Citizendia

This article is about the pen & paper RPG. For other uses, see Shadowrun (disambiguation).
Shadowrun
Image:Shadowrun4.jpg
Shadowrun 4th edition cover
DesignerBob Charrette
Paul Hume
Tom Dowd
PublisherFASA Corporation
Fantasy Productions
Catalyst Game Labs
Publication date1989 (1st edition)
1992 (2nd edition)
1998 (3rd edition)
2005 (4th edition)
Genre(s)Cyberpunk fantasy
SystemCustom
Set in the same world as Earthdawn, millennia later

Shadowrun is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in an imaginary future where huge corporations control the lives of their employees and the return of magic has altered people, politics and power. A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer Robert N Charrette (born 1953 has worked as a graphic artist game designer art director commercial sculptor and author A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer This article is about a city in Iran. See FASA for the roleplaying game company or the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a trade group representing Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (aka FanPro) is a German publishing company based in Erkrath. Catalyst Game Labs was created in May 2007 by InMediaRes Productions LLC for the purpose of publishing print Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Earthdawn is a Fantasy Role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993 A millennium (pl millennia) is a period of Time equal to one thousand Years (from Latin la mille, thousand and la annum A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. When conflicts arise the corporations, governments, wealthy individuals and even organized crime can subcontract their dirty work to specialists. The most skilled of these specialists, called shadowrunners, have earned a reputation for getting the job done and have developed a knack for staying alive. In this game the player characters are shadowrunners who try to accomplish the mission presented by the game master. A player character or playable character (PC is a Fictional character in a Video game or Role playing game who is controlled or controllable A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer Game who acts as organizer arbitrator and officiant in rules situations

Since the return of magic in 2011 some humans have taken on their natural form, humans we now call elf, dwarf, ork or troll. When a player creates a character they choose for the character to be human or one of the human subtypes, and makes choices regarding body augmentation (cyberware), magic abilities, skills and gear. Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a Proto-science, or more adequately a “proto-technology” During play the players roll 6-sided dice to decide the outcome of their efforts, be it talking their way past a security guard, hacking their way into a corporate network or shooting their way out of a gang war. Upon completion of an adventure the GM awards points, called Karma, that allow the character to improve their attributes or abilities. A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer Game who acts as organizer arbitrator and officiant in rules situations

The Shadowrun world is cross-genre, incorporating elements of both cyberpunk and urban fantasy. Cross-genre (Also known as Hybrid) is a term that refers to Fiction or media, such as movies, Books Music, or Video Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. Urban fantasy is a subset of Contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary real-world urban settings--as opposed to 'traditional' The game has spawned a Shadowrun collectible card game, a Shadowrun action figure game, four video games, two magazines, an art book and more than 75 novels. Shadowrun The Trading Card Game is a Collectible card game set in the world of Shadowrun. Shadowrun Duels was a collectable miniatures game produced by WizKids, and based on the Shadowrun RPG originally produced by FASA. In addition to the main rule book (now in its fourth edition) there have been over 100 supplemental books published with adventures and expansions to both the rules and the game setting.

Contents

Production history

Shadowrun was developed and published by FASA Corporation from 1989 until early 2001, when FASA closed its doors and the property was transferred to WizKids (a company founded by people from FASA). This article is about a city in Iran. See FASA for the roleplaying game company or the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a trade group representing WizKids Inc is an American Seattle -based company that first made its mark in the game industry producing collectible miniatures wargames. WizKids licenses the RPG rights, originally to FanPro (who were already publishing for the German version), and currently to Catalyst Game Labs (a publishing imprint of InMediaRes). Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (aka FanPro) is a German publishing company based in Erkrath. Catalyst Game Labs was created in May 2007 by InMediaRes Productions LLC for the purpose of publishing print Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun InMediaRes Productions LLC was founded in 2003 by Loren and Heather Coleman & Tara and Randall N WizKids itself produced an unsuccessful collectible action figure game based on the property called Shadowrun Duels. For the record label see Collectables Records For the Ashanti album see Collectables by Ashanti A collectable An action figure is a posable character Figurine, made of Plastic or other materials and often based upon a movie, Comic book, Video game Shadowrun Duels was a collectable miniatures game produced by WizKids, and based on the Shadowrun RPG originally produced by FASA.

The Shadowrun role-playing game, various expansions, and a Shadowrun collectible card game have won Origins Awards. Shadowrun The Trading Card Game is a Collectible card game set in the world of Shadowrun. The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry The fourth edition also won the prestigious independent Ennie Awards for Best Rules as well as for Best Product in 2006. The Annual Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (or ENnie Awards) are annual fan-based awards for Role-playing game products and publishers hosted at Gen Con in

Shadowrun's fourth and current edition was released at GenCon in August, 2005, and brought significant changes to the game's system and setting. Gen Con is the one of the largest Despite a recent lawsuit from Lucasfilm and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 15, The new system caused some controversy among fans, although third-party reviews were positive. FanPro USA had some problems with their production schedule and the game was out of print from December 2006 to April 2007. In April it was announced that production and development of the game was changing hands to the aforementioned Catalyst Games, and publishing of the core game and new supplements has resumed. [1]

Foreign Language Editions

The Shadowrun core rules along with some supplements are or were published in several other languages:[2]

Setting

Races

Characters in Shadowrun can be humans, orks, trolls, elves and dwarves, as well as certain diverging subspecies (known as metavariants) such as gnomes, giants, minotaurs, etc. Orc (OR'k is a word used to refer to a race of various tough and warlike humanoid creatures in various Fantasy settings appearing originally in the stories A troll is a fearsome member of a race of creatures from Norse mythology. An elf is a creature of Norse mythology. The elves were originally imagined as a race of minor nature and fertility gods, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming DWARF is a widely used standardized Debugging data format. DWARF was originally designed along with ELF, although it is independent of Object file A gnome is a Mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and subterranean lifestyle The Mythology and Legends of many different Cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( Greek:, Mīnṓtauros) was a creature that was part man and part bull. As magic returned to the world, Humans began to give birth to elf and dwarf infants, a phenomenon called Unexplained Genetic Expression, or "UGE". Later, some juvenile and adult humans "goblinized" into other races (mostly orks, but also some trolls). The term "metahuman" is used either to refer to humanity as a whole, including all races, or to refer specifically to non-human races, depending on context. Metahuman is a term to describe Superhumans in DC Comics ' Shared universe, the DC Universe. With the return of Halley's Comet new human variants called "changelings" arose. Halley's Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley and also referred to as Comet Halley after Edmond Halley, is a Comet that can be seen every While not as many people were affected by this change as the previous "goblinizations" it was enough to spark new controversy in the Awakened World, especially since changelings were frequently regarded as mutants or freaks due to the large variety of exotic traits they show.

Two of the metahuman races have fictional languages. Fictional languages are by far the largest group of Artistic languages Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world and are often designed with Many elves speak Sperethiel which some of them, being immortal, remember from the last age of magic. Some orks speak Or'zet, which was forgotten until the will of an assassinated dragon released The Or’zet Codex to the public.

Additionally, a virus known as HMHVV (Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus) with many variant strains, has been known to cause further change, frequently resulting in Bandersnatches, Banshees, Dzoo-noo-quas, Goblins, Ghouls, Nosferatus, Vampires, Wendigos, Wild Fomorians and other fierce abominations that are no longer human and sometimes no longer even sentient. Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus, commonly called HMHVV, is a fictional disease from the game Shadowrun. The Bandersnatch is a fictional creature mentioned in Lewis Carroll 's Poems Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark The banshee (ˈbænʃiː from the Irish bean sí ("woman of the síde " or "woman of the Fairy mounds " is a Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus, commonly called HMHVV, is a fictional disease from the game Shadowrun. A goblin is an evil crabby or Mischievous Creature of Folklore, often described as a grotesquely disfigured or Gnome -like phantom A ghoul is a Monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror is a German Expressionist film by F Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living The Wendigo (also Windigo, Weendigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow, and numerous other variants is a mythical creature In Irish mythology, the Fomorians, Fomors, or Fomori ( Irish Fomóiri, Fomóraig) were a semi-divine race who inhabited

Game background

Further information: Shadowrun timeline

The game is set in the year 2071,[3] following a great cataclysm that has brought use of magic back to the world, just as it begins to embrace the marvels (and dangers) of technologies such as cyberspace, omnipresent computer networks, genetic engineering, and the merger of man and machine called cyberware. This is a fictional timeline of the Shadowrun Role-playing game. Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed A computer network is a group of interconnected Computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics Genetic engineering, Recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a Proto-science, or more adequately a “proto-technology”

The emergence of magic, the outbreak of the VITAS plagues (Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome), the Computer Crash of 2029 (caused by a complex and nearly unstoppable computer virus called "The Crash Entity"), the Euro-Wars, in which the western-European countries once fought off an invasion from neo-communist Russia and then a pan-Islamic invasion like that of 800 years ago, and the fevers for independence of Amerindian tribes, Chinese provinces, etc. This is a fictional timeline of the Shadowrun Role-playing game. A computer virus is a Computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National left the world's governments tumbling and falling. With the fall of the existing political structures, mega-corporations emerged as the new superpowers.

The Nations

As the world endured the string of state-changing events and conflicts, the political landscape fragmented and reformed. In North America, for example, some nations broke apart and reformed, as was the case with the Confederated American States and the United Canadian and American States; others became havens for specific racial or ethnic groups, like the councils of the Native American Nations or the Elvish principality of Tír Tairngire; and some, like the California Free State, simply declared independence, or became defacto corporate subsidiaries like Aztlan to Aztechnology. Despite the new role of megacorporations, many nations still hold considerable sway through economic, social and military means.

The Corporations

The monolithic "enemies" of the Shadowrun world (borrowing heavily from cyberpunk mythos) are the Corporations, dubbed "Megacorporations", "Megacorps", or simply "megas" or "corps" for short. Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. Megacorporations in the 21st century are global, with all but the smallest corps owning multiple subsidiaries and divisions around the world. They are the superpowers of the Shadowrun universe, with the largest corporations having far more political, economic, and military power than even the most powerful nation-states.

In Shadowrun, corporations are effectively "ranked" by the amount of assets under their control, including material, personnel, and property, as well as profit. These ranks are A, AA, and AAA; AAA corporations are top tier. Most corporations in the AA and AAA level are immune to domestic law, responsible only to themselves, and regulated only by the Corporate Court, an assembly of the ten AAA-rated corporations.

All AAA-rated and most AA-rated corporations exhibit a privilege known as “extraterritoriality”, meaning that any land owned by the corp is sovereign territory only to the corp and immune to any laws of the country within. Corporate territory is not foreign soil but corporate soil, just like its employees are corporate citizens, though dual citizenship in a corporation and a nation is common.

The AAA corps, as well as numerous minor corporations, fight each other not only in the boardroom or during high-level business negotiations but also with physical destruction, clandestine operations, hostile extraction or elimination of vital personnel, and other means of sabotage. Because no corporation wants to be held liable for damages, it has to be done by deniable assets, or shadowrunners, invisible to the system where every citizen is tagged with a System Identification Number (SIN).

Shadowrunners fall outside the structured corporate world. Many are outcasts, having risen from the streets or fallen from corporate or government ranks. Their ranks include idealists and pragmatists, professionals and amateurs, disillusioned ex-corp/government/military personnel who have thrown off the shackles of corp society to achieve freedom and those who have never known any life outside the shadows. The one thing they have in common is that through necessity or by choice, they work in the shadows cast by the gigantic corporate buildings. Players of Shadowrun most commonly assume the role of these shadowrunners.

The Big Ten

The Big Ten, the AAA Megacorporations (as of 2070):

[Leonard] Aurelius’ father founded Ares Industries, the company that grew into Ares Macrotechnology. Nicholas Aurelius engineered the NASA buyout in 2016 and made Ares a megacorporation prior to Knight’s involvement. Knight himself only appeared on the scene in 2033, when he acquired 22 percent of Ares’ stock through his infamous Nanosecond Buyout. (Nigel D. Findley. Nigel D Findley (1959-1995 was the author of a number of books for Role-playing games. Corporate Shadowfiles. ©1993, FASA Corporation, Chicago, IL. This article is about a city in Iran. See FASA for the roleplaying game company or the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a trade group representing )

Former AAA Megacorporations

Shadowrunners are likely to have frequent contact with one non-AAA corporation, Lone Star Security Services. Lone Star is a corporation that has taken over majority of law enforcement services in the UCAS. Lone Star tends to avoid unprofitably dangerous areas such as the Seattle barrens (Puyallup and Redmond).

Characters

Dunkelzahn

Dunkelzahn is a blue and silver Great Western Dragon who took an interest in the development and technology of humanity, and up until the time of his death appeared to be genuinely interested in the preservation of the species. The dragon is a Legendary creature of which some interpretation or depiction appears in almost every culture worldwide

Dunkelzahn first appeared on 12 January 2012 (having been in hibernation during the magical downcycle pre-2011) at Cherry Creek Lake, Denver in the United Canadian and American States (UCAS). Events 475 - Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States At this time he gave a 12-hour interview to reporter Holly Brighton.

Dunkelzahn became fascinated with the media and hosted the occasional talkshow Wyrm Talk for many years (often on whatever subject interested him at the time). As draconic communication is telepathic, and this is not receivable by technology in the Shadowrun universe, he used a translator (or 'voice') who would repeat his words to the camera.

In 2056 he became a citizen of UCAS and in 2057 he ran for the Presidency as an Independent. In an unexpected victory Dunkelzahn became the first non-human President of the UCAS. He was seemingly assassinated on 9 August 2057 — the night of his inauguration — by a magical attack on his limousine outside the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.. Events 48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus This is an article about the year 2057 For the television show see 2057 (TV series. The Watergate complex is an office-apartment-hotel complex built in 1967 in northwest Washington D Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D This resulted in an 'Astral Rift' at the site of his death; every mage who attempted to study it either died or was driven insane.

His last voice, an Eastern European elven woman named Nadja Daviar, was subsequently made Vice President of UCAS and CEO of a new corporation set up according to his will to administer his estate, the Draco Foundation.

Ghostwalker, another dragon strangely similar to Dunkelzahn, appeared several years after his death in 2061.

It would subsequently be revealed in the Dragon Heart Saga books that Dunkelzahn committed suicide in order to power a magical artifact called The Dragon Heart which would be used to keep humanity safe from a great enemy from another plane of existence.

The name "Dunkelzahn" is German for "Dark Tooth". The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. It was, however, just the name he used in public in the 21st century. His draconic name (and/or title) was "Far Scholar". This was a private term and never used outside the company of other dragons. The character's nickname, both in the fictional worlds and out of it, was "The Big D". This was occasionally used as his username in fictional online discussions.

There is a major dragon in the RPG series Earthdawn—originally produced by the same publisher as Shadowrun—by the name of Mountainshadow. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Earthdawn is a Fantasy Role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993 One of Mountainshadow's agents or alter-egos is called "Dark Tooth" (the English translation of the German "Dunkelzahn"), implying that Dunkelzahn and Mountainshadow are the same dragon at different points in history.

If this is true, then Dunkelzahn is the brother of Ghostwalker, the great dragon that emerged from the Dunkelzahn Rift during the Year of The Comet. According to Earthdawn lore, Mountainshadow and Icewing (aka Ghostwalker) were borne of 'All-Wings' last clutch before her destruction. Earthdawn is a Fantasy Role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993

Technology

Despite the Crash which caused much data corruption, technology advanced at a tremendous rate. Cyberware, technical implants, and Bioware, genetically engineered implants which enhance a person's abilities, emerged. Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a Proto-science, or more adequately a “proto-technology” Characters can also augment their bodies with nanotechnology implants.

The Matrix

Originally, direct neural interface technology enabled humans and metahumans to directly access computers and the Matrix, the global computer network restructured after the 2029 Crash. Access to the Matrix was accomplished by "deckers": individuals that have cyberdecks which are futuristic equivalent to modern day laptop computers. These interface machines are connected to the brain through a Datajack generally located at the temple or behind the ear. A brain-computer interface (BCI sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal (The "behind-the-ear" jack was most common with Riggers - vehicle and drone specialists - who required better connection with the motor centres of the brain, rather than to the higher brain functions. ) The "deck" would then be plugged into a port that is connected to the wider Matrix. The Matrix was originally based on ideas by William Gibson and the cyberpunk literary genre. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre

In Shadowrun 4th edition, the Matrix rules have changed, thanks to the setting's constant evolution and a drive to match real world technological developments. After the second Matrix crash in 2064, Matrix technology was moved away from the wired network and led into a wireless technology. This technology was originally proposed in the early 2060s by Transys Neuronet and Erika, now part of NeoNET.

The most noticeable difference between the Matrix in the 2070s and the earlier editions is that wireless technology has become completely ubiquitous. Communications and Matrix access is provided through wi-fi nodes placed throughout the infrastructure of just about every city on Earth, fulfilling a service similar to contemporary cell towers - but as these nodes are as numerous as telephone poles, only a tiny percentage of their range is necessary. Wi-Fi (ˈwaɪfaɪ is the trade name for the popular wireless technology used Mesh networking is a way to route data voice and instructions between nodes. The term base station can be used in the context of Land surveying, Wireless computer networking, and Wireless communications. The nodes of all electronic devices a person carries are connected in a similar manner, creating a Personal Area Network (PAN). People access their PAN with their Commlink, a combination personal computer/cell phone/PDA/wireless device available either as an implant or a head-mounted display. Brain implants, often referred to as neural implants, are technological devices that connect directly to a biological subject's Brain - usually placed on the A head-mounted display or Helmet mounted display, both abbreviated 'HMD' is a display device worn on the head or as part of a helmet that has a small display optic This access can be the total sensory immersion common to cyberpunk fiction, or a sensory enhancement by which the virtual features of one's physical surroundings can be perceived and manipulated. The Matrix of the 2070s is thus not only a virtual reality, but also an augmented or mixed reality. Virtual reality ( VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a Computer-simulated environment be it a real or imagined one Augmented reality ( AR) is a field of Computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data Mixed reality (MR (encompassing both Augmented reality and Augmented virtuality) refers to the merging of real and Virtual worlds to produce new environments

Cyberdecks are obsolete, so "deckers" have once again become "hackers". In turn, the otaku of previous versions (deckers who did not need decks to access the Matrix) have evolved into technomancers, gifted individuals who possess an innate connection to the Matrix that permits them to access the wireless network without hardware.

The use of the term 'Matrix' in the Shadowrun game to refer to an immersive virtual world predates its use in the popular feature film The Matrix. Immersion is the state of Consciousness where an immersant's awareness of physical self is diminished or lost by being surrounded in an engrossing total environment often The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction - martial arts - Action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and In Shadowrun, the Matrix is not just a simulation of reality but is also the global communications and information network that is the successor to the internet.

Magic

Those able to actively interact with the magical energies of the Sixth World are known as “awakened. ” An awakened character's power in magic is linked to their Essence statistic. Because of this, most magically active individuals attempt to avoid cybernetic enhancement, which lowers Essence. However, some--like the burned-out street mage archetype in the 1st-edition rulebook--don't.

Path

A magic user's approach to working with mystic energy is called their Path. The Awakened fall into three general Paths: Magicians, Adepts, and Mystic Adepts.

Magicians

Magicians are able to cast spells, summon spirits, and create magical artifacts called "foci". All magicians follow traditions that determine their understanding of magic. The two most common traditions are the Hermetic and the Shamanic, although others exist as well, like the Druidic and Wiccan traditions. Some magicians have a special bond to a so called "Mentor Spirit" who guides them in their magical development.

Hermetic magic is a "logical" approach to magic in which the magician studies theories of the nature of magic and how to harness it as an individual. It is one part chemistry, one part philosophy, one part mathematics, and yet none of them at the same time. Users of hermetic magic are called "mages".

Shamans are magicians who live in accordance with the natural world. Most of them feel especially bonded to a specific mentor spirit who they call a totem. A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people such as a family Clan or tribe ( Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Webster's It is this spirit that gives the shaman their magic, teaches them their spells, and gives their lives purpose. A shaman can fight against his/her totem, but in the end, it is fighting against oneself.

Adepts

Adepts use magic internally in order to accentuate their natural physical abilities. Adepts can run on walls, use mundane objects as deadly thrown projectiles, shatter hard objects with a single unarmed blow, and perform similar feats of incredible ability. All adepts follow a very personal path (Path of the Warrior, Path of the Artist, etc. ). This path normally determines their abilities which might be very different for any two adepts: while one might demonstrate increased reflexes and facility with firearms, a second might possess unparalleled mastery of the katana, and a third might be able to pull off incredible vehicular stunts. A is a type of Japanese sword ( nihontō) and often is called a "samurai sword

Mystic adepts

Mystic adepts are half magician and half adept. They distribute their magic power between the abilities of both.

Categories of magic

An awakened character can use five different categories of magic: Sorcery, Conjuration, Enchanting, Adept Powers, and Metamagic.

Most of these types of magic cause a phenomenon known as "Drain", mental or sometimes physical fatigue. The more powerful the magic, the more serious the drain. In extreme cases the drain may even be lethal.

Sorcery

Sorcery deals with casting spells which fall into the categories Healing, Combat, Detection, Illusion, and Manipulation. In order to cast a spell on a target, a magical link is required, either line-of-sight, or touch, or a ritual connection to the target (like some hair or blood). Magicians may cast any spell they have learned beforehand. Spellcasting causes drain.

Conjuration

Conjuration is the art of summoning, controlling, and banishing spirits, intelligent beings created from magical energies. Spirits are able to do a number of services for the magician who summoned them. Conjuration causes drain.

Enchanting

Enchanting deals with the creation of foci, magical artifacts, which can support a magician in other magical tasks. Enchanting does not cause drain, but requires material resources as well as karma.

Adept powers

Adept powers are often comparable to the effect of spells, but with several differences. They do not cause drain, they are always active, and they cannot be dispelled. On the other hand an adept is much more restricted in the number of powers he can master, than a magician is about the number of spells he knows.

Metamagics

Metamagics are special magical techniques that can only be handled by awakened characters that have reached a higher understanding of magic by undergoing initiation. The possible benefits include hiding their magical nature from others, making the effects of spells permanent, or being able to better resist drain.

System

Mechanics

The Shadowrun game mechanics are based entirely on a 6-sided dice system. For other uses see either Die or Dice (disambiguation. Dice (the Plural of Die, from Old French

The game is skill-based rather than class-based, but archetypes are presented in the main book to give players and gamemasters an idea of what is possible with the system. An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer

Shadowrun (3rd edition) cover
Shadowrun (3rd edition) cover

Before the fourth edition, skill and ability checks worked like this: All actions in the game, from the use of skills to making attacks in combat, are first given a target number that reflects the difficulty of the action which is then raised or lowered by various modifying factors, such as environmental conditions, the condition of the character, the use of mechanical aids, and so forth. The character then rolls a number of dice equal to their level in the relevant skill, and the number of dice rolled that meet or exceed the target number determines if the character is successful performing the action and the degree of success the character has. As an example, a character with a high firearms skill not only has a better chance at hitting a target than someone with a lower ranked skill, but also is more likely to cause more damage to the target. Target numbers may exceed 6, in which case any dice that show a 6 have to be re-rolled (a target number of, e. g. , 9 is reached by rolling a 6 followed by at least a 3; thus, a target number of 6 and one of 7 are identical). For even higher target numbers, this procedure has to be repeated; thus, an action with a target number of 20 (like attempting to procure military-grade weaponry) will only succeed if 3 successive dice rolls result in sixes, and the fourth gives at least a 2. This system allows great flexibility in setting the difficulty of an action.

In addition to this basic mechanic, players can use several task-specific dice pools to add bonus dice to certain tests, though dice that are used do not refresh until the end of a turn. This adds an extra tactical element, as the player must decide where best to spend these bonus dice. For example, combat pool dice could be spent to improve attacks or to improve defense, or some of each. Players also have Karma Pool that can be used to reroll any dice that failed to reach the target number. Karma Pool refreshes rarely, typically once per scene or less, at the GM's discretion. The combination of Karma Pool and dice pools gives players a considerable amount of freedom to decide how important a task is to their character. Two characters with identical statistics could perform very differently on the same tasks depending on their priorities (and thus, allocation of dice pools and Karma Pool).

Archetypes

Although the skill system is freeform, certain combinations of skills and equipment work well together. This combination of specialization in skill and equipment is known as an archetype. The most notable archetypes are Street Samurai, characters who have heavily augmented their bodies with cyberware and bioware and focus on physical combat; Adepts, characters who have magical abilities that increase their physical combat abilities; Deckers or Hackers who are experts at manipulating computer networks; Riggers who augment their brains to achieve fine control over vehicles and drones; and Magicians who cast spells and can view emotions and call spirits from astral space.

However, the archetypes are not character classes: the player is allowed to cross boundaries. Restrictions are not imposed by the system itself, but by the player's specializations. Because character-building resources are limited, the player has to weigh which game resource he wants to specialize in and which he has to neglect. This allows high character customization while still ensuring that characters are viable in the setting.

Character creation

Standard die with Shadowrun logo
Standard die with Shadowrun logo

The fourth edition of Shadowrun uses a point-based character creation system. Earlier editions used a priority-based system with point-based character creation as an advanced option. Priorities are divided into race, magic, attributes, skills, and resources. All things that do not explicitly fall under the first four classifications, including contacts in third and earlier editions of Shadowrun, are given cash-equivalent values to be bought with resources.

Shadowrun characters are created with contacts, friends and acquaintances who serve as key nodes in the character's social network and who will often help the character out. Through the contacts system, players may uncover information that their characters cannot independently acquire. Additionally, players can often negotiate for the use of skills that their characters do not themselves have, a radical departure from most role-playing games.

Essence

Essence is a measure of a living being's lifeforce. All humans and metahumans start with a value of six (although critters may start with a higher or lower Essence). It powers magic, and as essence fades, so does magical aptitude. Cyberware, bioware, nanotech implants, extreme cases of substance addiction, and other major changes to a being's body can damage its essence as well. Generally, if a being's essence ever reaches zero, it dies. Cybermancy allows metahumans to survive with an essence rating of zero or less. Cybermancy refers to the act of using Computer -driven divination systems

Karma

In third edition and earlier, players were awarded Karma points as a game progressed. These points are usually added to a total called Good Karma, which can be used to boost attributes and skills. Skills that are already well-developed cost more Good Karma than skills which are undeveloped, which helps encourage specialized characters to become more flexible by spending Good Karma on weaker attributes. Karma also makes characters more powerful in general because every tenth (or twentieth for metahumans) point is added to the Karma Pool instead of Good Karma. The Karma Pool allows players to re-roll dice or "purchase" additional dice in certain situations. Karma can even be used to avoid certain death, at the cost of all Good Karma and Karma Pool points.

In fourth edition, Karma Pool is replaced by a new attribute called Edge which can be used in most of the same ways as the third edition Karma Pool. Experience and character advancement is still tracked with Karma, although Good was dropped from the name as it no longer needs to be distinguished from the old Karma Pool.

Fourth edition changes

With the new edition, major changes to the rules system were adopted.

Out of the original six attributes (Body, Quickness, Strength, Charisma, Intelligence, and Willpower), Quickness was split into Agility and Reaction, while Intelligence was broken into Intuition and Logic. A new attribute called Edge was introduced to replace Karma Pool. Instead of starting from a base, characters buy their Magic attribute like a normal attribute. The statistic originally called Reaction has had some of its functions taken over by the new attribute by the same name.

The initiative system was modified to affect only the order of actions, not the number of initiative passes. The number of initiative passes taken by a character is now determined solely by external influences, like implants, magic, and drugs. It is no longer possible for an unmodified character who is not under the influence of magic or drugs to have more than a single initiative pass, except through the use of Edge.

Several of the archetypes were modified. Deckers were merged with riggers and renamed hackers. Many distinctions between shamanic and hermetic magicians were removed, and the magic system was designed to allow many other variant traditions. Otaku - individuals who have the same roles and abilities as deckers, except without needing any cyber augmentation or technology - were renamed Technomancers.

Skills were changed from the target number system to a "hits" system. The target number is fixed at 5, and to complete a skill test, a player takes a number of six-sided dice equal to the skill and its linked Attribute, and rolls them, counting the number of dice that show 5 or 6 as "hits". For other uses see either Die or Dice (disambiguation. Dice (the Plural of Die, from Old French For other uses see either Die or Dice (disambiguation. Dice (the Plural of Die, from Old French The number of hits is compared to a pre-determined amount (or Threshold) set by the GM for the roll. A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer Game who acts as organizer arbitrator and officiant in rules situations If the number of hits equals or exceeds the threshold, the roll is a success. This mechanic, not coincidentally, happens to very closely match the new World of Darkness system. In addition, dice pools were removed, eliminating most of the tactical allocation of dice during combat, spellcasting, hacking, and other activities. These changes were intended to speed up the resolution of skill tests and combat.

The "Rule of One" of previous editions has been changed. A "glitch" is when at least half of the rolled dice come up 1s. A glitch results in a minor inconvenience or setback for the player, though it does not necessarily mean failure as long as enough hits were still scored. However, if a person rolls a glitch while scoring no hits at all, it is considered a "critical glitch", and is substantially more serious or potentially even fatal.

Rules for combat, magic, hacking, and other activities were changed to accommodate the new skill system. The modified rules are typically similar in outline, but the details are necessarily different.

Since the rules in the Fourth Edition are mechanically dissimilar to those in earlier editions, balance issues differ between editions. Characters from previous editions do not easily convert to the new edition with their strengths and weaknesses intact.

There were a few changes to the fictional setting in the Fourth Edition. The main premises remained unchanged while the timeline advanced by five years. The largest change in setting was the addition of a global wireless matrix that allows people to have augmented reality displays: visual overlays on real-world scenes. This encourages hackers and technomancers to join their teammates physically rather than provide matrix backup from a remote location, a change designed to make coordinating and integrating online and real-world actions easier for the GM. A Gamemaster or Game Master (often abbreviated as GM) is a player in a multiplayer Game who acts as organizer arbitrator and officiant in rules situations

There were also other changes to Shadowrun society at large, as illustrated in the flavor text. For example, up to this point, cursing had been illustrated with a variety of colorful made-up words, such as "drek", "frag", and "slot". FanPro eschewed these in SR4 (to some player complaint, as many fans believed this added social color to the game) and decided to use their contemporary, real-world counterparts.

Influences and links

Shadowrun is linked to Earthdawn, and is set in the "Sixth World", where Earthdawn is the "Fourth World" and our modern-day Earth is at the tail end of the Fifth World. Earthdawn is a Fantasy Role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993 Such links are not necessary for play, but they allow crossover potential.

The concept of the "Worlds" is directly linked to the ancient Mayan belief that the world is renewed every five thousand years. Maya mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all those Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature deities and the heroes interacting with these play the main Incidentally, the ancient Mayan calendar will restart in December 2012.

Shadowrun is influenced by the writings of William Gibson (particularly Neuromancer), who reacted in a less than favourable light to its release. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple

…when I see things like ShadowRun, the only negative thing I feel about it is that initial extreme revulsion at seeing my literary DNA mixed with elves. An elf is a creature of Norse mythology. The elves were originally imagined as a race of minor nature and fertility gods, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming Somewhere somebody's sitting and saying 'I've got it! We're gonna do William Gibson and Tolkien!' Over my dead body! But I don't have to bear any aesthetic responsibility for it. I've never earned a nickel, but I wouldn't sue them. It's a fair cop. I'm sure there are people who could sue me, if they were so inclined, for messing with their stuff. So it's just kind of amusing. [4]

In December 2005 Robert Boyd from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland robbed a lingerie shop at knifepoint in Belfast while wearing a blonde ladies wig. Carrickfergus ( is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. During his trial Boyd stated he was playing Shadowrun, specifically the role of criminal elf Buho, at the time and may have "blurred reality and fantasy". Two jurors believed his story, but ten did not and he was convicted of robbery in March 2007. [5]

Spin-offs

Novels

Main article: List of Shadowrun books#Novels

FASA released 40 Shadowrun novels in collaboration with Roc publishing between 1991 and 2001. A list of the English-language Shadowrun books with their SKU numbers New American Library (aka NAL began publishing Paperbacks in the 1940s Shadowrun novels went out of production between 2001 and 2005, making the books produced towards the end of FASA's ownership of the license hard to find. A 41st novel was announced, but never released.

In 2005, WizKids began publishing new Shadowrun novels, again through the Roc imprint of the New American Library. Six novels were released in the new series, with no current plans for more.

Several additional novels were published in foreign languages only. More than 30 novels have been written in German, by German and Austrian authors published by Heyne (since 1991) and FanPro (since 1997). Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (aka FanPro) is a German publishing company based in Erkrath.

Movies

Despite various rumors, no Shadowrun feature film has been produced so far. In 1999, Shadow Pictures, led by Kenneth Strange, tried and failed to create the first Shadowrun spinoff movie. Due to an unaccepting crowd and a lack of funds, the project was trashed. In the recent years, however, FanPro's promotional fan film competition has brought forward a variety of German fan-based short films depicting numerous aspects of the Shadowrun world in numerous levels of quality, some in subtitled versions. American-made Shadowrun movies do exist, but are few in number.

There is an official Shadowrun short film entitled "A Night's Work". It was a promotional piece created by FASA in 1990. It runs approximately 10 minutes in length, and was distributed to multiple game and hobby shops on VHS. It is poorly produced, and provides no credits to the filmmakers or its 4 cast members (3 Shadowrunners, and 1 Unlucky Security Guard). It does have the only screen appearance of noted Shadowrun fiction character Sally Tsung, referred to only as 'Sally'. She is the only named character in the movie.

In 2000, Matthew Antolovich, a user named Dunkelzahn of the GameFAQs website and volunteer employee of FASA, had started working on a CGI Shadowrun movie. There was 4 minutes of it released, and rumors had spread that it was an official movie. Matthew had stated that it was a fun project he was doing himself, and that it was obviously not official since it was very poorly made. Production of the movie was stopped after Matthew was sent a Cease and Desist order and threatened by multiple lawsuits if he had continued making the movie.

Video games

Four video games have been developed based on the Shadowrun franchise, the first in 1993 was an action RPG titled Shadowrun developed by Australian software company Beam Software (now Melbourne House) for the SNES console. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Shadowrun is a Cyberpunk Action RPG for the Super NES adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun by FASA. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Krome Studios Melbourne, formerly Melbourne House, is a video game development studio owned by Krome Studios and based in Melbourne Australia The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was The second also titled Shadowrun was for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994 developed by US company BlueSky Software. Shadowrun is an action RPG for the Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive, adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the BlueSky Software or BlueSky Software Corporation was an American software company situated in California formed in 1988 and had a successful The third game was an interactive fiction adventure game developed by Japanese company Group SNE in 1996 for the Mega CD console, again titled Shadowrun. An adventure game is a type of Video game characterized by investigation exploration puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters and a focus on Narrative For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Group SNE is a Japanese company founded in 1986 by the current president Hitoshi Yasuda, which produces Role-playing games Light novels Board games The is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive that was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. Shadowrun is a Cyberpunk Interactive fiction RPG for the Sega Mega-CD adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun A fourth game for the PC, titled Shadowrun: Assassin, was to be released in 1998 by US company FASA Interactive. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated The United States of America —commonly referred to as the However, the game was cancelled. [6]

The fourth and latest game released is a first-person shooter for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista and is titled Shadowrun. A first-person shooter ( FPS) is an action Video game from the Shooter game The initial development of Maze War The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Windows Vista (ˈvɪstə is a line of Operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on Personal computers including home and business desktops Shadowrun was developed by FASA Interactive for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360. It was developed by FASA Interactive, owned by the Microsoft Corporation, which is also producing the title. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer This latest title is the very first game that allows cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Windows Vista users on the Live for Windows service. Despite sharing the same name as the RPG, the video game has sizable differences from it; as the publishers of the Shadowrun role-playing game stated at the time of the video game's release, "Microsoft rewrote the timeline and setting for this game, so it is not in continuity with the tabletop RPG. It may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun. "

In September 2007 Microsoft closed FASA Studios (and the FPS official forum), and licensed the Shadowrun electronic entertainment rights to Smith & Tinker, a company owned by Jordan Weisman, an original creator of Shadowrun. Jordan Weisman is an American Game designer, author and serial entrepreneur who has founded four major Game design companies each in a different game Details at Smith & Tinker's website hint at the development of a MMO. [7]

Machinima

Rooster Teeth Productions produced a machinima mini-series in 2007 titled 1-800-Magic, using the Xbox 360 Shadowrun game. Shadowrun is a Cyberpunk Action RPG for the Super NES adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun by FASA. Shadowrun is an action RPG for the Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive, adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun Shadowrun is a Cyberpunk Interactive fiction RPG for the Sega Mega-CD adapted from the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun Shadowrun was developed by FASA Interactive for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360. Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Buda Texas that specializes in the creation of Machinima, or films created using real-time interactive Machinima (məˈʃiːnəmə or /məˈʃɪnəmə/

See also

References

  1. ^ InMediaRes Productions LLC. Enters Negotiations for the Classic Battletech and Shadowrun Licenses from Wizkids Inc.
  2. ^ Hamelmann, Tobias and Lonsing, Christian (ed. List of GURPS books is a listing of the publications from Steve Jackson Games and other licensed publishers for the GURPS Role-playing game. ): Shadowrun - Die 6. Welt, Erkrath 2005
  3. ^ The First through Third Edition books were set exactly 61 years in the future from their release dates (giving the game a start date of 2050). This was bumped up to 65 years for the Fourth Edition, but publishing delays as the game switched publishers dropped the difference to 63 by time of publishing.
  4. ^ the peak (19/10/1998) arts: Cyberpunk on screen - William Gibson speaks
  5. ^ BBC News
  6. ^ Nightmare and Kurt Kalata. Hardcore Gaming 101: Shadowrun. GameSpy. GameSpy, also known as GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related
  7. ^ Carless, Simon & Chris Dahlen (December 7, 2007). Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Weisman Licenses MechWarrior, Shadowrun, Crimson Skies Rights From Microsoft. Gamasutra. com.

External links

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