize in one or two things they are really good at. Frankly, all those "6" stats were rather annoying - not to mention boring. What good is being at the peak of (unmodified) human ability if much of your team also have a six in the same stat (this was especially prevalent with Body)?

And since I have run my first ever game of Exalted yesterday, I've come to appreciate the new way of doing skill tests (which is almost identical to how it is done in Exalted). And I am glad to see that the old dice pools are gone - they were a lot of hassle to keep track of, especially if you were the GM and had to run multiple opponents (I thought that the "Threat Ratings" for SR2 NPCs were a good way of handling NPCs, and was unhappy when they dropped this in SR3).

Finally, I'm hopeful for the new matrix rules and looking forward to a system where the deckers/hackers (I'm not really bothered by the name change) are actually integrated with the rest of the team instead of sitting somewhere else doing their own thing. So far, deckers have almost always been NPCs. Perhaps this time things will be different...


Shadowrun was my first ever RPG, and I have been playing it on and off since 1st edition. I'm looking forward to reading the new book, and the only question that remains is whether or not I can resist buying the PDF and holding it off until the hardcover arrives... ;)

[Darkness]

*drools*
Waaaant PDF
*faceslaps himself*
Erm. Yeah. Right. :)

It's the same here. Nearly everything i've read will be a great support to the way we (that is, my group and me) played SR anyway.
It was always annoying that a single combat turn used to take approximately one hour with us. Mostly because our group has 5 regular players and 2 GMs. I know from games like Exalted, and playing a demo of the nWOD, that the new System will handle itself faster, and that my players, who just wants to roleplay and not to remember a ton of rules (especially mages in this case) to cast his fireball.
But before this advances itself into a rant, i just wanted to say. I like the new edition. A lot!

P.S.:

[Grinder]

[Darkness]

Actually. No.

[Grinder]

You should - you never would complain about long SR combat turns after you had a fight between a group of high-circle characters and similar powerful opponets. ;)

[Darkness]

Oh my.

[Grinder]

Put it's pure fun, the whole fight is unbelievable cineastic (you need a map and some figures to play the fight, though).

[Phoniex]

Please if your a high circle adept then you just kill everything in 10 or so rolls. Or the horror uses damage shift and your just screwed ;)

[Grinder]

Au contraire ;) A fight between a 10th circle warrior and a 9th circle swordmaster can last very long, believe me. A Horror facing a group of six 7-8th circle adepts is enough for a three hours fight.

But it's fun the whole time :)