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The Official Scoop on Official Shadowrun Errata

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firesshadow42

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« Reply #30 on: <07-13-16/1458:48> »
First I'll echo what others have said! Thanks for taking on this burden and starting this journey with a handpicked team of specialists chummer, I think this is one of the single biggest things the community wants and needs in terms of this amazing game.

That said a curious thought that I suspect is too big to answer right now, but could this errata work include something like a master index and/or reprints (reissues in the case of PDFs) of some of the books with errata included, maybe at least the CRB ala 20th anniversary? I know that's more a question for CGL than most here, but I think it's something worth considering and keeping in mind as the journey moves on! I would gladly at least buy a CRB with such things in it!

cchopps

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« Reply #31 on: <07-13-16/1459:15> »
This is incredible news!

It isn't just about the Errata that will come, but on the process that Catalyst has agreed to. If this works out well, hopefully other RPG companies will do something similar. I participate (or stealth read) a few different RPG forums and lack of or poor errata is very common in this industry. Would be great to see Shadowrun leading the way in turning this around.

Good luck, team!!!

DragginSPADE

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« Reply #32 on: <07-13-16/1620:17> »
I'd like to echo what many others have said:  Thank you very much for taking this on. 

Shadowrun has been my favorite RPG for many years and it's been painful to see many of the issues 5th has had.

Hobbes

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« Reply #33 on: <07-13-16/1629:11> »
Good luck, this is a massive undertaking if you're going to try and "do it right".  Very impressive for a Freelancer to step and do this for essentially the love of the game.  We all thank you and wish you the best of luck.


Beta

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« Reply #34 on: <07-13-16/1702:48> »
This is incredible news!

It isn't just about the Errata that will come, but on the process that Catalyst has agreed to. If this works out well, hopefully other RPG companies will do something similar. I participate (or stealth read) a few different RPG forums and lack of or poor errata is very common in this industry. Would be great to see Shadowrun leading the way in turning this around.

Good luck, team!!!

I'd just come back to this thread to post something similar -- wanted to extend thanks to Catalyst for making this possible, too.  It takes hard work and a thick skin to do such a task, but you also need someone to open the opportunity.  Glad to see Catalyst agree to this brave proposal -- and after all the flak that gets thrown their way on these boards, it is important to also acknowledge when they get things right, IMO.

Linkdeath

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« Reply #35 on: <07-13-16/1705:38> »
Patrick, you have my condolen...congratulations. It's a deep, complex task, and I don't envy you for it, but I'll appreciate the hell out of you for it. Especially as I continue running games!
Dance to the tension of a world on edge.

tequila

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« Reply #36 on: <07-13-16/2119:04> »
That's great!  Congrats and good luck!
#thistasergoesto11

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Nuff said.  :-X

odd

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« Reply #37 on: <07-13-16/2217:34> »
Thanks and good luck Mr Goodman!

Teknodragon

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« Reply #38 on: <07-14-16/1131:36> »
My hat's off to you and your team, Patrick.

I really appreciate this.
Life is short, the night is long, and we still have ammo.

Raven2049

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« Reply #39 on: <07-14-16/1712:38> »
Good luck, and happy Errata-ing!

looking forward to seeing what you come up with. And super pumped that this will be official. If you need help im willing!

Patrick Goodman

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« Reply #40 on: <07-15-16/1624:20> »
I do have a question: Since there's been many errata threads (one for each book) with suggestions for changes from the people posting in the forums, will the team be looking at (and possibly considering using) these suggested fixes?
Absolutely. I'd be a dozen kinds of fool to ignore them, and last I checked I was only at five or six different kinds, so....

The plan includes going over the Missions FAQ and squaring as much with that as we can. Some of the things in the FAQ are Missions specific, but I have Ray Rigel (the man who oversees the Missions FAQ) at my side to help all of us separate the things that need to be Missions specific from the things that don't.

I've already spoken with Jason about getting the material that was sent to both the French and German licensees sent to me as well, so that we can do our best to make things as consistent as possible on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Will there be a thread or other means for players to suggest to the group fixes or changes?
This forum right here, actually, will be the place to bring it up. We, and especially I, will be watching this forum closely as we move forward. We'll be talking about how this can best be handled probably some time after GenCon, since half the team is going to be there without me and will be up to their eyeballs in running games and socializing and chasing Charizards and stuff like that.

I'll post more on how you guys can help out later, as we get things hammered out.
Former Shadowrun Errata Coordinator

Nightmare

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« Reply #41 on: <07-15-16/1705:22> »
Don't forget to ask the management at Catalyst for some of the material corrections sent in by some of the freelancers and such too.  I know there is at least errata/corrections for the Seattle Sprawl box set sent to them (thanks Wakshaani, for that).  Will help your group get that one done faster, at least.

Patrick Goodman

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« Reply #42 on: <07-16-16/1507:51> »
If I may make a suggestion though? You mentioned going book by book, most likely starting with the CRB and then going in order of release.
You have quite a few years of catching up to do however, so it will be a long time till you'll reach the recent books, and by then new stuff will have been released.
The bigger the windmill, the easier it is to tilt at....

The plan at this point, yes, is to hit Core and Run Faster at the same time, since those are the two biggies for character generation. Then, yes, hit the splats in order of release, and then move on to other stuff.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, however, and I'm already seeing that we're probably going to be doing a lot of parallel processing. One of our guides is going to be the Missions FAQ, and it's got a lot of stuff in it. As we address it, there's going to be overlap with other books, so even at the outset things are going to be scattered about a bit.

We're not really going to be able to get started until after GenCon anyway, and that's in a couple weeks, so it'll probably be the middle of August before we really get going. And by then, the plan might change yet again.
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I'm not quite sure how BattleTech does it, but I guess they don't start 3 or 4 years after the initial book release :)
Pretty sure you're right, but I'm not sure how their current system actually got started. It could have been as a result of similar circumstances. I didn't ask; didn't seem pertinent why it got started the way it is, as long as it's a process that works and can be easily emulated.

Basically, they take rules questions from the forums. In their own little Fortress of Solitude, they have a team of knowledgeable guys look over the rules question, and figure out how to fix it. They talk to the guy who wrote it, when possible, to determine intent. Then they fix it. Then they publish the fix. Then they move on to the next one.

Emulating that, what I've outlined (and what may, like the order of things addressed, change drastically once we get into a groove with this) is this:

1. Identify problem.
2. Argue about problem.
3. Fix problem.
4. Publish fix for field testing.
5. Fix the fix later if necessary.
6. Repeat for next problem in the book.

Once a book is finished, it goes:

1. Gather all the field-tested fixes and put them into an errata document.
2. Get errata document laid out and looking pretty, since that's a big deal these days.
3. Post errata document.
4. Provide errata document and layout notes to Jason and Matt (the layout guy) to correct the PDF.
5. Post/update the PDF once corrections are made.
6. Breathe a sigh of relief when it's time for a reprint and corrections are already made.

All of this is, of course, subject to tweaking. As I said before, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

I hope that addressed some of your concerns.
Former Shadowrun Errata Coordinator

Tarislar

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« Reply #43 on: <07-16-16/1620:57> »
1st off.   
Patrick ....   you rock!     
It's great to hear you are taking on this project.


The plan at this point, yes, is to hit Core and Run Faster at the same time, since those are the two biggies for character generation. Then, yes, hit the splats in order of release, and then move on to other stuff.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, however, and I'm already seeing that we're probably going to be doing a lot of parallel processing. One of our guides is going to be the Missions FAQ, and it's got a lot of stuff in it. As we address it, there's going to be overlap with other books, so even at the outset things are going to be scattered about a bit. 

2nd. 
Love that your grouping those 2 books first.
I was going to suggest the exact same thing.
Which is where my 2-cent suggestion comes in.
As your doing them in order of release, perhaps "group" a couple related books together by Topic/subject
Half of them reference each other anyway as they expanded from the 1st tier expansion book.

Example
Run & Gun + Other Combat = Gun Haven + Assassins Primer + Bullets & Bandages + Possibly Chrome Flesh
Street Grimoire + Other Magic = Shadow Spells + Aetherology

Not sure if its feasible but just seemed like a good option to cross reference rules & blend some of the "old & new" at the same time.
Stuff like Hard Target that hits on multiple levels could probably wait till the end after the "focused/specialized" books are worked on.


3rd
Patrick ....   you rock!      (Did I say that yet?)
I look forward to hearing great stuff.
Let me know if any assistance is needed, happy to help.

Wakshaani

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« Reply #44 on: <07-17-16/0134:39> »
It'll be neat. I have full confidence in Patrick's ability to get this up and running.

And I'm fully aware of how many time sthat he's gonna come after me with a bat.

Eep.