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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.
* 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.