What is Shadowrun?

“Shadowrunners commit crimes, usually for money. When a corporation or other sponsor needs someone to do their dirty work, they look to the shadows. As ‘deniable assets,’ runners make advantageous, and expendable, tools.”

That definition appears on page 10 of the Shadowrun Third Edition rules, under the heading ‘What Runners Do’. In essence, the idea behind Shadowrun is to play in a cyberpunk-style, gritty campaign, but where magic is also involved in the metaphysics. It is to play in the underworld of society, possibly where the runners are striking back against ‘The Man’, as those in the 60’s termed it.

So, where has this enormous fascination with big guns and big vehicles for runners come from?

To myself, the essential part of Shadowrun is its stealth aspects. Do the job quickly, but as quietly as possible to avoid undue attention. Get it done after the complications the gamemaster throws in your way, get your paycheck, and move on to the next job, with character development and interaction with the world between runs. In fact, for me, the interaction between runs, with contacts and others, is what makes the game enjoyable. I grew up before the age of the antihero—the closest thing to one was Batman for me. But ever since the Punisher came on the scene, and the anti-hero genre started up, I have enjoyed the gritty aspects.

Honestly, though, I don’t see people tooling around in tanks, shooting autofire heavy machine guns with impunity as a part of Shadowrun, unless the runners are running away from such. I’m not trying to impugn on those who like that style of gaming, but it reminds me more of playing Twilight 2000.

Now, a gamemaster, if he wishes, could use the Shadowrun rules to run something like Twilight 2000. The point I am trying to get to is to me, that’s not truly Shadowrun. Tanks, unless the runners are sabotaging them, orbital gauss cannons, battlemecha, and military equipment of all sorts should be kept away from Shadowrunning teams.

This trend started with the Fields of Fire book by FASA. The Ares Combat Rifle, Savalette Guardian, and Barrett Sniper Rifle seem to be the three most common items in the Shadowrun universe, according to what I have seen of people’s characters. Those items are milspec weaponry. Runner teams carrying that kind of firepower should be sitting ducks.

Think about it for a second: do you think Lone Star, or any other police organization, is not going to go out of its way to hunt down people who use such equipment? Look in the news of today for the answer. If someone gets killed by an M-16, there is a relentless manhunt for the killer until he or she is found and dealt with. Now, take something like the Panther Assault Cannon in Shadowrun. Not only would Lone Star be after someone carrying around that kind of firepower, so should the military, because they are embarrassed in front of the public when one of those kinds of weapons gets out there.

Today, organized crime relies on submachine guns, shotguns, and the trusty off-the-shelf pistol. Only rarely do they go into the assault rifle, and those are usually guards to a crimelord. Why don’t they go any higher powered than this, when it is obvious they can? It attracts unwanted attention. The runners in your campaigns should be on the same wavelength. If they are not, and they are carrying the heavy duty military equipment, then your game is already tending above the scale which Shadowrun was initially focused upon.

This brings up a question, should these things even be introduced then? In some cases, yes, in some cases, I would say no. Again, if the mission is to infiltrate a military base to retrieve information, then some of these items could come into play. But even at this scale, is the stats for a B-52 Stratofortress going to come into effect? I don’t want to be anywhere near your game if it is.

If you think my criticism is unduly harsh or wrong, I would suggest going back to the founding novels of the cyberpunk genre, such as those by William Gibson. If you want to boost up the unbelievability quotient, look to the James Bond movies. Sure, 007 beats plots concerning nuclear missiles and ballistic submarines, but invariably, the gadgets he uses to accomplish his mission are small and concealable. So should most Shadowruns be solved, not by shooting an orbital cannon into a pyramid in Atzlan, but by stealth and guile.