Where the issues come in are for those writing sourcebooks or modules for the game - i.e. me, Raellus, Legbreaker, whoever else there may be - there we had that straightjacket situation
I.e. with the link to 2300AD you couldnt have a situation where you wrote a sourcebook or module to have the players be part of an effort to retake Southern California from Mexico or Texas that succeeds because it was pre-ordained that Mexico still had those areas in 2300AD (or for Texas that it became independent after a century of Mexican occupation)
Or where Germany tries to put the pieces back together - because the 2300AD timeline said that doesnt happen for nearly 300 years
For the rest its not quite the same situation - in your own campaign you are free to ignore what you like - as I said my own GM had us finding three nuclear armed Tomahawks to take out Ploesti as part of Last Submarine and when we got on board the Soviet ballistic sub it was to try to take her intact and bring her home in Boomer - i.e. that was his campaign not a change to anything official
But if you are trying to write something official for the game or that could be made canon then you have to keep 2300AD in mind for any V1 or V2.2 release - i.e. you have the canon timeline and canon events to deal with
Now however with V4 that wont be there - which will make it a very different thing indeed to write for -
But for players and GM's it was never really the issue it was for others - it more the fodder for discussions between those who defend the canon as sacrosanct (i.e. that the 2300AD canon must be respected even if it makes little sense in certain places) versus those who are open to changes
FYI as an example thats why you see South Africa expanding in the sourcebook I wrote - because I was setting up how Azania came into being in 2300AD (and thus obeyed the pre-ordained canon link between the two timelines)
its also why one sourcebook I was writing for publication was stillborn - because it had the concept of MilGov driving the Mexicans south of LA because of the water situation there (i.e. they cut off the water and the Mexicans had to withdraw to the San Diego area) - but that doesnt match 2300AD for the original versions of the timeline so at best it would have been fan canon
Depending on the history that is presented in V4 such a sourcebook/adventure module could be done there - because there is no fixed point in time (ok yes I love Doctor Who too) that must be respected in the future - i.e. its wide open
So yes that makes me even more excited for the new version - and for the opportunities it will have for those who want to contribute to the canon of the game (hopefully a whole new crop of writers out there) as well as those who want to play it
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