A few rumors and some rumor control:

1. Will there be flying cars?

Yes. Following the Crash 2.0, hover technogoly is perfected by Aztechnology, who quickly mass markets a line of Aircars. Ares, Saeder-Krupp, and Mistuhama quickly follow suit with their own versions. By 2070, 1 out of every 4 cars on the "Road" is an air car.

2. Is Shadorun 4th edition severing all ties to Earthdown?

Yes. In an attempt to distance itself from Earthdawn, Shadowrun will no longer call itself the 6th world. It's now the 5th dimension.

Also, Harlequin will be shown to be a crackpot who's been taking a mixture of LSD and Cocaine, and Sperethial will be found to be just a Frech version of Pig Latin.

3. WIll Shadowrun 4th Edition be d20?

No.

In fact, the new Assistant Line Developer Arnie Trachtonberg pulled a knife on one fan who asked that question at the GAMA Trade Show, saying "Ask me that again and I'll fucking cut your balls off and use them for D20's!"

4. Will Shadowrun 4th Edition use d6's?

Yes, though it will now only use a small number. Attribute tests will use 2D6.

mORE WHEN i GET HOME

So much for Peace guiding the planets adn love steering the stars.

I'm happy about the reduced number of dices but....hey man, for the rest it seems like we are dealing with a completely different game.
If the change in SPerethiel nature and world denomination really means severing all those ties after ages of using them.....it seems like this is a new game in many senses, a not simply Shadowrun 4th edition.

For non-native English speakers:

There is a reason his site is call BullDrek.

And here I was planning my new campaign with all this in mind.

I think Bull should run for president of Shadowrun-town.

Bull for SR4 Line Developer in 2005.

You don't suppose that Bull and Master Shakes have been talking, do you?

What is "talking" a euphamism for?

you are damned lucky that english is the major language spoken around the world....."maledetti culosi"...

<--- is not a native English speaker either. Bull had me there for a while, until the last line of point 2...

sorry, got distracted at work and then didn;t have time to finish. Stupid job making me, like, work and stuff.

4. Will Shadowrun 4th Edition use d6's?

Yes, though it will now only use a small number. Attribute tests will use 2D6, added together. Skill tests use 3d6, keeping the highest result. Initiative will use a deck of 52 cards. ANd finally Rigging, Magic, and Decking will be diceless.

However, do not fear! For those that own the Chessex "Bucket 'o Dice" ™, you will still need those dice for combat. Guns still use the same damage codes as in SR3, but now you roll a number of D6's equal to the Power of the weapon times the Damage Level in numerical increments. Thus, a Predator (9M) will use 9*2 dice, or a total of 18 dice, while a Panther Assault Cannon (18D) will roll 18*4, or a whopping 72 dice!! Asst. Line Developer Arnie Trachtonberg was quoted as saying "Them runners will still need their shitloads of dice, that's fer sure!" He was receiving a rather thick envelope from a Chessex representative as he stated this.

5. Will decking really be wireless and easy to use?

Of course! In fact, everything is now wireless in Shadowrun! Nanotech transmitters implanted in the skull at birth allow every (meta)human on the planet to control almost everything electronical through remote control. This leads to some interesting situations as everyone in a locale vies for control over all the electronic devices in the area. With Shadowrun 4th Editions patented new ShadowDiceless ™ system, the GM can quickly and easily decide who controls what without anyone lifting a die!

6. Seriously, what about the D20 system I keep hearing about.

...

D20 gives you cancer.

7. Is Deus involved in the Crash 2.0?

No. In fact, Deus does his best to prevent the crash, fighting valiently to save the Matrix. He becomes a hero to all deckers, and when it becomes obvious that there's no way to stop the crash, legendary decker Zapper Weisman download Deus into his headware memory. The two personalities, with Zapper's blessing, merge into a single entity simple called "Deck". Deck goes on to pioneer the new Matrix 2.0 design.

8. So who caused the crash then?

Spam. Millions Millions of Terrapulses of Spam sent out at the same time the day after Thanksgiving, 2065 (also known as Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year). This overloads the matrix, causing a cascade failure in 95% of the network hosts. Retail reported a 2% decrease in business that day.

9. Is Dunkelzahn ever coming back?

Yes. I can't say much, as this is very hush hush, but watch Damien Knight real closely in the upcoming books. Especially once he buys that duck.

10. What is the official Soft Drink of FanPro?

Well, the sponsorship deals haven't been finsalized, but Red Bull is rumored to be the number one contender.

11. Will we see any new cyberware?

In 2067 Nanotechnology really takes off, once Yamatestu makes a major beakthrough in design. This leads to a replacement of most Cyberware with Nanotech. Most of the classic Cyberware designs are still available in Nanotech form, but some interesting new applications come about.

Ares introduces The Nanite Cyber Tool. It's capable of changing into several interesting shapes. It was originally called Mr. Studd, but a rival company successfully sued Fanpr... err... Ares for the name rights.

Saeder-Krupp introduces the Nanite Morph Hand, which is capable of creating 9 different weapons, including a gun that can fire up to 8 rounds of Nanite-created ammunition before it needs to recharge. Other wepons include an axe, a knife, a sword, and a pocket secretary.

The CAS military, in a move that lead up to it's retaking of Texas, developes a nanotech version of Wired Reflexes in 2069, and introduces to the world Wired Reflexes 4, 5, and 6. They showcase the neww technology during the Nanosecond Takeover of Dallas in the fall of 2069, and soon Street Samurai and Munchkins the world over are lining up at their door to "enlist" for a short tour of duty and to have the new NanoWires implanted.

12. Will there be any new critters introduced in 2070?

Of course. In addition to a rather long list of critters that the developers have deign to be "useless flavor text" (Hoop Snake anyone?), it will be revealed that poaching on a mass scale has been happening for the last 20 years, and that many Paranormal Creatures are extinct, or nearly so. However, their removal makes room for nuemrous new critters.

One of the more commonly seen critter will be the Awakened Woodchuck. There are a number of varients of these formidable creatures, each with it's own unique power sets. Expect to see the Manachuck, the Cyberchuck, and the fearsome Hackerchuck running rampant throughout the world soon!

13. Is it true Nigel Findley will be writinga new book?

In a way. To honor his memory, and to give the fans a special treat, the bones of Findley were dug up and ground into powder, which was then mixed with a vat of printing ink. 1000 limited edition, foil embossed Hardcover copies of Shadowrun 4th Edition will be priunted with this ink, and will be available for the very reasonable price of $500. Get them while they last!

14. What about Tom Dowd?

We will be doing a similar print run of Street Magic. As Tom Dowd is still alive, we plan to spend the next 6 months draining him of several pints of blood a week. This blood will be used as the ink for Street Magic. However, as one playtester has already learned to his misfortune, do not read any of the incantations from the special editions of Street Magic aloud. It really annoys He Who Must Not Be Named For Fear Of Eternal Torment.

15. Will we see the return of large pictures and shadowtalk for individual weapons, vehicles, and cyberware?

Yes! We also plan to include all technical gear, all individual peices of clothing and armor, plus a catalogue of mundane items such as various brands of Trideos, Microwaves, Computers, and the like.

These will each be compiled in large tomes dedicated to various themes. Shadow Weapons will be available at Gen Con, and Shadow Cyber, Shadow Armor, and Shadow Vehicles will each follow one a month. We plan to release the other Shadow books by the end of 2006. Each book will be at least 256 pages, will be hardbound and feature full color artwork, and will retail for $149.99.

As the weapons, gear, etc. will not be included in the core Shadowrun 4th Edition book, and we're taking care to make the pages completely photocopy and scan proof, players will have to buy these books. But accodring to Arnie Trachtenberg, Assistant Line Developer, that's ok because "fans have been saying for years they would pay whatevre we asked to have shadowtalk and full page pictures. We're just giving them what they demanded!"

More rumor control later!

Bull

Sounds good to me!

Rabid Woodchucks.
W00T!

Ahh...Bull, you made the morning forums checks so much better... thank you

Damn you are slobbering all over this guy, LOL.

I propose a new "Top-10 List"!11!1!!!

hmm, how much damage would a pre-errata pocket secretary do if trown by a avarage troll?

Dikoted?

Bull fooled me completely.

Paul, uh, Bull is joking, yo.

I am so glad you said this, cause I almost started a whole topic against this! Damn you Bull!

Although, hey, I really DO miss the shadowtalk bitching about things

That's nothing. 666 of the books in the first printing run will have special maps within that lead the user to a hidden coupon allowing them to get in on the beta-test of the new Apple sexbots, Lesbian Ninja Edition. It's part of a cross-promotion.

~J

I was referring to

You know, he's probably not (quite) entirely full of shit. Read carefully through what he's posted here, read carefully through what a few other game developers/playtesters have mentioned elsewhere (this is the second mention of a 2d6 attribute check from a supposed playtester, for instance)... there's probably a few kernels of truth hidden in the steaming pile of fertilizer Bull's dumped at our feet. We'll just have to wait 'till the books are out, to see how true.

Keep in mind that he may very well be compiling this while reading over threads in which people toss out random things like 2d6 attribute checks.

~J

I'm not saying he's preaching Gospel. I'm saying he might be telling us a pinch or two of truth here and there, in between the oh-so-clever and productive hah-hah attempts.

Bull, you're cool But i still want to see a line developer going mad ver a d20-discussion. drawing a knife... blood.... gore... Gotta need my pills.

It's going to be GURPS-style roll under, isn't it?

Why does D20 give you cancer......I'd be willing to bet that a large proportion of you started playing roleplaying games with the old Dungeons and Dragons. (D20's humble begining.) Hell I think it's what got most of us into gaming. Granted though it doesn't do well with the modern stuff but it has it's place.

Shadowrun D20 = bad idea,

But then again they made a freaking buffy the vampire slayer D20....I'm so sick of D freaking 20 though......Next they'll have "Pervert the stroking" D20 game.... Pray upon hapless Teenage Anime Cat Girls at "AnyAnime Con 200x"..... I'll stop there.

It was genius to make a system "open source" similar to the GNU license....That took balls and paid off in spaids.

Well, no, if dikoted, you're throwing a heavy, diamond coated pile of goo, which would be minimum str(m).

Incidentally, I'm going to disagree with you that the OGL took guts in the least. While it definitely took creativity to come up with, it was a pretty obvious slam-dunk; by taking away a huge part of the work of designing an RPG (making the basic rules system), you make your rules system the default. Tack this onto a situation where your rules system is already the default, and you have the Microsoft Office of the RPG industry. All of those OGL-based games have extremely low barriers of entry into their cash cow.

~J