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Phylos Fett
Just a quick question - which of the SR3 (and earlier, I suppose) have already been revised for SR4. Obviously, the BBB, Street Magic for Magic In The Shadows. Does anyone have a list?
Ancient History
It would be incorrect to say "revised" because the titles and contents are original, but for reference:

Street Magic (and to a much lesser extant, Digital Grimoire) updates material previously found in the principal magic sourcebooks The Grimoire, The Grimoire II, Awakenings, Magic in the Shadows, along with supplementary material found in The London Sourcebook, Germany Sourcebook, Threats, Threats II, State of the Art: 2063, State of the Art: 2064, Target: Wastelands, and Target: Awakened Lands (might be missing some minor stuff).

Augmentation updates cyberware, bioware, nanotech and genetech material previously found in Street Samurai Catalog, Shadowtech, Cybertechnology, Man and Machine, and Fields of Fire.

Arsenal updates gear, weapons, vehicles, and rules previously found in Street Samurai Catalog, The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life, Fields of Fire, Cannon Companion, Rigger's Black Book, Rigger 2, Rigger 3, State of the Art: 2063, and State of the Art: 2064.

Unwired is a tricky one since the Matrix changes so much each edition, but it broadly updates rules and programs from Virtual Realities, Virtual Realities 2.0, and Matrix.

Runner's Companion updates some rules and character options from the two Shadowrun Companions and the Sprawl Survival Guide.

Naturally, this is a rough list - for example, the Spell/Spirit Knack qualities in Street Magic first showed up in the Shadowrun Companion, and one can trace animal reagents to Paranormal Animals of Europe if they really wanted to.
Phylos Fett
So, stuff like Lone Star Sourcebook, Corporate Security Handbook, Mr Johnson's Little Black Book and others are still yet to be "updated"?
Ancient History
QUOTE (Darth Phylos @ Mar 26 2009, 01:18 AM) *
Corporate Security Handbook

Damn, forgot that one.

It's not a matter of "updating." There's plenty of gear and other "crunch" that hasn't made it into 4th edition (and probably never will; I never thought I'd get assaying in), but sometimes that's because it isn't appropriate for the new edition (cyberdecks, for example). Same-same with fluff, we haven't gotten to covering London yet this edition and we might never. There's nothing anywhere that says we have to redo every bloody book.

Phylos Fett
QUOTE (Ancient History @ Mar 26 2009, 11:32 AM) *
Damn, forgot that one.

It's not a matter of "updating." There's plenty of gear and other "crunch" that hasn't made it into 4th edition (and probably never will; I never thought I'd get assaying in), but sometimes that's because it isn't appropriate for the new edition (cyberdecks, for example). Same-same with fluff, we haven't gotten to covering London yet this edition and we might never. There's nothing anywhere that says we have to redo every bloody book.


Fair enough - just wasn't sure what had been covered so far (I've been out of the game for a while, as it were), and what the plans for the future were. I didn't want to sit down and do a rehash of some of the information/stats/etc., in one of the older books if it had already been done, or if it was on the cards to be released soon.
Ancient History
Well, I can tell you that at this point we've published the bulk of the straight crunch material as far as lists of gear, vehicles, etc. Digital Grimoire might be indicative of some smaller supplements to cover what we haven't touched on or to add a few more gizmos, but take that with a grain of salt - I'm not in charge of it and I couldn't tell you what's in the works even if I knew.
Phylos Fett
That's cool - appreciate the help.

Synner
I'd also note that unlike the SR3 versions, the various SR4 corebooks now include a lot more (context relevant) setting material. For instance, Augmentation has fiction material bringing into context the medtech industry, societal acceptance and prevalence of bioware and cyberware, who's doing what in which fields, and of course background material on all the various augmentation technologies in the book (ie. biotech, cybertech, genetech and nanotech).
Phylos Fett
QUOTE (Synner @ Mar 26 2009, 11:31 PM) *
I'd also note that unlike the SR3 versions, the various SR4 corebooks now include a lot more (context relevant) setting material. For instance, Augmentation has fiction material bringing into context the medtech industry, societal acceptance and prevalence of bioware and cyberware, who's doing what in which fields, and of course background material on all the various augmentation technologies in the book (ie. biotech, cybertech, genetech and nanotech).


Thanks, Synner - appreciate the info.
BIG BAD BEESTE
The prime difference between 3e and 4e is the way they've brought back more of a feel to the Sixth World. SR3e seemed to concentrate more on rules and data (IMHO) rather than the background essence imparted by SR1e (and to a lesser extent by SR2e). OK, many of the SR3e sourcebooks had plenty of feel and ambience to them (I should know after spending many a night hacking away at the PC writing some of it), but it wasn't so evident in the core rulebooks to the extent that SR4e has done so.

Generally speaking the previous edition sourcebooks are stillll valid for "fluff" and background information as SR4e built upon all that has gone on before. All the SR4e rulebooks work together and replace the SR3e rulebooks. So as a direct comparrison, if you were using Magic in the Shadows, Man & Machine, Matrix, and Cannon Companion with SR3e use Street Magic, Augmentation, Unwired and Arsenal with SR4e. Scenarios and campaign books are plotline specific but you'll need to update or backtrack the Attributes/Skills/Stats inside them to suit your chosen rules set. A simple enough task if not one requiring a little GM prepartion time.
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