[Harlequins_Back]

Ranged combat is full of options, but not so many as to overwhelm. Again, I point out how we sat down with next to no knowledge of the game and managed to run a highly successful playtest session. No matter what you might think, the actual play has already proven you wrong on that respect.

I respectfully disagree. In my multiple playtests, we spent more time looking up rules than we did playing the game. This held for all aspects of the game-- matrix, magic, and physical.

As for the slang? Sorry, but I like the fact that Shadowrun now makes the matrix realistic in structure and talk. The slang was very eighties style punk talk - and very out of date in tone and feel. The slang was a hold over from the past. There is still street slang in SR4 - just more believeable and less of the cutesy sounding stuff.

I'm sorry, but you're totally wrong here. The matrix slang isn't any more "realistic" than before. It's now based on Windows instead of being a unique invention. The 80's style punk talk was and is a part of the whole Shadowrun atmosphere-- Japanese megacorps taking over everywhere, the concept of the corporate citizen, the faceless masses, massive entertainment complexes... the list goes on and on. This is not more "believeabe"-- it's less original, based on what people are saying now, instead of a unique vision of the future.

Edge works the same as Karma did in old Shadowrun. Intiative and combat really isn't that much different - the same results come out at the end, just through a different route.

Not remotely. Edge has some similarities, but it's actually a lot more overpowering than the Karma pool was. It can also be front-loaded extremely heavily, which Karma pool could not be.

It sounds more to me that you are upset that there is no more Shadowrun 3rd than having any really reasonable objections to fourth.

I'm not going to go there. There are enough flames across the net detailing the comparisons between the systems. For now, let us acknowledge that 3rd was a system with many flaws. And if you want details as to why I don't think nSR is an improvement, read this.

Why is this a bad thing. Personally I think the oSR rules were bad. Attributes and skills were not linked(later in SR 3 they were linked slightly). The funky dice mechanics(roll a die, reroll a 6 over and over to make gigantic target numbers), never sat right with me. It didnt stop us from playing but I enjoy the game a lot better with the new edition.

This isn't a fixed vs floating TN thing, so much as it is the loss of allocatable dice pools. The first time I saw them in action in 2nd, I was amazed-- there was such a detailed and fluid way of showing what your character was emphasizing. For example, if you allocated most of your combat pool to offense, you were trying to take down the other guy, hard. If you were focused on defense, then it showed that as well. and you could finely tune exactly how much your character was focused on each aspect.

I recommend getting the third printing if possible.

I reccomend waiting, or at least doing a full inspection on your books first. There have been many complaints about printer errors in the 3rd printing-- lots of page repeats and replacements. You should not buy a copy of nSR sight unseen; check it thouroughly before you hand over money. Most places will probably replace your copy without argument, but there's no reason to go through all this trouble.