Platinum
So Shadowrun just basically ruined its own setting. It's gone from cyberpunk to plain ol' post-apocalyptic.
Zita
Lol what did they do?
Zita
Or is this just the ongoing
Platinum
First: Insect spirits (which are super nasty critters that want to possess all of humanity in this setting) are now roaming the streets and stronger than ever.
Platinum
Second: They repealed the Business Recognition Accords, which means that megacorporations no longer have extraterritoriality and are subject to UCAS laws again.
Platinum
Third: They set off EMPs in every city of the United Canadian American States, essentially killing everyone with cyberware.
Platinum
Fourth: The corporations are refusing to cooperate with humanitarian aid and are working to slow down the UN, so chunks of the UCAS are being snapped up by surrounding nations like Free Quebec and the Native American Nations.
Platinum
Meanwhile, the people inside have no functioning cyberware, many of their guns are now non-functional because they operated with electronics, the traffic grids no longer work...
Platinum
Oh, and some fog has 'devoured' a third of the UCAS military and a bunch of cities in Pennsylvania.
Zita
Jesus
CJ
what the fuck
Platinum
Also, Detroit got nuked.
Platinum
For those who wanna know what counts as the UCAS:
6LilacMimeLions
since when is seattle part of ucas
Zita
/conveys this to the bewildered Shadowrun group
Platinum
It's always been a part of the UCAS, it's just had a longer leash than the rest of the country.
Christmas Shard
This. This makes no sense.
6LilacMimeLions
coulda sworn it was independent in 2e
6LilacMimeLions
(i'm old)
Christmas Shard
I'm amused that Quebec got independence at last, though.
Platinum
Yeah, Quebec seceded in 2010 or 2012, forget which.
Platinum
I remember having fun with a character from there because French was the only legal language spoken. They just... pretended not to understand English if they heard something they didn't like from people.
Platinum
The dumb thing?
Platinum
2E and 3E had it canon that EMPs couldn't affect 'modern' electronics because everything ran on optical chips.
Platinum
Man.
Platinum
I'd still play 1-4E, but.
Platinum
This is broken.
6LilacMimeLions
i mean it sounds like gamma world except boring
Platinum
Ah, Seattle and St. Louis are now free cities.
Platinum
Ruled by the Megacorps.
Platinum
And Ares has removed all assets from the UCAS and set themselves up in the Confederate American States.
Zita
Oh my godddd
Platinum
One can only imagine what the toxic/blood/other spirits that thrive on human misery are doing now.
Christmas Shard
...This really doesn't sound very Shadowrun-y.
Platinum
That's been the problem with Catalyst.
Platinum
Every edition they've had, it's moved further and further away from Shadowrun.
Platinum
And they keep tossing in these massive world-shaking plots.
Platinum
I'm just kinda like
Platinum
why would you make this massive status quo shift AFTER launching a new edition
Platinum
There's a ton of stuff, like
Platinum
ugh
Platinum
I'm gonna go cook something.
Zita
Group is teasing the GM about how the awful situation he set them up to avert is just canon now
Platinum
Sorry, GM, CGL hates your plot specifically.
Platinum
Also, Kentucky seceded and is now a member of the CAS.
Christmas Shard
This all just feels very unnecessary. Like, if you want to do a post-apocalypse RPG, do that. If you want to use Shadowrun basics, make it an offshoot, not an entirely new edition.
Zita
Luckily they're running 4th so not their problem
Christmas Shard
Make it a splatbook! That'd work just fine.
Platinum
Oh, pfft
Platinum
Turns out that one of their writers, the guy who plays Bull?
Platinum
Is writing an "Isekai/LitRPG" on the side.
Platinum
also fffff what is Catalyst smoking?
Platinum
Platinum
It's 176 pages long