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Digital Toolbox

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ImaginalDisc

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« on: <01-30-14/1742:09> »
I didn't see a thread on this yet.

Digital Toolbox released.
http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/2014/01/shadowrun-digital-tools-box-released-make-shadowrun-easier-to-play-than-ever/

I haven't seen any of the materials included. If anyone here has, are they worth it?

samoth

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« Reply #1 on: <01-30-14/1744:13> »
Just got the email, it looks like it could be a cool product.

JackVII

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« Reply #2 on: <01-30-14/1744:54> »
It's in the sticky thread above, but I don't know who has seen it. Looks liek they're hinting at the next fiction piece though, if that's your thing (Frost & Fire, I believe).
|DTG|Place|Address in Brackets
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FastJack

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« Reply #3 on: <01-30-14/1745:26> »
Good call. It's the electronic form of the two upcoming box sets.

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AJCarrington

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« Reply #4 on: <01-30-14/2059:16> »
Downloading this now...quite looking forward to it. ;D

ImaginalDisc

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« Reply #5 on: <01-30-14/2124:45> »
Downloading this now...quite looking forward to it. ;D

I'm looking forward to a review. I'm not sure if the appeal of these boxes is in the hardcopy feelies or the content. If it's the later than I'll buy it as a download since I run an online game.

Chance

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« Reply #6 on: <01-30-14/2210:56> »
First time there's no preview of the product on DTRPG. I think I'm going to wait or take a pass on this one.

tasti man LH

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« Reply #7 on: <01-31-14/0136:25> »
Still looking through it, but one thing of note to everyone here:

A Seattle Boxed Set is being planned, apparently.
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Ryo

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« Reply #8 on: <01-31-14/0151:57> »
I'm really disappointed in the cards. That was the main reason I was considering the hard copy, but the art looks really low res, and in some cases it looks like they put very little effort into it. Like the bulldog art, which is solid yellow for some reason and looks like it was ripped from a first edition source book or something. A lot of the cards provide information that's largely worthless (like the spell cards, and most of the cyberware doesn't include a description of what it does), and I find it kind of disingenuous to advertise 110 cards when there's multiple copies of several pieces of gear. Overall, it just really feels like a missed opportunity.

The one exception are the program cards for the decker programs. Those are great. Custom art, a description of what it does, all you need on one card. A deck of those would be great for a decker player to swap out and keep track of his running programs. Unfortunately, there isn't a full deck of them, just Sneak, Track,  Exploit, Baby Monitor, Data bomb, Defuse, Hammer, Encryption, Decryption, Biofeedback Filter and Browse. So, once again, disappointing.
« Last Edit: <01-31-14/0157:43> by Ryo »

samoth

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« Reply #9 on: <01-31-14/0618:38> »
One thing I'm not sure of - why did Catalyst not advertise this release at all?  Are they only going to hype the physical book releases, not PDFs?


Emperors Grace

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« Reply #11 on: <01-31-14/0727:07> »
What I would love to know before buying is whether "Rules of the Street" is "simple to use" because it's a true condensed version (no fluff, no art, no odd organization, etc...) of the complete rules or if it's glossing over a lot like the QSR.

If it's the former, I could do with a copy - If it's the latter, I'll just keep slogging through my big rulebook.

Voltron64

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« Reply #12 on: <01-31-14/0845:26> »
Okay, am I the only one here who thinks the iconic hacker (Gentry) looks like Matt Smith?  ;)

AJCarrington

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« Reply #13 on: <01-31-14/0911:46> »
I'm really disappointed in the cards. That was the main reason I was considering the hard copy, but the art looks really low res, and in some cases it looks like they put very little effort into it. Like the bulldog art, which is solid yellow for some reason and looks like it was ripped from a first edition source book or something. A lot of the cards provide information that's largely worthless (like the spell cards, and most of the cyberware doesn't include a description of what it does), and I find it kind of disingenuous to advertise 110 cards when there's multiple copies of several pieces of gear. Overall, it just really feels like a missed opportunity.

The one exception are the program cards for the decker programs. Those are great. Custom art, a description of what it does, all you need on one card. A deck of those would be great for a decker player to swap out and keep track of his running programs. Unfortunately, there isn't a full deck of them, just Sneak, Track,  Exploit, Baby Monitor, Data bomb, Defuse, Hammer, Encryption, Decryption, Biofeedback Filter and Browse. So, once again, disappointing.

Once I get home, I plan to compare the cards provided in the boxed set with those that have been already released as separate decks. Sounds like there are new ones (cyberware and matrix), but will summarize my findings for all.

Critias

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« Reply #14 on: <01-31-14/1543:03> »
Keep in mind that the cards included are (or at least should be, IIRC) the "whole set" for what's in these introductory boxes.  The full spread of programs isn't available in the cut-down version of the game in these intro boxes, so there was no need to include every program (and, in fact, some programs use simplified/streamlined rules for what they do, also, compared to the full core rules).  These boxes aren't meant as augmentations to the core SR5 rules, for the most part, they're meant as replacements for it.  Folks that don't want quite all the options, all the crunch, all the nitty-gritty gear, etc, etc, can use these trimmed-down boxes to get into the game, test the waters, and see how they like 'em. 

It's not quite the level of "Shadowrun Basic" that I, personally, would have liked to have pitched and rewritten whole cloth if I'd had my madman's druthers, but I think it was a good effort at...at...distilling down the 480+ page core book, and still ending up with a final product that's much more compact, while still allowing for some iconic Shadowrun goodness.

That said, because I'm a vainglorious bastard, it's mostly the character booklets I'm curious about opinions on, and I did my best to make THEM perfectly reasonable characters (within the bounds of the artwork presented, SR5 cover included) that even folks with the core SR5 book can get some mileage out of.  I would've loved to be able to give Sledge modular cyberarms (since, y'know, artwork), but other than that I'm pretty happy with how this merry band worked out.