As the sub says. What the heck is RAW? I keep seeing people mention it, but no explanation for it.

Rules As Written.

Pro wrestling.

Both.

especially if the latter is performed verbally...

Rules As Intended is the spirit of the rules
Rules As Written is the letter of the rules.

And make sure you don't just eat your game RAW - put it through a COoKER (Complete Overhaul of Known Exploited Rules)!

And Fluff is the soft and cuddly background in which you think up your Akimbo style Dragon just to get it destroyed by RAW

It's that thing that precludes a functional game.

Just to be clear:

Raw, rules as written, or the raw, unabridged, unchanged rules (the heart of the rules, basically. That's how I remember it.)

RAI- Rules as intended, or what the developers were TRYING to go for. People will argue insessently over the intent of the rules, but the basics of it go . . . what the developers were trying to accomplish. Usually, if there is an exploit allowing you to do (for example) 72p (unresisted) with your pistol, it may be legal by RAW but it is not the RAI.

Fluff-The stuff that gives you the "feel" of Shadowrun. The best example are all the back-and-forth posting in any of the expantion books, where people will edit Jackpoint posts to express their own views on the situation, or concerns. Every beginning chapter of every book has a page or so of fluff. Personally, me? I love the fluff.

Example(I paraphrase and edit here to avoid copy write infringement): In Runner Havens, one guy says that the space needle is good place to meet Johnsons because it has good food, the Johnson will pay, it has a nice view, and it is upscale so you can get some privacy. Runner 2 mentions it is bad because it is trite and is watched a lot by security. Runner 1 replies that Runner 2 hates it because he can never get reservations. This is fluff. It has no rules, but it gives Runners and GMs something to think about.

Oh, no, you can do an Akimbo style Dragon (cough, Drake). Notably the rules for dual wielding mean that you have tiny dice pools, but you can do it. My Drake has 12 dice to firing automatics (that's a 5 + 3(5) + 2) so only wields one, but he could wield two...

Fluff = setting.
Crunch = rules.

(Though I hate both of those terms)

I always thought "Crunchy" meant that the rules were more detailed and complicated. For example, if game system #1 has a stat for light pistols, and game system #2 has stats for the 9mm semiautomatic, the .38 cal revolver, and the .22 revolver, then game system #2 is more "crunchy".

What does BBB stand for?

For 4th Edition it's Big Black Book

Also Big Blue Book for 1st and 2nd edition.

Either way it's the core rule book.

Better Business Bureau

Naaaa... Actually "Big Black Book". BBB means the main rule book.

Yeah, i said Dragon for a Reason And yes i am aware of the Foolery of last years April 1st.

and here all this time I though RAW was referring to someone who was a"Really Argumentative Weirdo"...

I, however, am not.

given in what context those letters usually pops up, im not surprised.

When you read a Dumpshock discussion concerning one of the supplemental core rule books, the discussion usually breaks down along lines of "the crunch" (example: Unwired's Matrix security rules) and "the fluff" (example: the child's tutorial on How to Use the Matrix and the posts by the runner community).

No troubles with that. Catalyst released a Teaser on April the First last Year which showed rules for playing a Dragon.

Oooh. I sees.
Based on stats alone they'd have to be worth about 350 BP racially. If not more.

RAW = unprocessed
RAI = italian public service broadcaster

That's raising the stats from base 1 right? They'd definately have racial adjustments. Subtract 3 from each stat, and you'd have the "normal" dragon, based on human average stats.

Well, yes, you'd have to subtract to get racial minimums (subtract 2, actually, average human is 3 and minimum is 1), but a 40 strength (or any other stat) is 370 BP. That's one stat.

Actually... it was after the 1st. Which made the reactions on this board all the more hilarious.

Dates, Schmates. But thx for the Info

something of a in-joke, as they had been notoriously late with releases around that time...