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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/12/13/tabletop-review-shadowr
un-bottled-demon/
Well now. THIS is a blast from the past. I actually remember playing this adventure in 8th grade so it was great to see Catalyst Games Lab bring back this back in PDF form. Bottled Demon is a first edition Shadowrun back when it was the 2050s, FASA was still making the game and we had DECKERS, not hackers. It’s a fun little adventure that highlights the power of dragons (and dracoforms), the drama that can unfold when a run goes spectacularly wrong and also brings us back to the days where combat trumphed everything else. Bottle Demon is definitely an adventure for characters that can do massive amounts of damage and take hits as well as they dish them out. As the adventure itself points out, deckers aren’t really needed here, so Physical Adepts, Mages with Hellblast, Street Samurai and Riggers that have a tank or something equivalent are all more than welcome if you want to get through Bottled Demon alive.
The PCs are contacts by a haggard and seriously stressed out shaman by the name of Topal. He want to hire the runners to accompany him as bodyguards on a meeting with three elven scholars. Sounds like easy money, but Topal is purposely vague on details other than they need to travel separately. It’s a little sketchy, but with good reason. Topal has in his possession an ancient artifact that is of great power…and great evil. Being wiser than most people in the Sixth World, he wants to get rid of the artifact knowing that it will seek the ruin of whoever possesses it. Unfortunately the meet doesn’t go as planned. The elven scholars have been killed by a runner named Blackwing (who modern gamers might recognize from his appearance in Elven Blood who in turn is being hunted by the police due to how sloppy his kills were. The Police, runners, Topal, and Blackwing’s group all converge and as you might expect, all hell breaks loose. Topal is killed and the runners end up in possession of the briefcase the idol is locked in. They have no idea what the item is, the power it possesses or why their boss was killed (and thus their payday lost). To make things worse, Blackwing is still gunning for them as they have the idol, the police are after them because they think they are part of Blackwing’s group, the net is flying with rumours that they killed their own boss (which is a huge no-no in the 2050s, equivalent to triggering a blood hunt ala Vampire: The Masquerade) and Topal’s fellow magic users want revenge on the PCs too due to the rumour. Can we say royally screwed?
The rest of the adventure has players trying to figure out what the object is and how to get rid of it. Eventually they are guided to a source that claims they will be able to dispose of it but of course, things go horribly wrong. Yes, even MORE horribly wrong. The adventure then climaxes with one of the biggest battles in first edition Shadowrun where the players have to go dragon hunting. It’s as brutal as it sounds, even with a plethora of help on their side. If the players make it through alive (notice I didn’t say unscathed.), they have to deal with the aftermath of everything from international politics to clearing their name for a crime they didn’t commit (for once). It’s a pretty fun adventure and it really gives a nice cross section of all first edition Shadowrun had to offer. A run gone bad, dragons, Lone Star and an encounter with a Street Legend. It’s a pretty fun adventure all things considered and it will take several gaming sessions for your crew to get through this. All this, some player hands outs and a bunch of old school 90s era maps. Not bad for a measly four bucks, eh?
Because this is a first edition adventure, Bottled Demon won’t convert very well to fourth edition/SR20. Although I know a lot of people that prefer 1st/2nd edition over the current system (I like both for different reasons), the only reason to pick this up if you play the current version of the game is for historical purposes, or just to read for the fun of it. Older Shadowrun gamers will also find this of note because the original version had a low print run and it’s been long since out of print. One thing that Shadowrun gamers across the board , regardless of edition preference, will love is the art in Bottled Demon. As much as I really enjoy the 2070s game, I really miss the art from first and second edition. Seeing the dystopian future of the Sixth World drawn by guys like Timothy Bradstreet and Rick Harris makes me long for the old days and this PDF is worth picking up for the art alone. That’s not to say the art in the current version of Shadowrun is bad by any means, but pretty much anything pales in comparison to the art from when FASA held the reigns of this game.
In a nutshell, this is a long intense adventure that fans of the old version of Shadowrun will enjoy reading and playing while those who play 20AE will fall in love with the art, while enjoying the plot amidst trying to decipher the rules and mechanics.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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‘Dirty Tricks’ is a book that I feel SR has needed for a while. A seemingly dichotomous proposition exists in a world like Shadowrun – does anyone actually care about governments or ascribe them power in a world where a triple-A megacorp realistically wields more power? This book answers that question well, and keeps a firm eye on situating the political machinations of the Sixth World at the Shadowrunner’s eye-level.
There was certainly scope for this to read like a bad political science textbook, but instead we are treated to the wide-ranging (yet always on-topic) posts of the JackPointers we all know and love. Before I dive into the review, I will express my hope that the chap on p. 157 is a foreshadow of a future product?
Mysterious masked men aside, let’s take a look at what you get.
The point is though, that whilst the SR American government has outsourced a lot of non-essential functions (police, welfare, etc) to corporations, there is still a role for government. Whilst people are essentially owned by corporations in the 2070’s, their sense of self is often still bound to geographic and ethnic ideals, and the government is one representation of these connected ideals (it’s a nice theory, anyway). Make no mistake, however, the book underlines all of this with the clear reality that most politicians are in the race for personal power, glory and more nuyen – so very little has changed. If you’re after specific examples of this there’s a great little discussion on Seretech decision and how that changed the political landscape. I’ve always thought that this is the case that the SR game world was built on, so it’s only right that it gets some treatment in a book like this.
The opening fiction sets up the fact that Proposition 23 is the main political discussion of the Sixth World (at least in the Americas) and was an extremely enjoyable way to open the book. We’re then plunged straight into a series of chapters covering opposition intel, voter intimidation, bribes, cons, and even the , err, romantic pursuits of those in office. My favourite section was ‘Taking the Bullet’ by OrkCEO. Apart from the interesting side of the character (a former runner who now heads up a private security firm), the rest of the chapter covered all of the practical aspects about security detail ‘runs. Given that the concept can be applied to a range of other settings (ala Queen Euphoria), this is quite a valuable chapter for both GMs and players alike.
The next block covers the political landscape in Seattle, the UCAS, the South (CAS), Tsimshian and the UK. Whilst each section is individually interesting, I’d recommend taking a break between each chapter. There is a lot of information in here, and despite being well-presented, it is a lot to take in over one sitting. The only major surprise here, was the Proposition 23 results, which I honestly thought would have been in ‘SR Missions’ for continuity, rather than here. But still, the decision does make sense. Of particular interest was the section on the UK, but that’s only because I’m hoping to run a campaign based out of London in the near future. A political run might be just the thing to drop the runners in the drek and see what happens.
It closes out with a discussion of the main power groups such as the Black Lodge, Human Nation, and Illuminates of the New Dawn; followed by a few pages of plot hooks in the style that we’ve come to expect. Basically, there is no wasted space here, with solid value offered in terms of the hooks (although there would be a significant investment of time to make them into full ‘runs).
The approach taken to the writing is consistent with the mood of the book. I read these types of sourcebooks to be immersed in the Sixth World, and the reliance on fiction and Jack Point posts to deliver the information is a very effective choice. The little touches (such as the note on the Jack Point log-in page that you’re ‘registered to vote in 5 different locales with 3 different SINs’) situate the book in-world and show the sorts of (appropriately) ‘dirty tricks’ which are employed. The artwork is consistently good (one of my favourite pieces is on p. 128), and gone are the typographic errors present in many earlier products this year.
I know almost nothing about US politics (mostly as I don't live in the States), and I did feel a little trepidation about my lack of knowledge going in. However, the authors haven’t delivered a treatise on the inner political workings of the US; but rather a functioning sourcebook for fictional game world that is easy to read and could potentially be used at any table.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/12/03/tabletop-review-shadowr
un-parageology/
Although the bulk of Shadowrun sourcebooks and adventures tend to be about corporate espionage and counter espionage, I tend to find the ones that explore other aspects of the Sixth World to be my favorites. Maybe it’s because the writers and publisher are taking a chance by talking about something else. Maybe it’s because it’s fleshing out the setting so that enterprising GMs can do more than the run of the mill run. Of these, the “ParaXYZ” books tend to be my favorites. Back in the 90s I think every good Shadowrun player had a copy of Paranormal Animals of North America. It was a lot of fun and is one of the more memorable FASA releases for the system. Earlier this year, Catalyst Game Labs gave us Parabotany, which I absolutely loved. Again, it added a whole new dimension to the Sixth World and really got players and GMs alike to think about how robust the setting can be.
Now we’re back with a similar concept. We’ve already covered animal and vegetable paranormals, so what does that leave? You guessed it: Minerals! Unlike the aforementioned releases, as well as Parazoology, which basically devoted a page (or half a page) to a specific creature complete with equal parts game mechanics and JackPoint snark, Parageology is written like one big JackPoint article, with only two pages and change devoted to how the various discussion topics work in-game for those that want to use them. This means that those looking for something stat oriented are probably going to want to look elsewhere. However, those that are more interested in story and the fleshing out of the Sixth World will probably love this. I say probably because even though I found Parageology to be a lot of fun, I can see a lot of gamers finding it dry and almost too clinical in its approach. Parageology reads more like a college lecture than your normal JackPoint article. Now I happen to like lectures, but I know that’s not the case for everyone. As well, because it’s thirty pages of discourse on ley lines, minerals and geomancy, not every GM will have a use for the topics at hand. Still, if you’re like me and you’re interested in the world at large in Shadowrun rather than just the latest Megacorp and Dragon gossip, you should find Parageology fascinating and a source of many a plot hook.
There are two other small issues that potential purchasers of Parageology might have with the book. The first is the art. If you go in thinking that this will have pictures similar to other Shadowrun releases, full of characters in full action shots, you’re going to be disappointed. This is about geology, after all. The art is nothing but pictures of maps with lines across them representing the types of mana lines in the Sixth World and where they run, or mockups of what an Awakened mineral looks like. I’m very happy with the art (although some maps could be less busy and/or bigger, like Europe’s), but as the art is very different in theme and style than most Shadowrun products, some gamers might walk away unhappy with what’s here. Of course, you have to wonder what they were expecting from a book entitled Parageology then.
The other small issue is the price point for the book. $7.99 for a thirty page PDF is a bit pricey, especially when you consider that the topic at hand is a niche one and that you can get Shadowrun releases with a larger page count for far less. Take the Shadowrun Missions adventures. Those are $3.95 and are about ten pages longer than Parageology on average. Elven Blood was FIVE adventures, and it cost only $6.99. Like Parabotany, this is a pretty expensive release for the page count, and considering it’s a niche product, gamers on a budget, even those that are interested in the topic at hand, may turn this down in order to get a bigger bang for their buck.
Now with those quibbles out of the way, I can honestly say I loved Parageology. You get a pretty intense discourse by Rockhound about everything you could possibly want to know about the geology of the Sixth World. The book is written in JackPoint style, which means you’ll see various shadowrunners comment, make addendums and drop snarky comments throughout the piece. The book starts off with a discussion about the three types of mana lines in the Sixth World (Dragon, Ley and Song) along with the Sha and Shen effects that might affect each line. Sha is when a mana line gets blocked by negative energy. Shen is the exact opposite, and refers to a massive surge in a mana line brought on by multiple lines converging when and where they aren’t supposed to. From there, the book launches into a thirteen page discourse on the major mana lines of the world, first broken down by continent, followed by breaking it down even further into specific locations. Each continent is given a map with all the lines of the three different types placed accordingly. It’s quite interesting to see where the locations are, as well as what physical landmarks CGL chose as important for mana. There are some contradictions between the map and the text though. For example, the maps don’t show any lines through Dee Cee (Washington D.C. to non Shadowrun players). I found that to be odd, especially after the text made such a big deal about how the architecture in the city has screwed things up big time for mana lines. Aside from a few odd bits like that, this section is very well done.
From there, Parageology dips into two other topics: True Elements and Awakened Minerals, both of which will be of interest to any campaign that is artifact hunting heavy or where players like to make their own foci and/or magical items. True Elements are unstable bits from the four core elemental planes made manifest on Earth. These True Elements are much sought after as magical reagents. True Fire and Water can also be used with metals to give them the Primal Forged quality.
Awakened Minerals are a bit different from what we think of with Awakened plants, animals or humanoids. These minerals aren’t self-aware or able to consciously use their inherent magical powers. Instead they’re just highly prized pieces of rock that have a noticeable effect on magic and are used in very expensive doo-dads. There are six minerals and five alloys discussed in this section. Their powers range from being able to reflect spells to detecting magic. Each one of these Awakened bits of earthen by-product has the potential to be a story hook or plot point for those GMs that prefer to make their own adventures.
The JackPoint part of the book then finishes off with a bit of a treatise on geomancy and geomasonry. It tells the difference between the two, along with some examples of structures made by either category. For those that play geomancers or geomasons, this section alone will be worth the cover price, but like the potential audience for Parageology as a whole, this is a pretty small group. After that, the final two pages of the book tell how to use all the information contained within in game terms. You get rules for each type of line, Sha and Shen events, some new Advanced Metamagics, cost of the True Elements and Awakened Minerals and more. They’ve crammed a lot of quality mechanics information into these last two pages, so for those that want rules rather than story from your sourcebooks, you’re still getting all you need on these topics in this sourcebook.
I have a hard time recommending Parageology. On one hand, it’s a topic I’ve been eagerly waiting for Catalyst Game Labs to get around to, and I really enjoyed reading it. On the other, Parageology is overpriced for what you are getting, it’s very dry compared to most Shadowrun products and there are places where the text not only contradicts other Shadowrun books, but where the maps and text in this same book don’t match up completely. It’s also a very niche topic that only a small amount of Shadowrun players will care about, and an even smaller amount will actually make use of in their own campaigns. If you are like me and are interested in the concept of parageology, then you’ll love this book devoted to it, in spite of its flaws. If the topic has never occurred to you and the idea of it doesn’t instantly have you brimming with ideas to throw at your gaming troupe, then this is a safe piece to skip. Let’s call it a thumb’s in the middle, as it’s a well done, if not flawed, book that will appeal to a very small targeted audience.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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It’s always difficult to write a module review without spoilers, so consider yourself forewarned. ‘Sacrificial Limb’ is an extremely strong follow-up to the first ‘Boardroom Backstabs’ offering (and in my opinion is a superior product). Reminiscent of the SR2 module “Missions’, the characters are approached to undertake undercover work with Knight Errant – by becoming recruits. Obviously, there is a lot more going on than just gathering intel on Knight Errant training methods, tech and evidence of incompetence on the rising megacorp. The proximity of the training grounds to a certain city means that it’s only a matter of game time before bugs start crawling out of the walls; and they don’t disappoint.
The design of the module allows for both a linear experience, and one that could be tailored to become a full-blown campaign, so it represents excellent value for money. The current cover price (USD 8.00) is double the cost of a regular ‘Shadowrun Missions’ module, but has so much more, despite a count of 48 pages. The plot is very straightforward, with opportunities and advice about expanding the scope of the run, developing NPCs and introducing subplots littered throughout all sections. I couldn’t honestly see a GM using all of the material, but the ideas are good enough that you could cross-pollinate into other ‘runs, or design your own ‘side-trek’ style one-shots from them. Additionally, sidebars discuss how to make scenes more challenging, by adding an interesting depth of complexity that will challenge even seasoned groups. There is a mix of both combat and social/investigative scenes, but as you’d imagine, there is a definite lean towards the combat (especially in the later stages of the module once the truth of matter comes to light).
This is a sensible design strategy, as some groups will simply undertake the run, tick the boxes and achieve the goals. Other groups, however, will relish the relative open-ness of the mission parameters, and use of the scene complication sidebars will encourage co-operative and imaginative play.
What had struck me with the last few months of Catalysts’ SR4 offerings is that the quality (including editing) has been steadily rising, and the current pricing schedule is sound. If a GM was to purchase ‘Sacrificial Limb’ and ‘Elven Blood’ they would be set for modules for quite a while (I worked out that my group would take about twenty game sessions to get through all the content in those two books – that’s a year of gaming at my table).
I couldn’t be happier with Catalyst over 2012, the only major complaint I have is a lack of gaming time to enjoy this line more often. If you look over the product list from this year alone, you’ll not be starved for choice.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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The SLDF Field Manual is a long awaited sourcebook, covering the Star League's military capacity leading up to the Amaris Coup. The book presents three core sections discussing the SLDF's organization and principles, the SLDF's 2750 army deployment - with a break down of each Corps and its military region, and finally the sourcebook provides rules and charts for the playing the SLDF and the twenty armies it consists of.
The Star League Defense Force chapter provides a variety of information on Battlemechs, infantry, and armor assets used by the SLDF, as well as a lot of the principles the SLDF is based off of - moral guidelines, command structure, and the interaction between armies and fleets. This is primarily a fluff chapter, and will provide a lot of great ideas for A Time of War chronicles during the Amaris Coup. It may also give some insight into the popular Erdani Light Horses mercenary company. This is the kind of stuff that made me want to check out this book.
The Deployment Sections are thorough - each of the Twenty regional armies, as well as the regular army, have a section. Each of the army's Corps is discussed, it's CO introduced, and cool Divisions get a treatment. This is the largest segment of the book - covering nearly 80% of the page count - and it really blurs together. Reading this straight through is grueling, and should serve more as reference. The highlight of this is the Periphery coverage - these armies never had much discussion in older sourcebooks, despite Periphery uprisings being critical to this time period.
The Rules Annex contains what little crunch is in the sourcebook. Tables provide random generation of 'Mechs (normal and royals), Vehicles (normal and royal), and Aerospace Fighters (normal and royal). There are also special rules for the various combat divisions listed earlier in the book.
Field Manual SLDF's individual entries are well written. The artwork is evocative. The concept is good, but the execution is lackluster. This isn't a fun Battletech sourcebook, but a dense Battletech referencebook. Check it out if you are a big SLDF fan, but don't expect a lot of new rules or scenarios for your tabletop game.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Very Riveting, hard to put down.
Too bad there wasn't a .pdf file in the package?
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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The best praise I can give Shadowrun: Neat is that it reads equally well as a classic detective noir story and as a Shadowrun story, without sacrificing the best parts of either genre. As a fan of old-school detective noir novels who has just recently gotten into Shadowrun, I came away impressed. James Kincaid shines as a Shadowrun incarnation of the Sam Spade archetype, a down-on-his-nonexistent-luck PI who just also happens to be a mage (though of diminished talent). The plot revolves around a kidnapped girl who also happens to have corporate secrets in her headware, and all the trouble, both expected and not, that can bring. Without getting into too many spoilers, suffice it to say the twist is somewhat predictable and slightly overplayed, but it's logical and fits perfectly with the tenor of the story. Characters are generally well-rounded and developed. The only criticism I have is that certain critical details are glossed over or hand-waved, usually in the interest of moving the story along. I'd love to see either a sequel or prequel to address these details, but more importantly, just to join Mr. Kincaid and his associates in another well-written adventure.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Well-written with interesting characters and lots of Shadowrun RPGS tie-ins. Like all Shadowrun fiction, it really helps if you know the system, but that's a given for me. I've been a fan of their fiction from the beginning and I hope Catalyst continues with the fiction line.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Critias has done it again. Neat is a very good and captivating story.
The history is a cyperpunk noir detective story where the main character Kincaid is looking for a missing girl. The story ends with a twist as it should.
The characters ae very believable and the story is written with attention to details which really bring it to life.
For only 3$ you get a really good story. I only wish there already was a prequel I could pick up and ultimately I would really enjoy a Dead Tree Format copy on the shelf (yes I'm that old).
Rasmus
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Die Elfenstaaten in Shadowrun, Tir Tairngire und Tir Na Nog, begeistern viele Spieler durch ihren Mystizismus, aber auch die dreckigen Machenschaften der Herrscher. Das Quellenbuch The Lands of Promise wendet sich Tir Tairngire zu und gibt ein Update zum gleichnamigen Quellenbuch der 2nd Edition.
Erscheinungsbild
Auch wenn es mit 24 Seiten ziemlich kurz ist, kommt das Erscheinungsbild wirklich hübsch daher. Vollcolorierte Seiten mit witzigen Gimmicks präsentieren sich dem Leser und so macht die Spielhilfe Spaß dabei, aufgesogen zu werden. Leider aber ist die Coverillustration, die wohl einen Teil von Portland oder Cara’Sir zeigt die mehr oder minder einzige Zeichnung.
Das eben genannte witzige Gimmick ist Grimmy, das kleine Grimoire. Es erinnert mich an die Hilfeassistenten aus früheren Microsoft Word Versionen, die immer Hinweise und Anregungen gaben.
Das Quellebuch, wenn man es so nennen kann, ist an sich ein Reiseführer durch Tir Tairngire, beschränkt sich aber auf Marketingparolen, die zwar nett zu lesen sind, aber keine echten Informationen liefern. Viel wichtiger ist hier der Shadowtalk, also die Äußerungen einiger mehr oder weniger bekannten Persönlichkeiten aus den Schatten zu dem Gesagten. Diese nehmen gefühlte 80% der Spielhilfe ein.
Ein Index und ein Inhaltsverzeichnis fehlen. Das Dokument, das uns als pdf vorliegt, teilt sich auf in eine Kurzgeschichte, benannte Halbfakten über das Land und einen Teil mit spielmechanischen Informationen, die einen Zauberspruch beinhalten.
Inhalt
Tir Tairngire hat sich verändert. Es regiert nicht mehr der High Prince in seiner alten Funktion. Lugh Surehand, Ehran der Schreiber und Aithne Oakenforest sind nicht mehr an der Macht. 2064 kam es zu einem großen Umsturz, seitdem wird der Prinzenrat demokratisch gewählt und Larry Zincan, ein gealteter Ork, trägt den Titel des High Prince. Die Großdrachin Hestaby ist in den Hintergrund getreten und wird, seit den Querelen mit Lowfyr, zusehends politisch attackiert. Tir hat sich auch nach außen geöffnet, Metamenschen, die keine Elfen sind, gelten neuerdings als willkommen und werden nicht mehr auf Sicht erschossen. Die Grenzen sind zwar nach wie vor patruilliert, aber die elitären Kämpferkasten, wie auch die Paladine, sind nicht mehr dominant. Tir ist das Land der Wunder, das alle dazu einlädt, die Myriaden der Magie zu erleben und eins zu sein mit den uralten Wäldern.
Liest sich zu gut, um wahr zu sein, nicht?
Und in der Tat brodelt es hinter der neuen Fassade der Weltoffenheit gewaltig. Die zehn Prinzen des Prinzenrates bilden die Se’ranshae Elenva, die Kammer der Sterne, die offiziell Repräsentanz des Staates. Unter ihnen sind Elfen, Orks, Zwerge, ja, sogar ein Sasquatch und gar ein normaler Mensch. Und jeder hat eine eigene politische Agenda, sind beschäftigt mit ihren Aufgabenbereichen und auch damit, die anderen des Rates auszustechen. 2075 werden Neuwahlen sein und es ist zu bezweifeln, dass Larry Zincan wieder an die Macht kommt.
Zudem ist da noch die Rinelle ke’Tesrae, eine rassistische, terroristische und kriminelle Vereinigung von Elfen, die den Staat in Atem hält. Vergessen darf man natürlich die alten Elitetruppen nicht, wie die Ghosts und die Great Hunt. Ach ja, und unter der glitzernden Fassade der Städte sieht es nicht immer gut aus, wie man an einer hohen Anzahl von Gangs sieht, die Ancients allen voran, aber auch extreme Gruppen wie sie Sons of Gimli und die Souldrinker.
Die Peace Force, das ist die Polizeivereinigung, ist also bis über alle Kapazitäten beschäftigt, den Staat seines Erbes zu bereinigen. Aber welchem Prinzen gehorcht sie? Und dann gibt es noch diverse magische Verbindungen…
So aufregend und interessant sich alles lesen lässt, man darf eines nicht vergessen – es ist Shadowtalk und damit irgendwo in der Mitte zwischen Spielfakt und Gerücht. Der geneigte Leser muss also entscheiden, was davon in seiner Version von Tir welche Rolle einnimmt. Echte belastbare SL-Informationen findet man nur am Ende, wenn die NSC-Profile vorgestellt werden, wie auch die magische Vereinigung Moonlight Thorns. Solang Catalyst Game Labs kein weiteres Quellenbuch herausbringt, wird es so bleiben müssen. An sich finde ich das gar nicht schlecht, denn an sich erschafft fast jede SL ihre eigene Interpretation der Spielwelt. Solange nicht Regeln so schwammig formuliert werden, ist es für ich in Ordnung.
Die Vorgeschichte übrigens bringt einen Straßencop mit einem Vertreter des Prinzenrates in Kontakt und ist recht spannend zu lesen, wie auch mit vier Seiten, also ein Sechstel des Dokumentes, ungewohnt lange.
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis
Der Preis von knapp unter 6 USD ist wahrlich nicht hoch. Aber was bekommt man dafür hauptsächlich? Trivia und Gerüchte. Belastbares gibt es erst im minimalen Charakterteil. Hier ist es stark davon abhängig, wie man leitet oder spielt. Für meinen Leitstil, mit viel eigener Interpretation der Spielwelt, ist der Preis nicht zu hoch und mehr als fair, denn die vielen Ideen, die ich durch den Shadowtalk und die wenigen Plothooks am Ende, sind zahlreich und regen zu vielen Geschichten im Elfenstaat an. Für Spieler/Spielleiter, die mehr by the book spielen wollen und echte feste Informationen wollen, ist die pdf mehr ein „unter ferner liefen“.
Fazit
Interessant – das trifft es am besten, wenn ich mich bemühe, die Inhalte des Quellenbuches mit einem Wort zu umschreiben. Vor allem die jetzige Situation in Tir hat mich interessiert, es fehlt jedoch eine zumindest kurze Zusammenfassung der Vorgänge, die zur Umstrukturierung geführt haben. Ideen für Runs im Elfenland habe ich nun genug und auch meine Neugier ist befriedigt. Wer also ein Update ohne echtes belastbares Hintergrundwissen kriegen möchte, ist hier wunderbar bedient.
Unsere Bewertung
Erscheinungsbild 3.5v5 Gehobenes Shadowrun-Layout, aber fast nur Text
Inhalt 4v5 Ein Update über Tir Tairngire mit allen aktuellen Verwicklungen
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis 4v5 Gerechtfertigter Preis für eine große Fülle an Informationen
Gesamt 3.83v5
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/11/21/tabletop-review-shadowr
un-missions-election-day/
So here we are with the climax of this season of Shadowrun Missions. Throughout the season we’ve seen a slow build up to the vote on Proposition 23 aka “Project Freedom.” You had a good old fashioned set up in Rally Cry, helped Bull MacCallister get revenge for her murdered daughter in On a Silver Platter, helped catch a sabatoure in Burn, and most recently, cleared your name for the murder of a District Attorney in Assassin Nation. Now it’s time for the final leg of the Orc Underground saga in this season of Shadowrun Missions. Of course some people may say, “Why play Election Day? After all, Dirty Tricks came out ten days earlier and spoiled the results of the vote for everyone!” To that I say two things. The first is that Election Day does take place on well….Election Day, but it’s not about the results directly, so knowing how the vote goes won’t spoil playing this adventure. This is parallel to the actual vote itself. Second, if you tailor your campaign completely and utterly to the metaplot and don’t allow yourself to deviate in the slightest, then you’re probably not having any fun. It’s a game. The metaplot is OPTIONAL. Hell, if you want to run a world where the Big D is still alive and kicking it as President – YOU CAN. If some of your players have read Dirty Tricks, who cares? It won’t affect this adventure unless they are completely and utterly incapable of separating player knowledge from character knowledge.
Election Day spans seven scenes and forty pages, but not all of those forty pages are the adventure itself. The first six pages are an explanation of the Shadowrun Missions setup and back story on the season so far. The final seventeen are for the person running the adventure. Tables, NPC stats, legwork rolls and more. Three maps and full color handouts. That’s pretty intense for a $3.95 adventure, eh? Did I mention it’s in full colour (Well, mostly full colour. A lot more B&W art this time around.)? You’re getting all that for less than the cost of most comic books. Also, because it’s a digital files, your pets can’t tear it up. Take that Spider-Man!
So seventeen of the forty pages are the actual adventure and it’s a pretty weird adventure. In fact, I’d probably call it a collection of short inter-connected adventures rather than one large piece of work. First, the Shadowrunners are hired to start a small riot on Election Day outside a precinct. The problem is going to be getting the runners to take the mission. With a little legwork players will figure out it’s a precinct where the population is Pro-Prop 23. This means if this area is thrown into chaos, it positively affects the Anti-Prop 23 side. Because the entire season has had the players on the side of Prop 23 instead of against it, this may cause players to balk on doing it. Sure it’s easy money, but even though is supposed to be about shades of grey, players and their characters tend to be a little more white hat wearing than black or grey. Especially when they’ve spent several sessions working for a cause (even if they were working on it sheerly for money) and they’d hate to see their work undone, or their positive relationships with Pro-Prop 23 fixers ruined. For my own running of the adventure to prevent the adventure from stalling right out the gate, I changed it to an evenly mixed district but gave hints it might leans a little Anti-Prop 23. I was right to do this as the first three questions out of the team’s mouth were about how this run would affect the vote. So you might want to do the same if you know the moral compass of your troupe.
The fun is starting the riot. My players did so with a rousing homage to the movie PCU with things ranging from a chant of “We’re Not Going To Protest.” to finally getting fisticuffs started through meat hucking (Hey! Real meat is expensive in the Sixth World!). The catch is that the riot is actually a smokescreen to distract everyone from an assassination attempt on a person in the Governor’s employ. Of course, it doesn’t go as planned and the end result is a spiral escalation of wacky and seemingly unrelated events. I swear to god, at times I felt like I should have “The Curly Shuffle” or “Yakety Sax” as background music as my players dealt with an innocuous brief case, media extortion, having multiple organizations after them for nebulous reasons and eventually playing the game of “which Mr. Johnson that we have done work for previously in this adventure should we screw over to the point where they end up dead?” Although I don’t think it’s intended to be, Election Day can come off as an existential black comedy with the backdrop of potential race issues clouding the political system of Seattle for the next decade or so. In the end, my team sided with the same people they’ve made allies of throughout all of Season Four and the rare definite black hats got their comeuppance – all without actually affecting the voting result of Prop 23 at all. At the end of the day, I think anyone playing this will have a blast with it and will also learn a valuable lesson about black market commlinks. I don’t want to spoil thing more than that, but some weird alliances can be formed and at the end of the day Brackhaven is going to want to down an entire bottle of maximum strength migraine pills.
If this is the last of this season of Shadowrun Missions, it’s a great way to send things off. I know I said in my review of Dirty Tricks that I was surprised the election results of Prop 23 weren’t a Mission themselves, and I was doubly surprised by what the actual Election Day adventure ended up being. It’s a lot of fun and best of all Dirty Tricks and Election Day complement each other instead of creating a weird paradox or scenario where any of your more anal retentive players will come back a week later and say “Our results are totally incompatible with Dirty Tricks!.
Again, I really love the Shadowrun Missions format. Full colour adventures in PDF format for under four bucks are an amazing deal no matter how you look at it. Election Day wraps up an otherwise top notch season (save for Romero & Juliette and Burn), and you should definitely pick it up if you enjoy reading and.or playing published Shadowrun adventures. I’m eager to see where the next season goes, although my own personal preferences would be DeeCee, Saint Louis, Paris or a small but busy island like Barbados. No matter where CGL takes us next, I know I’ll be on board.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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http://www.teilzeithelden.de
------------------------------
Mil Spec Tech 2 hat alles, um den Runnern einen gewaltigen Bumms zu geben oder Ihnen deftige Kopfschmerzen zu machen. In der Spielhilfe finden wir mehr als 30 militärische Spielzeuge, die nur darauf warten, in einer Kampagne eingesetzt zu werden.
Erscheinungsbild
Schick und vollfarbig – genau das trifft auf das Layout zu. Die pdf, die uns als Basis für die Rezension dient, existiert in Deutsch und Englisch und kann über die unten stehenden Links gekauft werden.
Auf 30 Seiten, zuzüglich Cover und Vorwort, finden wir Waffen, Waffensysteme, militärische Fahr- und Flugzeuge und natürlich Drohnen. Bis auf neun Ausnahmen hat jede Bedrohung eine Abbildung auf der oberen Hälfte der Seite und die spielrelevanten Profilwerte auf der unteren Hälfte. Etwas Shadowtalk rundet das Ganze ab. Ein Inhaltsverzeichnis wie auch ein Index fehlt.
Die ingame Logik holt das Dokument an der Stelle ein, als dass es ein Ares Waffenkatalog Upgrade sein soll.
Inhalt
Wie eingangs betont, ist Mil Spec Tech 2 nichts anderes als ein mit Waffen und anderen Spielereien gefüllter Katalog. Nach einem knappen Vorwort, wie üblich aufgemacht wie ein virtueller Jackpoint, geht es auch direkt ans Eingemachte.
Besondere Regeln gibt es nicht, die braucht man aber auch hier nicht. Insgesamt finden wir fünf Drohnen, von denen die auffälligste die humanoid geformte Tan Dem ist. Dazu kommen fünf Fahrzeuge, vom Stadtkampf-APC bis hin zur mobilen Raketenlafette. Ein ganzer VTOL ist zu finden, dafür deutlich mehr Flugzeuge, vier an der Zahl, vom Abfangjäger bis hin zum ultramodernen Tarnkappenbomber. Sogar drei Wasserfahrzeuge, darunter gar ein U-Boot gesellen sich zum Reigen dazu. Für den normalen Runner finden sich drei Schusswaffen, wobei zu bezweifeln ist, dass das Ares Pulse Rifle oft in normalen Runden zu finden ist.
Danach wird es richtig dick – Torpedos & Raketen! Ja, Raketen. Sowohl mit persönlicher Abschussvorrichtung oder auch von Bodenstationen abgefeuert, nehmen die wunderschönen Dinger so viel Zerstörungswucht ein, dass ich sie für die übliche Shadowrun-Runde als „zu viel“ empfinde. Dennoch finden sich ganze vierzehn mögliche Ausprägungen von raketengesteuerten Waffensystemen in der Spielhilfe – von der Anti-Panzer-Rakete bis hin zur Cruise Missile.
Ach, ihr spielt im Krieg am Amazonas? Ja dann seid ihr hier genau richtig. Der Rest hebe sich seine feuchten Waffenträume für eine spätere Runde auf…
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis
Was will man viel erwarten von diesem Dokument? Genau –Waffen, Waffen, Waffen - und..ach ja, die Dinger, die Waffen tragen können. Und sonst? Waffen – dicke Waffen. Und somit ist genau drin, was reingehört. Für den geringen Preis bekommen SL und Spieler zugleich eine schöne Auswahl, wenn’s mal mehr weh tun soll!
Fazit
Mehr als bereits geschrieben kann ich gar nicht über die Spielhilfe sagen. Braucht man die wirklich schweren militärischen Systeme, ist man hier genau richtig. Will der SL seine Runde auslöschen auch. Spielt man allerdings in einem militärischen Setting, kann es das Buch hilfreicher sein, als man zuerst denken mag, hilft es doch auch durch den Shadowtalk, die Macht solcher Bedrohungspotentiale einzuschätzen.
Kurz: Kann man haben, muss man nicht
Unsere Bewertung
Erscheinungsbild 4v5 Gehobener Shadowrun-Standard, schick illustriert, gut aufgebaut
Inhalt 3.5v5 Über 30 Waffensysteme für den großen Knall
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis 4v5 Muss man nicht haben, kann man aber. Fairer Preis in diesem Fall.
Gesamt 3.83v5
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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http://www.teilzeithelden.de
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Catalyst Game Labs ist äußerst umtriebig in den letzten Monaten und wirft kleinere Spielhilfen für Shadowrun zu geringem Preis auf den Markt. Eine dieser Spielhilfen ist das uns vorliegende Sprawl Sites: North America. Es stellt uns verschiedene Örtlichkeiten in den Städten der 2070er vor.
Erscheinungsbild
Die pdf ist in zwei große Teile geteilt. Fließtextbeschreibungen und schwarzweiße wenige Illustrationen im ersten Teil, farbige Karten, in zwei Ausführungen (mit und ohne Beschriftungen), im zweiten Teil.
Gänzlich ungewohnt fehlt im ersten Teil jegliche Form von Shadowtalk-Unterhaltungen. Mit 32 Seiten hat das Dokument einen sehr übersichtlichen Umfang und das Frontcover ist von einer farbigen Illustration einer Szene im Sprawl geziert, in der man einige Metamenschen auf einer stark befahrenen Straße sieht.
Ein Inhaltsverzeichnis gibt es nicht, genau so wenig wie einen Index. An wenigen Stellen hätte ich erwartet, dass Hyperlinks im Dokument erlauben, an einzelne Stellen zu springen, diese sucht man jedoch vergeblich. In Zeiten, in denen eBooks und digitale Dokumente generell einen immer höheren Stellenwert einnehmen, finde ich das nicht kundenfreundlich.
Inhalt
Nach einer kurzen Erklärung, welchen Anspruch das Dokument hat, namentlich einige fertige Locations und dazugehörige Abenteuerideen zu liefern, gibt es noch einen wichtigen Hinweis. Im Rahmen der Texte findet sich auch ein geschlossenes Abenteuer, welches die Spieler durch die acht Örtlichkeiten führt. Die Reihenfolge der Orte ist nicht die der pdf, stattdessen weist ein Kasten auf die korrekte Reihenfolge hin. Hier wären z.B. Hyperlinks angebracht gewesen.
Was ist nun also der Zweck dieses Buches? Ganz eindeutig dem Spielleiter Karten und Beschreibungen ex machina zu liefern. Die Örtlichkeiten sind so detailliert beschrieben, dass sogar Spielwerte aufgenommen werden, so u.a. bei Chemsniffern, Maglocks und der Barrierestufe von Wänden und Fenstern.
Zugegeben, das macht es einfach. Das Buch ist ein wenig Selbstbedienungsladen für Spielleiter, die wenig Zeit oder Lust haben, etwas selbst auszuarbeiten. Geht es um Werte von NSCs, die man treffen kann, wird ein Seitenverweis auf die englischen Quellenbücher gegeben. Im Großteil der Fälle ist das das englische 20th Anniversary Grundregelwerk.
Den Lesefluß stört, dass manchmal mitten im Text der Font gewechselt wird, aber das ist nur ein kleines Manko, dass dem Drucksatz geschuldet sein wird, eine durch vier teilbare Seitenanzahl zu erschaffen.
Grundsätzlich ist nichts an den beschriebenen Orten auszusetzen. Viele von Ihnen referenzieren auf Seattle und/oder Denver, es ist aber auch ohne weiteres möglich, die Orte in jede andere Stadt zu transferieren. Die insgesamt 8 vorgestellten Locations sind: Barren Blocks (verkommene Slumgebiete), das Rathaus, eine Spielhölle, eine Lone Star Station, ein Luxus-Hotel, ein abgewracktes Motel, ein Einkaufszentrum und ein Trideo Studio.
Mir gefällt der Detailreichtum gut, denn nicht nur technische Ausstattung, sondern auch anwesende Personen zu Tag- und Nachtzeit und vor allem – was ist, wenn die Orte nicht in dem sozialen Umfeld liegen, an welchen sie erdacht worden sind, werden beschrieben. So hat es zum Beispiel Auswirkungen auf das Rathaus, ob es in den Nobelvierteln von Seattle liegt oder in den Redmond Barrens.
Auch die Handlungsideen wissen zu gefallen, umfassen sie doch kleine Dinge von „Brecht in das Rathaus ein und platziert eine Handgranate in einer Schublade, ohne, dass ihr gesehen werdet und das Ding explodiert“ bis hin zum das Buch durchlaufenden Faden „Schiebt einen terroristischen Angriff in die Schuhe Unschuldiger“.
Ja, richtig gelesen – in dem großen Run geht es etwas handfester zu und treibt die Spielercharaktere an moralische Grenzen und vielleicht sogar darüber hinaus.
Hervorheben muss ich an der Stelle, dass keine der Abenteuerideen out of the box zu nehmen ist, sondern Eigenleistung der SL benötigt. Dabei unterstützt die Spielhilfe aber sehr gut durch die detailreichen Beschreibungen.
Schade finde ich, dass die Karten so unterschiedlicher Qualität sind, am besten gefiel mir das Rathaus. Das Einkaufszentrum ist zudem sehr klein und die Karte erinnert an die Übersichtsschilder in Einkaufszentren, an denen man erkennen kann, wo man gerade ist. Für Battlemaps jedoch sind alle Karten generell zu klein.
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis
Ich gerate ins Grübeln und muss bedenken, für wen das Quellenbuch adressiert ist. Der SL, der wenig Zeit oder Lust hat und sich an dem Material bedienen wird, wird die ~ 10 USD nicht als zu teuer finden. Der Spielleiter hingegen, der selbst gerne Geschichten und Orte entwirft, wird das Quellenbuch als nette Ideensammlung empfinden, für die jedoch der Preis zu hoch ist. Ich denke schon, dass viel Arbeit in das Material geflossen ist und auch gute Arbeit gemacht wurde, mutmaße aber, dass mit einem nur leicht niedrigeren Preis ein höherer Anklang beim spielenden Volk zu finden wäre.
Fazit
Sprawl Sites: North America ist ein Selbstbedienungsladen mit gut ausgearbeiteten Örtlichkeiten für den Spielleiter ohne Freizeit. Auch wenn der Preis in meinen Augen etwas zu hoch ist, hat das Quellenbuch eine Daseinsberechtigung. Die Ideen für die Runs machen einen guten Eindruck und verlangen danach gespielt zu werden und der Hauptplot ist etwas zu derb für meinen Geschmack, passt aber gut in die Sechste Welt hinein. Für die Zielgruppe ist das Buch durchaus empfehlenswert, was mich stört, ist der Preis, denn andere Spielhilfen mit dieser Seitenanzahl kosten ungefähr nur die Hälfte.
Unsere Bewertung
Erscheinungsbild 3.5v5 Gewohnter Shadowrun-Standard, hübsche Karten
Inhalt 3.5v5 Acht Orte mit spielrelevanten Informationen, dazu Karten - praktisch
Preis-/Leistungsverhältnis 2.5v5 Andere Spielhilfen mit ähnlicher Seitenzahl kosten die Hälfte. Zu teuer!
Gesamt 3.16v5
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Not really worth the purchase price. Of the fifteen pages there are twelve pages of fluff and three pages of crunch. This isn't so bad by itself, but aside from the leading short story, the fluff is mostly a rehash of ideas already presented in Street Magic, and if you're interested enough in playing an adept that you would be willing to purchase this, then you probably already have Street Magic.
| Classement: | | [2 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/11/20/book-review-shadowrun-n
eat/
Neat is a novella set in the Shadowrun universe featuring the exploits of burned-out mage Jimmy Kincaid. Now, CHL puts out a lot of fiction for Shadowrun, but usually it’s very short stories or sourcebooks like the recent Dirty Tricks, written almost purely in JackPoint prose. It’s been a while, though, since there has been an actual novel devoted to the Shadowrun universe. Before Neat , the closest we had was a nineteen page short story entitled Another Rainy Night, and it’s been years since I could actually pick up a brand new book based on the franchise at my local brick and mortar store, or even on Amazon. So it was nice to see CGL releasing this in .epub and .mobi format instead of in PDF. It may be a digital only novella, but at least that means it’s built specifically for e-readers and thus FEELS like reading a book rather than a PDF. It looks great on my Kindle, by the way.
Jimmy Kincaid is a detective, and as such, Neat is a blend of 20s style noir with 2070s futuristic mega-corporation oligarchy. It’s an odd juxtaposition, but the book makes it work. Aside from a light use of magic, the novella fits into similar genres like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Neuromancer, and other works by Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson. While Neat isn’t as seminal a work as anything by those two authors, or even the stuff Robert Charrette put out in the 90s, it’s still a fun read for hardcore fans of the Shadowrun license. Now, for those that are new to this particular line of games and fiction, you’ll probably be a little lost, as NOTHING is explained, so you’ll never know what JackPoint is or any of the franchise-specific vernacular.
The plot of Neat is both your basic Noir and your basic Shadowrun plot. Alluring and well to do dame Ms. Johnson (A Johnson is the nom de plume of someone hiring your character for corporate espionage or other “runs” in Shadowrun) offers Jimmy Kincaid a large sum of money to track down a young girl who was kidnapped out of her car. Of course, tracking down this young girl is nowhere near as cut and dry as Kincaid would expect, but then, it wouldn’t be a detective/mystery tale if a few curve balls weren’t thrown at the protagonist, right? Kincaid ends up in a few firefights, causes a minor feud between the Yakuza and Mafia and pretty much earns his credstick on this. It’s an interesting read full of well fleshed out characters with believable motivations, and fans of Shadowrun will enjoy the first long meaty piece of fiction set in the universe in some years. I know I did. The mark of a good detective story is whether or not you can actually piece everything together before you get to the end. Now, I don’t mean solve it yourself, but that you can go back and re-read the story with the ending in mind and catch things that you didn’t notice before or realize that some details presented as throw-away text were actually quite important. Neat does all that, and so it fits all the benchmarks of a well-written detective piece.
There are only two problems I had with the story. One is very minor, in that Neat is not very accessible to newcomers. We already talked about that, but suffice it to say, this probably shouldn’t be your first foray into the Sixth World. The other is the twist -slash- “Whodunit” aspect of the story. Don’t get me wrong it’s well done, and it wouldn’t be Noir OR Shadowrun without Kincaid’s employer having ulterior motivations. It all makes sense in the story. The small problem I had is that Kincaid’s job would have not only been a lot easier had Ms. Johnson been completely honest with him from the get-go, but Kincaid himself would have probably tackled the mission with a lot more gusto and positivity simply because this is one of the few cases in Shadowrun where someone would have been wearing a white hat instead of grey or black. All she had to do was speak the truth and things wouldn’t have become as convoluted OR as violent as they did. But then, there would have been no mystery about “Why was person X taken?” and the story would have been MUCH shorter. Still, the conclusion of the story and the “big reveal” will irk some people. It won’t ruin their sense of disbelief or make the story any less fun, but you will probably be sitting there going, “So much of this could have been avoided with honesty.” Basically it’s the Catch-22 of both genres being combined into one novella here. You wouldn’t have a story without the lack of honesty, and yet, you will be annoyed by what could have been come chapter ten. Of course, if honesty wasn’t such a rarity in the Sixth World, shadowrunning wouldn’t be such a lucrative profession, now would it?
So a big thumb’s up here for Neat IF you are a long time fan of Shadowrun. Newcomers should probably read some of the 90s fiction or the core rulebook first. Otherwise, a lot of the tale will be gobblygook and jargon. At only three dollars, Neat is definitely a story well worth picking up for your e-reader. It never drags, and it’s great to see CGL testing the waters for longer pieces of Shadowrun fiction. Maybe at some point we’ll get an omnibus reprint of the old books, or we’ll see Kincaid in the upcoming Shadowrun Returns anthology. I know I’d like to see that myself.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Connexion 
