SHADOWRUN

'''Shadowrun''' is a cyberpunk-urban fantasy cross-genre role-playing game, set 63 years in the future,^[1] following a great cataclysm that has brought use of magic back to the world, just as it begins to embrace the marvels (and dangers) of technologies such as cyberspace, omnipresent computer networks, genetic engineering, and the merger of man and machine called cyberware. Despite its departure in some respects from the "mainstream" cyberpunk genre, ''Shadowrun'' is perhaps the best-known and most popular RPG for this genre.

Production history

''Shadowrun'' was developed and published by FASA Corporation from 1989 until early 2001, when FASA closed its doors and the property was transferred to WizKids (a company founded by people from FASA). WizKids licenses the RPG rights, originally to FanPro (who were already publishing for the German version), and currently to
Catalyst Game Labs (a publishing imprint of InMediaRes). WizKids itself produced an unsuccessful collectible action figure game based on the property called ''Shadowrun Duels''.
The ''Shadowrun'' role-playing game, various expansions, and a ''Shadowrun'' collectible card game have won Origins Awards. The fourth edition also won the prestigious independent Ennie Awards for Best Rules as well as for Best Product in 2006.
''Shadowrun's fourth and current edition was released at GenCon in August, 2005, and brought significant changes to the game's system and setting. The new system caused some controversy among fans, although third-party reviews were positive. FanPro USA had some problems with their production schedule and the game was out of print from December 2006 to April 2007. In April it was announced that production and development of the game was changing hands to the aforementioned Catalyst Games, and publishing of the core game and new supplements has resumed.^[2]

Setting

Races

Characters in ''Shadowrun'' can be humans, orks, trolls, elves and dwarves, as well as certain diverging subspecies (known as metavariants) such as gnomes, giants, minotaurs, etc. As magic returned to the world, Humans began to give birth to elf and dwarf infants, a phenomenon called Unexplained Genetic Expression, or "UGE". Later, some juvenile and adult humans "goblinized" into other races (mostly orks, but also some trolls). The term "metahuman" is used either to refer to humanity as a whole, including all races, or to refer specifically to non-human races, depending on context. With the return of Haley's Comet new human variants called "changelings" arose. While not as many people were affected by this change as the previous "Goblinizations" it was enough to spark new controversy in the Awakened World, especially since changelings were frequently regarded as mutants or freaks due to the large variety of exotic traits they show.
Two of the metahuman races have fictional languages. Many elves speak Sperethiel which some of them, being immortal, remember from the last age of magic. Some orks speak Or'zet, which was forgotten until the will of an assassinated dragon released The Or’zet Codex to the public.
Additionally, a virus known as HMHVV (Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus) with many variant strains, has been known to cause further change, frequently resulting in Bandersnatches, Banshees, Dzoo-noo-quas, Goblins, Ghouls, Nosferatus, Vampires, Wendigos, Wild Fomorians and other fierce abominations that are no longer human and sometimes no longer even sentient.

Game background

The emergence of magic, the outbreak of the VITAS plagues (Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome), the Computer Crash of 2029 (caused by a complex and nearly unstoppable computer virus called "The Crash Entity"), the Euro-Wars, in which the western-European countries once fought off an invasion from neo-communist Russia and then a pan-Islamic invasion like that of 800 years ago, and the fevers for independence of Amerindian tribes, Chinese provinces, etc. left the world governments tumbling and falling. With the fall of the existing political structures, mega-corporations emerged as the new superpowers.

The Nations

As the world endured the string of state changing events and conflicts, the political landscape fragmented and reformed. In North America, for example, some nations broke apart and reformed, as was the case with the Confederated American States and the United Canadian and American States; others became havens for specific racial or ethnic groups, like the councils of the Native American Nations or the Elvish principality of Tír Tairngire; and some, like the California Free State, simply declared independence, or became defacto corporate subsidiaries like Aztlan to Aztechnology. Despite the new role of megacorporations, many nations still hold considerable sway through economic, social and military means.

The Corporations

The monolithic "enemies" of the ''Shadowrun'' world (borrowing heavily from cyberpunk mythos) are the Corporations, dubbed "Megacorporations", "Megacorps", or simply "megas" or "corps" for short. Megacorporations in the 21st century are global, with all but the smallest corps owning multiple subsidiaries and divisions around the world. They are the superpowers of the ''Shadowrun'' universe, with the largest corporations having far more political, economic, and military power than even the most powerful nation-states.
In ''Shadowrun'', corporations are effectively "ranked" by the amount of assets under their control, including material, personnel, and property, as well as profit. These ranks are A, AA, and AAA; AAA corporations are top tier. Most corporations in the AA and AAA level are immune to domestic law, responsible only to themselves, and regulated only by the ''Corporate Court'', an assembly of the ten AAA-rated corporations.
All AAA-rated and most AA-rated corporations also exhibit a privilege known as “extraterritoriality”, meaning that any land owned by the corp is sovereign territory only to the corp and immune to any laws of the country within. Corporate territory is not foreign soil but corporate soil, just like its employees are corporate citizens, though dual citizenship in a corporation and a nation is common.
The AAA corps, as well as numerous minor corporations, fight each other not only in the boardroom or during high-level business negotiations but also with physical destruction, clandestine operations, hostile extraction or elimination of vital personnel, and other means of sabotage. Because no corporation wants to be held liable for damages, it has to be done by deniable assets, or 'shadowrunners', invisible to the system where every citizen is tagged with a System Identification Number (SIN).
Shadowrunners fall outside the structured corporate world. Many are outcasts, having risen from the streets or fallen from corporate or government ranks. Their ranks include idealists and pragmatists, professionals and amateurs, disillusioned ex-corp/government/military personnel who have thrown off the shackles of corp society to achieve freedom and those who have never known any life outside the shadows. The one thing they have in common is that through necessity or by choice, they work in the shadows cast by the gigantic corporate buildings. Players of ''Shadowrun'' most commonly assume the role of these shadowrunners.

The Big Ten

The Big Ten, the AAA Megacorporations (as of 2070):

★ ''Ares Macrotechnology'', Detroit-based conglomerate of arms (''Ares Arms'', the original company), automobile (''General Motors''), and space (''AresSpace'', the former ''NASA'') industries. Ares also owns ''Knight Errant Security'', and ''Apple Computer'', amongst its numerous divisions. The first American-based Megacorp—currently led by Damien Knight—also trumps up its “mom and apple pie” image, fostering strong brand image within the United Canadian and American States (UCAS).
: ''[Leonard] Aurelius’ father founded ''Ares Industries'', the company that grew into Ares Macrotechnology. Nicholas Aurelius engineered the NASA buyout in 2016 and made Ares a megacorporation prior to Knight’s involvement. Knight himself only appeared on the scene in 2033, when he acquired 22 percent of Ares’ stock through his infamous Nanosecond Buyout.'' (Nigel D. Findley. ''Corporate Shadowfiles''. ©1993, FASA Corporation, Chicago, IL.)

★ ''Aztechnology'', a corporation from Aztlan (formerly Mexico, recreated in Aztec image) heavily involved in consumer goods, chemistry and magic. The least-liked megacorp in the shadows, due to its nasty secret projects.

★ ''Evo Corporation (formerly Yamatetsu)'', a corp based in Vladivostok, Russia, that focuses on nano- and bio-technology, genetics research and other transhumanist technologies, and “metahuman factors engineering” (products made specifically for metas). The first corp to become transplanetary after establishing a Mars base.

★ ''Horizon'', A Los Angeles (Annexed by the Pueblo Corporate Council in 2061) - based media corporation new to the AAA scene in the 2060s that used the second Matrix crash to make its move. Horizon is a media and PR corporation that lists Tir Tairngire among its clients. While they are primarily invested in media and entertainment they are also strong in consumer goods, real estate, and pharmaceuticals.

★ ''Mitsuhama Computer Technologies'', started as money laundering operation for the Yakuza but soon surpassed their investors' income by a very large margin. Focuses largely on robotics, heavy machinery, magical goods, and computers.

★ ''NeoNET'', created from Novatech’s merger with Transys Neuronet and Erika, pioneers of the new wireless Matrix, to form this powerhouse in the Matrix sector, but with diversified holdings in many other sectors.

★ ''Renraku Computer Systems'', mainly computer and arms-producing giant from Japan. Slowly rebuilding from both the Seattle Arcology debacle and the second Matrix crash.

★ ''Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries'', the world's largest megacorporation, a German conglomerate based on the production of steel, heavy-industrial goods, cars (BMW), arms and communication in Europe. Its majority shareholder and chairman is Lofwyr, a Great Dragon, who bought the company stocks using hoarded resources.

★ ''Shiawase Corporation'', an old family business, which survived the turmoils of the early 21st century unscathed, quickly able to expand in energy production, biotech and environmental procedures. First to fight for and be granted megacorporate sovereignty (later called extraterritoriality): exemption of law on foreign soil.

★ ''Wuxing Inc.'', a Hong Kong-based company that joined the AAA-corps primarily due to money from Dunkelzahn’s will, heavily focused on shipping and finance, and recently chipping into the magical-goods market.

Former AAA Megacorporations

★ ''Fuchi Industrial Electronics'', a computer giant built by the Nakatomis and Yamanas from Japan and Richard Villiers from Boston, Massachusetts. Focused heavily in computers and Matrix technologies. Disintegrated during the Corp War of '59 - '60 due to corporate infighting, and fractured. Richard Villiers took his piece and formed ''Novatech''.

★ ''Novatech'', Richard Villiers’ remnant of Fuchi that was based in Boston, Massachusetts. Focused on computer and Matrix technologies, also heavy into the brief space race for Halley’s Comet in 2061. Nearly bankrupt in 2064, it was forced into an unprecedented IPO, which led to the second Matrix crash. Smarting from the PR fallout, it formed ''NeoNET'' by merging with Transys Neuronet and Erika.

★ ''Cross Applied Technologies'', a Free Quebec-based company that rose in power due to the Corp War in ’59-’60, it was the smallest of the AAA corporations. When its founder, Lucien Cross, died in a plane crash on the night of the second Matrix crash, ''Ares Macrotechnology'', its biggest rival, snapped up enough of Cross’ subsidiaries and holdings to nullify its AAA status.

★ ''Yamatetsu''; after moving the corporate headquarters from Japan to Vladivostok, Russia and shifting focus towards metahuman ventures, it renamed itself ''Evo'' in the 2060s.
Shadowrunners are likely to have frequent contact with one non-AAA corporation, ''Lone Star Security Services''. Lone Star is a corporation that has taken over majority of law enforcement services in the UCAS. Lone Star tends to avoid unprofitably dangerous areas such as the Seattle barrens (Puyallup and Redmond).

Technology

Despite the Crash which caused much data corruption, technology advanced at a tremendous rate. Cyberware, technical implants, and Bioware, genetically engineered implants which enhance a person's abilities, emerged.

The Matrix

Originally, direct neural interface technology enabled humans and metahumans to directly access computers and the Matrix, the global computer network restructured after the 2029 Crash. Access to the Matrix was accomplished by "deckers": individuals that have cyberdecks which are futuristic equivalent to modern day laptop computers. These interface machines are connected to the brain through a Datajack generally located at the temple or behind the ear. The "deck" would then be plugged into a port that is connected to the Matrix at large. The Matrix was originally based on ideas by William Gibson and the cyberpunk literary genre.
In ''Shadowrun'' 4th edition, the Matrix rules have changed, thanks to the setting's constant evolution and a drive to match real world technological developments.
After the second Matrix crash in 2064, Matrix technology was moved away from the wired network and led into a wireless technology. This technology was originally proposed in the early 2060s by Transys Neuronet and Erika, now part of ''NeoNET''.
The most noticeable difference between the Matrix in the 2070s and the earlier editions is the widespread use of wireless technology. Communications and Matrix access is done through a Personal Area Network (PAN), managed through an individual's Commlink, a combination personal computer/cell phone/PDA/wireless device that hooks into the Matrix through wi-fi nodes placed in every city's infrastructure.
The other major difference in the Matrix of the 2070s is the use of Augmented Reality, where a person hooked to the Matrix through their Commlink has their vision imprinted (through direct neural implants or special glasses) with the same files and images that one would see on a computer desktop. This allows many users to stay on the Matrix constantly while walking around in normal space (though the traditional full-immersion Virtual Reality is still accessible).
Cyberdecks are obsolete, so "deckers" have once again become "hackers". In addition, the otaku of previous versions (deckers who did not need decks to access the Matrix) have metamorphed into technomancers, who have an innate connection to the Matrix and are capable of entering into a wireless network with no special equipment.
The use of the term 'Matrix' in the ''Shadowrun'' game to refer to an immersive virtual world predates its use in the popular feature film The Matrix. In ''Shadowrun'', the Matrix is not just a simulation of reality but is also the global communications and information network that is the successor to the internet.

Magic

Those able to actively interact with the magical energies of the Sixth World are known as “awakened.” An awakened character's power in magic is linked to their Essence statistic. Because of this, most magically active individuals attempt to avoid cybernetic enhancement, which lowers Essence.

Path

A magic user's approach to working with mystic energy is called their Path. The Awakened fall into three general Paths: Magicians, Adepts, and Mystic Adepts.

Magicians

Magicians are able to cast spells, summon spirits, and create magical artifacts called "foci". All magicians follow traditions that determine their understanding of magic. The two most common traditions are the Hermetic and the Shamanic, although others exist as well, like the Druidic and Wiccan traditions. Some magicians have a special bond to a so called "Mentor Spirit" who guides them in their magical development.
Hermetic magic is a "logical" approach to magic in which the magician studies theories of the nature of magic and how to harness it as an individual. It is one part chemistry, one part philosophy, one part mathematics, and yet none of them at the same time. Users of hermetic magic are called "mages".
Shamans are magicians who live in accordance with the natural world. Most of them feel especially bonded to a specific mentor spirit who they call a totem. It is this spirit that gives the shaman their magic, teaches them their spells, and gives their lives purpose. A shaman can fight against his/her totem, but in the end, it is fighting against oneself.

Adepts

Adepts use magic internally in order to accentuate their natural physical abilities. Adepts can run on walls, use mundane objects as deadly thrown projectiles, shatter hard objects with a single unarmed blow, and perform similar feats of incredible ability. All adepts follow a very personal path (Path of the Warrior, Path of the Artist, etc.). This path normally determines their abilities which might be very different for any two adepts: while one might demonstrate increased reflexes and facility with firearms, a second might possess unparalleled mastery of the katana, and a third might be able to pull off incredible vehicular stunts.

Mystic adepts

Mystic adepts are half magician and half adept. They distribute their magic power between the abilities of both.

Categories of magic

An awakened character can use five different categories of magic: Sorcery, Conjuration, Enchanting, Adept Powers, and Metamagic.
Most of these types of magic cause a phenomenon known as "Drain", mental or sometimes physical fatigue. The more powerful the magic, the more serious the drain. In extreme cases the drain may even be lethal.

Sorcery

Sorcery deals with casting spells which fall into the categories Healing, Combat, Detection, Illusion, and Manipulation. In order to cast a spell on a target, a magical link is required, either line-of-sight, or touch, or a ritual connection to the target (like some hair or blood). Magicians may cast any spell they have learned beforehand. Spellcasting causes drain.

Conjuration

Conjuration is the art of summoning, controlling, and banishing spirits, intelligent beings created from magical energies. Spirits are able to do a number of services for the magician who summoned them. Conjuration causes drain.

Enchanting

Enchanting deals with the creation of foci, magical artifacts, which can support a magician in other magical tasks. Enchanting does not cause drain, but requires material resources as well as karma.

Adept powers

Adept powers are often comparable to the effect of spells, but with several differences. They do not cause drain, they are always active, and they cannot be dispelled. On the other hand an adept is much more restricted in the number of powers he can master, than a magician is about the number of spells he knows.

Metamagics

Metamagics are special magical techniques that can only be handled by awakened characters that have reached a higher understanding of magic by undergoing initiation. The possible benefits include hiding their magical nature from others, making the effects of spells permanent, or being able to better resist drain.

System

Mechanics

The ''Shadowrun'' game mechanics are based entirely on a 6-sided dice system.
The game is skill-based rather than class-based, but archetypes are presented in the main book to give players and gamemasters an idea of what is possible with the system.

''Shadowrun (3rd edition)'' cover

Before the fourth edition, skill and ability checks worked like this: All actions in the game, from the use of skills to making attacks in combat, are first given a ''target number'' that reflects the difficulty of the action which is then raised or lowered by various modifying factors, such as environmental conditions, the condition of the character, the use of mechanical aids, and so forth. The character then rolls a number of dice equal to their level in the relevant skill, and the number of dice rolled that meet or exceed the target number determines if the character is successful performing the action and the degree of success the character has. As an example, a character with a high firearms skill not only has a better chance at hitting a target than someone with a lower ranked skill, but also is more likely to cause more damage to the target. Target numbers may exceed 6, in which case any dice that show a 6 have to be re-rolled (a target number of, e.g., 9 is reached by rolling a 6 followed by at least a 3; thus, a target number of 6 and one of 7 are identical). For even higher target numbers, this procedure has to be repeated; thus, an action with a target number of 20 (like attempting to procure military-degree weaponry) will only succeed if 3 successive dice rolls result in sixes, and the fourth gives at least a 2. This system allows great flexibility in setting the difficulty of an action.
In addition to this basic mechanic, players can use several task-specific dice pools to add bonus dice to certain tests, though dice that are used do not refresh until the end of a turn. This adds an extra tactical element, as the player must decide where best to spend these bonus dice. For example, combat pool dice could be spent to improve attacks or to improve defense, or some of each. Players also have Karma Pool that can be used to reroll any dice that failed to reach the target number. Karma Pool refreshes rarely, typically once per scene or less, at the GM's discretion. The combination of Karma Pool and dice pools gives players a considerable amount of freedom to decide how important a task is to their character. Two characters with identical statistics could perform very differently on the same tasks depending on their priorities (and thus, allocation of dice pools and Karma Pool).

Archetypes

Although the skill system is freeform, certain combinations of skills and equipment work well together. This combination of specialization in skill and equipment is known as an archetype. The most notable archetypes are ''Street Samurai'', characters who have heavily augmented their bodies with cyberware and bioware and focus on physical combat; ''Adepts'', characters who have magical abilities that increase their physical combat abilities; ''Deckers'' or ''Hackers'' who are experts at manipulating computer networks; ''Riggers'' who augment their brains to achieve fine control over vehicles and drones; and ''Magicians'' who cast spells and can view emotions and call spirits from astral space.
However, the archetypes are not character classes: the player is allowed to cross boundaries. Restrictions are not imposed by the system itself, but by the player's specializations. Because character-building resources are limited, the player has to weigh which game resource he wants to specialize in and which he has to neglect. This allows high character customization while still ensuring that characters are viable in the setting.

Character creation

Standard die with ''Shadowrun'' logo

The fourth edition of ''Shadowrun'' uses a point-based character creation system. Earlier editions used a priority-based system with point-based character creation as an advanced option. Priorities are divided into race, magic, attributes, skills, and resources. All things that do not explicitly fall under the first four classifications, including contacts in third and earlier editions of ''Shadowrun'', are given cash-equivalent values to be bought with resources.
''Shadowrun'' characters are created with ''contacts'', friends and acquaintances who serve as key nodes in the character's social network and who will often help the character out. Through the contacts system, players may uncover information that their characters cannot independently acquire. Additionally, players can often negotiate for the use of skills that their characters do not themselves have, a radical departure from most role-playing games.

Essence

Essence is a measure of a living being's lifeforce. Most humans and metahumans start with a value of six. It powers magic, and as essence fades, so does magical aptitude. Cyberware, bioware, nanotech implants, and other major changes to a being's body can damage its essence as well. Generally, if a being's essence ever reaches zero, it dies. Cybermancy allows metahumans to survive with an essence rating of less than zero.

Karma

In third edition and earlier, players were awarded Karma points as a game progressed. These points are usually added to a total called Good Karma, which can be used to boost attributes and skills. Skills that are already well-developed cost more Good Karma than skills which are undeveloped, which helps encourage specialized characters to become more flexible by spending Good Karma on weaker attributes. Karma also makes characters more powerful in general because every tenth (or twentieth for metahumans) point is added to the Karma Pool instead of Good Karma. The Karma Pool allows players to re-roll dice or "purchase" additional dice in certain situations. Karma can even be used to avoid certain death, at the cost of all Good Karma and Karma Pool points.
In fourth edition, Karma Pool is replaced by a new attribute called ''Edge'' which can be used in most of the same ways as the third edition Karma Pool. Experience and character advancement is still tracked with Karma, although ''Good'' was dropped from the name as it no longer needs to be distinguished from the old Karma Pool.

Fourth edition changes

With the new edition, major changes to the rules system were adopted.
Out of the original six attributes (Body, Quickness, Strength, Charisma, Intelligence, and Willpower), Quickness was split into Agility and Reaction, while Intelligence was broken into Intuition and Logic. A new attribute called Edge was introduced to replace Karma Pool. Instead of starting from a base, characters buy their Magic attribute like a normal attribute. The statistic originally called Reaction has had some of its functions taken over by the new attribute by the same name.
The initiative system was modified to affect only the order of actions, not the number of initiative passes. The number of initiative passes taken by a character is now determined solely by external influences, like implants, magic, and drugs. It is no longer possible for an unmodified character who is not under the influence of magic or drugs to have more than a single initiative pass, except through the use of Edge.
Several of the archetypes were modified. Deckers were merged with riggers and renamed hackers. Many distinctions between shamanic and hermetic magicians were removed, and the magic system was designed to allow many other variant traditions. Otaku - individuals who have the same roles and abilities as deckers, except without needing any cyber augmentation or technology - were renamed Technomancers.
Skills were changed from the target number system to a "hits" system. The target number is fixed at 5, and to complete a skill test, a player takes a number of six-sided dice equal to the skill and its linked Attribute, and rolls them, counting the number of dice that show 5 or 6 as "hits". The number of hits is compared to a pre-determined amount (or Threshold) set by the GM for the roll. If the number of hits equals or exceeds the threshold, the roll is a success. This mechanic, not coincidentally, happens to very closely match the new ''World of Darkness'' system. In addition, dice pools were removed, eliminating most of the tactical allocation of dice during combat, spellcasting, hacking, and other activities. These changes were intended to speed up the resolution of skill tests and combat.
The "Rule of One" of previous editions has been changed. A "glitch" is when at least half of the rolled dice come up 1s. A glitch results in a minor inconvenience or setback for the player, though it does not necessarily mean failure as long as enough hits were still scored. However, if a person rolls a glitch while scoring no hits at all, it is considered a "critical glitch", and is substantially more serious or potentially even fatal.
Rules for combat, magic, hacking, and other activities were changed to accommodate the new skill system. The modified rules are typically similar in outline, but the details are necessarily different.
Since the rules in the Fourth Edition are mechanically dissimilar to those in earlier editions, balance issues differ between editions. Characters from previous editions do not easily convert to the new edition with their strengths and weaknesses intact.
There were a few changes to the fictional setting in the Fourth Edition. The main premises remained unchanged while the timeline advanced by five years. The largest change in setting was the addition of a global wireless matrix that allows people to have augmented reality displays: visual overlays on real-world scenes. This encourages hackers and technomancers to join their teammates physically rather than provide matrix backup from a remote location, a change designed to make coordinating and integrating online and real-world actions easier for the GM.
There were also other changes to Shadowrun society at large, as illustrated in the flavor text. For example, up to this point, cursing had been illustrated with a variety of colorful made-up words, such as "drek", "frag", and "slot". FanPro eschewed these in SR4 (to some player complaint, as many fans believed this added social color to the game) and decided to use their contemporary, real-world counterparts.

Influences and links

''Shadowrun'' was retroactively linked to ''Earthdawn'', and is set in the "Sixth World", where ''Earthdawn'' is the "Fourth World" and our modern-day Earth is at the tail end of the ''Fifth World''. Such links are not necessary for play, but they allow crossover potential.
The concept of the "Worlds" is directly linked to the ancient Mayan belief that the world is renewed every five thousand years. In point of fact, the ancient Mayan calendar will restart in December 2012.
''Shadowrun'' is influenced by the writings of William Gibson (particularly ''Neuromancer''), although less so than the ''Cyberpunk 2020'' role-playing game.
In December 2005 Robert Boyd from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland robbed a lingerie shop at knifepoint in Belfast while wearing a blonde ladies wig. During his trial Boyd stated he was playing ''Shadowrun'', specifically the role of criminal elf Buho, at the time and may have "blurred reality and fantasy". Two jurors believed his story, but ten did not and he was convicted of robbery in March 2007.^[3]

Spin-offs

Novels

Main articles: List of Shadowrun books#Novels

FASA released 40 ''Shadowrun'' novels in collaboration with Roc publishing between 1991 and 2001. ''Shadowrun'' novels went out of production between 2001 and 2005, making the books produced towards the end of FASA's ownership of the license hard to find. A 41st novel was announced, but never released.
In 2005, WizKids began publishing new ''Shadowrun'' novels, again through the Roc imprint of the New American Library. Six novels were released in the new series, with no current plans for more.
Several additional novels were published in foreign languages only. More than 30 written in German by German and Austrian authors published by Heyne (since 1991) and FanPro (since 1997).

Movies

Despite various rumors, no ''Shadowrun'' movie has been produced so far. In 1999, Shadow Pictures, led by Kenneth Stange, tried and failed to create the first ''Shadowrun'' spinoff movie. Due to an unaccepting crowd and a lack of funds, the project was trashed. In the recent years, however, FanPro's promotional fan film competition has brought forward a variety of German fan-based short films depicting numerous aspects of the ''Shadowrun'' world in numerous levels of quality, some in subtitled versions. American-made ''Shadowrun'' movies do exist, but are few in number.

Video games

Four video games have been developed based on the ''Shadowrun'' franchise, the first in 1993 was an action RPG titled ''Shadowrun'' developed by Australian software company Beam Software (now Melbourne House) for the SNES console. The second also titled ''Shadowrun'' was for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994 developed by US company BlueSky Software. The third game was an interactive fiction adventure game developed by Japanese company Group SNE in 1996 for the Mega CD console, again titled ''Shadowrun''.
A fourth and latest game is for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista, with the working title ''Shadowrun'' developed by US company FASA Interactive owned by the Microsoft Corporation, which is also producing the title. However, many fans of the roleplaying game have not appreciated the major changes to story, races, and magic in the 2007 title and the new ''Shadowrun'' is an FPS (First Person Shooter), which enraged many fans of the RPG series. The publishers of the ''Shadowrun'' role-playing game have issued a statement saying, "Microsoft rewrote the timeline and setting for this game, so it is not in continuity with the tabletop RPG. It may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on ''Shadowrun''."[1]

★ 1993 - ''Shadowrun'' (Beam Software, SNES)

★ 1994 - ''Shadowrun'' (BlueSky Software, Sega Genesis/Megadrive)

★ 1996 - ''Shadowrun'' (Group SNE, Sega/Mega CD)

★ 2007 - ''Shadowrun'' (FASA Interactive, PC and Xbox 360)

Machinima

Rooster Teeth Productions produced a machinima mini-series, in 2007, using the 2007 ''Shadowrun'' game titled ''1-800-Magic''.

References

1. The First through Third Edition books were set exactly 61 years in the future from their release dates (giving the game a start date of 2050). This was bumped up to 65 years for the Fourth Edition, but publishing delays have dropped the current difference to 63 (the current ''Shadowrun'' year, as of 2007, is 2070).
2. InMediaRes Productions LLC. Enters Negotiations for the Classic Battletech and Shadowrun Licenses from Wizkids Inc.
3. BBC News

External links

; Official sites

★ Official ''Shadowrun'' RPG website
; Unofficial sites

★ Dumpshock, a large collection of information and sub-sites

★ #S-Run Community, world's most active IRC-based ''Shadowrun'' community

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