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FASA's Rigger 2 by Jonathan Szeto is a solid 176 page soft cover book that includes an expanded character sheet with vehicle construction sheet, several pages of tables, a complete list of all SRII vehicles with Rigger 2 attributes, and the standard FASA index and table of contents.

First impressions: Rigger 2 uses the same reliable soft cover printing style that FASA's been using for years. The art is a functional mix of FASA's many artists. Several color plates adorn the center of the book complete with captions and the subject's names. I'm honestly surprised at how well the many different artistic styles work in this book. I'm most startled at how much differently Peter Bergting's art looks now, as compared to his earlier work in Bug City. His art still has a very heavy stroke, but it's much cleaner and has a much greater degree of detail. Until I read the caption, I did not realize that he had done one of the better color plates. I now have to retract my statements on Bergting's abilities and say that I will look forward to his future works, assuming he keeps up the level of detail he demonstrated in Rigger 2.

The writing is crisp and easily comprehended, with no detected spelling or grammatical errors. The editing suffers from some classic FASA problems. There's a mention in one section that hovercraft take less damage in crashes and references the appropriate section in the rules; unfortunately there's no more information on the subject anywhere I've found. The examples have chronic math errors that make some of the rules harder to understand than necessary. Worse, several seem to be ignorant of the rules they are supposed to explain. All I can say is that I hope the Shadowrun writers and editors have accountants because there's no way these people could fill out a 1040 form without a visit from the IRS.

Content: Rigger 2, according to the introduction, originally was intended to be a short fix for the vehicle combat rules and rapidly expanded until it included a rewrite of electronic warfare, running drones, and building vehicles from the ground up. Somehow the focus seemed to shift away from the original goal of clean vehicle rules and moved to a better way to run drones, but I get ahead of myself.
Rigger 2 starts with a fairly good intro story and dives into rigger character creation, both for classic SRII and for the Companion's point based system. It includes skillweb modifiers, adjustments to the Gunnery skill, and new concentrations for the Computer, Electronics, Stealth, and Military Theory skills. It contains several Edges and Flaws appropriate for riggers and deckers, as well as a discourse on the difference between the ways riggers and deckers work. It also provides a rules for all existing cyberware, bioware, and magic that might have an impact on rigging. Something I appreciate are vehicle upkeep and maintenance rules that have nothing to do with the SOTA rules.
The most wide reaching changes are to the basic vehicle attributes. Functional rules on acceleration, braking, and cargo are the best things that could have happened to Shadowrun vehicles. I can't count the number of times a GM has thrown up his hands in exasperation when someone wanted to accelerate hard or slam on the brakes. They even added rules on vehicle stress induced by the vicious things that a desperate shadowrunner will do to his wheels.
A host of new modifiers cover virtually any situation for vehicles on land, in the air, on water, or even hovering in between. And yet, despite what appears to be a robust and simple to use base set of rules, there's this thing called a Maneuver Score. The Maneuver Score is based on the vehicle, speed, environment, and the driver's open-ended skill roll. The battling drivers' Maneuver Scores are compared to create a modifier for the actual skill test. My quick evaluations resulted in good drivers outperforming bad drivers faster than they would otherwise. Unfortunately it took several additional die rolls to do so, probably slowing down gameplay to a greater degree than the additional pursuit rolls would take. All in all, I recommend ignoring anything involving the Maneuver Score and just going straight to the actual driving tests which I found to be fully functional by themselves, as they include modifiers for environment, speed, and the vehicle.
Vehicle combat takes a new turn, as Rigger 2 redefines the effectiveness of vehicle armor. No longer is the Banshee light scout vehicle immune to the heaviest munitions on the market. Riggers on both sides of the fence have just become targets for heavily armed runners. Dumpshock for riggers is now well defined and means destroying a single drone can effectively take a rigger out of a fight. No more hiding behind the walls of a van waiting for the security guards to run out of ammunition.
The rest of the book is focused intently on the electronic front. The section on Electronic Warfare include new rules on ECM, ECCM, Electronic Deception (ED), Electronic Counter Deception (ECD), and even how to take over or screw up another rigger's drone network. The rules on Flux (electronic signal strength) are much simpler than I would have expected and are well threaded into the rest of the system. They should clear up any questions on how far away a drone can get before it goes uncontrolled, or what happens if ECM is turned against a rigger's control deck.
For the lost Battletech or Car Wars fan there is a section of advanced rules that can be used by rigger-heavy games or by rules-addicted GM's. I think they sit on the line between an RPG and a vehicle combat game, but I'm sure many game groups will appreciate their inclusion.
New gear abounds in this book, some of which has been long awaited. The cranial control deck is an incredibly handy toy, especially when combined with a signal booster or even an external remote control deck used as an amplifier. Some new vehicle-only BattleTac subsystems have been introduced, as well as antivehicle munitions. Even a rigger-free team can take advantage of the anti-radiation missles and the signal jamming Jabberwocky warheads to keep irritating drones out of their hair.
Speaking of drones, this book is chock full of them. I've always been of the mindset that a rigger is a technoshaman that whistles up mechanical spirits of plastic and steel to do their bidding and Rigger 2 was obviously written by someone who agrees. Time and time again the rigger is compared to a conjurer or mage, and it's an image that's been a long time coming.
The new drones are amazing things that make riggers terrifying agents of espionage and destruction. Four inch long insect drones can sneak into secured areas to steal industry secrets, while huge armored remote piloted tanks equipped with autocannons level buildings. There are more than enough subsystems and optional add-ons to keep creative riggers busy for months.
The system has a streamlined set of design rules that make it easy to build a vehicle from the ground up without worrying about component costs. Modifying vehicles after creation is thoroughly covered and allows for rather extensive retrofits. My only real beef with the construction system is that there are no rules on how to build a new chassis or powerplant. I always prefer to have a stronger frame than to load armor onto my vehicles, but there's no longer a way to reinforce a frame or design a better one.

Evaluation: The book has solid writing and art. It loses points for poor editing in the examples, something I consider the most important part of a book. I was also less than pleased by the way the adjusted vehicle stats were listed in alphabetical order with no regard for vehicle type. The vehicle creation rules would have been improved by actually placing the chassis and engine information with the rest of the components rather than at the back of the book by themselves. Had they actually got the examples correct I could have overlooked the arrangement problems, but altogether it was enough to keep this book from receiving an "Excellent" rating.
The rules are functional but I don't think they were given a lot of playtesting. Some GM's might be put off by all the extra dice rolling that has to be done that doesn't seem to make sense or be necessary. The rules are fairly good otherwise, but as this was intended to be the focus of the book you'd think this would have received the most thought and testing. Again, it was enough to prevent an "Excellent" rating.
I recommend that every GM get a copy of this book, as it will dramatically improve any vehicle combat situations you have. The new espionage drones could really add new levels of paranoia to games and give that "BladeRunner" feel that so many Cyberpunk players feel that Shadowrun is lacking. Naturally I think that rigger players will be sweating blood until they get this supplement in their greasy little hands, but that kind of goes without saying. All in all, this is a keeper.

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

Rigger 2
Author: Jonathan Szeto Category: game Company/Publisher: FASA Corporation Cost: $18.00 Page count: 176 ISBN: 1-55560-304-1 Playtest Review by James McPherson on 10/21/97. Genre tags: none	FASA's Rigger 2 by Jonathan Szeto is a solid 176 page soft cover book that includes an expanded character sheet with vehicle construction sheet, several pages of tables, a complete list of all SRII vehicles with *Rigger 2* attributes, and the standard FASA index and table of contents. First impressions: *Rigger 2* uses the same reliable soft cover printing style that FASA's been using for years. The art is a functional mix of FASA's many artists. Several color plates adorn the center of the book complete with captions and the subject's names. I'm honestly surprised at how well the many different artistic styles work in this book. I'm most startled at how much differently Peter Bergting's art looks now, as compared to his earlier work in *Bug City.* His art still has a very heavy stroke, but it's much cleaner and has a much greater degree of detail. Until I read the caption, I did not realize that he had done one of the better color plates. I now have to retract my statements on Bergting's abilities and say that I will look forward to his future works, assuming he keeps up the level of detail he demonstrated in *Rigger 2.* The writing is crisp and easily comprehended, with no detected spelling or grammatical errors. The editing suffers from some classic FASA problems. There's a mention in one section that hovercraft take less damage in crashes and references the appropriate section in the rules; unfortunately there's no more information on the subject anywhere I've found. The examples have chronic math errors that make some of the rules harder to understand than necessary. Worse, several seem to be ignorant of the rules they are supposed to explain. All I can say is that I hope the Shadowrun writers and editors have accountants because there's no way these people could fill out a 1040 form without a visit from the IRS. Content: *Rigger 2,* according to the introduction, originally was intended to be a short fix for the vehicle combat rules and rapidly expanded until it included a rewrite of electronic warfare, running drones, and building vehicles from the ground up. Somehow the focus seemed to shift away from the original goal of clean vehicle rules and moved to a better way to run drones, but I get ahead of myself. *Rigger 2* starts with a fairly good intro story and dives into rigger character creation, both for classic SRII and for the Companion's point based system. It includes skillweb modifiers, adjustments to the Gunnery skill, and new concentrations for the Computer, Electronics, Stealth, and Military Theory skills. It contains several Edges and Flaws appropriate for riggers and deckers, as well as a discourse on the difference between the ways riggers and deckers work. It also provides a rules for all existing cyberware, bioware, and magic that might have an impact on rigging. Something I appreciate are vehicle upkeep and maintenance rules that have nothing to do with the SOTA rules. The most wide reaching changes are to the basic vehicle attributes. Functional rules on acceleration, braking, and cargo are the best things that could have happened to Shadowrun vehicles. I can't count the number of times a GM has thrown up his hands in exasperation when someone wanted to accelerate hard or slam on the brakes. They even added rules on vehicle stress induced by the vicious things that a desperate shadowrunner will do to his wheels. A host of new modifiers cover virtually any situation for vehicles on land, in the air, on water, or even hovering in between. And yet, despite what appears to be a robust and simple to use base set of rules, there's this thing called a Maneuver Score. The Maneuver Score is based on the vehicle, speed, environment, and the driver's open-ended skill roll. The battling drivers' Maneuver Scores are compared to create a modifier for the actual skill test. My quick evaluations resulted in good drivers outperforming bad drivers faster than they would otherwise. Unfortunately it took several additional die rolls to do so, probably slowing down gameplay to a greater degree than the additional pursuit rolls would take. All in all, I recommend ignoring anything involving the Maneuver Score and just going straight to the actual driving tests which I found to be fully functional by themselves, as they include modifiers for environment, speed, and the vehicle. Vehicle combat takes a new turn, as *Rigger 2* redefines the effectiveness of vehicle armor. No longer is the Banshee light scout vehicle immune to the heaviest munitions on the market. Riggers on both sides of the fence have just become targets for heavily armed runners. Dumpshock for riggers is now well defined and means destroying a single drone can effectively take a rigger out of a fight. No more hiding behind the walls of a van waiting for the security guards to run out of ammunition. The rest of the book is focused intently on the electronic front. The section on Electronic Warfare include new rules on ECM, ECCM, Electronic Deception (ED), Electronic Counter Deception (ECD), and even how to take over or screw up another rigger's drone network. The rules on Flux (electronic signal strength) are much simpler than I would have expected and are well threaded into the rest of the system. They should clear up any questions on how far away a drone can get before it goes uncontrolled, or what happens if ECM is turned against a rigger's control deck. For the lost Battletech or Car Wars fan there is a section of advanced rules that can be used by rigger-heavy games or by rules-addicted GM's. I think they sit on the line between an RPG and a vehicle combat game, but I'm sure many game groups will appreciate their inclusion. New gear abounds in this book, some of which has been long awaited. The cranial control deck is an incredibly handy toy, especially when combined with a signal booster or even an external remote control deck used as an amplifier. Some new vehicle-only BattleTac subsystems have been introduced, as well as antivehicle munitions. Even a rigger-free team can take advantage of the anti-radiation missles and the signal jamming Jabberwocky warheads to keep irritating drones out of their hair. Speaking of drones, this book is chock full of them. I've always been of the mindset that a rigger is a technoshaman that whistles up mechanical spirits of plastic and steel to do their bidding and *Rigger 2* was obviously written by someone who agrees. Time and time again the rigger is compared to a conjurer or mage, and it's an image that's been a long time coming. The new drones are amazing things that make riggers terrifying agents of espionage and destruction. Four inch long insect drones can sneak into secured areas to steal industry secrets, while huge armored remote piloted tanks equipped with autocannons level buildings. There are more than enough subsystems and optional add-ons to keep creative riggers busy for months. The system has a streamlined set of design rules that make it easy to build a vehicle from the ground up without worrying about component costs. Modifying vehicles after creation is thoroughly covered and allows for rather extensive retrofits. My only real beef with the construction system is that there are no rules on how to build a new chassis or powerplant. I always prefer to have a stronger frame than to load armor onto my vehicles, but there's no longer a way to reinforce a frame or design a better one. Evaluation: The book has solid writing and art. It loses points for poor editing in the examples, something I consider the most important part of a book. I was also less than pleased by the way the adjusted vehicle stats were listed in alphabetical order with no regard for vehicle type. The vehicle creation rules would have been improved by actually placing the chassis and engine information with the rest of the components rather than at the back of the book by themselves. Had they actually got the examples correct I could have overlooked the arrangement problems, but altogether it was enough to keep this book from receiving an "Excellent" rating. The rules are functional but I don't think they were given a lot of playtesting. Some GM's might be put off by all the extra dice rolling that has to be done that doesn't seem to make sense or be necessary. The rules are fairly good otherwise, but as this was intended to be the focus of the book you'd think this would have received the most thought and testing. Again, it was enough to prevent an "Excellent" rating. I recommend that every GM get a copy of this book, as it will dramatically improve any vehicle combat situations you have. The new espionage drones could really add new levels of paranoia to games and give that "BladeRunner" feel that so many Cyberpunk players feel that Shadowrun is lacking. Naturally I think that rigger players will be sweating blood until they get this supplement in their greasy little hands, but that kind of goes without saying. All in all, this is a keeper. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)