One of the reason for the five years leap in SR4 is assumed to be the desire by the designer to resolve many of the danlging plot thread and draw a blank slate for the future metaplot.

So, what needs to be resolved? Both in system failure and just in the background history of SR?

Every Threats is a thread, but most are so open ended that they don't need resolution. Deus is probably the most glaring exception. Winternight doesn't really need resolution but it seems likely to be involved in SF. Art Dankwalther VS Novatech really needs to be resolved too.

The 7 year plan of Daviar for the Ares stock and for that matter the whole current statu quo on the Ares Board. It can't conceivably go on for 5 more years! It's already insane that it hasn't come to a head.

The low level civil War in Tir Tairngire is also on the list. There probably should also be some shakedown in the current statu quo of many other awakened nation, IMO.

Aztechnology. That corp has been involved in so many non-commercial-let's-destroy-the-world-because-we-are-evil gigs that I need some change in the statu quo in five years. The rebellion against Aztlan also direly need some update. 5 years of guerilla statu quo is very possible in the real world but not very effective storywise.

Dissonance/Resonance/Otaku's origin/AIs as a whole/the Crash Virus/The crash origin/Echo Mirage...

I'm guessing the resistance to Lofwyr's plan for domination of Europe also needs to be resolved. What have they accomplish 5 years from now?

What is the status of the Draon lines feng sui war in the Pac Rim? What is the status of the Japanacorp/Pacrim war?

What else needs resolution?

- What happens to the IEs?

- Lofwyr vs. Alamaise, next round

- what the hell is in Raku Arcology, room 311 (Dunkie's Will promises heaps of money for whoever discovers)

- Do HMHVV-infected other than Ghouls get human rights? And if corpse-eating cannibal zombie-ish people can, why can't Sasquatches, Spirits and Sprites (Windlings)?

- The Earthdawn angle. More stuff needs rvelation, or it needs to be toned down.

- California. Things cannot go on like that forever.

It's a broom closet.


No, I am not kidding. It's in RA:S. What the room is in the matrix is another story

I'd just like to bring up the fact that there are still 4 books slated for release under SR3 all and any of which might include developments in these metaplot threads...

It'll be interesting to see what happens to Japan in the next five years with its new Emperor at the helm. Do they get their domestic problems sorted out? Do they re-establish their presence in the pacific i.e. the Phillapines (sp)?

What will be the relationship between the new Emperor and the great eastern dragons after things settle down? And will he do anything about his rogue Colonel in California once Japan is stabilized?

Oh yes, there are many plot threads all over the world that should see some interesting developments in the next five years.

Like, when will there be only one dragonleft in Germany? I hope soon ...

Anyway, I'd also like to see Mujaji do *something*. The Rain Queen must be up to soemthing.

And a bit more about Hestaby would be col, too. Like, her restarting Wyrm talk ...

Well, yep, pretty much. Loose Alliances is like Threats meets a Shadows of... book, System Failure is probably a track style adventure or champaign book like BitB or YotC (or even a regular module, but then I'd bet on a conversion on the web page), Shadows of Latin America and Shadows of Asia won't have rules either.

Kanada's assumption is correct. The material in Loose Alliances is such that it can be used for as long as you want. Yes, it probably has a couple of chronologically contextual elements, but the overall book is designed to be useful pretty much at any time and context between 2050-2070.

Shadows of Asia and Shadows of Latin America follow the now usual Shadows of build seen in SoNA and SoE. As such there will probably be a sprinkling of rules, but they have more to do with local context and phenomena than player upgrades.

System Failure will be a campaign/event book using a slightly different format from what you've seen before, but I figure BitB crossed with YotC is a good place to start.

As I've said elsewhere, the decision to release these remaining "worldbooks" can be chalked up to several factors the most obvious of which is their contents are important to developments leading up to SR4 and they will provide a complete(r ) global overview (and followups on a number of plots) for those who decide not to make the jump to 2070 (and we all know there will be a few).

I have no idea where people are getting this idea that "everything changes" or even that there will be huge changes to the setting since the announcements make no reference to it.

Yes, there will likely be changes. Yes, stuff happens in 5 years. Yes, they will be comparable to events between 2060 and 2065 in scope. But that doesn't change the vast majority of the geopolitics and corporate power structure for SR4; and specially not to a degree that invalidates any of the recent material leading up to the edition change. Note that with the exception of the now-announced Matrix crash and its inevitable fallout, there is no other major setting change announced (although surprises are inevitably just that).

And many of those changes will actually take place or be foreshadowed in upcoming SR3 books rather than thrown at you out of the blue. Others will evolve naturally from the situation left by System Failure.

Wow, Synner. That makes sense. What a novelty (Not from you, specifically. You're a beacon of common sense).

Well, let me put it this way... Did Target:UCAS wrap the bug storyline? Was Deus gone at the end of Brainscan? Did Dragonheart kill the all the ED links? Did the end of Fuchi really change the world fundamentally?

Yes, chapters will end, metaplots will be wrapped up, some will evolve in different directions and others yet will be kicked off... par for the course for just about every event sourcebook, no?

Well, okay then. I'll wait and see.

But I gotta say, I was hoping we'd see a wrap on a lot of the old stuff so we could move into new territory.

Note I did say some plots would definitely wrap (or as wrapped as anything is in SR)... and quoting from one press release: "The Sixth World has changed. Some of the players are familiar, but there are new faces ­and new forces­ at work in the shadows."

And like always: ignore the parts of the metaplot you don't like. In our current campaign the arco is still under renrakus grip and control. Brainscan/ra:s simply didn't happen. And we're are fine the way it is. Dunkelzahn's dead? A new draon appeared at denver? Who cares?

I like the metaplot the way it is and it was fun to read it, but that doens't mean i'm using all parts of it in my games. And that's the way i will continue with SR4.

How about looking at the hints in dragonheart and in Portfolio that Dunkelzahn will return... will he be in a recreation of his old body or will he be in that cyberzombie shell. Will Davier fall into line or will part of Draco Rebel? Will Ehran be loyal to the resurrected dragon? And will he have a happy reunion with his long lost brother Icew er Ghostwalker.