Now reviewing the book.
The Twilight Horizon is the fourth campaign book after Artifacts Unbound, Corporate Intrigue and Jet Set. It has 154 pages, divided into 18 chapters (19 if you counts the 1-page conclusion short story). It differs from the three previous releases, as it features "only" thirteen adventures, a 10-pages chapter on Las Vegas and a small 6-pages additional chapter on simsense chips.
As the title suggest, the theme of the campaign book is the Horizon corporation. Horizon Today is the usual 7-pages introductory chapter with background info. It covers the Consensus along Horizon involvement in the Colombian war, and the corporation worsening relationship with technomancers and AI. Those will be the central elements of some of The Twilight Horizon adventures, but not all of them. It says nothing about Horizon experiments on Mojave spirits (a plot introduced in Hazard Pay) while this is actually what will trigger most of the coming events.
Vegas, Baby is a 20-pages chapters on Las Vegas. It's quite good. I really appreciated the complete list of casino with small description. As all the recent books, it lacks a map, but I got used to it. My main complain, by far, is that the author was completely oblivious the Ute Nation ever existed. Everything is written as if Las Vegas had always been a Pueblo city. More information on organized crime in town would have be nice, but I guess wordcount is a thing. A summary of poker and baccarat rules maybe wasn't necessary in this day and age where Internet is readily available to most, but why not?
The following chapters are thirteen adventures in the plot point format : it starts with an in-context Jackpoint file or a short story, an overview, an adventure divided into "plot points", some locations and some characters (yes, I copied that from my Jet Set review). I found the adventures template to be more homogeneously used than in the previous campaign books. One plot point is one event, not a campaign summed up and cramed into half a page. One exception though, is the Overview part. In the revious books, it used to be a summary of the entire adventure. Here, it... depends. Sometimes it's a summary, sometimes it's just a bunch of background information and information the meeting(s) with the Johnson.
[spoiler]The premise for Self Preservation is that the PC made something big and bad enough for Horizon to put a bounty on their head. Somewhat reads like "Before starting this adventure, have the runners going through a string of epic missions around the world that threaten Horizon existence. M. Jonhson will then call the runners..." It's quite odd to put it first, especially when the following adventures give plenty of opportunities for this. It's also quite optimistic in assuming PC would accept the help of someone they do not know under such circunstances and pay him. The twist at the end is quite fun, and would actually have been a good way to have the PC doubting of everything they thought they know about the Consensus.
Technomancer Uprising is the first of three adventures on technomancers warring against Horizon. The PC must locate a server inside Horizon offices, break in, access it for a datasteal, and plant a virus (though it would obviously be better if the employer told them about that part from the start, instead of adding objective once they're in). The adventure has half a page solely dedicated to teasing The Clutch of Dragons by fully detailing the unrelated datapay the PC will stumble over, the first of a serie of "hijacks" that I found slightly unnerving to say the least (at least, segregate it from the adventure proper in a black box).
Friends in the Right Places is the second adventure on technomancers. The PC acts as diplomats to establish an alliance between technomancers and AI groups. Again, you get half a page of unrelated background (on Tir Tairngire politics in the 2060ies this time) as the PC stumble on some files. In the last part, they must physically protect the technomancers while they attempt a large-scale attack on Horizon grid and the Consensus.
The Heart of the Head is the third adventure on technomancers. The PC must free several brainwashed technomancers in Phoenix and a captive AI in Denver. Then they must assault Horizon offices in Denver to disrupt their Matrix security while the technomancers will try to go closer to the Consensus than they were able previously. It is followed by an anticlimax where the PC have to spread the files the technomancers acquired.
Desert Howl has the PC escorting "street legend" Haze into the Mojave and learning the spirits are angrey.
Metahumanity Ablaze! is the Shadowrun equivalent to the Burning Man festival. The PC attend for no particular reason, and has side quests that keep popping up in front of them, giving them more info on the angered spirits.
Inside the Smile has the PC working for Aztechnology, capturing Dawkins Group agents in Bogota and impersonating them to steal data in Los Angeles and disrupt operations in Denver.
The Depths of Revenge follows. Aztechnology asks the PC to seek one of their mage in Athabaska, and escort her to Bogota to destroy a Dawkins Group station with a blood spirit.
In Astral Weakness, a free spirit hires the PC to steal an artifact from a casino in Las Vegas. A good third of the adventure describe how a washed-up musician tries to sell information on the casino security, and seems to assume the PC would answer the invitation and not try to silence someone who obviously know what they're planning.
Vision Quest has the PC tailing their employer from Astral Weakness to learn what he's going to do with the stolen artifact. It fails to givethem any reason to do so except a "bad feeling about this". They end up in a saloon atop an abandoned missile silo in the middle of desert. The rest of the adventure is only for those who can astrally project to witness a ritual, while the other must face spirits that decide to not materialize and play it poltergeist-style (throwing objects and the like) for no obvious reason except giving them a chance.
Red Rain is about Salt Like City flooded by a supernatural rain of blood. The PC are to enter the city to rescue a Renraku engineer.
In Tracking Trouble, the PC must steal a drone tanker truck filled with red rainwater from Salt Lake City, which has becoming hot stuff in magical studies and talismongering. Action takes place on he highway, with a biker gang as opposing force. It's one of those chapter where the Overview is used to tell completely unrelated stuff, in this case information on what's happening Denver, while the truck never comes close to it.
The Breaking Point is some sort of finale. Technomancers are rioting in Las Vegas, Horizon is sending security troops in, and the free spirit from Astral Weakness and Vision Quest decide it's the perfect time to perform a ritual that will doom the city (though the GM is left to choose what doom it can be). The PC must reach the dam formerly known as Hoover Dam and convince three big local free spirits not to lend their powers to the bad guy. The climax ought to be the moment the bad guy "brings up events and actions that cause tensions among the runners" to disrupt their attempt to convince the other spirits, but this obviously requires the PC to have issues in the first place.
The Character Trove contains as usual a mix a named and nameless NPC. The named are the characters from the Las Vegas, plus Horizon agent Agent (yes, his name is Agent), even though it only shows up in one adventure. On the other hand, Kaze, the free spirit that appears in three different ones, is not stated here, but in the third adventure he appears. Characters are sorted by alphabetical order, but on an unusual first name basis for the named ones. You also find the not-so generic SWAT officer and security shaman at E because they're introduced as "Eagle Security SWAT Officer" and "Eagle Security Security Shaman".[/spoiler]
The Late Show is a one page short story about how Horizon CEO Gary Cline feels. Brings a sort of conclusion.
The Appendix is seven pages on simsense chips, BTL, skillsofts... It has some interesting and fun ideas, like the wide use of skillsofts inside Horizon, samples of moodchips, and personafix with embedded skillsofts (like a Neil the Ork Barbarian with an embedded Blades skill).
The Twilight Horizon differs from Artifacts Unbound, Corporate Intrigue and Jet Set in that all those 13 adventures could be played in order as a single campaign centered on Horizon. Almost. Most of them were obviously written to follow each other, and have the PC learning what's needed to understand what happens next. It can actually be difficult for the PC to understand that it specifically is Horizon who angered the spirits in the first place, since that story arc relies on a spirit blaming metahumanity at large instead. You also sometimes see it struggles a bit to explain how and why the PC get to be in the right place, like Metahumanity Ablaze! and Vision Quest. Also, as a side effect, the adventures that make no effort to really tie in with the rest somewhat stand out. In this regards, as you get close to the finale, Red Rain and Tracking Trouble are rather anticlimatic. Also, assuming you must play them in order makes the technomancers riot in The Breaking Point a bit tame, as the technomancers plot feels a bit old by then, having come to a (temporary) end eight adventures earlier.
If I were to play it I'd think I'd start with Inside the Smile and The Depths of Revenge (tying up with a possible War! story arc). The Depths of Revenge gives a reason for the bounty in Self Preservation. Then you'd have the PC attending Metahumanity Ablaze! to hide until things calm down, meeting some technomancers and learning about angered spirits, investigating it in Desert Howl, where they meet their employer for Astral Weakness, following him in Vision Quest. They witness the result in Red Rain as they return to regular shadowrunning, and make another of those in Tracking Trouble. The technomancers they meet at Metahumanity Ablaze! contact them for Technomancer Uprising, Friends in the Right Place and The Heart of the Head, and tey fall back to an assembly point in a safehouse in Las Vegas. The files they just retrieved immediately trigger the riots and The Breaking Point, as they realize the nasty spirit they helped a while ago is back.
Though even if it's not perfect, I'd still rate The Twilight Horizon as superior to the previous campaign books, simply for being more ambitious. I mean, it may not be a perfectly timed and tuned campaign with story arcs crossing over in perfect harmony. Such a thing is incredibly difficult and long to design and write. But you can give it a try. And you can still simply pick some adventures, like you did with the Artifacts Unbound, Corporate Intrigue or Jet Set. In other words, you get the same thing, and more. And Las Vegas. Which was within the borders of the Ute Nation between 2018 and 2067, may I remind you.
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Additional comments :
- In Technomancer Uprising, most of the difficulty in the first part stems from the fact the PC must locate a node moved accross Horizon offices from one server room to another on a weekly basis, with a different maintenance crew each time. As an IT people myself, I would rankk it was one of the most bizarre, overly complicated and uselessly costly security strategy of all time (though way behind the server room fitted on a Boeing 747 that only lands to refuel in Alias). But hey, after playing Shadowrun too long, you need something to make datasteal looks new.
- Also in Technomancer Uprising, Angel of Vengeance stats list her Armor as "Armor (Ballistic/Impact): n/a (Angel of Vengeance never meets the players in person)". So what? It still gives her Strenght attribute and her Dodge skill, no?
- As written, Friends in the Right Places cannot be completed by most PC. It clearly states that "any history of working for NeoNET, Mitsuhama, or any other known or suspected anti-technomancer or anti-AI clients will result in the runners being out the five thousand and not having a meeting", and doesn't provide any alternative for obtaining the needed meeting. Later in the same adventure, "any close or recent ties the runners have with a megacorporation—especially with Renraku
or Shiawase" will simply "severely complicate" finding other people the PC have to meet to succeed.
- Also in Friends in the Right Places, "at least two of the No Boundaries Now members are cyberzombies made up of stolen cyberware from the megacorps".
Cybermancy used to be a thing...
- Also in Friends in the Right Places, in the People section, Speed Hack has stats but no bio, Fury has a bio and stats, and Signal has a bio but no stats.
- "Large battery-powered signal jammers are brought in by various attendees so that if you want to talk to someone outside the [Metahumanity Ablaze!] festival, you’d have to get far away from the Racetrack to do so." You could realistically have jammers targeting only the frequencies used for satcoms, but SR usually do not deal with such things as frequency spectrum. As far as the rules go, you cannot jam long range communications without jamming short range coms as well.
- "Other casinos vary in their policies toward magicians. At some establishments, they are treated the same way that known card counters or cheats. Some casinos might quietly escort the magician from the premises as soon as they attempt to enter. Others might have them make a quick stop out back with the house troll enforcer for a discussion before they are allowed to play, just to ensure that they’re clear on the house rules."
This is from the Astral Weakness adventure. Does it involve the character getting into other casinos? No. It someone wanted that piece of information to be put in the book so badly, it should have been in the Vegas, Baby chapter.
