I. Introduction and Overview:
Like Mark Twain, reports of Shadowrun's demise have been greatly exaggerated. It has weathered the demise of FASA and has a new home over at Wizkids. Three products have been published so far. They are Year of the Comet, Threats 2, and Shadows of North America. Since none of them have yet been reviewed on RPG.net I thought I’d take a hand at reviewing to increase the visibility of the game line. To this end I’m reviewing my personal favorite of the 3, Threats 2.
Rarely does a sequel surpass the original. The original Threats was a very mixed bag. Several very good threats (Dr. Halberstam’s Babies, Good Merge Bug spirits) were mixed with the impossible ones (Lofwyr) and the crappy (Winternight) and there was a great emphasis on high powered threats that the average runner had no real hope of opposing, or even worse, no real reason to interact with. Threats 2 has managed to take every aspect of the orignal and improve over it. A trend one may be hopeful will continue with future releases.
II. The Nature of the Beast:
The book itself is a standard soft cover; similar to other 3rd edition books, such as Magic in the Shadows or Man and Machine. Unlike 2nd edition books this book doesn’t seem to suffer from pages following out in the first few weeks. I’ve had my copy for several months now, and all pages are still intact, despite the rather severe beating I gave it on a cross state trip recently.
The artwork for the book is on the par high, though there are pieces that are disappointing, or just bland, especially when compared such excellent pieces as the cover artwork by Marc Sasso, or Larry MacDougall’s take on magic in the Shadowrun universe.
The real meat of this book is a collection of 12 organizations, entities, and individuals in the shadows that are threats (and hence the name) to runners. Each chapter is laid out with an initial fiction section in the time-honored tradition of Shadowland postings with the signature shadowtalk adding commentary to supplement the “official” information. This is followed by a section entitled “Game Information” where the behind the scenes information and Stats are given. The 12 entries can be broadly divided into Magic, Matrix, Political, and Corporate. Some may feel that there is a particularly heavy emphasis on Magical threats; however, I find that there is sufficient diversity and the quality of the developed threats offsets this.
Primarily this is a tool for GMs, however, as much of the information occurs in game, there is a reason for players to have access to it as well. Being one of those who loves getting all the behind the scenes information, I’m hardly one to tell players not to read it, however other GMs may feel differently. (As a note, from here on in, this review will contain spoilers. If you are one of those virtuous who doesn’t want to dirty his mind for fear of ruining a future game you’ll want to bail out now. GMs and the curious may now proceed. ;)
One of the many good aspects of this book, and where it far outshines it’s predecessor, is that while there are a few who are out and out “bad guys” many of the others do not have to be antagonistic towards the runners, but instead, potential employers, or even allies to runners who may feel sympathetic to their goals. Additionally, and also unlike the original Threats most of these threats are something which players from epic to street level games can encounter. There are two organizations introduced which are high-level organizations, but even these do not have the invincible feel that plagued early threats. (Such as the aforementioned Winternight. Norse toxic shamans, with access to nuclear weapons, advanced drones, and powerful mind control drugs was a little much. Good Riddance.) Otherwise, all the entries in this book may be applied at just about any level of game play. Several, such as “Beneath the False Face” provided needed development of aspects of the Shadowrun universe that have gotten scant, or poor attention. Another, “Betrayal” reminds us that even those megacorps commonly perceived as “the good guys” have dark secrets tucked away. There are three in particular which stand out, to me at least. Depending on your tastes others may catch your eye, and that is another strength of this book, the 12 chapters cover enough material that almost anyone can find something within which they can incorporate into their own games.
III. The Highlights:
I'll admit that I have a fondness for high level games, so it's perhaps no surprise that the two geared for such games immediately caught my eye. On the other hand the first two I'm going to detail here are very well done, in my opinion, reguardless of power level.
One Nation Under God - Introduces a new thread to the Shadowrun Metaplot, one that is picked up later in Shadows of North America, American Reunification. Detailed here is the New Revolution a conspiracy dedicated to toppling the current North American powers and restoring the USA. This chapter manages to avoid the “uber all-powerful conspiracy” feeling of the previous book. While not entirely realistic (but hey, we’re talking about setting which features the NAN and an elven nation where Oregon used to be) the conspiracy is clearly detailed, with strengths and weakness and clear methods to reach it’s goals… ones which may very easily cause it to go seeking shadow help.
Order of the Temple – As a Catholic, I was both interested and wary of this one. This chapter, whose artwork also graces the cover of the book, gives us the Templar. (some of you who already possess the original Threats may experience a sense of déjà vu here. Yes, we now have two organizations running around claiming to be the rightful descendants of the old Templar. Something an evil GM might feel inclined to have fun with.) Fortunately, my faith was well placed here. Aside from one minor quibble with the heights that the Templar’s influence in the church reaches, this is a very, very good chapter, not just on the Templar and their activities, but also as a primer on the Catholicism in the Shadowrun universe. Unlike the New Revolution, the Templar will most likely not turn to the shadows to achieve their goals, and they may be harder to integrate into a game, however, the clever GM can find numerous roles for them as antagonists, and for those characters with a Catholic bent, a source of roleplaying opportunities.
Those who have the Gold… - The final chapter, and crowning jewel of the book. Those who have read Portfolio of a Dragon or Dunkelzahn’s Will online, here. May have noticed the rather odd bequest to one Art Dankwalther. Here we finally find out what this bequest was all about. (And the perceptive among you may notice that the dragon might have out thought himself on this one.)
One man, against the megacorps. And I wouldn’t be so quick to bet on the megacorps here. Art is a potentially huge source of employment for runners. In addition, he is perhaps the most engaging of the threats detailed. He’s not magic, he’s not some huge conspiracy, or malign AI. Just a man, with powerful will and intellect who’s been pushed over the edge and been given the means to do something about it.
IV. The Occasional Lame Duck:
Can You See The Real Me? – When the shedim were introduced in Year of the Comet I didn’t like them. I still don’t, though this chapter makes the tolerable to me. I feel that the shedim have been rather clichéd in their presentations and their effect on the general populace understated. Evil manipulative intelligent shedim make this a little better in my opinion, but Shadowrun has evil manipulative threats galore. Also, out of all the given threats these are the most unambiguously evil rather than merely antagonistic. Others may have a different perspective, and I will grant that the artwork here works in creating a rather creepy atmosphere. But I still think they’re silly.
Dealing with Dragons – While the shedim are the most clear cut case of evil, Dealing with Dragons introduces quite the opposite. Drakes, as who may be familiar with Ryan Mercury know, are small Dracoforms who start out as (meta)humans and are able to shift between the two forms. There aren’t any real problems with how the material is presented; however, it’s the application that’s the problem here. First, Drakes really aren’t a threat. From the material they’re more of a persecuted minority, with the Great Dragons scrambling to acquire their very own pet Drake, for their own enigmatic reasons. Second, and more importantly, this seems like a prelude to Drake PCs as the next cool thing out there, and while admittedly, they don’t seem to be as powerful as other shape shifters (no regeneration) it seems rather twinkish to me. As well as disrupting to the game, since as presented in the material, just about every Great Dragon out there wants one (at least), that seems unworkable for anything but a high-powered game and a situation where one character’s concerns dominate over everyone else.
V. Conclusion:
In spite of a few ideas that I find personally unpalatable, Threats 2 is an excellent product that manages to introduce usable antagonists to the game that will work at many different levels of game play, many of whom can be used in multiple roles. Additionally, several of the chapters develop areas of Shadowrun that have been ignored or glossed over. All in all it’s a good solid addition to any Shadowrun GM’s resources.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)