The chat is still in progress, but here's an early taste...Jump in now.
Vairdic> Welcome all to this Shadowrun Chat. We're going to start off with an announcement by Tony Bruno from Black Book Editions...
Tony_Bruno: Hey guys
Tony_Bruno: A quick word to let know your French and French-speaking fans that Black Book will be resuming the publishing of SR books shortly
Tony_Bruno: Actually, Emergence is currently at the printers and should be out in early April, with Augmentations following shorly after
Tony_Bruno: We're also putting finishing touches to the French German SOX background-campaign book
Tony_Bruno> Next on the line will be Enclaves corporatistes, with extra content in the French version, and Arsenal, also with add-ons
Tony_Bruno> We're also looking forward to putting out a French version of the 20th Anniversary Edition
Tony_Bruno> There's more to come as we keep discussing things with Catalyst, especially on the novel front
Tony_Bruno> and more
Tony_Bruno> So - the wait will soon be over, and 2009 will see many new books on our side of the Pond
Tony_Bruno> If you guys have any questions, you know where to find me!
bluedragon7: @Tony You (or CGL) plan on releasing the french addiotions in english too?
Tony_Bruno> We offered it to CatLabs, yes, and I believe it's in the plans
Tony_Bruno> but someone from CGL should confirm or infirm that
Tony_Bruno> Currently we have extra material in the French versions of Runner Havens, SOX, Corp Enclaves, Arsenal... and probably more to come as we catch up with CatLabs' releases
Vairdic> Yes, we're definately interested, though what form that'll take is not known at this time. Any other questions for Tony?
Vairdic> If not we'll move right along to Stephen McQuillan (sorry if I butchered the spelling there Stephen). He'll be going over some Missions stuff!
Stephen_McQuillan> For those who do not know, Shadowrun Missions (SRM) is an international shared campaign. The goal is to have characters and adventures that all share the same universe, and of course have fun while doing it. Missions are played at conventions, Game Days, and as home games for some groups. Currently, Missions is coordinated jointly by Aaron Pavao and Stephen McQuillan. (We can be reached through Missions@shadowrun4.com, or you can find us on Dumpshock under Aaron and BishopMcQ respectively.)
Stephen_McQuillan> SRM has been on a bit of a hiatus of late, but as of today the third campaign (SRM03) is starting with the release of a free PDF adventure (SRM03-00 Everyone's Your Friend), which will officially kicks off the New York campaign. Additionally, the PDF exclusive, The Rotten Apple: Manhattan, a sourcebook of the largest contiguous corporate enclave in the Sixth World will be available for sale from BattleCorps and RPGNow later today. We will be releasing one adventure per month after that, which will be available for purchase in PDF format. Each successive Mission will be priced at $3.95
Stephen_McQuillan> Remember that you can get Missions for free by running them at a Convention, Game Day, or public event. The Catalyst Demo Team is always accepting applications (http://www.catalystdemos.com/Enlist.asp). While you do not have to be a member of the Demo Team to run Missions, membership does come with perks based on the number of events you run per year.
Stephen_McQuillan> Shadowrun Missions is run under the most recently published set of errata. This means that yes, you can buy up your attributes while they're still cheap, if you're quick enough. Feel free to switch to SR4A early if you and your GM have access to the book, but please do not mix and match errata sets; when the SR4A errata is published on shadowrun4.com, then all characters and games should be running those rules.
Stephen_McQuillan> There will be an updated FAQ for Missions in the coming weeks, so get your questions in now. Send your questions to Missions@shadowrun4.com
Vairdic> Any questions on the Missions, or Manhattan?
Angier: will the rotten apple be a free pdf or also contain a small fee?
JohnDunn> The Rotten Apple: Manhattan is a 30 page PDF that will be available for $3.95
knasser: Are you takig submissions for Missions adventures?
Stephen_McQuillan> We are still accepting submissions, feel free to send them to Missions@shadowrun4.com or reach out to Aaron and I directly. I'd recommend looking at the SR Missions thread on Dumpshock for more information. We will be addressing this in the upcoming FAQ.
Bull: @Stephen How long do you plan to continue the Manhattan Campaign? Will it conclusively end like Denver did? Or have you not thought that far ahead yet?
Stephen_McQuillan> We have Missions in production all the way through 12 at the moment. At this point Aaron and I haven't set a finale point for the campaign and are in contact with the Shadowrun Dev Team to make sure that Missions continues.
Medicineman: will there be a mix between US Missions and German Missions a Multi
Stephen_McQuillan> That is something I'd like to look into. At this point, I am not familiar with the German campaign except for a few broad strokes. I will reach out to the coordinators and see what we can do.
Medicineman: a kind of Multi-user-missions ?
Aaron> Yes, it is highly analogous to a multi-user domain or MUD, like folks were discussing before the chat started. Except of course that it's not computer-arbitrated (although there are some campaigns that are entirely online). We have events at conventions, such as the Scramble at Gen Con. Also, each adventure has something of a poll to report the outcome of each game, and the Missions (and Shadowrun) universe is shaped by the results across all of the games played for each adventure.
TeOdio: I may decide to run Missions at our Summer Con here in Denver. It is in August / Early September (usually). About how many of the New York Missions modules will be ready by then?
Aaron> At this time, it's hard to say. Safest guess would be eight or nine. Ideally, eleven or twelve.
Bull: @Aaron or Stephen or John: Any plans for another Missions-linked LARP at the cons this year?
Aaron> Generally: yes. More specifically: hell yes. Even more specifically: this year's Scramble will be able to take 72 players and be nigh-epic in scope.
Vairdic> And now I think we're ready to open up to general questions!
Vairdic> Fire away!
knasser: Somebody has to start this: The revised magic rules. The new OR's render three groups of spells nearly impossible for magicians with less than 18 dice to use with any reasonable reliability. The new Direct Combat spell drain rules make casting a Force 10 Manabolt less taxing on a mage than a casting it at Force 5. The net hits to damage approach means one civillian hostage accidentally caught in the firing line of your manaballing a bunch of Red Samurai and your drain goes astro. So... explanation time, please. And will there be any changes to the new magic rules before the PDF becomes print?
JohnDunn> There have been some clarifications previously released to the forums in discussions. Further clarifications will become available in the short term.
Medicineman: are US-Missions and German Missions interchangeable? can I play them with the same Char ?
JohnDunn> At this time, the two campaigns are distinct from one another.
Bull: Do we have any more info on the upcoming Novel Releases? A time frame, an new novels in the works, etc?
Randall> We'll be launching the SR novel line this fall; I can't give any specific months at this time as we're still working that out with production, soliciting distribution and so on. However, there will both be brand new novels, an anthology of original SR fiction, as well as anniversary omnibus editions of some of the most popular SR novels from the past. And that's just as we head into the first 6 months or so of the publishing schedule. Once we've got a more firm grip on the details we'll start making announcements.
Medicineman: what about the Ingame-Timeframe ?
JohnDunn> Again, at this time, the German and US coordinated campaigns are distinct campaigns set in different locations.
Dfranco: What kind of new add-ons are there going to be in Arsenal?
Jennifer> An errata to Arsenal will include a new Vehicle Mod called "Modular Electronics Systems" that will allow you to circumvent the +2 upgrade cap on vehicles and drones drones if you buy the mod.
knasser: Who should aspiring authors contact about fiction submissions?
JohnDunn> If you send material to info@shadowrun4.com we'll make sure it gets to the right eyes.
Bull: When are you guys gonna let me kill Harleequin?
And if not anytime soon, will we see the IE's pop up again anytime in the not so distant future?
Jennifer> Bull, you think we're going to let you have any fun?
That being said, it is the 20th Anniversary. How could we let it go by without a nod to everyone's favorite elf?
Enin: any possibility of making those novels as e-books also?
AdamJury> Yes, there's the possibility. We haven't reached any decisions on that yet.
Bull: Do you have any more of the PDF releases like the Digital Grimoire in the works?
JohnDunn> Yes. Manhattan is the next setting material to be released (today), but others are in progress.
Angier: any ETA on an errata/updated PDF for SR4A?
Randall> That should be ready for posting next week.
Sin_Drome: do you plan to release novels as PDFs?
AdamJury> Same answer ...
We've yet to decide what electronic formats our nvoels will be available in.
Bull: Any information on an official Character Creator? There was talk about something with Hero Labs at Gen Con last year, and they had SR listed on their booth wall. Having recently been playing with the Mutants & Masterminds Hero Lab program, I love it and owuld kill to see it for SR.
Randall> It is still being worked on but we don't have any additional information at this time.
Dakhran: Are there any modules in the works, or plans for them? Event books and setting books are nice, but I remember the days of modules like Bottled Demon, Queen Euphoria, and the like...
Jennifer> If by "modules" you mean fully-written adventures (like those in the past), yes, we will have a series of interlinking adventures released this year. The series title is "Dawn of the Artifacts."
TeOdio: Shadowrun has a pretty good history of allowing mil spec hardware and in previous editions, detailing conflict hot spots like the Yucatan. Any plans on releasing a PDF or source book along the lines of Fields of Fire for more merc minded campaigns?
JohnDunn> That's an subject matter near and dear to the hearts of many of us. While there's nothing that ties into additional mil-spec options in the short term, we certainly have not lost our love of large caliber weapons and dense armor.
Medicineman: Artifacts ? you Mean Magic Items lieke in .....D....Fantasy RPGs ?
Jennifer> Dawn of the Artifacts should contain all the hints necessary for long time fans...
This is the 20th anniversary, after all...
Enin: Any plans on continuing the On the Run adventure?
Jennifer> Not in the immediate future. However, if there was sufficient interest, it could be a future possibility.
bluedragon7: Will Randall take over Peters Job permanently or just for the time being? (or did i understand the letter from yesterday wrong?)
Randall> Well first, I'm not taking over all of Peter's responsibilties. Instead I'm taking over the higher-level management of the line while I build a Development Team that I tap for any given project; i.e. Adam, go develop Seattle 2072 and bring me a final product to review, John go develop Running Wild and bring me a final product to review and so on. We all believe this will work, but at the end of the day we don't know it will work. We will know in just a few short months if this new style of management for SR will work and we'll either continue forward or we'll take what we've learned and modify as appropriate. Regardless of what we do, however, the goal is to produce great books for the community and get them out on in a timely fashion. My entire focus is going to be making the trains run on time. And as I've done with the BT community over the years, be as transparent as possible with various developments.
Vairdic> Psst Randall... We hadn't mentioned Seattle 2072 yet....
Dakhran: What's the word on upcoming novels, how soon can we see any come out?
Randall> Just answered a question by Bull along those lines...see above.
AdamJury> Pssttt... we had. Just not today.
Dakhran: It's been years game-wise since the Big D bought the farm, will there be an update on the effects of his will, what's been paid out, discovered, nullified, etc.? And what's the Draco Foundation been up to all these years?
JohnDunn> The effects of Dunkelzahn's will continue to appear in a number of different Shadowrun products. However, there are no plans to focus a single book on just those issues.
gtJormungand: for those of us that aren't long time fans, what are those hints supposed to be?
Jennifer> Well, one thing we've tried hard to do in Shadowrun 4th edition is not burden new fans with the 20 years of history, while at the same time making sure the SR universe is still the rich, incredible setting that drew people in 20 years ago. So, for new fans, all I can really say is that there *is* a "secret" history to Shadowrun, and that runners who go through the Dawn of the Artifacts series will slowly be let in on that secret history - in a way that won't overwhelm fans new to the setting, but will likely delight fans who've been waiting for some of the rich metaplot to peek through...
bluedragon7: to what extend will the existing rulebooks (eg streetmagic) updated to SR4A?
JohnDunn> Existing rule book changes will be minor and included in future errata and reprints.
Vairdic> Ok folks, last call please!
Bull: @Jennifer: And there's where we'll likly see those pesky IE's.
Jennifer> Well, there is a reason Frosty is a poster on JackPoint, at least...
TeOdio: Stupid question, but I assume all of the charts and goodies in Runners Toolkit are going to reflect the errata from SR4A?
JohnDunn> Yes, absolutely.
Bull: Do you have anything special planned for the summer cons in relation to SR4, and can you give us any hints as to what?
Aaron> There is the nigh-epic Scramble, which I mentioned earlier. There will also be other nifties to be discovered, kinda like the NERPS cards from last year, only cooler.
Nath: Has Nadja Daviar finally married Elvis Presley, and will we get pictures of the ceremony in any upcoming book ?
BobbyDerie> Not Elvis, no - the mothership hasn't brought him back yet. Don't be surprised if Nadja makes an appearance in an upcoming book though.
Bull: Any word on Miniatures. Either a mini's game of some kind, or a new line of Mini's to use with SR?
Randall> We are very interested in pursuing that in some form and are looking at every angle, but no specifics at this time.
Dakhran: I still have the Shadowrun music CD, is there any interest in producing another, similarly themed musical arrangement for Shadowrun?
Randall> I believe it's save to say that we're interested in discussing anything that will be of use to the community. Do you have a link to the company that previously produced that CDs? Any information you might have on that, feel free to email me directly at randall@catalystgamelabs.com.
Vairdic> Alright folks! We're going to open up the room, but not close it if you want to chat a bit more in the open.
Vairdic> Thank you everyone for your time
