These boards have a tenancy to be negative. Ironically, we do it not because we hate the game but because we love it and wish that it was even better, thus spending our time nitpicking.

That's not what this thread is about.

Catalyst and its freelance writers have made a fantastic system and universe for shadowrun, and as a community while we all disagree on various points we universally want to help make that system and universe all it can be.

This thread is for us to do that.

In this thread, we will make suggestions for new gear, augmentations, spells, adept powers, programs... anything we'd like to see added to the game, this is the thread to suggest it. You can be as vague as 'I reckon this would be a cool piece of kit' to full stat-lines and shadowtalk.

I want to be clear, anything you post on this thread should be something you don't mind a developer taking and using.

Please keep posts constructive, and let your imagination roam free

Drone suggestion:
Remote control car/remote control helicopter/remote control airplane. something cheap, disposable (for a runner's budget) and commonplace, these vehicles are useful for anything from disposable recon to rigging for suicide runs and IRL are already both cheap and easily available. in other words, fun for riggers!

a Spaceport, Space Elevator ,Space Hotel/Resort (and added Space Adventures/Runs)

with a Dance in Orbit
Medicineman

Just a quick brain storm:

I wanna see more high end super- and hyper-cars, names like Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren; as well as more options (with more detail) to customize how a vehicle performs. Strangely, both the group I GM for and the group I play with have quite a few people into cars and tuning and we were more than a little disappointed with the lack of options for ridiculous cars to steal and go joyriding in for SR4. I understand that it's a bit much for an RPG to include all of the possible options for tuning cars, but it would be nice to see Engine Customization: Speed and Engine Customization: Acceleration broken down a bit into more detailed options like turbo- and superchargers, better gear boxes, increased engine size (like swapping the 4-cylinder in the Shin-Hyung with a V6), etc. Also, including different levels or ratings for things like Improved Suspension, so you could buy different levels of improvement with different bonuses (Stock, Street, and Pro at +1/+2/+4, for example).

I would not mind a Sprawl Sites book dedicated to businesses, from ready made Mom-n-Pop shops to maps and write ups on 6th World Big Box stores.

My wife says she wants more fashion options. Specifically, she wants more options than Steam Punk when it comes to alternative fashion styles.

Please keep the element customization rules from Street Magic for spells. That was nice for flavor (elemental shamans, magi-girls with themed magic, etc).

ParaCooking.

We have a world of awakened critters and plants, yet you know how hard it is to find a decent Behemoth Gumbo recipe? Or an Awakened Orange Sherbert? Which by the way... delicious.

Most of us focus on things that directly affect us, from beasties trying to take a bite out of us to what plants have magical properties to boost ourselves with, which is totally natural as a player but there is a lot of middle ground stuff that could be fun filling in the gaps without needing stats/bonuses.

Just something to add game flavour, no pun in... oh hell we know it was fully intended.

So far I like some of the things I see in here. Thank you for starting this thread. It's a nice one.

Cars and Para-Cooking. I think I could come up with a "Lifestyles" book for that. Let me "cook" it a bit and feel free to throw more things in that particular pot.

Some sort of elephant gun . Also adept ways (not necessarily the same mechanically as they were in SR4 [although I quite liked them]) and maybe some metamagics and such.

Ah a person of refined taste.

Lifestyles would be fine for this. From fine dining in a 5 star restaurant to simple country dishes you have a world of opportunity here.

Plus it may be handy for runners out in new lands to know what is okay to eat and what may be bad for you, be it foraging berries in the Tir to knowing that improperly sliced NewPuffer will seriously put a crimp in your day, but just taking the challenge of eating it can offer great face in some corners.

Could even do this is a sort of Metahuman Vs. Food style with our travelling gourmet hitting spots around the globe and sampling the local dishes along the way.

Just let us know what you may want to focus on and we are certainly willing to open the larder for ideas.

I for one would love more information on what people actually eat. I know it's mostly soy and krill but what do they make from it, what possible recipes exist for such products? Do they have Synth-eggs for cooking? Do the Barren kids still hunt cats and rodents to throw in stew pots?

As weird as it sounds a book on cooking and livestock in the sixth world would be astounding.

In the Barrens, Devil Rats throw YOU in the stewpot.

Joking aside, this is a good case of food to avoid. DR carry a wide sprectrum of diseases & viruses up to and including variations of VITAS and as such simply searing the meat and throwing in a stewpot to slow cook the meat does not guarantee rendering the food safe. Even higher temps may not kill everything as some of these strains have proven to be as resistant as the DR itself.

Some Gastromancers (Magic Chefs) have claimed success using a variation of the Cure Desease & Detox spells to sterilize the Meat, but the exact spell formula for this is a closely guarded secret among cooking circles.

Still I would definitely be one for listing this as E@YOR (Eat AT Your Own Risk).

Game design. Teach the players how to get the game they want to play by fiddling with different knobs on a campaign.

For example, instead of always trying to straddle the line between Mohawks and Mirrorshades (which is totally the name of my 1st edition SR clone) and having independent camps fighting either to include or exclude the Rocker archetype, show how to apply a filter to the setting in order to emphasize or encourage certain aspects that support that approach and eliminate the elements that would tend to undermine that approach. If you want to play up the pink mohawks, tell the GM to make the Rocker a standard archetype that every team must have and if you don't, show how Jet Black was found in a gutter with two in the chest, one in the head.

Take all the recent changes to the setting in order in the attempt to bring back an "old school" flavor. Instead of just making changes to the setting and expect players to interpret the changes as intended, there should be a sidebar somewhere that makes the intent explicit and communicates the why to the playerbase. Otherwise look at the nanites thread.

Advanced Magic rules

I really like the ideas Ancient History had written down and collected but couldn't submit and publish because he quit instead. Advanced Magic Book
Especially the advanced Astral Combat.

Elementally aspected magicians and another shadowbeat, attitude was close but i'd like to se rules on musical instruments, fame and such because rockers, sim star and sports star runners are fun.

You said to throw things in the pot so we are doing just that.

I rarely use these spells myself as it is sort of a cheat in the kitchen, but sometimes you just get tired of eating the same dish day in and day out or want to impress someone but just don't have all the ingredients at hand.
And if one does want to learn ParaCooking, sometimes you might need this to make it palatable while you are still learning the ropes of it.

Note that removing the taste via the spells below does not make it harmless. Toxins ingested are still poisonous to the recipient, they just wouldn't taste it going down.
Detection equipment may still detect said toxins/poisons if the food is analysed depending on type of testing done. (Would say use hits on original casting toward fooling basic sensors, but the good stuff will see thru this.)

Glitches for these spells often mean it was successful but not exactly right. Maybe a bit salty, or just off. Critical glitches may leave a sour aftertaste or taste opposite of what was desired.

Bland
(Illusion- Realistic, Single Sense)
Type: P Range: Touch
Duration: S Drain: F-6

This spell effectively masks the taste of the item, rendering it bland and tasteless to the eater.

Makes it edible.... barely.


Flavour
(Illusion- Realistic, Single Sense)
Type: P Range: Touch
Duration: S Drain: F-3

This spell masks the actual taste of the item in the same manner as Bland (see above), while providing a different flavour decided by the caster.

The caster has to have previously experienced the particular taste they wish to imbue onto the food.

Good for adding a little variety to the same old - same old.

Full Bouquet
(Illusion- Realistic, Multi-Sense)
Type: P Range: Touch
Duration: S Drain: F

This is for when you want to pull out all the stops. This spell not only masks the taste, but also the natural texture, smell and general appearance of the food dish replacing it with what you want it to be. There are limits to the change in appearance: Liquids will still remain liquids, solids remain as solids, but the general texture will be affected. The food dish retains it's general size as well, so a cooked rat can not appear as a whole hog or vice versa, but could be made to look like a small cooked bird of similar size.
Again previous experience of the desired dish is necessary to truly duplicate the dish properly.

This is the Holy Grail of personal dining, letting you chow down on things the less known about the better or when you really want to wow someone with your culinary skills.


Foods are objects and will resist the spells with their appropriate dice pools.

Naturally prepared:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dice Pool
Fresh fruit/vegetables, unprocessed water, fresh milks, uncooked meats-------------------------------------------3

Some preparation:
Canned Fruits/Vegetables, Wines, Beers, Spirits, pasteurized milk, Cheeses, Cooked Meats ----------------------6

Manufactured foods:
Canned Sauces/Marinades/Soups, Salad Dressings, Synthbeer, Processed Cheeses, Soyburgers & Krill chips ---9

Highly processed 'foods' (honestly questioning if its actually food at this point. It is so full of fillers and chemicals it can make a toxic sit up and smile )
McHugh's, Some Stuffer's Items---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

I'd love to see something on Greece. The nation that is. Home to Crete, Athens, Sparta, etc and dozens of flavors of paracriters yet was overlooked in Shadows of Europe and 6th World Almanac. What's happening in Greece?



I second some Space runs but going the other way some info or runs taking place in an aquacology would be cool too.

If travelling to Greece, I always recommend taking a bottle of Dawn dish washing liquid along in case you run into problems with the locals.

Why?

Because Dawn takes Greeks out of your way.

Okay, that may have been bad, but Dawn actually does have a number of other uses

Get all the intellectual property under one company and away from third parties to answer to. Take this brand to the next level, while owning it to stop another company from taking it all away when it becomes profitable for them to sell off chunks of it to hacks. I can't believe that there was once talk of a feature film when there can't even be a comic book.

Shemhazai, you're posting in the wrong thread for that kind of suggestion. Freelancers don't have any control over that sort of stuff.

As a suggestion to the freelancers? Obsessively proof your own stuff. Catalyst clearly isn't going to, and it makes the whole line look bad.


For what I'd like to see? Definitely in with the folks who want another Shadowbeat. Rockers are fun!

Also, I'd love to see a move away from giant, world-shaking plot events and back towards stuff on the level runners can actually do something about. A mega trying to force rivals out of Seattle, for example, in a massive shadow push. The Mafia deciding they've had enough of the Seloupa Rings and want them out of town.

Hell, give me Lone Star hiring gangs to make KE look bad and get the city contract back, that'd be a great arc!

I was thinking about that as well. Plus having a few cops owe ya when they get their jobs back is never a bad thing.

Won't stop them from stomping ya, but they may give you a head start.

Hey, having one of the few real cops left on the force as a contact is always a good thing, and a great source of mission hooks when he sees justice that needs to be done, but can't get it through channels because the fix is in.

Well thinking more about this regional books are always welcome. Although chapters on paranormal animals of austrailia and africa might make it so i may never sleep.

I want them to bring back the SOTA books. Also more street level plots would be nice, though I think that's what missions is for.