Smokin' Ace

Brownies and Ghouls

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So, while some of you hopefully got to play a Shadowrun game or two this holiday weekend, I did not. A combination of reasonsprimarily that my GM was out of town (more so than usual). The other reason was that it was my sons birthday on Memorial Day, so there was a lot to do to prepare. But I did sneak in a little Shadowrun goodness. At one point, my husband called while he was out distracting the children, and asked what I was doing. Cmon, a house free of children and husband? I was writing! I was also baking brownies for the upcoming party, and so I told him: baking brownies and writing about ghouls. What a natural combination. The brownies disappeared almost immediately upon exiting the ovenwe ended up having cupcakes at the party, a last minute substitutionand the story was sent off to John (who, honestly, probably wouldve preferred the brownies).

This weekend was also busy for Seattle 2072, as sketches and art kept pouring in. Absolutely rocking art. I was pretty tickled to see an artists rendition of Pistons enjoying a cup of coffee. Cmon, how perfect is that for Seattle? Youve got guns, youve got explosions, youve got a shadowrunner enjoying coffee. What more is there? (okay, okay, theres a lot more, but that picture made me smile.)

On another positive note, I bought my airfare to Gencon. Catalyst Game Labs will have a booth (of course!) and Ill be spending a lot of time there, doing one of my favorite thingstalking to folks about Shadowrun. I also get to play some Shadowrun; a bunch of the freelance writers have coerced John Dunn into GMing the tourney for us (no, we wont be competing, were just doing it for fun). Which means I havent actually read the tourney this year, but I did call dibs on the female PC. Theres always at least one, which the gentlemen of the writing team jokingly named token. I did put in some requests (I like playing hackers and technomancers, and Im partial to humans and elves) but that probably means the token chick on the runner team will be a troll physad

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...nies-and-ghouls

Holiday Weekend Means Gaming

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It doesnt feel like its been 3 weeks since I was typing in shock that it was already May, but apparently it has. Now, for those in the US, its Memorial Day weekendthe traditional start of summer, and a 3-day weekend. Being a dedicated gamer, that means hiding indoors from the heat and sunlight, and working on gaming materialsand an extended game session on the holiday. I hope that Im not the only one who has some gaming planned for the weekend.

Since nothing goes better with beer, barbecue, and friends than Shadowrun, I thought it might be worth a few suggestions of some free (and 1 cheap) options to while away a few hours.

• If youre looking for a game to run, and youre new to Shadowrun, go grab the free Quick-Start Rules. Its the perfect way to learn the game world and the SR4 rules system.
  
• If youre a bit deeper into the Shadowrun world than that, take a gander at any of the free Denver Missions or the free New York Mission.
  
• If you dont feel like an extended campaign, but still want a fun night or two of Shadowrun, check out Bad Moon Rising. This one might also get you in the mood for Idol Threats at Gen Con Indy. (A little practice never hurt, right?)
  

Of course, some readers might see all of this as old news. So, Its probably best if I offer a few little updates on how other projects are progressing.

• Dusk the first adventure in the Dawn of the Artifacts series has made its way to the printers. Its hard to say too much about a scenario without spoiling anything, but I think the series title probably offers a few hints for the truly devoted.
  
• Vice is the guide to the criminal underworld for Shadowrun, Fourth Edition. This book covers a lot of ground, and had a whole lot to update, after all, Underworld Sourcebook came out way back in 1996. Tempo shook up the crime syndicates in 2071, and Vice gave a chance to really look at the fall out.
  Its currently working its way through final layout, and should make its way to our ever-vigilant proofreaders soon.
  
• Running Wild is the critter book for Shadowrun, Fourth Edition, but its so much more than anything thats been done with critters in past editions. Well talk more about this as we get closer to release, but I think its safe to say that were not just covering paranormal animals. This book goes into detail with normal animals, paranormals, spirits, and, well I like to leave a few surprises. Some of the preliminary artwork has started to come in, and Im really digging it. One entitled Ecology of a Sewer gave me shivers.
  

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...nd-means-gaming

SRM3-02 Block War Available!

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We have a new PDF exclusive that released late last night SRM3-02 Block War is the next scenario in season three of the Shadowrun Missions campaign.

What starts as a petty fight could degenerate to a full-scale war. When things are turning sour who said mediators had to be neutral?

A fixer hires the team for what seems like little more than a complicated prank. However, sometimes, people have a hard time keeping their vengeance proportionate. When two veterans of the business conflict enter the fray, the team needs to make some hard choices. In not time, things go from humorous to deadly. This 26-page scenario includes a complete adventure, player handouts, and record handling sheets for participating in the Shadowrun Missions (SRM) campaign.

Shadowrun Missions is an international shared campaign. The goal is to have characters and adventures that all share the same universe, and of course have fun while doing it. Missions are played at local game stores, conventions, game days, and as home games. Players who participate in these scenarios will have a real opportunity to influence the Shadowrun game world, and play their characters in events worldwide.

This scenario is available for $3.95 from both of our PDF vendors.

* SRM3-02 Block War at Battlecorps

* SRM3-02 Block War at DriveThruRPG

For those who are coming to the party a little bit late, the first two Shadowrun Missions scenarios are:

* SRM3-00: Everyones Your Friend on Battlecorps - FREE

* SRM3-00: Everyones Your Friend on DriveThruRPG - FREE

* SRM3-01: Ready, Set, Gogh! on Battlecorps - $3.95

* SRM3-01: Ready, Set, Gogh! on DriveThruRPG - $3.95

Finally, for those who havent picked it up yet, The Rotten Apple: Manhattan remains available on both of our PDF partners as well.

* The Rotten Apple Manhattan at BattleCorps - $3.95

* The Rotten Apple Manhattan at DriveThruRPG - $3.95

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...k-war-available

May Shadowrun Fan Chat!

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Its that time again.

Well be doing another in-character fan chat, featuring some of our JackPoint posters answering questions related to the crime scene and the criminal underworld, especially after the fallout of the tempo drug events. Hey, well even talk about the cops, if anyone wants to ask

(Just so you know, this chat will cover topics featured in the upcoming book, Vice: Criminals and the Cops who Love Them.)

If you have any questions youd like to post prior to the chat, feel free to post them in this topic.

The chat will be Saturday, May 16th, at 10 AM PDT (Seattle Time), at the Battlecorps Shadowrun Chat Site.

http://www.battlecorps.com/BC2/PublicSRChat.html

That means the chat is:

10 AM Seattle/LA

11 AM Denver

12 PM Chicago

1 PM NYC

7 PM Cape Town

9 PM Dubai

6 PM Lagos

Sun 2 AM Neo-Tokyo

Sun 1 AM Hong Kong

8 PM Nairobi

12 PM Tenochtitlan

7 PM Geneva

12:30 PM Caracas

8 PM Istanbul

Or you can look up a non-SR location at The Fixed Time World Clock:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixe...ec=0&p1=256

See you on Saturday!!!

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...dowrun-fan-chat

Running Wild Teasers

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So, Ive been bouncing between a half-dozen different projects, but one of my favorites right now is Running Wild. Maybe because its the second time someone let me write rules, or maybe its because I got to write a P2.0 blog from a centaurs point of view. Or maybe its because Im seeing the art, and seeing some of these critters makes my imagination run wild (hehe). Looking at one of the sketches, my first thought was, oh, god, please dont let my GM send my team against one of those! Just what I needmore ideas for my GM to terrify us with.

Anyway, we had our playtesters go at the drafts awhile back, and some of the playtest reports had me laughing out loud (we have some particularly creative GMs on our playtest roster, and I pity their groups, really). And while playtesting has been done for quite a while (the project is coming along nicely, with almost all chapters back from editing), if you just cant wait, heres a few teasers from the playtest reports

• What would the wildlife of the Amazonas say to lumber mills and bulldozers? A group of emergent jaguars, led by a jaguar shifter, attack Aztech facilities deep in the jungle. The runners are called to end the attacks by an unknown guerilla force. (Cite Calvin: What would the humans do if the animals bulldozed a suburb and put in new trees?)
  The blog sidebar from the centaur is fun. Poor Bob.
  Love the Hellcow!
  
• I am a big fan of giving players and gamemasters lots of options and lots of possibilities for plot twists, new encounters and new storylines. And these [xxx] accomplish all those goals.
  
• We would really like the example toxic critter: the Borax Burro, to have corrosive excretions in more than just saliva. The players captured some and transported them in the back of a rented truck. When they stopped to muck out the back, I gave them a big surprise due to the critters corrosive excretions - large parts of the floor had holes in them.
  
• If you do put a submachine gun and taser in a dog, just exactly *where* do they go?
  
• When the hacker told the rest of the team to beware the bunnies, they had no idea what they were in for
  
• Good stuff. Smiling Bandit + KAM is a yes. How old are they by now?
  
• This is one of the best books we have playtested, so far.
  

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...ng-wild-teasers

Warum kann der Cyber-Biomonitor Capacity kosten und der Nano-Biomonitor nicht, ist der nicht in Cyberlimbs implantierbar (so wie der Nanohive)?

Laut Beschreibung ist der Nano-Biomonitor nur eine besserer normaler Biomonitor.

Habe mal im "Augmentation" nachgeschaut, da ist das auch so.

"Seattle 2072: Working in the Futures Past"

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Im deep in Seattle 2072 right now. The text is written and at the editor, Ive done a mock layout so we know just how much art is going to be in the book, and now Ive turned my attention towards the one thing that most gamers love: maps.

I dont want to talk too much about my plans for the Seattle 2072 maps, because theyre still in that experimentation phase but part of that phase, today, was taking the most recent digital version of the Downtown Seattle map [From FASA's New Seattle http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info...iliate_id=77000 ] and update it to the rough look-and-feel that I want for this maps, playing off the North American map in the Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition.

So Im looking at the map, taking some mental notes, and then I realized something

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Just to be sure, I checked the date of the file, to see if it had been accidentally modified at some point. Nope; 22nd of December, 1998, and the image looks just like that in the copies of New Seattle I have. So, for over 10 years, that map has been floating around with a) an unlabeled road on it and an unlabeled road that runs into a river with no explanation. Guess what? Take a look at p. 166-167 of the original Seattle Sourcebook. That road dead-ends into the river on that map, too. What a bummer. High speed chases on this road can only end in pain.

So I pulled out the map of each District from Runner Havens, and then compared it to the one in New Seattle, and they told me something: that road is 99, and it goes North through Downtown, roughly parallel to I5, and continues North through Snohomish and into Everett.

So I drew the road back in. After it goes through the Downtown core and curls around Lake Union, its pretty much a straight shot, so thats no big deal.

But then I take another look at the various district maps, and I notice a discrepancy in them:

http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/rh-seattle-districts.jpg

Notice how 99 appears to just disappear somewhere in that tangle of roads, and then reappear later south of 509? Craziness. So, I compare that to a real life map of Seattle, and I think Ive figured it out: North of Seattle Tacoma International Airport [marked as D on the map], 99 breaks into 509, which heads south to the airport, and also continues on as 99, to the Southeast. At some point, 99 then splits again, continuing on as 99 to the South, and 509 to the Southeast. As mentioned, 509 heads to SeaTac, and then continues South, although much smaller, and 99 curves Southwest, running just by the airport. It continues to run south, occasionally being numbered as 509, but a brand new 509 springs up west of 99 in Northern Tacoma. Its like magic. In the end, the map just needs 509 to properly connect SeaTac to 99/Downtown; a relatively easy fix.

Now, Im sure someone reading this lives in the neighborhood and is thinking Adam, youre a fool. Those roads make perfect sense. and youre right. I bet they make perfect sense if you drive them every day. However, I dont, and most Shadowrun players dont either. Most Shadowrun players have never set foot in Seattle and the number-soup of those roads rarely if ever concerns them. Being accurate to real world Seattle is far less important than presenting the things that gamers need to successfully use the setting; more detail is not necessarily better.

And heres something else: Today, parts of 99 are falling apart, and there are a few different ideas for how it should be upgraded/replaced. Sixth World Seattle, being largely defined 20 years ago, doesnt reflect this at all how could it? However, some research shows that 99 really hasnt been talked about at all so it could be fixed without actually needing a retcon.

Playing in a future that was forked from the real world so many years ago is full of design challenges like that; blending the past and the future, fixing mistakes in the games canon, and distilling down complicated things into simpler units that GMs and players can then layer their own experiences on top of.

With all that said, heres a snippet of the in-progress new map:

http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/seattle2072-theroadgoes.jpg

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...e-futures-past/

Its May. Howd that happen?

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April was an awfully busy month for the development team. I realize thats hard to believe from the outside looking in; after all the only new release was a Shadowrun Missions scenario.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info...filiate_id=4460

So, obviously, we werent doing anything, right?

As part of an effort to give people some idea of what happens behind the curtain, I thought Id just drop comments about a few of the things that came across my desk in the last week.

• Just one more chapter of Running Wild to wrap up and integrate playtest feedback. Then we can get it through copy editing. (Then comes layout and artwork, then comes proofing, then comes printing But were close to on schedule. Well, the re-revised schedule.)
  
• Next Shadowrun Missions Scenario finished layout and sent to proofreaders. First comments back reveal that Im clearly blind. Eep! Thank god we have proofreaders and time to implement their corrections.
  
• Oh look, I have another book to develop. Revising the book outline to issuing writing assignments in less than a week. Woot! Now if we can just stick to the schedule for the rest of the project.
  
• Seriously? We have to talk about the 2011 schedule this week?
  
• Hah! I finished my work on that project. Everyone stand back, my keyboard is in a finishing things off kind of mood.
  
• Contact who about what? Sure, I can do that. E-mail address. E-mail address. Whered I put their e-mail address?
  
• I have eighteen Shadowrun gaming ebook projects at various stages of writing. Wow. I probably shouldve taken a tally of that sooner.
  

So, I guess if I seem to be inactive, its only because Im hiding in my office with my laptop. The wifis turned off to avoid distractions. I have to assume that if Im resorting to such drastic measures, Im not the only member of the team whos come up with the idea.

There really is progress back here. We really do have materials on the Horizon. The schedule is ramping up, and I think there will be some cool stuff Real Soon Now.

Quelle: http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2009/0...owd-that-happen