The second brings two more…
Hey folks–
So with yesterday’s release of 10 Jackpointers, we wanted to follow up with some more classic releases. Today we have two Shadowrun, Second Edition books for the street sam in all of us: Fields of Fire and the Street Samurai’s Catalog. We also have a preview of the Table of Contents for 10 Jackpointers.
10 Jackpointers
Fields of Fire
The streets are a violent place, as dangerous as any battlefield. And the lessons men and women learn on those fields of fire can save their reputations-and their lives-in any combat situation.
Fields of Fire is the mercenary sourcebook for Shadowrun. Information on how to act like a professional merc, and pages of new weapons, support gear, and optional combat-rules clarifications and expansions make this book something no merc, or runner, should live without.
Street Samurai’s Catalog
You’re the ultimate fighting machine. A predator-for-hire in the savage urban world of Shadowrun. You’ve devoted your life to honing your combat and martial skills. The tools of your trade are airfoil grenades, form-fitting body armor, and an Ares Crusader machine pistol. An expansion for Shadowrun, the Street Samurai Catalog will let you outfit yourself with the latest equipment available on the black market: retractable hand razors, ultrasonic sights, enhanced reflexes, and maybe a rangefinder for your cybereyes. Whatever you need to get the job done, you can find it here, but it won’t be cheap. And remember to watch your back before someone decides to make you yesterday’s news.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:13:19
Oh man, Fields of Fire takes me back… the Firelance Vehicle Laser as an availability of “Unknown” but my GM let me buy it just for the asking. Good times.
March 2nd, 2010 at 14:53:49
Which edition of the SSC is this? You’re showing the cover for the SR2 version, so I’m guessing it’s the one with the watermarks that said “Banned in Shadowrun 2″ over the pages for Reactive Triggers, Firepower Ammo, and IPE Grenades? Or is this the original SR1 edition, complete with the three digit variable staging damage codes?
March 2nd, 2010 at 14:57:55
Paul –
This is the SR2 version.
-Stephen
March 2nd, 2010 at 22:13:58
LOL! I still have both of those books. In pretty good condition too. I love that some of the pictures of the weapons made it into Arsenal.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:50:59
Heh, now there’s nothing that beats these sourcebooks to get your players frothing over all the lovely guns & gear. The sense of atmosphere an in-character catalogue with illustrations and shadowtalker running commentary is sadly missed Even though you can compile all the relevant game info into a tenth of the space, nothing beats showing your players just what the Ares Predator II looks like when an NPC shoves it up one of their nostrils.
March 3rd, 2010 at 15:18:19
BIG BAD BEESTE, while it’s true that the old “online catalog” style sourcebooks were great for evoking a certain flavor, the simple fact is, we’ve been living that flavor in real life for quite some time now.
Twenty-one years ago, when the SCC was first written, bleeding-edge modem speed was 9600 baud (that’s 9.6 kbit/s for you whippersnapers who don’t know what a baud is). E-Commerce with full images for each product was simply unheard of at the time. By presenting a sourcebook in that format, the original developers could cheaply and easily evoke a future where ubiquitous powerful computing is the norm.
Interestingly enough, when real world online catalogs started showing up five years later, they strongly resembled the format set forth by the SSC, right down to the inclusion of third party commentary (even though that only part of Shadowrun’s gear catalogs because they were site rips that had been re-hosted on Shadowland.)
In short, presenting the book as an e-catalog no longer sends the message of futurism, because such things are now part of our everyday life. I would love to have images and shadowtalk commentary on every item in modern gear books to help differentiate one product from another. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing individual commentary for the different variant item names that share the same statline. But the days of having one item per page with copious whitespace just to be able to simulate something I see whenever I shop online anyway? Not worth it for a hardcopy book; I’d rather just have more items even if it turns my sourcebook into a textbook. It’d be a great idea for bonus content to make the PDFs more attractive however.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:54:45
Wotcha Runner Paul – Oh yeah, understood completely there. In writing wordcount is king, especially for getting more bang for your buck. What I miss was the ease of having almost an in-character handout book for my players to slobber over, not to mention that the illustrations were top notch stuff.
Ah, long gone are the days when your mobile phone resembled a brick and the internet wasn’t accessable to all. Heh.
March 5th, 2010 at 06:43:15
Maybe we could have both? A text book style source book and PDF backed with a “digital catalog” version online or provided in a zip at purchase? Simple HTML template filled with the item from the book you just bought, complete with illustration, Shadowtalk and original manufacturer blurb. A big part of getting me to buy the digital versions of Dawn of the Artifacts was the included additional content.
Alternatively, Catalyst may start using that format for the online supplements. I understand there’s a vehicle based one coming out. Any plans to bring back the much beloved original Rigger Black Book style?
March 6th, 2010 at 01:43:49
I would pay thousands of dollars (someone else’s, natch) to get a Rigger’s Black Book style book of 4th ed vehicles. All of my previous edition characters were riggers and while I do enjoy Arsenal’s mod system and somewhat simpler vehicle stats, I’d love to see a vehicle creation system as well. Perhaps even with a bit more complexity that doesn’t contradict existing bits?