Hi,

Please find the chat as .rtf in the link below.

http://www.2shared.com/file/3620530/9b7f04...hat_190708.html

Not all of the chat is there since the log system erased the beginning. Missing is about the fist ten minutes of the chat.

For your information that the next chat will be in September due to Gencon in August.


All the best,

-Chrysalis

Thanks!

That was TYERRIBLY interesting to read! Many thanks, Chrysalis. Seriously.

Oh 21 metavariants
I counted 14 metavariant in 3rd ed. + 3 new ones talked about in the chat = 17
So that leaves 4 new unanounced metavariants

Bah.. I need the chat log.. cut n paste plixx.. =))

You did notice the download link, didn't you?

Much appreciated!

I add my plentiful thanks, but I must inquire, did the developers told anything else related to RC, in the initial part that didn't made it to the transcript, like probable date of release ?

The initial questions all pertained to SR:Missions, with announcements of SRM03-00 coming later on to the free download site, and the rest being available for purchase on Battlecorp for now. It was part of gaging reaction to see what kind of resources to put towards Holostreets. Also they noted that there would be releases of extended info on NYC released as part of this.

The NYC info bit sounds pretty cool.

The initial part was all Shadowrun Missions. From memory:

SRM3-00 Everyone's Your Friend will be freely available.
The other missions in the arc will be available online for a minimal fee (I think $5 was mentioned)
There will be a/some pdf's produced detailing more on NY.
Conventions won't need to pay for missions.

Kithran

This is just a shot in the dark based on what I saw at Origins, but it's possible (probable, if I was running it, which I'm not) that the free version that GMs get for conventions will be the pre-production version of the document, without all the swanky layout and prettiness, but with all the info necessary to run the adventure.

Actually my bad, heat of the moment and all that. To correct myself: Runner's Companion will include 4 racial metavariants for each metatype and one human metavariant (yeah, you read that right) meaning 17 metavariants total. It will also include 4 non-metahuman sentient species, the various shapeshifters, AIs, Free Spirits, drakes, changelings, and the various types HMHVV-positive (incl. ghouls, vamps, banshees, and all the rest). Every option available in SR3 and then some. I was actually surprised that more people didn't ask about the sentients; but that's cool, more surprises for later.

Runner's Companion will also contain 50+ New Qualities, rules for SURGE, Advanced Contact (incl. Enemies, Group and Virtual contacts) and Advanced Lifestyle rules (reintroducing and updating the popular SSG rules), and introductory chapters to shadowrunning and getting around the Sixth World.

care to elobrate a little, becouse that sounds so cool.

I sincerely hope it includes Sasquatches.

and dragons, even though the chat transcript explicitly denies that theyre in there

I suspect that dragons have a special word for a 400 BP character of their species. I believe it translates into English as "egg."

You could always play the nosferatu drake

<ducks for cover>

Okay so we're getting,

Shapeshifters (Bear, Eagle, Fox, Leopard, Seal, Tiger and Wolf) and "possible [sic] one or two you haven't seen before"
Ghouls/Krieger HMHVV infected
Drakes
Vampires/HMHVV infected, and from the "other Infected" comment I'm guessing Banshees, Goblins, Dzoo-noo-qua etc. racial variants are still in effect
AIs
Free Spirits

On the metavariant front,


and



Now look back at the previous Edition's Companion sourcebooks the previous metavariants were,

Cyclops (Troll) - Mediterranean
Fomori (Troll) - Irish/Celtic
Minotaur (Troll) - Mediterranean
Giant (Troll) Nordic

Koborokuru (Dwarf) - Japan
Menehume (Dwarf) Hawai'i
Gnome (Dwarf) - Central Europe/Asia Minor

Hobgoblin (Ork) - Middle East
Oni (Ork) - Japan
Ogre (Ork) - Europe
Satyr (Ork) - Mediterranean

Wakyambi (Elf) - Africa
Night One (Elf) - Europe
Dryads (Elf) - Global

So if we take the "4 racial metavariants for each metatype and one human metavariant" at face value I'm guessing that of the Nartaki and Harumen metavariants from the Indian subcontinent and the Xapiri Thepe from South America one of them has to be another Dwarf metavariant, one of them has to be another Elf metavariant and one of them has to be this new mystery "human metavariant". Without doing a bit of research I've got no idea which is which. Something of a shame if we only get two 'new' metavariants and the mystery human one, but not everyone's been playing since Second Edition I guess.

probably the indian being the human one with the 4 arms . .


god i hope they can somehow get mcmackie to get in on that project . .

I appreciate your opinion, even though it sucks.

Nartaki - Appears to be some kind of Indian dance that took place in the royal courts. For some, half remembered perhaps, reason I keep thinking of those dancers where they appear like Shiva to have more than one set of arms although I can't for the life of me think why I'd put these two together.
Harumen - Reminds me of Hanuman, the Hindu half man-half monkey god. Now since Peter said "Harumen are agile and have prehensile tails" sounds like a good fit but you never know.
Xapiri Thepe - Not a clue. Even the mighty Google is drawing a blank so they've either completely made it up or severely bastardised the spelling.

Here's a clue.

Interesting. Possible fourth dwarf metavariant?

I totally missed yesterday's chat. Can anyone who was there fill us in on possible eBooks?

Thanks!

-JKL

Here's a rough cut of what I said at the start:
Alright, we're going to start off with a few announcements about the New York City Missions campaign, aka SRM03. The first of which is that the first scenario, SRM03-00 Everyone's Your Friend should be appearing in the next several weeks as a free download. Next up is that we'll continue to have a series of monthly releases. However, the future monthly releases will go through typical PDF channels, rather than as Shadowrun4.com web site freebies. There will be a nominal fee associated with each new scenario, though all of the SRM00, SRM01, and SRM02 scenarios will remain freely avbailable. As will the first scenario of SRM03. In addition, we plan to offer some additional eBook support materials. Both for the campaign and for Shadowrun, Fourth Edition in general.

And I hold your sense of humor in equal regard.

Excellent! Lets have a drink and share women.

Well, I personally do NOT like buying .pdf files, so it looks like this is the end of the Shadowrun adventures for me.

I am tempted to support this just to see holostreets become a reality...but then I'm not certain that I can justify $5/mission in my mind since I don't even run the adventures but more pull ideas from them.

5 Bucks is not much, I would pay that, even if quality did not go up up notch (previous missions were rather... lacking sometimes), but since I am a stranger to credit cards and such this will be the end for me and missions, too. Sad, really.

Given my own severe lack of imagination, I expect I'll be paying for the missions as they come out. On a good note, hopefully that will help keep the pump primed for more Shadowrun goodness.

Keep in mind that it was also mentioned that convention gms (and maybe demo team members; dunner correct my if I'm wrong) may receive the missions for free. In other words, if you scratch CGL's back, it'll scratch yours....

That's correct on both counts. Members of the demo team (which includes all of CGL's convention GMs) who schedule a public game of any of the SRM03 scenarios, you'll get the scenario for free so that you can run it. We are, of course, continuing to accept applications.

Two quick questions.

1. Any clear info on none mission pdf's? What sort of info/layout planned for pdf only "sourcebooks"?

2. Did I read chat right, RC now coming out before Ghost Cartels?

1. ??

2. Yes. According to the chat, it looks somewhat hopeful that RC will be out for GenCon in some form.

Here is hoping that one of the 4 non-metahuman sentient species is: Sprite (windling)!! Would be really cool /crosses fingers!

Is the issue that they are electronic-only releases, or paying for electronic-only releases?

We haven't made any announcements so far about our plans for ebooks. When we have something solid we'll let everyone know.


Ghost Cartels has hit a bump, but is almost finalized. Runners' Companion, however, is on final approach and will likely come out before Ghost Cartels.

Any change on selling old sourcebooks as pdfs front or is that still on the backburner?

Paying for electronic-only releases. When I buy RPG stuff, I browse it in a store before deciding if I want to buy it or not. Also, I am holding something in my hand, as opposed to paying to look at something on my computer screen.

I have to agree with this - I'd like to know what's in a book before I pick it up. Maybe the first chapter of the book, or a good sampling of the different chapters, something more than just the blurb from the back of the book.


This I've gotten over the more I read .pdfs and stuff online. Putting Dragon and Dungeon online have really been the turning point for me.

While it is nicer to read a hardcopy of the book when first doing so, it's by far more comfortable to use the ebooks during a gaming session. Quickreference, having each book in a window intead of wishing for more arms might be some advantage here. Although I usually do not need the books that much when properly prepared, its still a blessing.

That's fair enough, although in many [most?] cases these are not going to be 128 or 192 page-sized sourcebook releases. The Missions New York adventures are going to be roughly similar in size to the 30+ free Missions adventures we've already released, and the other releases will vary in size. One of the major points with PDF sales is we can offer a bite sized release for $5 or so, that can easily be dropped into your game or run as-is, instead of a $29.99 book.



I think we're pretty good at providing a reasonable amount of preview material for each title we released -- although in the case of, say, a 16 page PDF, how much preview material should we given out?

It might be possible to put the background for any mission online. That way you have a sense of the point of the scenario and, if you're not running a group through all of them at once, you can pick and choose ones that you could use within your own game.

To couple with this, I would suggest some form of rating in each particular area to see if it is an appropriate piece for your game or not. For example, on a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being almost non-existant and 10 being impossible to avoid:

Magic - 1 - 10 (for those who want to inject some mysticism into their games, or not)

Matrix - 1 - 10 (so if you are a group that regulates the 'trix to a NPC, you know to avoid it)

Combat - 1 - 10 (shooting people for fun and profit)

Drama - 1 - 10 (for any character developement/moral choices/etc....not exactly typical for missions, so...)

Those are just a few off the top of my head, but I think that would give an good idea to those of us who don't currently run missions, but adapt them to our personal games, thus widening the customer base.

I liked how Shockwave was kind of an overview of the adventure series and gave me a good feel for what was going on through the whole thing. Obviously you can't do something of that caliber for the Missions series, but something along those lines would be great to me.

Well, that was an entirely different case -- Shockwaves was not going to be released in English, but we wanted to make a summary of the material available.

Missions have pretty much been designed to run with any group of 8 players at the convention no matter the makeup, so I'd say that all of that doesn't really matter. All the components are fit in equally right now, as there is always a chance you'll either be heavy or light on support in those areas.

I understand that, I'm just saying that something along those lines would be good. Not giving away whole chapters worth of materials, but a quick overview.