Shadowrun

Catalyst Game Labs => Errata => Topic started by: Fizzygoo on <10-12-11/0258:59>

Title: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Fizzygoo on <10-12-11/0258:59>
Shadows of Asia, pg 94, Middle East Timeline sidebar, "December 2063: ...Syria takes over Lebanon." and pg 120, "The [Syrian] government gets more belligerent by the day, as shown by their recent military takeover of Lebanon. Syria always treated Lebanon like an offshoot, so the invasion is mostly symbolic."

The Sixth World Almanac's map hover show's Lebanon being absorbed by Israel (which is reprinted for the Arabian Caliphate map on pg 114).

I would assume, that the Catalyst sources takes canon precedence over the Fanpro source, but there's always the possibility of a misprint, typo, mistake, etc.

Any official or semi official ruling on this that I may have missed?
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Sengir on <10-12-11/0700:09>
Official ruling? That would amount to errata the thing which shall not be :P

6WA contains several gross canon violations even in the more "active" settings (just look at the coastlines of LA or Northern Germany), therefore the safe bet is to just ignore everything which collides with preexisting books.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: FastJack on <10-12-11/0843:14>
I don't know. The map in the Arabian Caliphate section looks like it cuts off just before showing Lebanon's physical location.

Now, the Poster map from the book is a bit more detailed and it clearly looks like Israel has annexed Lebanon.

A better explanation is that, much like the real world, borders shifted and power struggles occurred, with Israel taking Lebanon away from Syria.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-12-11/1351:56>
6WA is the canon unless something later retconned it.


Quote
A better explanation is that, much like the real world, borders shifted and power struggles occurred, with Israel taking Lebanon away from Syria.

That is entirely possible.


/[insert remark about TT updates]
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Nath on <10-12-11/1453:08>
6WA is the canon unless something later retconned it.
So yes, North Korea tried to nuke Japan and was invaded twice, in 2006 and again in 2020 :P
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-12-11/1506:19>
Only twice?
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: CanRay on <10-12-11/1510:43>
Well, nukes became less reliable after magic came back.  It's not the boogyman it once was.

They probably had a bunch of "lesser" magical and military threats that were largely ignored due to Japan pointing and going, "We have a Great Dragon living here, along with some Megacorporations.  Go ahead, piss them off."
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Sengir on <10-12-11/1542:59>
The point is not that NK tried to nuke Japan and the nukes failed, that is part of the established backstory. The point is that 6WA used the same sidebar twice.

And somebody should tell the authors that the coastline of what used to be California "is the canon unless something later retconned it" ;)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Fizzygoo on <10-12-11/1544:13>
Yeah, just checking to see if I missed something and/or if there was a semi-official ruling.

Since there's no textual mention of Israel taking Lebanon in 6WA, but there does exist a previous canon textual statement that Lebanon was taken over by a country (just not Israel), I can only conclude that there was a mistake made and that it is highly likely it is cartographic in nature (though there very well could have been an omitted post-Crash 2.0 timeline entry stating Israel takes Lebanon from Syria in 6WA). But maybe not, always fun to ask and see what's known about these kinds of things. I have no investment in the outcome, yet, hehe, and changing my maps is easier than changing the poster map (and making it still look beautiful).

"Cartography mistakes change the world."
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Nath on <10-12-11/1635:31>
Note also that Tel-Aviv moved about fifty kilometers east of its actual position. That, or the Israeli government chose to rename Jerusalem (probably just to confuse the Palestinian negotiators).

The same thing happened to Nice in France. It is now about sixty kilometers southeast of where it used to be. The former Canadian territories are UCAS dependencies and not states. And Tir Tairngire prince Feana Sterling was assassinated several times.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: FastJack on <10-12-11/1642:24>
Hey look, there's a thread in the Errata forums where you can post errata you find in the Sixth World Almanac! Why, it's almost like the boards have an entire area dedicated to the discussion of errata, where posters can list the items that need to be corrected for all to see instead of beating horses that died a while ago.

Sixth World Almanac feedback (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=796.0)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: bigity on <10-12-11/1652:03>
You'd probably get people more excited about the errata threads if there was ever a possibility that some of them make make it into a book before 5th edition. :D
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Fizzygoo on <10-12-11/1658:18>
But where do we put the meta-errata!?!
    The errata of my errata is my errata.
    Take my errata...please.
    Et tu, errata!

But seriously folks,

I started this thread expecting it to get moved to the Errata forums (though for different reasons) as it's basically an "is this errata?" question (but it wasn't a "this is errata!" statement, you see) so starting at the top, with the product, was my line of reasoning :)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: FastJack on <10-12-11/2152:01>
Okay, since it's intended to be an errata discussion, I'll move it to the proper board.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-13-11/0048:41>
And somebody should tell the authors that the coastline of what used to be California "is the canon unless something later retconned it" ;)
I'm failing to see where the problem is. Granted, the quality isn't stellar, but there's no appreciable difference between SR4, SR4A, CE, and 6WA as far as I can tell.


Now, that Fanpro sunk a huge chunk of California and Baja California is ridiculous, but until Jason lets me finally write a version of L.A. that retcons everything since NAGNA we're stuck for now.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: FastJack on <10-13-11/0750:45>
And somebody should tell the authors that the coastline of what used to be California "is the canon unless something later retconned it" ;)
I'm failing to see where the problem is. Granted, the quality isn't stellar, but there's no appreciable difference between SR4, SR4A, CE, and 6WA as far as I can tell.


Now, that Fanpro sunk a huge chunk of California and Baja California is ridiculous, but until Jason lets me finally write a version of L.A. that retcons everything since NAGNA we're stuck for now.
Now see, some of us like parts of what happened in California. Not all of it, but parts of it.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-13-11/1000:26>
There are decent parts of California, and there are workable ideas about L.A., but sometimes you have to burn down the forest to re-seed it.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Sengir on <10-13-11/1243:47>
Now, that Fanpro sunk a huge chunk of California and Baja California is ridiculous
...but regardless of what one may think about it, it is and was clearly intended to be canon.

Funny...not too long ago you were stomping your feet and demanding we respect supposed canon, now you are like "oh well, they ignored each and every geographical change in the 6th World, so what"...
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: bigity on <10-13-11/1430:35>
Noticed that too did ya?
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-19-11/1805:32>
Now, that Fanpro sunk a huge chunk of California and Baja California is ridiculous
...but regardless of what one may think about it, it is and was clearly intended to be canon.

Funny...not too long ago you were stomping your feet and demanding we respect supposed canon, now you are like "oh well, they ignored each and every geographical change in the 6th World, so what"...

Actually what I said was:

Quote
As for Bogotá, there's no map, but as I recall the comment in regards to that mini-sub is not ... comprehensive. But just as a reminder this is also the game where an entire country (Luxembourg) is now part of a tri-national irradiated zone, Libya is a post-nuclear wasteland that exists solely for corporate war games, most of the Los Angeles basin (along with other chunks of California and Baja California) is underwater, an localized EMP bomb somehow crippled the Panama Canal so that Aztechnology had to go and carve a new one through Nicaragua in less than five years, and an island emerged in the middle of the Pacific Ocean one day filled with natural orichalcum.

Shadowrun is not reality. However, Patrick may be too modest to say it but the fact is that Shadowrun isn't Dr. Who. There is a canon. That canon, like all canons going back to Church canon law, which is where we get the name, is defined by arbiters: Us, the freelancers and artists (Oh, yeah. The art has been, AFAIK, canon.) as permitted by the line developers. That's why I don't mind that Lofwyr has stats. Anyone can kill him in their game, but he's not dead in the canon continuity unless we say he is.


We are like a buffet. We put out what we think will be most enjoyable and useful for your consumption, and then let you have at it. Bring in your own food if you like. However, the selection is what the selection is. Unless I'm told differently, the events of the Dragon Heart Saga are canon. You don't have to like it or use it, but that's the way it is as the game is being continually constructed even if it never comes up again.


Sorry. I don't see any stomping of feet there. In fact the very idea of me doing some sort of Respect Mah Authoritah dance is pretty ridiculous. I spent fifteen years playing SR while having mutually agreed to adhering to canon as close as was possible. I am not going to pretend it's easy, and I honestly wouldn't ever expect any tabletop or PBP/PBEM group to adhere to it as closely as Shadowland did.


OTOH, retcons do happen. They've happened several times ranging from the number of nuclear weapons used in aggression to the name of entire countries. Chances are they will happen again.

Of course, the whole point of my comment is that Jason will never let me reboot California. But I can wish it, and I can pretend that it didn't happen at a personal game. However, unless I dazzle the Hell out of him (which I assert that I can do) don't you go worrying about me touching precious, precious continuity as I express my own opinions on what I think is a horrible set of material I have to deal with.


I would have gotten back to you earlier, but I was too busy changing the canon, and then went on vacation.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Sengir on <10-23-11/0939:09>
Actually what I said was:

This, in response to people suggesting that not everything in 6WA should be taken at face value:

6WA is the canon unless something later retconned it.
(Emphasis in original)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: FastJack on <10-23-11/1002:06>
Actually what I said was:

This, in response to people suggesting that not everything in 6WA should be taken at face value:

6WA is the canon unless something later retconned it.
(Emphasis in original)
Just because something is canon, does not mean that it should be taken at face value (within the universe).
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: bigity on <10-23-11/1021:59>
Hahaha
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Crimsondude on <10-23-11/1050:05>
Actually what I said was:

This, in response to people suggesting that not everything in 6WA should be taken at face value:

6WA is the canon unless something later retconned it.
(Emphasis in original)

Well, that's just the way it is. I don't know what else to say.


You know, there's always been the caveat for the last 22 years that because the in-character material is written by characters who may or may not know everything, they could be wrong. But as a whole, my point remains.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: CanRay on <10-23-11/1306:33>
Take into consideration that the In-Universe information is given by the Characters Perspective.  "Unreliable Narrator" and all that comes into play very heavily.

No, I'm not going to link to TVTropes.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Nath on <10-23-11/1321:40>
I'm sorry, but the "Unreliable Narrator" excuse doesn't hold water in this case: Jackpoint is an online community, so the tiniest possibility that someone might get a fact wrong under a certain interpretation should trigger at least two people posting opposing arguments ;)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Sengir on <10-23-11/1818:05>
You know, there's always been the caveat for the last 22 years that because the in-character material is written by characters who may or may not know everything, they could be wrong.
Just to refresh your memories: We are talking about maps, not in-character writing.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Fizzygoo on <10-23-11/1830:22>
I'm sorry, but the "Unreliable Narrator" excuse doesn't hold water in this case: Jackpoint is an online community, so the tiniest possibility that someone might get a fact wrong under a certain interpretation should trigger at least two people posting opposing arguments ;)

Which happens :). Occasionally there are the posters calling "BS" to a previous statement or going so far as to actually explain why they're wrong.

There's also the other GM tool which is that each book being timestamped (the moment the reader downloads the compilation) at a certain date means that the GM could decide that A ) a piece of information in the main JackPoint article is wrong and that B ) no one who knows that the info is false has posted information to argue against it by that timestamp date (either because they didn't see the article, were busy writing up a long argument against it, are busy trying to kill the person that posted it, have died, etc.).

There's a nice time frame for all the books (I'll call them cycles :) )
Cycle 1: Prior events...the actual period of time that given events happen.
Cycle 2: Writing cycle...the time period where the authors are writing it, up to and including where FastJack invites them to post and writes his brief intro.
Cycle 3: JackPoint commentators...all the comments occur during this period.
Cycle 4: The Download...where you download the most current info (as of the time-date stamp at the beginning of the download/book.

Unless there are internal references to time within Cycle 3, then one can't really know how long Cycle 3 is. It could all be within the time it takes to read that section and post those comments. Even further, if a poster posts a comment in the middle of an article...and never posts again...the reader has no way of knowing of that poster read the entire article, let alone whole compilation.

But of course there's a diminishing returns on rebuttal  comments equal to how widely known the error is. The bigger the error, the more likely everyone will see it, which increases the speed at which corrective comments fly. Little or obscure error in a field no one else is familiar with, few people will notice it, longer it can take for either someone (who knows, but missed it, hadn't gotten there yet, etc.) or someone who's researching the facts (like Snopes would) to point it out...and they may do so after "you've" downloaded the book. :)

You know, there's always been the caveat for the last 22 years that because the in-character material is written by characters who may or may not know everything, they could be wrong.
Just to refresh your memories: We are talking about maps, not in-character writing.

Hehe, the maps could be drawn by an in-game cartographer :). That's how the Forgotten Realms first argued their maps way back in first edition FR...that the maps were less accurate the further out from the Dalelands one went because "our" cartographers have less accurate information. Or maybe in SR an AI is messing with the satellite map overlays :)
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Critias on <10-23-11/2235:25>
Or it could just be a mistake.  It happens.  *shrugs*  Let's not jump through hoops when Occam's Razor tells us something is a plain old fuck up.
Title: Re: 6th World Almanac vs. Shadows of Asia question
Post by: Fizzygoo on <10-23-11/2316:35>
I'm pretty sure it's a mistake (but not positive, which was my motive to post on it in the first place, a just in case I've missed something kind of thing), and yeah, totally, happens (s/he who writes/edits multiple works to always produce unerring published documents may cast the first Thor shot, hehe, or at least that's my personal stance/view on errors, mistakes, etc).

I just have the following issues: I'm long winded, I like to talk, and sometimes hoops are fun (for me)...especially when razors are involved. But please don't take my rambling as attempting to fit a square peg to a round hole...well, not a serious attempt at the fit...just a playing around to see where things can match up, and don't.  :)