A Reality Lesson for the History Impaired
"Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo.
And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.
-- Street Proverb
I am not as old as some of the members of this forum, and I'm not as young as most of them. But I was younger than most when I got my start in the roleplaying hobby, back in 1988 I was introduced to an odd little game called Dungeons & Dragons. No, not AD&D (that came latter) much like FastJack and his dinosaurs, I had an instant fascination for the hobby - these were the King Arthur stories I loved to read, the incredible tales out ofLord of the Kings my mother had read me to sleep with in kindergarten, the He-Man adventures I loved to see on TV every Saturday... but I got to be the hero.
In the late spring of 1990, I was nine years old and a seasoned veteran of D&D. I'd even built my very first few dungeons, having left my original group behind when my parents moved to a new city, I had put together a new one from the kids in my new school. So a few weeks after my ninth birthday, I rode my scooter to the comicbook shop on the other side of the subdivision with a pocket full of grandpa's birthday money. I was a kid on a mission: cherry slurpee, the newest issue of Batman, and a new book of monsters for my dungeon. I didn't get my frozen sugaar water, or the comic books, or even that new monster book. I blew every dollar I had on a $28.00 hardcover book with a feathered serpent on the back, a hardcore trio of punk rockers on the front, those immortal words about dealing with dragons on page six, and a logo that fascinates me to this day: a circuit-board imprinted scroll, an American Indiant serpent coiled around a celtic knot, a ram's skull, and a new word: Shadowrun.
To a kid in subrban Detroit, in the world of 1990, the city was as dark and shadowy as any dungeon. A corporation as mysterious and arcane as any evil wizard. Japan was an exotic realm of ninjas, robots, and Nintendo. We thought that Cyndi Lauper's new video on MTV was the epitome of punk rock... I wouldn't pick up my first William Gibson novel for another four years. My introduction to the world of cyberpunk, neo-anarchy, and transhumanism had two elves on the cover, a chapter on magic, and a map of a Seattle on the inside cover. Seattle, five years before Starbucks and Kurt Cobain put it on the map, a city as fantasic for me as Lankhmar or Minas Tirth.
Shadowrun has changed a lot over the years, as our real world has changed so has the Sixth World. New editions, new technology, a better understanding of how players interact with roleplaying games, and even a better understanding of how those games interact with us. I love Shadowrun Fourth Edition and the world of 2072... But, all these years latter, I still have that old copy of the original Shadowrun. On that eternal cover, Dodger is still cracking the Ice, Ghost's twin Uzis are still covering their escape down the alley, and Sally Tsung is still preparing to weave her spell... and I still want to join them.
So, that is what this is, my attempt to bridge twenty-two years of the Shadowrun hobby. For us old timers, I hope it will be both nostalgic and refreshing to return to the year of 2050. For the newer players, I hope it presents a host of new challenges, new dangers, and new wonders.
» Ajax <6:57:13 AM | 03/25/2012>
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THE YEAR IS 2050
Shadowrun n. Any movement, action, or series
of such made in carrying out plans which are illegal or quasilegal.
-- WorldWide WorldWatch, 2050 update
The blending of technology and human flesh began in the late 20th Century. Interfacing the human mind with computers was just the first step. Implants that "jack up" reflexes and cybernetic replacements followed quickly. Then came the Awakening. A three-thousand-year lull in the flow of mystical energies subsided, and Magic returned to the world. Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, and Trolls assumed their true form, throwing off their human guise.
In the decades to follow, Magic's return and the events of the early Awakening would both be better understood and nearly forgotten in the wake of new mystical events, new understandings of the maning of sapience, and a grudging acceptance of metahumanity in thousands of new forms. The blending of man and machine would become almost seamless, the Matrix so everpresent that it would come to be inhabited by humanity's children, animals from nature, and... if rumor is to beleived, its own spirits would emerge. But that is what would come to pass, the present day of 2050 is no less fascinating.
In the world of 2050, the megaplexes are monsters casting long shadows. As shadowrunner, that's where you live, in the cracks between the giant corporate structures. When the megacorps want somethign done but they don't want to dirty their hands, it's a Shadowrun they need, and they come to you. Though your existance is not acknowledge by any governmental or corporate database, the demand for your services is high. You might be a Decker, sliding like a whisper through the database of giant corporations, spriting away the only thing of real value - information. Or perhaps you are a Street Samurai, an enforcer for hire whose combat skills and reflexes make you the ultimate urban predator. Or perhaps a Mage, one with an ancient gift, the ability to wield and shape the magical energies that now surround the Earth. And that's exactly the kind of firepower you'll need if you get hired to make a Shadowrun...
2050 GAME CONCEPTS
"Walking the beat those first couple of months was bizarre.
You never knew if your partner was going to suddenlt grow fangs."
-- Pat Mifflin, Retired Policeman
In 2050 the world is radically different from that our great-grandparents knew in the late 20th Century, yet it is also radically different from the world or children will know in the late 21st Century. Many of these details are cultural, social, or otherwise "non-mechanical" and I will not have room to explore them in this format. But some major mechanical changes to the way
Shadowrun Fourth Edition works need to be made in order to reflect the world of 2050. The following is a brief summary of those changes:
Metahumanity is still in the midst of the first Awakening. The only metatypes available to players are Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Orks, and Trolls. The other metavariants exist in such small numbers as to be statistical blips, non-metahuman sapients are either undiscovered or unrecognized, and stories of Artificial Intelligence still the realm of science fiction. It will be another six years before Dunkelzahn is awarded UCAS citzenship by an act of Congress.
Character Generation is pretty much unchanged for 2050 characters, using the same Attributes, Skills, and Qualities as in
Shadowrun Fourth Edition. Some Qualities will be inappropriate, some Concepts such as Technomancer or Mystic Adept unavailable, and other roles will be different due to changes to the Matrix, Magic, or Equipment. But for the most part, Character Generation remains unchanged.
Game Mechanics will remain largely untouched. I cannot hope to reproduce the work of the design team that created
Shadowrun's First or Fourth Editions, nor do I want to. My primary goal is to leave as much of
Shadowrun Fourth Edition intact as possible, removing or restricting only those elements that wouldn't belong in 2050. Gamemasters and players will need to use their own judgment, but as a general guideline, assume that the rules of
Shadowrun Fourth Edition apply unless otherwise noted.
Magic in 2050 is very much in its infancy. Physical Adepts are even rarer than magicians and even more misunderstood. Amongst magicians, only two tradtions are widespread enough to properly be called tradtions: Hermetic Mages and Shamanism. In fact, the schism between Urban Shaman and Wilderness Shaman runs so deep, it might be more accurate to say that
three Traditions exist. The mysteries of the Astral World are only now beginning to be probed, with Initiation and Astral Questing still undiscovered.
The Matrix of 2050 is radically different from that of 2070. Without a doubt, the most changes to the rules of
Shadowrun Fourth Edition will be found here and this will probably be the last section to be posted. To a hacker from 2070, the technologies and techniques of the decker in 2050 will seem as crude as a modern tank commander trying to understand the bronze armor and chariot tactics of the ancient Greeks. But much as Alexander conquered two-thirds of the globe with bronze, men like Fastjack and Captain Chaos shook the world with their cyberdecks.
Equipment of 2050 isn't so different from that of 2070. The products on the shelves at Weapons World will have changed, the chrome offered by the chopshops in Chiba will be a little more crude, and it might be the Eurocar Westwind 2000 that has all the riggers lusting after it, but the tools of the trade will be recognizable to most.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
"Why do things happen the way they happen? For all I know
the world is just one big game and all of our actions are determined
by the roll of a die."
-- Dunkelzhan, Great Dragon
So that's how this project of mine is going to start. I hope you'll enjoy the work I'm going to be putting into the labor of love. I hope it goes without saying that I don't hold copyrights to any of this stuff, nor do I intend for this to be any sort of challenge, threat, or hostile move against any of the proper creators, publishers, or copyright holders of Shadowrun.
This is meant to give thanks to the original creators for brainstorming a game that’s withstood the test of time and lived to thrive. To celebrate the work of Jordan Weisman, Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd, L. Ross Babcock III, Sam Lewis, and Dave Wylie who originally created this world. To Tim Bradstreet and the other artists that first showed us what this world of high tech and low life looked like. To expand on the work by Peter Taylor, Adam Jury, Rob Boyle, and all the other names I am surely forgetting... Shadowrun, Matrix, and oodles of other stuff in this document are copyright© 2005–2009 WizKids Inc. Please don't sue me.
» Ajax <9:00:00 AM | 03/25/2012>
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