On of my characters had 20th Century Comic Books as a knowledge skill. I had the team hired by a Johnson representing a private collector. The team was to recover and present to the Johnson and his emplyer a manuscript of rare quality and value. They tracked it down over the 'net using a number of shadow fixers and they needed to break into an old mansion to collect the manuscript. Well, it was a volume one copy of a comic book and only that knolwedge skill let them verify the authenticity of the true manuscript vs. the copies made to protect the original.

See -- they can be useful, you just have to create a run around that exact skill

Makes it easier to roleplay If you have that skill, then it is perfectly ok to claim your character likes to imitate Bogart or something similar. Not all groups do, but I've seen it on a number of PC's.

Its proabably because most players don't know many detials about the Urban Brawl Legue as they might know about, say....20th Century Role Playing Games. So its a little easier to RP something you know.

Of course, if real life were an RPG, my character sheet would include 19th Century Warfare and Elizabethan Theatre knowledge skills, which is no weirder than a 206x person having 20th Century flatvids and 20th Century Rock and Roll as skills...

It makes perfect sense for the time period. I know lots of people that can quote battles, dates, and military unit statistics from World War II or even further back.

There's nothing lazy about it. In fact, I'd argue just the opposite. You'd actually have to use the knowledge you had (or looked up) versus saying "I make small talk with the guard about the Screamers..."

Exactly. Very put, BTW.

Both Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life and the adventure module A Killing Glare (both OOP) feature rules for Urban Brawl, and mention a list of active ISSV teams circa mid 2050s. Some of this was updated in SOTA 2063 as well, with some mention of Combat Biking and the new sport Drone Football (which started league play in 2061).

Now, to un-hijack the thread , usually only one character picks up a 20th century trivial background, out of a group of four to six. I'm betting that if you pick any four to six co-workers or friends, at least one of them has some special category of useless trivia from 40 years ago and beyond..

Plus, it allows for some amusing character quirks. Even though Shadowrun can be gritty and dystopian, there's got to be some funny to each character, they don't have any depth otherwise. Perhaps the decker has a fascination for the Pacman series of games, or the rigger has skimmer drones shaped like miniature Millenium Falcons and calls himself Solo...

LOL, so do mine.

I think it's cause there isn't a real list of knowledge skills in SR3 so alot of runners just see what the pre-made toons have on them.

I try to impress on them, its what defines you when you aren't shooting, killing or otherwise being shot at.

If you lived in 206x Seattle and didn't live in Corpland, don't you think you would learn at least a little about identifying the various gangs and their turfs? I grew up in South Oak Cliff, and I know I used to be able to id at least a few of the local gangs. Of course, that was twenty-something years ago, but it was a survival skill.

While you are right with A Killing Glare the other book presenting Urban Brawl rules wasn't NAGtRL but ShadowBeat.

ARG! I always get those two mixed up...

Worst part is, I was just running a scenario based on Urban Brawl -- IMG, the 2061 Super Brawl came down to Denver and Ares, and the team runs in Denver, where the game was to be hosted. The ISSV saw fit to make sure the four prospective "urban arenas" in Aurora were cleared of any prospective "paid relocatees" before they would have to be compensated -- with minimal casualties, preferrably. The PCs were hired for one of those zones, and...well...at least the roughly 8 block by 12 block area they accidentally destroyed wasn't part of the zone they were supposed to clear...

Still, you'd figure I'd remember which book had the rules in it...

No, one or more of my group always take 20th Century RPG's. What can I say, we're a bunch of gamers. And with this skill the characters can continue their arguments about wether D20 is good or bad for the industry. I envision this argument lasting well into the 2060's myself.

I found a different way to do it. In a BESM game set in 2030, whenever a character mentioned a movie, I would chime in with a question about which remake or sequel he was refering to.

Lance (NPC): (refering to Stu's golden guns) Did you ever see that movie, The Man With The Golden Gun?
Stu (me): Which one, the original or the remake?
Lance: Um, the remake.
Stu: You're missing out. The original was so much better. I say, once they made the movie 3-D, it lost the charm that the original flat screen had. That, and they replaced Herve Villechaize with Gary Coleman!
GM: Shut up.
Me: No. And what about airline peanuts?

At this point, the mood is ruined, and I feel accomplished.

Hahahahaha.

So by 2060, has Shadowrun 4th Ed come out yet?