How will the time line progress...

[kosten07]

Is it going to be set in current Shadowrun or are you going to go back and start from the beginning and then have expansions for Bug City, Renraku Archology, etc etc...?

I mean omg Bug City MMO.... I think I just nerdgasmed!

[Dimetime]

This answer and others are in Sangius' The big Shadowrun Online Question/Answer Thread
which is stickied at the top of this forum. 

Question: which edition are you basing the game on - I'm assuming 4th, but 3rd doesn't seem impossible. you wouldn't go all the way back to 2....would you?

Quote from: primetide

    The setting will be 4th edition to remain consistent with storyline (and allow crossovers from and into printed products), but we will try and conserve the more punky and rougher feeling of previous editions.

[kosten07]

Setting could mean a lot of things, that doesn't necessarily mean the actual time line.

[Sangius]

Try looking from the Question 'is the game set in Seattle? if so, any chance for missions that take you out of Seattle? Denver, Chicago and NYC could all make for fun games. is it crazy to hope for different servers hosting different in-game cities?'

Anyhow, I really like the question about whether there'll expansions for, e.g., the arcology in Seattle or Bug City. I hope primetide can say something about that soon (my best guess sounds something like this 'good idea, we will always add new content after the game started and with more money in our back, bigger projects become a possibility')

And to be more exact on the timeline question:
"The intention is to have a shared plot." - and I think this was refering to the current edition. So the game would be based somewhere around 2070ish

[primetide]

Is it going to be set in current Shadowrun or are you going to go back and start from the beginning and then have expansions for Bug City, Renraku Archology, etc etc...?

I mean omg Bug City MMO.... I think I just nerdgasmed!

Timeline is current date SR... bug city would be nice...but perhaps we can twist the future to get something like that back again?

[primetide]

Anyhow, I really like the question about whether there'll expansions for, e.g., the arcology in Seattle or Bug City. I hope primetide can say something about that soon (my best guess sounds something like this 'good idea, we will always add new content after the game started and with more money in our back, bigger projects become a possibility')

what he said
Also: expansions will be permanently created- we do have an ongoing plot...

[Sangius]

It kind of suits the original name of the topic and I think it's a very important question:
Have you guys given any thought as to how time will be handled in regard to the characters we play? For example: If you have a date given in the interface and it progresses at the same time the time IRL does (1 hour offgame = 1 hour ingame) and to acquire a certain skill would, according to the rulebook ,cost three weeks, that would be very tedious. Same if your runner had to enter a shadowclinic and, according to the rules, her/his healing process would take around three months. Clearly, this is not an option. On the other hand: one shouldn't ignore certain time-limits either, or? It would be kind of weird if your character just had to be patched up in a clinic, then learned three new skills and now, suddenly, after ten seconds IRL time, (s)he's good to go again ... But then again, for a fun game to play, this might the perfect thing. No one wants to have to log offline and stop playing just because (s)he's learning a new skill - this is not supposed to be like those other 'normal' browsergames, right?

And, related to this: If the interface provides you ingame with a date, it would be great to have the same for all players (everyone who knows the books then could even eagerly await ingame events who happen on a certain time which correlates to the ingame date and the timeline given in the printmedia publications), or?

[primetide]

Idon't think we can sync the time to RL - simply put: firefights would require you to have super-human reflexes to do them and healing would have you walk away for a few weeks from the game.
However we do intend to use time as a factor. Such as: Game time isn't limbo, it runs close to RL. Meaning if you have "24h to pull off that mission", you actually DO have 24h. Which isn't much of an issue with regards to healing etc., but we will simulate time use with Action Points. So healing may take you 5 action points (even though it is really opnly a few seconds of player action in the interface) and if you then do legwork, you only have say 10 more AP left. And AP regenerate over 24h, so now you need to think: do you want to try the mission now or wait...but not for too long...to regenerate AP
we will progress time in the game, but not linearly like that

[DarkLloyd]

Cool. That addresses one of the concerns I had.

[kosten07]

Well the great thing about Shadowrun is that it has magic AND VR, so going back in time is a snap!

[Decivre]

Here's an interesting idea: even though it's set in 2070+, would it be possible to have flashback missions that take you to classic events from prior to the game's main setting? Would be something different than what most MMOs allow you to do.

That, or you can just do special missions that are non-canonical ways for your characters to participate in old events. No effect on the storyline, just a fun way to relive classic SR events.

[Urza]

The main problem with flashbacks is you're using current tech like AR which wouldn't mesh well with older storylines.  You could however have a Simsense type of mission where the team does some historical reenacting for fun and they don't mind some atemporal things like AR or the latest samurai upgrades.

[Dimetime]

I think it would be neat if they had those "old or past events" available through simsense or some other media in game feature. I wouldn't want them being actual missions used to progress. I've never been one, though, to want to walk in someone else's shoes. I much prefer to establish my own adventures and forge new trails.

[Yardarm]

I think it would be neat if they had those "old or past events" available through simsense or some other media in game feature. I wouldn't want them being actual missions used to progress. I've never been one, though, to want to walk in someone else's shoes. I much prefer to establish my own adventures and forge new trails.

in-game simsense is a great idea. you don't need all your gear and whatnot, choose from a set of pre-mades with some friends and go to Bug City, or Shutdown the Arcology. call it "Choose-Your-Own-'Run" Simsense. oh man, the amount of money I would pay...

[primetide]

that is a cool idea to allow for crazy mission settings as well...hmm....intriguing