*shrug* I was just thinking back to the first printing of Arsenal, and how many typos it had. If they can't afford to hire a professional editor, It might help them to get more eyes on the product to spot check it.

they don't *have* to listen to anyone, but in genral, more people playtesting something means more opportunities to find and correct loopholes and exploits.

A closed play test is good. The testing pool is small, the results better tallied, and you can be very open and honest about what your design goals and aims are.

An open play test is two things - a marketing scheme and a PR stunt. It's very often used as a way to make players feel attached to a game ("I helped build this!") and a way to make people think you're listening without really doig any work.

Call me cynical - it's cool. But I've watched three happen so far (Pathfinder, D&D Next, and Edge of the Empire) and only one worked out sort of to the degree it was supposed to (Edge). That's because it was hard to get and was done in a very limited fashion: small print run and the only communication was through their forums.

Pathfinder and Next have been shining examples of what happens when you let the inmates feel like they're running the asylum while you fleece them for what they got.

So no. I would stay as far away from a "play test" as possible.

I've liked the material that has resulted from paizo's play tests so I'd have to say they were a success.

Some of it is good. Other bits, like Alchemists and Gunslingers, have serious mechanical and setting issues that make them interact terribly with the rest of the game.

Meh only in your warped world. We've had zero problems with gunslingers and alchemists.

It's no different than all the ninja/samurai/oriental anything only nowhere near as broken.

Gunslingers are mechanically inferior, but alchemists are fine.

Actually a Dual Wielding Revolver Gunslinger geared with free reloads & fast loaders can whip out several attacks/round nearly equal to most Archer builds. so far from inferior.

Except:
a) you're assuming that advanced firearms are allowed, which usually aren't. In the majority of games, it's early firearms only.
b) even with revolvers, you're still not getting your strength modifier on damage rolls. 1d8 vs 1d8+str mod is a world of difference. Also, 2x 4000gp will consume a large chunk of your wealth by level. Also, their range (20ft) is pathetic.
c) firearms suffer from inane misfire rules, further gimping them compared to other weapons.

Whoever designed that game had a serious hard on for bows, and nearly all other ranged options are drastically inferior.

Tee hee. Magic.

Doesn't work... all pepperbox type guns are effectively 2 handed weapons, because you need a hand free to rotate the pepperbox.

All gun reload actions are two handed actions.

I'm twice (or 3x) as likely to misfire as crit... yes 1 in 10 shots results in misfire with normal loads.. 1 in 7 with fast loads.

This is based on a VERY questionable reading of that wierd lanyard thing... dropping one gun and somehow picking it back up..... in which case, you've now got the problem of reloading as a free action with a second weapon dangling uncontrollably off our off hand.... as well as a questionable reading of quickdraw (free action to draw a READIED weapon... such as from a holster where it's designed to be quickdrawn... not from anywhere such as dangling on a cord from your wrist).

It's not much different than making the argument I'm two weapon fighting by firing the gun in one hand, using a free action to switch it to the off hand... then firing again. Which other people similarly would not allow to fly.

Really would you allow an archer to dangle one bow off one arm (or fast switch hands)... and pull off a 'two-weapon' for an extra attack on all the rest?



And while you can pull off nearly as many attacks as an archer... the archer has a significant range advantage as well as a manyshot feat which you can't match. Also to be hitting touch you need to generally be under 20'... your pistols type is going to have to be close enough to get involved in melee (and ALL ranged attacks even ranged touch spells draw AoO in pathfinder. Rules state that quite clearly... mage draws *two* AoO for casting a ranged touch in melee... one for casting... the other for the ranged attack... casting defensively can stop the first).

At the end of the day the gunslinger is nothing more than a specialized fighter... armor master is replaced with a dodge bonus... and weapon mastery simply focused on an individual gun type. That and they trade grit class feature for half their fighter feats.

My own gunslinger spends more time with a longsword and buckler than his pistol! (crafted a MW buckler gun, double barrel only 10' range and a 1d6 though). His next goal is to craft a MW pepperbox pistol though.. yes.

I am running a musket master in the official Pathfinder Society campaign.

At levels 1-4, gunslingers suck.

At 5, they suddenly blossom into murder-death-kill machines. This gets more and more broken until around level 10 to 12 when the other damage classes start to catch up.

Mostly because I can just take every -hit/+damage feat and ability there is, because I am targeting Touch AC and will hit most of the time anyway even with massive to-hit penalties. And a Distance musket means I can usually always be in my first range increment.

But I suspect this is getting far off topic, so I'll end it with that.



-k

Drop the Pathfinder content.

While we're on blog entries: want to speculate over this one? If it's to be taken literally, there's a major metaplot and universe change coming.

Well, that sucks. I really enjoyed working with Scott....

Never heard of him. Who is/was he?

Ghosthacks, woohoo. Is Frank Trollman writing for them again? That was the major change in his new Matrix rules, as far as I remember.


One of the current freelancer pool. He wrote, among others, parts of Clutch of Dragons, though I do not know which.

Wait, what?! Now, I'm not his attorney or anything, but Frank Trollman is definitely not writing anything for Catalyst, nor has he been, since even before the whole Colemangate-meltdown.

Scott, not Frank.

Somebody over at sr4.com also deciphered a tweet, basically "resistance is futile, you will be overwritten"

Edit: Here you go

Brain hacks over the Matrix is a catastrophic event worse than Horrors. And it's taking the universe deeper into transhumanism than even Eclipse Phase ventured.
Just great.

I'm not really hot for this either, though technically, that's a logical consequence of psychotropic software. Not that I'm looking much forward to this, especially considering Clutch of Dragons and GeMiTo.

Yeah not into brainhacks at all... major... can't stress it enough.. MAJOR turnoff.

Really whoever wrote the psychotropic entry in unwired needs to be shot for having no concept of good play. Really hit a guy and he automatically gets some of the most crippling negative qualities in the game... permanently. (temporary is only a sidebar suggestion... the actual rules are brutal). Add this to one of my things I would not shed one tear if it went away or got nerfed heavily just like grounding did to mages. Then not realize that TM's can thread this on the fly as a program option.. while they and only they get defenses/immunity from it.


Extended captivity and such brainwashing a guy... sure... especilly if tech advances enough that ultraviolet nodes are more common. But brainhacks... no.

Definitely one of Frank's worse ideas. And if this Scott person took up that torch... good riddance.

Brainhacking is possible in Eclipse Phase iirc.

Body Snatchers from Outer Space have been around for some time, by itself a new kind that is not a great upheaval. The impact would depend on how common this thread is, and how much effort it takes to brainhack somebody. For all we know, it could be a unique entity and the procedure could involve putting the victim in a vat for a month...

Yeah, but not over the network. You have to plug into a synthmorph's access jacks, or have a biomorph placed into the ego-writing machine. You need physical access to the body, simply put.

You mean Shedim? The big difference is that they are still actual entities that need to be present near your body to snatch it, while Matrix is omnipresent.

For all we know, it could be just a good old psychosis....

Sure about it? Have to re-read the hacking rules again, it seems.

To hack a cyberbrain in EP, you need physical access via access jacks or you need to hack the mesh inserts first (remote brain hacking is possible in synthetic brains via the mesh insert hacking). You can't hack a normal brain the same way, you either need to do it through psychosurgery, Psi, or with a basilisk hack.

What is so bad about brainhacks? Other than it being new in Shadowrun, that is. It might give hackers something viable to do in combat without shoehorning in drones or a tacnet.

Given how shitty hacking defenses are in SR4 (and probably will remain in derivates), this means brainhacking will happen anytime, anywhere, and will break the game. As a non-playable Threat: fine. As a standard PC option? Fuck off.

So, are the spells Influence, Control Thoughts and Alter Memory, and the Critter Powers Compulsoion and Influence banned at your table? If not - why?
Given that magic defenses are even shittier than hacking defenses for most people in SR4, this means magic mindraping will happen anytime, anywhere, and will break the game.

Because MindRaping Magic is not only hard to resist but also hard to cast and to hold up and has to be held up for quite some time usually for it to become effective in the first place.
And the victims get resistance rolls every time something is fishy for them.

MindRaping Hacking is basically like it workes in Syndicate. Point and shoot and be done with it. If anything, have an Agent to it for you.

Now, what would so bad if mindhacking also had these limiters?

Primarily bugs, plus shedim for their ability to possess the bodies of projecting mages. Deus also had his banded snatch up people and return them to their jobs changed, although that was conditioning rather than a full brain overwrite.


And we have no indication that this entity does not need physical access to the body...

Hacking has no Drain.
Hacking is a purely monetary Cost, not even Karma.
Hacking can be done remotely by several comlinks.


Does it state anywhere in these "Design-Goals" wether or not they are going to try and reduce the ammounts of dice rolled again?
If so, people will probably need another pound of D6 . .

Possession is primarily monetary cost, & the drain is negligible if the spirit is bound, & can be done from a distance ...not quite seeing your worry.

Hacking needs hack-able devices to work.
Hacking needs equipment to work.
Spellcasting can be done remote by Ritual Spellcasting.

Defense against Hacking: either no Technical devices at all, or purely monetary.
Defense against Magic: You need a very rare type of metahuman, or a very rare trained critter.

If you don't need to have troll hands to roll your dice in one go it isn't shadowrun.

None of which were PC or regular NPC options.


And brains being hackable would change that.


Not necessarily: Technomancers.


At a cost. You cannot do this by yourself either. Or on the fly.


Possesion is reversible, this process doesn't seem so. It's, if taking current hacking as a guideline, essentially an instant kill option possible using infrastructure you can hardly fully opt out if you don't want to play bumrun, requiring little investment in time, money and equipment.

Slight note - I think the rules allow you to do ritual magic with a group size of 1.

Everything else in your post I agree with.

You can do ritual Spellcasting alone. And you can send a spirit with the influence power.

For Brains being hackable, you need a device that establishes a connection to the brain. Also, i think "hacking" a brain should follow similar rules like control thoughts, with a defensive roll every few combat rounds and maybe biofeedback damage like rigging a drone.

*sigh* okay, that IS a group, I guess, if you really nerd out. I'd not alow it in my games though.


Which still is no instant character kill.


Why? There's an entire character class whose whole point is this is NOT THE CASE.


Not quite up to speed there: is the defensive roll extended? Otherwise, you can just save yourself the time given how magic defense for mundanes in SR4 works.

Well, if you are influenced to jump off the 30st story, it is instant kill. Esp. because everyone only gets willpower to defend against the influence critter power.

Yes, like the defensive roll against mental manipulation.

Why? Ritual Spellcasting, as a lone caster, is done all the time in novels (at least in some of the Fantasy Novels that I have read, anyways). Why should Shadowrun not allow it? It is another tool that a Magician can use to his benefit. The requirements of Ritual Spellcasting make it difficult to do successfully by yourself, so if a character has aspected himself to such things, why would you disallow it?

I ask, because I am truly curious. Many people already do not use Ritual Spellcasting because they think it is useless (due to the requirements). The ability to do so by yourself makes it useful. I have several characters that use RS by themselves, and it has proven to be a great boon.

In Shadowrun novels? What's done in Harry Dresden or some Dragonlance-ish book isn't quite relevant here, I think.


Because mages already got many of their limitations liftend in SR4 and I would really not like a mage to wreck every plot everytime because they're so vastly overpowered. That, and I like a certain continuity in the setting and not having magic act completely different every time a new edition comes out.


One man's boon is another man's ridiculously overpowered special snowflake ability.

Neat.

Okay, technically he's doing it with his ally spirit, but I think it's still a fair example. I fail to see the problem, but that could just be me.

And you do not even need a Spotter spirit if you actually have a Material Link.
And your Ally Spirit could also act as a 2nd participant in the Ritual, if he also has Ritual Spellcasting.

The setting has from the beginning been built around the concept that magic will by its nature become more and more powerful as time goes by. The derisive moniker of "Magicrun" has always been the reality of the game.

Are you privy to something about 5th edition that we others are not? For all we know, it takes planting a special chip on the target's head and weeks or months of hacking.

Two is a group, one is not.

Per RAW, a group is not required.