I understand that you did lack space in SoE, so you chose a Central/Western European sample.
ANyway i`m interested in knowing what`is going on in 2064`s Eastern/Slavic Europe.
Will Balkans/Greece/Slovakia/Hungary/Romania/Russia/Baltic states/Ukraina etc.. ever appear in any future supplement? (maybe something like Target:Eastern Europe?)
There is any old source I can see?
If I well understood you have in plan shadows of Asia and Shadows of Latin America... (I`ve noticed that they are mentioned in the official site, down in the faq page, in the abbreviations section). ...maybe Eastern Europe has to wait after those publications or it will maybe a bit treated in Shadows of Asia (I mean, at least Russia must be there...).
I would like to ask a similar question about Middle East & North Africa.
Will shadows of Asia use for Middle East the same policy Shadows of Europe use for Eastern Europe? (can I suggest a "Target:Middle East" thing?)
Similar question for North Africa: will it ever appear something?
I`m understand that I`m a bothering man and that anyone in the world wants something more for some regions he loves, but I`m just curious about future plans and past publications about these areas.

IIRC, Shadows of Asia is going to include the Middle East.

From what little I understood, there are no plans to cover Eastern Europe right now (except what little there is in SoE).

But you may want to acquire the unofficial and elusive Hungarian SB

http://www.beholder.hu/?m=bolt&cikk=257

Regarding SoA, it looks like Russia and the Middle-East will be covered, but I don't know to what extent (ie full chapters or small mentions a la "Rest of Europe").

It doesn't look like North Africa will be covered there (obviously), but you can find very brief references in SoE.

Currently Shadows of Asia is written and in editing - it covers the Middle East (incl. Turkey), the Indian subcontinent, Russia and Yakut, Central Asia, SE Asia, and obviously, Japan and China.

After that will come Shadows of Latin America, currently in final writing stages, which basically covers everything from Aztlan to the Tierra del Fuego..

No other location books have been announced. Personally, I hope their might be a Shadows of Africa and a Target: Awakened Lands 2 sometime down the line, but right now your guess is as good as mine.

FYI - Some information on aspects of the Islamic world and especifically North Africa will also be found in Loose Alliances (since it's been announced that it will include both the IUM/NIJ and the Islamic Renaissance Movement).

There is also a semi-finished "lost" SoE chapter on the Balkans, by fellow EuroSBer Humberto Fonseca and myself, which might see the light of day as a freebe through the FanPro website if my schedule opens up.

Skarn Ka:
Thanks but unfortunately I do not read Hungarian!!!

Synner:
Thanks for the preview information. Please, make somewhere appear that bit of Eastern Europe!!!!

If it's any help, Luca, my take on the (former) Yugoslav region?

War. Not a big, blazing full-scale war, but a relatively low-key ongoing guerilla/terrorist nightmare. It's been going on since the 20-teens, when all the old hatreds flared up again after UGE and VITAS screwed the populations. Frankly, most of the major military might is used up by now; the UN would probably be able to roll right over them if (a) anyone gave a damn any more, and (b) the UN didn't have their sights set elsewhere (oh MAN I want to read Loose Alliances...). But since nobody gives a crap about that little armpit of Europe, they're basically at it hammer and tongs with whatever they can get. A small but significant trickle of arms comes into the country from the expatriate communities (the Serbs in particular are doing okay from their colleagues in London and Frankfurt), but materiel is at a premium. Add to this the renewed Serbian Royalist Brigade's attempt to take back Serbia for the royal family - whether they want it or not (remember that Prince Tomislav said he would only return as king if the people asked him to) - and basically everybody's killing everybody.

I`m really interested in ex-Yugoslavia and all the region in general.
I`m italian and I was born in Pescara (centro-South Italy) and my mother is fully Italian but my father came from Zadar.
So I`m quite interested in the region. I mean, it is the ideal setting for many SR adventures (probably more Merc types) but it is also a place full of culture. The mixture of ethnic (Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, ALbanian, etc..), culture (Coast-Slavic, Internal-Slavic, Greek, Islamic, gipsy, etc...) and of religions (catholicism, orthodoxy, islam) make it a lot of back ground and I imagine that the awaken side of the Balkans should be wonderful (due to all the folklore background).
More information I have and more I`m happy!

You need to remember three main things:

1) Slavs excel at holding grudges.
2) Slavs excel at guerilla warfare.
3) All those racial types and cultures were forced into one nation after WW I. Alexander Karađorđević must have been insane to go with it, he has to have [known it wasn't going to work, but he did it anyway. The pressure meant it was gonna blow sooner or later, and when King Alexander banned political parties in the late 20's it just made stuff worse...

Sigh... even that isn't even the half of it. I mean, the Islamic Serbs are the descendants of converts made when the Turks invaded 500 years ago. They've been champing at the bit ever since for a Jyhad (trust me, I've met them )

Everybody hates everybody over there. God, you should have heard the expatriate Serbs in London when the Jugoslav civil war first broke out over Croatia's secession. "That was never Croatia... and that was never Croatia..." Croatia would have been the size of a frigging postage stamp had they had their way.

Hold grudges? The guy who was running the Federal Army when the war broke out, I forget his name, his family died at a place called Kragujevac, killed by the Germans in retaliation for guerilla attacks on German soldiers. Croatia, remember, was an Axis state during WW2. This guy'd been waiting 50 years for payback, and by God he intended to get it!

But hey, don't let me give you the idea it was Croatia vs Serbia. Serbs butchered each other with gleeful joy in WW2 along the Partisan/Royalist axis as well. Klagenfurt springs to mind. A bunch of (Royalist) Serbs fled over the border from Jugoslavia to Austria to hook up with an American force there. The Yanks couldn't work out what the Serbs said they were fleeing, so got in contact with their (Partisan) Serb contacts on the other side of the border. No problem, said the contacts. Pop them back over and we'll take care of them. The Royalists were put on a train, and as the train came over the border the Partisans stood off to one side and machine-gunned the train.

Meh. It's late, and discussing Jugoslav (which I still use as the generic catch-all term for everyone in the region) history depresses me. In case you're wondering where I get all this from, my Dad was a Royalist Serb exile after WW2 (the Royalists were given two choices - live under the new regime <draws finger expressively across neck> or bugger off out of it. That's why there are big expatriate communities in London, Manchester and Frankfurt).

Look... check out the wikipedia entry on Serbia. It's actually bloody good, and doesn't allow too much bias. Place is a frigging mess...

Not generalising as much as you may think, AH. Half my family are Serbs, and many of the older ones love to tell war stories. You could practically taste the testosterone sometimes

I understand you point DrJest.
My grandfather after WWII went from Zadar in Italy because he said that he was catholic and so he was not able to stay under a Socialistic regime.
I can feel what you say about roots and slavic ideas.
I`m quite of left political ideas but I cannot deny to be Catholic. It is something that it is rooted in the family and I remember my grandfather telling stories about the war. I mean, a lot of people there must have complicated lifes and histories.
He was just a farmer with seven children (my father the youngest) and Mussolini soldiers arrived and brought him to Milan and then to the front to act as an Italian Fascist soldier. He never liked to kill and he always tried not to do it. Actually in his tales he was obsessed by the fact that he always shooted too high to not make his fascist superior notice that he was not killing anyone.....I think my grandfather had a simplistic, ingenuous but certainly real and true sense of religion in him.
He felt always sorry for the dead and actually he was just a man of peace. In any case, even if not a "Testosteronic" as many others he certainly had a strong sense of Catholic identity. He did not care so much for ethinc, as long as anybody was not touching his faith. In this sense I think he was quite Slavic.
Then he was able to escape and reach again Zadar again but the Tito socialist partisans took him and made him a partisan soldier. He used to define that period as a a bad period, when he was often punished by his superiors just because he used to go to Mass.
About ethnic/social identity...I think it is a pretty complicated life for people down there.
Actually my grandfather was from Arbanassi Zadar, that is a quarter of Zadar near the sea where Albanian people just went there after the Turks invaded Albania 500 years before and they escape not to convert to Islam (so see the history!! Always running away to remain Catholic! In Arbanassi Zadar they even have histories about a bishop who proudly brought 7 Albanian clans from Albania to Zadar....Catholic epic, what a silly thing.....).
So, My Grandfather was a Man from Zadar, with an Italian name (Francesco), speaking Serbo-Croatian (he was never able to divide the two things) in the public and speaking Albanian in his family. You have to add that Zadar had quite a good links with Italy (actually all the Zadar historical center was built by Vanetians, centuries ago and during WWII, as you said above, it was under Italians for sometimes), so a thin flavour of "Italian culture" was one of various bits that componed my grandfather sense of identity, although he never said, to my knowledge, to be fully Italian and never rejected the Slavic part of himself.
He died just at the beginning of the balkanization of Yugoslavia.
If anyone was asking him "are you Croatian?" He always was disgusted and replied "I`m a Dalmatian living in Italy".
He always hated Croatian nationalists too, actually he was never able to say that Croatian was a different language from Serbian. He acknowledged the quite different culture (Orthodox vs Catholic, cyrillic alphabet vs Latin alphabet, etc...) but he says to have Serbian friends that were like him.
Sometimes he defined himself as an Albanian, but that was rare. More often was speaking of himself as a "Slavo" that in Italian means simply "Slavic". Other times he defined himself as an Italian, because he was living in Italy.
At the end of the day I think my grandfather was just a farmer wanting to have a good life for him and his children, trying to give to his descent the Catholic faith he received from his father. He just came in Italy and did the low-type of job (like cleaning the garbage and things like that) just to make his sons have a good life. I do not think he had such an accurate political vision, just wanted to remain Catholic and live in peace.
If he came to Italy I think was for a sincere sense of keeping on with his faith. He just trusted God and crossed the Adriatic sea with all his big family. In many senses he was just a simple man and he believed in what he was doing.
So, at the end of the day what was my Grandfather ethnic identity? Probably just "Francesco", his name.
It is strange to see at my grandfather descendance and relatives. There is a kind of cousin of my father who married a Serb....while there was another one that acted as a Soldier in the Croatian-Serb front during last war, and it is now what I should call a Fascist Croatian (just too many friends of him died and this shocked him).
Then there are we, the grandsons in Italy, all more of less of left political party and all more or less Catholic. Unfortunately we do not speak much Albanian or Serbo-Croatian and it is a pity. Actually I think to be just an Italian with Slavic blood in my veins (my mother is fully Italian).
And yes: I`m not able not to speak of "Yugoslavia" to define the whole region and my father is not able too to say so often "Croazia", more often we say "Ex-Yugoslavia".
So, seeing at my grandfather history it is pretty clear how complicated was life for some people there, even if you are a farmer and do not want to do nothing else but growing up your seven sons.

I concur. And the time warp they'll make - just adding five years to the timeline - doesn't make things better.

I can only recommend you did what my group did when 3rd came out: just play on, convert your characters when 4th and the core expansions (magic, rigger, matrix, weapons) are out, and play on, don't stay on top of the timeline at all cost.

I have no will of converting anything to SR 4th ed.
I spent my money for R3R less than a year ago and I have never used any of these rules. SImilar considerations for M&M, CC and Matrix. Too much money spent.
This 4th edition fucks me not only from the point of view of rulebooks made useless (R3R that I never used....) but also in terms of background books.
5 years time lag is a lot,too much I shall say.....why you did not come out with some kind of long campaign playing the System Failure and these 5 years?
I think I noticed a "System failure" product in your schedule, but what's the point in playing it with 4th edition rules?
Furthermore what the sense in starting a "Shadows of..." series if half of the issues (North America & Europe) will be BEFORE such a big event like the "System failure". I mean, Shadows of Europe came out only six months ago and I spent my money on that only a month ago....but it will be outdated in six months times. I have my doubt that 5 fucking years of Shadowrun times (and official SR time runs quick and a lot of stuff hapen!) will not change anything in the European (or North American) settings.
SYstem failure is such a big thing that corps, powers and governments should be fall and rise like they are flies.
I think there is no sense in having a Shadows of Asia or Shadows of Latin America set 5 years after SHadows of Europe and After the System failure.
I feel a bit "fregato" as we say here in Italy.
My recently bought Shadows of Europe will be outdated in six months and SOTA 2064 too. From my point of vies times have run too quickly for the timeline until now (from Year of the comet to SOTA 2064 there was not much time in-real-world-life) but now 5 years in 6 months are too much.
I've spent too much on SR3 books that I've never used to convert now anything to 4 edition.
I'm sure that the new edition will improve things (actually things like melee combat, stress rules, lack of hit location, complexity of electronic matrix-rigger rules, all just suck and must be changed...) and I'm sure that FanPro guys are more correct in doing this thing than Wizards of the Coast and their damned 3.0-3.5 shift......but at least their Forgotten Realms chronology does not runs so quickly and, at the end of the day, I cannot stop to feel like I am fucked by the arrival of SR 4th edition. Probably this will be a stop in my "buying SR book craziness" as my players say........but I know that I am so stupid and so fallen in love with the SR world that I will buy the new edition in one year time.....che cazzo....

[Dumpshock ate this post I made yesterday]

All the core material and background will remain into fourth edition. Loose Alliances, Shadows of Asia and Shadows of Latin America will still be coming out, bringing those areas of the world up to date as of 2064/65 but also leading the way to events in System Failure and SR4. In fact the ultimate ramifications of some of the plots in SoE and DotSW will come into their own in SF and SR4 (obviously the Wireless Matrix Initiative but several others)...

Why release these books with 2064 dates? They were planned and written to provide a global overview which is equally relevant in 2064 and 2070 (as you will see), but they're also designed in such a way as to continue and develop plots that may only bear fruits in the future.

The 5-year jump should not bring enormous transformation on a geopolitical scale althought here will be changes and follow throughs of upcoming major events (foreshadowed in the books above). However, like everything in SR this evolution will be integral to the plot lines and books - it won't be sprung on you out of the blue. This means people will be able to play through the events to their logical outcome (whether it's in 2067 or 2070)...

Also, as we saw with SR2/SR3, many people will be reluctant to make the transition to SR4 and they're entitled to have equally good books for Asia and South Am to finish off their collections.

Luca -You seem to be confused on the details, so let me make this very clear.

Loose Alliances, Shadows of Asia and Shadows of Latin America will all be SR3 sourcebooks. They are all written and will be coming out over the next few months.

The last SR3 release planned is System Failure which will be a massive multi-track campaign which will have deep and lasting ramifications through-out the Sixth World - leading to a slightly different scene in 2070.

As I have said above, all material will remain fully compatible and if things go as planned System Failure will make the transition dramatic, shocking and enjoyable to play through. It will not carry the storyline through to 2070 but it will set the tone of a lot of what is to come as well as explaining why.

ok,SYnner, thanks for the clarification.
It was simply unclear from the official site and from the various topics in this forum.

Personally, I'm trying to get a couple of adventure source books done with my group before SR4 comes out, then I'm going to spectacularly kill all the really powerful PCs and make a fresh start with the new system.

Yes I will buy the new source books, no I can't help it I am hopelessly addicted to this world and can't wait to goblinize.

I'll use them as background and pray I'm right. I believe its better to have some data than no data.

Thanks, I will just Kiss Attilius's ass good by then?

torz x

I wouldn't worry too much about Attilus, probably wont last that long with the rest of the players as they are and anyway Orks have a short life span.

Wait a minute, there are MORE Shadowrunners in Wales? Sweet...

There are more than you think mate our group has between 4 and 6 depending on commitments and we're after more for a bit of variety.

Taking this to PMs