[_-Target-_]

What is the point in the ongoing releases from Catalyst if they are going to release 5th edition.. Why would I purchase the new city books or anything else till after 5th comes out?

I have literally a 3-4' tall stack of shadowrun books, I have not had time to read 1/6 of, and they are all now defunct?

Someone from Catalyst needs to post immediately some kind of assurance of the compatibility of the 4th edition books.. I get it that the core books are being replaced due to new mechanics what about everything else?

Sigh.. I was just finally coming to grasp 4th ed rules.. 

[Mara]

While nothing official has been said on this yet, I am going to guess that the only major changes(as in, compatibility
altering changes) will be in the Matrix Rules, which they are saying, from the announcement, are going to streamline
the matrix and bring it into line with the rest of the rules.

As for alot of the stuff still coming out? 90% of Dirty Tricks, and likely all of Montreal 2074, was fluff, not rules. I expect
that any book released between now and 5th will, also, be mostly setting related, not mechanics heavy(except, of course,
Eurowar Antiques, which is being delayed due to the fluff section of the PDF).

[Bull]

Non-rules related stuff is never defunct, and there have been very few rules in recent Shadowrun books so that they wouldn't be incompatible.

[RHat]

Plus, written 4th edition rules are a better jumping off point for adapting into the new 5th edition rules than no rules at all.

[Black]

Still running 1st edition adventures. Quality translates into any edition.

[_-Target-_]

What about for example state of the art 2075 (I think that is the tittle)

I just purchased that 6 weeks ago, I haven't finished reading it.. is that a book that would be junk now?

[All4BigGuns]

What about for example state of the art 2075 (I think that is the tittle)

I just purchased that 6 weeks ago, I haven't finished reading it.. is that a book that would be junk now?

It'd be State of the Art 2073. The timeline hasn't quite gotten to 2075 yet.

[Mara]

What about for example state of the art 2075 (I think that is the tittle)

I just purchased that 6 weeks ago, I haven't finished reading it.. is that a book that would be junk now?

Runners Black Book 2074? Frankly, until we hear officially, I would presume that it would be like 2nd
edition books in 3rd Edition: For the most part still usable, with only a few things that might need some tweaking.

Honestly, Shadowrun has a long tradition of keeping the editions mostly the same, but only fixing some issues
with significant rules revisions.  4th Edition was the biggest change, in fact a ground up overhaul of the whole system,
that, frankly, was needed as the system was showing its age. I do not see a dating of the system so extensive at
present that it would warrant a ground up re-build, so I am expecting it to be like 1st to 2nd, and 2nd to 3rd, not
3rd to 4th. One thing I must say, though, is that I also feel that Shadowrun rules changes also reflect the change of
the setting.

A thought is that, since they are doing both something for 2050's era and for the modern era, that the 5th Edition might
be putting in multiple era support right into the rules. *snickers* It would be amusing as heck if the new stuff needed
for hackers is...on a par size-wise, as the old CyberDecks and we have a return of Deckers...

[Critias]

What about for example state of the art 2075 (I think that is the tittle)

I just purchased that 6 weeks ago, I haven't finished reading it.. is that a book that would be junk now?

Considering how often I still reference (and get plot ideas from) books from almost twenty years ago, I think you're being a little hyperbolic, here, about what's "junk" just because of an edition change.

[RHat]

A thought is that, since they are doing both something for 2050's era and for the modern era, that the 5th Edition might
be putting in multiple era support right into the rules. *snickers* It would be amusing as heck if the new stuff needed
for hackers is...on a par size-wise, as the old CyberDecks and we have a return of Deckers...

Though, it's kind of hard to be certain if Hackers are even going to have comms anymore, given the teaser that's gone up with regards to the Matrix changes...

[Mara]

A thought is that, since they are doing both something for 2050's era and for the modern era, that the 5th Edition might
be putting in multiple era support right into the rules. *snickers* It would be amusing as heck if the new stuff needed
for hackers is...on a par size-wise, as the old CyberDecks and we have a return of Deckers...

Though, it's kind of hard to be certain if Hackers are even going to have comms anymore, given the teaser that's gone up with regards to the Matrix changes...

From that teaser, i got the impression, more, that the commlink itself, with whatever is coming down the line, is going to be obsolete, and that there is going to be something new taking its place, given the stuff that Slamm-O said hackers running MCT, NeoNet, and S-K should be looking for included schematics, it makes me believe that whatever it is, it will have new hardware
associated with it.

I admit, my hope? That one of the changes DOES change to Attribute+Skill with program modifying somehow. Doing away with the whole "You can be Logic and Intuition 1, and still be a top-flight Hacker because all that matters is Skill+Program."

[AceFace]

Re: the original post - even the crunch heavy books tend to be framed in good quality fluff (mmm, good quality fluff!). I've bought quite a few 2nd and 3rd edition source books in the last year, just because I wanted to learn more about events and people that I missed the first time around and they still figure into the setting. I rather suspect we'll be fine.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I would predict that you are correct, Mara.  And from Slamm-O's statement, I think that it'll be as game/tech-changing (so to speak) as the shift from decks to comms was - and I wouldn't count out your first guesstimate, either.  VR may be direct brain-stimulation, but that still makes it faster and better.

Used to be that no putz with a tortoise could come anywhere close to a decker, because non-reflexive hand movements just aren't going to be as fast as thought.  I'm hoping for a return to that ...

Considering how often I still reference (and get plot ideas from) books from almost twenty years ago, I think you're being a little hyperbolic, here, about what's "junk" just because of an edition change.

QFT.  The Shadowrun world is a persistent world through editions; the 'crunchy' numbers that define reality, and how you roll them via dice, may change from edition to edition, but the 'fluff' essence of the world, the events, etc. do not.  What happens in whatever you buy between now and then is going to have happened in SR5E, even if you don't buy it ...

[_-Target-_]

 My intent was not to whine, it was more to understand where I stood in regards to purchasing the books I am missing.. I need around 10 books to have everything that was released under 4th.. but since I have so many books to go through already I was trying to understand why they are still releasing what is instantly obsolete books.

Again I wasn't out to offend, just trying to get a grip on what is comming.. If there is only minor tweaking needed to make a piece of gear or a source book make sense no biggy..

[SpiderWord]

Non-rules related stuff is never defunct, and there have been very few rules in recent Shadowrun books so that they wouldn't be incompatible.

That's very true. I red all the stuff published till now for the 4th edition. There're just few Books that introduce new rules. Usually it is mostly background material.