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No Future is now LIVE!

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Wakshaani

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PMárk

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« Reply #1 on: <01-23-19/0943:55> »
Nice!
If nothing worked, let's think!

Ixal

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« Reply #2 on: <01-23-19/1523:30> »

Ixal

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« Reply #3 on: <01-23-19/1759:44> »
I skimmed through it a bit.
The beginning is a bit confusing with all the made up music styles, bands, personalities, locations etc. so you don't really know what they are talking about now sometimes.
But I am very tired, so don't take my word on that.

The small equipment block in the book is, well lets stick with interesting.
If you ever wanted to weaponize Starlight Express, this it the book for you. Monofilament yo-yos and bladed roller skates. Other entries include actual torches & pitchforks and the utility uses for milk.

Oh, and someone please try out the Granny Sweetspell's Snickerdoodles recipe at the back and post the result.
« Last Edit: <01-23-19/1805:47> by Ixal »

Crimsondude

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« Reply #4 on: <01-24-19/0207:18> »
I still can't decide whether including real and totally fabricated alternate timeline media would have been a good idea, except for Herzog's The Conquest of Aztlán and Aztechnology remaking it. I should've kept that.


I should add that if everything I wrote made it in, Look Forward In Anger would be at least ten times as long. And there's plenty more I could've added after the draft deadline, especially about weaponized media. Since mostly GMs read books like this, it was a little easier figuring out what to spare with the hopes that it's actually useful. There's a balance between specific stuff that adds nice touches of actual in-universe familiarity and references to specific plots or areas and trying to provide more abstract opportunities for GMs to develop plots and ideas themselves.
« Last Edit: <01-25-19/0224:09> by Crimsondude »

Ixal

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« Reply #5 on: <01-24-19/1101:18> »
I am more awake now but I still think that the part about music is rather confusing and probably has been the victim of some heavy editing.

First it talks about current (made up) music genres, then about current artists/groups and what the past stars are doing now. So far, so good. Then we are suddenly back to music genres with music of the fae and another artist. After that we have a single location before we are back to talking about artists, this time country artists specifically, with an special, extra long entry talking about gypsy festivals right in between them before its again about locations, this time world wide and more than one.

Personally I find the constant switching between genres, artists and locations very confusing. I also do not understand why Country needed an extra section, why the Brickhouse location needed to be listed separately from the other locations and finally why you need to have so many artists. While numerous, most entries about them are short and dont give any useful informations besides for name dropping. You could have easily cut half of them and use the pages for something else.
« Last Edit: <01-24-19/1115:56> by Ixal »

Ixal

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« Reply #6 on: <01-25-19/1856:47> »
I still can't decide whether including real and totally fabricated alternate timeline media would have been a good idea, except for Herzog's The Conquest of Aztlán and Aztechnology remaking it. I should've kept that.

Yeah, some of them really stuck out like this Shadowrun/Battletech crossover thing.
But I chuckled that the Simpsons are still running.

Crimsondude

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« Reply #7 on: <01-26-19/1911:00> »
The Shadowrun/Battletech stuff has been around since first edition and so it's obligatory at this point.

PiXeL01

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« Reply #8 on: <01-30-19/0955:05> »
I’ve just finished the book and it felt a little long and irrelevant for the people it was supposed to address, namely runners and people of the 2080s. Instead it was aimed at us with lore we would relate to (declaring Tom Brady a Spike baby etc. Transformers ... thanks for making me feel old(er)).
Why would the section on trendsetting be needed? Why the endless listings instead of ways for runners to influence the corporate control. How much would a reporter earn, or a painter for that matter?
Also who can consume this media if everyone it’s aimed at works 16 to 18 hours swifts.
I liked the sports section as it left controlled.
If Tom Brady’s a Spike Baby, what does that make Brees and Rodgers?

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #9 on: <01-30-19/1147:08> »
Different strokes for different folks.

Once upon a time there were some oddball sourcebooks that were primarily intended for abnormal campaign types, or at least shadowrunners of unusual background.  Shadowbeat was one such book, and because it covered the pop culture of the fictional setting I always thought of it as one of the most useful 'background' lore books even if noone is playing a trid pirate, a rocker, an urban brawler, or etc.

No Future is Shadowbeat for 5th edition.

For example, knowing Taco Temple's advertising slogan and being able to sprinkle it into improvised place descriptions is pure gold.  Personally, I love getting a "thirty year update" to 2080s pop culture to the precedent set in 2050s Shadowbeat.
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.

Marcus

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« Reply #10 on: <01-30-19/1228:59> »
Every editions culture book is critical to understanding that edition and the story the that edition is trying to tell. Is it plot critical probably not. But I love SR band concept to me it's one of the best parts of the dark 80s future that is SR.

I can certainly understand if you prefer something else, but I think no future is very well done.
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Ixal

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« Reply #11 on: <01-30-19/1514:19> »
Well, my thoughts, more a rambling than a review:

No Future is certainly a fluff book, mainly used to flesh out the setting and increase immersion. It has hardly any mechanical content, although there are some rules for playing entertainers (and using eventual fame to influence people). There are in my opinion also rather few direct plot hooks. Instead you get a description of how the entertainment in SR works and are left to introduce it into your game in whatever way you want (which is imo not a bad thing)

Overview
The introduction talks about how media is used (control the masses, push products, same old, same old) and who is doing the controlling, namely the 14 largest corps which controll more than 3/4 of the media. I quite like the idea to summarize each megas take on media in a single word. For some it totally makes sense like with Ares and struggle. Everyone knows the movies where the outsider struggles and succeeds against all odds and I can totally see that being Ares thing. Same for Horizon and consensus (forgettable feel good movies).
Some keywords require a bit more explanation like death for Aztechnology and I think intrigue or influence would have suited S-K more than power the way that it is explained.

Here we hit some little snag. 14 corps are listed to control the majority of the media, but only 13 receive a writeup. Fourth World Studios is mentioned, but never detailed.
Also, Evo as a megacorp receives its keyword (evolution, who would have thought...), but apparently the media branch of Evo is quite small, smaller than Sonxy and Cross Entertainment, the last surviving part of CATCo and not among the 14 big ones and thus does not receive a detailed writeup either, leaving you to guess how evolution in media looks like.
Still you get an overview of which companies does what, what their speciality and quirks are and who is butting heads with whom over which demographic or region.

Music
The next part of the book is the music industry and to be upfront about it, I think it is the weakest part of the book. But I am generally not a music guy so I might be prejudiced.
This chapter talks about music styles, artists and venues. Sadly, and that is my big problem with it, it switches back and forth between them. First there are several made up music styles, then artists, then music styles and artists in the Tir countries, a venue, country artists and again music styles and artists outside of the UCAS and some more venues. A better structure would have helped this chapter a lot instead of switching back and forth between all those topics.
Also, I feel you could have cut several of the many, many artists description which often don't tell you anything besides the name and music style they use, and instead use the space for the 14th studio or Evo in the introduction.
The ending of the chapter is the rules part about playing musicians, how to get gigs, how much you earn and what you can do with fame. Don't expect too much, but it should be enough to get you started.

Trid/Simsense
The chapter about trid and simsense follows the generall layout of the previous chapter, without the switching back and forth.
You get a list of trid shows, either completely original or renamed real life show like Space Fleet (Star Trek) and some homages like Battlerun (A Battletech/Shadowrun mix). The same is then done for simsense, although sometimes I wonder why a show is simsense and not trideo as sometimes there isn't any indication how the simsense features are used and people still talk about cameras.
Each of those entries are longer than an music artist and imo contain more plot hooks like the squabbling behing the scenes of Coffee Clutch or the idea behind Sinless Life
After that you get a few movers and shaker, both producers, actors and wannabes. And then a few locations, including Sweetwater Creek from Complete Trog.

The chapter ends with an overview of some major networks, although there is some overlap with the introduction chapter as most networks are owned by one of the megas and other corps controlling the media. Pirates and Privateers (pirates with corp backing) are also described. You also get a long example of a programming schedule for a day (The Simpsons are still on)

News
The next chapter is about news and it is a bit of an oddball as it is not really entertainment. It still mostly fits as it is part of the media, still the chapter sticks out a bit as it gets its own introduction describing what news are used for by the corps and how they do it like what was presented in the 1st chapter.
You then get a list of some megas and major corps and how they tend to present news and for what purpose. Also several idependent and underground news groups are detailed, how they operate and what challenges they face.

Sports
Back to entertainment, its now about sports and I quite like the chapter.
This chapter has a big focus on racism and magism(?) and at the beginning talks at length about the overt and subtle racism some metatypes face in sports and also about the state of magic in sports.
After that several sports or sport categories are presented, but current sports like football, revived sports like courtball and SR specific ones like urban brawl. Some categories are rather broad like how martial arts covering everything from UFC to sumo to fencing while others are about one specific sport.

Each sport is receives a 1/2 to 1 page explanation of what the general idea behind it is without going into the rules much with a focus on its stance on metahuman inclusion, magic and also violence potential both on and off the field.

Influencers
The last chapter talks about Influencers and trends, both how the megacorps search for them as they are unlikely to produce them in house and what they do with them. Some organizations dabbling in social engineering like Dawkins and MIFD get a small explanation, but nothing really new (the first one is the scalpel, the latter the axe) and SIS for being able and willing to mess with the other groups if paid to.

Equipment & Stuff
At the end you have a small equipment section, although the stuff in there either falls into the very "esoteric" category like bladed rollerskates, monofilament yo-yos or weapons hidden in music instruments or are very low tech like pitchforks and torches.

Imo its an ok book to bring the SR setting to live, but it could have done with a bit more plot hooks and better structure in the music chapter. If you are looking for rules then this is not the book for you.
And I would appreciate it if in future Kane would receive a little bit less attention as by now he looks like a unbeatable supersoldier who now is also a celebrity both spawning a documentary about him and accidentally creating his own clothing trend. Please take him down a peg or five to bring him in line with what shadowrunners are supposed to be.
« Last Edit: <01-30-19/1516:45> by Ixal »

Crimsondude

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« Reply #12 on: <01-30-19/2348:08> »
You can thank Orwell for Ares being assigned "Struggle."

Beta

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« Reply #13 on: <01-31-19/1323:45> »
Eight days in and it is still number one in the DriveThruRPG bestselling titles list.  Of course, a lot of other games may have more useful publisher stores, or get their physical copies out more quickly, so it might not entirely be a fair comparison.  But still, I think it shows that there is a fair appetite for even 'fluff' SR books.

Chicago Chaos is currently sitting in the number 8 spot.  But being in part an Anarchy book, and in part more aimed at GMs, it probably isn't surprising to not see it selling as well.

Wakshaani

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« Reply #14 on: <01-31-19/1430:15> »
Personally, I'd *love* to do more fluff-heavy books. There's a ton of stuff that yet needs covered.