More news in the "classics finally getting a sequel due to fan-funded publishing" arena - the classic game Shadowrun may get a new entry:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns
This one looks like it will be an iOS app in addition to being a PC game.
If the words:
QuoteA graphically rich 2D turn-based single player game with deep story interaction, meaningful character development, and highly-contextual tactical combat,
Don't get you excited... what the heck are you doing!?
That is all.
Oh HELL YES.
'Bout time! Turn-based RPG, too. Looks like I may actually take my first pledge foray into a kickstarter with this one. 8)
Also, a scenario editor will be release... ;)
Never played Shadow Run but the premise is very interesting.
We attempted to play Shadowrun years ago in my RPG group, but it had the most convoluted ruleset ever conceived of by a game designer. Great Steampunk premise, horrible ruleset.
I loved the novels.
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 06:50:30 AM
We attempted to play Shadowrun years ago in my RPG group, but it had the most convoluted ruleset ever conceived of by a game designer. Great Steampunk premise, horrible ruleset.
I have to disagree.
It's actually a rather well done system. Especially the 4th edition.
As for the PC game, this is worth a look.
That Shadowrun console shooter was terrible.
The original release was horrible, which I think was 1990 or so. It's possible they refined the system over the years, but honestly it had no where to go but up.
Almost all the FASA games had initial rule sets that were pretty convoluted. Battletech was a crazy mess in the beginning and almost required more effort to create and upkeep the mech's character sheet than it did to play the game. But they often improved greatly. FASA was the "grognard" of RPG companies, and they were proud of that (in comparison to GURPS, which was fairly simplistic).
Of course, TSR and D&D was also fairly byzantine in the first few editions too.
Battletech was bad, but not nearly as bad as Shadowrun.
D&D was never really that bad. IMHO.
Which edition did you play?
I've only seen the third and the fourth.
I had the original Shadowrun rules release, which I think came out around 1990.
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 01:36:44 PM
I had the original Shadowrun rules release, which I think came out around 1990.
There was a noticeable improvement in the Third & Fourth Editions, although some of they categories were still a bit odd (which I kinda liked in a way). Notably the magic system mechanics still felt strange but seemed to be a bit more streamlined than the first edition.
The best thing about Shadowrun is, of course, the unique setting and 'attitude'. I played the snot out of the old console Shadowrun game, which was about as open-ended as a console RPG could get back then. A big bonus is having more than one possible game system in it, as the Netrunning mini-game was (and can be) a blast, too. Tricking out your armaments, cybernetics, magic, and whatnots gave a ton of variety - something important in an RPG to me. The basic story of being a mercenary group is a good lead-in that can go anywhere, too, but I'm hoping there would be some procedurally generated stuff in it also.