Runner Havens is the first major release for the SR4 line, where they start by introducing the core settings of the game. That’s right, settings *plural*: for the first time, Shadowrun has stepped away from Seattle, and is now trying to introduce an entire world to you all at once. The SR4 core book unapologetically lacks any sort of core setting whatsoever, so this book has been demanded by many fans, who want to see how the Shadowrun legacy has been carried on.
Production-wise, this is a beautiful book, clocking in at a fairly solid 144 pages. The oddball Prescott line drawings are noticeably absent, mostly replaced with some nice charcoal illustrations of street scenes. For those of you who’ve read my past review of “On the Run”, you should know that this is a hardcopy; I haven’t found out yet if Fanpro is bundling printer-friendly pdfs yet, so I’d still suggest that you not buy a pdf from them if you plan on printing it.
The book opens with a rather annoying “JackPoint” illustration, which reminds me entirely too much of the MSN homepage. It then launches itself full-force into the runner haven of Hong Kong. Immediately, you’re drawn into the tale of the city, and you’re rapidly carried through a bold vision of Hong Kong in the future.
I’m going to stop for a moment and let a few biases show. It’s been decades since I was in Hong Kong, and I mostly spent a few drunken nights with some bar girls in Kowloon. However, the memories of that time are emblazoned into my memory. I’ll never be that young and stupid again, but I’d be very disappointed if any vision of Hong Kong didn’t remind me of those astounding moments.
Well, I wasn’t disappointed. Far from it, in fact. The Hong Kong of 2070 not only carries with it all of the elements that have always made Hong Kong an amazing city, but has added to it. What’s more, the unique Shadowrun elements have been woven in beautifully; the addition of the “dragon lines” and “astral shallows” makes magic seamlessly blend into the cityscape. The Hong Kong presented here is a wonderful, alive, organic thing; it doesn’t just present a nifty list of things that Shadowrunners can do, it introduces you to a complete core setting, down to the fine details, making the whole place stand out.
But, to paraphrase Morpheus: “The fault lies not in your technique, Neo.” My gamer ADD has been worse than usual recently; I’ve either picked up, read through, or played all of the following: Wushu, Feng Shui, BESM (all editions), 7th Sea Cathay, HKAT!, and a few others in the last six months. I’ve also skimmed Weapons of the Gods and Qin, the Warring States. Mythic China and Hong Kong have become overdone recently; done to death, in fact. Despite the best efforts of the writer, nothing much can save this section from feeling an awful lot like something from another game line. Heck, I kept getting some of the Shadowrun elements confused with Feng Shui Buro storylines. The Hong Kong presented here is vivid and real, and perhaps not as over-the-top as other visions; but it’s still unmistakably Hong Kong, and there’s an awful lot of it out there right now. This of it this way: suppose you hired one of the best chefs in the world, turned him loose in a McDonalds, and told him to make you a Big Mac. No matter how much love and skill he shows and puts into his work, you’re still only going to get a Big Mac. This section wins major points for being bold and creative, yet true to the Shadowrun core; however, it loses out, through no fault of its own, due to overexposure.
But let’s go back to the basics. Shadowrun’s home has always been Seattle; that is the most unique setting for the game, and the place that this game should bring alive. You just can’t have Shadowrun without Seattle at the core. I’m going to stop and admit to a few more biases: I’ve lived in Seattle for over twenty years now. In fact, on thing that attracted me to Shadowrun in the first place was that it was set in my adopted home town; I can still recall buying the core book at Northgate Mall, and seeing how my town had fared. I was always amazed at how they managed to preserve the character of my home, while still managed to update it enough to be something unique.
Well, I’m a known anti-SR4 guy around the net, so rather than starting with my own rant, let me start by quoting a major SR4 fan. Bull is probably the biggest (and definitely the largest =D) Shadowrun fan out there. Here’s what he has to say:
“One of the other ideas behind these books is that the cities are designed to be somewhat malleable... Hong Kong and Seattle are presented as two distinctly different, yet still similar, locales. But you could file off the serial numbers and transport the Seattle info to, say, Minneapolis, if you really wanted. And the smaller write ups give additional info for other locales to help you transplant them, as easily.”
The way Hong Kong is written, the culture and the religion and the jobs are all seamlessly blended together, so you can’t simply slap a Hong Kong adventure into Parsippany. However, as Bull himself pointed out, the vast majority of the Seattle writeup is straight boilerplate: it’s not Seattle, it’s [insert name here] sprawl. This would be great if you’re looking for a book on how to create a nameless, faceless sprawl; but you buy a core setting book to learn about the core settings! Hong Kong comes across as a living, breathing entity; Seattle comes across as just another fill-in-the-blank city.
For example, let’s look at the Ork Underground. The Ork Underground has its history in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, after which people simply built right over the first floors of the old buildings, leaving an amazing series of underground rooms and tunnels; you can even take a tour of it to this day. Originally, Shadowrun wove that history into the Ork Underground, blending fiction and fact into a unique view. Now, the Ork Underground is simply described as a vauge place under ground level that caters to orks, and has a particular attitude. You can fit that into any city, anywhere, which really removes one of the unique Seattle elements.
The Seattle as presented in Runner Havens can, with a small amount of white-out, become just about any other North American city you want it to be. Where Hong Kong is bold and inspired, Seattle is flat, uninspired, and overly generic. They made a few references to older Shadowrun material, probably in response to the overwhelming fan complaints about the lack of a setting, but they managed to lose the entire feel of the city; it’s like they mistook in-jokes for atmosphere. There’s just enough references to past material to confuse new players, while not enough substance to make Seattle come alive.
After the main two cities, we’re treated to four shorts: Hamburg, Caracas, Cape Town, and Istanbul (not Constantinople). These vary a bit in quality, but are solid performers overall. For example, Istanbul can be made over into many different Middle Eastern cities; but the shorts aren’t meant to provide as much of a core as an overview, anyway. They're solid capsule reviews, and do a decent job of stimulating the imagination, but that's about it.
Finally, there's a section on how to create your own runner haven. Unfortunately, most of the advice given could apply to just about any city, anywhere. The three elements of a runner haven-- Megacorps, Underworld, and Politics-- are pretty much a given in just about any city in the world nowadays.
Conclusion:
If I were coming to Shadowrun for the first time, I’d think that it was meant to be set in Hong Kong. That’s how dramatic the difference is in originality, creativity, and depth is between the “core settings”. Unfortunately, there’s far too much Hong Kong stuff out there right now, so even a very good Hong Kong setting is going to suffer in comparison. And what’s more, it’s focused more heavily on presenting a view of Hong Kong than it is of Shadowrun. The same section would make a very good supplement for Feng Shui or HKAT!; if you’re playing either of those, then this book might be worth looking at.
If you’re good at producing generic settings for Shadowrun, then you won’t need this book at all. If you’re looking for a core setting, however, you’re going to be disappointed; buy the old Seattle Sourcebooks instead. For your money, you’re going to get a good Hong Kong setting, a bland generic sprawl setting, and four short settings. Unless you plan on relocating your Shadowrun campaign to Hong Kong, then you can give this book a miss.
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