Huh. When I said "exactly why shadowtalk needs to return," I apparently didn't convey what I meant very well. That's a shining example of old shadowtalk: extended, largely irrelevant, and witty. It reads exactly like a thread on forums (like Dumpshock) turning into a meme and spreading out of control. It's fun stuff.
It also seems to have gone somewhat out of style by SR3. Yes, there was still a mix of crunch and fluff, but it was clear which was which and the fluff tended to be much more focused on relevance.
New rulebooks are cleaner, easier to use, and filled with more delicious, crunchy goodness. Still, when I want to give someone an idea of what Shadowrun
feels like I don't hand over the core rulebook. It's easier to pick up the background flavor from skimming the
Street Samurai Catalogue or
Shadowtech. Or the new fluff books, really.
But I still don't laugh nearly as much at the new banter as I do when reading SR2 material. And nothing is as chilling as Hatchetman's story. Although the "Shutdown!" chapter in
Renraku Arcology: Shutdown is pretty nice... (Forced attempt to start quoting again? Yes!)
QUOTE
Uriel (Intruder): Fossils and tortoises. Is that the best you can do?
FastJack: Here's the best I can do, boy.
Uriel (Intruder): Aaaa****—!
Uriel (Intruder) has been disconnected
...
Sammael (Intruder): Superior. Come on, old man. Snips and snails and electron tails. Let's see what this fossil's made of.
Raphael (Intruder): Yeah, let's see his simple mind handle our Complex Forms.
FastJack: Six decades old, and I have to put up with toddlers. I wrote this myself, whelp.
Sammael (Intruder): No—!
Sammael has been disconnected
[sic] on (Intruder) being included on the first disconnect but not the second.
The whole thing is an amazing portrayal of combat without anything remotely resembling combat being explicit.