The Official Shadowrun Website has had a redesign, and has gone live. What do you think of the new layout, the new navigational structure and the new content?

I think it's looking good, better than the older set up. Although, I did jump when I read the fiction having ran a character named Torque (the Orc Rigger) for awhile.

I was just reading the links section, and I was surprised at some of the seriously outdated links that are in there. I mean, I don't think UOL has seen an update since late 2001. The last update for Herkimer's Lair was on October 28th, 2001. Seriously, Plastic Warriors? I don't think even Gurth looks at that site anymore.

I'd like to see, for instance, some of the links in this thread added.

"I know everybody who’s anybody from suite-and-tie boardroom predators..." from the Johnson's Little Black Book description. It should be "suit-and-tie". Suit is clothing, suite is a hotel room.

The Abstruse One

Nice to see the Intros for new books return and kudos to Rat for the fiction. Nice work, Brian & Adam.

Me, I'm just miffed MrJLBB and the Character Dossier already have their respective covers up and the SoE is still using the place holder.

Just a small point - when I click on Fiction I lose the side nav bar

DV8:

I saw it pretty nice. A bit more shadowrunnish, as it has to be (it'd still need a bit more black and techies around, heh).

Looks good!

-The 2 art pieces from SotF are one over the other.

-Product List: Loooooooooooooooooooooooong. You'll understand it when you see it.

SR Character Dossier:

-Neat idea. I'll have one. Price question: how much does the thing weight? (I need to calculate shipping costs). Same question for DotSW, SSG, MrJLBB and SoE.

-Cover image as a vid-screen = good idea. Keep it.

-Cover image using older pics = not so good. Although I always liked the Bottled Demon cover...

I do like the redesign very much. The fiction page is great, although it seems to be missing the submission guidelines that were originally posted on the old forums (that I can't find). I like the look of it just fine.

I can't say that I'm pleased at all that that's the final cover for the Character Dossier. Cutting and pasting old art is a real cop-out. I guess I can deal with it as a money-saver inside the books, but really, the cover is what you're selling the book with... it's not indicative of good quality to reuse cover art, especially for a book that some would see as unnecessary and need a good reason to get (fortunately, I buy every damned thing you put out, so you'll have no problem with me).

The Dossier is an exception to the rules of normal book design. All it is, really, is a campaign log/character sheet. The price can't go above 4.99 or it won't sell (I bought three or four of the ones they put out for L5R, and I didn't care about the cover). Most people aren't going to buy it for the cover... they're going to buy it to have a nice, bound character sheet with lots of room that they won't loose parts of.

As the lead designer of the Dossier, it was a simple decision to re-use art:

* Budget concerns - this product needed to stay under the $5 mark. It also needed to turn a profit after X units. Thus, contracting new cover art was not feasible. Neither was paying me more than a pittance.

* Time constraints - Originally, the Dossier was supposed to be finished much sooner, and there was no time to contract original art, especially as our primary cover guys were busy with MJLBB, SOE, and SSG. Once it was obvious that it would be delayed, there was once again no time to get new art contracted and finished, and no budget.

* Product Type - I don't think the cover particularly matters to this product. People can easily recognize it's a Shadowrun product [even without the logo, it has very distinct Shadowrun features, plus old-school recognizability] But what really matters with the Dossier is the simple fact that it's the best damned portable Shadowrun character recording/gameplay device ever.

Feh... I don't need to buy character sheets...

But that's not what this is all about, now is it?

The one thing I miss (or am missing) is the release dates on the 'upcoming' books. JLBB looks cool (as does SoE)... but when are they coming out? Inquiring minds want to know, and you used to be able to find out.

That's my only thing... looks cool like usual, Adam!

The link in the SotA:2063 page leading to the Wallpaper is incorrect.

Target: Matrix MIA

Now, I'm being picky, but shouldn't the Critter's Errata go under the Errata?

I honestly completely forgot that the dossier was going to go for only five bucks... that's a pretty good reason to save costs on the cover even without the time constraints you mentioned, Adam. So I guess I formally withdraw my complaint.

Not bad. Still say the FASA one was better though.

You are so dead the next time I see you.