Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: TechnoGolem on <07-11-11/0207:42>
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I'm looking for suggestions on what books I should try to get next. As much as I would love to go crazy and buy all the books I don't have, it would be a bit too expenesive. For now am just looking to pick up a new book or two. My interest in the ebooks is very low since I prefer to have a book in hand. I plan to get the ones that are not printed eventually but they are a low priority.
Currently I own the Core Rulebook, Arsenal, Augmentation, Runner's Companion, Street Magic, and Unwired. My group is not big on playing magic users. Currently I am considering the following but I am open to other suggestions.
Runner's Toolkit (Box Set)- It would be nice to have a GM screen for easy access to information. I also like that it includes an introductory adventure because I am an extremely inexperienced GM. I would have already gotten this one but the $40 price tag does make me hesitate. It seems like a lot of money for what you get.
Running Wild - I am a huge fan of bestiary books but I prefer the ones with picutres that show off the various animals and monsters. I don't mind not having pictures for well known animals, such as wolves and lions, but I hate when they don't have any pictures for a unique monster that they created. This is normally because the description of what it looks like tends to be vague. How good are the images/descriptions in this book?
Seattle 2072 - Currently this is where the campaign is taking place. It seems like a good idea to pick up this book so I have a better understanding of the city.
Any of the Adventure Books - I feel that I could learn a lot from these books since I am an inexperienced GM. They would also be nice to have if I am unable to come of with an adventure due to time constraints.
Thank you for your help.
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I really like Ghost Cartels. Its like a miniature campaign set up for you. Seattle 2072 is nice also, but I personally am far too creative so I rarely use the information from it and usually make my own Seattle details up.
I've heard practically nothing about the Runners' Toolkit, so I can't give advice there.
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I think it depends on what you like. I've used Attitude several times in my game because my players like worlds with fluff....ie, the face wants to know about local bands or sports to be able to make small talk with contacts....also, it came up as my group decided that they wanted the titles of the BTL's they "rescued" on a run :-) (I'm actually wishing there were more titles published in books....my players eat that stuff up!).
Aside from that, I'm currently drooling at the Toolkit, mainly for the GM screen honestly. I'm also gazing longingly at the Corporate Enclaves book that's sitting at my FLGS. If my game was set in Seattle, I would probably jump for that one first though.
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The descriptions in Running Wild are fairly good, though pictures are sparse.
I recommend Emergence. It's a great read, and contains at least a few months' worth of adventure seeds. If your group is more interested in Matrix than magic, so much the better.
I got the Toolkit early (hooray Origins!) and actually, the GM screen is one of the more underwhelming aspects of it (although I haven't yet actually run a game with it, so that opinion may change). The other stuff in the kit is worth the price though - my favorite is Anatomy of a Shadowrun, which will probably be the single most helpful thing to you as a GM. It will help you add flourish and vivid descriptions to dry dice roll tests, among other things.
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I perfectly understand that you prefer printed books. Since you are a new GM: why not "get" the GM screen from Runners Toolkit for free (Catalyst gives the PDF GM Screen for FREE) it is very helpful with all the tables in one place after all. You can then invest your bucks in the printed versions of Emergence or Ghost Cartels or the Corp book, they all offer plenty of adventure ideas and you can choose what your team likes best, since the books cover different "genres".
By the way, the SR Toolkit is exetremely helpful for a new GM - let your players buy that for you - players can also invest in some fun, right? ;)
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One of my favorites is the sixth world Almanac.
It's got a lot of information on the history (if you enjoy that) and information about most of the countries (if you ever plan to have your runners travel).
It's also a pretty dang good read.
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I got to see the Runner's Toolkit at Origins. Like StarManta said, the GM screen, although done well, is not the main attraction. There is a book that compiles all the tables from the Core Rulebooks, making things like shopping for your runners so much faster. There is a book that provides a quick and dirty system to make NPCs up on the fly, while still giving them everything to make them a real character for your story.
There are reference sheets that go hand in hand with whats printed on the GM screen. The material the reference sheets are made out of is simply amazing. They are not something you are going to worry about being destroyed after two or three game sessions.
The book "Anatomy of a Shadowrun" is a side by side comparison of a Shadowrun fiction story, next to the tests and rules used if it had been played by a group. Something I am sure both old and new Shadowrun GM's can use to get insight on the game.
There was so much more in there as well that I do not remember. A starter adventure, a book of contacts and story hooks, maps of different sites found in Seattle. If I had the money when I went to Origins, I would have purchased it as well. I am not big on GM screens, but there is so many other goodies in it, that in my opinion it is well worth the price. I know, personally, I will be picking it up as soon as my FLGS gets it in.
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As a fairly new Shadowrun GM, I can't recommend Runner's Toolkit enough. It's right up your alley, as someone that's still getting a handle on the system. There's a fun little adventure in there, there's a handy-dandy GM screen, compilations of tables and little reference sheets, and PACKs (which will be a tremendous help for making NPCs).
For myself, I'd suggest Seattle 2072 next, but I'm a setting junkie. I can't help but suggest Attitude since I helped write it, I guess, but I think for someone newer to the game either one would serve you well; both are chock full of setting information, Seattle 2072 has specifics on neighborhoods and some Shadowtalk for plot hooks and stuff that are more Seattle-detailed, Attitude is a little more of a "big picture" book that we tried to make a glimpse of just style and society (for Seattle or anywhere else). If you want more general feel and fluff, Attitude, if you're looking for more specific neighborhood info, Seattle 2072 is the way to go.
For adventures -- and maybe I'm losing the company money here, so no one tell Jason on me -- I cannot suggest the Missions line enough (and I'm saying that before my pair of CMP's have been published, so it's not just stroking my own ego ;) ). You can get a bunch of the adventures free on-line, others are available for like $5 or something silly-low, and it's got adventure after adventure, all ready to go. Even if you don't use the whole adventure, it's got some ready-made NPCs, some plot ideas, and stuff like that...great fodder for a GM that's trying to put together his own long-running campaign.
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The Seattle book is nice. Unless you like making up everything yourself (and some people do) the Seattle book as a ton of locations to use.
I also think very highly of Runner's Toolkit. The collected tables are fantastics, and the bit where they have the fiction in one column and the game mechanics and explanation in another column is an excellent way to see most aspects of the rules in use. It features The Smoker's Club, Riser's shadowrunner team, pulling off a complex gangland hit for some seriously huge cash. It a good story, but I wish that they had perhaps used some 400 bp characters instead. The Smoker's Club has a major chunk of Karma behind them.