Perhaps I've spent too much time playing DnD, but everytime I see BBB I think of Boccob's Blessed Book. How did the main rulebook for Shadowrun pick up that acronym? I don't see any "Better Bruising, Better" or something like that on the front cover or the title page.

Why not CRB for Core Rule Book or the S4 book something like that?

Because the Original Core Book was Black. 2nd ed was black. 3rd ed is black 4th ed is Black. Big Black Book. nuff said

Big Black Book. I don't know exactly who gave it that title, but it dates back to at least second edition. (Some even claim it goes back further to first edition, when it was the Big Blue Book, but I can't verify that term was actually in use that far back.)

Like many traditions, there's not much use in trying to find sense in it, because there probably isn't any.

Oddly enough, since Warhammer 40,000 went to its 4th edition, some people in that hobby have taken to referring to their core rulebook as the Big Grey Book. Whether this is derived from the Shadowrun acronym, or just a coincidence I honestly don't know, but at least we're not alone in our little quirk.

And RAW?

Oh, cool. Thanks.

i have seen some d&d/d20 freelancers show up on enworld. but rarely on the wotc forum...

this because you have a "regulary" updated q&a column i guess

and sometimes rpg discussion turn into such a acronym soup that would could wonder if people where military

but its even worse over at mmorpg forums where every popular attack, defense and a whole lot of other stuff have their own acronym...

BBB has been a point of debate for some for a long time. I tend to use SR4 instead, since it's immediately apparent which edition I'm referring to. For example, SR4, pg 128. If I'm just referring to the book and not a specific page I'll usually say SR main book to differentiate, but not always. I figure most people can tell from context when someone is talking about a game and when they're talking about a book.

It's not that BBB is horrible, but when a new person comes to the board, they will inevitably start a thread or at least make a post asking what BBB means. If you say SR4, pg. xxx you avoid both that problem (I assume even the newest of newbies can decipher it) and the problem of which edition you're referring to. Granted, the edition isn't as big a deal on the SR4 subforum, but can become a point of confusion in the general forums and if the boards ever get restructured.

Sweet! I win the thread!

Mods, can we get this locked?

calling it SR4 would be unbalanced! the only way to re-balance it, if you use the term "SR4" to refer to the 4th edition of the BBB, would be to start using variable TNs again.

No, you lose. Shadowrun page references are "p. xx" not "pg. xx".

well, they kinda have to be, what with the attribute limit.

The APA format dictates that if one is referring to but a single page, one uses but a single p, as in (SR4, p. 39), but if one is referring to more than one page, one uses two pages, as in (SR4, pp. 39-40). The author, in this case, is understood and not explicitly referenced.