Shadowrun Returns Catch-All

Stengah wrote:
Atras wrote:

Oh, originally? It was a pen and paper RPG from the late 80s/early 90s. It's since been adapted into several other media - primarily books, and two well known video games. There was a SNES game that was brilliant, and the Sega game, I can't really speak to, but the Windows game was one of the first cross-platform 360/GFWL games, and suffered for being a team-based shooter, like Counter-Strike, instead of any kind of story and role playing. game.

I liked the Sega game better than I did the SNES one. They were both great games, but the Sega one felt more like a Shadowrun game, whereas the SNES one was more like a great game that was set in the Shadowrun universe, but the gameplay mechanics were pretty different. It's pretty similar to the difference between Vampire: TM - Bloodlines vs Vampire: TM - Redemption.

Agreed. The Genesis game captured the attitude and feeling of Shadowrun better but the SNES one had the better story and was mostly a better game. Recently listening to the Watch Out For Fireballs Shadowrun episode has me wanting to revisit the Genesis version.

I remember playing the Shadowrun pnp RPG with a very good GM and some dedicated role players about 20 years ago. Everyone playing it was older than me, though we were all about equally experienced at role playing games (started in the AD&D days). Those were fun times. I never played electronic versions, which might be why a redux of the paper RPG would be way more exciting to me.

I played a few games of the pnp version also about 20 years ago and that is how I got introduced to the universe. I also read most of the novels (terrible by my current standards I'm sure but enjoyable my my 13 year old self's standards) and pretty much bought a Genesis 2 just for Sonic games and Shadowrun.

Funny thing is we are now living at the time that everything went freaky in the Shadowrun canon. They were tying into the whole 2012/Mayan thing long before it was the hip thing to do Sixth World here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went for the $60 tier but I'm seriously considering doubling down to get early access to the level editor. I grew up playing and running PnP Shadowrun before I lost patience with the cumbersome ruleset and couldn't bring myself to muddle through it just to enjoy the setting. Being able to create runs NWN-style is a huge bonus for me.

They did their first update today and included another video.

In other news, they should be fully funded in the next few hours as they're at $382,000 right now.

That was quick!

I've been going through a cycle of feeling bad because I threw all possible available money at a single project, then feeling good when the community comes through anyway.

I love the setting (I even played a bunch of the shooter since I loved seeing dwarves and trolls going at it with machine guns) so I'm down for a copy.

Oh man, love me some Shadowrun. Never played it all that much, but I ate up the books and the possibilities. Lots of imagination in play there, despite being kind of a cheap genre-mash.

Also love the way my beloved pen and paper RPGs of years gone are coming back into the limelight - both this and CCP'S World Of Darkness sound awesome.

jlaakso wrote:

Also love the way my beloved pen and paper RPGs of years gone are coming back into the limelight - both this and CCP'S World Of Darkness sound awesome.

Speaking of which, the current developers of the PnP version of Shadowrun (Now in it's 4th Edition, 20th Anniversary rules) just announced the "Shadowrun 2050" sourcebook. This takes the Story setting from the 1st and 2nd Editions (also the same story setting for both SNES and Genesis games) and mashes it with the current, more streamlined, rule set.

And they're funded! Just looked and they're at $402k. Not bad for about 36 hours.

I've posted this before, but if anyone is interested in the story behind the FPS game - including its demise - then I interviewed the producer, Mitch Gitelman. He's in the kickstarter video.

I never played the RPG, but even that kind of ironic 'Oh, they turned it into an FPS! Boo!' sentiment feels a bit unfair. The shooter had flaws - and development issues which Gitelam goes into - but it's really good.

Lucas keeps taking Star Wars in new directions, but they turn out to be crap efforts. Would people still complain if his divergent SW product was actually excellent and done with care? At what point is it acceptable to separate genre from IP?

Mitch on Shadowrun (and a bit of FASA)
http://hatchetjob.libsyn.com/index.p...

Mitch 2 on XBL and Bill Gates
http://hatchetjob.libsyn.com/webpage...

1Dgaf wrote:

I never played the RPG, but even that kind of ironic 'Oh, they turned it into an FPS! Boo!' sentiment feels a bit unfair. The shooter had flaws - and development issues which Gitelam goes into - but it's really good.

Yay! Funded!

As for the FPS, from my POV, the reason it gets reviled is not so much the quality of the gameplay, but the fact that they chose to place in the Shadowrun setting that doesn't match the storyline history or established tenets. One commonly stated example was having characters that were heavily augmented with cyberware, still be as effective magically, when in the fiction it's the inverse.

Basically, if they had come up with their own setting, the FPS would have been more accepted. Perhaps looked on as a unique, above average, take on the team/class based FPS genre. Something like Brink or Global Agenda. And then the Shadowrun fans wouldn't have raised pitchforks and created such a negative buzz.

Yes, I think Gitelman touches on the brand issue. However this is not true:

One commonly stated example was having characters that were heavily augmented with cyberware, still be as effective magically, when in the fiction it's the inverse.

In the FPS, buying tech reduces your mana pool. The only exception is humans who can use tech without penalty.

When I build my character, I have to take into account how much default mana I have and what I want to do. If I want to equip a glider or see through walls, both tech, I may not have enough mana to use resurrect or teleport.

As an example, when trolls are shot they become tougher and sprout armour plating. They turn into tanks. But they need mana for the armour to activate - and they have the least mana of the four races.

In the past I've built teleporting, gliding, mini-gun toting trolls. But I know that I'm deep sh*t if I land in a fire fight because I may not have enough armour plating to survive.

I actually liked the FPS as sort of a Counter-Strike like game but it got zero points for using and abusing the Shadowrun name/fiction. The game was interesting though and had a lot of fun characters builds.

I'm in.

I think I'm gonna get to really like Kickstarter.

Malor wrote:

I'm in.

I think I'm gonna get to really like Kickstarter.

I like it already but I never have and probably never will support a product until after it launches. Does that make me a bad person?

Rykin wrote:
Malor wrote:

I'm in.

I think I'm gonna get to really like Kickstarter.

I like it already but I never have and probably never will support a product until after it launches. Does that make me a bad person?

Not at all. It's a pretty reasonable stance.

Kickstarter is a blessing

I pledged back when they were well below 100k and had my doubts because of the 400k they were asking but we're a day later and they're closing in on 500k at quite a rapid pace. And to think they made a shooter with that the last time they touched the franchise *facepalm*

I'm really pleased at the continued support the gaming community has for Kickstarter. You would think people would get tired of hearing about yet another Kickstarter but no--they keep 'em coming and we keep on giving so it's all good.

I really hope the Larry remakes get done. Since it's remakes I think the support may not be as astounding as other projects but if it succeeds we may get a REAL Larry afterwards.

Anyways. I still have more 15 dollars to give. The source replenishes every 2 weeks!

IMAGE(https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebrained-schemes.com/kickstarter/shadowrunfansrock.png)
They're now promising a Mac version as well and are saying that a Linux version is on the table.

They keep expanding the scope on this one. They're now pushing for a new goal and teasing some more things to go with it.

IMAGE(https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebrained-schemes.com/kickstarter/funding_graphic.jpg)

Not sure how I feel about the "well, we hit one goal so let's push for more money for more!" thing. How many of the "new" features would have been in the game anyway if they hadn't gotten the response they did and now they're teasing them as a way to get more. I'm not saying that is what they are doing in this particular case, but it's something I can see happening.

Having Shadowrun set outside of Seattle just feels slightly blasphemous to me. Though Denver and Bug City (Chicago if memory serves me) are neat locations as well.

Rykin wrote:

Having Shadowrun set outside of Seattle just feels slightly blasphemous to me. Though Denver and Bug City (Chicago if memory serves me) are neat locations as well.

Perhaps Bug City for an endless survival mode

Denver for the insane amount of Borders, and smugglin...err...legit border crossings.

Perhaps Hong Kong for another place

Rykin wrote:
Malor wrote:

I'm in.

I think I'm gonna get to really like Kickstarter.

I like it already but I never have and probably never will support a product until after it launches. Does that make me a bad person?

Well, I'm sure we're gonna get burned some, but I'm desperate enough for good games that aren't DRM-laden and festooned with DLC that it's worth taking the risk, to me. I strongly dislike the direction the commercial gaming industry has gone over the last few years, and I've certainly wasted plenty of money on turkeys from those guys. So wasting some money on Kickstarter projects seems fine to me.

As I think Fargo said, gaming always used to be for geeks, and somehow the jocks showed up and took over, and are busy rubbing our faces in the dirt again. (well, that never really happened to me, but it sure did to lots of kids.) Getting power back into the hands of the geeks is worth a fair bit of risk.

Rykin wrote:

Having Shadowrun set outside of Seattle just feels slightly blasphemous to me. Though Denver and Bug City (Chicago if memory serves me) are neat locations as well.

Did you not play the Sega game?

wordsmythe wrote:

Did you not play the Sega game?

The one set in Seattle and the wilderness areas around Seattle?

My wife emailed this one to me the day it came out. We're both tempted to do it, seeing as we actually kind of met over Shadowrun.

Must. Not. Give. All. My. Money.l

tanstaafl wrote:

They keep expanding the scope on this one. They're now pushing for a new goal and teasing some more things to go with it.

Not sure how I feel about the "well, we hit one goal so let's push for more money for more!" thing. How many of the "new" features would have been in the game anyway if they hadn't gotten the response they did and now they're teasing them as a way to get more. I'm not saying that is what they are doing in this particular case, but it's something I can see happening.

They have actually back paddled on something they mentioned once: One of the early updates had a mention that they would consider putting in multiplayer modes, both co-op and PVP, if they hit a certain value or get funded. But when they finally got funded, the next update explained that they got ahead of themselves and that they have decided that multiplayer modes will Not make it into the game, as it goes against one of the core ideals that they want to re-focus on.

Personally I thought that multiplayer was a bad decision in the first place (that's what Shadowrun Online is for and based on), and for them to then back-paddle on it to be in bad taste; they should have realized it was a bad move in the beginning.

As for the "One more goal" thing, I still think the "Order of the Stick" webcomic reprint drive handled escalating goals the best. It was paced well, balanced new rewards while improving older ones and communicated with much openness and humility. It really should be taken by others as the correct way to handle a Kickstarter.

Rykin wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Did you not play the Sega game?

The one set in Seattle and the wilderness areas around Seattle?

Yes, that one.

wordsmythe wrote:
Rykin wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Did you not play the Sega game?

The one set in Seattle and the wilderness areas around Seattle?

Yes, that one.

I basically bought a Genesis for that game