So, we’ve had PDF publications covering aircraft (Unfriendly Skies), military vehicles (along with other military gear--MilSpecTech) and drones (This Old Drone). I’d say it’s high time we put some watercraft out there. So we did! Out now for your purchasing and perusing pleasure--Deadly Waves (for sale on the Battleshop and DriveThruRPG)! Let’s go to the rundown:

Run on Water

More than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. That means that two-thirds of the Earth is covered in escape routes, infiltration points, and hiding places that people stuck on land constantly overlook. If you want to know how to use all that blue to your advantage, you need to know the boats that are out there, what they can do, and how your competition is putting them to use.

Deadly Waves collects information about thirty different watercraft, from the fast and agile Wave Cutter to the luxurious, self-maintaining Zeppelinwerke Elite Cruiser to the hulking yet surprisingly quick Maersk-Jorgenson Fast Freighter. Runners can use this book to gain all sorts of options for taking to the water, whether they’re planning a quick jaunt or embarking on a long voyage.

Deadly Waves is for use with Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.



On top of that, we have a new printing of Arsenal--the book with the guns and the armor and the explosions and the hurting--that’s out and about. It has page references updated to Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition, a few typo fixes, and a shiny new cover. Check it out at the Battleshop or DrivethruRPG! Note that if you have previously purchased the Arsenal PDF, these changes should be available to you as a free update.

Jason H.

There goes the budget.

Sold I love that Catalyst keeps tweaking, improving, and correcting its products. Together with Catalyst's apparent responsiveness to the online gaming community, this is a big reason that I love SR4 so much.

So it has no Errata?

I was thinking that myself.

On a very quick glance: Seems okay. I'll reread tomorrow when I'm more awake and less alcoholised, but the art looks good, even the few photomanips, and the stats seem somewhat okay. Nice to have a houseboat included.

But drunken ranting and raving is the best ranting and raving!

I'm a peaceful drunk. I rant and rave easier, more and better when sober.

Fikealox, there's no call for that kind of vicious sarcasm. … Wait, were you serious?

There really, really needs to be a sarcasm font.

Some people are super mellow on alcohol. And then there's tequila. Nothing good ever comes from tequila.

Bah It's the jägermeister that always got me in trouble. Tequila has always been kind to me.

I just assume it's the default.

yeah, but sometimes you need blunt sarcasm.
To really point things out.
With a sledgehammer.

Just keep me away from that vodka, especially if mixed up with sprite or 7-up...

The Battleshop Update Download still gets you the previous version of Arsenal.

Didn't read the announcement of the new cover on Facebook?
Due to popular demand, here's the cover on the Arsenal reprint. In the reprint, page references are updated to SR4A, and some other typos were corrected, but there have been no real revisions. It's primarily aimed at people who do not have the book yet--those who have it shouldn't feel compelled to buy another copy. Unless they really want to.

OK, first impression of Deadly Waves: The Obsolescent Trait again, yet another book of outdated stuff nobody is ever going to use - oh wait
A larger scooter, a houseboat...that actually looks like stuff an average runner might be able to use. My group is in LA right now, so it might be a purchase.

Heh, can't even figure out why they bothered to print the Obsolescent Trait in to this one, the Suzuki Watersport is the only vehicle that has it and it's pretty meaningless trait in a water scooter so the Watersport not having it wouldn't be much of a difference. Not that the trait in question stopped me from planning to get many drones from this old drone to my rigger builds

Personally i would really recommend it, there are many nice vehicles that a runner can afford(I'm especially thinking about getting either the houseboat or a sailing yacht as a home to some future character build, or maybe even for some older one thats not quite finished) and the bigger thinks are nice as targets.

Me too.

Then I have to wonder why even bother updating the document if it doesn't include errata. Now work will have to be duplicated, or should we see this as a sign errata isn't on the list of things to do?

*A* sign? Oh well.

(disclaimer, this is not a Nazi comparison)
Somehow I just had to think of the old Titanic issue I came across yesterday, heading: "Horrible Suspicion: Was Hitler an anti-semite?"
Signs that CGL does not do errata have long since become superfluous...


As far as the Obsolescent and similar traits are concerned, it not the Trait itself which ticks me off, but the fact that it has often been accompanied by yet another list of subjectively useless vintage equipment. So if there's useful stuff inside, it's a pleasant surprise.

I guess all this ancient gear significantly increases the ability of groups to play SR4 'authentically' in the slummy and backwater regions, which would also be the more lawless ones. *shrug*

Old gear also doesn't have the RFID Tag Spamming problem in new products that is a major issue for Shadowrunners.

And with a legitimate reason, too.

Still no cargo capacity rules. <sigh>





-k

I know usefulness of stuff is very subjective, but IMO losts of that vintage stuff is very good, some being even better then newer stuff.

Also as my last post said, there's exactly one vehicle in this that has Obsolescent Trait.

I doubt we'll see it in a PDF Document if we see it at all.

Reading it and prepping a review, but there is one thing I just have to share beforehand:


"They" is the Cartel Courier Submarine. Submarine. As in, ship that travels under water. In an ocean.

WHAT.

So now, Bogotá not only lies in the jungle and has moved out of the Andes somehow, it also is a sea port? Seriously, do your research people. This is dragging down my opinion of what is otherwise the best stuff supplement yet.

get more drunk, get a hangover, get cranky, THEN rant and rave ^^

Awesome art.
Now, I just wonder how many books will it take Shadowrun to get the name of Krasnoe Sormovo shipyard right, as well as learning to differentiate Komsomolsk (-na-Amure, I presume, is it even Russian yet?) and Nizhny Novgorod...

Okay, review time.

The book is laid out like the previous books of this kind have been - one item a page, like the gearbooks of old, lots of shadowtalk. I like that format. It's also full colour again, which I also support.

The art is very good throughout the book. Kudos to the artists. Also, kudos on the guy who does the photomanips for making photomanips look good, I just now realised the Tiger in Unfriendly Skies probably is one too. The art usually fits the vehicles well, though i'd have prefered a more dashing, pimped design for the Zeppelinwerke yacht. But whatever, it blends together nicely and transports a consistent look and atmosphere, something I missed with, say, Gun Haven. It's a nice mix, art-wise, of coloured old art and new stuff. Especially appreciated the Riverine from a new perspective that yet looks like a Riverine in old art did.

The content also is nice. Lots of familiar names, which is what SR4 so far has lacked, and nearly everything feels relevant. From the house boat (which I will use as a mobile hdeout, it's just too tempting) to the jetski to the yachts and even the freighters and warships, this is stuff runners and related characters have a high chance of getting n contact with. No nuke sats, no highly experimental aerosub carriers straight from a bizarre Ace Combat installation, just bread-and-butter vehicles. The shadowtalk also often offers ideas for using these in a campaign, from the scooters to the high-sea luxury sailing yachts. Well done.

The stats check out too most of the time (issues with the general idea of mega damage aside, which don't belong here). No overly noticeable blunders, but that's probably better left to better rules lawyers than myself. I did wonder, though, if not some vehicles that are said to be out of production for years other than the Watersport should have gotten the obsolescent trait, and have been missing some of the depicted weapons with the Tiburon and Riverine. But after other PDFs, that's relatively small fry.

Bottom line: A fun PDF that will make you want to take your PC to the sea a bit more. Definitly worth the money.

Just, damnit, read up on geography whenever you mention Bogotá, okay?

8/10 points. This is a good book. Keep up that quality.

Not gonna argue about a watercraft being a way out of Bogota, but cartel courier isn't a submarine, it's a semi-submersible boat.

I was personally thinking of getting Sendaku Marlin sail boat for that purpose, it's cheaper and has high amenities instead of middle.

Okay, but it's still ill-fitted for mountain passes.

Barrel>Cataract. It works as a way OUT . . if you survive . .

Assuming you find a cateract where it won't simply stick to the ground. Bogota is short on anything like a remotely sufficiently large river anyway.

Wouldn't know, never been there.

But I'm thinking some water smuggling might be capable in my neck of the woods. Problem is, if you're detected, it's really hard to get away in a boat when you're stuck in a river.

frag you buggers, drop this one out the cargo hatch the day AFTER i break down and get almost all the pdf only stuff. Came into Fed Ex Kinkos to print them up tonight and find that you have another......frag i feel like Eric Cartman.

I don't see how you can call the re-release of Arsenal "new". It contains all of the printing errors that were in the original book. Every single item that was fixed in the Sept 2008 errata is missing from this re-release. It's the old book with a new cover and the page references changed from SR4 to SR4A.

No they got the geography right. You'll be using that bucket!

It looks interesting but I'll have to hold off.

My group is currently running in Denver and there just isn't much call for watercraft there.

So Arsenal got de-errataed like the new printing of Street Magic?

Looks like.

Comparing p.3 of the preview with the changes in the official errata...yes, it is. What the fuck, just when you think CGL is getting things back on track again.

*pats german pegasus books with included errata*

Makes me wonder if someone did not leave all their files behind when exiting the company.

Just wait for the next step of CGL's great plan: Secret goon squads will seek out each and every owner of a hardcopy containing that which cannot be and erase it - as well as any witnesses.
To correct is to doubt the forseen fate
Doubt is the open gate through which slips the most fatal of enemies
Ignorance is strength, Brothers!

Wait . . this means they did not take their corrected version but an even older version?
Their very first printing? And wrapped out new german cover around the Arsenal?

This.
In one fell swoop, all blasphemous aberrations were cleansed.

(well, the page references obviously were updated...)

Yeah, this just seems incredibly stupid. If you put the time, effor, and money into "fixing the typos" (all of the typos from the errata are completely missed), changing page numbers, cover art, getting the printer to do a new run with what is effectively a completely different book, etc., why would you not take the little bit of extra time to incorporate the errata? It's only 2.5 pages of rather simple changes. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that a new printing of a book to contain the errata that was released more than 2.5 freaking years ago. If you're not going to, why bother?!

Perhaps they wanted to avoid us accusing them of releasing Errata only in a new, printed edition. That's the only somewhat plausible reason I can think of.

The question remains, of course, whether they will release the Errata. I guess not, but I can't even think of a reason for that.