We've talked a lot about the state of errata for Shadowrun. It's become something of a sore subject for a lot of us, so much so that fights have erupted, people have quit the game, and any number of unpleasant incidents have occurred. It's a fraught subject.
One question that gets asked a lot is, "Why doesn't Shadowrun do errata the way that BattleTech does?" Well, as of earlier today, we do. I've been talking with the Powers That Be at Catalyst Game Labs, and I gave them a plan, and we're now in the very beginning phases of implementing that plan. My name's Patrick Goodman. I'm a freelance writer, and as of a few hours ago, I'm also the Shadowrun Errata Coordinator.
I'm in the process now of putting together a team of rules-knowledgeable people to help me. Most of the people I've asked have already said yes, though I'm still waiting to hear from a couple of folks. Once the team composition is nailed down, I'll introduce them, but it consists of freelancers, Catalyst Demo Team agents, and a few of you. I've invited a few of our harshest critics onto the team, to keep us honest. If any of the team members wants to step up and introduce themselves, however, they're more than free to do so.
As the next few weeks and months unfold, here's what's going to happen: We're going to go book by book and look over all the outstanding errata issues. We're going to discuss them, issue by issue, and reach a decision on how best to fix them. We'll consult with the author of the section to determine intent. We'll talk it out amongst ourselves, bring in consultants as needed, and once we reach a conclusion, we'll post the answer to the forum. At that point, it's what I call "provisionally official;" it's official, but subject to change in case we messed something up and it needs to be tweaked. Once things have been road-tested here on the forums, and the issues in a book have been addressed, I'll compile them all and get an official errata doc for that book up on the website.
Then we'll move on to the next book. And so on, and so forth. This is not a quick fix; while we'll be able to start getting some things answered in very short order, there are quite a few books that need to be worked on. This is a long-term project, and I'll ask you to be patient as we get things rolling and fine-tune the process.
There are some back-end things that need to get done first, and all my recruits need to tell me yea or nay, so we probably won't get started until next week. In the meantime, as things develop, I'll let you know here.
Patrick Goodman
Shadowrun Errata Coordinator.
