ISBN 1-55560-307-1 $15.00 coverprice FASA's Shadows of the Underworld

First impressions: Shadows of the Underworld is a 95 page softcover supplement containing five modules for the Shadowrun game world. It is set in the summer of 2057, just before the election and it's fateful events.
The book has the same glossy cover format that FASA has been using for years in their various supplements. The inner art is a little blockier than most SR supplements, other than Bug City, that is. Because this is a series of modules, rather than a general supplement, I'm guessing they scrimped a bit on the art to keep the cover price low. While it's not an incredibly pretty book, it does a good job of displaying the look of the main characters.

Content: This supplement consists of five separate modules. No specific ties link them together, but they share the same paranoid pre-election backdrop. While I will try to describe them as obliquely as possible it's possible that a cunning player could get more info than a GM would like. Therefore I'm warning players to move along to other reviews. There's a nice review of Rigger 2 a few links over you can look at.

Module Spoiler Alert!

Do to the number of modules, this is a capsule review. I've evaluated the material against the way I and others I know would play out the stories.

The first module is Excelsior. This is, as Shadowrun modules go, a fairly good one. The plot is incredibly reminiscent of Die Hard. There's a significant potential for rapid thought to win the day without removing all hope of an adrenalin filled firefight for the cordite starved samurais. It's primarily set in New York but could be altered to be in any major UCAS city.
Then there's Two Solitudes. It's a somewhat politically correct storyline, but suprisingly good. This one is by far my personal favorite despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of manhunting modules. There's a significant amount of background material in this module that could be used to spin off several other stories. It seems to supplement the California Free State sourcebook and would probably fit in for any San Francisco based story.
C.O.D. is one of the more mediocre modules. Except for a few of the major characters it is so incredibly predictable as to be silly. The background is the most interesting part of this story and it will probably never be known by the players making it an exercise in mental masturbation on the part of the GM.
Then there's Double Dipping, the archetypical kidnapping run. Grap the chick and get double crossed. Good for a rainy afternoon when nobody really has an idea what to do but don't plan on any earthshaking gaming.
Shadows of the Underworld finishes with Dead Run. This is the classic "screw the players in a royal way" module. The players' contacts are turned against them, anyone with a gun shoots at them, and enemies they could never hope to defeat are after them. The worst part is that the players don't even have the opportunity to get themselves in trouble and deserve the grief dropped on them.

Evaluation: Shadows of the Underworld suffers from classic FASA problems: the modules assume the players are the coarse, mindless, streetscum that all Johnsons think they are. An intelligent player will ask questions that the modules aren't prepared to answer.
The sheer simplicity of Excelsior makes it the module easiest to play right from the book. If played fast enough, the players won't have a chance to notice the cliches in the story.
Two Solitudes is a fairly good module; more for the futures it offers than the story itself. If only used as a module it's rather lacking; but if you actually develop the side stories it can be a lead in for a half-dozen future modules. While it's primarily tied to San Francisco, it could easily be moved to one of the more repressed areas of any major city.
C.O.D. might seem to have the same simplicity as Excelsior but it's an illusion. The plot of C.O.D. defeats the fast, phrenetic action movie pace that is so good at distracting players from plot holes. There are so many enforced pauses that the players have no choice but to sit and ponder the blandness of the story. If not for the rather incredible threat level at the end of this story it would be an otherwise indistinct story.
I can't really fault Double Dipping that much as it actually allows the players to get out of the hole the GM dug for them. I do have some problem with the fact that one day the PC's learn nothing while the next their contacts sing like canaries on crack. If the players even had the option of figuring things out in advance I could endorse it.
I personally disliked Dead Run with a passion. It was the kind of module that I found to be the province of a spiteful GM. There is the problem that it relies on a specific fixer to start and finish the run. In groups that rely only on trusted fixers this can be a problem. Also a party with a mage could notice the twisted background count and attempt to dodge the plotline entirely.
All in all I found Shadows of the Underworld to be a bit disappointing compared to some other systems' supplements. The writing is passable, but there's this odd feeling of ambivalence towards useful background preparations. This seems to be a general trend amoung Shadowrun modules and is the biggest weakness in the entire game line. I'm not sure what specifically is the cause, but I hope that FASA is not ignoring the problem.
For GM's who need some ideas or a stack of pre-gen characters, Shadows of the Underworld is not a bad purchase. While a $15.00 cover price is a bit steep for most module supplements, there are five passable game ideas with a good chunk of useful side material. The sheer volume of material counterbalances the flaws that mar this supplement.
The general quality of the work is sub-par in comparison to most Shadowrun material, it is still about average for the industry. (Sad to say) The difficulties and shortcomings of the modules are counterbalanced by one or two incredible gems of information.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Shadows of the Underworld
Author: Jennifer Brandes, Chris Helpen, Stephen Kenson, Brian Schoner, Chris Hussey Category: game Company/Publisher: FASA Corporation Cost: $15.00 Page count: 95 ISBN: 1-55560-307-1 Capsule Review by James McPherson on 11/06/97. Genre tags: none	ISBN 1-55560-307-1 $15.00 coverprice FASA's Shadows of the Underworld First impressions: Shadows of the Underworld is a 95 page softcover supplement containing five modules for the Shadowrun game world. It is set in the summer of 2057, just before the election and it's fateful events. The book has the same glossy cover format that FASA has been using for years in their various supplements. The inner art is a little blockier than most SR supplements, other than *Bug City,* that is. Because this is a series of modules, rather than a general supplement, I'm guessing they scrimped a bit on the art to keep the cover price low. While it's not an incredibly pretty book, it does a good job of displaying the look of the main characters. Content: This supplement consists of five separate modules. No specific ties link them together, but they share the same paranoid pre-election backdrop. While I will try to describe them as obliquely as possible it's possible that a cunning player could get more info than a GM would like. Therefore I'm warning players to move along to other reviews. There's a nice review of *Rigger 2* a few links over you can look at. Module Spoiler Alert! Do to the number of modules, this is a capsule review. I've evaluated the material against the way I and others I know would play out the stories. The first module is Excelsior. This is, as Shadowrun modules go, a fairly good one. The plot is incredibly reminiscent of Die Hard. There's a significant potential for rapid thought to win the day without removing all hope of an adrenalin filled firefight for the cordite starved samurais. It's primarily set in New York but could be altered to be in any major UCAS city. Then there's Two Solitudes. It's a somewhat politically correct storyline, but suprisingly good. This one is by far my personal favorite despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of manhunting modules. There's a significant amount of background material in this module that could be used to spin off several other stories. It seems to supplement the *California Free State* sourcebook and would probably fit in for any San Francisco based story. C.O.D. is one of the more mediocre modules. Except for a few of the major characters it is so incredibly predictable as to be silly. The background is the most interesting part of this story and it will probably never be known by the players making it an exercise in mental masturbation on the part of the GM. Then there's Double Dipping, the archetypical kidnapping run. Grap the chick and get double crossed. Good for a rainy afternoon when nobody really has an idea what to do but don't plan on any earthshaking gaming. *Shadows of the Underworld* finishes with Dead Run. This is the classic "screw the players in a royal way" module. The players' contacts are turned against them, anyone with a gun shoots at them, and enemies they could never hope to defeat are after them. The worst part is that the players don't even have the opportunity to get themselves in trouble and deserve the grief dropped on them. Evaluation: Shadows of the Underworld suffers from classic FASA problems: the modules assume the players are the coarse, mindless, streetscum that all Johnsons think they are. An intelligent player will ask questions that the modules aren't prepared to answer. The sheer simplicity of Excelsior makes it the module easiest to play right from the book. If played fast enough, the players won't have a chance to notice the cliches in the story. Two Solitudes is a fairly good module; more for the futures it offers than the story itself. If only used as a module it's rather lacking; but if you actually develop the side stories it can be a lead in for a half-dozen future modules. While it's primarily tied to San Francisco, it could easily be moved to one of the more repressed areas of any major city. C.O.D. might seem to have the same simplicity as Excelsior but it's an illusion. The plot of C.O.D. defeats the fast, phrenetic action movie pace that is so good at distracting players from plot holes. There are so many enforced pauses that the players have no choice but to sit and ponder the blandness of the story. If not for the rather incredible threat level at the end of this story it would be an otherwise indistinct story. I can't really fault Double Dipping that much as it actually allows the players to get out of the hole the GM dug for them. I do have some problem with the fact that one day the PC's learn nothing while the next their contacts sing like canaries on crack. If the players even had the option of figuring things out in advance I could endorse it. I personally disliked Dead Run with a passion. It was the kind of module that I found to be the province of a spiteful GM. There is the problem that it relies on a specific fixer to start and finish the run. In groups that rely only on trusted fixers this can be a problem. Also a party with a mage could notice the twisted background count and attempt to dodge the plotline entirely. All in all I found *Shadows of the Underworld* to be a bit disappointing compared to some other systems' supplements. The writing is passable, but there's this odd feeling of ambivalence towards useful background preparations. This seems to be a general trend amoung Shadowrun modules and is the biggest weakness in the entire game line. I'm not sure what specifically is the cause, but I hope that FASA is not ignoring the problem. For GM's who need some ideas or a stack of pre-gen characters, *Shadows of the Underworld* is not a bad purchase. While a $15.00 cover price is a bit steep for most module supplements, there are five passable game ideas with a good chunk of useful side material. The sheer volume of material counterbalances the flaws that mar this supplement. The general quality of the work is sub-par in comparison to most Shadowrun material, it is still about average for the industry. (Sad to say) The difficulties and shortcomings of the modules are counterbalanced by one or two incredible gems of information. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)