This is factually incorrect. Some of the points are correct, but several are dead wrong.
1) WizKids owns the Shadowrun tabletop game, as well as BattleTech and MechWarrior.
2) Microsoft owns all video game rights to SR, BT and MW. FASA Studios was part of MS.
3) Catalyst Game Labs currently licenses SR and BT from WizKids.
So it's not convincing WizKids to license for video games, it's convincing Microsoft.
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You could always just tell your players they can only use material from the core books, or core books + X others, to cut down on the amount of stuff you have to carry around.
OR.
eBooks. If you don't mind having a laptop at the table (or a desktop, YMMV), they work just as well.
Just a few thoughts to keeping people with PnP.
Granted, sure, but it seems all games seem to skip what (IMO) the original intent of a game is -- to tell a story.
You have MMOs that tell stories, sure, but who reads them? Who cares about them? Not the normal subscriber, no way.
The same goes for FPS. Most players just want things to shoot, not storyline, not plot, not character progression.
Sure, the earliest games told barely any story and were equations (save the Princess comes to mind as the most popular). Just sayin'. Back in the day and all.
I definitely agree. The entire article was about choices, which do not reflect a Golden Age, just choices and opinions on games.
Most games now are based on an equation -- how little money can I put into it and still retain enough of a profit to do it again next game? I've yet to find a game that is truly ground-breaking as of late.
MMOs all follow the same pattern - grind, grind, grind.
FPS' all follow the same pattern - shoot, upgrade, shoot.
RPGs all follow the same pattern - predictable plot twist, romantic interest, revealing dialogue.
It's been a long time since I've sat down after a game and just gone "...Whoa."
Golden Age? Hardly. But there is quite a selection.
Too true on the rules-front. I do know some people that had played SR before and went "4th? Buh?" Then again, I know people who know these things like the back of their hand. SR ain't the big seller, unfortunately, but for being as big as people claim it is, you'd think/. would have had a review of the core rules, oh, say, a year ago. (After all, as you said, the PDF was available on DriveThruRPG then.)
As to the game, well... That's an entirely different topic (or flamefest). At least they revamped the storyline from what they originally planned it as. When they first released info, the storyline was... Not Shadowrun at all. The new storyline is at least kind of close. Sort of.
Granted, but I managed to get a hardcopy in September of last year.
So I could see reviews of Runner Havens and Street Magic, but waiting a year (even if the SR lines were long last year at GenCon) to review the core rules that have been out and discussed in-depth (especially at forums such as Dumpshock) seems a bit... Lazy, IMO.
One has to wonder; in all the studides of kids who went on rampages or what have you, and found games like GTA (and the list goes on...) on their PCs -- how many found the boxes of the games and the install discs?
Here's something I don't quite get about, well, anyone.
Nobody owns the internet, do they?
Sure, people own pieces of it, and even then only in spurts (monthly bills, yearly domains, et cetera). But nobody really owns it, right?
Well, then why do corporations try to set it up as if they did?
Because they know they can get away with it.
There aren't that many ways to stop corporations from doing what they want. Signing some silly internet petition is going to do what, exactly? Oh, right, nothing.
There are groups that fight for you, one of many being The EFF, which I'm sure most of you know about.
But what can they do, if corporations put their funds together to buy -- oh, wait, sorry, lobby -- a Congressman into their pockets?
Well, they can hope Congress has a spine and realizes that Joe Schmoe will be severely impacted by this.
So, we can rant and rave all we want, but in the long run, it comes down whoever has the most support (which usually comes from who pays who the most) for any bills.
You obviously don't know a few of the main "rules" of Shadowrun.
1) Magic cannot screw with physics without either a heavy, heavy drain upon the caster or being in a very mana-heavy zone. Such as: Teleportation. Cannot be done unless you are either ridiculously powerful (Immortal Elves and Dragons come to mind), can somehow take a stupendous amount of drain (if you've got a few friendly spirits willing to take drain for you and not bitch about it to their friends back in Astral Space) or are in a zone that is just latent with magical energies.
2) When you die, you are dead. None of this namby-pamby Resurrection shit.
This is set in 2021, so UGE popped up with Elves and Dwarves back in 2011, as well as mojo, and now in 2021 there's "Goblinization", in which 1/100 of the population spontaneously begins mutating into Orks and Trolls.
And don't let me get into the huge "Oops!" that is having a Human Goblinize into an Elf. The PnP rules specifically state that you can only Goblinize into Orks and Trolls. To be an Elf or Dwarf, you must be born that way.
That said: Where are the Orks? FASA decide they were too WoWish for their tastes?
Also; racism. The Night of Rage isn't for almost a decade, but people are still scared shitless of Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orks. They're different from us Hoomans, so therefore they must be evil.
Now let's get into cyberware.
DNI has not been pushed yet.
That's right. DNI, the thing that controls almost all cyberware in one way, shape or form, is not around. So all this tech like see-through-walls-eyes and wings-that-pop-out-from-your-back cannot work.
If I want to play a game with teleportation and resurrection, I play UT.
This game is as much Shadowrun as Counterstrike is. That is to say (for those of you who somehow can't follow the logic) that it is not.
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This is factually incorrect. Some of the points are correct, but several are dead wrong.
1) WizKids owns the Shadowrun tabletop game, as well as BattleTech and MechWarrior.
2) Microsoft owns all video game rights to SR, BT and MW. FASA Studios was part of MS.
3) Catalyst Game Labs currently licenses SR and BT from WizKids.
So it's not convincing WizKids to license for video games, it's convincing Microsoft.
You could always just tell your players they can only use material from the core books, or core books + X others, to cut down on the amount of stuff you have to carry around. OR. eBooks. If you don't mind having a laptop at the table (or a desktop, YMMV), they work just as well. Just a few thoughts to keeping people with PnP.
What now, we have to watch out for bunny-hopping arabs?
Hardly my argument at all. Just saying that "videogames cause violence" is its own strawman.
Human emotion causes violence. People get angry, so they start a fight.
Saying anything else is ridiculous.
Before videogames, there was violence.
In the 60's, they blamed it on the rock 'n' roll.
In the 50's, they blamed it on Elvis' hips.
As far back as history records, there has been violence. Anyone who tries to claim otherwise is just grabbing for straws that aren't there.
Granted, sure, but it seems all games seem to skip what (IMO) the original intent of a game is -- to tell a story.
You have MMOs that tell stories, sure, but who reads them? Who cares about them? Not the normal subscriber, no way.
The same goes for FPS. Most players just want things to shoot, not storyline, not plot, not character progression.
Sure, the earliest games told barely any story and were equations (save the Princess comes to mind as the most popular). Just sayin'. Back in the day and all.
I definitely agree. The entire article was about choices, which do not reflect a Golden Age, just choices and opinions on games.
Most games now are based on an equation -- how little money can I put into it and still retain enough of a profit to do it again next game? I've yet to find a game that is truly ground-breaking as of late.
MMOs all follow the same pattern - grind, grind, grind.
FPS' all follow the same pattern - shoot, upgrade, shoot.
RPGs all follow the same pattern - predictable plot twist, romantic interest, revealing dialogue.
It's been a long time since I've sat down after a game and just gone "...Whoa."
Golden Age? Hardly. But there is quite a selection.
Too true on the rules-front. I do know some people that had played SR before and went "4th? Buh?" Then again, I know people who know these things like the back of their hand. SR ain't the big seller, unfortunately, but for being as big as people claim it is, you'd think /. would have had a review of the core rules, oh, say, a year ago. (After all, as you said, the PDF was available on DriveThruRPG then.)
As to the game, well... That's an entirely different topic (or flamefest). At least they revamped the storyline from what they originally planned it as. When they first released info, the storyline was... Not Shadowrun at all. The new storyline is at least kind of close. Sort of.
Granted, but I managed to get a hardcopy in September of last year.
So I could see reviews of Runner Havens and Street Magic, but waiting a year (even if the SR lines were long last year at GenCon) to review the core rules that have been out and discussed in-depth (especially at forums such as Dumpshock) seems a bit... Lazy, IMO.
and later this month I should have a full report on the 4th Edition of the Shadowrun RPG
Later this month? It's been out for a year already, and you're just getting to it?
Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?
One has to wonder; in all the studides of kids who went on rampages or what have you, and found games like GTA (and the list goes on...) on their PCs -- how many found the boxes of the games and the install discs?
Nobody owns the internet, do they?
Sure, people own pieces of it, and even then only in spurts (monthly bills, yearly domains, et cetera). But nobody really owns it, right?
Well, then why do corporations try to set it up as if they did?
Because they know they can get away with it.
There aren't that many ways to stop corporations from doing what they want. Signing some silly internet petition is going to do what, exactly? Oh, right, nothing.
There are groups that fight for you, one of many being The EFF, which I'm sure most of you know about.
But what can they do, if corporations put their funds together to buy -- oh, wait, sorry, lobby -- a Congressman into their pockets?
Well, they can hope Congress has a spine and realizes that Joe Schmoe will be severely impacted by this.
So, we can rant and rave all we want, but in the long run, it comes down whoever has the most support (which usually comes from who pays who the most) for any bills.
Corporate America, I pledge to thee!
1) Magic cannot screw with physics without either a heavy, heavy drain upon the caster or being in a very mana-heavy zone. Such as: Teleportation. Cannot be done unless you are either ridiculously powerful (Immortal Elves and Dragons come to mind), can somehow take a stupendous amount of drain (if you've got a few friendly spirits willing to take drain for you and not bitch about it to their friends back in Astral Space) or are in a zone that is just latent with magical energies.
2) When you die, you are dead. None of this namby-pamby Resurrection shit.
This is set in 2021, so UGE popped up with Elves and Dwarves back in 2011, as well as mojo, and now in 2021 there's "Goblinization", in which 1/100 of the population spontaneously begins mutating into Orks and Trolls.
And don't let me get into the huge "Oops!" that is having a Human Goblinize into an Elf. The PnP rules specifically state that you can only Goblinize into Orks and Trolls. To be an Elf or Dwarf, you must be born that way.
That said: Where are the Orks? FASA decide they were too WoWish for their tastes?
Also; racism. The Night of Rage isn't for almost a decade, but people are still scared shitless of Trolls, Elves, Dwarves and Orks. They're different from us Hoomans, so therefore they must be evil.
Now let's get into cyberware.
DNI has not been pushed yet.
That's right. DNI, the thing that controls almost all cyberware in one way, shape or form, is not around. So all this tech like see-through-walls-eyes and wings-that-pop-out-from-your-back cannot work.
If I want to play a game with teleportation and resurrection, I play UT.
This game is as much Shadowrun as Counterstrike is. That is to say (for those of you who somehow can't follow the logic) that it is not.
Check with Phantom of the Attic in Oakland at 214 S. Craig. They've got postings for games that they either host there or people host elsewhere.