We've seen this poll before but now its real. Have at it.

I came down on the side of "Good Idea."

The number of people and posts today is a pretty clear indication that it's a VERY good idea.

I can't properly answer this poll. SR4 is a good idea, but what I'm hearing makes me very hesitant to say that this SR4 is a good idea.

Although somebody should have combined all of this maddnessinto one topic. Now we have fifty "Oh my gawd" posts.

Good idea was second edition. Period.
Null vote

SR4 is a good idea - but only if the rules are really stream-lined AND it's not as expensive as the 3rd edition. Remember all the books one had to buy before being ready to start really with 3rd edition. M&M, CC, MITS, Rigger 3 - that was a heavy load and nearly 200e. That's too much for a lot of people i guess. But anyway i'm looking forward to see some new cool not-available-for-adepts cyberware

Too early to tell. SR4 could be great, could damage the game greatly. I'm hopeful, but until I can take the new game out for a spin, its impossible to say.

I abstained. Until we know the specifics of the changes, there really isn't a way to tell one way or the other.

I'm with the captain.

I feel like my wife has informed me in six months, she's going away. Some new woman will come to take her place. She should be a very nice woman, and I should like her.

Will I like her? I don't know. Will I feel the same way about her? Will I have vivid dreams about her, and write poems that I hide away in my underwear drawer, from some silly, personal shame? Will I scream at the top of my lungs as I caress her delicate pages, in the throes of roleplaying passion?

I just don't know.

Definitely a good idea and not before it's time either. I like the thinking behind it as well, but I will continue with my 3rd Edition Modified until I have test driven and played it.

Cheers

QM

Good Idea. It can only bring in new players (as long as the cost is comparable to any other system's core books).

We should also note that the 4th Ed. is the equivalent of the DND PHB and DMG rolled into one book. A bit more than $30 is reasonable to me...

I'm on the fence on this one.

If it's done in a way that still preserves SR and isn't a complete overhaul just for the sake of making a 4th edition, then I'm many of us will be happy with it.

I don't like it. I don't see a problem with the rules as they are. And I'm still playing back in the year of the comet (no SOTA books for me).
Now, assuming the new books cost the same as the current edition, and that they don't do any griveous mistakes, the new rule system might be an OK change. I don't see the need, but the current rules are a bit hard to teach new players.
But I don't want to see the timeline jump ten years ahead of me, and especially not when that introduces wireless matrix. If I want to play the new edition, but without timetravelling the old characters and the old campaign, we'll probably have to HR the wired matrix.

Now, this poll was probably not intenden for discussion, but I just needed to tell someone what I think.

Not a good idea.

I for one am going to sit, and wait for the finished product before I pass my judgement.

I want a mildly revised SR3, not a whole new system. Voted no.

Well, here is my biggest problem with the SR4, it is not clear when they will release the cyberware book. It is not clear if they are going to go further to the side, that mag ic is better, baby. I mean sota had a few pieces of gen tech, but really it had just about as much magic. The last book to have a lot about cyberware was man and machine. It it had tons of it, but you had many other books that wile they tended to have tech toys, they put way more magic in the world.

Oh and by cyberware I mean, all the bioware,naoware,and genetech stuff you have. I just see this trend to be well,rather silly. I see this to be further compounded by the fact you make a character and have to choose weither or not you be magically active.Bu that is just me.

So, is Sr4 a good thing? Well, that is rather pointless to ask. What could be a better thing to ask, is SR3 a bad thing? And could SR4 be better than SR3? I have to say that no. SR3 is not a bad thing, it is showing it age, but that is not always a bad thing. Could SR4 be a good thing, well yes it could.It could better than SR3. But it could still be a bad thing. It could take gimmicks,and go off the wall. It could make it completely pointless to play a mundane. Or it could make some subtle changes that would let character grow in power in more noticeable ways, and still keep them firmly within humanly possible. But until I have read and looked threw Sr4, I will not say that is either good or bad. That is as long as they keep D20 out it.

i think that's why they're releasing the cyber book later, to be honest. there's already a metric ton of material out for mages; collating and updating all of it and putting it into a new book is a quick way to raise cash for the next set of books. and it's not like all the magic stuff doesn't need to be collated and updated anyway--it's not cheating, it's necessary.

SR4 good or not? I too will wait and see.

SR3 almost killed the magic of the game as far as my wife was concerned. Too much looking up of rules! If SR4 is streamlined enough to get back to role-playing, not roll-playing then good. Let's hope SR4 makes it more difficult to mix magic and cyber. IMHO they should be antagonistic not complementary. (Yes, a SR2 fan here )

Jumping 10 or so years forward I don't like the sound of. What happened to our characters in the mean time?

I'll wait and see, with reservations.

I still don't think that we needed any editions past second.

I definitely think SR3 was an improvement over SR2. Whether the same can be said about SR4 is another matter. That being said, I hope it will be better, and I am looking forward to its release anyway.

I would say yes.
I'm a Shadowrun fan, but the fact is that the rules are a little bit too complex in some areas. (I've yet to actually understand half the crap in the Rigger books; the Matrix is too darn complex to make it a fun part of a mission.) Blasting things, with magic or cyberware, is the theme in SR3; perhaps the next edition will give Deckers a fast enough rules system that they can actually do something.

Of course, I'm a major fan of the many-D6 method. You can play with the probability on weapons, making "critical hits" and the like unnecessary. Moreover, it just makes more sense; a grazing blow with a palm pistol round has no business doing 8D damage.

I'm all for a rules revision, and new characters, but such a jump in continuity?

I love the characters we have now, and I love the world we have. If it changes too much, I ain't touching it with a 10-footer.

I am a firm believer that unless I can see where the curve in the road is leading, <i>change is bad</i>.

So, no. Because I'm scared.

I'm cautiously optomistic, there have been enough posts around here offering a revised version of just about every rule set and mechanic from what dice to roll to how magic interacts with science.

I'm upset, unsurprised, and hoping that this stunt doesn't bite back.

I voted no, because it looks like they're already coming out with a magic book after this, and it looks like initiation rules will be in there. That's garbage. The main book should have all of the things that were in heavy use in the old rules, such as Edges and Flaws, initiation, the point system, etc. That annoyed the hell out of me when they put out SR3 and purposely left stuff out so you'd have to get the other rulebooks to fully play a mage, sammie, decker, or rigger. I didn't like being jerked around that way with Third Edition, so no way in hell will I take it if they try doing that same cheesy stuff again.

My point of view is similar to that expressed by others - they don't need to have every thing, but they should have at least some of the important things, and have the extra ones in the other books. In other words, have all of the skills, most of the essential cyberware, bioware, and nanoware, have some edges and flaws, all of the spells that we have already seen, have rules for 'shifters and ghouls, have a decent selection of critters, a decent selection of vehicles, etc.

I would probably buy the main book, then buy the other books, IF they had new content. How about putting the cyber we're all used to in the main book, them coming out with new stuff for the street sammie book? Stuff we haven't seen before, along with details and flavor text to enhance the main rules, or deal with things like surgery in more detail. But don't do garbage like Third Edition having dermal plating but not dermal sheathing.

I have to go with no, if only because I don't want to have to buy the same crap for a third, or fourth in some cases, freaking time. I thought finally SR3 was getting to a point where a book would be filled more with all new material then rehashed old material and here we go again. If they are going to do this by all that's holy put like 90% of the existing rules and equipment in the main book so we don't have to spend another 3 years buying the same rules over again. I'm tired of buying a book and seeing it full of stuff I already have.

If it holds up to promise, then it's a good idea.