OK, as I was wrapping my brain around the character creation section of SR4, a thought occured (& no, it didn't hurt); why not a Quick-Start rulebook for SR4, as it was done before?

when it comes to character creation quick start you could always use the examples that they give in the book and give them extra cyber and bio ware as the game progresses i spose

I just picked up another copy of the SR3 QS rules (I had lost my original copy somewhere), and after reading it again, it's pretty dissappointing. Maybe it's because I already know the game, but it seems like it wants to get you playing quickly, but only succeeds in making you wonder what's going on and wishing things were better explained.

That's not to say they couldn't do a good job on a SR4 QS rulebook, only that if it's going to be approached in the same "let's tease them without showing them how to actually play the game, because come on, we're not making 30 bucks off this one guys" manner, it wouldn't be worth buying anyway.

Good point, Eidolon. Maybe as a freebie PDF download?

Compared to Paladium's Heros Unlimited, SR4 IS a quick start book. It took an assload of time to get down the system, and god help you if you wanted to make a cyborg/Android...

Don't you mean "compared to Palladiums ALL BOOKS HERE"?

I love Rifts, but we would generally schedule an entire game day (anywhere from 8 to 15 hours) to make characters for the game. Granted, we were picky and had lots of house rules to give new players...

I think SR4's BBB is pretty easy to "quick start" as is with most of the non-magic or non-matrix types, and even those aren't supremely complex do the basics of. I've usually felt that "quick start guides" are a waste of time.

Games Workshop has a "quick start"esque kit for WH40k that consists of some terrain and about 30 snap-together models that you can assemble in about 15 minutes. They've got an incredibly simple, incredibly specific set of rules written for playing with those models in five pre-written scenarios... and a miniature copy of the main rulebook that has had all of the fluff removed, so that once you get used to doing basic stuff (moving, shooting, and assaulting), you can get going with the real rules in the same box.

I'm not sure that giving out quick-start rules for a PnP game really has the same benefits... the ruleset tends to be a lot larger and has to be robust enough to cover a lot of the "what if I want to..." situations (or to allow a GM to "fake it" by saying "just do it like you do this other thing").

I'd also be concerned that a boiled-down version of SR4's rules would get looked at by a lot of people and promptly get discarded as "D6 nWoD," without even being given a chance.

Battle for Maccrage. I bought it. I got it on pre-order, for around $75. Considering that I got some terrain, some minis, and a rulebook that alone normally costs $50, pretty good deal.

Welcome to Palladium University! Your first year here, you are required to take boxing.

What? You're a poly sci major? You shouldn't have to learn to box? Nonsense! Everyone knows how to box!

Quick Start rules, are, unfortunately, one of those projects that keeps getting back-burnered while everyone works on other stuff. But they're fairly far along and will be made available as a free PDF at some point.

Ah. Quite right, quite right.