NEWS

[SR5] Lockdown

  • 115 Replies
  • 41849 Views

AJCarrington

  • *
  • Global Moderator
  • Ace Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2018
« Reply #90 on: <05-17-15/1722:50> »
Excellent review by Alex Lucard over on Diehard GameFan. The piece is long and in depth, so I'm only going to re-post his final summary:

Quote
So there you go: Lockdown is easily the best gaming release for Shadowrun this year. It’s better than the video game it is a tie-in for (although give Cliffhanger a chance to fix the issues. Had the game been a non-online affair, it would actually be quite nice) and it’s relatively cheap for a CGL sourcebook. Now, is it worth getting the video game and the sourcebook for $50 or should you just get the book on its own? That’s up to you. Again, the Steam summer sale will probably see Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown with a nice discount, so you might want to get it then. No matter what though, you really should get Lockdown if you’re a fan of the current tabletop game. I’d love to see more city books like this in the future.

I heartily recommend that you take the time to read the review...doesn't pull any punches. ;D

Sabato Kuroi

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 822
« Reply #91 on: <05-20-15/1753:05> »
So, is it a good idea to take my group on a trip to Boston?Does the book/fluff provide  any plot hooks in order to draw runners to the area?
Or should I just make them roll new characters?

DeathStrobe

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 888
  • Front Range Free Decker
« Reply #92 on: <05-20-15/1812:10> »
So, is it a good idea to take my group on a trip to Boston?Does the book/fluff provide  any plot hooks in order to draw runners to the area?
Or should I just make them roll new characters?

The very first run is basically an excuse to get the runners to Boston by investigating a kidnapping/extraction. It doesn't make 100% sense based on the person that is kidnapped/extracted, and depending on how it plays out, the runners might have to babysit an NPC the whole time they're doing other runs in Boston. The pay is good at the least...

Pixie

  • *
  • Guest
« Reply #93 on: <05-20-15/1848:34> »
So, is it a good idea to take my group on a trip to Boston?

Not if you value your life.  People go in, no one comes out.

Does the book/fluff provide  any plot hooks in order to draw runners to the area?

Plenty of hooks are available.  The first mission, as DeathStrobe said, is basically all hook.  But there's no reason why you can't take the timeline and adapt the specifics to your group.

Or should I just make them roll new characters?

After they get infected, you should probably have them roll new characters.  I don't think there's any chance of them staying clean.  It's a daily struggle, and the nanites are in the air, water, on every surface, etc.  You'd need to be in some sort of armored chemically-sealed suit, and even then you'd probably be unable to move fast enough to get away from the infected.  And then there's the non-infected, who will kill you for your suit.  So yeah...  it's bad news.

Herr Brackhaus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3041
« Reply #94 on: <05-20-15/2125:07> »
After they get infected, you should probably have them roll new characters.  I don't think there's any chance of them staying clean.  It's a daily struggle, and the nanites are in the air, water, on every surface, etc.  You'd need to be in some sort of armored chemically-sealed suit, and even then you'd probably be unable to move fast enough to get away from the infected.  And then there's the non-infected, who will kill you for your suit.  So yeah...  it's bad news.
That's not entirely true for Boston; if the characters were at Fenway when Eliohann came crashing down, then sure, time to reroll, but the rules for the "Boston Strain" of CFD has different rules from "normal" CFD. You'll want to read up on the section "Lockdown CFD" on page 201 of Lockdown for specifics, but this line sums it up nicely:
"This means that the only two ways to catch the Cerberus strain of the virus is from nanites that have not yet infected a host and then run their course, or from brain matter spatter."

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #95 on: <05-21-15/0010:05> »
Indeed. It is bad, but not Raccoon City bad.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Pixie

  • *
  • Guest
« Reply #96 on: <05-21-15/1104:44> »
You'll want to read up on the section "Lockdown CFD" on page 201 of Lockdown for specifics, but this line sums it up nicely:
"This means that the only two ways to catch the Cerberus strain of the virus is from nanites that have not yet infected a host and then run their course, or from brain matter spatter."

I suppose this means you'll want to read page 211, where it says:
"Add onto all this the fact that many of the nanites, or at least fragments of them, are still in the air and in the heads and bodies of the head cases"

Granted, page 201 is talking specifically about methods of infection, and page 211 is talking specifically about Noise and the Matrix.  But I don't see why I shouldn't believe that the air being breathed could still get someone infected.

Herr Brackhaus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3041
« Reply #97 on: <05-21-15/1322:48> »
Page 201, as you say, discusses methods of infection. Page 211 discusses noise. While the two are not mutually exclusive, there's a difference between "there are nanites in the air" and "there are enough nanites in the air to the point where you could get infected". I'd say Page 201 deals with the latter more than 211.

Mirikon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 8986
  • "Everybody lies." --House
« Reply #98 on: <05-21-15/2359:47> »
Agreed with Brackhaus. You're looking at two related, but separate things, Pixie. The infection danger is timed, due to the programming of the nanites. Once past that time limit, the infection danger is minimal unless you find a store of nanites that haven't yet infected someone, or get brain spatter on you. But just because those nanites aren't infectious any more doesn't mean they've all just disappeared. They're still around, and still sending out crap tons of low-level electronic signals, which acts similar to an area jammer by filling the airwaves with 'white noise'.
Greataxe - Apply directly to source of problem, repeat as needed.

My Characters

Pixie

  • *
  • Guest
« Reply #99 on: <05-24-15/0017:37> »
Alright, I get what you guys are saying.  That does make things a lot better than I had envisioned.  By the end of the book, I was expecting the last month to all be things that AJ had done without realizing it, because everyone had been infected already.  Kind of a "it was all a dream" kind of scenario combined with 28 Days Later.

ScytheKnight

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1911
« Reply #100 on: <05-27-15/2309:04> »
So had the chance to grab Lockdown and flick through the new crunch stuff and honestly.... the suits don't seem that bad to me? They all have cyber eyes and almost all of them have cyber ears as well... but only the rating listed so it seems you can fill the capacity with whatever you want. Plus it does mentioned that components of the suit can be upgraded.

Are they stuff for the ubermench street sam (well, OK apart from MCT: Kuro)? Nope... but they're a good place for someone who wants to get a decent set of 'ware without betting 'turned into a robot' by essence loss.
From To<<Matrix message>>
"Speech"
Thoughts
Astral
Mentor

Herr Brackhaus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3041
« Reply #101 on: <05-27-15/2316:41> »
ScytheKnight
You might want to look through my review of the contents compared to individual pieces of ware. Some, if not most, of the suites makes no sense.

ScytheKnight

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1911
« Reply #102 on: <05-27-15/2353:22> »
Ehh, I dunno... I think many a hacker would be happy to start out with Mind Boost, upgrading into Mental Athlete... Front Line Mind is a kinda terrifying combo of boosted mental and physical stats with Rating 6 Skill Jack and Wires, any skill a chip away with the stats to use it!

Spinrad, solid all-round physical stat boosts.

Just looking directly at what's there some of them may not make sense at fist, until you see that each type is created by a particular Megacorp, if you start looking at it in light of this being standard 'ware for a particular role in a corp, then yeah, they make sense.

Remember, most stuff isn't made for Shadowrunners, we just (mis)use it!
From To<<Matrix message>>
"Speech"
Thoughts
Astral
Mentor

rayous

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 49
« Reply #103 on: <07-28-15/1356:27> »
Has anyone found any good landmarks to draw a Quarantine Zone on a map? The book mentions that the zone goes up to beverly harbor and the danver river in the salem section so I am looking for more areas that are named. Run and gun says 10 kilometer radius from the boston harbor but that area is ~27 kilometers away.

rayous

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 49
« Reply #104 on: <07-28-15/1627:13> »
Nevermind, found it on page 115 "everything inside the 95/128/93 ring around the city."