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ShimmerGeek
I'd quite like to include more out-of-the-way places in my upcoming Shadowrun campaign; and while Los Angeles/Seattle/Hong Kong/Neotokyo/Chicago/Lagos are all awesome (Hong Kong especially is a favourite), I'm interested in including some lesser-known places.

I only started playing the 4th edition of Shadowrun (and I've decided for simplicities sake to avoid picking up anything earlier, and simply stick with collecting all the books from 4E onwards) but as far as I am aware, there isn't much mentioned about many parts of Africa, Asia or South America beyond a few key places.


What I'd really like is a vague/rough idea of what everyday life is like for people/runners in these countries, so... Is there a big, obvious source of information I'm missing? smile.gif


Sorry if this is a silly question! Thanks smile.gif
blindfox
well, in the end it all depends on how you want it to, doesnt it?
Jaid
feral cities has a pretty quick overview of what africa is like.

but here's the short version: it sucks. everywhere you look, some two-bit warlord is stripping the land of anything of value, including the people on it once the land ceases to be of value. the only reason there isn't constant all-out warfare is that said warlords may as well themselves be the property of the megacorps who are likewise sucking the land dry (and throwing their old, crappy, 5th or 6th hand non-milspec weaponry to the warlords to get permission to do so). the exception to this is azania, the superhappy land of ghouls. rather than plundering their own land and destroying it in the process, (they've actually got diamond mines and such, but haven't sold themselves into effective slavery like every other 'nation' in africa pretty much has), and they've set up a supply chain of metahuman meat so fresh you can hear it scream when you bite into them (no, really, that's not just a figure of speech; they really are kept alive to ensure freshness, and to decrease the odds of a shedim running off with their meal of course).

oh, and pretty much any city (well... what passes for a city there... more like a collection of ramshackle huts and hovels) on the coastline has pirates who are desparate and crazy enough to do just about anything to earn enough money to not starve to death.

so, there you go; shadowrun africa 2070 in a nutshell.
Mäx
QUOTE (ShimmerGeek @ Aug 30 2009, 01:58 AM) *
I'd quite like to include more out-of-the-way places in my upcoming Shadowrun campaign; and while Los Angeles/Seattle/Hong Kong/Neotokyo/Chicago/Lagos are all awesome (Hong Kong especially is a favourite), I'm interested in including some lesser-known places.

I only started playing the 4th edition of Shadowrun (and I've decided for simplicities sake to avoid picking up anything earlier, and simply stick with collecting all the books from 4E onwards) but as far as I am aware, there isn't much mentioned about many parts of Africa, Asia or South America beyond a few key places.


What I'd really like is a vague/rough idea of what everyday life is like for people/runners in these countries, so... Is there a big, obvious source of information I'm missing? smile.gif


Sorry if this is a silly question! Thanks smile.gif

Best way to get information, would be getting ahold of copies of Shadow of Asia and Shadows of Europa, thier 3rd edition books detailing the conitinents mentiond in the titles.
They're really good sources of information, ofcource hte info is few years out of date as these are from the 3rd ed.
Krypter
QUOTE (Jaid @ Aug 29 2009, 06:26 PM) *
they've set up a supply chain of metahuman meat so fresh you can hear it scream when you bite into them
And the rest of the world hasn't nuked them yet why, exactly?
Jaid
QUOTE (Krypter @ Aug 29 2009, 06:45 PM) *
And the rest of the world hasn't nuked them yet why, exactly?


because the rest of the world is too busy dealing with more important things than worrying about a bunch of poverty-stricken nobodies in africa who were probably just going to starve to death anyways (or get shot)... important stuff like watching TV or feeding their BTL habit.
BishopMcQ
If you are deadset against picking up any of the previous edition sourcebooks, your best bet will be to wait for the Almanac. It was talked about at GenCon, but street dates have been issued yet.
Krypter
Will the Almanac cover the whole world or just the most popular parts? Sounds like rather a grand project if the former...
Bugfoxmaster
The 'Shadows of (North America, Asia, Europe)' series is, in-game, only something like 6 or 7 years old. It's not really out of date. Extrapolate from the hooks they left inside, or make up your own details.
ShimmerGeek
QUOTE (Krypter @ Aug 30 2009, 03:30 AM) *
Will the Almanac cover the whole world or just the most popular parts? Sounds like rather a grand project if the former...


If it covers the whole world, that would be truly awesome. rotfl.gif


That would be like the best thing ever grinbig.gif
ShimmerGeek
Thanks for the brief overview of Africa - that's really helpful smile.gif

I just wondered what the "Third World" (okay, bad expression, especially in Shadowrun wink.gif) became like in many places across the world - I know that Japan created wireless power beamed by sattelites, but aside from that - not very much!


What kindof place is the Phillipines since it got away from JIS? And has anyone done anything with the tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific? (Fiji, etc.)


I'll try to pick up a copy of Shadows of Europe/Asia soon, unless the Almanac beats me to finishing the big pile of Shadowrun stuff (everything 4E so far) I have left to read wink.gif
TBRMInsanity
QUOTE (Bugfoxmaster @ Aug 29 2009, 09:02 PM) *
The 'Shadows of (North America, Asia, Europe)' series is, in-game, only something like 6 or 7 years old. It's not really out of date. Extrapolate from the hooks they left inside, or make up your own details.


I still reference my Shadows books and I haven't played SR3 in almost 5 years. On of the cooler concepts I had was a run in Afghanistan (three missions, a raid, an escort of the raided material, and ending with trying to sell off the stolen goods).
Bugfoxmaster
That IS pretty cool. The Shadows of Whatever series contain a lot of th information you'll need on Europe, North America, and Asia, and besides North America (which gets the full treatment from like EVERY book), the other two will be your main sources of recent information. The're apparently coming out with a 'Shadows of Latin America' soon. We can only hope Aztlan has imploded...
Krypter
One can only hope they get the demographics right.
BishopMcQ
The First rule of SoLA is we DO NOT talk about SoLA...

It's been "coming soon" for a long time, and while there's never been an official announcement, my best guess is that it is DOA.

RE: SoE and SoA--Both books still live perpetually on my desk for reference material when working on campaign stuff.
Krypter
QUOTE (BishopMcQ @ Aug 30 2009, 12:57 PM) *
SoLA...DOA.
Oh? How come?
BishopMcQ
As I understand, there were some problems with the project being passed off between FanPro and CGL, and parts of the material have been sewn into other projects. Beyond that, all of the material was written for SR3 which means it would need a revamp to come into SR4 and the current timeline.

I didn't work on the project, I'm just compiling all the disparate data that has floated around for years. LINK to the best summary I can find.

Edit: In the Link, read Demonseed Elite, JongWK, and Adam's posts for the most concise understanding. They were all associated with the project.
RunnerPaul
[ Ignore this post. BishopMcQ's link above explains it better than my attempt to does. ]
Krypter
Damn, that's an unpleasant situation. Thanks for the info.
BishopMcQ
One caveat I'd like to mention, since it often comes up when talking about SoLA, is that Simple doesn't mean Easy. In the thread from the link above, a lot of people were tossing around "simple plans." As Adam described though, there's a lot more work that goes into the process than meets the eye. (Metaphor time: Lifting an engine block out of a car is simple--but it isn't easy, that thing is damned heavy.)

QUOTE (Krypter)
Will the Almanac cover the whole world or just the most popular parts? Sounds like rather a grand project if the former...
I'm not sure what has been announced about it, but my guess is the Almanac will explain everything you need to know about the Sixth World, though probably without the Sunrise/Sunset times. Kinda like a real almanac... biggrin.gif
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