Posts made by Jennkryst

@Bobotron said:

@BigDaddyAmin
Warhammer 40k space elves.

If we're being proper nerds, we will point out that Eldar is Elf in Tolkein elvish, and 40k up and stole it, buuuut. We won't be.

@rebekahse said:

@Jennkryst said:

The fact that every gear-ish book from SR1 and SR2 had 'consumer review' sections where people gave feedback to anyone buying stuff, and the existence of the Dumpshock Forum prove that social media was a thing. Not as big a thing as Jackpoint became, but still a thing. Wireless matrix may not have existed in SR1, but I'm like 90% sure it was there for SR2 in it's expanded Matrix rulebook, and I am 100% positive that it was there for SR3. The rules may have been shitty (detection penalties, program size limits, speed reduction)... but they were there.

As for the paranoia and dystopia, it's arguable we are already there, but we're either as blind as the wageslaves are, or (more likely) we see what's happening, but we're either too lazy or terrified to actively do anything about it.

I guess it depends on how you define social media. I'm thinking more of stuff like Facebook and Instagram. Sure, the SR supplementals had the comments from users, but Shadowland and its successor Jackpoint are purely BBSes, which doesn't seem terribly in keeping with the times. They're social media, but I don't think they're really what we think of when we use that term today.

I'm not sure how you'd show something like facebook or instagram in the static image of a page. But what is facebook, anyway, aside from a very fancy BBS?

I'm also at a loss as to where the SR3 rules for wireless Matrix would be, because I've never seen them. You can connect to the Matrix via satellite, and there are rules for that, but I don't believe wifi-type Matrix connection exists until SR4.

The rules for Radio and Cellular matrix links in SR3 are in the same section (often even on the same page) as Satellite links.

@Thenomain It's because the mechanics shape the character and fluff. A Rogue without Move Silently is like a Rigger without Drive (whatever). You asked about theme and roleplay between adventures/missions... so what does a rigger do between missions? Be a rigger. A mage is a mage. A shaman is a shaman. A decker is a decker. Just like a wizard in D&D is a wizard when they aren't on an adventure.

@Thenomain They are not equivalent, though. Shadowrun has far more in common with WoD than it does D&D. Because if you want to go and learn how to fight better, you pick up a combat skill.

@Thenomain said:

Without adventuring, a mage is still a mage. Without shadows to run, a shadowrunner is ...

The answer to this is highly dependant on the character. They could be a SINNER and have a day job, where they Shadowrun for VIGILANTE JUSTICE or help paying for medical bills. They could be Ecoterrorists who use the funds to bankroll their lurve of Gaia. They could be rockers who use their night missions as inspiration for their music. They could be SINless and have to fight for every inch of their life, with the payday from a shadowrun being enough to give them a few nights of rest before they rinse and repeat. They could be addicted to chrome and need the money for more 'ware...

And so on. While Shadowrun has archetypes, they are not classes. Your character is your character, and you do not need to be a Bard to go and do music stuff - you only need a performance skill.

@Thenomain You eat, sleep, learn a new spell, heal any wounds, do the contact shuffle, implant new 'ware...

The fact that every gear-ish book from SR1 and SR2 had 'consumer review' sections where people gave feedback to anyone buying stuff, and the existence of the Dumpshock Forum prove that social media was a thing. Not as big a thing as Jackpoint became, but still a thing. Wireless matrix may not have existed in SR1, but I'm like 90% sure it was there for SR2 in it's expanded Matrix rulebook, and I am 100% positive that it was there for SR3. The rules may have been shitty (detection penalties, program size limits, speed reduction)... but they were there.

As for the paranoia and dystopia, it's arguable we are already there, but we're either as blind as the wageslaves are, or (more likely) we see what's happening, but we're either too lazy or terrified to actively do anything about it.

I see Eclipse Phase, and forever raise you 'space flight minigame so I can be Hoban Washburn with a backup body so I am immune to skewering'

@Jennkryst said:

I would always go for Game - Player - Character, because I hate reading Bob first, thinking it's a dude I know, then reading further and seeing it is not, in fact, Bob from FunGame37, but a Bob from LameGameIHaven'tPlayedEver298.

Though Player - Game - Character could also work, because stuff.

@Sunny said:

@Packrat said:

• Do not have players write up the wiki entry on their own family/house/country or whatever. They will inevitably end up being super awesome at everything with a token flaw.

This one really jumped out at me. If you don't let the players do it, then you're going to have to do it all (something I've run into with my own game, and the scope of the houses I need is very limited in comparison to this). Especially given the 'they will inevitably' -- that's not actually true, and also solvable with an approval system for the houses, too.

Maybe actively work with the player/group. Don't write it from scratch for them, but don't let them write it all up without feedback.

I would always go for Game - Player - Character, because I hate reading Bob first, thinking it's a dude I know, then reading further and seeing it is not, in fact, Bob from FunGame37, but a Bob from LameGameIHaven'tPlayedEver298.

@bored I am very slowly reading through all of the things, and will get back to you about it when I have a better grasp on the setting than 'lol, Scorpion trollz all'

Shadowrun is, in fact, a post-apocalyptic setting. The Great Ghost Dance, VITAS (one AND two), UEG, the Crash of '29... all of them reduce the population by huge amounts. The Crash goes another step, destroying a ton of data, and what data it didn't wipe out, it almost certainly turned into a Black IC minefield. So there is a degree of Lost Tech, though it is not as widespread as other settings.

Unrelated tangent - I find it hilarious because when I first read the Shadowrun stuff in 2000-ish, I thought 'That's stupid, because they'll have books and hardcopies of data and shit, society will bounce back', and now, I'm all like 'give me digital everything, books are heavy and kill trees'.

One of the earlier Shadowrun novels (Shadow Play, by Nigel Finley) actually goes into what happens when some of this lost tech gets discovered - war in the streets as the Megacorps start breaking corporate law, because whoever gets their hands on the tech will be so powerful/make enough profit that the legal fees don't matter. Or maybe they'll just have the tech to nuke the court in orbit and every other mega's headquarters, and not have to deal with any of it.

It's not so much that it was written in the late 80's being the problem (because, again, this is a book that the core has details for wrist-worn, or pocket-sized computers, and a smartphone type pocket secretary that has matrix capability, even... so tech miniaturization is clearly there, and Matrix 3 gives you even more ways to tap that tech into the Matrix wirelessly). The problem is that SR 1-3 all recognized the thematic reason that the matrix was setup the way that it was - to stop another Crash of '29/Super Virus from happening. A virus that just cuts through our current, and eventual future protocols. So it makes sense that it doesn't follow our current computer logic.

Now that theme is out of the way, the rules for it all? Are a fucking nightmare. So I get why the RULES needed an update. The first three editions had things that were broken, and instead of fixing them, they decided to just add on new rules to patch a thing, but didn't actually fix anything, aside from just add more broken stuff. So I can appreciate 4 and 5 changing that way. Unfortunately, I have to actually sit and play a game before I can talk full on balance, and the only MU out there is SR3.

SR3 has potential to be tech-y. There exist pocket computers and visor computer displays and all of that jazz. But it's all tortoise mode for matrix stuff. Not a big problem. Certainly not as big a problem as karma pool.

As much fun as I've had on Denver, I was burned there too many times to really want to go back. In fact, getting burned there at around the same time as I went through the whole NYC mush fiasco put me in a bad place for MUing that I'm still having issues getting over.

Caving more and buying more of the books, before they VANISH FOREVER when they are replaced by the FFG version (even if I think FFG will make a solid RPG, I'm really looking more forward to the LCG and board games they'll be sure to put out).

Unrelated: yes, forum, I know this is an old thread. No, I don't want to open a new one. I am teh necromancy.

When I was super active on Shadowrun: Denver, I had my main alt have all the major channels to one window, all the pages to another window, and then the main RP/OOC/minor channel window.

This was back when I used SimpleMU. I have moved on to MushClient, and while I know how to make spawns for it (or rather, have the code sitting somewhere), I haven't gone all out to do so yet. If there was a way to organize it like Atlantis (which I used in the long-past days of school, as music major (like all art stuff) damn near required a Mac), I'd probably code up the spawns again.

The issue with MushClient is that spawns aren't an easy thing to make. You have to create a separate world and do some code shenanigans to pull it off.

@TNP said:

Supreme Court Justice Scalia.

Thank you universe!

About time the pendulum swung back

... that may actually be a cordless, since he's all robe-y and not bizniss suit. Should have gotten a picture of one of the ones with a satchel/cord.

@skew said:

Did they have cell phones in 1980??? I like having those in my RP.

@surreality said:

Nope. One of the main advantages of the setting: google doesn't solve every mystery, and communications are trickier.

80's business Michael Douglas disagrees.

I like the remote bodies. Especially if we can remote pilot other objects via our remote bodies. Then we can go down three more dream levels, until we have become south park horders.