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Shadowrun Cutting Black Sourcebook Review Posted

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AJCarrington

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« Reply #1 on: <01-11-20/1155:33> »
Wow...

Hopefully this will be released soon so that we can all dive into it...lots of questions.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #2 on: <01-11-20/1224:09> »
Some sacred cows mighta gotten killed.  Eager to see this, too.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

DrBurst

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« Reply #3 on: <01-11-20/1325:58> »
Wow...

Hopefully this will be released soon so that we can all dive into it...lots of questions.

It should be soon, in the other thread they said it was printed and shipped. Just waiting for the truck to pull into CGL.

GuardDuty

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« Reply #4 on: <01-11-20/1433:49> »
Can't say I'm terribly excited about Detroit being the new Chicago, hopefully they do something interesting with it.  I'm pretty let down that's how they chose to follow up what I think was their best story thread.

I think the BRA stuff sounds really interesting, even if I disagree with the way it sounds like it will unfold.  But if they're going to make a major change to one of the principle elements of the setting, it really should have been discussed in the CRB.  If I were an active 6E player and something like that happened within six months of the new edition going live, I'd be pretty upset.  But since I'm not, it's pretty whatever.

The blackouts, the fog, and the UCAS' instability don't call to me at all right now, but I'm glad it's launching with a mostly positive review.

prophet42

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« Reply #5 on: <01-11-20/1504:59> »
That's a lot of 'WTF?' moments.

It'll be interesting to see if any of the affected cities stick with analog solutions.
(That longbow's looking mighty sweet about now)
If its not fun, then why are you doing it?

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #6 on: <01-11-20/1635:34> »
Here comes the big drama!

And yes, people, Seattle is now a free city! O_O
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Wakshaani

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« Reply #7 on: <01-11-20/2355:07> »
There's a whole lot going on in there. Just, man. Gobs and gobs. Some stuff is gonna be missed on the first, second, even the third reading but, trust me, we're harvesting a bunch of developed plot seeds, planting more, and tossing some seed out in the field to see what'll happen to it in a few years down the line.

We're frying up sacred burgers at this point.

Duellist_D

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« Reply #8 on: <01-12-20/0432:08> »
This doesn't sound well thought-out.
I mean, I get it, some writer(s) seem to really dislike cyber, but EMPs to basically kill all tech in several cities?
Really?
Just make a second pseudo-Earthdawn setting for your magical needs without that evil evil technology instead of screwing over SR...

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #9 on: <01-12-20/0751:32> »
This doesn't sound well thought-out.
I mean, I get it, some writer(s) seem to really dislike cyber, but EMPs to basically kill all tech in several cities?
Really?
Just make a second pseudo-Earthdawn setting for your magical needs without that evil evil technology instead of screwing over SR...

I'm not picking up what you're putting down. This doesn't sound at all like they're writing cyber out of the game.

A) the EMP'd cities are all in the UCAS.  So that means most of the world, heck most of North America even, are unaffected and never had their cyber fried out.

B) The teaser never said these are ongoing phenomenon. Sounds to me like it was a bunch of cities, but still "One and done". The UCAS is now a bunch of Redmond-style wastelands perhaps, but that doesn't mean that if your PC now goes into one of these (apparently) corp-made disaster zones that their cyber now stops working, too.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #10 on: <01-12-20/0803:36> »
Nanoware survived the Monads after all. Cyberware will survive the EMPs.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Duellist_D

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« Reply #11 on: <01-12-20/0841:08> »
Sure, it's not all over the world, it's only in a major part of the Setting...

And regarding a wasteland: So any cyber-Chars currently playing there need to get a retroactive buttpull to be somewhere else during the critical time as to not end up as cripples and we end up with huge areas where playing anything tech oriented is quite realistically not feasible.
So, everything got (as in past tense) fried.
Great.
So, everyone living in the affected areas needs new vehicles, all technical convenience (waste disposal, communication, food processing, medical equipment, etc pp) is broken, but nobody can really earn any money to replace it and also has proper difficulty to access any existing digital funds.
So, going there, for a run as somebody from elsewhere, you might still have your whizz gear.
But then what?
Basically nothing to interact with as a Decker, because outside of milspec EMP hardened facilities, all interaction devices are dead and/or sensibly usually not yet replaced.
Oh, maybe you are a rigger? Great, then all your usually not that attention-gathering small drones stick out like a clown at a funeral, because all the common place drones in the environment are gone.
Same if you are the vehicle guy.
Your inconspicuous "Cletus and Co, Handyman's Service" Van to get your team around in secret is suddenly not so secret anymore because it's one of maybe 5 working Vehicles in a 5 mile radius.
And if one of your precious toys gets damaged? Oh golly, have fun finding someone to get replacement parts from, without a margin to reflect "hey I'm the only guy in the whole city who can fix your Flying Eye.
Having obvious Cyber in working condition also sure sounds like fun now.
"Look, this guy has cybereyes, he obviously is from outside and probably up to no good, all eyes on him"
Really sounds like a massive amount of enjoyable play to be had..
Meanwhile Mike Magick doesn't have to give a flying Soyfry, because lolmagic and can have a day of endless party, because who would bother him now if he does more flashy illegal stuff?
Security without license scanners, vehicles and few guns, in a country where thanks to the return to caseless ammo as a default, not even the industrial production of ammunition nis feasible anymore after an EMP?
Generally Muggles with sticks and stones?

If you want to play in this setting, you basically have to turn the wheel forward enough to have remedies for all the broken environment in place, thus basically nullifying all the changes, or have awakened be given an even more favorable playing field that properly screws all tech focused chars due to the lack (or severely taxed with additional hassle) of interactions in-game.
Sure, if awakened-only is your preferred playstyle, that might be fine, but there are also us players who don't enjoy being a partymember of "Gandalf and his useless Cyberhobbits".

As is said, this is not a well thought-out setting, quite the contrary. It looks like me as it's suffering from the "bigger, louder, farther"-syndrome, where one adds to many supposed awe-inducing items, but pays to little time on giving thought to secondary consequences.

I mean, Bug City 3.0 + EMPing most of the relevant UCAS + army eating mystical Fog + reconquista + borderline open war between country vs Corp (and I prolly forgot something anyways) is maybe, but just maybe a tiny bit much to sensibly cram into a single book and still let it make sense somehow?
I get it, you need a "next big thing" to get people into buying setting books instead of "expanded armory N°17", but this is a bit too much of that.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #12 on: <01-12-20/0911:08> »
You've clearly made up your mind, so I'm going to try to tread carefully so this doesn't devolve into threadlocking.

On the topic of "what do you do for everyone in the party who's NOT playing MagicRun if the game is set in one of the affected cities?"
Well, you either 1) ignore the plot, 2) contrive something where they're out of town when it happens (You were doing a job in Seattle, or London, or Neo-Tokyo when this drek hit...)  or even 3) the PCs simply aren't affected.  Maybe they get word and go into a prepper's EMP-shielded bunker.  Or who knows, maybe the teaser didn't happen to fill us in that it was "only" 50% of cyber that died, not 100%.  PCs are special and have some plot armor; they can easily fit into the "privileged few" just because they're PCs.

On the topic of "how do you play anything but MagicRun in the aftermath of these events?"
According to the teaser, these events seem to be limited to the sprawls.  Know what sprawls are surrounded by? Not-Sprawl. Particularly "Mega City One", on the UCAS Atlantic seaboard from Boston to DeeCee.  What are people going to do? Go grab working devices from the suburbs and rural areas.  Ok sure, rioting mobs won't have guns and bumpkins will.  Desperate cityfolk will massively outnumber bumpkins and guns.  And on a more sophisticated scale: who's going to grab working tech and deliver it to powers that be? Shadowrunners.  So, yes. Most vehicles, for example, in UCAS sprawls will now be hulks, but neither will the rigger be driving the only working vehicle.

On the topic of "this is just too good for MagicRun, it's unaffected and everyone else is kicked to the curb!"
6we doesn't have rules for Background Counts yet, but I presume they're coming.  And MagicRun players should be seeing the exact opposite of a magical candyland gumgrop forest of easy pickings, thanks to the death and misery of the newly created devastation.

On the topic of "this isn't SHADOWrun, this is OMGBIGEVENTSrun!"
Eh, touche. Not everyone has to like everything, and if this isn't for you, it isn't for you.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Banshee

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« Reply #13 on: <01-12-20/0927:53> »
Also to add ... it doesn't come anywhere as being that much of an apocalyptic MagicRun setting.

Doesn't ruin any previous canon or the setting ... this was not a simple case of setting off a bunch of EMP bombs to destroy all technology.  It was a very deliberate and precise strike with only temporary effects but long lasting consequences. Read the book to find out more.
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
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AJCarrington

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« Reply #14 on: <01-12-20/1508:38> »
Read the book to find out more.

I think this sums things up for me pretty succinctly. At present, all we have are one persons’ comments/thoughts and given the scope of the changes, I’ll need to dive and and see exactly how it plays I it and sits.