It seems that the book is ready to go since they sold some at Origins. Why not get the book out to the distributors already?

Does anyone know when the SR5 rulebook will be available for purchase?

~j2klbs

Nope. Nothing official. Bull stated that there will only be an announcement once the stock is secured, to avoid mishaps.
My personal guess would be GenCon, with maybe a PDF release some time after Origins.

The German version is said to be published in October during the Essen games fair.

Nope, no one knows yet.

Basically the official stance is they will let us know when they are positive about the release date. It wasn't that long ago that they had a big delay due to dock workers striking in Oakland so the books didn't get off the ship for a Loooong time. Personally I think it was big enough news that no one held it against them for missing that release date since somethng like longshoreman going on strike is out of their control. But, whatever we wont know until they are super duper sure about it.

God I hope its not gencon, they already have an advance copy out for origins, adding two months on top of that is a bit much.

it's possible they did a small POD run for those books at origins.

that said, with the extent of the previews they've been given, i would be pretty surprised if they planned on waiting two months. which isn't to say that it couldn't end up being that long, just that i don't think they've *planned* for it to be that long.

then again, i am not an RPG publishing expert, so what do i know anyways? =S

Maybe they can spend that two months getting errata ready for release day!



Who am I kidding, errata will never exist.

Two months? I could come up with my own Shadowrun system faster than that.

Bold claims.
However, no one officially said it would be two months. It was a personal guess by me, and I somehow feel the need to repeat that fact.

For what it's worth, several writers have been going over it to find those exact things. A few are minor "cat should be car" type typos that autocorrect never catches, while one will need a flag ... I *think* Jason was moving Hell and high water to get the thing fixed before mass production, but I'm not privy to that sort of thing.

There'll be errata, and it's pretty much a given that they'll need eagle-eyed people to bring up everything that can be found.

Feel free to help when the release hits!

Some music to help you pass the time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pm4fQRl72k

Not that you'll really care, but just so it's said somewhere -- there is already an errata discussion going on among freelancers (I should know, I started it), with a thread full of corrections and clarifications. So, y'know, it's already ongoing, people already care and are working on it, it's just not yet ready for mass production.

The question is, how much official support will errata be given, especially print products which can't be updated.

We're working on something for that, though there's nothing definite. One idea will be using the Errata forums at the official Shadowrun Forums to maintain an active Errata summary, which is apparently something Battletech does.

Bull

Well, a finished errata doc for Augmentation also existed at one point...

I sure can't wait to put the 5th Edition through a benchmark test.

I already set up two parallel gaming groups who will play the same plot arc one in 4th Edition and one in 5th Editon. I am really curious as to how it will play out different.

So, any more news on when a PDF might hit the shelves?

Haven't seen any announcements. My guess is that the PDF will be available on the same day that they announce a street date and do the pre-order bundles. This is purely a guess based on previous patterns.

Jason and his crew did spend an inordinate amount of energy seeking out and killing errors. That doesn't mean they didn't slip through. But I'm not one to criticize the '66 Redskins for allowing the Giants to score 41 points on them.

That would be sweet.

I've always hated that in any RPG game system there are some questions that come up again and again about certain rules, but the game designers refuse provide a clear example of the rule or give a straight answer/guidance.
As a recovering rules lawyer, it is one of those situation you try to avoid.
I understand they are overworked and reluctant to start a firestorm especially if there are two schools of thought on the subject and a lot of rabid supporters.
A thankless task I'm sure and it has been getting better especially having the support of the Dumpshock community (Thanks all).

But having an active Errata summary would really help settle these questions and cut down on churn.
And put all the questions and answers in one easy to find place.
Pinch me, I must be in the 21st century!

Latest news from the SR forums, 4-6 weeks before release preorders and PDFs go on sale. If gencon is the release, 2-4 weeks from now we might see a PDF.

Waiting will be hard, but I bet they can fix a lot of typos over those weeks.

God knows we're trying....

So, realistically early September is what we are talking about here. It seems like 2014 may be the year of Shadowrun.

I fail to see how you arrived at THAT.

Belker in the SR4 forums posted tis "From Twitter a few minutes ago: "@catalystgamelab: Just sent off an email so we can make a final decision on when the PDF/Print Preorders for SR5 will be launched.... rnb" (rnb being Randall Bills, I assume.)

So looks like we'll get a date announcement fairly soon."

They do exist. They just haven't been published for SR4 ever since ... Unwired, I think.

This is nice, but I want an 'offline' version too - maybe not as current, but something I can print and toss onto the book pile.

I'm in the UK Patrick, sorry should have made that clear, so if release is GenCon our FLGS will probabley have it in stock 1 month after Gencon. If its before Gencon but still 2-4 weeks away that puts it hitting a shelf in Waylands Forge around September 2nd.

Ah, okay. Shipping issues. Those I understand.

Tell a lie. August 22nd. Which is a little better.

Don't get me wrong, it's ready when it's ready. But I haven't bought anything Shadowrun since just before Loose Alliances was released. SR4 inspired me not at all but SR5 has managed to lure my interest for presenting to a new group (and to have a new RPG product to invest into, which is part of the hobby in itself, new books!).

nope, sorry. Everything in 5e is 'online only'
*badump-tshh*

*snicker* Well played.

Here is the scoop on pre-orders and on-sale dates.

I'm glad the release date is out, but why 7/11/13 for the PDF? Is it actually ready yet and we are just waiting or are they doing something to get it PDF ready?

We're working on cleaning up typos and errata and such. I was not, in fact, joking about that. We won't be able to do anything but put out a sheet for the first printing, but we should have a substantially cleaner second and subsequent printings.

Did you think I was blowing smoke when I said that?

No, I honestly just don't know what it takes to do those things. I was just curious if it was editing, making it a readable PDF etc that was the delay orjust some marketing thing on PDF release dates before print releases.

I think most of it is marketing, but I know some of it is making the thing more presentable. We kicked ourselves in the butts stamping out typos and crap, and an embarrassing number of them still got through. This annoys me.

A lot of it was simply prepping a PDF version as well. There is *A* version kicking around for the writers to use that is based on the version that was sent to the printers, but it is a non-optimised, low-resolution version that likely doesn't work in many smartphone and tablet readers. It also doesn't have any bookmarks in it.

THe PDF version that you buy and download off of Battlecorp/Drivethru, from what I understand, is a very different file than what goes to the printers. And it's not a simple "I convert this, and done!" type of thing. Lots of work goes into formatting it for home use.

PLus some of it is likely marketing. YOu want to release early, but not too early. Print books and Game Stores are still a very important part of the gaming industry, so alienating them is not a wise move.

Cool with me, I just wish it had been out a bit earlier in July, with my 4 10s schedule i get Wednesday off and I took the 5th off giving me a 5 day weekend, it would have been awesome to have it for that.

So Preview #5 has come out today and on the page it lists Preorder and PDF available on July 11th. How firm is this if anyone knows?

Oh no, I'm on vacation with no internet acces on July 11th. I want to preorder the limited edition before it sells out

If anyone in the UK has found a place that is accepting pre orders for 5th edition can you post it? I spent an hour this morning scouring every shop I know and none have it available.

Esdevium stock most of the UK stores and they typically don't receive their orders for US stuff until a couple of weeks after it releases in the US. Most of the stores operate with Esdevium on a Mobthly order system with weekly or bi weekly additionals coming in. The Esdevium order Catalogue is normally released on a monthly cycle so I imagine you'll be able to preorder the book within about a week of the PDF release going live (so 11-18th July I would imagine) I would expect a copy to arrive in your FLGS between the 9th - 16th August. If we're lucky it'll be 2nd - 5th August, if it gets flagged in customs that'll put it back to around the 22nd.