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[SR5] The Complete Trog

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Dr. Meatgrinder

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« Reply #45 on: <08-11-17/2215:00> »
Agreed.  I blinked, and I missed the fall of NeoNET, which should have been one of the most "Shadowrun" things to happen in SR5.
Blink?

It's been slowly dragged out over the last several years.

Given the glacial publication rate of SR5 books, that's what amounts to fast.   ;)

Honestly, though, the others have a point.  Compared to the end of Fuchi, NeoNet's demise has been very, very quiet.  I suspect a lot of that has to do with content intended for Shadowrun Chronicles that has never been produced because the developers of that game (according to their news posts) ran out of money and are off making another game before they can justify any more work on actually finishing the SR project.

Here's the problem I had with it:  The fall of NeoNET is treated almost as an afterthought.  It's almost a series of footnotes, and the whole thing (as you say) has been very quiet.  It's like a story element the GM (or writer) has kept secret for too long, and now not enough is known about it and no one gives a frag.

I don't think the publication rate is glacial, but I do think it feels that way because I don't get a sense of thematic cohesion in the stuff that is coming out.  There are too many active threads and too little exploration into them.
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Mirikon

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« Reply #46 on: <08-12-17/0319:50> »
Honestly, that's two things that have been missing from SR since 5th edition started, really. The first is campaign books, like Universal Brotherhood, Renraku Arcology, or Emergence. We had Lockdown, and then... nothing. Some missions, what seems like a half dozen magic books, the matrix, ware, guns, and gear books, and the corporate book. The plot is done in a scattershot approach, it seems, with noodle incident type references here and there, but nothing tying it all together, until suddenly everyone's fighting over the scraps of NeoNET's corpse. It is like trying to watch TV when someone is changing the channel between four stations every 30 seconds. Because you have limited word counts, people try to touch on NeoNET, the Corporate audit, the Lockdown, Dragons, crazy magic, headcases, bugs, Aztlan, the rest of the big 10, Brackhaven, Seattle Underground, Denver, and the list goes on, and trying to get them all into the same book. This leaves people with literary whiplash, and no clear grasp on what is going on.

Second, we really, really need books like Threats and Loose Alliances. The Threats books took several of the big plots going on, and gave a solid update on them, including both in game and out of game knowledge. It covered 14 different topics, several of which tied into major metaplot threads, while the others were all interesting on their own. But they were all labeled as 'be aware of this shit'. It advanced several plots from the pages of adventures, and tied them in together, while also setting up future works (one can see now how the chapters on Darke and the Blood Mage Gestalt set up the Big D's Will and the Dragonheart trilogy), and did so in a way that helped players and GMs tie those advancing plots into their own games.

On the other hand, Loose Alliances was a godsend for anyone trying to create a background for their character, or for GMs who wanted a run to involve someone other than the go-gang of the week, but didn't want his players to be pissing off the same Yaks or corporate Mr. Js too soon after their last run-in. All those organizations, across all different types, with some info about ideology and allied groups. With the changes since 3rd edition came out, this desperately needs an update.
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Marzhin

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« Reply #47 on: <08-12-17/0752:14> »
Second, we really, really need books like Threats and Loose Alliances. The Threats books took several of the big plots going on, and gave a solid update on them, including both in game and out of game knowledge. It covered 14 different topics, several of which tied into major metaplot threads, while the others were all interesting on their own. But they were all labeled as 'be aware of this shit'. It advanced several plots from the pages of adventures, and tied them in together, while also setting up future works (one can see now how the chapters on Darke and the Blood Mage Gestalt set up the Big D's Will and the Dragonheart trilogy), and did so in a way that helped players and GMs tie those advancing plots into their own games.

+1000. SR5 needs a new Threats book badly.
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« Reply #48 on: <08-12-17/1212:49> »
It is like trying to watch TV when someone is changing the channel between four stations every 30 seconds.
Can confirm. Is difficult. But, when you've got a dozen things on the mind its hard not to jump from thought to thought like a squirrel on jazz.

I do agree that the books need more focus as opposed to mentioning something about everything always.

Sterling

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« Reply #49 on: <08-19-17/1322:50> »
Second, we really, really need books like Threats and Loose Alliances. The Threats books took several of the big plots going on, and gave a solid update on them, including both in game and out of game knowledge. It covered 14 different topics, several of which tied into major metaplot threads, while the others were all interesting on their own. But they were all labeled as 'be aware of this shit'. It advanced several plots from the pages of adventures, and tied them in together, while also setting up future works (one can see now how the chapters on Darke and the Blood Mage Gestalt set up the Big D's Will and the Dragonheart trilogy), and did so in a way that helped players and GMs tie those advancing plots into their own games.

+1000. SR5 needs a new Threats book badly.

Seems we're getting just that!

http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=254.msg491315#msg491315
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« Reply #50 on: <08-19-17/1512:56> »
How did comics like Batman survive two crashes? (136 pg)

Sphinx

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« Reply #51 on: <08-19-17/1653:14> »
How did comics like Batman survive two crashes? (136 pg)

Collectors with double-bagged copies in climate-controlled storage rooms? Sooner or later, some Mr. Johnson should offer to pay his shadowrunners with a copy of Action Comics #1 or a Honus Wagner baseball card.

Bull

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« Reply #52 on: <08-31-17/0822:27> »
The crash isn't going to wipe out Pop-Culture completely.  Especially when there's hard copy of it around.  I mean, how did the Greek and Norse myths and stories survive all these years?  And modern supers are nothing if not modern Greek myths.

Plus Bull specifically has a soft spot for 20th century pop culture, especially comics and sci-fi/fantasy (My first Reality Filter was a Star Wars filter, back when I was young and not very creative :))

Dr. Meatgrinder

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« Reply #53 on: <09-04-17/1541:18> »
And even for digital-only stuff, there's usually some fan who keeps an offline backup of everything--even if they had to hack it to get past the DRM.
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AJCarrington

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« Reply #54 on: <10-09-17/1248:59> »
For those interested, looks like this is out in the wild now and should be available at your local FLGS or online store of choice.