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As with the prior editions, the book opens straight out with a piece of fiction from the viewpoint of a “shadowrunner,” providing an in-character primer on the information that gets detailed in the first few chapters: In the early 21st Century, various natural and unnatural disasters led to the return of magic to the world and the coming of dragons and other monsters, along with the birth of elves and trolls to humans. At the same time, cybernetic technology, including virtual reality, became standard, and over time the corporations took advantage of the world’s chaos to gain the rights of extraterritorial law on their own property, making “corporate warfare” a very literal thing. To get an edge on competitors without causing too much uproar, corps turn to “deniable assets” like shadowrunners, people who live on the edge of the system and take these jobs to strike back at other corporations, or for their own reasons.
The fiction piece, “Buzzkill,” is pretty by-the-numbers for SHADOWRUN fiction: The narrator’s shadowrun team gets hired for an allegedly easy assignment, it turns out to be a royal screw job, and they have to spend the rest of the story finding out who set them up and why. As an introduction to the 4th Edition game, though, two things stand out: One, the text frequently mentions the increased ubiquity of so-called “augmented reality” technology in consumer goods and communications gear, with characters using personal-assistant tech to do calculations, check the Internet and carry on face-to-face conversations… y’know, just like people in the 21st Century are doing right now.
The other thing is that characters use actual profanities like The F Word, as opposed to made up swears like “frag.” I’m not sure what to make of this. On one hand, I abhor censorship and get irritated when a writer puts in “@#%$#” when we all can tell what the character would really be saying. On the other hand, use of made-up profanities not only set a more family-friendly standard; it was a silly little way of creating a detail that separated the setting from the real world and made it its own place- in the same way as “frell” on Farscape, for example. However, in both cases, the point is made: This game is not your dad’s Shadowrun.
THE SETTING
The first chapter, Welcome to the Shadows, goes over the basics of the setting with introductory game terms. For instance, the shadowrunner’s contact is called a ‘fixer;’ while the client usually goes by the alias “Mr. Johnson.” The principal change to the setting noted here is in the nature of the Matrix- it is no longer so much a virtual reality used mainly by keyboard operators and net-hackers, but something the average person has access to through ‘augmented reality’ overlays which are accessible like modern Internet sites. Indeed, the average person constitutes a personal area network (PAN) with his communication devices linked together via his comlink, this system in turn interacting with various active ads, public service announcements, and so forth. The feel is thus a lot less Blade Runner and a lot more Minority Report.
The second chapter, A History Lesson for the Reality Impaired, is written from the viewpoint of legendary decker FastJack, or as he calls himself, “the last dinosaur of my kind”. From his narrative, the real cyber age began when “The Shiawase Decision” of the Supreme Court affirmed a corporation’s status as a sovereign government. (The Shiawase case started in 2000, so as with Star Trek, Shadowrun’s 'future' history is already obsolete.) Partially as a result of the decision, more corporations started encroaching on North American tribal territory; too bad for them this happened around the same time that “the Sixth World” of the Aztec calendar arose and magic returned to the earth. Indians, with their shamanic tradition, were able to throw off their oppression and use magical strikes against the military forces arrayed against them. The various Native American Nations formed in 2018, carved out of the US and Canada, spurring the secession of Quebec and the ex (ex) Confederate States, forcing Ottawa and Washington to unite their rump territories as “UCAS.”
Of course, the original Shadowrun properties displayed a setting that continued to change in light of events presented in the sourcebooks, which was one of the cool things about the game. Thus in this chapter, FastJack deals with all the events that have happened in relative real time since the first edition of 1989 and the game date of 2053. For starters: An insect cult took over Chicago, which was subsequently nuked and made into a containment zone; Dunklezahn, the world’s most famous dragon, ran as a reformist candidate for UCAS President and won only to get assassinated at his inaugural ball; odd children called “otaku” appeared who could access the Matrix without cyberdecks. Around 2064, a war between the otaku and a rogue artificial intelligence led to a total system crash of the worldwide Matrix, requiring several new and old companies to merge or pool their efforts to rebuild it using a new wireless standard.
This leads to the third chapter, Life on the Edge, which depicts the day-to-day aspects of life in the “Awakened World” of 2070. For instance, the use of credit is now so much more convenient and standardized than it used to be in 2053 that the old “credstick” serves the same place in shadowrunners’ under-the-table transactions that hard cash used to, largely for the sake of having an untraceable payment. Speaking of being traced, the book goes into greater detail on the use of the System Identification Network (SIN); with the new standard of electronic transactions, it’s almost required to have a SIN for ID purposes, but this also means that the government can track pretty much everything you do (which I’m sure is coincidental). Fortunately for shadowrunners, a lot of the SINs were lost in the last Matrix crash, and they’re relatively easy to fake, but by definition these fake IDs have a limited lifespan before they’re discovered.
Again, the major change to the setting is that the wireless Matrix makes it a lot easier for a person without a datajack in his neck to access the system, which means that the Matrix is much more prevalent in daily life, even if you’re not a tech-head. As the book says, a person IS his own network constituting the devices he uses to communicate with the system, selectively accessing public nodes like AROs (augmented reality objects, or ‘arrows’) to read information, or linking to another personal network for silent communication. This last in particular is a great boon to a shadowrunning team, if the members’ network security is up to snuff. Maintaining that security is one role where the hacker character is still vital.
The chapter touches on magic briefly, because while magic is real, it is still rare enough that the average person hasn’t seen it, and is often fearful of it. A little more time is spent on the corporate world, including overviews of the Top 10 companies whose representatives form the Corporate Court, which basically sets the standard for business. (Nothing prevents corps from breaking the Court’s dictates, or going into open warfare, except the practical consideration of the bottom line. This is again, why corps and shadowrunners are in a symbiotic relationship, even though each camp may despise the other; the corps need those ‘deniable assets’ to do their dirty work, and the runners need the income because they either can’t or won’t live as actual corporate wageslaves.)
The chapter then goes onto one’s entertainment options, including virtual-reality “simsense”, “trideo” and several black-market diversions. This in turn leads to the organized crime section, called “Criminal Elements (Other Than You)”. While most of these are based on real-world organizations, the type of crimes they commit branch out into things like magically active drugs and BTL “Better Than Life” simsense chips that addict the user. There are also new racist and terrorist groups out there, since in the Awakened World the main differences are along lines of subspecies (‘metatype’) more than ethnic origin.
THE RULES
Eventually (p. 52) the book gets to the Game Concepts chapter, which includes an important sidebar on how the 4th Edition changes how the game works. A rough summary: Like Exalted, the new edition uses dice pools based on Attribute + Skill, with a fixed target number (5 on a d6) used to score successes (‘hits’), and difficulty determined by the number of hits required (‘Threshold’). For example, the GM determines that sneaking into a facility requires an Agility + Infiltration skill roll requiring 3 successes minimum; this is written as “Infiltration + Agility (3) Test.” Standard difficulty is the base 1 success, with any successes above the minimum determining the degree of the character’s performance in that Test. The old Rule of Six (re-roll on a 6) no longer applies unless your character spends Edge (see below), and even then only on that particular die and it only counts if the result is a 5 (although on a 6 you get to re-roll yet again). The dreaded Rule of One is even worse, and is now called a “glitch”- basically if the character rolled at least half his dice pool as ones, some sort of mishap occurs during the character’s action, even if he ends up succeeding in the Test. If a glitch occurs with no successes at all, this is a critical glitch, one which may seriously endanger the character. Again as in White Wolf rules, SR4 now uses resisted (Opposed) Tests and Extended Tests, which are possible because of the new dice mechanic.
After going over the basic rules the chapter then goes over the basics of character creation. The races/metatypes are the familiar Humans, Dwarfs, Elves, Orks, and Trolls, with the variant races described in 3rd Edition books omitted. There are up to twelve Attributes, but most characters will have only ten. The magically active will have a Magic attribute in addition, while Technomancers (next-generation otaku) use a new stat called Resonance. It is not possible for the same character to have both Magic and Resonance.
Agility has been split into Agility and Reaction (which is no longer a derived stat) while the old Intelligence stat was split into Intuition and Logic. There is a new stat that all characters have called Edge, which enables twists of fate like the aforementioned Rule of Six. Supposedly this stat was created to make it feasible to be a “normal guy” who can run the shadows without cyberware or magically boosted stats, although I don’t see any reason why someone couldn’t buy high Edge during chargen along with other goodies. Interestingly, Edge is the only stat where Humans have a bonus (+1). Initiative is written as the sum of total Reaction and Intuition, with any extra actions due to cyberware or the like being referred to as extra Initiative Passes. Essence still starts at a base of 6 minus losses for cyberware/bioware, but in a major change, characters with Magic (or Resonance) rating no longer start with the base of 6; it has to be bought up from a base of 1. Losses to Essence still reduce Magic or Resonance proportionately.
Another notable change is that a character cannot have permanent augmentations (tech-based or magical) boosting his attribute to higher than half again his racial maximum. This seems designed to prevent PC overkill, although it still allows for the “theoretical troll”- for instance, a Human has a max of 6 in every stat, so his Body maximum is 9 with augmentations. Whereas a Troll with +4 to Body has a natural max of 10, making his augmented max a 15.
SR4 uses a point-based chargen system, although it perhaps resembles GURPS more than previous iterations of Shadowrun. All traits- Attributes, Skills, beginning resources- are bought with a pool of points, as are special “Qualities” like being magically active or a nonhuman. Negative Qualities (drawbacks) add points during startup.
The next chapter, naturally entitled Creating a Shadowrunner, goes into these options in much greater detail. Basic characters get 400 Build Points (BPs), but lest this seem like a great deal, you only get the base 1 in each attribute and have to spend 10 BPs per point, (including Edge, Magic or Resonance) not counting a racial package deal which will cost BPs itself. In another effort to prevent min-maxing, the book further dictates that the final point spent to raise an attribute to its natural maximum is 25, not 10, and furthermore that only one attribute can be “maxed” at character creation; finally, you can’t spend more than half your BPs on attributes.
As in the earlier game, SR4 has skills grouped into “Active”, Knowledge and Language groups. All skills start at a base of 0 and cost 4 points per rank, with an absolute max of 6. At character creation, one can EITHER have one 6 point skill or two 5 point ones. (Using a skill that you have no ranks in is called ‘defaulting’ and is done with a dice pool equal to the skill’s linked attribute -1.) There are two variations on this: One is to buy a skill group in a broad list of three or four related skills at 10 BP per rank (Example: Firearms), the other is to buy a specialization for 2 BP with one category of an individual skill (Example: Revolvers from the Pistols skill). No, you can’t get a specialization in a skill that’s in a skill group. You get a Knowledge Skill point base of (Logic+ Intuition) x3, with additional points available for 2 BP per. Language points come from this base.
A new feature of SR4 is the list of positive and negative Qualities, which again resemble Advantages and Drawbacks in GURPS, although most of these assign a point value to traits that already existed in the setting (e.g. it is a positive Quality for an Elf to be “Human Looking,” but a negative Quality for a Human to be an “Elf Poser.”). On this scale, it is a 5 point Quality to be an Adept (magic-boosted martial artist) and 15 points to be a full Magician. Interestingly, there is a new 5-point Quality called “Mentor Spirit”- what used to be the shaman’s totem. This seems to indicate that a shaman doesn’t *have* to have a patron totem, and also that a hermetic mage might get a spirit mentor for some reason.
Finally, the chapter deals with the gear and money (nuyen) characters need to equip themselves with weapons, cyberware and other resources, including contacts. This also includes the ‘magical resources’ section for the magically active. Note that in the new rules, spells have a fixed point cost which is no longer dependent on their Force rating. Magicians with Conjuring can have bound spirits during character creation for a BP cost. Spell foci that boost magical abilities can be bought with both BPs and nuyen. By the same token, Technomancers use BPs to buy ‘complex forms’ that affect the Matrix much like hacker programs, and can also buy ‘sprites’ (little pets that operate independently in the system).
To give you an idea of how this all comes together, the game then goes to a center section of example starting characters, which are all illustrated with the same sort of full-color paintings that previous editions used (and which are the only examples of color art in this edition). The quality of the art varies widely. The old game’s use of “allergens” recurs a lot with these characters, who boost their point values with negative Qualities like Allergy to sunlight. Some of them also have Addictions, which had little if any game effect previously. Also, I don’t think that the pieces were thoroughly edited, given that some of them list a character’s nonhuman racial traits and others don’t.
After that you get the Skills chapter, which is also fairly self-explanatory. As with Attributes, Skill ratings can reach a modified rating of x1.5 normal maximum (or 9) but this generally requires a modifier from cyberware or some magical ability; it can’t be bought up past 6 without a special Quality. Again, performing a task without ranks in the Skill is called ‘defaulting’ and the Skill lists include some advanced skills that cannot be defaulted. Also, not all skills are grouped into a Skill Group (perhaps Archery skill translates less easily than Pistols does with other Firearms, maybe). This chapter also includes the use of Attribute-based tests where the GM has the PC roll two appropriate Attributes for a certain task, so for example “Memory” (recalling a subject) uses Logic + Willpower.
Then we get the Combat chapter. Each Combat Turn is 3 seconds long, so there are 20 per minute. Characters roll their Initiative as an Attribute Test then add their number of hits to base Initiative rating, yielding each character’s Initiative Score from highest to lowest. Importantly, if a character takes a wound result that would affect his dice pools, that also affects his Initiative Score, which could conceivably drop him below a character who had rolled a lesser result that Turn. Characters with reflex-boosts due to magic, implants or the like may get extra Initiative Passes (multiple actions) in the order of their current Initiative Scores. Each Action Phase, on his Initiative Score, a character can perform two Simple Actions or one Complex Action- interestingly, shooting someone is considered a Simple Action but punching is considered Complex. A character can also perform one Free Action at any point, like ejecting a gun clip. In terms of combat movement, standard running is a Free Action, with ‘pushed’ running being a Simple Action.
As the book says, actions like melee combat are basically Opposed Tests, although other situations like gunfire may complicate things of course. Basically, each weapon has a Damage Value (DV) and possibly an Armor Penetration modifier (AP); net hits add to the base Damage Value to create a modified DV; if the target is armored, the AP modifier is subtracted from the Armor Value, and the defender resists using a Body + modified Armor Value roll to resist damage; each hit reduces DV by 1. Importantly, if the modified DV fails to exceed modified Armor Value, any damage that is scored is Stun (concussion) instead of Physical (lethal). As for the complications, the book goes into extensive detail on all the dice pool modifiers for moving targets, moving attackers, visibility, range, and so on, including all the rules for shotguns, grenades, and automatic firearms.
When a character takes damage, this is listed against a Condition Monitor which has damage boxes equal to 8 plus half of Body (for Physical) or Willpower (for Stun). For every 3 boxes of damage a character takes (in both categories) his dice pools are at a -1. Going to 0 in either category causes unconsciousness, but going to 0 in Physical also means the character is near death and will die if negative damage exceeds his Body score (either due to bleeding or continued pounding). If a character takes all boxes in Stun, additional damage, even if Stun, “overflows” into Physical, so it is possible to pummel someone to death with Stun damage. One nice rule here is the “Dead Man’s Trigger”, where a character on the brink of death gets to take a Simple Action by spending 1 Edge point and making a Body + Willpower (3) Test.
The Combat chapter also reviews vehicle combat. In many respects, vehicles function as characters, except that they can only take Physical damage, so any attack whose DV fails to exceed the vehicle’s Armor Rating automatically fails. Piloting a vehicle requires a Reaction + vehicle skill modified by the vehicle’s Handling modifier (a sports car has a +3, an 18-wheeler has a -3). “Rigging” with virtual reality controls provides a -1 to threshold/difficulty and also allows the driver to use his Matrix Initiative rating. In cases where the number of vehicles outnumbers the number of regular characters in combat, the fight is resolved as “chase combat”, which is more abstracted and available actions are largely intended to maneuver for position.
The Awakened World is the chapter dealing with all things magical. The premise of magic in the setting is the same as it was: Magically active characters have an innate ability to connect to the astral plane and tap its energy (mana). There are generally two ways to do this: The adept focuses his power inward by investing his Magic points into superhuman abilities, while the magician has the ability to both summon astral spirits from mana (Conjuring) or manipulate mana directly via one of five types of magic (Sorcery). Furthermore, using Sorcery or Conjuring can be exhausting or even deadly, which is reflected in a game trait called Drain.
One of the differences in SR4 is that while hermetic and shamanic magic are still the two main traditions of the setting, they are defined in their basic terms so as to provide a model for players and GMs to make their own magical traditions. Specifically, each tradition is defined by a certain philosophy which in turn determines what sorts of spirits it can summon, which of the five Sorcery types each spirit is associated with, and what stat is used to help resist Drain. For example, hermetic magic is based on scholarship while shamanism is based on one’s relation to the spirits, so hermetics resist Drain with Willpower + Logic while shamans resist with Willpower + Charisma. (This in itself is a rules change, because you originally resisted Drain with Willpower alone.) The end result is that the traditions are more defined by character concept and “special effects” than rules, especially since again the “totem” (Mentor Spirit) is no longer exclusive to or mandatory for shamans.
Generally, magic of any type now requires a roll of Magic rating plus pertinent skill (so Sorcery is Magic + Spellcasting). Importantly, spells are no longer bought with a Force rating; rather a magician casts at any level desired subject to how much Drain he wants to resist and what his Magic rating is. It is possible to cast a spell with a rating (Force) of up to twice the character’s Magic rating, but casting at a level above Magic is called “overcasting” and makes the Drain damage Physical instead of Stun. Conjuring works in a similar fashion, with the magician taking Drain according to the Force level of the spirit he calls up, with the same “overcasting” threat as Sorcery.
This chapter also deals with the miscellany of magic, including the rules for both astral perception and actual astral projection, the concept of “initiation”, which raises a character’s Magic rating and potential powers after a certain spiritual quest (the rules mention the kind of powers available but not the specifics on what sort of quests are done), the use of magical foci which can boost specific magical tasks, the various major Mentor Spirits and the advantages and disadvantages of following each, and finally, the good ol’ Street Grimoire. As mentioned earlier, the spells are grouped into five categories: Combat (damaging stuff), Detection, Health (boosting or harming the health conditions of living things), Illusion and Manipulation (a very broad category that refers to both physical and mental changes to a target). Generally, the book does a better job than previous editions of defining these categories so they don’t overlap the way Combat and attack Manipulations often did. Fans should know that the “Turn to Goo” spell is back- but the duration isn’t permanent.
The Wireless World describes the electronic technology of 2070. This chapter goes into some detail, as again, the technology is a greater part of everyday life than magic is and the tools used by the hacker (ex ‘decker’) characters have changed substantially. Because most people (except for the most primitive) access the Matrix via consumer technology, namely commlinks, it’s theoretically possible for all characters to engage in cybercombat and Matrix runs. Of course, in practice, the non-hackers are there to watch the hacker’s back in physical reality, and they probably won’t have the systems or computer skills to perform as effectively as the specialized hacker. By the same token, anybody can throw a punch, but the mage probably won’t be as good at it as the Adept or Street Samurai.
Stats used for Matrix devices range from 1 to 6, and coincidentally these stats often serve as “attributes” for certain Tests in the Matrix. Most devices are generic, but some have four specific traits, Response, Signal (broadcast range), Firewall and System. Of these, three of four have a direct bearing on the hacker’s game stats: Response is processing power and adds to Intuition to get a hacker’s Matrix Initiative Rating, Firewall security adds to defense in cybercombat, and System determines overall device performance- for instance, any programs you run with the device perform at their rating or the System rating, whichever is lower. System rating also adds to one’s Matrix Condition Monitor in the same way that Body adds to the Physical damage track and Willpower adds to Stun.
In these rules, the main reason to use virtual reality (via a simsense device) is because the cybernetic connection allows the user to operate in the Matrix at the speed of thought. Whereas augmented reality works according to the standard rules, the regular VR mode allows the hacker to use his Matrix Initiative Rating (as opposed to the standard Initiative of his ‘meat’ body in AR) with a second Initiative Pass. Running “hot sim” with the fail safes off gives a further +1 to Matrix Initiative and a third Initiative Pass. The drawback is not only that “black IC” security programs can do Physical damage to the hacker through feedback, but the hot sim experience has the potential to be just as addictive as a BTL chip… since it works the same way.
Generally, cybercombat and other Matrix activities involve use of a relevant electronic skill with a specialized computer program, such as Computer skill + Analyze program to make Perception Tests in the Matrix. While there are relatively few programs, their potential uses are quite varied. There is a very important sidebar on p. 224, “What Every Runner Needs To Know About Hacking,” which says, “The first lesson is this: Any wireless device can be hacked. Cyberlimbs. Smartlinked guns. Commlinks. Drones. Cameras. Refrigerators.”
In addition to “basic” hackers, the chapter also discusses Technomancers and riggers. Technomancers are a fairly recent development of metahumanity, having gained a semi-mystical connection with the Matrix that allows them to communicate with it using no devices whatsoever. Their “device” ratings are figured stats that are referred to in-game as a Living Persona. Technomancers are always considered to be running in hot sim, with all the bonuses thereof and getting a +2 to Matrix Perception Tests on top of that. They buy “Complex Forms” in character creation, which are functionally internal programs; they can furthermore “thread” Complex Forms they do not know on the fly, although this causes a result similar to Drain. Also they can access self-willed Matrix “sprites” that operate much like spirits. In short, they seem to be deliberate parallels to mages, and if it’s hard to tell the difference between them and mages, it’s also hard to see why one would play a conventional hacker when this option is available. Riggers are described briefly as a specialization of hacker, including their preferred skill use and device types (for instance, they usually need to modify Signal range before anything else). Speaking of modification, the chapter ends with the prices and rules for modifying off-the-shelf electronic gear- not only is it a point of pride for hackers to customize their gear, it’s usually necessary to get a really effective level of performance.
The next chapter, Running the Shadows, deals with all sorts of miscellanea. Health and damage are discussed- generally Stun damage heals over a period of hours and Physical damage heals over days. First Aid or Medicine including the use of ‘autodocs’ or ‘medkits’ can heal some boxes and speed recovery time. (It’s worth noting that while the game includes the old penalty for treating a magically active character, it doesn’t say that such a character risks losing Essence if his damage becomes critical, which used to be the case.) Various things that do damage besides weapons are dealt with here, mainly toxins, but also the addictive effects of drugs and BTL chips, which again were often mentioned in the old game but not written up in detail.
There is a fairly extensive section on security systems, which a GM would need to read thoroughly to learn not only the setting’s main security procedures but how characters could try to circumvent them. After all, breaking into a corporate compound is Shadowrun’s version of dungeon crawling. The chapter then goes into more “personal” rules for the characters’ reputation (basically, Street Cred is good, Notoriety is bad, and Public Awareness, aka fame, is good for most people but really bad for a shadowrunner), along with even more detail on the SIN/ID/forged ID, the rules for “buying” a lifestyle (all those things that your character has that aren’t listed on a sheet) and Karma (the game’s name for experience). Importantly, Karma is not also used as a pool for “hero point” dice modifications; the closest thing to that in the game now is the Edge stat. The chapter then ends with several pages of Gamemaster advice. Some of it is obvious, like using props to stage a scene, and some is more detailed, like “Be careful not to give away the importance of a person or thing by describing it in overly detailed terms.”
The next chapter, Friends & Foes, gives the rules and write-ups for stock NPCs and “critters” (normal and Awakened animals). Whereas the old game gave NPCs “Threat Rating”, most NPCs are, like other parts of the game, rated on a 1 to 6 scale in terms of their Professional Rating in combat (racist goon mobs being a 0 and the elite commandos of the Tir Tairngire elf nation being a 6). Like other games, SR4 uses a “mook rule” for most of these NPCs, except that they’re called “Grunts.” The characters who operate at or above PC level are referred to as “prime runners,” and just as the GM is encouraged not to simply let PCs die over bad dice rolling, he reserves the “Hand of God” right to preserve a prime runner through the classic master villain’s methods of cheating death.
An important section of the chapter gives the rules for Contacts, who are written up on PCs’ sheets with two specific ratings: Connection (how well-connected and influential the contact is) and Loyalty (how much the contact is willing to risk for the PC). More than that, the GM has to come up with the background for the contact in terms of what character elements make him useful, and why he would be connected to the PC. Contacts are very important in fleshing out a Shadowrun campaign, in that they oblige characters to do legwork, give them some sort of connection to the larger world, and serve as plot seeds in themselves, as they often require PCs to repay the favors done for them.
The chapter ends with a list of mundane and magical critters, including both “normal” and Great Dragons, neither of which PCs would want to fight. The section also goes through the list of Awakened critter powers, some of which, like Essence Drain, are still ridiculously overpowerful (in that Essence Drain is permanent). Regeneration, at least, no longer makes the critter nigh-invulnerable.
And then, you have the Street Gear chapter, which opens with a fairly amusing take on MMORPGs in the late 21st Century. Before the equipment lists, the book briefly goes over stuff like an item’s concealability, legality and availability on the black market. Weapons are listed in terms of both damage and availability as well as cost. Shadowrun is well known for its extensive list of weapons, armor and military gear, and the new edition doesn’t disappoint, with old favorites like the Ares Predator pistol and the Panther Assault Cannon along with new stuff like the HK XM30 modular assault weapon. There is a VERY wide assortment of miscellaneous consumer and adventuring gear. And then of course there is the selection of cyber and bio ware, which makes this the main chapter to consult for the Street Samurai. Of course, these items include not only availability and nuyen cost but Essence cost. Unless you’re a technomancer or magically active, Essence loss has no in-game effect, but since you start with 6 points that never come back, this establishes an upper limit on how much tech you can cram into your body, along with the cost, of course. In the rules, there are other ways of extending the limit, like “alpha” and higher-grade implants that increase the cost but are more bio-friendly and cost less Essence. Also, some items are listed with a Capacity rating, like cyberarms. Where the Capacity rating is in parentheses, you can install the smaller item in the larger item with no Essence cost.
The back of the book has a fairly large Index along with some important Summary Tables, namely the master table for what constitutes Free, Simple and Complex Actions AND what page each is given on. Finally, there’s a small map of the North American continent’s borders as of 2070. (This edition doesn’t contain any details on Seattle or use any ‘sample’ city.)
SUMMARY
I’m actually not sure what to make of Shadowrun 4th Edition. On one hand, I am leery of the fixed-target dice pools, which seem to require high skill pools and heavy dice rolling just to get weak-to-mediocre results. Your mileage may vary, of course. Certainly, the new dice system has a lot more flexibility and is easier to get one’s head around. The new options for Qualities/Drawbacks are actually not as extensive as they could have been, though doubtless they’re waiting to make more up for future books. While the Technomancers are either redundant or make the hackers redundant, they aren’t without precedent in SF. I’m probably most impressed by the electronic gear and the fact that it’s so ubiquitous in the environment, something that finally makes the setting seem truly cyberpunk.
However, I’m not sure 4th Edition captures the essence of that cyber/fantasy chimera called “Shadowrun.” I don’t know why; it might be that the graphics seem comparatively bland compared to the pre-4th Edition books. Maybe it’s just lacking that sense of style that infused every one of the FASA books and even most of the recent stuff. There is no local culture like Seattle, no flamewar commentary in the margins, none of the attitude that set the stage for the game. Which may not seem like a big thing, but the original Shadowrun was probably the first major game to make snarkiness part of the in-game culture, not just the gamer culture. Maybe they just needed some more input from the original (or older) writers. Or maybe they could have gotten CJ Carella or someone else from EDEN Studios. Certainly the game needs a primer on style just as much as BUFFY.
Overall, if you never played Shadowrun before, 4th Edition is a pretty good rules set with a classic setting behind it. More than likely, though, you’ll be interested because you played the older game and want to see how this works. My impression is that it might be better than the original in general, but it’s different enough that veterans may be thrown off.
Style: 3
SR4 is hardly bad in terms of style, but it doesn’t reach out and grab you like the old setting did, either in terms of graphics or in presentation.
Substance: 3
Shadowrun 4th Edition is overall an improvement in rules, addressing a lot of play-balance issues and other rules that needed correction- although by no means all of them. (That ‘theoretical troll’ for instance.)
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