Cynthia said that she was writing /d/ this time around, so I have hopes.

Just finished cover to cover and I really like it. A few quick points.

Nice to see lots of the old timers in here. My old buddy Smiling Bandit throw up several post, a whole piece by Fast Jack talking about punching guys in the Junk, etc.

I have a new all time great NPC to pop in. Cat-in-the-bag Man is great. I mean seriously, I couldn't stop cracking up when I read about him. Whoever wrote the bit about that stupid cat-throwing ass-monkey deserves a raise. (Story starts on page 120, best in the book in my personal view and there are lots of good ones)

I really like my line about "UNCLE KANE IS COMING FOR YOU!!!"


That might explain the increase in my ability to stomach her.


FastJack needs to write more. A lot more.

And I really want to read the story when he finally finds someone to punch in the junk. The idea of a Hacker in his 70s beating the drek out of someone just appeals to me somehow.

"Get off my NODE!"

I have very mixed feelings on Attitude, some places it needs more, some I would have just cut out or put in another book. I do like that it tries to update Neo-Anarchist Guide to Real Life a bit but overall its going to be a mixed bag for most people on usage.

My mixed feelings went away when I spent a few hours in a hospital ER finally reading War!. Gives me hope that War! was just a, "We're sorry, we were drunk when we put it together. We'll never do it again..."-moment.

(I couldn't get away from the TVTropes link this time, sorry.).

Well War!, along with 6WA, got stuck in "financial issues" limbo for a while and then required to have various sections rewritten as the existing ones where no longer available for catalyst to use. Under those conditions i say good luck getting a masterpiece out the door.

I was disappointed by 6WA, unhappy with Corp Guide and started getting really afraid about the line after reading War! so I had decided to stop buying SR products until quality rose.

According to some posts here, Attitude seemed better and I'm interested by what it covers so I decided to buy the PDF anyway.

I wanted to wait until I've read it all to give my opinion, but after reading the first two chapters, I decided to post this first review part to warn potential buyers.

Layout, art and overall feel : seems more professional than War! Looks like a solid SR corebook with an introduction and all.

Introduction : Good thing there's one this time. A funny reference to the discussions there had been here about "Caution Tape Girl" and a correct introduction.

The Unthethered Life : Who are runners and why do they run? Good questions, too short and limited answer. They only talk about 3 types of runners: corporate people getting for some reasons not explained (not even an example) in the Shadows, people born in the Streets who rise to the runner status (they don't really say how either) and other (with nearly no other explanation as to who these other are). As for the reasons, they give only two: money and freedom, leaving out a lot of other reasons and not even really explaining the freedom thing.
Maybe the chapter is too short, but it's clearly lacking. Even new players probably won't learn anything from here (at least anything they couldn't guess on their own).
But bonus point for the funny reference to the whole pink mohawk/black trenchcoat thing.

Street Life : A long chapter written as an old runner guiding a newbie in his first steps in the Shadows.
- A lot of lost space: half a page about socks? I mean, it could be ok if it felt like an old runner's strange fixation, but 3 Jackpointers feel obligated to weigh in on that topic as well?!
- Most of the advice seem to be given by someone living in 2011 who imagines how he would do things if he was a runner or a homeless and think he's very clever for getting that to enter a building all you need to do is wait for someone with the access to do it.
- There's one moment where the guy speaks about how it's important to befriend cab and bus drivers, ignoring pre-established fact that most cabs (and many buses too) are automated or remotely rigged. He also talks about commlink games and "stacking lines" as if talking about 2011 cellphone games.
- There are some valid and interesting points about... well attitude, which is nice, though.
- There are many points that are very discutable, but shadowtalker mostly agree with the guy all along. It really feels like something written by a single author who has fake people argue against him so that he can prove himself right by answering them.
- And then there's the twist. Which is just absurd.


So after reading these two chapters, I'm not so confident about the quality of this book. I'll keep reading and let you know if it gets better. It sure looks like it does from a quick scan, but after such a bad start I prefer to make sure.

TUL was mine, and I'm sorry you weren't happy with it. It was a big question to try and answer in a short word count (that I ended up going over anyways), and keeping in mind that this was a book about shadowrunners' attitudes -- not a Runner's Companion or extended character creation type book -- I went for a short, sweet, flavorful answer instead of a more in-depth look. Instead of trying to analyze exactly how an individual runner's background arc might land him in the shadows, I wanted to provide a little information about some shadowrunner stereotypes and give a few ideas about those stereotypes playing out in-game. I wanted to share some of the basic feel and flash (or attitude, for lack of a better term) associated with some of the broad categories of runners that tend to pop up in-universe the most, more than anything else. Most of all, and this is why it's how the piece ended, I wanted to hit home some of the differences/similarities between the safe, mundane, steady work and the pressures of shadowrunning. I wanted to touch on where shadowrunners come from, but also wanted to point out that just because it's not a nine-to-five in a cubicle doesn't mean being a shadowrunner isn't work; just sort of setting the stage for the rest of the book.

I'm sorry if you weren't pleased with the end result, but I appreciate the feedback regardless.

Internet debates sprout about the strangest of topics...

Look how often we'll go around and around on the same things here on Dumpshock.

Look how often drop bears come up.

I know I keep looking up for the little bastards. Just in case.

I've been neglecting the poor beasts lately. Gotta do something about that …

Jason H.

Paranormal animals of 2073. Do it like you did Paranormal animals of North America

INCLUDING THE PICTURES AND FULL PAGE OF SHADOW TALK FOR EACH

I'll buy the PDF and a couple of hard copies!

Please.. please don't.
Because if I somehow get offed by a drop bear in a SR: Missions game, I might just cry.

Hrmmm... Drop Bears for Season 4.5 or the 2012 CMPs....

GenCon Tourney, man. The Drop Bear Uprising. Dig it.

Jason H.

Better yet, the Scramble. We get you a drop bear costume, Jason...

Oh no, the Furries are invading Shadowrun! And they're RABID!

dropbearonomicon?

There should be more Drop Bears, maybe an adventure based off of the conspiracy.

We are watching you.....

We are waiting........

DROP DROP DROP!!!!

Thanks for taking interest in the feedback. I get it that it was hard to fit everything there is to say about the topic in such a small word count.
There are some good points about attitude, I agree. And it's true that it makes you think about how your runner's past can have an impact on the way he'll act and run. But if that's what you wanted to address I think you shouldn't have done it by asking the question "who are the runners?" since your point doesn't really answer the question and - I think - trying to have your point fit in the answer to that question made you spend words that could have been used better.


Once again, I guess you were a victim from the small word count. You only touch the tip of the iceberg, and end up with something that's too vague and general to really stress the point.

Worst, they are Infected™

You know this may be my problem with Attitude as well, it really scratched the surface in many places but I would preferred a more in-depth book with less topics.

[edit] That said the book may not be on my top end of Shadowrun books but its not on the bottom either.

After discussing about the second chapter with Nath, it turns out it could be heavily inspired from a CIA agent handbook, which would explain a lot such as:
- Why half of the chapter doesn't have much to do with being a runner (nor with Attitude)
- Why parts don't seem to take into account that it's the 2070 and the Sixth World (cab drivers, nearly nothing about magic)

So if you're going to do the same for Spy Games, please take into account that the Sixth World isn't our own.

I just had a vicious, evil idea about Who's Run? this year.

It gets better in the third chapter "It's who you know". Solid advice, that fit in the theme of the book with some good points. Not very interesting for veteran SR players and GM but probably interesting for new players and GMs.
No big factual error I could see, consistent and solid writing.

Had a quick look at somebody else's copy, just a few random musings

- The Intro was a real nice touch, tying the cover and the book together
-- Two pieces of intro fiction right after another looked weird - doubly so with the different fonts
- Far too many pirate analogies. There's the tried and true RLS scene, why not use that as an inspiration
- Presentation of crunch information is the same [VERY long beep] as in War!. Not just has it been relegated to sidebar boxes, but the "collected tables" are nothing but a copy and paste of all these boxes, borders and all.
- Content-wise the crunch is getting better
-- Except for the "Goblin Stompers". It took me several minutes to figure out what they do - there's no heading or any kind of highlighting indicating "here's the information about what they do", (f) means "Flechette", and how exactly do I add or substract a reach modifier of "touch" to/from my dice pool?
-- And they still get the notation for turret wrong. How about a free Arsenal copy for writers?
- Is it just me, or is the listing of artists full of names from old books with sudden comebacks. Might have been a nice touch once or twice, but that way it looks more like "we couldn't think of anything new"
- Chuckled when reading the admission that "Developers these days seem to look to nanites as the cure-all". Yes, I hate the nano-handwavium with a passion

Overall, if Attitude is indicative of a trend, post-War! books are getting better...note the continuous aspect.

Re: Old artists. Brent Evans, who came on as art director for CGL less than 2 years ago, has been making a big push toward getting more artists in the Shadowrun Art pool. At Gen Con this past year, a bunch of the old school artists were in attendance, some for the first time in a number of years (Like Jeff Laubenstein). Brent made it a point to contact some of those artists, and I've talked with a handful more that I'm friends with on Facebook who have been getting the Shadowrun bug again. SO it's not just you, but it's not just a matter of "We couldn't think of anything new". SR had a lot of very dedicated artists who loved the game world, but after 10 or more years, burnt out and wanted to move on to other projects for a while, and now some of them are interested in getting involved again, which is fantastic.

Plus Brent continues to look at new art talent as well (I know, I keep sending him links to people's art blogs and deviant art sites), and newer artists like Andreas "Raben-AAS" Shroth and Echo Chernick are a big backbone of the current art team.

Bull

Wait... dA works?

Now I'm scared.

Hey, I'm on dA. I haven't published anything on there in years, but still.

Well, I don't go trolling for artists or anything, but on occasion someone emails the Missions Coordinator email address asking about it, or one of my writers mentions he has a friend, etc... And having a DA page is a good, free way to showcase some artwork online.

Now, granted, it's hit and miss. Some of the so-called "artwork" in Runners Companion, for example, I believe came from a Deviant Artist. Art's not easy. And Brent is incredibly picky, especially when it comes to new artists.

Bull

Doesn't help that artwork is "In the eye of the beholder" even more than writing is.

There is no writing on deviantart. There's fanfiction, and there's "dribbles", but there is no such thing as literature on dA.

No, this is not the bitter mutterings of a guy who worked for ages to try and build a semi-respectable literature community on there, only to have it dashed by people that thought that writing about cutting oneself is the highest form of art. When their joke of a literature magazine came online, I just about quit. Since my (now) wife moving in, my job priorities shifting, and general "I don't need that shit, and frankly junior, neither do you" attitude towards the place, I just don't care.

Not that I'm bitter or anything. ()

***

Regardless, I think my stance on current CGL is pretty open, so that's why I don't submit for anything Catalyst connected. OTOH, Data Haven, should it ever get off the ground, and the blog I will relaunch - damn it - suitably scratch that itch.

Thanks Raven, I love you too. *Points to my Sig*

Fourth chapter (for those who're still interested in my review) "Independent Together" is a strange one. First of all, it doesn't really belong in Attitude. While the previous chapter sometimes had a tenuous link with the expected theme of the book, they still had some points that were linked to "Attitude".

This one doesn't.
It's, supposedly, about a few groups that runners could be interested in joining or could deal with. But it's not exactly about that either. I mean, if they really wanted to do this, they'd have dug up a few existing groups from Loose Alliance or other previous sourcebooks. They'd have a paragraph about how there are groups the runners could be interested in joining with some explanations as to why or how these groups exist.

But that's not the case.
This chapter is actually, I'm pretty sure, a plot hook. It describes 3 shady groups (especially for 2 of them, but I guess the third one is just more insidious) that are interested in getting to know shadowrunners. This may be runner paranoia speaking but I guess it's linked to some Horizon centered plot that will appear soon. Maybe one or even two of these groups are red-herrings, but I'm not even sure.

So it doesn't exactly belong here and without further developments is pretty useless (I mean, GM can still introduce these groups to their PC, but they'd either have to create the whole plot that go with them) but it's hopefully very short.

Actually, I was talking about the in-universe artists which mostly are bands from the 2050s or early 2060s with one sentence worth of new info: "They recently reunited" or "they remain popular". Either the writer was damn lazy, or he does not get that "shit, I listened to THAT?" feeling when looking at the 1996 charts (at least I can claim immaturity ).


But thanks for the insightful answer, anyway.

Aw, but I gave you a winkie and everything!

*Sigh* OK, fine, I forgive you.

And, well, you're right, it is fan fiction as well. Just that, from what people have told me, it's good fiction on it's own as well.

Including some Germans about my Shadowrun stuff. And we all know how big Shadowrun is in Germany! Someone even sent me a Nas Mini. It's cute.

On the Bands...

Having had an long time NPC called CrimeTime who was an ork rapper, I appreciated the write up and now I'm left wondering if he really existed in some older cannon that I either missed or stole him from without remembering.

I also wish there were more new and upcomming bands, ones to watch. Whos hot at Underworld 93?

Iirc there was an adventure with CrimeTime in it involving him and the Vory. Maybe him trying to escape? Anyway he's been around a while.

I know he's in State of the Art 2064. I just read that chapter a few minutes ago.

I guess Shadowrunners don't listen to music that's less than 10 years old.

Kind of like me with Salt n' Peppa.

I don't know there's also a band listed that's only major album is from 2073.

Take into consideration that there's only one ShadowTeen on the JackPoint. /dev/grrl/.

"Music reached it's perfection in the '50s, it's a known scientific fact!"

my NPC was around before that book so I'm in the clear for poaching so far! lol I'm just fearing he has a reference in some 2e book!

heh, tempted to re-purpose that dragon with a SMG instead of the flame thrower. That and some pilot work should work nicely as a weapons platform for a hacker/rigger that can be "worn". This because while it has a weapon mount, the body stat makes it a minidrone rather then a small drone (anything from a comlink on up). And most drones in the larger size are either tracked or wheeled. To really get the right feel for things the drone would need to be walker or such (there is the aztech crawler in SR4A but sadly crawler seems to be used both related to "bug" designs and smaller tracked drones).

Basically what i am looking for is a drone that can climb around on the hacker/rigger, while acting as a weapons platform so that the owner can just point out a target and perhaps expose the drone by having it ride his hand or arm.

edit: darn, i forgot that Arsenal actually holds a list of standard mods for the main book. And it lists ye ol' aztech crawler as having walker mode. Ok, one fixed weapon mount and some gecko tips, here we come. Maybe some basic level mimic to give it that oversized spider pet look

We have street date sign! Attitude will hit the streets on April 27th!

Jason H.