[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.