Me and my gaming group just finished playing in a great mini-campaign based on WAR!, and using the setting information. We played free agents who worked for various factions doing “off-the-books” missions, with the occasional side mission. I wanted to thank CGL for making such a fantastic product and provide some feedback and review on the various sections, along with sharing some of our favorite moments.

The PCs were:

Jake, a neo-tribal Night One; he’d left his people after he lost his legs in an accident and had to get cyberlegs. He was trained in primitive weapons like bows but didn’t object to using technology.

Pyne, a gnome technomancer; he was apparently based on one of the player’s old Otaku characters (since they were all kids).

Hans, a human physical adept martial artist type; he used Krav Maga and a variety of weapons.

I was playing a Qabbalist mage.

The Bogota Background sections:

We were coming in as outsiders, so as players, we didn’t read this section until after the game. However, I could see how well-written it was from how the GM brought the setting alive. We could visualize the NPCs we met so well that pictures were completely unnecessary. Our GM also used lots of the “Shadowtalk” quotes as results for legwork checks - we really liked the consistent characters we interacted with online, and the carefully-inserted grammatical errors gave them the feel of REAL forum posts.

I also really loved the level of detail and development about Bogota, and the way it covered everything from street gangs to pop culture figures. By the end of the mini-campaign, all of us could practically have drawn a map of the war zone in our sleep.

Finally, I wanted to mention an important improvement in WAR! over previous Shadowrun material dealing with wars. WAR! has a nice, clear reason for the conflict. Previous wars, such as the Euro Wars, seem to have been fought for no better reason than so that shadowrunners 30 years later could use war surplus, but this time it was good to know that we were fighting over carnivorous trees.

Global Hotspots:

So, as I said, our campaign was Bogota-focused, and we didn’t use this too much. However, when we needed a break from the intense situation in Bogota, our GM used the “Fleshfinder” adventure as a fun distraction so we could relax a bit and have an adventure in Poland.

We had a pretty rough time with the ghosts at first - especially since we’d never encountered actual spirits of the dead before - but that was a pretty cool twist. After we pulled back, we came up with a final solution to the ghost problem by going back in with gas grenades and flamethrowers - Pyne somehow managed to guess that these weapons would be super effective on them.

After that we had a great, lighthearted dungeon crawl and finally managed to find the knife we were sent in for. Hans decided to keep the weapon and make it his Weapon Focus; from then on he kept it handy in a pocket of his MOSLTOV.

Military Equipment:

On the whole I thought this material was great, and added a lot to the campaign. But I do need to complain about 1 overpowered item - the Ares Shockbeam. We found this weapon was simply way too effective - it lets users deal electrical stun damage twice per initiative pass! It wouldn’t be as bad if there were weapons in the core book that did just as much, or maybe some sort of special ammunition that did the same thing with burst-fire, but the Shockbeam has unique abilities that just made it too good.

Other than that, the weapons added an amazing level of detail. Choosing between three different types of bayonets and the advantages and drawbacks of each really made us feel like we were in a war zone - it wouldn’t be a proper futuristic war without bayonets!

The Thor shot stats proved to be really useful. Our game’s finale involved a Thor shot being fired, and if our GM hadn’t known the exact damage values, it could really have put a damper on our fun - but since we knew the exact damage values, we had no such problems!

After the mess with Form Fitting Body Armor, it was nice to see Softweave as a mechanic for extra armor that’s easy to use and has nice, clear rules. All of us really enjoyed the way it added depth to shopping for new sets of gear every time we increased our strength or body with karma.

We didn’t really play around with the commlinks too much since our only matrix specialist was a technomancer so I can’t say much about that.

Military Drones and Vehicles:

These were great - fighting awesome warmachines with names like the “Kreutzritter” and the “Ruhrmetall Vogelhund” owned, and the detailed descriptions really gave us a clear idea of what the drones looked like.

At first, we had some trouble with the high-armor milspec vehicles - especially Jake, since he mostly used bows. But it turned out the writers had thought of that - the MRSI software let Jake shoot tanks with two arrows at the same time, which let him blow up tanks with ease. It was a really cinematic moment when he first did that - like something out of a movie!

The naval vessel rules also came up once or twice. Probably the best moment for us was when we dressed up in SCUBA gear to steal a missile boat. We snuck onboard in the SCUBA gear, then got Pyne down to the computer where we engaged the ballast tanks, drowning everyone (except us!) on board. They sure never saw that one coming!

Spells and Adept Powers:

Obviously we didn’t use all of these, but I did have a lot of fun using the Slow spell to parachute us down on missions. Also, being able to use it to stop bullets was a nice side effect.

Echoes:

Pyne really loved Feral Resonance; he picked it as his first echo and tamed all the feral AIs we found. The rest of us were a little confused by his motivation for wanting to capture them all, but he seemed to really enjoy cataloguing them on his commlink - and if nothing else, this echo helped us get into the right frame of mind for a campaign about WAR!

Overall impression:

WAR! scores 10/10 in every area - writing, research, detail, planning, organization, and game balance. I cannot recommend buying it enough. I do, however, recommend nerfing the Ares Shockbeam a little bit. If someone showed up with that they might overshadow someone who is just using a silvergun from the base book. I am sure CGL will print errata for it soon, so it isn’t a big problem.

. . don't know if trolling . .

Research?!?!?
Really???

Anyway, check out what other people said about War!
War, HUH! What the hell's it good for?, Absolutely nothing!
War, HUH! It's out on pdf
War! feedback on art, layout, fiction, clarity, … fluff., Why we want to buy books rather than a collection of tables.

Too bad it was supposed to be about War in the Sixth World, and not "Target: Bogota".

And carnivorous trees still sounds like they should be the aspect of Toxic Shamans (Along with Redneck Trees), or just left in Deadlands.

MAN... i think i just overdosed on sarcasm...

It is like... dripping out of my eyesockets now. I need a vacation from that.

Yeah, now you spoiled it.

He did get a few people, though .

Or did they get you?

Or do you think by my reply, you're getting me?

Which is pretty sad, really.

Don't forget to post this on the official forums too! I'm pretty sure they'll like positive feedback.

I think I'm starting to get....simple Minded ?!
because I fell for it too ...at First ! But when he started to use Gasgrenades and Flamethrowers on the Ghosts, than I realised how sarcastic the whole Post was

with a simple Dance
Medicineman

This review is just great!

cya
Tycho

So, did anyone really make it past this and still think it wasn't sarcasm? Sheldon? Sheldon?



"Gotta catch 'em all!"

Bye
Thanee

Brilliant! I just hope that the sarcasm isn't lost on the dev team. I guess you should post it on the official forum and check the reactions there.

Can someone please leave that poor horse (or whatever is left of it) alone?

Seriously, i worry for this forum. The only active threads seems to be the ones where people are taking potshots at the latest releases and the devs.

I am surprised that Hardy bothers to drop by to post product announcements...

Ah, it's the old "don't criticise an author, it might hurt their feelings" song again.

and rightly so!

cya
Tycho

To be fair I stoped at fighting over carnivorous trees and went straight away to his last paragraph.

Epic! Just epic!

-CJ

No, it is the old "Why do we have to revisit this argument AGAIN, because it adds absolutely nothing to the game, and has been so beaten to death that the body does not even resemble the Horse that it once was" song...

And never forget... There are people who Like War! All this does is rile everyone up again. It serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever.

Want cheese with your whine?


Some people like all kinds of things.

Only if it is a Quality Cheese, to go with that Quality Whine... Got any?



What? You mean your exposition on War! is completely subjective? Amazing, sounded like you were treating it as Truth from On High...

Wait... uhm. Nevermind.

Of course. Just, can you handle good cheese?


Ye who judge, Mr. Faith.

Making Americans miss sarcasm or analogies is nothing to write home about

Yes, it's a few months late, but still damn funny

Normally I wouldn't be in for beating this tired old horse. But this is just really well-done sarcasm, and that deserves a thumbs-up.

I do love me some Good, Quality Cheese.



It Was very well written...

Not to wreck your inflammatory, anti-American, jibe, but you did notice that the first response to the whole thread, someone who wasn't sure if he was trolling or not, was a German, right?

Heheh... Point for Critias...

Hey, I stand by my God-Given right as a Canadian to make inflammatory anti-American jibes. And then apologize for them.

Gotta have something to make up for the fact that I can't have firearms.

Yeah, let's discuss who is smarter and all that.... not.