Lotta guys go to therapy when they have that problem.

When Arsenal was pushed back to November, I had patience. By this point, all I have is ruptered expectations.

Please, Fanpro, finish it!

That sounds right. Some companies might define their first quarter in March, some in January. FanPro, for example, begins Q2 of '07 sometime around February '08.

Or in febtober

Brrr...Stupid Smarch...

I generally just look at the quarters like this:

January, February, and March are three months. Three goes into 12 4 times, therefore, Jan-March: 1Q
April-June: 2Q
July-Sept: 3Q
Oct-Dec: 4Q


I've been waiting for Unwired (seriously guys, that's the BEST name you could come up with?) since SR4 came out. I still think it should have come out first, but Arsenal and Augmented will do nicely. The former more than the latter, as gear is easier to aford than bioware/chrome. Unfortunately, I have a nasty feeling that there will be a permanent date next to Unwired of "Eventually." With my luck, it'll come out when SR5 is announced.

Thank God my hacker has turned into a badass gunner, or I'd be hitting the limits of the hacking rules by now!

The big question is: do Wizkids & FanPro share your view?

God, I hope so. The KEWL POWreZ-oriented shadowrunners in my game have already abandoned us in search of games with rules they haven't beat to death yet.

Sure, I blame WotC exclusively for allowing gamers to expect a release schedule as rigorous as 3 or 4 books a month, but it has been 6+ months since we've gotten some love from FanPro. There's been like one FAQ update since Street Magic came out in September, and I just couldn't convince the gamers-that-be that SR wasn't dead.

So.... Anyone want to game in Marin, CA? We've lost our tank and mage.

I've noticed that the warmer the weather, the less gamers.

But don't be afraid to hunt out gaming stores and ask them if they know of any Shadowrun games that need players. Don't be surprised if you're not the first person to come in that day and ask that exact thing. That's how I found some of my previous SR players, and not the ones that bailed in absence of new releases.

I'm having the same problem. We've been running a Shadowrun 4 game for the last year now, but with nothing new coming out my players are starting to get... I don't know... tired of the same old same old. Some of them also think the game is dead and Fanpro is just not announcing it in order to keep people at least somewhat interested and some small sales still going.

Already we've dropped from playing once a week to once every two weeks so we could start up a World of Darkness campaign (mainly because they have so many f'n books out that everyone can be super unique and cool.)

So needless to say I really, really hope the new books come out soon. Otherwise I think my group will be done with Shadowrun.

I consider myself over the years to have become a pretty good DM/GM/Storyteller. I've played a variety of styles from action madness to really convoluted and conspiratorial Vampire: The Masquerade epics. I guess what I'm doing is establishing my credentials so that when I say that new material for Shadowrun is important, you understand that I'm not talking as someone short of imagination or subtlety. I mean, I hope several of the people here are familiar with some of my postings and material. I'm not a powergaming, munchtastic, you enter a 10'x10' room an orc is guarding a chest sort of role-player. But Shadowrun needs guns. And tanks. And sexy form-fitting body armour for our blonde, elven assassins. It needs forty different types of drone with go faster stripes for just 30 extra. We need to blow things up with über bombs and outrace the shockwave in a custom T-bird. Melee needs to have more than two types of sword and a combat axe. Trolls need to do more than choose between the LMG or the Panther when they look in their wardrobe.

This is Shadowrun and no Samurai should ever, ever, get bored.

GIVE... US... ARSENAL!

Wow, that's exactly what we did for the same reason. I'd like to state for the record that Mage: The Awakening is fundamentally overpowered with respect to their other WoD sub-games. But I haven't scoped out Promethean yet.

SR is undoutedly the hands-down best SciFi game, D20 Modern, Cyberpunk and a few others are fun enough to play, but SR's plot is much better and lends much more cohesiveness to any campaign. You really feel a part of the Sixth World.

But what makes systems like WoD or DnD so playable is that you can have a book for your character with tons of canon background and abilities that the other players don't see as old hat. With SR the way it is there are so few trade-offs to make unique backgrounds and abilities. The Ares Alpha is pretty much the best gun, the Chrysler-Nissan Patrol car is pretty much the best car, Hackers are better than Technomancers, and so on.

Sure those points are debateable, but in WoD, if your character dies, you think "NOW I'm going to make a Hunter in Darkness with Mother Luna Gifts that swings a two-handed axe, because that shotgun-toting Nosferatu in the Ordo Dracul was a badass, but I want to see if a Garou can be a more combat-centric character without wasting XP on blah blah blah."

If your Hacker/ Tank/ Mage dies in SR, you're pretty much making the same character if you want to accomplish the same thing for your team.

I have faith, though, SR is too awesome to die!

Boy howdy.

So is The Red Right Hand!

...To this end I worked up several adepts each with distinct character and personality.

First there is my namesake KK (Martial/Gunbunny Adept) Pretty much your basic blade and athletic adept who is pretty good with twin revolvers. Kind of slow on the uptake, loves old American Westerns, distrusts elves (due to bad experiences in her past), fascinated by Japanese culture and philosophy, definitely needs some fashion sense. Has a code of honour that combines both the code of the Old West and Bushido Philosophy to be the "Bushido Cowgirl".

Next up is Hurricane Hannah (Martial/Athletic Adept). Pretty decent athlete and a boxer by her trade (..who carries a reminder of every glove that-[whoops, stop that!]) Good at throwing things (billiard balls or pepper punch grenades - "now my daddy used ta say dat burns so good) & has a devastating left cross. Cajun by birth and proud of it. Pretty easy going & patient, unless you get her riled. Loves good whiskey and playing pool. drives an old beater pickup with an assortment of odd items in the bed (rope horse blankets, a couple soymilk crates etc.). Favourite line: "ya mess wi' da Cane' you gonna feel da pain"

Then theres Da Brat (Social/Martial Adept). Cute Street kid. Fights dirty & has a surprising sucker punch. One hell of a little operator who can sweet talk her way out of almost anything and good at disguises. A victim of the Crash. Doesn't know how old she is, doesn't remember her parents, heck doesn't even remember her real name. Has a virtual pet (cat named Puss Puss) who often "sits" on her shoulders. Changes SINs like wage slaves change their socks.

Finally there is Media Blitz (Social/Face Adept), Reporter and a hell of a looker. She can make most hearts melt at 50 paces. Not quite up there yet with her idol Lady Grande, but with enough Karma she will eventually not just talk bullets out of the air but get them to tell her their life stories. Yeah she's an elf, but just by looking at her you wouldn't know it. Oh, and yes, she can deal with combat just enough to keep herself from getting her cute little butt shot off.

IIRC Synner or Adam has stated that Wizkids is fully satisfied with FanPro's handling of the SR license.

First bit: That's actually a really good point that I hadn't been considering. I think the core book is more complete and comprehensive, and leaves me with enough understanding of each part of the game to feel like everything is playable without the expansion book. (I'm still going to buy them all, obviously)
Except for the matrix. Not that it's not playable, but the section definitely leaves me feeling like I need the expansion book.
Which brings me to your second (quoted) point, and I couldn't agree with you more. The biggest change to this edition is the wireless matrix and, to a lesser degree, Technomancers. I would've liked to see Unwired a lot farther up in the release order.
I figure the reason it isn't is because they need time to figure it all out, too.

From what was said back when SR4 came around I take that the lack of sourcebooks comes from the whole "keeping the new edition secret as long as possible" idea.

It's my understanding that only the people involved with writing the core book actually knew about the new edition (plus, of course, the line developers and some playtesters). As these people worked on the rule book they couldn't work on sourcebooks at the same time.
Additional authors for sourcebooks couldn't be recruited because of the whole "top secret" thing until SR4 was announced so, while there were already plans for the other core books (I guess), actual work on them started only after the announcement...

Probably a factor, but definitely not the only one.