Ok, no one's chimed in on this yet, any Dutch here? I have to say this is the chapter I like the least. This is Corporate world, pools of toxic sludge and lots of coast. There's little enough difference, from this chapter, between the Netherlands and the toxic wastes of the UK and Seattle. The only hint of there being something else is on page 214, talking about the liberal attitudes of the people Amsterdam towards Metas "a contrast from other areas of the UNL" which implies there's a degree of prejudicetowards metas in the rest of the population, but that's not mentioned in the rest of the text. Metas? Magic? Asians? internal transport?

On the map of the UNL it shows few cities, but it does list Einhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. I could be wrong, but I thought these three cities weren't particularly large or important, except for a few days in Sept 1944.

I liked the chapter in that it gave plot hooks.

In terms of towns, consider the European definition. I'm in a town of maybe 60K, but it's referred to as a city. Stuttgart, which is nearby and has maybe 1M, is referred to as a big city. It's all a question of perspective. Heck, I'm from a villiage (yes, I mean villiage) of less than 20K. First time I came to Europe, I was in a city of 85K, of which around 25K are students. For me, it was "the big city".

Amsterdam has always been liberalization city. Consider marajuana, for instance. There you can buy it legally. Same with prostitution. Although they may be morally offensive, these institutions are open to those who want them simply based on the liberal ideal that one can make a choice and will follow their choices. Just because it doesn't appeal to some doesn't mean we shouldn't offer it to all, at least to a limited extent. Amsterdam then sees undecidable choices, such as being born ork or troll, as ones that no one is really guilty about.

Don

I disagree. I liked the UNL. Its a decent setting in and of itself, and I could see having a few runs there, but more than anything, I think it makes a great gateway to the rest of Europe. Europort. Amsterdam. If you need to lay low for a while, why not take a boat across the Pond for a couple of weeks, then jump ship in the UNL? That was why I liked the chapter. I thought it was really useful. Plot hooks were cool, too. And the implied still super-liberal attitude in Amsterdam, where BTLs are legal now... That's gotta make for some interesting coffee shops...

The UNL also provides what is probably the easiest and safest way to enter France, through Lille.

About the various dots on the map, you have to blame me. I just don't like the void, so I filled it with city names that I considered worth the mention (at least they're worth the mention for their football club ). That's a matter of scale (by the way, I apologize that I forgot the scale indicator on all maps). UNL and Switzerland for instance are smaller countries. I had more room inside them in the half-page format so I filled in.
Stephan asked me to remove some that he considered really too small to be displayed.

Now, there can be a reason withing SR world for their presence on the map: the black tide and various eco-catastrophes forced millions to relocate inside the land. Most probably ended to grow the inhabitant figures of those cities.

I'm the writer of the UNL chapter. I was formely known as SM on the Dumpshock forums, but hell, that name gets a bit tacky after a while. The UNL chapter suffered from the same limitations as the other chapters: wordcount. I wished I had put in a lot more atmosphere and background, but I had to concentrate on the more important locations and events. In the end I'm pretty satisfied, it has enough spicey plothooks and locations (Corporate intrigue anyone? Amsterdam. Antwerp; Vory vs Albanian fares) for any GM and player. But more important: I hope the UNL will serve as starting point for a campaign or run for anyone entering Europe.

I know a lot of foreigners (even inside Europe) raise an eyebrown when they come to the Netherlands (read: Amsterdam) and see how soft drugs can be bought and used. With soft drugs we mean: marijhuna and hasji. The system now isn't perfect: the soft drugs do a balancing act between legal and illegal. They're right in the between. The Dutch call it gedogen (the word is hard to translate) which means you're in a gray zone between the legal stuff (like other "soft drugs": coffee, cigarets, beer) and the illegal stuff (hard drugs: LSD, heroine, cocaine etc.).

One misconception about the liberal attitude towards drugs: the Dutch government decided to legalise soft drugs because the criminal element (street dealers, users, junkies, organised crime selling pot etc.) would be eliminated. If it wasn't for international treaties with the US and in Europe, the Dutch government would have really legalised soft drugs a long time ago.

The two paragraphes above detail a little bit on how (in RL) mumble-jumbled and bureacratic the Dutch government is. If you read the UNL chapter, you'll see the that reflected in the SR world (but with a twist )

About Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. It's like Mike already said: the blank had to be filled. These cities are not really big nowadays, but would have grown in size in SR (especially because of the Black Tide).

True.

Don

BTW, Accel, do you happen to be the_old_man?

DAD, III

Accel your right, tolerated comes close. You can only use soft drugs in licensed coffeeshops or in your own home.

I didn't really see that enforced much when I was in Holland. But then, I don't remember seeing all that many cops around, either... Depending on the time of day, lots of tourists were stoned on park benches, or in the street. None of whom were me. Really. Of course, that was in Amsterdam. I didn't see any of that in Rotterdam or Utrecht (and definatly not in The Hague).

I imagine that has got to be a lot more strictly enforced in SR. I mean, what's a pothead going to do to endanger other people? Probably not much, unless it's through sheer stupid accident. But a BeeTLehead? Having them wander the streets could be dangerous.

Anohter thing I really loved about the UNL was the shadowtalk comment on how Amsterdam has a large community of vampires. That was cool! If ghouls can get organized... why not? Plus, it really opens up some ideas. What would this community want (besides sustenance) and how would it get it? Plus, it's just interesting from a how-the-hell-does-that-society-work sort of perspective. And all in about two sentences.

Thanks. The vampire population in Amsterdam was build on the SR mention that a (in)famous vampire hunter orginated from Amsterdam. His name was Martijn van de Graag (?). Don't know for sure, or what the sources were, but I remember he was detailed in various novels and sourcebooks.

Martin De Vries - vampire hunter extraordinarie. Debuted in Prime Runners, made an appearance in Threats and sacked his agent after his appearance in The Terminus Experiment.

Arrghh! Jesus Peter, don't just bring up stuff like that without a little warning okay?

*Twitches at the memories of that book.*

You didn't like the lesbian runners and joy girl turned mafia vampire killers?

The part I didn't like is that they made the vampires into a pack of ravening creatures instead of thinking beings, hey I don't care if I regenerate, if he's got a gun, I weant a gun 'cause I'm not closing to teeth range. and the idea that just being in contact with infected blood infected you instead of being drained. I mean the elf was carried off and chowed down but the others it was like the flu so easy to catch.

I'm Dutch. Perhaps I should read that section of SoE. Perhaps I should get SoE.

Yup.

wow!
7 months and 12 days delay for a reply (and what a reply ), I think we just broke a new Dumpshock record

I'm from the southern Flanders, and I was a bit dissapointed that they split up Wallonia and Flanders, and that not much was said about other cities in Flanders. My players tough, who at first wanted to see their hometown in Shadowrun, were in the end perfectly okay with me telling them we'd play in Antwerp instead of home (Leuven), because Antwerp is a cool city. I liked the black tide, the albanian fares - vory conflict and the smugglers haven and the wastelands.

I bought SoE only to play/GM in places I actually know, and I think the book gives a very good background to do that. As a GM, I like to fill the little holes myself or let them be filled by my players. If everything is made for you, there's nothing creative for a GM to be done anymore.