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[Ouija]

Okay I must have been living under a rock when the whole 4th edition scene came about.  I was just visiting http://www.shadowrun4.com and realized a lot has changed in the world of Shadowrun since 3rd edition.  So my questions are simply this: 1. Where can I find info on what exactly has happened (i.e. I hear of a Great Crash of '64)? 2. Has the player population pretty much converted to 4th ed.? 3. Thoughts on the playability of 4th ed.?

Thank you very much in advance.  And hopefully I can provide a little help with quick access to the  SR3 to SR4 Conversion

<Edit: The only edits made where grammatical.>

[ROOTless]

Dunno about everyone else, but I for one haven't converted, nor do I harbor any plans of converting.

[Ingo Monk]

I've converted.  Sell out you say?  Well to each his own

I made a post about my feelings about the game a while back, just after it came out I think.  The thing I like the most about SR4 is the ease of the system.  Whereas SR3 had 4 separate rule systems (a combat system, a magic system, a vehicle combat system, a matrix combat system), in SR4 they tried to simplify the entire game by creating one all around system to run everything.  It actually works out pretty well, everything is really streamlined.  I was able to run our group's first SR4 game after only 1 read through of the rule book.  So in that sense I like it, especially since it's simple enough to get new people up to speed rather quickly.  It's kinda like WoD in a sense where you add your stat to your skill and that's how many dice you roll.

But then there's SR3.  A more efficient system than SR2, I really enjoyed SR3.  So much so that I'd make characters with no intention of playing them!  I just wanted to see what I could do with the character creation rules.  The depth and uniqueness of the system is unsurpassed by anything else I've played.  I once made an ork street samurai that could take hits and dish out like a troll, but could also negotiate like an elf.  By far one of my favorite characters that I ever created.  My most favorite scene being breaking into an outpost for some reason.  Our mage had an invisible spell sustained on me.  A guard figured out that I was hiding in this room and wouldn't leave until he found me.  I had the mage drop the spell and I was holding my heavy pistol.  I saw the guard had a light pistol, and when we made eye contact I put my pistol away and brought up my fists to challenge him to a fight.  .....he shot me so I cut him in half with my combat axe. 

hehe

That being said my group prefers SR4 so I don't think we'll play SR3 unless it's a unanimous decision.

[Ouija]

Roger that.  Well I guess like I said before, I'll have to go out and buy them.  I hope I can find another local group to play, or maybe somebody here will get time to host one.  I would, but I don't think I'm a very good GM (I tend to be way to easy or so hard the PCs don't survive the first battle).  I need to find a middle ground, but then again maybe I'm a little selfish and rather just be a player

[Zone]

I haven't even seen any of the 4th ed stuff.  I no longer play often enough to make switching  (and buying new source material) worth it. 

[Fortune]

If you are interested in catching up with some of the world changes, I suggest you pick up System Failure, which is technically a SR3 book (but no real rules bits). It details a lot of the events centered around the Crash of '64 and the changes that have taken place.

[Zone]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it.

[Ruski]

generally as advice: I'd suggest that everyone go buy 4th edition.
seeing as how that money will go to the people who make this hobby of ours keep on turning.
enough people buy the books, they'll make more books.
people buy those books, and they'll make movies about it.
people will see the movies, wonder about the game, and go buy the books.

then, eventually, it won't take an act of God to get a group together to play.

-RuskiFace the Pirate

it's a dream of mine anyways.

[swirler]

to the OP
you should check out  Dumpshock
lots of semi-official SR and SR4 help there

to everyone else
hey guys, hows it goin? been kinda out of pocket for awhile

[Curris]

I agree with Ruski. I own a copy of the SR4 book, and while SR3 is my pride and joy, SR4 is done decently well.

Then again, I read anything put in front of my, trying to absorb and destroy all the knowledge in the universe. . .

[kv]

Like the floating brains? That's so EVIL!

Anyway, I used to have a hard-on hate for 4th edition, because I hate that every time I almost complete my collection of books, the gaming company (TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and now the many varied makers of Shadowrun) says "Nope! Sorry, those books don't work anymore! Buy these new books and support our starving artists!"

I've now been burned by: Magic the Gathering, D&D, AD&D, AD&D 2nd Edition (remember those thin red books? I got all of them. I completed my collection THE WEEK they announced that they would no longer print them, because they were releasing 3rd Edition), AD&D 3rd Edition, AD&D 3.5 Edition (they're now awaiting print of the 4th edition books), Shadowrun 2nd Edition, Shadowrun 3rd Edition, and Shadowrun Figurines.

Luckily, I never got into Heroclix or Warhammer40K. Not that I haven't wasted enough money on the science fiction/fantasy genre.

Okay, but I started getting involved with the people who write the Shadowrun stuff. Not Weisman, or the important people, but the little guys who write the Shadowrun: Missions each month. Those guys are a lot like me- working hard for little or no thanks, because they love the game. And THEY really love 4th edition, so I decided to give it a chance. And there are a lot of things that I like about 4th edition. How you can keep the group more together- things like hacking on the fly make a decker infinitely more important, without anyone having to sit there and guard their body. I like that they've scaled weapons and cyberwear, so not every troll who is someone's first character is a troll street sam with level 3 wired reflexes and a panther assault cannon.

I still miss the priority system, but I'll be honest, I have to make characters for most of my groups anyway, so it really doesn't change their experience at all. And I really would love for Shadowrun to succeed and become a national (worldwide- let's not forget those hardcore german and japanese gamers!) phenomenon.

In short, I stopped hating. There are cool things about the new system.

  -kv

[Curris]

Agreed. It's different, and that will bother people flavorwise, but you can start new groups with it, and not have them leave because "it's complicated".

Leave that for the plot. . . Heh.

[kv]

Well, for some reason, players want that.

They want to be able to pick up four dice, roll them, and kill the elf with the sniper rifle, and then turn around, talk to the humanis contact who hates having to deal with a bunch of metas, pay off thier yakuza bookie, visit the girlfriend who works for the mob, and eat at the fast food place of the megacorp they just ripped off.

I don't know why a complicated game system matters when you want that amount of complication in the gameplay when you're NOT rolling dice.

  -kv