Game News Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter campaign to launch on January 13th

[Havoc]

Couldn't they have dropped in random lore bits like Obsidian did? Would have made things more interesting.

If you look closely at the last picture, you can see the hint.

Spoiler

Are you sure?

Spoiler

Really sure?

Spoiler

Ok.

Spoiler

There will be rain.

 

[naossano]

I won't be so sure if i were you.

 

[mikaelis]

It is not like i don't like sci-fi + magic.
oh i know how to present it. Whenever i see Warhammer or Shadowrun i see WoW Mist of Pandaria

I think it is nowhere near Panda shit. As a matter of fact, you can think of it as the "extension" of Arcanum lore, where it moved from industrial steam-punk D&D fantasy setting to cyber-punk D&D fantasy setting with a bit of 80's ridiculousness. Of course it was probably as time-line suggests (i.e., Arcanum got some inspiration from Shadowrun and D&D, and Shadowrun took some inspiration from D&D). It is still contained in the same level of fantasy.

Pandas on the other hand... jesus... wonder if there was some Biowarian taint in this...

 

[Jaesun]

ONE MORE DAY!

 

[Infinitron]

https://twitter.com/WeBeHarebrained/status/554699703871610881

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Depends. There hasn't really been any large PC game projects since Kingdom Come: Deliverance (except for, maybe, Thimbleweed Park and its 625,000), so it will be interesting to see how a new project from someone returning to KS will be received. Worked well enough for Torment, and W2 wasn't even in beta back then. I think a strong enough pitch can put them in the one million range, but I'm always being overtly optimistic about these things.

I am optimistic too. Thimbleweed Park looked like utter shit, and Harebrained have built up a good rep from delivering on Shadowrun Returns, especially Dragonfall and the amount of critical acclaim it has received. It seemed to sell well too so hopefully there's enough of a fanbase to put the money in.

I backed Shadowrun Returns at the lowest level that gave a copy of the game. I knew nothing about it other than the backer video seemed to be pretty interesting. For that $15 I got two full games. I'm willing to at least double that donation for this Kickstarter.

 

[Diablo169]

Any predictions on when tomorrow this will go live?

 

[JarlFrank]

I think it is nowhere near Panda shit. As a matter of fact, you can think of it as the "extension" of Arcanum lore, where it moved from industrial steam-punk D&D fantasy setting to cyber-punk D&D fantasy setting with a bit of 80's ridiculousness. Of course it was probably as time-line suggests (i.e., Arcanum got some inspiration from Shadowrun and D&D, and Shadowrun took some inspiration from D&D). It is still contained in the same level of fantasy.

Pandas on the other hand... jesus... wonder if there was some Biowarian taint in this...

And when you go into the details of the Shadowrun setting, it's actually pretty damn awesome as it makes many regions of the world unique and filled with content that players can relate to because it plays in our world.
And it combines cyberpunk as we know it from Neuromancer and Blade Runner with traditional fantasy while still staying consistent.
I especially love the Germany sourcebooks which include a lot of details about my country and crazy factions that reflect how the regions of Germany actually are (catholic knights in the south, anarchists in berlin, different nazi groups etc). It's fucking great!

 

[eric__s]

What's the significance of Hong Kong in the Shadowrun world? Is there a specific Shadowrun reason people are excited for this, or is it just because it's a cool city?

 

[Morkar Left]

Good question. I guess it's because Hong Kong was never fleshed out as a setting in SR. At least I never read something about it.

 

[Bubbles]

What's the significance of Hong Kong in the Shadowrun world? Is there a specific Shadowrun reason people are excited for this, or is it just because it's a cool city?

Many gamers, male and female, are very excited because Hong Kong is one of the few remaining places in the setting that features strong, non-effiminate males in power. I think the general feeling is that HBS has chosen HK specifically to take a (long overdue) stance against the SJW-ification of modern RPGs.

 

[Blackstaff]

Each countdown has been released around the same time : around 19H00 GMT +1, here in France. So I guess, it should mean that the KS is going live tomorow at the same hour.

Hong Kong has its own sourcebook. I'm not really familliar with it, but I remember it was pretty cool for triad/yakuza busness, and for the relation between magic and Dragons.

 

[mindx2]

still never finished Dragonfall, but still totally throwing down. I'm most excited to see updated features. just the addition of freesave in Dragonfall was really, really cool. wonder how much more engine hacking will be going on this time.

Don't forget to pledge at the physical box copy tier......

 

[tuluse]

What's the significance of Hong Kong in the Shadowrun world? Is there a specific Shadowrun reason people are excited for this, or is it just because it's a cool city?

I didn't know anything about Shadowrun before the ks campaign, and from their descriptions Berlin and Hong Kong sounded like the most interesting.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns/posts/224669

 

[Quigs]

What's the significance of Hong Kong in the Shadowrun world? Is there a specific Shadowrun reason people are excited for this, or is it just because it's a cool city?

The answer is a little complicated. When Shadowrun was in it's prime, it was pushing the 80's cyberpunk feel real hard. Japanacorps were a big scary thing. America was afraid Japan was gonna take all our jobs, with their superior product, technology, and work ethic. So some of the biggest and scariest MegaCorporations in Shadowrun were Japanese. Mitsuhama, Renraku, Fuchi, Yamatetsu, and Shiawase made up 5 of the "Big 10" AAA corporations.

Currently (IRL), Japan isn't going to take over shit, but China might... kinda?

FACTUAL INTERLUDE

The present licenseholder for some old FASA products (Shadowrun, Battletech) is Loren Coleman. Loren Coleman, when he wasn't busy writing shitty books, stole 700,000 dollars -with some insiders claiming an even higher number- from the company coffers to fund an expansion on his house. Meanwhile, he told writers that he had no money to pay them what they were owed. The majority of writers left. A block of them went on to create Eclipse Phase, a good game you may have heard of. Current writers for the IP make far less then industry standard, and generally work on a freelance basis. This has obviously had an impact on quality. tl;dr Anything written for the universe for the past 7 or so years, sucks ass.

BACK TO ANSWER

The main hub of Shadowrun adventures takes place in Seattle. A UCAS (United Canadian and American States) territory surrounded on all sides by foreign powers. Hong Kong too is a 'western' city surrounded by foreign powers, with the added helping of psuedo japanacorp fear.

Its more interesting then Berlin, less interesting than Vegas or NYC.

 

[set]

I can't wait to do a weeablade character. I hope HBS can turn this new iteration around quick!

 

[imweasel]

Any predictions on when tomorrow this will go live?

They've been posting those countdown pics everyday at 20:00 CET, so i'd say tomorrow on Jan 13 at 20:00 CET.

 

[Diablo169]

Sweet, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Psquit]

ZOMG CHINESE TROLL TRIAD

pls make it happend!1

 

[twincast]

The answer is a little complicated. When Shadowrun was in it's prime, it was pushing the 80's cyberpunk feel real hard. Japanacorps were a big scary thing. America was afraid Japan was gonna take all our jobs, with their superior product, technology, and work ethic. So some of the biggest and scariest MegaCorporations in Shadowrun were Japanese. Mitsuhama, Renraku, Fuchi, Yamatetsu, and Shiawase made up 5 of the "Big 10" AAA corporations.

Currently (IRL), Japan isn't going to take over shit, but China might... kinda?

Well, all that, and Japan/Tokyo sucks* as a setting in the 2050's, so the Chinese states/cities are the best place to get thine goode olde primarily East-Asian cyberpunk fix.

*Not wholly uninteresting, but really hard to do in a CRPG with choice of metatype.

 

[OSK]

Are there any new classes that they could add?

 

[Duellist_D]

Probably not.
Technomancers don't exist yet, so they bascially have the relevant stuff already covered.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Are there any new classes that they could add?

Not really and same answer for races. The technomancer is the only new class that was added in 3rd edition splat books and made official in 4th edition - meaning 2072 and it's lore reason that they emerged after the Big 'Net Crash which made the SR world go wireless. It's not really important either, as it's just a decker but MAGIC-kinda. And pretty shit. SR is a classless system in its heart anyway, the "classes" are more like archetypes for easy recognition.

As for races, they might introduce metavariants into the mix but I hope not. They are a extremely tiny portion of metahumanity but would require large amounts of art assets. They are basically dryads and cyclops and so on. Good for a P&P splatbook for those players who want to RP a special unique snowflake. I never allowed them as a GM either.

 

[Darth Roxor]

they could add otakus

 

[Ulminati]

Good question. I guess it's because Hong Kong was never fleshed out as a setting in SR. At least I never read something about it.

Shadows of Asia, Runner Havens, one of the SOTAs and I believe there was a 2nd ed sourcebook as well.