Hah! I had my suspicions but I never got around to asking...

Oh, feel free to ask me anything. I put a lot of work into it, and the descriptions I gave the art team.

Here is a question; was it you idea to have Dev/Grrl write this report and what made you decide to go with Her. I like the fact that it was Her because in stead of FastJack having another more experienced Runner tell some other Runnesr stuff they most likely learned years ago you have Him getting a noobie Runner researching information they will need to know to survive and then posting to Jackpoint so others can grade it and judge how far She has come as a Shadowrunner.

It was me who had that idea, yes. It was also me that pointed out her poor handwriting. As the Resonance Realms are able to recover any deleted information from nearly any electronic source, written information has come back into vogue quite handily. Which is why he wanted her to write lines. Slamm-0!s suggestion of tagging pulled at FastJack's inner child, who is a Punk of a kid.

I had figured that everyone else on the JackPoint would know the information like the back of their hands (Except maybe Netcat, but she had to learn fast during Emergence), so having /dev/grrl's parents run into a pretty public "Motel of Ill Repute" and think it was a Safehouse came to mind immediately, and also demonstrates the connections that the group has outside of JackPoint as well.

I also wanted to show her getting her cookie, but that went by the wayside.

Who wrote the descriptions for the safehouse/bolt hole negative qualities? Those were inspired.

Me. And thank you very much.

Somehow I got it into my head that /Dev/Grrrl was an elf, neither parent has visible pointy ears, am I just nuts?

She is an elf, but remember that it's still possible for children of any metatype to be born to parents of a different metatype. It's just kinda rare.

We can't see Mom's ears to see if they're pointed or not. But, yes, any metatype can still be born to any other type.

It's kinda funny when a Troll looms over you and goes, "I'ma Dwarf."

Just thought of something. I'm wondering why no one has called me on the Santa Claus comment...

We're being kind?

There is already a secret group in the Catholic Church called the New Society of Jesus (the New Jesuits) that functions in that role (introduced in Aztlan Sourcebook). Are the Knights of Saint Nick supposed to be separate or is Plan 9 mis-informed about their name?

...

Yes.

Excellent.

How do you know which of your statements he answered yes to?

I get to pick one, which is why it's excellent.

But that's true of every Shadowtalker post.

I find it odd we have seen /dev/grrl's parents but not her. I don't even really recall much of a description.

Barely illegal elven girl with freckles wearing a schoolgirl's outfit and carrying an Ares Alpha.

Kane calls her "little". And Kane is kind of a runt himself, he's about around 5' 6". Of course, he's a slab of beef. So little may just mean "thin" rather than "short".

Bull

Could also be how "little" knowledge she has on reality.

Thought-crimes galore...

Sounds like the most apt description of me yet.

I haven't read Safehouses yet, but Clockwork in most other books I've heard does kinda come off as a complete nutball with an unreasonable hatred for Technomancers in general and Netcat in particular...his writeup on Slamm-O in Street Legends Supplemental was so laughable that I actually felt bad for the guy...it was like watching someone humiliate themselves in public.

And why not?

Priced too high, must be paying the author too much

*snrk* We don't do this for the money, I'll tell you that for nothing....

And it's still too much dammit! But seriously though I will buy it eventually.

$5 is too much?

Come on, the US dollar is weak now! WEAK!!!

...

I just cashed my cheque and found out how weak.

In his defense, 18 pages is kind of short, too.


Pricing-wise it doesn't seem bad at all to me. I'm just not sure that I need more lifestyle options; my players rarely make use of them as it is.

Yeah, well, any longer and it'd have felt padded.

OK, not using lifestyle options does seem like a legit reason to not get it. Even if it does make me cry manly tears.

what's the word count on it CanRay?

Don't know what it is for the final product (editing was done), but my last word count I did was a little over 11K.

I demand 25 words per US cent!

Demand is a pretty harsh and hard word.

I could have demanded more money, too. But, meh. It is what it is. And were it larger, the cost would have been higher as well, I bet. But that's not my decision or area.

At US$5, you get what a lot of people have commented is a quality product (Steady at 4-out-of-5 stars from most reviewers), with good art and a topic that can be used by a good number of groups. One reviewer just bought it to have other examples of places for his group to find.

So, I do have to ask, is size such a matter that you'd rather it was filled with bloat and sub-standard, obviously tacked on items (or even standard, but obviously tacked on items) or a smaller, quality project that gives you exactly what it says on the box?

Honestly, I want to know.

I will get around to buying it (although no promises on when) and the 25 words/cent was a joke but I am sorry if it came across wrong.

OK, good to hear about the joke part (And the buying part, but I'm only begging people to do so.).

The length of it has been a concern that everyone has voiced, and this being my first book, I guess I'm wondering if what I did was wrong or not.

I don't know, I got the PDF the day it came out, went through it, and enjoyed it quite a lot.

Thank you very much.

Get much use out of it yet?

Now I feel bad.

I have to disagree, you don't need to use the lifestyle options, but you can use what's presented for ideas on building safehouses in general. There's enough in the PDF to give ideas for crafting them, and giving each safehouse a unique flavour without having to get directly into the number crunching.

Don't.Actually, my shortest review on Drive-Thru RPG says he's doing exactly that.

It's more of a fluff book than a crunch book anyhow. There's some Crunch in the Lifestyle rules, but most of it is fluff, and good RP fluff at that.

Ok CanRay I bought your book. The rules for living in vehicles are a little ambiguous. Is it saying that when I total my points for the vehicle comfort and necessities are combined and are set at the level of the vehicles amenities?

Hm, thought I described that better. Let's try this, the modification in Arsenal counts for both, essentially, when you upgrade your vehicle. Then you have to maintain them if you're living in your car/van/bus/whatever as they're not designed to be lived in (RVs being an exception. But I tried to keep things simple.).

So, say you have a stock Ford AmeriCar you're living in. That's a Squatter Lifestyle, and Comfort and Necessities are both considered 1 each. If you upgrade the car later, to, say, Low Lifestyle, then they both cost 2 points each.

OK, an example: Mike the Troll is tired of having to move all the time when people find his squat and blows it up. He "acquires" a RoadMaster and has his Shadowtech modify it to Medium Lifestyle. Essentially turning a cargo van into a RV (RoadMasters/CityMasters are about the same size as an RV.). His Comfort and Necessities are both considered 3 LP. He drives to a Trailer Park to live in, but leaves the rig on wheels for a fast getaway if needs require it, he gets the hookups required for water, sewage, power, and so on, at what is considered a Low Lifestyle for Neighborhood and Security, so both of those are 2 LP. Finally, he springs for a really good sound system and a trid display, for Medium Entertainment, 3 LP. That's a total of 13 Lifestyle Points. As this isn't a safehouse, we use the table from Runner's Companion (Page 153), and find out Mike is paying 3,800¥/Month for as long as he's trailer trash. Of course, with his ride and his entertainment system, he's the king of the trailer park, and everyone wants to party with him.

A few months (and 'runs) later, Mike has to haul hoop before the Star gets him. He properly disconnects everything from the RoadMaster, collects his damage deposit, and drives off into the sunset. Having a good NAN Fake SIN, he decides to travel the desert for a bit while his public awareness goes down (Getting into a fistfight with a UFC champion and winning, then having the trid go viral on the Matrix really didn't help!), which reduces all of his Lifestyles to Street level, except for his Comfort and Necessities, which are still Medium Lifestyle as they are part of the RoadMaster (3 LP). His total Lifestyle Points now is 3 LP, so he's paying 300¥ for fuel, the occasional meal out, restocking the minikitchen, using laundromats, and so on. It sucks, but it beats being pinched and pulling time. And, hey, he gets to see the country, and at least his RoadMaster has a shower that almost fits him.

Does that help?

So basically it just costs extra to live in a vehicle. What about using the technical skills or a nanomaintenance system to maintain your vehicle does it then cost less? or what about with suncells attached does that apply the green plan lifestyle quality?

Nanomaintenance doesn't do much for the upholstery.

Suncells would be a Green Plan Lifestyle Quality. Consider that Errata from the Author if you like.

Think about the poor crippled author who just just got out of the Hospital!!! Buy buy buy!!!

If it were in print I'd have bought two. I love being able to have multiple copies of stuff. In this case I'll just print more.

Sell sell sell!!!

OK, honestly, how is this still on Drive-Thru RPG's hottest items still? Not complaining (Other than when I'm in the middle of waiting for my pain pills with this broken arm of mine), but am absolutely flabbergasted.