Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Head Hunter on <12-15-10/2124:50>
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Well, I can't say I am new to roleplaying, but I am new to roleplaying with numbers. Somewhat.. It is hard to explain. Though that is not the point of this topic. The point is, Shadowrun is the first game I have came into with numbers. And, I have come across 3rd and 4th edition reading materials. I think I have them all, but I am not sure. o_o I'll list them and then we can go from there.
Shadowrun 3rd Edition --
Shadowrun 3E [ Core Rule Book
Shadowrun 3E [ Rigger 3
Shadowrun 3E [ Cannon Companion
Shadowrun 3E [ Companion
Shadowrun 3E [ Critters
Shadowrun 3E [ Magic in the Shadows
Shadowrun 3E [ Man & Machine - Cyberware
Shadowrun 3E [ Matrix
Shadowrun 3E [ Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book
Shadowrun 3E [ Sprawl Survival Guide
Shadowrun 3E [ State of the Art - 2063
Shadowrun 3E [ State of the Art - 2064
Shadowrun 4th Edition --
Shadowrun 4E [ 20A Core Rulebook
Shadowrun 4E [ Arsenal
Shadowrun 4E [ Augmentation
Shadowrun 4E [ Compiled FAQ
Shadowrun 4E [ Contacts and Adventures
Shadowrun 4E [ Core Rulebook
Shadowrun 4E [ Corporate Enclaves
Shadowrun 4E [ Dawn of the Artifacts - Dusk
Shadowrun 4E [ Dawn of the Artifacts - Dusk
Shadowrun 4E [ Digital Grimoire
Shadowrun 4E [ Emergence
Shadowrun 4E [ Feral Cities
Shadowrun 4E [ Ghost Cartels
Shadowrun 4E [ Manhattan: The Rotten Apple
Shadowrun 4E [ On the Run
Shadowrun 4E [ Questions
Shadowrun 4E [ Runner Havens
Shadowrun 4E [ Runner's Companion
Shadowrun 4E [ Running Wild
Shadowrun 4E [ Seattle 2072
Shadowrun 4E [ Street Magic
Shadowrun 4E [ Unwired
Shadowrun 4E [ Vice
A loooot of books.. Which would you recommend reading first? @_@
3E or 4E?
-- Head Hunter.
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Ah, honestly, if you want to learn to play SR4, read SR4, starting with the core rulebook.
If you are reading for story only, Id say what the heck and go for SR3, but read mostly the "fluff" (aka background info) and stay away from any stats, rules, etc so not to get confused between SR4 and SR3.
Just my two cents.
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Thanks man. I'm looking to learn. I want to get a better understanding of stats and rules. :]
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First off, nice to see another Angel fan, Head Hunter.
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Not that I've got a man-crush on Boreanaz. Nope.
Dammit.
Anyway, check here (http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=system&value=Shadowrun) for a pretty detailed listing of Shadowrun products (pretty up to date).
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Just remember Jack, what happens on the forum, stays on the forum...mostly...some of the time....oh who am I kidding, the secret's out, your hosed.
;D
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This is a list I put together a while ago of all Shadowrun game books (sourcebooks, adventures, etc.) up to Loose Alliances. The list includes the oldest fictional date occurring within the book (aka the date in which the fictional book was published, though the intro text to the page describes this in more detail).
http://www.fizzygoo.com/Sr/Support/Srbooktime.html (http://www.fizzygoo.com/Sr/Support/Srbooktime.html)
Please note that the Shadowrun pages on my website are quite old and not updated and include a plethora of broken links and other problems (though I did a quick fix for that page) so the style of what your seeing is piss-poor and outdated compared to the current site (just fizzygoo.com, and not that the current layout/style is anything amazing).
I have another list which goes up to the year 2000 which does not include the fictional dates, but includes all Shadowrun Novels, authors for all the books, and the list price on the version I have (in $US). If anyone's interested I'll thrown that up on the site as well.
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Hey Fizzy, not sure if you saw my Shadowland Posters and Authors index (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=58.0).
On a side note, if you want to download them, do so before the 20th. I'm moving back to PA next week and will be mooching off my parents' internet until I get my permanent living situation straightened out. So the hosting on my internet account here may be shut down when my cable account is shut down and the files may not be available for a while.
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Okay...
A: Fastjack...you rock!
B: Fastjack...did I mention you are amazing!?!?
C: Fastjack...holy crap the thought of doing that had crossed my mind but dear gods! You rock!
D: Fastjack...saved to local computer. If you want me to host them on my site...will do with proper acknowledgement...once I update my Shadowrun pages.
E: Fastjack...where (general) in PA. My brother and parents live in PA (send me message if you don't want to post in public). But Parents/Brother live near Ligonier/Latrobe south east of Pitt.
F: Fastjack...you sooooooo rock!
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Other side of the state - Allentown/Philly. And once I get settled in, I'll be setting up a more permanent hosting space for the files.
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First off, nice to see another Angel fan, Head Hunter.
<<
>>
Not that I've got a man-crush on Boreanaz. Nope.
Dammit.
Anyway, check here (http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=system&value=Shadowrun) for a pretty detailed listing of Shadowrun products (pretty up to date).
Haha.. Thanks for the link man. :]
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Any personal recommendations anyone have on Shadowrun fiction stories worth reading? I don't care if is old stories that are out of date but as long as they still keep the feel of the setting.
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IMHO the Nigel Findley stuff is some of the best. 2XS, Lone Wolf, House of the Sun. It is all very early fiction for SR, mostly 1st Ed IIRC.
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Mel Odom's novels always "felt" the most like you were reading the exploits of a professional team of runners, as played by a bunch of players. Good novels to see what a team that runs together for a long time might look like.
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As well if you like the high end, epic sort of stuff, the Carl Sargent/Marc Gasgione novels, Streets of Blood etc are decent.
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Bull, nakano.....thanks for the suggestions. When I put down the 6WA I'll check those out.
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No worries. Just dove back into SR in the fall myself after a hiatus of 4-5 years and the first thing I did was pick through the old novels and grabbed my Findley.
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Bull, nakano.....thanks
Hey didn't she wrestle Medusa? Sorry, wrestling geek moment.
Anyway, I always like the first trilogy, even though it is technically and ruleswise out of date.
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Bull, nakano.....thanks
Hey didn't she wrestle Medusa? Sorry, wrestling geek moment.
HA! I havent thought of wrestling in years and now I clearly remember what she looked like. Not good....
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As well if you like the high end, epic sort of stuff, the Carl Sargent/Marc Gasgione novels, Streets of Blood etc are decent.
Only if you don't read Black Madonna. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED- AVOID BLACK MADONNA!
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I avoided that one for a reason....cant remember what it was though. Me, if we are recommending anyold school SR Books: Into the Shadows as a SR Primer, Wolf and Raven By Mike Stackpole, The Dragon Heart Triology (even though Quicksilver kind of annoys me), and Steven Kenson's novels: Ragnarok, The Burning Times, and Crossroads (Talon and Boom rule!)
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I avoided that one for a reason....cant remember what it was though.
I don't think this is a spoiler when I say- for some reason Sargent and Gasgione went in a crazy direction with that one and the ending just completely pissed me off, it felt completely out of character for characters they'd been using for two to three novels. Very disappointed that was effectively their ending too.
Another one to avoid for much the same reason is Shadowboxer- a novel I enjoyed for most of it except for the last chapter. Also, I'm going out on a limb here and saying that I didn't really like the Nyx Smith novels only because he wrote them in present tense, which threw me off completely.
Now as far as recommendations: get the Findley books even if they're just for the e-reader. Findley has long been considered one of the best Shadowrun writers for sourcebooks or fiction and it shows. Dirk Montgomery is a fun character.
Just Compensation by Bob Charrette- The pacing was good, the location was handled well, and well- it's Charrette. It was good to see him return to his baby.
And I might be in the minority when I actually liked The Forever Drug. Back when it first came out, I heard people trashing it to no end for being goofy, but I liked the idea that Smedman took risks and did two novel things for the book: having a shapeshifter be the main character and setting it in Nova Scotia.
Another book of hers that I liked was Blood Sport, the Aztlan novel. This was back when the novel that came out usually corresponded to the major sourcebook that dropped. (Blood Sport was the Aztlan book, Burning Bright was the Bug City book, Streets of Blood the London Scourcebook novel, etc.) I'd recommend it just for the background you can get and feel for running in Aztlan alone.
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Nyx Smith's stuff was hit or miss with me. I liked the Striper Assassin and Who Hunts the Hunter (Tikki is still a fav character of mine), but could not get through a recent re-read of Steel Rain. Im sorry, but the main character in Rain was just so damn one dimentional.
And yes, Burning Bright was a good read, I just wish we could have found out the fate of Mr. Teller et al.
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As well if you like the high end, epic sort of stuff, the Carl Sargent/Marc Gasgione novels, Streets of Blood etc are decent.
Only if you don't read Black Madonna. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED- AVOID BLACK MADONNA!
Its a decent enough write... of course, its also plain silly and very un-shadowrun-y. Same for that Nosferatu novel. But IMO both are actually better than Streets of Blood, which was just dull.
I think most SR novels have been... mediocre at best, with only some few exceptions. Burning Bright is of course good, and so is Technobabel, but both had the great advantage of covering key events in the timeline and being closely connected to the metaplot. Oh, and in the German-exclusive material there are Markus Heitz' novels. Well, the earlier ones, anyway, the later ones are a really bad case of Cerebus Syndrome. (And it does mean, either, that the German novels would be good in general, some are really, utterly terrible)