I didn't like this book as much. It seemed less... inspired. I know it is probably unfair to compare it to some of the earlier books. I hope this is not where I see Shadowrun change too much. We have lots of information on extremely low level groups, like the activists. And we have a group who just happens to have kept its stuff from the first Crash, so they can repair everything too quickly for the next.

Folks, I'm worried. I have been talking to people about other FASA-Wizkids lines and the news isn't... positive.

Good heavens, Loose Alliances was just released in print. Of course it's not going to move very well; it's widely available.

I'm not sure what you've been hearing about WizKids in particular, but I certainly hope this isn't going to degenerate into fear-mongering.

Maybe he's referring to MW-Dark Ages?

Given the absence of followups I think we should safely file this one under fear-mongering.

well for what it's worth I finally got my copy. I did have to have it specially ordered, but that's just because no one seems to play SR in Utah. Big suprise that.

The defense is because it's all fluff, no numbers, it'll still be perfectly useable for SR4, despite the changes to the die mechanic, etc. The "five year gap in background between editions" just sort of gets glossed over.

No glossing over. The status quo and agendas for the vast majority of the groups mentioned in Loose Alliances will be unchanged. Almost all will be affected by developments in System Failure, like most of the Sixth World, but most will not be touched to the point of invalidating any material presented in this book.

Fear mongering? Fear mongering? There's something to be afraid of?
AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

I had some free time today to really read htrough this book and I liked it. I've skimmed through it in the past and read in detail some bits that caught my attention, but I finally had the time to go cover to cover.

I liked the fact the detaisl were more on groups, rumors and news rather than number crunching. It makes it a much better playing aid.

Actually, exactly the low-level nature of some groups described makes them usable.You can always just throw in those groups, either as a GM (be they Johnsons, targets, or just interests the players meet coincidentally) as well as for players, as most of these groups actually are both reasonably accessible and low-level enough to talk to them. You can just log onto DIVE servers or policlub servers, and you tend to encounter activist groups pretty often in an SR sprawl, too (yes, you can go to a local Renraku office too, but don't expect to come into contact with the corp's movers and shakers as described in Corp Download that way).

Sure you can. You just need to make sure your local office is one of their main branches, and shoot your way through their security when they stop by.