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I'm of two minds (bitterly divided) about Renrarku Arcology Shutdown. On the one hand, it's a Shadowrun supplement. They've yet to fail me in ANY way. They're fun, they've got neat stuff, they are produced in a format I love (usually a 'company line' file, with annotations of The Truth).

And, in that respect, it's good. The book details the shutdown of the Renraku Arcology (self evident, shurely!?). For those of you in the cheap seats, an arcology is a self contained society/city/place. Now, in general SF/Cyberpunk terminology, it's usually just a very large complex that's mostly self sufficient (ie, has its own mall).

The Renrarku Arcology is one of Shadowrun's oldest establishments. It's glowered against the Seattle skyline since the game began. And, while I've never made use of its internal expanses, I'm sure many the Shadowrun adventure has wandered within its depths.

Well, far be it for the boys in Chicago to do things the easy way. While many game companies would have been more than happy to just churn out a boxed set pumped full of maps and a couple massive books (to the best of my knowledge, the only boxed set for SR was the impressive Denver beast; I treasure my Azatlan sector pass), they did things quietly.

RAS (shades of stuff I have to deal with at work!) is a modestly sized adventure, with a massive connundrum at its core. You see, the Renrarku Arcology has recently closed. Quite severely. You see, over the Christmas holidays, the entire complex has sealed itself off from the rest of Seattle. Zip.

Rather Mysterious, wouldn't you say?

The book takes little time to expose the culprit behind the Arcology's self imposed exile. I won't spoil any surprises, but if you've been paying careful attention for the past decade, it won't be a huge shock.

There is, of course, a few quibbles with the book. For example, I find that the way this stuff gets handled in games to be a bit dragging. I mean, how long did the whole Bug City thing last (does anyone know? They launch it with a bang of a SB, and let it whimper out)?

This time, another huge event has happened, and it'll doubtless play out in the course of many a campaign (although this is a big genie, folks; Can we get it back in the bottle?).

A preferable way to handle this would have been to do what FASA already did with their Harlequin & Harlequin's Back adventures; a series of adventures detailing the events in the book, with lots of opportunities for side dealing. That could have also let them triple the size of the book, and give us even more toys and neatness, making it the event book that it could have been (while, of course, we wait for more books on the rest of the planet in SR; I seriously want to see an Africa sourcebook. CyberPirates just teased. And a China book. And a SB on Toronto. Cause it's a cool city).

The lack of maps in this book is actually rather easy to deal with. I mean, the building is so modular it's not funny. Just slap in a few Sprawl Sites maps for restaurants & mall locales, and you're smiling.

As it is, RAS is a good book. But it isn't a GREAT book, a BOOK book.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Renrarku Arcology Shutdown
Author: David Hyatt & Brian Schoner Category: game Company/Publisher: FASA Corporation Line: Shadowrun Cost: $15 Page count: 88 ISBN: 1-55560-347-5 Capsule Review by Justin Mohareb on 04/14/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Horror Espionage Conspiracy	I'm of two minds (bitterly divided) about Renrarku Arcology Shutdown. On the one hand, it's a Shadowrun supplement. They've yet to fail me in ANY way. They're fun, they've got neat stuff, they are produced in a format I love (usually a 'company line' file, with annotations of The Truth). And, in that respect, it's good. The book details the shutdown of the Renraku Arcology (self evident, shurely!?). For those of you in the cheap seats, an arcology is a self contained society/city/place. Now, in general SF/Cyberpunk terminology, it's usually just a very large complex that's mostly self sufficient (ie, has its own mall). The Renrarku Arcology is one of Shadowrun's oldest establishments. It's glowered against the Seattle skyline since the game began. And, while I've never made use of its internal expanses, I'm sure many the Shadowrun adventure has wandered within its depths. Well, far be it for the boys in Chicago to do things the easy way. While many game companies would have been more than happy to just churn out a boxed set pumped full of maps and a couple massive books (to the best of my knowledge, the only boxed set for SR was the impressive Denver beast; I treasure my Azatlan sector pass), they did things quietly. RAS (shades of stuff I have to deal with at work!) is a modestly sized adventure, with a massive connundrum at its core. You see, the Renrarku Arcology has recently closed. Quite severely. You see, over the Christmas holidays, the entire complex has sealed itself off from the rest of Seattle. Zip. Rather Mysterious, wouldn't you say? The book takes little time to expose the culprit behind the Arcology's self imposed exile. I won't spoil any surprises, but if you've been paying careful attention for the past decade, it won't be a huge shock. There is, of course, a few quibbles with the book. For example, I find that the way this stuff gets handled in games to be a bit dragging. I mean, how long did the whole Bug City thing last (does anyone know? They launch it with a bang of a SB, and let it whimper out)? This time, another huge event has happened, and it'll doubtless play out in the course of many a campaign (although this is a big genie, folks; Can we get it back in the bottle?). A preferable way to handle this would have been to do what FASA already did with their Harlequin & Harlequin's Back adventures; a series of adventures detailing the events in the book, with lots of opportunities for side dealing. That could have also let them triple the size of the book, and give us even more toys and neatness, making it the event book that it could have been (while, of course, we wait for more books on the rest of the planet in SR; I seriously want to see an Africa sourcebook. CyberPirates just teased. And a China book. And a SB on Toronto. Cause it's a cool city). The lack of maps in this book is actually rather easy to deal with. I mean, the building is so modular it's not funny. Just slap in a few Sprawl Sites maps for restaurants & mall locales, and you're smiling. As it is, RAS is a good book. But it isn't a GREAT book, a BOOK book. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)