Good job, James. I love comprehensive reviews like this.
I'm a little surprised at the relatively low Substance rating. The book certainly seems to be loaded with information. Are the rules really bad enough to offset the quantity that much?
Also, what are the "Grunt" rules like? And is this the first edition of Shadowrun to have them? (My only Shadowrun experience is with the first edition.)
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Davenport
Good job, James. I love comprehensive reviews like this.
I'm a little surprised at the relatively low Substance rating. The book certainly seems to be loaded with information. Are the rules really bad enough to offset the quantity that much?
SR4 is most definitely loaded down with massive amounts of information, but then so were the previous editions, really (which is not a detriment in my view).
I have to say that I agree with Gillen's assessment that veteran Shadowrun players may be thrown off the game by the new dice mechanic. I recently played SR4 at a convention, and the GM, who was very obviously experienced in both 2nd & 3rd editions, misused the "Roll of 6" rule, didn't even mention the Edge attribute at all, and didn't seem to comprehend the fact that hackers are now using the wireless commlink to gain access pretty much every Matrix (duh, I put internet for some odd reason) available computer.
His grasp of the magic system seemed reasonable, but OTOH, I haven't gotten to read that chapter in depth yet.
This edition looks like it will probably be a lot of fun for new players, but not quite as much for experienced Shadowrun GM's.
That said in my poll of RPG.net's favorite edition of Shadowrun, SR4 got 46 votes out of 72, 63% of the total, which really surprised me quite a bit.
Quote:
Also, what are the "Grunt" rules like? And is this the first edition of Shadowrun to have them? (My only Shadowrun experience is with the first edition.)
The Grunt rules are essentially as such: a Professional Rating system ranging from 0 - 6 with sample character options, a condition monitor rule combining the phys. and stun monitors into a single entity for NPC's, and a rule combining the Edge Attribute into a Group Edge for NPC's.
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Last edited by PhishStyx; 03-06-2006 at 12:35 PM..
Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhishStyx
SR4 is most definitely loaded down with massive amounts of information, but then so were the previous editions, really (which is not a detriment in my view).
True. Although 3rd edition cut out the Critter section, which really annoyed me.
Quote:
The Grunt rules are essentially as such: a Professional Rating system ranging from 0 - 6 with sample character options, a condition monitor rule combining the phys. and stun monitors into a single entity for NPC's, and a rule combining the Edge Attribute into a Group Edge for NPC's.
Excellent. In other words, they can take less damage than non-Grunts, but damage still matters; hence, no "mook tag."
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Davenport
True. Although 3rd edition cut out the Critter section, which really annoyed me.
Well SR4 brings it back though I haven't checked to see how many of the Critters from SR2 made it in (most of them I believe - the important ones anyway - hell hounds, barghests, dragons, sasquatches, nagas, ghouls, wendigos, vampires, and spirits).
Quote:
Excellent. In other words, they can take less damage than non-Grunts, but damage still matters; hence, no "mook tag."
In a nutshell, yes.
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhishStyx
Well SR4 brings it back though I haven't checked to see how many of the Critters from SR2 made it in (most of them I believe - the important ones anyway - hell hounds, barghests, dragons, sasquatches, nagas, ghouls, wendigos, vampires, and spirits).
From my skimming, it looked as though the only critters cut out from SR1 are ghosts.
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
> "There are a few glaring text errors, such as 'a majority of elves IS vegetarian.'"
Um, just for the record, this is gramatically correct. Majority is a singular noun, and the sentence subject.
Sorry. Carry on...
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Davenport
Good job, James. I love comprehensive reviews like this.
I'm a little surprised at the relatively low Substance rating. The book certainly seems to be loaded with information. Are the rules really bad enough to offset the quantity that much?
Also, what are the "Grunt" rules like? And is this the first edition of Shadowrun to have them? (My only Shadowrun experience is with the first edition.)
The other guys seem to have answered the question about Grunt rules better than I could have.
As far as I can tell this is the first edition to use them, but I did say there was a Threat Rating for NPCs in the earlier editions.
JG
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sensei
> "There are a few glaring text errors, such as 'a majority of elves IS vegetarian.'"
Um, just for the record, this is gramatically correct. Majority is a singular noun, and the sentence subject.
Sorry. Carry on...
Yeah, you're right. It just looked iffy to me.
JG
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James Gillen received a personal revelation from God which, along with advances in nanotechnology, allowed him to found the First Reformed Catholic Transgendered Faith. Now known as Her Holiness The Prophet Ayesha, she does three sets a day at the Divine Dome, Las Vegas. -Michael Cule
--
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Re: [RPG]: Shadowrun 4th Edition, reviewed by James Gillen (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sensei
> "There are a few glaring text errors, such as 'a majority of elves IS vegetarian.'"
Um, just for the record, this is gramatically correct. Majority is a singular noun, and the sentence subject.
Sorry. Carry on...
Actually, "majority" is one of those words that uses the plural or singular verb based on what "majority" refers to. In this case, I think "The majority of elves are" is the correct usage.
)
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