[Cranstonvm]

Is this going to be a separate reality from current timeline? Use current rules system? Different history same characters? The Homepage was rather vague.

[CanRay]

2050 history, SR4A rules.

EDIT:  In other words, FastJack is still around, and is still FastJack.  (In other words, bad ass!)

[Mystic]

Think of it as a sort of Shadorun "historical".

[Valashar]

A way for folks to use those early edition adventures for the newer crop of players without needing to teach them historical game mechanics. Let 'em experience some of the history behind the various snafus of the modern era.

[Cranstonvm]

Is it going to be the exact same history? Alternate history would be really cool 

So far sounds bad ass

Thank you

[Crimsondude]

Yes.

Is it going to be the exact same history?

Yes.

[Cranstonvm]

Yes.

Is it going to be the exact same history?

Yes.

Bummer. I would have loved to have seen Dunkie as President for more than a day or two.

[Black]

Personally I am keen on keeping it the same.  There are a lot of players out there who haven't even heard of the Universal Brotherhood or know whats about to happen to the Renraku Arcology.

I have a 2050 game, and my team drops hurt npcs off at the local brotherhood street clinic, and who had a very friendly Renraku Pad guide them through the acrology last time they inflitrated.  Good times.

What I'm looking forward to is a ton of 2050 gear etc.  Its tough using 4th ed rules because it easier to just give the players stuff from aresenal etc rather then ask the question 'does the tech for this exist in 2050?'

[Crimsondude]

Depends on the tech. The biggest differences are obviously going to involve the Matrix.

[Black]

The lack of wireless tech means that a lot of gadgets are the same, eg RFID tags.  That and the decks are actually things you need to lug around and plug in.  But once your in the matrix, pretty much the same.  4th ed rules work for smoother actual matrix runs (though Black Ice is not so common in the decker's toolkit as it is in the Hackers).

Then you have bioware, which was pretty cutting edge in 2050s, let along cyberware.  Drugs and other chemicals need a quick look at, no k10 for example.

On  a plus side, non-hackers don't need to worry that someone is always hacking their gear/cyberware etc. 

Magic is a question, has much really changed in the last 20 years?  More enemies, but has the way magic works, in game, really changed all that much?

[Crimsondude]

Most Metamagic and Adept Powers (Adepts were introduced in the first Grimoire; Anchoring appeared in 2053 according to Tír Tairngire) didn't exist. The only Traditions available were Hermetic, Shamanic; Druids and Idol worshipper weren't even know of outside of Europe until 2051 and 2054 respectively. The spirits one could call are severely curtailed and dependent on Tradition regarding what and how they are summoned, i.e. no on-the-fly summoning for Hermetics and Nature Spirits disappear at dusk or dawn.

tl;dr The Matrix is very different. Magic is just severely limited.

[Black]

How much was rules and how much was setting?

I remember 1st ed didn't have adepts, but I always figured that was a rules issue (as in the concept and thus rules didn't exist, but when they did, adepts were retroactively placed in the setting)...

I think the challenge will be harder with magic then tech, though I suspect tech conversion work load will be larger.  With magic, we need to split was just not yet introduced into the setting and what was just not possible in 2050. 

With tech, it just becomes a question on what was invented yet... and great books like Street Sam catelogues go a long way to letting us know what was cutting edge and so forth.

For example, do Wuxing exist?  If so, are they just incorrectly assumed by western researchers to be a branch of hermetic magic?  Therefore, is it possible to play a few different styles of magic, even if they are generally not common?

Or perhaps to touch a different magic subject... Do spirits work differently because the rules have been refined over the years, or because magic and spirits have actually changed on a fundemental level.

I do not evy the writer for 2050.  Its a book I am looking forward to (hardcopy, hard cover please), but I know that not only is there a bit of work involved, its also work which will come under the eye of the somewhat critical public. The writer(s) will need to make some calls on these things and sometimes the call will be hard. 

Its a tad easier for home games, GM call ultimately rules, but I can see some people (like myself) who will be grateful the book exist and then others who will ask 'what did they do x that way?'.

[Crimsondude]

Magic changed dramatically with the introduction of Universal Magical Theory in the mid-sixties. So the Elemental/Nature Spirit divide was a huge mechanical and story issue until then. Virtually all other Traditions were seen as socio-religio-cultural expressions of the two dominant Traditions and they weren't functionally distinct until later as research progressed and made them different. Voodoo is also in the same group as Idolists, Druids, and the Path of the Wheel. Yeah, they existed, but ... (and there is a "but ..." to that). It also has the added catch of being a Possession-based Tradition that had eleven pages of Awakenings dedicated exclusively to its introduction (Of course now a lot of that can be cited to "See page xx, SRA/Street Magic" for a specific feature).

But as you note, Physical Adepts did exist in 2050. They just weren't added until The Grimoire. Likewise, the ways powers were introduced was often a matter of "this has been around for a while in very limited circumstances." Social Adepts especially were in a group of "No one realized they could do this until some serious research was done into the issue." Almost every major NPC who is a Social Adept has been one since before 2050.

Now Metamagic, on the other hand, was generally a matter of "No one knew this was possible ... Until now!" So if it was up to me (and it isn't, since I am not involved in the book) I'd limit them to Centering, Masking, Quickening, and Shielding. Dispelling was a Metamagic for a long time, but I'd just as soon not bother. SR4 is supposed to be easier, and that's just excess details.

But you make an important observation: This is a (mostly) setting book for SR4A, not SR1 Redux. Every hard or soft retcon that has remained canon in SR4A is probably expected by not a few people to be a part of this book. That said, if you are playing a Houngan in 2050 Seattle then the fact is that your PC is the ONLY Houngan in Seattle and that is going to make life hard as Hell for your PC. No one, including most of their own, understood that Social Adepts were anything more than really talented mundane Faces for another decade-plus. Many probably never developed or burned out their powers pursuing other paths. But at least they won't have to compete with people with Tailored or Cultured Pheromones.

[Black]

I was thinking that there is a place for some new qualities.. potentially. (and this is just a brain storm)

Positive Qualities:
Cutting Edge (the ability to choose something, like bioware etc that would normally still be in research stage)
Unusual Tradition (access to path that is not yet common, eg wuxing or voodoo)

Negative Qualities:
One of a Kind (linked to unusual tradition, training etc cost more karma because no mentors, not common knowledge etc)
Prototype (access to cutting edge tech, eg bioware... but with issues that come from having the Beta version...)

I think the magic issues you have outlined are challenging, but could be enforced with setting based rules....    Maybe Social Adepts and other unsual character types which are feasible but far from common for the 2050 setting could not form part of the initial 2050 book.  Afterall, its a bit much to expect one book to have all the answers and may releave some of the pressure on the writers to solve things like 'what to do with social adepts' etc.  They just don't form part of the 2050 setting book (and in the inital books, they did not exist, so its not exactly a loss) and then when/if the 2050 book does well, they can form part of an expansion book.

I think the key to a successful book of this type is keeping the scope tight, which keeps the writing focused and leaves less 'fuzzy' areas which then need to be cleaned up later.  So, for example,  I would include phsycial adepts, but not other adepts, and focus on the two (three) main traditions. Focus on Deckers (and how the matrix works in 2050 (eg do we have colours and what does it mean?).  Focus on Street Sams who are all chrome and spiky metal bits.

Maybe a final section on aging characters with this gear, similar to what was in 'this old drone' and 'gun heaven'.

Gear and tech in general should focus on what was in the initial books, as anything else is probably to cutting edge (though books which then began to update the setting tech and gear level would be good...)

Fun bits will be setting appropriate qualities etc.

Anyways, as you may have guess, very enthuised with this topic and look forward to seeing what gets produced. 

[Snake Eyes]

Hey new shadowrunner here (haven't played since 2nd edition), this new book looks quite interesting....

May have to get this book