To those in this community that are German, is there a way to get an English Translation for the German only products. Hell, is Pegasus games thinking about an English translation for the books that DON'T have an English counterpart?

The reason I'm asking this is I want to know what the cyberspine does.

I can give you a translation, if you post the english text. But i have never heard of a cyberspine. Is this SR5? Which book?

Siemens CyberSpine is a cyber suite from the new SOTA ADL book

It contains R1 Bone Lacing, Reflex booster R1, Reaction Enhancement R1, bio monitor

It can be upgraded through various packages to Reflex Booster and Reaction Enhancement R3

Siemens CyberSpine 2,09 10E 72.600 €
Upgrade: Elite Athletic +0,22 12E +15.600 €
Upgrade: Celestial Athletic +0,22 17E +15.600 €
Upgrade: Elite Warrior +0,72 14E +132.000 €
Upgrade: Celestial Warrior +1,44 22E +81.600 €

Thank you Jack. I really appreciate it.

It's things like this that make me wish that Pegasus would make an English language version of their products... or at least let Catalyst publish it for them here in the States.

I've heard, over the years, about all the German SR books we never get to see in the U.S. I'd love it if they finally got around to releasing those over here. Honestly, I don't know why they don't - if you've already made the book, why not at least publish it in PDF format over here?

When did CGL ever give you the impression that they particularly cared about their fans and their wishes?

That would be "never." However, if you're already created the product, then digitally publishing it is pure profit - and as much profit for as little effort is the only thing they care about.

Is there something that prevents Pegasus from publishing their stuff in English? I mean I would SO buy it (PDF versions... so much easier than paper copies)

First of all I don't think CGL is "set up" for making and publishing translated material. And I don't say that to discredit them - it's simply not their business model. They release their own material, why translating foreign material? And secondly: Apparently they are not as ... willing enough, to get translations done. There was one occasion in the past where there was interest in a translation in one of our books, but it didn't work out in the end. I wouldn't presume evil intend here, they are just - as mentioned above - unprepared and unexperienced on what it takes to make a translation - in addition to all their own material (which itself has a tight schedule). So when including translations into their portfolio they must pull resources away from other products and I don't think it's in their interest (or in yours, as this would mean that new products would be released later).

I'm going to guess "yes."

Let me get the disclaimers out of the way: IANL (I Am Not a Lawyer), I don't have any information on the licensing agreements / contracts. I am not claiming expertise in any way.

There. It is very likely that the agreement between Pegasus and CGL and / or the rights holder (if not CGL) has some form of non-compete clause in it. Possibly worded as to prevent Pegasus from releasing non-German versions of anything Shadowrun they make. (CGL wouldn't want Pegasus to undercut their own profits in any way.)

From what I heared from German authors, CGL isn't interested. They don't expect it to sell well.

Plus, you would have to pay the translator - and translating a 150-ish page book is quite some work - as Sasha says, this would mean they have to either divert some of their (scarce as is) ressources or stock up on staff to handle the translation work. Besides, the German books reference each other, so you'd have to publish older books too just so you have any idea who all these people in Berlin politics are, or why this blue-skinned elf on the Saeder-Krupp christmas party that's being shot up is important. I guess CGL figures it's not worth the trouble.

They could at least publish all the gear, but they didn't show interest back in SR4 days, and it's unlikely to change now with CGL's current leadership.


Yes. They do not have the license to do that. their sub-license explicitly is only for publishing stuff about the German-language parts of the setting in German, nothing more.

CGL apparently wouldn't mind a lot if they published, say, a book on Ukraine in German, but would not consider that product canon for future publications of their own - which again would mean a lot of work in the end going to waste, potentially, for Pegasus. I don't know for sure, but I think CGL would not be eager to see a second publisher of English-language Shadowrun move into the English-language market - rightfully so, as this would be their primary market covered by their SR license.

If I recall correctly Pegasus has the licence to publish most if not all Shadowrun material in the German language and create original content in German. They are as far as I know also limited to distributing the material in the German speaking areas.

Imho the best thing that could happen to the Shadowrun IP (but probably will never happen) would be Pegasus getting the rights to whole of Shadowrun! Imho their writers are far better than CGL's and they seem to care more about the setting.

And I am not saying this just because I am currently in a hospital less then 5km from their offices