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Shadowrun | This Thread's got Black Ice, Chummer. Find the New One.
TychoCelchuuu
PIGEONRegistered User regular
PIGEONRegistered User regular
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=9MiMjQwd2VE
FINAL TOTAL (including PayPal): $1,895,772!
Shadowrun Returns
What is Shadowrun Returns?
Shadowrun Returns is a new game set in the Shadowrun universe. (It is largely unrelated to Shadowrun Online, a different game, which is an MMO by the Jagged Alliance Online people. Shadowrun Online is set later in the Shadowrun universe and will pick up plotlines from Shadowrun Returns.) Shadowrun Returns is currently a Kickstarter project that aims to fund a game for tablets (Androids + iOS) and PC. The game will be a single player turn based RPG in the spirit of the older Shadowrun SNES/Genesis games.
Another Shitty Shadowrun Cash-in? Bleh
Not so fast! This game's being made by Jordan Weisman and his team. Weisman is the guy behind Battletech, Crimson Skies, and other things (like... Shadowrun). Weisman was one of the original creators of Shadowrun and his game company, Harebrained Schemes, is made up of a bunch of people he's brought along with him from his FASA days (plus a bunch of other people). Marshall Parker and Sam Powell, the composers of the music for the SNES and Genesis Shadowrun games respectively, are collaborating on the music.
Okay, What's the Game Going to be Like?
I'm literally just going to copy and paste from the Kickstarter page because we don't know anything right now aside from what's there...
Single player turn based RPG. None of this "let's try to be Counterstrike" stuff we got in the last Shadowrun game.
It gets complicated.
BUT it's Weisman's license now, I guess. Partially. A Shadowrun MMO is also in the works, and it will be set later in the timeline (the 2070s) and it will feature callbacks to Shadowrun Returns.
Hold On, What is Shadowrun?
Never heard of Shadowrun?
It's the RPG setting that you'd get if Neal Stephenson wrote The Lord of the Rings. It's cyberpunk all the way down, from the corporations that control everything to the glorification of hackers and punks and outcasts and robot limbs, but it also has a mystical/spiritual side, which manifests itself in the form of shaman who can enter the astral plane and elves and orcs and other creatures which are walking around smoking cigarettes. Here's how the Kickstarter describes the universe:
It also promises that the game will include (among other things): Ares Predators and Ruger Super Warhawks (yes, with smartlinks), Maglocks and Doc Wagons, datajacks and credsticks, dermal plating and wired reflexes, “chummer” and "drek", Ares and Fuchi and Aztechnology.
The Shadowrun Wiki is a nice place to brush up on the lore. Learn about the noble Century Ferret and peruse the inscrutable last will and testament of the first and only dragon president of the United Canadian and American States.
Odds and Ends
FINAL TOTAL (including PayPal): $1,895,772!
Shadowrun Returns
What is Shadowrun Returns?
Shadowrun Returns is a new game set in the Shadowrun universe. (It is largely unrelated to Shadowrun Online, a different game, which is an MMO by the Jagged Alliance Online people. Shadowrun Online is set later in the Shadowrun universe and will pick up plotlines from Shadowrun Returns.) Shadowrun Returns is currently a Kickstarter project that aims to fund a game for tablets (Androids + iOS) and PC. The game will be a single player turn based RPG in the spirit of the older Shadowrun SNES/Genesis games.
Another Shitty Shadowrun Cash-in? Bleh
Not so fast! This game's being made by Jordan Weisman and his team. Weisman is the guy behind Battletech, Crimson Skies, and other things (like... Shadowrun). Weisman was one of the original creators of Shadowrun and his game company, Harebrained Schemes, is made up of a bunch of people he's brought along with him from his FASA days (plus a bunch of other people). Marshall Parker and Sam Powell, the composers of the music for the SNES and Genesis Shadowrun games respectively, are collaborating on the music.
Okay, What's the Game Going to be Like?
I'm literally just going to copy and paste from the Kickstarter page because we don't know anything right now aside from what's there...
Single player turn based RPG. None of this "let's try to be Counterstrike" stuff we got in the last Shadowrun game.
One of the many innovations in Data East’s Shadowrun Super Nintendo game was a unique conversation engine that opened up new avenues of conversation based upon information you learned through interactions with characters and objects. We intend on taking a similar path with a new twist or two.
Contextual Gameplay in Four Realities
Four realities overlap in the world of Shadowrun (the Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral) and associated character classes such as the Street Samurai, Hacker, Combat Mage, and Shaman, each have the ability to view and interact with the world in ways the others can’t.
Here are some ways that selecting each character class allows you to see the map from a different perspective:
- Street Samurai see a threat assessment overlay of the environment that notes enemy appraisals, options for cover, potential weapons, and statistics for drawn weapons.
- Combat Mages see magical auras, granting them the ability to locate magical items, identify spells being prepared, and find the intersections of magic lay lines where they can recharge their power.
- Hackers/Deckers see the digital control circuitry that allows them to manipulate the physical world via the digital one.
- Shaman see the “true world” that lies in the astral plane, distinguishing the true nature of people, plants, creatures, and magical objects while buildings and other “dead” objects appear as mere shadows.
Missions (aka "Runs") in Shadowrun Returns can require interaction with all four realities simultaneously, requiring you to use information learned from each character’s perspective to coordinate their context-sensitive actions to get the job done. . . and survive.
That’s why we decided to make Shadowrun Returns a turn-based game—so we can offer you a wide range of context-based gameplay options from which to craft a your plan.
It gets complicated.
BUT it's Weisman's license now, I guess. Partially. A Shadowrun MMO is also in the works, and it will be set later in the timeline (the 2070s) and it will feature callbacks to Shadowrun Returns.
Hold On, What is Shadowrun?
Never heard of Shadowrun?
Created almost 25 years ago, Shadowrun remains one of the most original and cherished role-playing settings. The game world’s origin story mashes-up the dystopian Cyberpunk future of a Blade Runner with the high fantasy creatures and races of a Lords of the Rings in an organic way that produces iconic characters, environments, and situations.
It's the RPG setting that you'd get if Neal Stephenson wrote The Lord of the Rings. It's cyberpunk all the way down, from the corporations that control everything to the glorification of hackers and punks and outcasts and robot limbs, but it also has a mystical/spiritual side, which manifests itself in the form of shaman who can enter the astral plane and elves and orcs and other creatures which are walking around smoking cigarettes. Here's how the Kickstarter describes the universe:
According to the Mayan Calendar (and lots of tabloids), the world will end on December 21, 2012. It’s part a 5,200 year cycle of death and rebirth that, in Shadowrun, actually charts the ebb and flow of magic from the Earth. So, on 12/21/12 magic will return, end this world, and wreak holy havoc while starting the next. Aboriginal cultures, who maintained their mystical traditions, are the first to feel the return of magic and use their newfound power to reshape the political, financial, and physical world around them. As the magic increases, Elf and Dwarf babies are born to very surprised parents who carry the right combination of long-dormant genes. But all of these events pale in comparison to the horror of "goblinization", which painfully reshapes the teenage bodies of those unlucky enough to carry dominant Ork or Troll genes. And then the first Great Dragon rises from its 5,200 yearlong hibernation and circles over Tokyo, signaling that the world has truly AWAKENED.
Fast forward two generations, to a world transformed not only by the growth of magic but by the acceleration of cyber technology—a continual effort to improve upon the gifts that nature gave humanity; by the inevitable maturation of the World Wide Web into the Matrix—a network directly accessible by the human brain; and by the near elimination of governments as they are replaced megacorporations—monolithic entities who see only customers, not citizens.
And moving through the dark shadows cast by the gleaming towers of the corps, are Shadowrunners – disposable assets and corporate pawns scratching out a living using a combination of technology, magic, and street smarts. Shadowrunners live between the cracks and operate outside the law, doing the dirty work that corporate wage-slaves won’t soil their hands with and occasionally acting as the only protection the citizenry can turn to.
Welcome to the world of Shadowrun, where man meets magic and machine.
It also promises that the game will include (among other things): Ares Predators and Ruger Super Warhawks (yes, with smartlinks), Maglocks and Doc Wagons, datajacks and credsticks, dermal plating and wired reflexes, “chummer” and "drek", Ares and Fuchi and Aztechnology.
The Shadowrun Wiki is a nice place to brush up on the lore. Learn about the noble Century Ferret and peruse the inscrutable last will and testament of the first and only dragon president of the United Canadian and American States.
Odds and Ends
- Official site
- tumblr where they are posting fiction that they're writing
- The other official site?
- Official forums
- Want to chat about Shadowrun? Join #shadowrun on irc.synirc.com.
- This guy remixed the awesome music from the SNES Shadowrun game. Download all the tracks on Rapidshare.
- An interview with Jordan Weisman.
- And another.
- A podcast interview with him and another.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8GPGQoR6f6w
TychoCelchuuu on
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Posts
I realize this is technically a 'sequel' but it is much more niche I believe, I don't think any producer would touch it with a 10 foot pole.
Back in my carefree youth when I had time for tabletop games Shadowrun was always my favorite. Hell, I still fire up the Sega Genesis version when I need a fix.
Twitter
Hell yes, I still listen to the music from that game.
Looking forward to this something fierce!
My heart is.
http://www.cliffhanger-productions.com/content/list/details/id/68
I welcome the news of both of these, got a bunch of reading to do to see if I (most likely) Back this.
Even if this kickstarter thing turns out to be a fad, it will be worth it just for this.
[edit] Oh Snap
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Check their Facebook page facebook.com/pages/Shadowrun-Online/170199826400835 . Cliffhanger have shown some concept art there.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
[edit] I just watched the pitch video and they have a ritual stoning of MS for making the FPS. I can't say I disapprove even if I have heard that the game wasn't bad for what it was.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The game was actually pretty fun as a class-based Shooter thing. But it was lacking in tons of content and it didn't make sense that it involved Shadowrun at all.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Yeah, it was fun as hell but it was really just a futuristic/fantasy fps with the Shadowrun name tacked on. I still wish it had done better though, it was pretty awesome.
This is still nice.
This is exactly the kind of thing that makes Kickstarter so goddamn awesome. At this point I'm giving more money to these projects than I am actually buying games that are out.
This kickstarter things keeps bringing me games that I want so take all my monies.
You have my axe smartlinked Ares Predator!
It also taught me how to say Shadowrun in German!
Between this and the two BattleTech games we're getting, I'm not sure I can handle it. It's like 2012 rolled around and everything I loved about tabletop gaming is all "we're back, baby, and better than ever!"
Man, they're even setting it in fucking 2050. Hype, chummers. Hype beyond words.
The Renraku arcology went all to shit, deckers became hackers, shadowrunners learned how to swear properly, and a comet fucking ruined everyone's day.
Woah.
Kickstarter is turning into some kind of god-damned Classical Gaming Renaissance.
I almost want to start figuring out what other properties have yet to step up to better anticipate other awakenings.
Could be worse. Could've been Samuel Haight,
That story had a happy ending, though.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
As a singleplayer game, though, I'd still like to see the perfect blend of Deus Ex-style presentation and gameplay with classic P&P rules like Troika did with Vampire: The Masquerade. I've never played a real (read: tabletop) Shadowrun game before, but loved the 16-bit games, so if this pans out well I'll gladly keep an eye on it.
Hope you heard about Wasteland 2 and the Baldur's Gate enhanced editions that are on the way.
So fund'd!
Banner Saga too.
Kickstarter is one big Adventure + CRPG revival.
I definitely know about Baldur's Gate EE. Wasteland 2 I'd heard of, but don't know much about it. I'll check it out, but I've played the Shadowrun tabletop RPG a few times, so there's at least that connection there.
You can do that easily enough with a gator shaman. An essence cost of 0.2 gets you a matrix jack. This is how I did things (spoilered because why the hell not?):
Relocate to where Vigore and Jarl are and just grind matrix runs for them. Throw in the occasional mundane run to break up the monotony.
Since V+J offer the most money per run, especially when you have shit social skills, you can climb the deck hierarchy pretty fast. Spread karma among skills.
Profit.
It's easy, if time consuming, to become good at everything. It saves you from having to bring other runners along, too. It's incredibly satisfying to become a one-man army and do runs in the various megacorp buildings. The only time extra runners are necessary is at the very end.
BG is still the same old game but with an updated engine right? I like the idea but I don't have enough time to play games as it is so I'll prioritize stuff I haven't already experienced. Like Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns/posts
I'll tell you what happened. Goddamn wifi happened. That and the PAN rules.
Don't get me wrong, out regular gaming group is due to change games and we're all leaning back to another shadowrun campaign. But as anyone who's played will tell you, if you have a decker/hacker or rigger in your group, it's like you're playing two different games at times. "Okay everyone, this player's going to try and deck a system, go play playstation and we'll holler when we're done." We've sort of landed on if we DO play, no one will be either of those things; they'll be NPC's that the team hires.
That said, I can't help but wonder how that translates to this turn-based system. In the genesis and SNES games, everything else sort of just paused while you were interfacing. In this turn based system, do those moves happen "on initiative?" Do they just do their thing (more often than 1 turn a round, since they are moving "faster")? Questions abound.