We've got a new PDF-only product out--99 Bottles (Battlecorps, DriveThruRPG), which takes runners to Bangkok and enmeshes them with some Yaks who are having some, um, peculiar problems. Let's check out the full summary:

BODIES ARE STACKING
Mob wars are ugly things, but not all ugliness is created equal. Things are going bad in Bangkok, and one Yakuza leader named Shinoda Yoshinori has been receiving a series of unsettling messages: bodies of other members of his gumi, packaged and delivered in a decidedly unique fashion. If Yoshinori wants to preserve his gumi—and save his life—he’s going to have to take action. Due to the depleted manpower in his gumi, he’s ready to turn to shadowrunners for help.

99 Bottles introduces Shadowrun’s new Enhanced Fiction line, in which short stories are accompanied by information and statistics that allows you to incorporate elements of the story into your game. In this book, the story kicks off a short adventure that is presented with all the information gamemasters and players need, from plot points to NPC stats to details of specific locations in the seething, energetic city of Bangkok. Let the new fiction set the stage for a plunge into one of the Sixth World’s seamiest spots!

99 Bottles is for use with Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.

Jason H.

Looks Interesting...

I agree. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, as well.

I'll bite. In the process of putting together some campaigns. Might give me ideas. Or at least stats.

Okay, so had a quick looks and it's basically a SRM, but I assume, not tied to any campaign. Haven't had a chance to read through but I'm sure I can cannibalize it.

Which is the entire point, it seems. So, mission a success?

How's the fiction? Novel-Like or Short Story-like?

As a note, it's not actually a Shadowrun Missions adventure. The Enhanced Fiction line is something separate.

I'm running a SE Asia game right now. I NEED this. I better go find that code for 15 off PDF stuff I earned at a Missions event a while back. IT'S TIME.

I think the announcement would better have given a number of pages or something that would allow people to know at least how many pages they're going to pay for. It's a PDF Only Product, so you can't go to your FLGS to see it. 15 pages like Way of the Adept ? 25 like a Mission ? 30 like Manhattan ? Is a preview scheduled anytime soon ?

Stupid question: Is more Bangkok stuff planned or is this line gonna be, like, everywhere?

Interestingly, in the broad scheme of things this clashes very much against what I'd written up as Bangkok 2072, in that I had assumed the Kuroiban would lose the mob war with the Nine Tigers Organization (speaking of the Triads, since when are there Yellow Lotus in Bangkok? I thought that Seattle had the only extant branch?), and that Niranam had become king of Thailand, and thus embroiled the country in a naga-related civil war in Cambodia.

But the details are right on, and in some ways work better in my Bangkok, because the Kuroiban are kind of on the brink in the first place. Anyways, would tweak, but would definitely run.

Looks like 29 pages including cover, so about comparable to a Missions adventure.

(SRM 04 adventures have been running slightly longer, averaging about 35 pages each, but they're slightly padded due to things like the debriefing log and the contact sheets)

More Bangkok stuff will be included in the first SOTA e-book, coming soon. It'll have a Sixth World Almanac-style writeup of Thailand. That doesn't leave a ton of room for Bangkok information, but it's something.

Jason H.

It's a two page job, like you get at the start of each chapter in the core book. Good for flavour. There's also a small bit on "Bangkok at Glance" and "Security in Bangkok" which are handy. About a page total, with stats for the Bangkok police included.



It's 29 pages, last two are maps, one of a brewery and one of the other of the area around it. Always happy to get maps.

Having given the mission a quick read, it's pretty good, for my team anyway. Bit of investigation then a firefight. Fun times.

There's one scene which starts "This scene should take place after four days have passed since the runners were hired, or after the runners have exhausted their leads, whichever comes first." which annoys me for some reason but I'll be altering it for Denver anyway.

I think if you've read the SRM, you'll know what you're getting with this.

OK. It's got a brewery map. I'm sold.

Huh. I sort of expected longer fiction and more of a bare-bones, 3 to 4 page adventure framework. Seems it's actually more like an adventure with a two-page intro fiction, or did I miss something? Also, what else is planned in this series?

Nope, that's pretty much it. With maps (Yay ) Wasn't quite what I was expecting but I'm happy with it.

I was thinking something along the lines of Deadlands "Dime Novels", a long short story or a novelette and an adventure. But, well, there never was any statement as to how long the fiction was, so I don't feel cheated. Just wondering why I had that perception in the first place.

Maybe I just really, really miss the novels.

I don't feel cheated or anything, but I expected pretty much what you did, CanRay. Yeah, I miss them too, though having read the Wheldon novel, that one I probably should be glad to never see.

Was I the only one expecting something in the lines of 10 Gangs or 10 Jackpointers with the description of 99 bottles?

Maybe. It was explicitly described as fiction and adventure.

I expected a novella with 2, 3 pages of "how to make this into an adventure" or a collection of NPC stats and adventure hooks.

What I was expecting was a few pieces of intro fiction, and then some stats to go with it, and tips to make the story an adventure. But, I'm guessing that will be the final product, when the Enhanced Fiction Line is done.

A print book of several shorts and an adventure accompanying each?

Something like that, yeah.