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FASA Reviews
by Gurth gurth@xs4all.nl
Lately, a lot of people seem to want to know which sourcebooks to get or to avoid, and why. So, I thought to myself, why not just put reviews for nearly all of them into one place? Give a short review, talk about their usefulness, stuff like that. FASA’s catalog gives an overview of what’s for sale, but you can’t expect it to be an objective source of information about the books. So, here is an article that might prove useful to those planning to shell out some cash for a sourcebook or two in the near future—everything is IMHO, of course.
You’ll notice that I don’t discuss any adventures; mainly this is because that a) would add a lot of work, b) would likely spoil the fun for the players, and c) I don’t own even half of the ones that have been published. There are also no net.sourcebooks in this list, though I may do a similar article about them in the future. Then again, I might be considered biased when it comes to these… grin
Goth compiled the first net.RPG.Product.Ratings of Shadowrun products in early 1995, which consisted of a survey in which each product was to be rated between 1 (sucks) and 10 (super) by the participants; 25 people sent in the completed form, and I added the average rating from the survey for each Shadowrun product in this sourcebook review, as well as one quote I found interesting from the Comments section of the survey (and no, I didn’t include any of the comments I made in it).
Format
Each book discussed below is rated for the following aspects: _
Title: _obviously, the book’s full title as it appears on the front cover. In brackets is the year in which the book came out. _
Author(s):_ who is to blame for writing it. _
Number:_ a split figure. The first part is FASA’s product number, the second, in square brackets, is the book’s ISBN number, to make ordering easier. _
Price:_ the price in U.S. dollars as listed on the back of the book _
Pages:_ the number of pages, obviously _
Sections:_ the sections (chapters) into which the book is divided, in the order they appear in the book. _
Overview:_ a short general discussion of the book, from which it should also be apparent as to how useful this book is to which kinds of players. _
Rating:_ the rating (from 1 to 10) that this product received on the Net.RPG.Products.Ratings for Shadowrun; only for books published up until late 1994. _
Comment:_ the one comment I picked from the survey. _
Notes:_ any notes to the publication, if any.
If anything is marked with a question mark, I’m not sure of whether or not the data is correct, or I simply don’t know.
FASA Publications
Awakenings (1995)
_
Authors:_ Stephen Kenson, Robert Cruz, Diane Piron-Gelman, Sharon Turner Mulvihill _
Number:_ 7120 [1-55560-273-8] _
Price:_ $15.00 _
Pages:_ 160 _
Sections:_ Introduction, What You Need To Know About Magic, The Ways Of Magic, The Magical Arsenal, The Astral Advantage, Adepts, Voudoun, Major Mojo, Rules, Street Grimoire, Archetypes, Tables _
Overview:_ An advanced magic sourcebook, like The Grimoire in some ways, and unlike it in others, Awakenings is one you might want to stay away from until you’ve gotten the hang of the magic rules presented in SRII and The Grimoire, as it builds on the information given there. The workings and theories behind magic in the Sixth World are explained in the usual neo-anarchist fashion of presenting a “real world” text with comments added by various people, which makes some things clearer but also raises more questions. The first part of the book is devoted to such game world discussions of magic and its applications, with the second part consisting of rules expansions and clarifications. Included are rules for physical adepts, new adept powers, a system for practicing voudoun (voodoo), new totems including some for paranormal animals, and a load of new spells. Then added on are some new player character archetypes and tables listing all spells, totems, and physical adept abilities published up until 1995. _
Rating/Comment:_ wasn’t out yet when the ratings were compiled _
Notes:_ this is the full version of a file that floated around the net in early 1995, usually known as the Neo-Anarchists’ Guide to Magic (NAGM) or Neo-Anarchists’ Guide to the Awakened (NAGW).
Aztlan (1994?)
_
Author(s):_ Nigel D. Findley _
Number:_ 7119 [1-55560-257-6] _
Price:_ $18.00? _
Pages:_ ? _
Sections:_ ? _
Overview:_ a book I don’t own, so I can’t say anything much about what’s in it. I do know it’s about Aztlan (the former Mexico) and that weird things happen there… _
Rating/Comment:_ brought out after the survey _
Notes:_ as said, I don’t own this one.
Bug City (1995)
_
Author(s):_ Rob Cruz, Tom Dowd, Mike Nystul, Christopher Kubasik, Diane Piron-Gelman _
Number:_ 7117 [1-55560-253-3] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ 160 + 8 color + fold-out color map _
Sections:_ Welcome to Bug City, City Under Siege, Windy City, Living In Oblivion, Insects Among Us, The Core, Gamemaster Information _
Overview:_ Bug City deals with what happens in Chicago in the summer of 2055 and later. If you’re not a gamemaster, you might want to stay away from this book (and this overview) until your gamemaster says it’s OK for you to read it, though. As said, Bug City deals with Chicago, and as the name suggests it has something to do with insect spirits. Namely, some organizations have been secretly breeding tens or even hundreds of thousands of them underneath Chicago, and when something goes wrong, they break loose. The UCAS seals off the city, and lets nobody in or out in order to keep the problem contained. Some time later, somebody even uses a… you didn’t think I was going to tell you that, now did you? Anyway, if you’re a gamemaster and plan on throwing some nasty surprises on your players, Bug City is the book to buy: it offers a complete campaign setting, which I tend to describe as “Combine Mad Max and Alien, and then set it in Sarajevo,” and because it’s totally isolated it is a gamemaster’s playground.
Concerning the artwork and layout, this is different than most people will be used to. At first, it’s a bit difficult, as it seems to attempt to give an impression of the chaos in Chicago. Once you get used to it it’s okay, though I think it could have been done a little bit better. _
Rating/Comment:_ the book wasn’t out yet.
California Free State (1996)
_
Authors:_ Lori Methany, Michael Mulvihill, Steve Perrin, Diane Piron-Gelman, and others. _
Number:_ 7209 [1-55560-193-6] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ 160 + 8 color + fold-out color map _
Sections:_ Introduction, The California Question, Free State Fast Facts, Northern Crescent, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Big Sur Coast, Los Angeles, Mojave Desert, The Players, Game Information, Maps, Index _
Overview:_ the now out-of-print Neo-Anarchists’ Guide to North America dealt with California Free State in one of its chapters, but this sourcebook expands on the data given there, and updates it to 2057. If anything, it only makes the situation worse from the one described in the older book, making California a patch-work of semi-independent areas more or less under threat from each other and the countries bordering on the Free State. Anyone planning to set a campaign in California will need this sourcebook, and for those just visiting for a while it can also provide good adventure ideas. However, if only a short visit is planned, the information in the Neo-Anarchists’ Guide to North America will be sufficient for most gamemasters. Also added are some new rules for California-specific things, although these mainly deal with magical side-effects and complications. There are also rules for mutant and toxic critters, which can be useful in other areas of the world as well. In the back of the book are maps of the various parts of California, and one for the whole state. _
Rating/Comment:_ published after 1995, so not available.
Corporate Security Handbook (1995)
_
Author:_ Michael E. Colton, Rob Cruz, Tom Dowd, Diane Piron-Gelman, Sam Lewis, Mike Mulvihill, Sharon Turner Mulvihill _
Number:_ 7118 [1-55560-261-4] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ 128 + 8 color _
Sections:_ Introduction, History, Physical Security, Technical Security, Magical Security, Matrix Security, Personnel Security, Executive Protection, Behind The Curtain, Ares Security International Fall 2055 Catalog, Gamemaster Information, Corporate Security Personnel, Archetypes _
Overview:_ Promised as being “On the horizon” in a 1993 FASA flyer, this book finally came out in 1995. At first glance, it’s a good book, but when you get a little deeper into it, you soon start thinking “I could have come up with those ideas too!” The book is written as a Knight Errant brochure on how to secure your corp’s facilities, and as such it provides a good many ideas on how to do just that in the Shadowrun game, but like I said before, there’s virtually nothing you can’t think of yourself if you apply a bit of common sense coupled to a little research. One nice idea is the Fat Aerial Bacteria (FAB), which can be used to block the passage of astrally-projecting magicians, though nobody seems to agree on how it actually works. The Ares Catalog bit contains lots of things useful for security in Street Samurai Catalog-style, though virtually no new weapons except two squirt guns and a paintball weapon. Also in the book are typical security troopers, and three new archetypes of freelance security people. _
Rating/Comment:_ not applicable.
Corporate Shadowfiles - A Shadowrun Sourcebook (1993)
_
Author:_ Nigel D. Findley _
Number:_ 7113 [1-55560-211-8] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ 152 (incl. 32 color) _
Sections:_ Introduction, Big Brother is Here, Megacorporate Primer, Doing Business, Competition, Zurich-Orbital Habitat, Rating Corps _
Overview:_ Unlike many other Shadowrun sourcebooks, Corporate Shadowfiles is not an “open the cover and out pop useful things” book. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good book and I like it, but its subject matter is not useful to most shadowrunners. The book deals with the way megacorporations make money, and has a chapter on giving corps ratings, in order that these ratings can be used to show the effects of shadowruns made against those corps. The last section of the book is probably the most useful to players, because it gives information on the eight biggest corporations in the Shadowrun world. The main reason to buy this book would be to get background information on the world in general and corporations in particular, and gamemasters can find ideas for adventures in here (preventing corporate war is always nice), but as a game supplement it is only moderately useful. _
Rating:_ 6.9 _
Comment:_ “This had more useful info than my business textbook!!!”
Cybertechnology - A Shadowrun Sourcebook (1995)
_
Author:_ Tom Dowd _
Number:_ 7119 [1-55560-267-3] _
Price:_ $15.00 _
Pages:_ 102 _
Sections:_ Introduction, Part 1: Cyberware, Welcome To The Cutting Edge, Life On The Wire, Comfortably Numb, Cyberware Rules, Part 2: Cybermancy, Beyond The Pale, Cybermancy, Magic And Death, Cybermancy Rules, Chrome Kings, Tables, Index _
Overview:_ this is the book that those who love the Street Samurai Catalog and especially Shadowtech will want to own. The first part of the book follows a street samurai named Hatchetman as he recovers from a near-fatal incident, with him describing how and why he got his cyberware, followed by a catalog-type section with new cyberware—things from lights in your eyes to cyberarms with built-in gyromounts—although it suffers (IMHO) from the Shadowrun attitude of only including things that have a direct use in the game. A few are also a bit over the top, like the oral weapons and the extra arm. Then there’s expanded rules covering just about everything involved with cyberware; this section has some rules that appeared in previous books, and gives yet another system for cyberware damage (Shadowtech still has the best one, if you ask me). There is no new bioware in this book, by the way.
The second half of the book talks about cybermancy: getting more than 6 Essence points’ worth of cyberware, without dying and without using alpha or higher grade ’ware. This has some inherent risks, and is very hard to get, but it can be done. It seems to me like this will mostly be a gamemaster’s tool, though. Then there is a chapter with some Prime Runners-type characters who all have lots of cyberware, and a table with all the cyber- and bioware that has appeared in Shadowrun books. _
Rating/Comment:_ not available.
Denver - The City of Shadows (1994)
_
Authors:_ Nigel D. Findley, Bill Lenox, Tom Wong & Tom Dowd _
Number:_ 7212 [1-55560-236-3] _
Price:_ $25.00 _
Pages:_ 168 in the players’ book, 62 in the gamemaster’s book _
Sections: Players’ book:_ Introduction, Read All About It, What You Need to Know, How It Got This Way, How It is Now, The Real Power, The Nexus, Aztlan Sector, CAS Sector, Pueblo Sector, Sioux Sector, UCAS Sector, Ute Sector, Index _
Gamemaster’s book:_ Introduction, Spirit of Denver, People, Locations & Organizations, Rules _
Overview:_ Yep. Two books in a box. The box is of the same size as FASA uses for BattleTech products (if any of you play that one), with one of the books being for the players to read, and the other the property of the gamemaster. The players’ book is set up as a Neo-A guide to Denver, in the familiar style, and contains no game rules whatsoever. It also doesn’t tell the whole truth, as usual, as this is up to the gamemaster to decide by using his/her gamemaster book. Each of the city’s sectors is described, with its notable locations, but the book does more than just give a city description. It also spreads rumors about the Nexus, a sort of decker-heaven (if you can get in), and its inhabitants, and the book gives a history of Denver as well as a good description of the current fucked-up situation (and that is just an understatement).
Taking the gamemaster book to hand, this is set up in such a way that the players could read it if they want, and still not know what is truly going on. You see, the gamemaster is given three choices for everything described, so (s)he can choose which to use in the campaign. The rest of the gamemaster book is a section with rules; these include credstick rules (from Sprawl Sites), legalities rules (from Shadowtech or Sprawl Sites), security and search rules (from the Neo Anarchists’ Guide to Real Life), and more previously-published rules as well as some new rules on police response times and typical equipment used by Denver border guards.
The idea behind this set is to run a campaign in Denver after you’ve bought it. If you plan on staying in Seattle (or wherever), there’s no need to bother buying this campaign set. _
Rating:_ 7.9 _
Comment:_ “Looks good. A few holes in the plots, needs an expansion on the “Free Market” mechanics, but lots of potential for a gamemaster running a group of smugglers.” _
Notes:_ The box contains a players’ book, a gamemaster’s book, a small (about 28 x 44 cm) full-color map of the whole of Denver, a large (about 55 x 90 cm) full-color map of downtown Denver, and two credit-card sized visitor passes to two different sectors (I got Aztlan and CAS, but there are others too).
DMZ - Downtown Militarized Zone (1990)
_
Author:_ Tom Dowd _
Number:_ 7111 [1-55560-132-4] _
Price:_ $30.00 _
Pages:_ 72 in the rulebook, 46 in the archetypes book _
Sections: Rulebook: _Game Stuff, Preparing to Play, Sequence of Play, Movement and Actions, Basic Combat, Magic, Motorcycles, Critters, Shadowrunning, Playing the Game, Timeline, Weapons Table _
Overview:_ Ever played BattleTroops? Liked it? Then DMZ should prove easy enough to learn: DMZ is BattleTroops with Shadowrun-knobs on, plain and simple. It uses dots for movement purposes (by spending a certain amount of Movement Points, you can move to the next dot), and also uses those dots to find weapon and magic ranges. The whole BattleTroops game system has been overhauled to include typical Shadowrun things like magic, critters, motorcycles, and some more of that stuff, but underneath the glitter it’s still the BattleTroops system. That’s OK, I like BattleTroops, but for Shadowrun I somehow feel it doesn’t come out really right. The system is 2D6-based, instead of the hands-full-of-D6s-based Shadowrun rules, and includes rules to convert your Shadowrun character to DMZ. What it doesn’t do is give rules to convert it back, so if you do take your Shadowrun character into DMZ, prepare to spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how wounded (s)he comes out. Anyways, the rules themselves are suitable for what they try to do: you can speed up combat by playing DMZ instead of Shadowrun. As soon as you’re used to them of course, but they’re not very hard to learn anyway. Still, I had expected a bit more, really.
_
Rating:_ 3.7 _
Comment:_ “DMZ is a playable but not terribly exciting tactical wargame. We didn’t find it at all usable for roleplaying as its results are strikingly different from the roleplaying combat system’s and much more lethal. A combat-optimized DMZ character looks quite different from an optimized SR character, and each will die in the others’ environment. The damage-track system can be adapted, though (my SR-based homebrew used it).” _
Notes:_ In addition to a rulebook and an archetypes book, the box contains 2 large (approx. 55 x 85 cm) gray maps with a white dot pattern; 7 small (about 28 x 42 cm) full-color maps with overprinted dot pattern; 1 large (same as size as gray maps) full-color map, also overprinted with a dot pattern; 16 plastic figure stands; two six-sided dice; and 4 sheets with cardboard counters representing characters, smoke, doors, firing arcs, etc. The weapon stats are conversions from first edition Shadowrun weapons, so no Fields of Fire guns are included, and the weapons don’t always match the second edition weapon stats.
Fields of Fire (1994)
_
Author:_ Tom Dowd _
Number:_ 7114 _
Price:_ $15.00 _
Pages:_ 110 _
Sections:_ Introduction, Fields of Fire, Mercenary Equipment, Rules, Tables _
Overview:_ The Shadowrun mercenary sourcebook. The first part of the book gives background material on what it is like to be a merc, written as an article by a well-known merc. The next section is more useful to gadget-lovers: in a similar fashion to the Street Samurai Catalog, this provides all sorts of gear, intended for mercenaries. Naturally, this is also useful to just about any shadowrunner who wants a good gun. In addition to new weapons, things such as climbing gear, military armor, and communications systems are also featured, as are a few new vehicles. Then comes the rules clarifications. These provide optional rules to enhance your game (most are very useful), and rules pertaining to some of the new equipment featured in the book. The final section is a huge equipment table, listing just about all gear officially released by FASA up until early 1994, useful as a quick reference. _
Rating:_ 7.2 _
Comment:_ “Get some people who know both guns and the system rather than bootlegging C-Punk’s already garbled munchkin guns.”
Germany Sourcebook (1993?)
_
Authors:_ most likely the same as those for Deutschland in den Schatten _
Number:_ 7204 [1-55560-186-3] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ ? _
Sections:_ ? _
Overview:_ What can I say? Maybe that I’ve never really read this one—I got the German version, but I haven’t been bothered to also buy the English one. What I do know is that certain things have been left out of the English version, so if you speak German you’re probably better off buying the original rather than the translation. _
Rating:_ 6.2
The Grimoire - The Manual of Practical Thaumaturgy 15th Edition, 2053 (1992)
_
Author:_ Paul R. Hume _
Number:_ 7903 [1-55560-190-1] _
Price:_ $15.00 _
Pages:_ 142 _
Sections:_ Introduction, The Ways, The Arts, The Higher Mysteries, The Beings, The Places, Magical Threats, Spells, Index _
Overview:_ Magicians, buy this book. Useless to any other kinds of characters, any magician will find this one invaluable simply because of all the new things it details. Most of the information presented in The Grimoire is immediately useable in any campaign, provided your character has enough Good Karma to spend. Things like initiations, astral quests, spell design, new spirits, and rules expansions all combine to make magicians more powerful and more dangerous than ever. The druid rules from the London Sourcebook are also included and updated to second edition Shadowrun, and some magical threats are introduced, giving gamemasters some very nasty surprises to spring on unwary players. _
Rating:_ 8.3 _
Notes:_ This is the reworked version of the original Grimoire (1989, I think), which is not included here
London Sourcebook (1991?)
_
Authors:_ Carl Sargent & Marc Gascoine _
Number:_ 7203 [1-55560-131-6] _
Price:_ $15.00 _
Pages:_ ? _
Sections: _? _
Overview:_ Haven’t got this one either. I did take a look into it once (thanks, Phill!), and it seemed OK to me. I do know that it contains rules on druids and ley lines, but I can’t remember much else. _
Rating:_ 6.2 _
Comment:_ “London sourcebook had far too many geographical inconsistencies (Inverness is NOT on the West coast….)”
Lone Star (1994)
_
Authors:_ Nigel D. Findley & Stephen Atkins _
Number:_ 7115 [1-55560-230-4] _
Price:_ $18.00 _
Pages:_ 136 + 8 color _
Sections:_ Introduction, Behind the Star, Corporate Structure, Enforcement Arm, Corporate Arm, Personnel, Operational Procedures, Intelligence Gathering, New Equipment, Gamemaster Information, Index _
Overview:_ Everything you always wanted to know about Lone Star, but were afraid to ask! Seriously, this book does a good job of telling the truth (as far as it can be dug up, of course) behind Lone Star. It goes into almost every aspect, from corporate politics to the cops on the street, and also has information about the equipment and methods used by Lone Star employees. Granted, the book does contradict some information from previous books (mainly adventures), but nothing you can’t live with. The book is most useful for gamemasters, who will be able to judge Lone Star’s response to the players actions much easier after reading through the book once or twice, not to mention having a use for the stats for typical Lone Star employees included in the back. Players don’t really have much use for it, though as always they might want to read it anyway. Know your opposition, and all that jazz? _
Rating:_ 7.3 _
Comment:_
“More useful than Shadowbeat, it details the cops. If the GM doesn’t use the cops often, or as a real challenge, they may want it and the PC’s may not want them to have it. Adds a lot of flavor.”
Native American Nations Volume One (1991)
_
Author:_ Nigel D. Findley _
Number:_ 7202 [1-55560-130-8] _
Price:_ $12.00 _
Pages:_ 136 _
Sections:_ Peacekeeper: A Prologue, Introduction, The Adventure, Picking Up the Pieces, Legwork, Cast of Shadows, Player Handouts, Native American Nations, Salish-Shidhe Council, Sioux Nation, Pueblo Corporate Council, Ute Nation _
Overview:_ The largest part of this book is the adventure Peacekeeper. What follows on from this is a short guide to four of the Native American Nations, described in a similar way as in most other Shadowrun sourcebooks: basic text with comments by people who think they have something to say. As with the Neo-Anarchist’s Guide to North America, the information provided doesn’t go very deep but is sufficient to get some idea on what is going on in each country. I personally would have liked to see more game-specific information as well as more things on topics like how to cross borders, but that is just my personal opinion. Players might want to read this book, especially if their characters are Native Americans, but otherwise it’s mostly a gamemaster’s book, giving ideas for adventures if you read between the lines a bit. _
Rating:_ 5.4 _
Comment:_ “NAN 1 was awful — half of it is a bad adventure module, and the other half is very shallow and prefunctory. Nothing about culture at all.”
Native American Nations Volume Two (1991?)
_
Author:_ Nigel D. Findley _
Number:_ 7207 [1-55560-158-8] _
Price:_ $12.00 _
Pages:_ ? _
Sections:_ ? _
Overview:_ I haven’t got this one, and I have never really had the chance to read it either, so I don’t know. I suspect it is much along the lines of Native American Nations Volume One. I do know that it has an adventure backed up with source material, and that it details the remaining nations not covered by NAN1. _
Rating:_ 5.6
The Neo-Anarchist’s Guide to North America (1990 or 1991 - the book contradicts itself)
_
Authors_: A whole lot of people _
Number_: 7206 [1-55560-135-9] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 128 + 6 double-sided fold-out maps _
Sections_: Introduction, Neo-Anarchism, California Free State, San Francisco, Confederated American States, Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Republic of Québec, Québec City, United Canadian and American States, Federal District of Columbia, Chicago, New York City _
Overview_: What does North America look like in the 2050s? This is the book that explains. Sort of. Even though it claims to be a guide to North America, you will need both the Native American Nations books, the Seattle Sourcebook, and Tir Tairngire to get a more or less complete picture. This one is concerned mostly with the areas occupied by Anglos. Anyway, this Guide describes some areas of North America in the well-known fashion of text filled with decker comments, but also gives an idea of what neo-anarchism is all about. The text is supported by three-color maps in the back of the book: every major city that’s discussed has two maps, one that shows the complete city and one to illustrate the downtown core, and there is also a map of almost the whole of North America. All this combined gives a reasonable picture of Shadowrun’s North America, but doesn’t really go into details. Of course, that is to be expected from a book that handles an entire continent. As for usefulness, again mostly for the gamemaster, and only if you want to know more about the world, or if your players want to venture out from Seattle to explore the lands beyond. _
Rating_: 6.6 _
Comments_: “Useful. Provides a necessary view of the old US. Helps to show the new world order.” _
Notes_: Out of print.
The Neo Anarchists’ Guide to Real Life (1992)
_
Author_: Nigel D. Findley _
Number_: 7208 [1-55560-165-0] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 104 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Finding Your Feet, Security Blanket, Fringe of Space, Killer Accessories, Dressed to Kill, DocWagon’s New Medicine, Seattle on 30¥ a Night, Guarding the Till, Eating Fast and Fearlessly, Best of Home Security, Sharper Image, One-Way Communication, You Are Your Credstick, Rules _
Overview_: Lots of background material mixed in with useful and less-useful new equipment and rules, the Neo-A Guide to Real Life gives an insight into security systems, fashion, medical clinics, coffin hotels, credsticks, and a few more things of interest to Shadowrun players. The book is pretty useful for getting to know a bit more about how the world of Shadowrun works, and what you can expect to encounter in the sprawl. The section on credsticks is really just a slight expansion and reprint of the rules in Sprawl Sites, however. For gamemasters, the chapters on security provide good information on how corps and others guard their compounds, houses, and places of business, while for the fashion-conscious players there are some fashion-weapons and equally-fashionable armor and goodies (finally! I like useless gadgets for my characters…). The last chapter provides specific game rules for all subjects covered. All in all, I’d say you could do a lot worse than buy this book. _
Rating_: 7.4 _
Comment_: “Useful. Again, it’s background material, but it’s the day to day stuff. Very handy. Very little of it will imbalance a game, if any.” _
Notes_: Stats for things like weapons and gear are included for both first and second edition Shadowrun.
Paranormal Animals of Europe (1993)
_
Authors_: Carl Sargent, Tom Dowd & Mike Colton _
Number_: 7112 [1-55560-199-5] _
Price_: $18.00 _
Pages_: 168 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Preface, Awakened Animals, Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Powers of the Awakened, World-Wide Distribution, Critter Table
Overview: Very similar to the earlier Paranormal Animals of North America (see below), this book details the creatures that stalk Europe. Gamemasters can base adventures around these animals, or simply throw them against the players to make them spend some ammo. Apart from this, the book is useful as background material, because it gives a short scientific description of the animal, based on observations made by researchers, while also adding shadow-comments based on observations made by non-researchers, as well as a picture of the animal and a map showing where you are likely to encounter it. Be wary of the size comparison pictures, as the animals in these are sometimes grossly out of proportion to the size they’re supposed to from in the text. In addition to critter descriptions and stats, included is a very much expanded Powers and Weaknesses section (expanded over both Shadowrun Second Edition and Paranormal Animals of North America), and a stats list of all critters published in Shadowrun up until 1993, which means it has virtually all of them. One of the most useful parts of the book, apart from the new animals themselves, is the World-Wide Distribution chapter, which gives indications for how you can put European critters in North America and the other way around. By the way, the beasties of Europe are generally more powerful than those that lurk in the good ol’ US of A (RIP). _
Rating_: 6.3
Paranormal Animals of North America (1990)
_
Author_: Nigel D. Findley _
Number_: 7105 [1-55560-123-5] _
Price_: $12.00 _
Pages_: 176 + 8 color _
Sections_: Street Smart, Introduction, Powers of the Awakened, Awakened Animals _
Overview_: Another one for the gamemaster. The only thing this book talks about is awakened critters, so unless you want your character to have a greater wolverine as a pet, this isn’t much use to players. Much the same comments apply to this book as to Paranormal Animals of Europe, so I won’t repeat them; there is a section with expanded Powers and Weaknesses for the critters, but this is superseded by the same listing in Paranormal Animals of Europe—not in the least because the list in that book is for use with the second edition rules. Naturally, complete game stats for each critter are given, as is a quick-reference list of all critters in the book. _
Rating_: 6.4 _
Comments_: “The animal guides aren’t needed if you don’t plan on running into any.” _
Notes_: The stats in this book are for first edition Shadowrun (at least, in the copy I own). There are conversions in the back of the second edition Shadowrun rulebook.
Paradise Lost (1994)
_
Author_: ? (Nigel Findley, I think -Fro) _
Number_: 7317 [?] _
Price_: $10.00 _
Pages_: ? _
Sections_: ? _
Overview_: Not in my possession, I’m afraid. Like the Native American Nations books, Paradise Lost is basically an adventure with a source section bolted on for good measure. Oh, and it’s about Hawaii. _
Rating_: 7.4
Portfolio Of A Dragon: Dunkelzahn’s Secrets (1996)
_
Authors_: Steve Kenson, Mike Colton, Todd Bolling, Jon F. Zeigler _
Number_: 7122 [1-55560-306-8] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 112 _
Sections_: Introduction, The Dragon’s Last Dance, The Last Testament Of Dunkelzahn, I, Dunkelzahn…, The Players, Shadowland On Parade, The Sleeping Dragon, Who Watches The Watchers?, In The Cards _
Overview_: this review could have some big spoilers if the game you play in hasn’t reached August 2057 yet! Consider yourself warned… If you’re still reading this, then you probably already know Dunkelzahn was assassinated when he was inaugurated as UCAS president, and left a will that raises lots of questions. Portfolio Of A Dragon: Dunkelzahn’s Secrets contains this will, and takes a look at who benefits (and some of the reasons why), and tries to find out who killed the Big D (and again: why). In essence, this book is one big device for generating adventures, because a great many of the entries in Dunkelzahn’s will could be turned into anything from short one-off adventures to whole campaigns, in search of an item, the truth, both, none, or something else entirely. It doesn’t give any concrete adventure plots, but could spark lots of them; for this reason, it can be considered “safe” to read for players. _
Rating/Comment_: not for this one. _
Notes_: better check with your gamemaster before reading this book.
Prime Runners (1994)
_
Author_: Carl Sargent (?) _
Number_: ? _
Price_: $18.00 (?) _
Pages_: ? _
Sections_: ? _
Overview_: A book with NPCs to put into a Shadowrun campaign. From what I understand, these are not simple contacts but more fully-developed NPCs, like the Cast of Shadows section of the FASA-published adventures. These NPCs are supposed to be high-powered, but the ShadowRN grapevine says that they aren’t really, and that an average player team would kick their collective asses with relative ease. I haven’t actually seen the book, mind you, but a net.publication called NERPS: Edge Runners is available, which features characters actually in use by Shadowrun players—and that one’s free. _
Rating_: 5.2
Rigger Black Book (1991)
_
Author_: Phillip McGregor _
Number_: 7108 [1-55560-169-3] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 136 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Civilian Vehicles, Security Vehicles, Drones, Military Vehicles, Vehicle Ratings, Vehicle Operations, Vehicle Modifications, Vehicle Weapons, Sensors and ECM, Vehicle Combat Turn, Revised Combat Rules, Index _
Overview_: I’ve heard people complain about that the Rigger Black Book isn’t really useful, but I disagree. It provides large numbers of vehicles of all types to populate your Shadowrun campaign with, and more importantly, it gives rules for modifying vehicles. The vehicle combat rules have almost all been integrated into the second edition Shadowrun rules, as have the revised combat rules for personal combat, so you don’t need to buy the book to get those. Vehicle ratings are expanded over those in basic Shadowrun, and include such things as how many seats and doors the vehicle has, fuel and engine types, and cargo space. Also featured are new weapons, though mostly missiles and cannons for military-grade vehicles; not something street riggers can put onto their modified Westwind 2000 easily. The book is moderately useful to characters who just want a car or bike; riggers, on the other hand, will find it very useful because of the large number of vehicles and modifications to choose from. _
Rating_: 6.3 _
Comment_: “RBB, IMHO, was very vague. Vehicle mod rules seem arbitrary in places, and just what the heck is a CF, anyway? Area? Volume? Mass? Weight?”
Notes: stats are for first edition Shadowrun in my copy of the book. The Shadowrun Second Edition rulebook has conversion guidelines.
Seattle Sourcebook (1990)
_
Author_: Boy F. Peterson Jr. _
Number_: 7201 [1-55560-111-1] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 175 + 4 color + fold-out map _
Sections_: Introduction, Welcome to Seattle, Facts At Your Fingertips, History, Downtown/Seattle, Renraku Arcology, Aztechnology Complex, Council Island, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett, Renton, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, Redmond, Puyallup, Government, Economy, Crime, Maps _
Overview_: Not, as the FASA catalog says, loaded with maps. In fact, there are only 13 pages with maps in the back of the book, and all these are of the different districts in Seattle. (And guess what? They don’t even fit together!) The major part of the book is an overview of all the districts that make up the Seattle Metroplex, with histories, geographical descriptions, demographics, and so on given for each district as well as Seattle as a whole. The most important part of each district chapter consists of short descriptions of various buildings and locations—as you’ll all be familiar with from the city descriptions in the NAGEE. The last (shorter) chapters talk about how the ’plex is governed, organized and non-organized crime, and other things that are handy to know. As with most Shadowrun sourcebooks, there are lots of decker comments everywhere, so make of the text what you will. The book is almost essential to run a campaign in Seattle, because it gives a much better insight into the city that the short text in the back of the Shadowrun rules does. _
Rating_: 7.1 _
Comment_: “Maybe being a Seattle native biased me, but I found the Seattle Sourcebook very dry. It didn’t do much at all to give a feeling for the various neighborhoods. You’d do better to get a map and tour guide to modern Seattle and then improvise.”
Shadowbeat (1992)
_
Author_: Paul R. Hume _
Number_: 7109 [1-55560-159-6] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 102 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, It’s Only Rock & Roll, Broadcasting, The Nets, Thats Entertainment, And Now the News, Sports, Simsense, Archetype Additions, Gear, Glossary _
Overview_: Information about the media in all its aspects in the Shadowrun universe. Shadowbeat is not very useful for rollplayers, because it provides little hard-and-fast rules, but if you want to roleplay a journalist, musician, or other media-affiliated character, you could do a whole lot worse than invest your money in this book. Its contents are fairly useless to typical Shadowrun characters (mages, samurai, etc.), so it’s a bit of a specialized sourcebook; the first chapters give background material on music, trideo, sports, and simsense, as well as actual rules for their inclusion in the game. This book isn’t written as a Neo-A guide, so it freely mixes rules with source material in a humorous writing style. The color section has some interviews with notable NPCs, together with their full game stats, while the Archetype Additions and Gear sections have things like cameras, musical instruments, simsense recorders, and the skills to operate them. _
Rating_: 5.9 _
Comment_: “ShadowBeat was not useful (to me at least) at all. I found it dull and unnecessary.”
Shadowrun GM Screen Second Edition (1992?)
_
Author_: ? _
Number_: 7902 [?] _
Price_: $12.00 _
Pages_: ? _
Sections_: ? _
Overview_: Haven’t bought it, don’t want to either (but a copy is welcome if someone wants to make a donation to a worthy cause :). Not because I hate the thing, but I already have a gamemaster screen that I made myself and so has all the stuff I want on it; the book and character standups are not enough to convince me to buy this one. However, if you don’t already have a gamemaster screen and also nothing to fake one with, why not buy it? _
Notes_: In addition to the cardboard screen, this contains a book of archetypes and contacts, plus “standup character” (probably DMZ-style cardboard figures).
(Yup, the kind with the cruddy cardboard base, I made wood bases for them all, worked nicely -Fro) _
Rating_: 6.0 _
Comment_: “The GM screen is not entirely complete, as I think other tables could have been put on it. Eg the skill web was superfluous (one could just copy it from the book, and leave it on the table, for all to use.) Also, it IQs a bit too high, but I think that comment is just that bit too subjective ;)”
Shadowrun Companion: Beyond The Shadows (1996)
_
Authors_: Zach Bush, Jennifer Brandes, Chris Hepler, Chris Hussey, Jonathon Jacobson, Steve Kenson, Linda Naughton, Brian Schoner, Michael Mulvihill _
Number_: 7905 [1-55560-298-3] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 136 _
Sections_: Introduction, In Their Own Words, Character Creation, Skills And Training, How To Hire A Shadowrunner, Contacts And Enemies, Advanced Rules, Running The Game, Alternate Campaign Concepts, Shadowrun Character Sheets, Index _
Overview_: the advanced rules supplement for the Shadowrun game as a whole, most of this book expands existing rules, adds optional new ones, and clarifies others. It is in no way required to play the game, but it’s quite a good add-on to increase the scope of the game itself as well as of the game world. Among the topics covered are a whole new character generation system (points-based, rather than a priority system), edges and flaws to make a character more unique, new metahuman races, a new skill web, rules for learning and improving skills (making this more involved than just spending Good Karma), and more. There is also a chapter that builds on the Behind The Scenes chapter from Shadowrun Second Edition, giving more advice to gamemasters, and a chapter with alternate settings for campaigns, such as making all player characters employees of DocWagon™. Al in all it’s a good investment for players who know the intricacies of the basic Shadowrun rules, although I wouldn’t recommend it to groups who are relatively new to the game. _
Rating/Comment_: not applicable
Shadowrun Second Edition (1992)
_
Authors_: lotsa folks _
Number_: 7900 [1-55560-196-0] for the hardback edition; 7901 [1-55560-180-4] for the softback edition _
Price_: $30.00 for the hardback edition; $25.00 for the soft back edition
Pages: 296 (incl. 16 color) + 24 color + fold-out map _
Sections_: Welcome to the Shadows, The Year Is 2053, Plus Ça Change, And So It Came To Pass, Game Concepts, Metahumanity, Creating A Character and Archetypes, Skills, Combat, Magic, The Matrix, Behind the Scenes, Contacts, Critters, Gear, The Modern Northwest, Seattle, Developer’s Notes, Sourcebook Updates, Index _
Overview_: Essential for anyone who wants to gamemaster Shadowrun, but I’d advise players to get a copy as well. Being the basic rules, you’re gonna need this to run any kind of Shadowrun game. Why am I telling you this anyway? You’re obviously playing it already… _
Notes_: the hardback was a limited edition, and only the softback is still in print (even though the hardback is much sought-after).
This was the second-highest rated book on the survey (Harlequin’s Back got 8.9). _
Rating_: 8.8 _
Comment_: “The second edition book has all the good points (because it’s basically copied) of the first book, without the confusing rules, and a complete set of updates.”
Shadowtech (1991)
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Author_: Karl Wu _
Number_: 7110 [1-55560-156-1] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 120 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Bionetics, Bioware, Cybertechnology, Cyberware, Eugenics/Genetics, Gene-Tech, Chemistry, Compounds, Technology and the Law, Equipment Table, Equipment Index _
Overview_: as well as adding lots of new implant-goodies to your runners’ wish-lists, this book provides an insight into how cyberware and bioware work in the game universe, together with explanations of genetic engineering. Rules for drugs and drug use are given, as are general data about the human body (the author is a doctor, apparently). The implants are divided into bioware and cyberware, with the bioware generally being of more use to combat-oriented characters than the cyberware. Headware cyberdecks are introduced, but you will need Virtual Realities to understand what is what with these. The last part of the book has a legalities section (expanded over that in Sprawl Sites), and tables listing the legalities of almost all equipment published until 1992. _
Rating_: 7.8 _
Comment_: “A GM caveat book, it can seriously change the power level of a game, both for and against PC’s. Use with care.”
Sprawl Maps (1994)
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Author_: ? _
Number_: 7401 [?] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: “8” (there’s 8 maps and a thick piece of cardboard in the plastic wrapper)
Sections: ? _
Overview_: A set of 8 maps for use with DMZ. If you like DMZ and play it a lot, I guess you should buy this one as well. I don’t own the maps, I’ve just read the bit in the FASA catalog and looked at somebody else’s copy once, which means I can’t say much about them. Going by the rating from the survey (this was the lowest-rated out of 67 products…), there’s not much need to buy this set unless you’re desperate for new maps for your DMZ game. _
Rating_: 3.4 _
Comment_: “Maps are nice but too expensive. And do me a great favour: No more cardboard without maps on it. I was thinking I’d gotten a big pack of maps and what did I get? Some maps and a thick piece of cardboard.”
Sprawl Sites (1990)
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Authors_: Boy Peterson, John Faughnan & Mike Stackpole _
Number_: 7103 [1-55560-119-7] _
Price_: $12.00 _
Pages_: 128 (incl. 8 color) _
Sections_: Introduction, Life on a Limb, Location Archetypes, Sprawl Encounters, Archetypes & Contacts, Sprawl Law, Credsticks and IDs _
Overview_: A mixed blessing. First off, let me say that most of this book is for gamemasters only, not for the players. The new contacts are useful if you’ve gotten bored with the ones in the basic rules, as are the archetypes. The Location Archetypes are not, as you may think, character archetypes with appear at specific locations, but instead these are maps of “typical” buildings. This section is definitely the most useful of the book, as it gives an idea of what a typical bar, shop, office, or house looks like, and who you can expect to find there when you get inside. Maybe Americans have less use for it, as I expect these things were based on 1980s/1990s American buildings, but I guess that non-Americans will find it pretty handy. The least useful bit is the Sprawl Encounters section. This provides the gamemaster with a few tables to roll dice on, and then a reference to the 132 encounters listed on the next pages. The encounters are a bit too far worked out to be true encounters, and too little worked out to be useful as short adventures. The best use for them would be as something to base home-written adventures on, I feel. The chapter on laws is also featured (and expanded) in Shadowtech, but Sprawl Sites still has some useful bits here, namely the enforcement ratings. Finally, the credsticks bit is included (and again expanded) in the Neo Anarchists’ Guide to Real Life. _
Rating_: 6.0 _
Comment_: “Sprawl Sites had a couple of nice bits in it, including usable floor plans and a few good adventure seeds, but not enough for its length.” _
Notes_: A bit strange, this one: on all FASA price sheets I’ve seen, it is marked as “Sprawl Sites One,” but I’ve not heard of a “Two” so far…? Anyway, it’s out of print now.
Street Samurai Catalog (1989/1992)
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Author_: Tom Dowd _
Number_: 7104 [1-55560-122-7] for either edition _
Price_: $12.00 _
Pages_: 112 _
Sections_: Ares Winter Catalog 2050, Ares Security Catalog 2050, Wiremasters Supplement, Working the Streets, Cyberware Damage, Cyber Repair, Upgrading Cybrware (the typo in “cybrware” isn’t mine), Custom Cyberware, Cheap Cyberware, Samurai Archetypes, Weaponry _
Overview_: the Street Samurai Catalog has lots of equipment of all kinds, ranging from light pistols to riot-control vehicles. Despite the name of the book, most of it is usable by just about any character interested in protecting him- or herself (and who isn’t?). The Ares Security Catalog has security-grade equipment, though some of the “civilian” gear would fit in here better than in the first section (Joe Pedestrian with a burst-fire shotgun??). Both sections include some new vehicles, but these are better detailed in the Rigger Black Book. The Wiremasters Supplement focuses mostly on headware but fails to provide many useful things. The optional rules bit (all the sections about the cyberware) can be useful, but the equivalent rules in Shadowtech are really better to use. The book rounds off all this by providing four metahuman street samurai archetypes. If you have the Shadowrun Second Edition rulebook, you’ll find almost all equipment from the Street Samurai Catalog in the Sourcebook Updates chapter, though without the notes on what accessories that the gear might have as standard, such as built-in smartlinks or gas vents. _
Rating_: first edition: 6.4 / second edition: 6.0 _
Comment_: (first edition) “The Street Samurai Catalog is a big waste of paper — huge margins, one entry per page, irrelevant graphics. There are about 5-10 pages worth of useful material in here, but it is not worth the price of purchase.” / (second edition) “The SSCII was a joke! It was just a re-formatted version of the original. Nothing new, and not much you couldn’t find in the SRII book. What a waste.” _
Notes_: This overview is for the first edition catalog, published in 1989. I haven’t got the second edition (from 1992), but the basic differences are that things like damage codes have been altered to second edition rules (a 4M3 SMG becoming a 6M SMG, etc.), and that a few items have been deleted. Almost all these changes are outlined in the SRII rulebook.
Threats (1996)
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Authors_: a whole load of people _
Number_: 7121 [1-55560-290-8] _
Price_: $18.00 _
Pages_: 104 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Alamos 20,000, Afraid Of The Darke, Winternight, The Vampir Conspiracy, Halberstam’s Babies, KSAF, The Atlantean Conspiracy, Here There Be Dragons, Bugs, Blood Mage Gestalt, The Black Lodge, The Human Nation, Tutor, Strain III _
Overview_: As the name suggests, this book has the low-down on a number of people and organizations that have the potential of drastically altering the balance of power in the Sixth World. This poses a problem for me here, because I want to say something about the book, but I can’t say too much… The chapter names tend to give a fair impression of who and what gets discussed in the book, which is done by dividing each chapter in a section with neo-anarchist text-with-comments followed by a section with gamemaster information. This is partly a good idea, because it means the gamemaster has the real scoop (as far as that is given) right next to the information to which players could have access, but it also means that it becomes difficult to give this book to players — it’s all too easy to read on into the gamemaster section and find out things that the gamemaster would want to keep secret for the moment. The only way to do this seems to photocopy the parts that the players have access to, but that gets expensive, especially since the book itself isn’t cheap either for a 104-page sourcebook. The threats themselves are good ones, and could easily form the basis for an entire campaign rather than a one-off adventure, though this once again brings up the matter of cost: in building a campaign around these threats, you’ll never use all of them in your game (not unless you plan on playing nothing but Shadowrun for the next 10 years) so in fact most of the book would be wasted… _
Rating/Comment_: not applicable _
Notes_: I would consider this book very much a gamemaster-only work.
Tír na nÓg (1993?) _
Authors_: Carl Sargent & Mark Gascoigne _
Number_: 7211 [1-55560-209-6] _
Price_: $18.00 _
Pages_: ? _
Sections_: ? _
Overview_: Again, I haven’t got this one, but I scanned through it once. Not that I remember much, though… Sorry. _
Rating_: 6.1 _
Comment_: “Please note, I am Irish and my vote for the Tír na nÓg source book might mean something, it is the best Ireland book of any genre I have read. My congratulations to the authors, at least they didn’t indulge in stereotypes.”
Tir Tairngire (1993)
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Author_: Nigel D. Findley _
Number_: 7210 [1-55560-197-9] _
Price_: $18.00 _
Pages_: 152 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, First Impressions, Geography, How It Came to Be, Politics, Tir Society, Economy, Telecommunications, Laws, Tir Tairngire Peace Force, Portland, Salem, Eugene, Open Conference, Map _
Overview_: Finally information on the Tir. After lots of contradictory statements in earlier books, this one attempts to give a view behind the curtain, sorry, wall that surrounds Tir Tairngire. This is, in my opinion, one of the best country sourcebooks, mainly because it not only focuses on the country’s customs and laws, but also on how those laws are implemented, when you have to look out, and more along those lines. Like most of the country books, this one is most suitable for gamemasters in order to write adventures based in Tir Tairngire, but it also contains useful information for players who want to check up on the world behind the game system. We also get a look at the most Important people in the Tir government, with a lot of hints dropped that not all is as it seems to be (Earthdawn players, pay attention!). Three cities (Portland, Salem, and Eugene) are also described in reasonable detail, and a map of the country is provided at the back of the book, something I feel FASA should have done in all sourcebooks. However, since Tir Tairngire is not very easy to enter (sort of East Germany-style inaccessible), the book is not really useful for players operating from Seattle (or Denver), unless, of course, some Tir noble decides to hire outside help. _
Rating_: 6.9 _
Comment_: “This place couldn’t ever exist. Too much inside joking. Wannabe junk.”
Virtual Realities (1991)
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Authors_: Tom Dowd & Chris Kubasik _
Number_: 7107 [1-55560-144-8] _
Price_: $15.00 _
Pages_: 152 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Computer Systems, Intrusion Countermeasures, Cyberdecks, Programs, Cybercombat, Matrix Realities, Fuchi Incorporated — A Matrix Tour, Hacker House Summer Update, Virtual Realities _
Overview_: I’ll say it right out, I was rather disappointed with this one. I may be biased (I never liked the decking rules), but to devote almost half of the book to a short story was a bit of a rip-off for my taste. The first chapters give useful information about decking: the decking rules are expanded with a new node, new utilities, new IC, and more new things deckers can use to their advantage. Also given are rules for constructing/updating cyberdecks and writing utilities yourself. The book goes on to give a general image of what the Matrix really is, both from the gamer’s point of view, and by using a tour from Fuchi Inc. This latter gives very nice color pictures of “actual” Matrix nodes so you can see what it all really looks like. What follows then is a sort of Street Samurai Catalog for deckers, but without anything new: all the stuff that Hacker House sells is detailed in the first chapters of the book. Then there’s the short story, with which the book ends. The story, titled Virtual Realities like the book, is set entirely within the Matrix. _
Rating_: 6.0 _
Comment_: “The decking system stinks, and so did Virtual Realities. I didn’t flunk it, coz I liked the story.” _
Notes_: This book is out of print, mainly because VR 2.0 came out in ’95.
Virtual Realities 2.0 - A Shadowrun Sourcebook (1995)
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Author_: Paul Hume _
Number_: 7904 [1-55560-271-1] _
Price_: $18.00 _
Pages_: 176 + 8 color _
Sections_: Introduction, Interlude 1: Welcome To The Matrix, Matrix 2.0, Interlude 2: Things To Come, Grids And Hosts, Intrusion Countermeasures, Interlude 3: SOTA In Fear, Mapping Matrices, Interlude 4: Worlds Of The Matrix, Deckers, Cyberdecks, Programs, System Operations, Cybercombat, Hacker House, Matrix Law, Artificial Intelligence, The Otaku, Matrix Hot Spots, Appendix, Index _
Overview_: this book presents a complete overhaul of the Matrix system, changing things down to almost the basic principles of how the Matrix was run before. It attempts to make decking easier for players and gamemasters, in which it succeeds for the most part. For example, the complicated business with nodes populated with IC is replaced by rules in which deckers enter complete systems that activate particular pieces of IC when the decker gives away his presence. The more obvious you’ll go stomping around the Matrix, the more intrusion countermeasures will get fired your way. A few drawbacks of the book are that it requires everyone who is used to the old rules, to convert to the new ones without a set of conversion guidelines for old characters or systems, and that the rules are scattered all over the book, making it hard to find specific rules in a hurry. All in all, though, it makes the Matrix a lot more playable than Virtual Realities ever did. The color plates are also nice, all of them computer-generated artwork, though they don’t really give all that much of an idea of what the Matrix is really like. _
Rating/Comment_: published after the survey. _
Notes_: replaces both the Matrix chapter of the SRII rules, as well as the complete Virtual Realities book.