[Let's Read] Shadowrun 2050 : Part 1

It’s here.  Since I heard about this book a few months back I’ve felt nothing but excitement about it.  Let me give you a little history on my relationship with everyone’s favorite cyberpunk/fantasy hybrid.

Shadowrun was the second roleplaying game that I really got into.  After cutting my teeth on D&D, Shadowrun came off as just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.  I quickly was spending my meager teenage income to collect each book as it released.  This was right around when Third Edition was new.  I read all the old modules I could get my hands on and was generally in love with the game.

Fast forward years later with the release of Fourth Edition (and now 20th Anniversary).  I like the unified mechanics.  I like what the they did with moving the setting forward.  2070 felt new and fresh.  Most of all, it felt like a good evolution of the game’s original cyberpunk roots.

Unfortunately for me that left some of what I fell in love with behind.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining what I mean other than Fourth Edition felt less “cyberPUNK” and more “near future espionage + magic.” The old Matrix went way.  Sadly so did the most of the attitude and aesthetic that made those books so enjoyable for me to read in the first place.

Needless to say that when I heard that a sourcebook that brought the excellent 20th Anniversary rules back in time, I went absolutely bonkers.  Enter Shadowrun 2050. Fast forward to today and the PDF has finally released.  Instead of doing a cut and dry review I thought I would simply bring you along for the ride while reading it.

Follow along after the break.



 

 

Where to start?  The Cover.



 

 

Yep.  That is pretty damn awesome.  It oozes old school Shadowrun.  Is that Sally Tsung, Dodger and Ghost-Who-Walks-Inside?  Yup.  Welcome to 2050 Chummers.

Fiction: Work’s Work

We have a short piece of fiction that introduces to a team of runners in 2050’s Chicago.  You’ve got Wicker, Hicks, Cirolle and Trench.  Wicker is a mage and apparent talismonger, Hicks is a rough and tumble Orc, Cirolle is an ex-pat from Tir and Trench is the “new guy.”

This isn’t the greatest Shadowrun fiction I’ve read but it was serviceable.  It was cool to have characters jack into their pocket secretary and display their texts on their cyber eyes.  No AR here folks.  Nope.  Hard wires and big hair.  Big, blocky cyberpunk  all the way.

The piece ends with a nice little “twist” and did a good job of showing the 2050’s aesthetic.

Introduction

This section starts with a quote from Fast Jack:

“The minute I get nostalgic is the minute I start thinking about things I did once that maybe I can’t do now. That’s a minute that will never arrive.”

Fast Jack might warn against it, but what I’ve got in my hands is pure nostalgia.  A guidebook that lets us go back in time to Shadowrun’s beginning.  Most of the stuff from 20th Anniversary works exactly the same.  Guns still shoot the same.  Sneaking around is the same.  The big changes are Magic, Matrix and Gear Availability -- Each getting their own chapter.

The full chapter break down is as follows:

The Knife at Your Throat details the world of Shadowrun as it was in 2050.
The Darkest Shadows describes the three biggest sprawls: Seattle, Chicago and Hong Kong.
Hiring Board discussing the kinds of jobs that were available in 2050 and has some sample plot hooks too.

Life in 2050 shows us how life is different from the 2070’s that we’ve gotten used to.
Runners of 2050 goes through all the common character archetypes you will find in the shadows of 2050.

Then a chapter each for Magic, Matrix and Gear.

The introduction promises fiction scattered throughout to give an even better idea of what life in the shadows of 2050 was like.  Does it succeed?

Come back Friday when I start to discuss the first chapter:  The Knife at Your Throat.