Shadowrun
Catalyst Game Labs => Catalyst's Shadowrun Products => Topic started by: Bull on <08-08-12/0141:28>
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Claws At Your Throat
Never, ever deal with a dragon. Shadowrunners have heard that dictum so often, they frequently say those words in their sleep. But what the aphorism forgets to tell you is this—what if you don’t have a choice?
The tension between dragons has been growing, and the big lizards are throwing every weapon they have at each other, including shadowrunners—especially shadowrunners. Extractions, industrial sabotage, theft, wetwork—there's plenty of jobs in all those areas, and dragons are finding ways to get reluctant runners to work for them. Maybe they’ll hide their involvement in the run, or maybe they’ll bribe the runners with large piles of nuyen or blackmail them with their past activities. Or maybe they’ll just tell the runners they have a simple choice of working for them or being eaten.
Whatever tactics they choose, the dragons are going to be active and aggressive, and if runners want to survive, they better be on their toes. They need to know who the draconic players are, what they’re up to, and what might happen to them if they fall into a dragon’s grip. They need to be ready for anything, because when dragons go at each other, the world shakes, the earth beneath them burns—and far too often, shadowrunners die.
The Clutch of Dragons provides the information gamemasters and players need to involve draconic plots in their games, from profiles of individuals dragons, their plots, and their lairs to information about the latest efforts to build anti-dragon weapons. This is a critical reference for any players who want to test their skills against the machinations of dragons—or who want to see just how much trouble they can survive.
The Clutch of Dragons is for use with Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
DriveThruRPG (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/104571/Shadowrun%3A-The-Clutch-of-Dragons)
CGL Battleshop (http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=clutch+of+dragons&x=0&y=0)
Edit: Links Fixed
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Sweet.
Any idea when it will be available in dead tree format? I think this one is one of the books I have to own physically ;)
Rasmus
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At Gen Con? :)
Likely hit stores a month or two after. Maybe. Don't quote me though, I know nothing about shipping and distribution :)
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You need to fix the DriveThruRPG link.
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Still reading through the War at 10,000 feet chapter. All I can say is this: Holy fuck, everyone's screwed.
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So, no chance they actually finished the PC Dragons rules from that old April Fools joke, is there? I honestly want to see those workable.
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Only at the Jackpoint page and already in a happy place:
Incoming
* They’ve pulled back the veil, only to reveal more veils. [Tag: Land of Promise]
* Sammies need love too! [Tag: The Way of the Samurai]
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Hey.. when did the below occur?
Can’t. Ever since runners procured Aztechnology’s satellite
weapons platform and turned it against the corporation, the
Corporate Court has shut down all satellite weapons systems,
including Thor Shots, until such time that new security measures
can be implemented and can prevent such an incident from
happening again. To this date, the Thor Shots are still offl ine.
> Orbital DK
[/spoiler]
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Hey.. when did the below occur?
Can’t. Ever since runners procured Aztechnology’s satellite
weapons platform and turned it against the corporation, the
Corporate Court has shut down all satellite weapons systems,
including Thor Shots, until such time that new security measures
can be implemented and can prevent such an incident from
happening again. To this date, the Thor Shots are still offline.
> Orbital DK
[/spoiler]
Any number of teams in any number of campaigns, really.
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Ok... whats up with Fastjack... is he finally getting a bit old and lossing his edge?
Examples:
> You a snitch bitch?
> FastJack
> Where did that come from?
> Icarus
> I don’t even remember writing that.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
and
Finally, there’s the Tools
of the Opposition le, where Fatima looks at some the latest
technology being worked on in an e ort to get metahumanity
on more equal footing with the dragons.
> Um, actually, FastJack, I wrote that. Fatima’s dead, remember?
> Beaker
[/spoiler]
and
> Yeah. I’m not touching that one, especially considering the source.
‘Jack, has Cerberus received permanent guest status here or
something?
> Slamm-0!
> I could have sworn I locked him out three different times. Either
he’s incredibly stubborn or I’m slipping.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
okay... maybe not the last one.
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Only at the Jackpoint page and already in a happy place:
Incoming
* They’ve pulled back the veil, only to reveal more veils. [Tag: Land of Promise]
* Sammies need love too! [Tag: The Way of the Samurai]
Wow! Excellent news!!!
AJC
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Only at the Jackpoint page and already in a happy place:
Incoming
* They’ve pulled back the veil, only to reveal more veils. [Tag: Land of Promise]
* Sammies need love too! [Tag: The Way of the Samurai]
Both sounds like very interesting titles. Thanks for the spoiler ;D
Rasmus
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At Gen Con? :)
Likely hit stores a month or two after. Maybe. Don't quote me though, I know nothing about shipping and distribution :)
Ok thanks.
We really needs more big international cons in my area. Gen Con is kind of out of the way all the way over in the new land.
Rasmus
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Yay! A Tir book on the way!
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Ok... whats up with Fastjack... is he finally getting a bit old and lossing his edge?
Examples:
> You a snitch bitch?
> FastJack
> Where did that come from?
> Icarus
> I don’t even remember writing that.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
and
Finally, there’s the Tools
of the Opposition le, where Fatima looks at some the latest
technology being worked on in an e ort to get metahumanity
on more equal footing with the dragons.
> Um, actually, FastJack, I wrote that. Fatima’s dead, remember?
> Beaker
[/spoiler]
and
> Yeah. I’m not touching that one, especially considering the source.
‘Jack, has Cerberus received permanent guest status here or
something?
> Slamm-0!
> I could have sworn I locked him out three different times. Either
he’s incredibly stubborn or I’m slipping.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
okay... maybe not the last one.
God, I hope not.
But the man is 75 years old now. And has done a lot of re-wiring to his brain over the years. Hopefully, it's nothing more than old age.
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I've read the War at 10,000 Meters section and, man, it's tingle-inducing. The Drek, as they say, is hitting the air filtration system. Haven't laid eyes on most of the book yet, but, hopefully soon. Maybe Bull will slide me a PDF for my birthday. :D
As for the orbital weapons going offline, that's from JetSet. The Azzies are a bit hot to get them back on, but, the rest of the megas seem to be fairly cool to the idea. It might be that everyone loves the idea of the Azzies getting kicked in the teeth, but it might also be that corps with dragons on them aren't happy about humans having a 'Splat the Wyrm" button. Feel free to speculate beyond that. :)
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God, I hope not.
But the man is 75 years old now. And has done a lot of re-wiring to his brain over the years. Hopefully, it's nothing more than old age.
My money is on him making someone underestimate him because of his age/cybernetic poisoning.
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Hey.. when did the below occur?
Can’t. Ever since runners procured Aztechnology’s satellite
weapons platform and turned it against the corporation, the
Corporate Court has shut down all satellite weapons systems,
including Thor Shots, until such time that new security measures
can be implemented and can prevent such an incident from
happening again. To this date, the Thor Shots are still offl ine.
> Orbital DK
[/spoiler]
Jet Set.
Anyway, you all haven't seen anything yet. Wait until you finish Echoing the Roar.
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Only at the Jackpoint page and already in a happy place:
Incoming
* They’ve pulled back the veil, only to reveal more veils. [Tag: Land of Promise]
* Sammies need love too! [Tag: The Way of the Samurai]
8)
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Land of Promise = Tirs? Hope so :)
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I'm trying not to buy any new books until I can gain something resembling gainful employment. But just for fun, I clicked on the Drive Thru RPG preview of this book. And the intro to the first adventure is apparently Arthurian mythology based.
...You guys aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?
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Land of Promise = Tirs? Hope so :)
"The Land of Promise" is the translated name of Tir Tairngire ("Land of the Young" is Tir na nOg").
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How do you translate "Land of the Poncy Arrogant Hoopholes"? ;D
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Yes yes, I know, "The Special Hell"
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How do you translate "Land of the Poncy Arrogant Hoopholes"? ;D
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Yes yes, I know, "The Special Hell"
"Pomorya"
Okay, so that's me bound for "The Other Special Hell" ::)
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Only at the Jackpoint page and already in a happy place:
Incoming
* They’ve pulled back the veil, only to reveal more veils. [Tag: Land of Promise]
* Sammies need love too! [Tag: The Way of the Samurai]
8)
Oh don't gloat. ;)
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How do you translate "Land of the Poncy Arrogant Hoopholes"? ;D
...
Yes yes, I know, "The Special Hell"
Sounds like a bit of in-line comments from one of the Jackpoint peanut gallery to me.
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How do you translate "Land of the Poncy Arrogant Hoopholes"? ;D
...
Yes yes, I know, "The Special Hell"
Sounds like a bit of in-line comments from one of the Jackpoint peanut gallery to me.
Well, Bull's busy, so I figured I had to step up.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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OK, so not long after my last post in this thread, my internet shut down. I take this as an omen. Not the least of which because of the events in The Things We Do For Love, Parts 1 & 2. I'll put my point by point review in spoilers, since I know some of you Neo-Luddites out there don't like grabbing the PDF, and insist on (ugh!) hard copy. ;)
Ok, first off, as mentioned further up this thread, Fastjack seems to be having some mental lapses of late, even before this book. Myself, I don't chalk this up to old age so much as side effects from tangling with psychotropic IC when he burned the Dawkins Group's node to the ground. Remember, he took damage in that encounter, and wasn't even aware of it. Since that point, he's been apparently writing things and then forgetting them, and other unusual behavior.
Jackpoint Page
Line items for Way of the Samurai and a Tir Tairngir book. This makes me smile. Same with the 'Runner's Black Book 2074' listing.
Enter the Dragon
Nice bit of fiction here. Group of competent runners planned a run well, were kitted out, and then everything goes straight to hell in a handbasket. What do they do? Adapt to plan B without missing a beat, until a Dragon invites them in to its lair. Beyond setting the tone for the book, this is a great look at a really professional team at work, which we can always use more of.
War at 10,000 Meters
As I said before, this is where I started getting the impression that the whole world was in a drekload of trouble. Let's take it by the numbers.
1) The dragon fanatics have killed three thousand talismongers who dealt in dracoform reagents, as well as targeting magical groups who use them. They've started running out of active talismongers engaged in the practice that they can find, so some of them have started turning their attention on retired talismongers, and their families.
2) The battle for drakes is heating up. With anti-dragon forces targeting them, dragons are actually poaching drakes from eachother. Also, those drakes the Draco Foundation is sheltering? They're being trained to fight. More on that later.
3) Dragons are apparently targeting people for their ancestors engaging in some down-time dragon hunting. Not just killing them, but disappearing them, and erasing their entire financial histories, along with their families.
4) Dragons are battling over magical sites in the ring of Fire again. Big surprise, eh? In addition anti-dragon groups and the Corporate Court are looking in on the situation.
Now let's talk about the four main players in this dragon craziness.
Lofwyr - Leading the pro-dragon faction, he's actually facing forces on both sides, as he has to deal with not only Hestaby and her pro-metahuman faction, but also his brother Alamaise and his growing dragon supremacy faction. Alamaise and his followers have set up shop in GeMiTo, and are currently snaking on what is thought to be around 300 metahumans a DAY. S-K Europe is getting many, many calls by angry people who want Lofwyr to sort his brother out. Which means that his attention has to be divided between the two wings. Especially with Alamaise and his faction deliberately snubbing Lofwyr's requests, as Loremaster, for them to stop their frenzy, and even refusing to meet with him! Needless to say, Lofwyr isn't too happy with this situation.
Hestaby - The Orange Queen's been reeling from attacks on her political and financial empires, and the dragons have been stirring up unrest for her at home in the Northern Crescent. However, she seems to show no sign of backing down, regardless of the consequences. Indeed, she's gone on a speaking tour around the world, calling for dragons and metahumans to live and let live together. My personal take on her stance is that, in addition to being a dragon in the same mindset as Dunkelzhan, Hestaby has read the writing on the wall. Technology continues to advance, and metahumans are getting better and better at using magic, even finding ways to combine the two. Since the advent of FAB III, it has been clear that there are technological solutions to powerful magical threats. Even at this level of magic and tech, there are more than a few adult dragons who have been killed by metahumans, even without having access to the new crop of anti-dragon weapons that are coming to fruition. If dragonkind doesn't learn to live peacably with metahumanity, eventually they will be surpassed as metahuman magic and technology reaches levels that threaten even the great Dragons. And the simple fact is that there are more metahumans than there are dragons. If it came to all out war between metahumans and dragons, even today it would not go well for dragonkind. They might not lose completely, but they would be driven to the brink of extinction. My personal feeling is that both Dunkelzhan and Hestaby have seen this coming, which is why Hestaby is acting the way she is now. She's trying to save her race from wiping itself out with its own arrogance. Of course, prophets are rarely lauded by their fellows until after they're dead, so...
Ghostwalker - Oh fragging drek. Do I really need to say more? Anyways, we found out what he was doing on the metaplanes after sealing the rift. Seems he was able to reunite Zebulon, the Spirit of Denver, his mate. Kindof romantic, if you forget that he almost blew up a city to do it. Anyways, now that he's back, he's reached out to both Ryumyo and Sirrurg about making himself Loremaster. Also, there are changes in Denver. Remember those treaty negotiations? Now that Ghostwalker is back, those are back at square one, as he showed up for his first appearance after returning from the metaplanes at a ceremony starting the summit, and looked none too pleased to see that there were Azzies in the crowd. Perianwyr whisked the Azzies away using a Levitate spell capable of taking multiple people at "Oh crap that was fast!" speeds. While Peri's club in Denver hasn't been torched yet, word is that Ghostwalker's too mad at him to even think straight at the moment. Oh, and because of all this, the Treaty of Denver has expired. Which means that at any moment we could see a Second Great Ghost Dance War, with Denver at the center of it. Oh, and the whole NAN might go up in smoke, too. Also, summoning or banishing spirits in the Front Range Free Zone without a permit from Ghostwalker's Liason Office will get you imprisoned or expelled. Denver's becoming a bunker city with a "Denver vs. the World" attitude, and Ghostwalker reigns supreme.
Sirrurg - The Destroyer is still attacking Azzies, and is still managing to evade their attempts to kill him, despite all the magic and tech that the Azzies can throw at him. Which is no mean feat when you keep blowing up their stuff and eating their people. Oh, and Sirrurg is gaining dragon followers, as well. Including a few that have possibly defected from Aztechnology. His attacks on both sides of the CAS-Aztlan border have set the CAS on a course that seems hell bent on war with the Azzies, though Sirrurg is only an excuse for this, since what the CAS hardliners really want is the rest of Texas, and to join in the Azzie-stomping the dragons are doing.
Echoing the Roar
Here we have a rundown on some of the people who aren't Great Dragons, and how they're sticking their noses in this mess. Remember that 'Oh drek' feeling you were probably getting reading through the last chapter? It ain't getting any better, I promise you.
Harlequin - The Laughing Man was one of two beneficiaries from Aina's estate, and got her home and title, now being the Earl of Arran. With the conflict between the Greats raging, Harlequin, one of the few Immortal Elves who didn't absolutely loath dragons, has apparently gotten it in his head to intervene in this. I really shouldn't have to say more than that for your "Oh drek"-o-meter to max out. Also, something's apparently happened to the elves who were present at Ghostwalker's ritual in DeeCee. They seem to be mentally linked somehow. And Frosty's apparently getting dreams that she talked with Arete about. I'll quote a bit here.
> Frosty is apprehensive to go into detail about what some of these portend, but I feel it is necessary to do it for her. The visions tell of an errant knight, a lost crusader, weaving a new banner of a master that has not been seen on this Earth since time immemorial. What was of the past will return, but the path and the journey are not the same, and what has been an unyielding march to war has now taken on the means of pilgrimage into the unknown future, a land the none have seen before. Knots are bound in hope where there was none, and the threads of Fate will cast off their old patterns and reweave themselves.
> Arete
The Laughing Man is no longer content to just play the fool, it seems. He's become driven, and intends to gather an army under the Last Knight of the Crying Spire. Oh, and either he hacked Frosty's link, or jacked her brain directly, because he posted in the file. Scared yet?
Ryan Mercury - Remember all those drakes the Draco Foundation has been sheltering from the Great Dragons? Well, old Quicksilver's been teaching them to fight, as though their lives depended on it. Mainly because they do. Oh, and here's something for you Earthdawn fans. Remember how, back in the day, drakes were made, not born? How the Great Dragons had to go to a lot of trouble with experimenting on humans to find a way to get drakes capable of breeding? Well, with drakes being in short supply now, some of the greats are making "True" drakes again. Yes, you heard that right. Oh, and Mercury somehow managed to get an adult dragon to pledge loyalty to him. Yes, you heard that right, too.
UCAS - President Colloton emerged from the little ceremony where Ghostwalker showed up with a raging mad on for dragons of all kinds, but especially for the white wyrm. And her SecDef is a guy called Dragonslayer, because he's actually killed a feathered serpent. Which ought to make the UCAS government really popular with dragons in the current climate. If that wasn't enough, they're prepping their own version of anti-dragon weaponry, as well. And she's got Shedim working as part of her intelligence apparatus. More than that, if Colloton decides to move against Ghostwalker, she's in the kind of mood that she may very well send an armored division or two straight across the Sioux by land to Denver. Remember when I said we could see war all over the fragging continent before this was through?
Nadja Daviar - When craziness involving Dragons is in the air, the Draco Foundation can't be far behind, right? Well, Nadja is reorganizing the Foundation, complete with new trustees, and a new Board of Visitors. And she deliberately snubbed Hestaby in the process (though KAM gets a seat at the table now). While Daviar isn't playing nice with Ghostwalker either, and would seem to be at odds with Lofwyr's camp, things are getting downright catty between the Orange Queen and the ice queen.
Johnny Spinrad - Really, the name says it all. But past the playboy style, he's still got an eye on Lofwyr, and has been trying to make inroads into new territories. Territories that just happen to have dragons in them. Dragons that might be convinced to join the remaining network left behind by the deaths of Nachtmeister and Graft-Beloit. He's making overtures to both Wuxing and Ryumyo, as well as any other force that might like to take Lofwyr down a peg or ten.
Corporate Court - A sustained conflict between the great dragons is not good for business. Especially when some of those dragons sit in positions of power or have influence over a good portion of the Corporate Court. This means that the C5 is looking for ways to monitor and control the situation. Unfortunately, this year, it seems that it is S-K's turn to chair the committee. Ares and the Japanacorps aren't likely to sit on the sidelines for too long, though, since they don't want to get dragged into a mess that isn't their own making. So expect some pushback against S-K before long. Oh, and the Azzies are likely going to make a play, too. Why? Because they're Azzies. That's what they do.
Trickle-down Effects
And this is where the people only slightly related to the dragon drama still get paid.
Seraphim - You know how the Seraphim, by and large, were almost zealously loyal to Cross, back before he bit it in the Crash? Well, not all of them are taking the changes well, it seems. The Fallen (including some who may be inside Ares already) are out to take down everyone and everything that was involved in taking down CATCo. Knight is at the top of the list, of course, but Davjar, Rhonabwy, and Hestaby are also on their hit list. They literally just want to see all these people burn.
Money trails - Someone is gearing up to try and take major pieces out of the Yakuza, either to strike at Ryumyo, or as a way of saying "Yes, I can screw with your toys at any time. Now give me what I want." This is the same kind of test run you saw Arty boy go through before he turned to his real target.
Shedim - The Rift is closed, which means no more shedim can come through. This is the silver lining to some nasty-ass clouds. But yes, the worldwide population of Shedim is going down.
Next follows a few chapters on certain dragons, but the ones that interested me most were the ones on Damon, Henequen, and the Sea Dragon. Daman's still up to his partying ways, though he seems to have settled down a little in Boston. Henequen is still in Cheyenne, and intends to stay, regardless of what the mafia thinks about that.
I could go on, but I think I'll just leave you with this one final spoiler that fills me full of anticipation and dread. Harlequin declares war on Ghostwalker, as the Last Knight of the Crying Spire, and lets the wyrm know that he intends to burn his entire kingdom to the ground. And he waltzed into Ding Chavez's office at that Azzie HQ in Tenochtitlan to enlist Aztechnology to help him with his 'dragon problem'.
You may all now drek yourselves.
[/spoiler]
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One word: EEP!
8)
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*grin*
Yeah, lots of good stuff. :)
I'm hoping to do some follow up stuff with Peri & the gang before too long.
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God, I hope not.
But the man is 75 years old now. And has done a lot of re-wiring to his brain over the years. Hopefully, it's nothing more than old age.
My money is on him making someone underestimate him because of his age/cybernetic poisoning.
I had the random (and very likely incorrect) thought that it might be similar to times when other JackPoint members have had folks other than themselves use their account to make remarks (Frosty's being used by our old buddy the Laughing Man in Clutch of Dragons, for instance). Except my brain went straight to whatever Captain Chaos' e-ghost calls itself.
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Just finished the opening fiction while eating my lunch... very, very cool. Kick butt team (and I remember Pac Man posting before, I'm sure of it...) Would love to know what happens next.
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Ok... whats up with Fastjack... is he finally getting a bit old and lossing his edge?
Examples:
> You a snitch bitch?
> FastJack
> Where did that come from?
> Icarus
> I don’t even remember writing that.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
and
Finally, there’s the Tools
of the Opposition le, where Fatima looks at some the latest
technology being worked on in an e ort to get metahumanity
on more equal footing with the dragons.
> Um, actually, FastJack, I wrote that. Fatima’s dead, remember?
> Beaker
[/spoiler]
and
> Yeah. I’m not touching that one, especially considering the source.
‘Jack, has Cerberus received permanent guest status here or
something?
> Slamm-0!
> I could have sworn I locked him out three different times. Either
he’s incredibly stubborn or I’m slipping.
> FastJack
[/spoiler]
okay... maybe not the last one.
Alternate theory: something like a Free Sprite or even an AI has imprinted on FastJack and managed to duplicate his electronic signature, and is posting stuff it may not actually understand.
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OK, so not long after my last post in this thread, my internet shut down. I take this as an omen. Not the least of which because of the events in The Things We Do For Love, Parts 1 & 2. I'll put my point by point review in spoilers, since I know some of you Neo-Luddites out there don't like grabbing the PDF, and insist on (ugh!) hard copy. ;)
... As I said before, this is where I started getting the impression that the whole world was in a drekload of trouble. ... If it came to all out war between metahumans and dragons, even today it would not go well for dragonkind. They might not lose completely, but they would be driven to the brink of extinction.... Oh, and because of all this, the Treaty of Denver has expired. Which means that at any moment we could see a Second Great Ghost Dance War, with Denver at the center of it. Oh, and the whole NAN might go up in smoke, too. ... Denver's becoming a bunker city with a "Denver vs. the World" attitude, and Ghostwalker reigns supreme. ... His attacks on both sides of the CAS-Aztlan border have set the CAS on a course that seems hell bent on war with the Azzies, though Sirrurg is only an excuse for this, since what the CAS hardliners really want is the rest of Texas, and to join in the Azzie-stomping the dragons are doing. ... More than that, if Colloton decides to move against Ghostwalker, she's in the kind of mood that she may very well send an armored division or two straight across the Sioux by land to Denver. ... The Fallen (including some who may be inside Ares already) are out to take down everyone and everything that was involved in taking down CATCo. Knight is at the top of the list, of course, but Davjar, Rhonabwy, and Hestaby are also on their hit list. They literally just want to see all these people burn. ... Harlequin declares war on Ghostwalker, as the Last Knight of the Crying Spire, and lets the wyrm know that he intends to burn his entire kingdom to the ground. And he waltzed into Ding Chavez's office at that Azzie HQ in Tenochtitlan to enlist Aztechnology to help him with his 'dragon problem'.
Am I the only one with the impression that the book has been designed as a list of convenient plot devices for the freelancers to get rid of whichever corporations, dragons, NPCs and North American countries they don't like?
After reading this, I'm now one step short of expecting Ryan Mercury and Thorn to team up with their Earth-Two counterparts to defeat Galactus.
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After reading this, I'm now one step short of expecting Ryan Mercury and Thorn to team up with their Earth-Two counterparts to defeat Galactus.
Well, now that you guessed my NEXT project, I'm going to have to work on something else, won't I?
...
Bastards the lot of you! ;D
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Bastards the lot of you!
It is my title... ;)
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Who knows? I'm on hiatus.
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Don't think I won't still tap your brain, James. I'm stuck with the memory of a mayfly. :(
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Don't think I won't still tap your brain, James. I'm stuck with the memory of a mayfly. :(
You think this is bad, I just started a major discussion on how to count to potato.
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I am trying to understand the True Drake quality on page 137 for 125-150 BP
It says that it has all the quality of the Drake quality with options to get extra / swap abilities and must by either magician, adept oe mystic adept quality
The Drake Quality in Runner's Companion (p76) costs 65BP and comes with a magic rating of one
I don't see where the extra 60 BP is
I just don't get it, why the huge difference in costs? Im obviously missing the point here, can someone please explain..
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Well, there's also the Essence 8 thing, and the max Edge of 8. Plus, some of those powers have a MUCH greater impact than the powers a normal drake has. A normal Drake has Mystic Armor 4 and Hardened Armor 4 in their dracoform only. A True Drake can switch those for Hardened Armor 6 and Astral Armor 6 in either form. Oh, and Dragonspeech is a handy thing.
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Plus True Drakes can take any metahuman form, not just the form they were born as like previous drakes. Just like Great Dragons. Because remember True Drakes are dracoforms that can assume metahuman form. Previously it was only that metahuman drakes could take a dragon form. So it's one step removed from a PC dragon.
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I should also note that this book is dense, in a good way. So much data to digest, I cannot just blast through.
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Ok thanks for the feedback.
I knew I was missing the point.
I guess the other aspect is that a drake is essentially a metahuman and gets alot of benefits only in drake form, presumable the true dragon would retain his benefits in other forms.
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Indeed.
I seriously considered making it a 200 BP Quality (like Free Spirits), but without the option of choosing different abilities. I think this way strikes a good balance because it also suggests that it's hard as Hell for Great Dragons to do—especially in relatively low mana—and so they're taking shortcuts at the expense of some abilities.
Assuming that you don't run into one of the supposed Fourth World leftovers. Then you're in for a world of hurt. :D
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Assuming that you don't run into one of the supposed Fourth World leftovers. Then you're in for a world of hurt. :D
Damnit James!
...
Off on another new idea now...
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Speaking of the Fourth World, what ever happened to Denairastas?
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/shrugs
Maybe he's Sunset Blossom Lung mentions in Shadows of Asia.
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What makes you think that true drakes can assume multiple metahuman forms and use their powers in either form?
Their description on p.137 only says that they get "a metahuman form" and that their maximum Edge attribute is 8 regardless of their metahuman form.
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Either I omitted Metahuman Form from their description (They originally were supposed to have the Metahuman Form power being offshoots of Great Dragons, which gets around the power's description in Running Wild) or it was edited out and I've been referencing an old draft because I'm dumb.
/facepalm
EDIT: So ... There's two trains of thought now. As written, Shift works in reverse for True Drakes, and they can assume one metahuman form. However, there is also the possibility that they can assume multiple forms as an effect of that power deriving from their connection to Great Dragons. If option 1, then they can still use the Shapechange spell like Adult Dragons use to take on other forms.
I'm sorry.
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As it reads the true dragon quality can be inteerpreted in a few different ways I think
why refer to another quality in another book instead of listing the quality in CoD (essentially making it a variation) instead of listing the complete true dragon quallity in one place?
It would have make things a lot clearer and less ambiiguous....
Even one metahuman version is cool.
So can I add a metahuman overlay on it as well? eg an Ork/Troll/Human/Elf/Dwarf etc wiith the True Dragon quality?
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It wasn't supposed to be that drastic a difference rules-wise. Looking back at the notes and discussions, yes, you're supposed to pay for both the metatype and the True Drake Quality. And it is supposed to be one metahuman form, which goes back to that "The Great Dragons are taking shortcuts."
That said, if I ever stat a holdover Drake, they would have Metahuman Form and a lot of other powers you don't want to go up against.
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Diehard Gaming Fan review of The Clutch of Dragons (http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/08/15/tabletop-review-shadowrun-the-clutch-of-dragons/)
EDITED FOR CORRECT LINK
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Corrected link:
http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/08/15/tabletop-review-shadowrun-the-clutch-of-dragons/ (http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/08/15/tabletop-review-shadowrun-the-clutch-of-dragons/)
Great review - looking forward to diving into this one even more now. ;D
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Just bought this a few days ago, and wow. Lots of exciting things in here. But I'm afraid I missed the whole Horizon part... when did all that stuff in Vegas happen (and in which book)?
The last book I got before this was Shadowrun 2050 (and Gun Heaven 2 before that).
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Just bought this a few days ago, and wow. Lots of exciting things in here. But I'm afraid I missed the whole Horizon part... when did all that stuff in Vegas happen (and in which book)?
The last book I got before this was Shadowrun 2050 (and Gun Heaven 2 before that).
The Vegas stuff formed a substantial part of the Twilight Horizon book.
Though it was probably brewing all the way back to Emergence, if not System Failure or even further.
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Ahh thanks. I do remember Emergence but the stuff they talk about in CoD made me raise my eyebrows a bit. I've actually missed out on a lot of the Horizon stuff.
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I wonder what Winterhawk meant by "Interacting with those [True drakes] who have come under the Draco Foundation’s protection was o ften like trying to have a conversation with /dev/grrl."
In reference to their being young, clueless, and easily impressionable by the wrong people?
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Yes.
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Thanks, James Meiers.
I keep having a plot hook rattling around in my brain-- one of these 'true drakes' showing up at the runners' current hangout in the rain, in their metahuman form, barely alive (gunshot wounds, blade wounds, claw wounds), dripping blood thinned by the downpour. In one hand, she is clutching a doccase (Which is filled with a mix of credsticks, scrip from half the AAA corps, and uncut gems, the amount about right for a good pay for a 'run).
She gasps out a phrase in an unknown language, remembers where she is, utters "Please... help..." and passes out.
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Very nice.
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One last review, before I'm ran out of books to read.
The Clutch of Dragons is a sourcebook of 154 pages, divided into 19 chapters. The cover reads "a deep shadows sourcebook" which as far as I understand (http://www.shadowrun4.com/products/deep-shadows-sourcebooks/) means it's a themed sourcebook with a bit of gear at the end (officially, War!, Spy Games, Conspiracy Theories and Hazard Pay are Deep Shadows Sourcebooks, though only Spy Games admitted it on its cover). If you consider TCOD only have stats for two piece of equipment that are both in the prototype stage or so and not available for sell, you can call it a setting sourcebook for the sake of it. Anyway...
Enter the Dragon is a 3-pages long short story (4 pages counting a full page illustration) about a runner team inside a dragon's lair. Interesting for the demonstration of tactical software use.
War at 10,000 meters is a 22-pages chapter on the dragon "civil war". It starts with the information on the killings of talismongers that sold dragon body parts, drakes, and people involved in own-cycle dragon hunt, and nobody knows who's doing that. So much for a civil war of dragons fighting each other. By the way, no, dragons are not fighting each other directly with their bare claws, and instead use runners to strike at each others' interests, steal artefacts, spy on, and so on. I say it once because it must be a major point. Otherwise, the authors wouldn't have felt the urge to hammer it repeatedly throughout the book.
Then comes a part on Lofwyr. At least, the title suggests that. Well, it has info on Lofwyr and Hestaby and Alamais actions. If you don't know yet, Alamais has laired with a dozen of dragons in the "Gemito" triangle (Geneo-Milano-Turin) in Northern Italy, and have been attacking and eating people in plain day, an estimated 300 a day, 54,000 over the last six months. This gets about a third of a page. Nothing too big (to let you understand how important this is, negociations over Denver budget and taxes will get about the same length in a later chapter). The following part is 2 pages on... Hestaby. So, if you want to gather information on Hestaby, you'll have to look into the part titled "Lofwyr" and the part titled "Hestaby". But the later also has information on Schwarzkopf, Celedyr, Mujaji... To put it another way, those two titles are meaningless, and it's just six and half a page on the dragon civil war.
The first half of the chapter tries to summarize all the thing about dragon that happened in the last few books, and add some more on top of that. The problem is, it often fails to properly explain things. First example, Hestaby speech at the UN. Page 10, she did one and it warned the humanity that dragons can be dangerous. Page 15, she asked for a dragon indictment for war crimes. Then only on page 19 we learn it was about Sirrurg attacks in Aztlan. Second example, Elliot of the Wyrms. We learn he has been assassinated and that's it relevant to the situation on page 10. We learn on page 20 that Hestaby may know something about his death, and only on page 62 (that is, in another chapter) that she is angry about his death. Hooray, at that point, I can deduce Elliot probably was a servant of Hestaby. The audience that haven't read the previous book will be lost, the audience that have will be bored.
The book somewhat slows down with 7 pages on Ghostwalker and what happens upon his return to Denver (though it still has the occasional lack of information, like, who's Iain Lesker?). At that point, you realize it has one incredible great thing that missed so far and are called "intertitles". Every page or so, there are a few words in bold font that let you know or guess what the following text will be about, and find it back quickly on when you come back. Whoever wrote the wall-of-text in the first half of the chapter should have used some. It reintroduces Zebulon, the reunited spirit of Denver, who now acts as a consort to Ghostwalker, influencing him a lot. In Game Information, we will be told Zebulon is not just the spirit of Denver: Ghostwalker merged the astral form of his late dragon mate with the city's reunited spirit.
After that, there are 2 pages on Sirrurg, now operating in the north of Aztlan, and striking targets in Aztlan, Pueblo and the CAS.
Echoing the roar is a 18-pages long chapter on metahumans (or at least, non-dragons) playing a role related to the dragon war: Harlequin, Ryan Mercury and his drakes army, the UCAS government, the Draco Foundation, Johnny Spinrad and the Corporate Court.
The part on Harlequin has little interest, since a two-part short story later in the book will tell us really much more things. Not much to say on the rest. The part on the UCAS tries to suggest the Canadian-American government has some powers and can play a role in the ongoing world events. But they do nothing. The Draco Foundation doesn't change a lot, it's just a revamped board with new people. Johnny Spinrad moved to Asia, and now has Rolf Bremen, formerly of Saeder-Krupp, as his second-in-command.
Trickle-Down Effects is a 13-pages long chapter on things that are so remotely related to dragons that if you skip one line, you may never know how.
It starts with two and half a page on Seraphim. I missed them, and it's rather in line with what I imagined for them. After Cross end, the Seraphim joined a number of organizations, and not only Ares. I'm still dubious at the Vatican connection (as I say, devout christians would have been far more respectful in their use of biblical codenames). There's also no mention of the Proteus connection, which I think has a lot of untapped potential. Anyway, the real deal is that a group of Seraphim are planning a revenge on Ares and Damien Knight, and are ready to ally with anybody to reach that goal.
The next part is about some operations launched against Yakuza interests, how Art Dankwalther made "dry run" before attacking Neonet, and concludes that someone is planning a large scale attack against a dragon's interests. I see one big leap of logic here. That one would have been better suited for Conspiracy Theories.
The part of shedims gives us an update on the New Islamic Jihad, and a bit of explanation on the "shades" from Artifacts Unbound. It now seems the special forces operator bodies possessed by shedims are not just serving a master shedim, but get their order from the Pentagon. But the most important piece of information is now the Watergate Rift has been closed, no new shedim can get in. Only those already on Earth remain.
The last part of the chapter is a list of shadowrun types and how they could be different because of the dragon war. I didn't find it very interesting. There's actually one major piece of metaplot information in, but if you're like me, you won't even notice it.
The Thing We Do For Love is a two-parts short story, 3 and 5 pages. We follow Harlequin as he meets with Lugh Surehand in the first part, and Aden, Domingo Chavez of Aztechnology and Ghostwalker in the second part. To spoil a lot, Harlequin thinks Ghostwalker performed the ritual in Washington for the sole purpose of bringing back is loved one, and killed Aina, Harlequin's loved one, in the process. Harlequin wants to take vengeance, and ally himself with Aztechnology to get it. His decision shocked me the first time I heard about it, but it actually fits well with the clown. For once, someone is considering Aztechnology as something else than just the absolute big bad. It remains to be seen how this ends. But unless someone comes up with an incredibly well-thought out twist, I think it'll be disappointing if it doesn't end with the death of either Ghostwalker or Harlequin.
Ten chapters, between four and seven pages, each describe a dragon and his activities. Three of them are great dragons, the other are "only" adults, which makes them more "reasonable" for PC to oppose (especially the two in Seattle).
- Aden is still in the Middle East, Morocco to Iran. Nothing special.
- The author of the Celedyr obviously wanted to write on Albuquerque, not on a dragon. So the chapter is only about two of Celedyr secret projects in Albuquerque. The Jackpoint file is the story of a run as told by a runner, complete with discussions and how the floor looks like and discussions. Unless you plan on having your PC get through the exact same conversations, information of actual use could have been given in two pages max.
- Henequen is a feathered serpent heading an import-export corporation, who left Denver because of Ghostwalker and settled in Cheyenne. The chapter is actually called Henequen in Cheyenne, which I fund somewhat ironic after the previous chapter, moreover since Henequen continued activities in Denver are also covered. For once, you see a dragon struggling to make allies and fend off enemies among Sioux criminals and spies.
- Damon is dragon partying in nightclubs and investing money into those that are not cool enough yet for him to party, drugs dealing included. He moved to Boston, plus a few trips in Salem to spice up wiccan celebrations.
- Fucanglong is a dragon that just left his lair under the terracotta army in China. Or he di it a decade ago, it's not clear. The chapter is mostly about people learning there's a new dragon, and not so much about what the dragon actually does.
- Kalanyr is a dragon that settled in Redmond Glow City, and invests in estate and housing throughout Seattle. I laughed a bit when it says earthquakes are unusual... in Seattle.
- Naheka is a former follower of Mujaji, who went to serve Ryumyo instead. Ryumyo gave him control of Hawai'i, and a growing share of Yakuza clans.
- Perianyr is the music loving dragon, with a music label. Made the headlines in march 2074 as he prevented Ghostwalker from killing Aztechnology CEO and Aztlan president with a super-levitation spell. And some guts I guess.
- The Sea Dragon is the last of his kind. She thus reign on all the oceans floor, and is trying to obtain dragon eggs and set them (since a dragon form does depend on who set them, not who lay them).
- Urubia is a second dragon in Redmond, Seattle. She established a big nightclub-casino-brothel who became the neutral meeting place for local gangs who now work with her.
The War Room is a 4-pages short story (plus a full page illustration). Dragons from all over the world meet in a Saeder-Krupp building in Hong Kong (in human forms !). I didn't like it, mostly because the great dragons' dialogues are rather dull. Aden and Lung talk to Lofwyr as if the Loremaster title made him their chief or something, and the strategy they devise is about as subtle as a Korean MMORPG. It's a long way from Survival of the Fittest introduction.
Tools of the Opposition is a 67pages chapters on weapons developed to face dragons. There's an Aztechnology nano-weapon targeting dragon DNA, an UCAS aerial drone, a CAS aerial drone, the use of spirits as pilots, plus some comments on dragons abilities. A bit verbose in places.
Game Information is a 12 pages chapter. Since I complained in the past about the lack of clear, objective out-of-context information in Conspiracy Theorie, I can only rejoice. Well, at least for some part. For instance, the chapter "War at 10,000 meters" had things about talismongers, drakes, Lofwyr, Alamais, Hestaby, Ghostwalker, Sirrurg... In the Game Information, the part titled "War at 10,000 meters" only has information on Ghostwalker and Denver.
There are a bit more information on the UCAS governments, and stats for Harlequin (copied from Street Legends Supplemental, a generic Seraphim, the aforementioned shedim commando called "shades", a few artefacts the Draco Foundation keeps, a runner team who get mentioned only once in the book as not getting part the ongoing events (so why are they here?), the head of Sioux intelligence (with knowledge skills unworthy of her position), two dragons (Kalanyr and Perianwyr), the UCAS drone prototype and the prototype built by Aztechnology after the spec of the drone the CAS developed from plans stolen from Aztechnology (Got lost? Me too). And Miles Lanier (copied from Street Legends). Miles Lanier?
I pause. Miles Lanier, for those who may not know, is/was Richard Villiers right-hand man at Novatech and Neonet. In the last few campaign books, he was on the run for no apparent reasons, him hiding, Villiers searching him. And not a clue about the reason for that. Was this related to dragons? I didn't remember reading anything about this, so I used the search function to find back where Lanier was mentioned. And so it was in that uninteresting and uninspiring part of the The Trickle Down Effect about run typology. So there are rumors of Lanier having personality disorder. Relation to dragon? None yet. One page to go to get one.
The section that follows Miles Lanier stats is called "Nest, Caves and Hoards". It actually contains nearly no information regarding nests, caves and hoards, but only about dragons' activities. Each subsection is titled after one of the dragon it describes, except for the first, which is titled "Albuquerque". Makes sense, in its own twisted way.
The Clutch of Dragons, page 142
[Celedyr] larger interest is technological, looking at ways consciousness can move between biological and technological containers. The research has shown some promising leads, but there are also issues that will be developed more in future Shadowrun books. For the time being, keep the focus on Celedyr’s research into consciousness, and perhaps provide hints of some disturbed people who have been experimental subjects (see description of Miles Lanier, p. 141).
I personally frowned upon the use of the imperative tense to address gamemasters, but if I'm quoting that part, it was to point out how we finally get to learn what's going on with Miles Lanier. Would it have been to much to ask for a full sentence?
Overall, The Clutch of Dragons is providing plots and metaplot advances by the ton. Too much. It would just have been so much better if they first had been sorted, checked, fully developed and hierarchized, maybe some of them dropped, to make sure that all the relevant information are in, and that you can find them back easily when you want them. The major plot of the book is a war between dragons. You'd think something like a list telling on which side of the conflict each of the major dragons is, and which ones are still undecided, would be they key to follow what's going on. I've read the book from cover to cover, and if I was searching for that information, I know I'd start with Conspiracy Theories instead. I really see a difference between plots that are clearly explained, and those who just throw information at you. It can also be fun sometimes to let the reader hunt throughout the book hints of the bigger picture. If that was the intent, it was a failure. The Miles Lanier thing for instance, was far more frustrating than it was fun to figure out.
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I have to say, as someone who hasn't had a chance to read all the recent material (and has trouble remember the details anyway), I found the book read like I was missing half the story. I had previously read enough (mostly here on the forum though) to understand whats up with Hestiby, but so many characters, so many agencies, so many half-suggested plots... I was really lost sometimes. And it was hard to get the context for the man on the street. Do people know that Dragons are kidnapping people, for unknown reasons? That there is a shadowwar to recruit Drakes, that the talismonger thing seemed to evolve through the chapter. One moment they are getting slaughtered, the next its died down, but other people are now getting hit, and the FBI have been set up, and some Dragons are looking to make a public statement with heavy casulties and and and.... whew... oh and thats just one example. There is plenty of stuff that seems interesting, but I just don't get the significance. Whats up with the board reshuffling for the Foundation. What does the Foundation really 'do' anymore except hold a bunch of unclaimed relics?
It would have been nice to gather and summarise more. Have a chapter that just focused on the rampage in texas/aztlan/PCC and the various responses to that, then lead into the Denver situation and settle that (and perhaps have a nice table on whos who somewhere). Maybe more structured profiles, not just essays, some of which rambled a bit and went all sorts of places.
Oh, and this is one book that could have done with a bit more crunch. Things like the Dracoforms expanded (what were those things in the opening fiction), defenses (particularly given there is so much mention of dragon lairs etc), magic and spirit allies that dragons have access to. Mabye rules or ideas on what you can actually do with dragon samples. Sample rituals or talismongs or something.
I enjoyed the book, I really did, but I was so lost most the time...
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Always tricky with the summaries. I ran into that with Dirty Tricks. Space is limited ... do I repeat what's in the Sixth World Almanac or the Shadows Across North America book, or do I assume that people have those and build on what came before? How much should you check back and how much should you press forward?
It's a tough balance.