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Cardul
You know, I read one thing in the chat, and it got me thinking:
What does a Rigger, I mean a true, old school vehicle rigger(not those pansy arse Drone Riggers!)need on a sheet?
Since even the line Developed had not clue at the time, it got me thinking even more..

And I realized there is a rather huge issue in the generic shadowrun sheets.
There is never enough space for a Streetsam to put their augs, or a mage to put their
spells, or even for a Technomancer to put their complex forms or a Hacker to put their programs.
All my character sheets invariably end up with as much(or more) stuff on the back as on the
actual sheet.

That said, however, I think there are some obvious things that would need to be on an extended vehicle
sheet:

First, the basic stats of the vehicle. These could easily go in a column to one side. The condition track for the vehicle,
and then a column of the modifications, the number of slots they used up, and the number of modification slots
the given vehicle has. I could easily see these as being 2 vehicles per sheet. You could probably do this for
Commlinks.

A Cyberware sheet for a Street Sam could include some boxes for cyberlimbs and what, exactly, they have in them
using something similar: Limb, Strength, Body, Agility, and what is in it. Additionally, having half the sheet taken
up by generic enhancements, even splitting them up into Cyber/Nanoware and Bio/Geneware.

Mages and Technomancers getting a sheet that has their Spells/complex forms, Bound Spirits/registered Sprites,
Metamagics/Echoes from Initiation/Submersion, as well as the basic info of their Tradition/Stream.

I also miss the classic SR2 "Mook Sheets", the whole bunch of condition monitors. I would love to see a return
of these.
Rotbart van Dainig
Honestly, that was always a problem with Shadowrun. Too many skills, too may spells, too many stuff to fit on a sheet.

PS: English has a gender-neutral pronoun, too - "it". Hencforth, characters should be referred to as "it." grinbig.gif
hobgoblin
QUOTE (pbangarth @ Sep 20 2009, 12:45 AM) *
Let's switch Dumpshock to Hungarian. That language has a gender-neutral third person pronoun.

would it not be more in-theme to go japanese?

as for the talk about getting the grit back, i think the problem there is that basically, gear books sell more then theme books...

also, people may want to go second hand cyber/bio for medical reasons rather then trying to get that +1 on something...

that is, have your charater live low lifestyle or similar, with a second hand cyberhand because he had the original blown of by a ganger with a shotgun for crossing the road at the wrong time...
Bladerunner
QUOTE (Cardul @ Sep 20 2009, 07:58 AM) *
That said, however, I think there are some obvious things that would need to be on an extended vehicle
sheet:

First, the basic stats of the vehicle. These could easily go in a column to one side. The condition track for the vehicle,
and then a column of the modifications, the number of slots they used up, and the number of modification slots
the given vehicle has. I could easily see these as being 2 vehicles per sheet.



That's pretty much why I brought it up. The current room on the SR4A sheet is pathetic. That's not to say I don't understand why it's small (overall trying to integrate as much diversity into the main sheet as possible) but an extended vehicle sheet had to be made. Even the link posted above that shows the Mook sheet has a vehicle sheet, but it too is pathetically small room for mods and etc.

Which....is why I spent several hours last night and made my own. I'll share it with the community in a little bit after some tweaking. Hopefully it has the room we need and lists what needs to be listed.


Method
QUOTE (Rotbart van Dainig @ Sep 20 2009, 02:32 AM) *
PS: English has a gender-neutral pronoun, too - "it". Hencforth, characters should be referred to as "it." grinbig.gif
I was tempted to make that statement but I figured that people would take it too seriously. grinbig.gif
Rotbart van Dainig
It would add to the dystopian feeling, though. biggrin.gif
Warlordtheft
Well, for some PC's "it" would be more appropriate than he/she. AI's, spirits, some mutated changlings (AKA surge).
StealthSigma
QUOTE (Warlordtheft @ Sep 21 2009, 10:41 AM) *
Well, for some PC's "it" would be more appropriate than he/she. AI's, spirits, some mutated changlings (AKA surge).


I think 'It' would be an appropriate modifier given how much cyberization can occur. In a world where you can technically get a penile implant on your forehead or breast implants on your buttocks, I don't think referring to anything as a he or she is necessarily wise.
Jeffrey Webb
Greets - Been playing since 1e, lurking at DS for a while, decided to register to get involved with this conversation.

I'm going to chime in on Shadowbeat, I know some of you don't get why, but the Rocker was an archetype in 1e for a reason. The gaming version of the Cyberpunk movement (an odd derivation of the literary movement by Gibson, Sterling etc.) had from the beginning a strong musical vibe, one that was touched on by both major Cyberpunk RPGs (CP and SR) and some media at the time (Bubblegum Crisis, etc.) With the advent of home console games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I've noticed a certain amount of cross-pollination in my games where PCs in several genres have chosen to take instrumental or performance skills either as a hobby, or as a legitimate job in addition to less legal pursuits like Shadowrunning.

My other "Dream Book" would be something like "The Shadowrunner's Guide to the 2050s". I'm another one who loves the 4e rules, but really doesn't get into the new look, feel and makeup of the game world in the current-day. Call me a grognard if you must, but I agree with Bull on this one, Shadowrun needs to at least have the option of remaining Shadowrun. I *like* Deckers. I'd love to see an official rules set for the older Matrix and Cyberdecks. Kinda like how Battletech can be played in the "current day", or in the Clan War, or in the Succession Wars. The current rules set supports all of that. Unfortunately, SR4 doesn't have the information available (from canon sources, there are some great fan efforts) to allow me to run a game in the 50s with rules for what a Fuchi-4 can do.

So that's my wish list. The reality is that the game must continue as-is, for fear of alienating the current audience and new players for which this has always been the Shadowrun they know. For us older players, I don't think a retro-sourcebook would be too much effort, hell PDF only would be fine, and it would throw folks like us a bone for letting us use the snazzy new rules with the more traditional background.
JM Hardy
QUOTE (Rotbart van Dainig @ Sep 20 2009, 04:32 AM) *
PS: English has a gender-neutral pronoun, too - "it". Hencforth, characters should be referred to as "it." grinbig.gif


Actually, we have another choice, which is similar to the French gender-neutral pronoun of "on"--"one." Using that pronoun, we could rewrite rules thusly:

"Gear is stuff the character owns. Gear includes one's trusted sidearm, one's nightclub clothes and corporate drone disguise, one's micro-transceiver . . . Once the game starts, anything a character wants to buy, one will have to buy with money one earns."

That's beautiful. That sings, baby. We're switching over to "one."

As far as some earlier comments go, I asked for input because I'm willing to listen to it. But it should be self-evident that I can't go with every suggestion on this thread, and I'll have to pick and choose, and my criteria for picking and choosing inevitably fall in line with my own leanings and preferences. But one of those leanings is to make a game that other people, lots of other people and not just me, like. So there's that.

Jason H.
Blade
QUOTE ('JM Hardy')
But it should be self-evident that I can't go with every suggestion on this thread


Even this one:

QUOTE (JM Hardy @ Sep 11 2009, 10:12 PM) *
No! No grains of salt! I'm doing each and every suggestion in this thread! Even the ones that contradict each other!

Especially the ones that contradict each other!

Jason H.

?

frown.gif
BlueMax
I continue to beg for example characters and using the example characters name. When I started RPGs in 1979, we had Morgan Ironwolf and it worked well.
"Morgan purchases items in town"
"Morgan dodges the attack."

And Morgan was a she but they never used the pronoun.

BlueMax
/now, get off my lawn
// knew quite a few people who named their male characters Morgan Ironwolf
/// We all fail at reading comprehension now and then.

QUOTE (JM Hardy @ Sep 21 2009, 09:47 AM) *
Actually, we have another choice, which is similar to the French gender-neutral pronoun of "on"--"one." Using that pronoun, we could rewrite rules thusly:

"Gear is stuff the character owns. Gear includes one's trusted sidearm, one's nightclub clothes and corporate drone disguise, one's micro-transceiver . . . Once the game starts, anything a character wants to buy, one will have to buy with money one earns."

That's beautiful. That sings, baby. We're switching over to "one."

As far as some earlier comments go, I asked for input because I'm willing to listen to it. But it should be self-evident that I can't go with every suggestion on this thread, and I'll have to pick and choose, and my criteria for picking and choosing inevitably fall in line with my own leanings and preferences. But one of those leanings is to make a game that other people, lots of other people and not just me, like. So there's that.

Jason H.

StealthSigma
QUOTE (BlueMax @ Sep 21 2009, 01:02 PM) *
I continue to beg for example characters and using the example characters name. When I started RPGs in 1979, we had Morgan Ironwolf and it worked well.
"Morgan purchases items in town"
"Morgan dodges the attack."

And Morgan was a she but they never used the pronoun.


That's one of the things I love about the books in the cancer causing game. Those books always use the sample characters for describing situations. It would definitely be a nice continuity thing to name the sample characters and use them in the example texts instead of random names like Billy, Bobby, Sally, Sue or Amadeus.
Jeffrey Webb
QUOTE (StealthSigma @ Sep 21 2009, 11:13 AM) *
That's one of the things I love about the books in the cancer causing game. Those books always use the sample characters for describing situations. It would definitely be a nice continuity thing to name the sample characters and use them in the example texts instead of random names like Billy, Bobby, Sally, Sue or Amadeus.


You mean names like Neddy, Grinder, Dodger, Ghost... erm... Sally...
Penta
In all seriousness - vehicle design rules. Vehicle statting hints for the GM. Something along those lines.
BookWyrm
Any chance of getting the SR4a character sheets as a PDF?
Fezig
QUOTE (BookWyrm @ Sep 23 2009, 11:04 AM) *
Any chance of getting the SR4a character sheets as a PDF?


Adam posted earlier on this thread (page 2 or 3 I think...) that it is something he is trying to fit in but has yet to find time for. He also was kind enough to include a link to the sheet in the same post.
BookWyrm
Thanks, Fezig. biggrin.gif
Grinder
QUOTE (BookWyrm @ Sep 24 2009, 04:28 AM) *
Thanks, Adam. biggrin.gif


Fixed that for you. grinbig.gif
Kitsu
(Yes, I signed on to be able to post this)

Kitsu's Megapulse of things for Shadowrun

* Bring back my Noir! Several people in the thread have asked for a return of "grit" to the game. I would agree, but suggest that what's really missing is not so much grittiness as Noir. "Grit" can suggest a harsh realism, which I don't think adequately fits the fantasy aspects of the setting. Noir is stylized instead of grittily realistic, with hard-boiled, morally ambivalent, socially distant, casually cruel characters. It has equal distaste for rigid heroes and depraved villains. It deconstructs community as being inescapably surrounded, romance as commodity sex, heroes as hired mercenaries, and victims as the naive and unsavvy. Sometimes, protagonists make the transition from ambivalence to involvement, and the result is storytelling gold. Sometimes, the protagonists fall, or fail to escape from their condition, always getting pulled back in and never finding a way out.

* Art book. Got one for BattleTech; Shadowrun needs one too. I think it could also cover the calls for returning the noir and cyberpunk influences. Have an entire section on thematic, inspirational media, for the reader to explore. New art with low-key, dramatic lighting, especially, to recapture the Noir. Heck, go ahead and acknowledge all the influences, by having manga style, comic books style, etc. And bring back a lot of the classic art from previous books, including the real-life models stuff. spin.gif

* Update the rest of the core book set to SR4 Anniversary standards. Expand, correct, reorganize, and reprint, please.

* The vehicle rules are scattered and hard to follow. Especially when trying to figure out sensors and node ratings. The Arsenal vehicle listing is also pruned compared to earlier editions. I think this can be fixed without having a whole new edition of RBB (though I do love my old RBBs). If we had well organized stats/codes to describe vehicular systems (chassis, drive, node, sensors, modifications, accessories, passengers, cargo), I think that would help a lot. I don't think the rules need to be complicated, but enough to know what's in there would be nice. In fact, I think that a good set of blank vehicle sheets could help a lot. Take inspiration from the 25 years' development of the BattleTech sheets, for displaying how much space things take up, and where, and what the final stats are... and fit it all on one page.

* Set up a regional volunteer program, for writing and publishing fan-written adventure packs, set in that region. For example: I'm in SE USA in real life -- I get together on a forum with some like-minded gamers, and we assemble our favorite adventure ideas set in the CAS. Use the creativity of the players to develop the shared game world. Have a bit of official support to get those adventures and supplemental material up to the proper standard, and eventually perhaps published as a new set of Neo-Anarchists' Guides!

* More NERPS.

* A realms guide, for complete-immersion adventures. Specifically, what happens when an entire runner team has to go into a UV node, or take an astral gateway to a metaplane? In our game (and I suspect most), the hacker or the wiz gets their immersion adventure glossed over, for the sake of reuniting the party... this would be the guide for bringing those adventures into detail.

* Take advantage of the other CatLabs settings. Want to run a Desert Wars battle, or a T-bird skirmish? Download the PDF rules addendum for using BattleTech: Total Warfare for 6th World combatants. Need a new Threat? Download the PDF rules addendum for using CthulhuTech cults as villainous guest stars.

* A big, poster sized map of the Sixth World. Sponsored by NERPS of course. Load it up with URLs to web pages with more information, user blogs, and pictures, pictures, pictures.

* Horrors, and guidelines for making up our own Threats from beyond.

* A Big Book of Alternate Campaigns and Characters: Reporters. Cops. Federal Agents. Company Men. Metaplanar Denizens. Soldiers. Smugglers. Simsense Stars. Rockers. Deep Sea Explorers. Astronauts. Spike Babies or the otherwise-aware in the 20th Century / Fifth World. Gangsters. Pirates. Exorcists. Matrix Born. Average Joes who get in over their head. Victims of the supernatural. Parapsychologists. Tinfoil-wearing weirdos. Private detectives. Rebels, terrorists, and radicals. Shadowrunner wannabes. Matrix ghosts. Souls trapped in metaplanes.

* Put some of the new adventures online! The PDFs are great. I love the PDF and book combos. What I'm suggesting is, when you write an adventure, take the adventure sections and put each section up on a web page, with links to the various next sections. So, when we're playing with a laptop (which is now common at my table), we can navigate the adventure as web pages with links, rather than scrolling up and down. Allow fan commentary on the sections, and on the adventure itself, as well. And pointers to any specific rules sections that might be relevant or useful.



And finally... welcome to the firing line. grinbig.gif
Method
Yeah! We need an art book!!

oh wait... biggrin.gif
Adam
Can we have a little while to get some more awesome color artwork finished before we do another art book? Say, maybe, 25th Anniversary, like BattleTech's art book? wink.gif
Chrysalis
I have a request. Can we get for Next years April fools a shadowrunner coloring book?

I know blood is hard to keep in the lines, but I have some gamer parents who would get a kick out of it.
Kitsu
QUOTE (Method @ Sep 25 2009, 01:08 AM) *
Yeah! We need an art book!!

oh wait... biggrin.gif



That one's from 1997. I shudder to think of the SOTA roll we'd have to make for that.

(but yeah, fair enough, point taken)
Kitsu
QUOTE (Adam @ Sep 25 2009, 02:43 AM) *
Can we have a little while to get some more awesome color artwork finished before we do another art book? Say, maybe, 25th Anniversary, like BattleTech's art book? wink.gif


Actually, can we have a shadowrun against Harmony Gold to get the rights to the ReUnSeen? grinbig.gif
BookWyrm
OK, one last (at least for now) stupid question;

After printing out the SR4a character sheet, I noticed in Skills, RTG (meaning Rating), ATT (meaning LInked Attribue) and DP. What is the "DP" ?

And YES, I've already heard all the bad jokes before. I'm asking a legitimate question.
Tachi
Total Dice Pool before modifiers, I think.
ravensmuse
QUOTE (Kitsu @ Sep 24 2009, 10:22 AM) *
* Set up a regional volunteer program, for writing and publishing fan-written adventure packs, set in that region. For example: I'm in SE USA in real life -- I get together on a forum with some like-minded gamers, and we assemble our favorite adventure ideas set in the CAS. Use the creativity of the players to develop the shared game world. Have a bit of official support to get those adventures and supplemental material up to the proper standard, and eventually perhaps published as a new set of Neo-Anarchists' Guides!


QUOTE
* A Big Book of Alternate Campaigns and Characters: Reporters. Cops. Federal Agents. Company Men. Metaplanar Denizens. Soldiers. Smugglers. Simsense Stars. Rockers. Deep Sea Explorers. Astronauts. Spike Babies or the otherwise-aware in the 20th Century / Fifth World. Gangsters. Pirates. Exorcists. Matrix Born. Average Joes who get in over their head. Victims of the supernatural. Parapsychologists. Tinfoil-wearing weirdos. Private detectives. Rebels, terrorists, and radicals. Shadowrunner wannabes. Matrix ghosts. Souls trapped in metaplanes.

* Put some of the new adventures online! The PDFs are great. I love the PDF and book combos. What I'm suggesting is, when you write an adventure, take the adventure sections and put each section up on a web page, with links to the various next sections. So, when we're playing with a laptop (which is now common at my table), we can navigate the adventure as web pages with links, rather than scrolling up and down. Allow fan commentary on the sections, and on the adventure itself, as well. And pointers to any specific rules sections that might be relevant or useful.

Psst, check out Bull's Data Haven postings. There be rumblings in the fan community smile.gif

QUOTE
* A big, poster sized map of the Sixth World. Sponsored by NERPS of course. Load it up with URLs to web pages with more information, user blogs, and pictures, pictures, pictures.

Sixth World Almanac, on its way smile.gif
Larsine
QUOTE (BookWyrm @ Sep 25 2009, 08:00 PM) *
OK, one last (at least for now) stupid question;

After printing out the SR4a character sheet, I noticed in Skills, RTG (meaning Rating), ATT (meaning LInked Attribue) and DP. What is the "DP" ?


DP = Dice Pool (sum of RTG and ATT, for the mathematically impared).

Lars
Caine Hazen
QUOTE (ravensmuse @ Sep 25 2009, 01:57 PM) *
Psst, check out Bull's Data Haven postings. There be rumblings in the fan community smile.gif

Also http://www.catalystdemos.com/ and the Missions adventures. Get involved now, as things are starting to shape up here.
BookWyrm
Thanks, Larsine & Tachi. biggrin.gif
Cardul
QUOTE (Kitsu @ Sep 25 2009, 10:05 AM) *
That one's from 1997. I shudder to think of the SOTA roll we'd have to make for that.

(but yeah, fair enough, point taken)


High Tech, Low Life, I think, was probably the best purchase outside of all the
new stuff that I got at GenCon...It is also kind of amusing to look through there,
then see some of that showing up in the SR4A...
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