http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1306...llets--Bandages

And yeah, it's dual-statted for SR4 and SR5...makes it stick out from Assassin's Primer and Coyotes, but w.e.

Review to come.

mehhh i want rules on how to become a fixer.

i'm sure there's rules for that anyway. but this is a cool supplemental if i could use it

Well, at the same time you gotta admit that a medic on a runner team is far more common then an assassin or a coyote, yes?

Funny that you should mention those two specific jobs because my group has one of each and zero medic... *shrugs*

...was this before or after AP and Coyote came out?

And by "medic" that also could be "anyone that has the First Aid skill and/or a medkit, or a mage with a Heal spell"

I've just scanned it, but it definitely seems like it's worth $5.

In no particular order:

• New optional rules for using biotech in combat, making combat more deadly (That light pistol shot you took to the leg can still bleed out..)
• New qualities (if I don't buy off "Pregnancy" after 9 months, what happens?... I shudder to think)
• New drugs & toxins (haven't read these, but a dozen or so; seem like they could be cool)
• A nice little 1 page short-story up front (nice to have in a supplemental like this)
• Advanced Medkit rules (now they come with all sorts of discrete supplies, with added directions on how your character can use them)
• Description of Docwagon HRT teams and roles, similar to the Coyote book. Would have liked a little more here on dealing with extraterritoriality, but that's wishing for the stars in a $5 book.
• New spells, *adept powers*, gear, and DRONES! A supplemental book with drones!

One gripe: some of the tables are mislabeled. C'mon guys, please, please read these damn things before selling them.

pg 15: Diagnosis tests table labelled "Pregnancy Quality"
pg 20: Drug table labelled "Ondansetron", Toxins table labelled "Rocuronium"
pg 21: Pathogens table labelled "Cypher"

If you can get past the editing errors (and let's be frank; you're buying a shadowrun book so that's a priori) it's a nice little book that I'm very pleased to have spent 5 bucks on.

Re: Aged NQ.

Realistically, only humans should be able to take the quality to be at 70 or above as the awakening only happened about 65 years ago as of SR5. Just saying.

And written by Dumpshock's friendly neighborhood ripper doc, yours truly.

Dr. Zaius: I apologize about the table headings. These are a great annoyance to me as well, since most of the other typo's I've picked up are very minor. Not sure how something like that makes it through layout, but then I am not very involved in the whole process. Hopefully they can upload a corrected version.

Anyway, hope you guys can find something useful in there. Feedback of any kind welcome.

Don't forget those spike babies!

Yeah, the topic of the Aged quality has popped up on the official site.

Mostly centered around how it would work with the non-human metatypes. For instance, for it to work with elves and dwarves, they'd have to have been spike babies.

Hah! I didn't even know that this one was in the pipeline. Kudos!

After a good read through the crunch, I like it. We will probably start slowly adding some of the advanced medical rules into our games. We will take a little time adding it as our players are still getting really familiar with SR5, so once everyone is more comfortable, we’ll add in the advanced medicine stuff.

The one thing that really caught my eye was the Adept Power “Transmit Damage”.
It’s expensive, but wow.

Overall I'd say good work. Sure there are typos, but what product is perfect?

which would need their own (pos or neg) Quality.
So If You can't play a spike Baby Elf how can you play a 100 Year old Elf ???

with an impossible Dance
Medicineman

Question: Upgrading medkits (pp 18-19)
The rules say you use Cybertechnology to upgrade the medkit. Is this as intended or a glitch? Because it doesn't seem very intuitive to use Cybertechnology, and not Medicine.

Maybe between the upgraded software and different tools it is more akin to improving a cyberlimb than just the medical know how.

You are maybe setting it for a more delicate touch, finer control, more sensory feedback and such is the only thing I can guess.

Would a spike baby really need a quality of it's own though? It doesn't really confer anything to the party other than fluff for background.

This also strays into debate of just because they are older, and especially in the case of a elven spike baby, do they really know all that much more from the advanced time spent?

Some probably will, but some may just be coasting along.

The amount of bonus points for a human with aged is quite small given it is supposed to represent that advanced age, a 50 year gets all of 5 build points or 7 karma to go with the diminishing stats.

So a person who has had 30-35 years of life experience over a new kid (15-20 yr old) on the street still is only a few points different than said fresh face despite all those years.

Not much in the way of honing skills, picking up anything all the way through those years, surviving, etc..

I realize they did this so we don't end up with SeniorRun™ with Tired Reflexes, Hip Lacing, Extendable Taser Canes, Memory Spells and Rigger Golfcarts, but you can see it is a bit odd looking at it.

In 2073, four retired mercenaries were wrongly committed by their families for messes they don't think they commited.

They promptly escaped from a maximum security retirement home to the the Miami Underground. Today still wanted by Social Services, they survive to this day as soldiers of (slow) fortune.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them when their joints aren't acting up, maybe you can hire the Aged-Team."

How fucking sad is it that this is the accepted state of things with this product line?

@Sendaz:
Retired
Extremely
Dangerous

Or maybe even the Expendables.

Saw RED and RED 2, not gotten around to seeing the Expendables but yeah...

What was the phrase ... Age and Meaness beats Youth and Enthusiasm anytime?

Age and cunning in the original i think.

Prepare for a Testosterone Explosion.

Did anyone see if there is the "cannot be used in Missions" text at the very beginning of the book? Usually in the Jackpoint splash page in the bottom corner fine print.

Because if there is I will be hugely dissapointed. The Aged quality is just about custom made for Old Man Jones.



-k

I'm not happy about it. But complaining about it feels like tilting and windmills at this point. They've had years to get this shit straight and haven't, so I consider it a cost of doing business when dealing with these products. Outside of annoying my personal feelings about clean editing, it's not actually that big of a deal. Does it change the rules at all? Does it significantly impact my enjoyment of the material? Not really. People make a big deal out of it (and frankly, it should be better) but in practice it has very little effect on whether or not the product in question is worthwhile.

-DrZ

If you don't want your PDF watermarked you can also get this at http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product...roducts_id=3322

yeah with all those big names I am not sure to expect unending boom boom or just continual cockfights.
Still, given that Stallone and Arnie have always been able to poke fun at the other in their movies, having them in the same pic should be interesting just to see what little jibes they slip in.

Sorry KI, It has this to say in the corner you asked about :They will not be used in official products, Missions, or allowed in tournament play.

Guess you will have to settle for well-seasoned.

why chose?

Indeed...

Thanks! It was actually kind of stuck in the pipeline for awhile. Written for SR4A but delayed and then went into limbo when SR5 dropped. Glad to see it's finally seeing the light of day.


Sendaz is on the right track. An earlier version had expanded Biotech skills including a dedicated Surgery skill (separate from Medicine) and an expanded role for Cybertechnology as the "tech" skill of the group so the rule is a bit of a throwback to that. The rationale being that upgrading medkits gets is a bit tricky. Medkits aren't just a device, a program or set of tools, but a combination of all three. Upgrading the software is easy enough, but after that its really a matter of selecting better tools and supplies, which in my mind speaks to a more technical or surgical skill. Or you could just use Hardware and call it a day.


I tend to agree with you. I have already been in contact with Jason Hardy and am compiling a list of errata.


Unfortunately as part of the "Options Line" the rules aren't allowed in Missions. But if I'm being honest, I've often thought the quality would be great for your Old Man Jones character.

Using Biotech to cause these wounds via aimed shots, or having a random chance to get such wounds which need to be stitched back together (like the severe wounds from Augmentation)?



As in, more syringes to keep track of?

Using an optional rule, after a certain threshold wounds of a severe enough degree continue accruing damage, similar to physical overflow. I imagine the intention is to keep a combat medic (or group of docwagon employees) busy.



I don't feel like I'm giving anything away by quoting here:
"Since medkits and autodocs play only a background role in most games, the basic rules presented in Shadowrun core rulebook, along with Arsenal and Augmentation, are streamlined for simplicity and ease of use. Although the basic rules assume that all medkits and autodocs have similar features and capabilities, there are some important distinctions. The following optional rules are designed for gamemasters and players who want more detailed game mechanics; they can also serve to clarify the basic rules."

So to answer your somewhat flip question; yes; but for people who are interested in that sort of thing. Again, I'm thinking the intention here is for a dedicated Docwagon campaign, or a similarly focused combat medic in a standard game. YMMV, but if I get something similar for riggers for SR5 I'll be tickled pink. I'll add the table on how medkit dice pools should be distributed given the type of kit and level of skill of the user is particularly neat.

Unskilled user with remote control = "Surgery Simulator 2072"
-DrZ

EDIT: I responded to the syringe question assuming it was a reference to that thread a few weeks ago about "Why do we have to buy individual syringes". If your question was not at all sarcastic then I take back any particularly harsh phrasing

Actually, if your recent thread was any indication, I think you will find this more to your liking. Rather than a system for tracking individual items (like disposable syringes or whatnot), it includes a table that gives broad examples of what you can find in medkits of different ratings.

I don't know if you've noticed, but several of the last books have had such editing errors that directly impact game mechanics, even if you assume things like the Rainforest Carbine were intentionally statted as they are. The SR5 core book is full of them.

In this case specifically they do not.

Additionally, splatbooks have always had a reputation for adding stuff way above the power level of the core system, similar to the Rainforest carbine (the "Monkey-Grip" of firearms). It's a cost of doing business; there are only so many ways you can stat out a light pistol; eventually the cool one you write up in your splat book is going to be completely better than anything in the core game.

So, to summarize: the editing sucks. It should be better. In this particular case it's not that big of a deal (since it doesn't appear to change anything, and is easy to see what they intended). Of course, I am just referring to the mislabeled tables; there might be other stuff in there I haven't read yet.

just to clarify, about aging an such

if you're born a human and you morph (i forget the term and don't want to use the wrong one) into an ork or troll or whomever, you have the lifespan of a human still.

and if an ork female breeds with a human male, she may have a litter with a few humans, who have a high chance of morphing into ork's eventually. but those born humans have a longer lifespan, correct? And a troll and a human can be half brothers & have the same troll mother, but different fathers right?

Yes...

Are you serious? This isn't a 'there's only so many ways to stat a light pistol' thing. We're talking about the very first book past the core book with weapons in it.

There is no excuse.

I stated that splatbooks are notorious for providing unbalanced equipment (in fact, by their nature they are unbalanced because they are in addition to the core edition which presumably was created with balance in mind) and you respond by asking if I am sincere, because one particular case is egregious. So, I am, I guess? I think I'm going to stop responding to your questions; it seems to be that you are more inclined to point out things you actively dislike as opposed to things you enjoy, and I'm not particularly interested in having that kind of debate; I can let things like the Rainforest Carbine slide because it is within my power to ignore them- the entirety of the Shadowrun universe is not tainted beyond repair in my eyes as a result of it's existence.

@Method -

any chance of getting the description of Sugammadex (on the new drug table, but no write-up)?

Sugamadex is the stuff you need to reverse the poison Rock. It'S in the description of Rock.

Yup - thanks - just came to it!

Anyone interested in letting everyone know what kind of stuff is in this thing, gear wise?

Any Lethal Toxins with a restriction of 12 or less?

I heard it has Drones. I'm guessing Medical Drones with built in med-kits, surgery suites, etc. Any wheel chair drones? HTR related (IE: Combat, Not medic) Drones?

Anything especially cool or interesting?

I'm not asking for the stats, just a quick description of what's there.

Most of the gear is designed for medics (as you might imagine); things like autoinjection guns, hand held imaging devices, rapid infusers, etc. There are also some detailed examples about the contents and capabilities of medkits of various ratings and a bunch of expanded rules about how they work. As a side note, it corrects the whole "rating replaces skill" problem inherent with the SR4A medkit rules.


Yes, and a few others with more specialized effects. Also drugs that enable medics to do some cool stuff including counteracting certain negative effect of other toxins. Oh and some pathogens that do some other cool stuff.


Yes there a few drones, all medically oriented. No wheelchairs.


No. This was originally written for SR4A, so most Docwagon vehicles and a plethora of combat drones were already detailed in other books. Unfortunately, if you're looking for more generalized combat drones for SR5, this won't help you.


I think so (in my totally biased opinion) but it depends on what kind of stuff you like and what you think would add to your game.

Are there any plans to eventually consolidate some of these .pdf-only supplements into some kind of hardcopy release eventually? I am probably not alone in disdaining e-books and only wanting actual books, and I am starting to feel a bit left behind by all of these e-book only supplements of additional rules, qualities, gear, etc.

Considering that nowadays I personally don't have the budget to get a hard-copy of anything, I don't mind e-releases.

I'm not privy to that kind of stuff and I imagine most who are would be under NDA. You'd have to ask Bull or Jason H probably.

he's asking for them to offer print versions, not for them to stop offering PDF versions. you'd still get your e-release if they were to set up a POD deal or something like that no problem.

Call it Run&Bullets&Gun&Bandages Primer.

I think that depends on Catalyst being able to afford to print more books.

not really. POD services are a thing.

it would be expensive, undoubtedly, but doesn't require them to front the cost for it.

Yep, I was worried that one of the few kit solutions was replaced by "here is a detailed list of stuff inside a kit, tally anything you take and replace it using a big table of insane prices"

Method, since you wrote this I hope you can answer. How much is Red Masque supposed to cost and what is its availability? There is a stat line for Cypher but not Red Masque. Unless of course that stat line is supposed to be for Red Masque but then how much is Cypher? Both found on pg 21.

In keeping with convention, diseases and pathogens are not usually given a cost and availability because they generally aren't comercially available to the typical shadowrunner (cypher being an exception) and they tend to function better as plot devices. Obtaining enough Red Masque to mount an attack, or even just do research should really be the focus of an adventure (see NAN Vol 2 for ideas). If you want to use it more casually in your game, you'll have to talk it over with your GM.