Before we get into this months topic, I wanted to tell everyone I finished my next book! It can be found here: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/514075/Lone-Star-Stories-Blood-Of-The-Lamb. I’m also only 2 purchases away from getting my first Copper Badge for https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/484834/Lone-Star-Stories-Blood-For-Money! If you ever wanted to support me, this would be a fantastic way to do so!

Now, onto the post!

Ever since I saw the original Dwarven Forge dungeons when I was a kid, I was blown away. It was a dream of mine to run some dungeons with a perfectly to scale model with these kinds of high end models. This of course didn’t happen (Only nerds with REAL money could take a swing at such expense for such things), but now in this new beautiful age of 3D Printing. We all can have some things we never thought we could.

A lot of tabletops have attempts to make the perfect system. This of course has lent to tons of iterations of different ways of rolling dice, creating statistics and skill tests. This however has the amazing byproduct of creating some mechanics that are system agnostic that you can use to make your games more exciting and more interesting regardless of the game you are running. Here are 6 examples from games that are near and dear to my heart. As a collector I tend to play a lot of different games and have enjoyed learning new systems. Hopefully you can find something worthwhile to use in your game!

Most of you know me as someone who writes things for Shadowrun and Cyberpunk concepts in general. I currently am playing Cyberpunk Red just as often as playing Shadowrun 3rd edition. So I begin to see the tying threads between concepts and stories. A lot of stories in Shadowrun cannot be ported to Cyberpunk. The fantasy element is played pretty often in these stories, but every once in a while it’s left almost entirely out. This gives us the rare opportunity to tell the story in both universes almost entirely unchanged. Divided Assets is one of those adventures.

After doing some digging and trying to find some good resources for VTT maps (A question that I see gets posted all over the place). I also needed a bit of a lighter post as I finish up the final touches on “Blood On the Pavement”, my next release for the Lonestar Stories first season. This should be available soon! Please take a look at my first releases: Blood For Money!

Books/Sites Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core
• aboutsanteria.com - Vocab For Santeria
• Images are used from Creative Common Licenses.

As we forge ahead in new paths of magic in the world we come to another tradition that fall outside of the UCAS and CAS control for the majority of their practitioners. Yoruba in this cases. This faith has similar bone structures of Voodoo and Palo Mayombe. With powerful spirits being called to in order to effect change and offerings to be left and honor to be given.

STL Files for Shadowrun and Cyberpunk (Red or otherwise)

So my table is pretty extreme when it comes to making props and cityscapes. We just love being drawn in by massive 3d print builds and honestly, once you know where to look, it mostly comes down to time. The cost of these things is pretty tiny in the long run. $100 of filament can go a LONG freaking way.

So I wanted to put together a list of stuff we used to print out the mega city that we play in. We are currently playing a Cyberpunk RED Trauma team game and I’ve just finished up running Brain Scan in Shadowrun, but now starting my Lonestar Game in order to continue to write my storylines and SOON my books to be published as HoloStreets (for 3rd & 5th Edition).

One of the most common questions we get on the various Shadowrun Subreddits is what edition is right for me and my group? Think is unfortunately always answered with the obvious “It depends”. I’m going to hopefully lay out all the information to make the choice for you and your group. Each edition has a lot to offer and gives a completely different feel to your game. Let’s see where your group falls. This will be a living document, so as I find some better examples and feedback on how best to explain some editions.

Books Used in this article.

• SR3 Core
• Mr. Johnson’s Little Black Book

Shadowrun is a game about high risk and high rewards. Too often we however only see rewards of nuyen. Some Gamemasters stretch their legs and add in things like extra contacts or some exotic ammos, but when was the last time you had something like a program, spell or exotic material for resale? Each of those rewards can lead to more stories and more stories is ALWAYS better!

Books Useful for this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core
• Street Wyld

One of the things a lot of people may overlook in Shadowrun is how spells are purchased/learned in game. I think it’s very important to understand that mages and shamans need to get access to either teachers or buying formulas. This can also be an excellent opportunity to bring in new NPCs and teachers. In most games I see a lot of people just spend the karma and poof! New Spell! Also character creation is much more exciting when you add personal touches to your character in this way.

Books Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core

As my introduction to magical traditions seems to have gathered a good deal of attention, I thought I would continue on with this. As always, if people have specific things they want covered, please send me an email, or reach out to me on Discord, and I’ll be more than happy to sit down and write something up for you.

Books Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core

I’ve always been drawn to various faiths as I grew up. What people believed and why was always so interesting to me. Being able to walk into a new church, temple or holy place and seeing the customs, hearing the music and enjoying lessons the faiths had. I tend to gravitate towards character concepts that have faith as their foundation. In Shadowrun, this often meant a Magical Tradition.

The New Ghost Busters - RPG using Shadowrun 3rd Edition

Around 20 years ago I fell in love with a franchise I thought was dead. It was funny, it was spooky and it was wierd. I was never the same after seeing Ghostbusters for the first time. I too wanted to hold back the darkness with my wit and genius. Fighting with the heart of a lion against what goes bump in the night. Soon i ended up learning about Call of Cthulhu the table top game and Shadowrun. I decided I wanted to try to add the action of Shadowrun into the mystery and investigation of Call of Cthulhu. This birthed this madness below.

Vehicle Chases

Vehicle chases have always been a thorn in my side since I started playing Shadowrun. I’ve always wanted that cinematic experience of the PCs’ vehicles skittering down a road while gangers chase them, dragging chains through the streets. This has never been really successfully done. So many attempts, so many times I tried to figure out the chase TNs.

So this is my attempt to fix it so you can make chase TNs and Scenes that will make your players sit on the edge of their seat.

As we spoke about before, Covid really threw our lives when it came to game into some strangeness. We had to spin up new methods of keeping our stories alive. Though this is my least favorite of the ways to run a game. It holds itself aloft as something that can bring people together from across the world to enjoy the stories of friends who cannot gather around a table. Though in a more modern adaptation. Some have even begun to bring digital tables to their play groups. To this end I wanted to talk about digital assets and where to find them.

We have another Zine that blazed trails in the Shadowrun universe! Started by Jerry Stratton and continued by Tony Moller. This along with the Shadowrun Supplemental were among the first player published materials out there. The first issue came out in 1992 and the last in 1994.

As these are free to distribute I wanted to ensure it had a place among the archive of everything else Shadowrun had to offer for those who may have missed the boat so to speak on these wonderful publications.

On January 1st, 1992 we were given Shadowrun in its second form. Now revised with an attempt to bring the systems together and resolve some rules disputes, this gave us the form Shadowrun would exist in for some time. In 1997 Adam Jury rounded up some articles and put together the first Shadowrun Supplemental. This was a collection of articles written by players and Game Masters about topics they wanted to see in their games. Things they wanted to share with the world at large of Shadowrun players.

After doing some digging into character sheets for an up and coming game. I suddenly realize the crap shoot that was finding character sheets for Shadowrun. On one hand, it makes sense. The IP has been shared and scattered to the winds across half a dozen companies all keeping their own digital presence. On the other, we used to have things like dumpshock.org to keep us with what we needed. Nowadays, well it’s a whole different ball game. I think it’s time to change that. One place, all the sheets you’ll ever need.

As time continued forward and with the horrid times that was the panic following the COVID, we as tabletop gamers ran into some serious problems. The games that we wanted to play with our friends suddenly had to move online. Separated from our friends and unable to share a table, we turned to the tools that were made for online play. The real problem here is, most things were made for DnD. Shadowrun DOES have its own tactical movements, but they are a tad clunky (in my opinion of course).

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

As we continue with these examples we are going to continue to add more complexities to these systems. In this system we are going to introduce multiple nodes. Each node itself will have its own security sheaf. Each system will be marked with a letter and its Sheaf will be added in a table next to its letter. A new rule you will need to pick up as well is that security tally carries as the decker moves between different subsystems. The way SR3 explains it, is that until you leave the host wholesale or log in from a different RTG. This means however that each host only cares about its own tally.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

A lot of cyberpunk revolves around crazy new technology. In almost every system imaginable, this includes some kind of virtual reality system that people have become obsessed with. Part of this is due to the escape it offers. A paradise outside of the nightmare society has wrought with shifting laws to allow for hyper capitalism. Regardless of why, it leads to characters who want to enter this world and most importantly, take on the counter cultural heroes known as Hackers, Deckers, Phreakers or the likes.

Before we get into this months topic, I wanted to tell everyone I finished my next book! It can be found here: https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/514075/Lone-Star-Stories-Blood-Of-The-Lamb. I’m also only 2 purchases away from getting my first Copper Badge for https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/484834/Lone-Star-Stories-Blood-For-Money! If you ever wanted to support me, this would be a fantastic way to do so!

Now, onto the post!

Ever since I saw the original Dwarven Forge dungeons when I was a kid, I was blown away. It was a dream of mine to run some dungeons with a perfectly to scale model with these kinds of high end models. This of course didn’t happen (Only nerds with REAL money could take a swing at such expense for such things), but now in this new beautiful age of 3D Printing. We all can have some things we never thought we could.

Vehicle Chases

Vehicle chases have always been a thorn in my side since I started playing Shadowrun. I’ve always wanted that cinematic experience of the PCs’ vehicles skittering down a road while gangers chase them, dragging chains through the streets. This has never been really successfully done. So many attempts, so many times I tried to figure out the chase TNs.

So this is my attempt to fix it so you can make chase TNs and Scenes that will make your players sit on the edge of their seat.

“Is this the path to Eden?” - Johnathan Tang

Double Exposure is an adventure for 2nd Edition Shadowrun. It is a very story heavy adventure that brings characters in a really unique situation that I haven’t seen in many other adventures. This adventure will put the player characters right in the middle of a new sprung up commune in the barons. What’s even wilder? This organization even seems to be actually growing sustainable food crops. They are accepting anyone with a pulse that wants a better life and is willing to work for it. Sounds too good to be true? Yeah, its Shadowrun baby, of course its fucked.

Before we dive in! I wrote another section of my adventure: Protect and Serve.

Music in the 80s was a bit more defining than today (Though Taylor Swift has definitely revived some of the old feelings of hardcore allegiance to a band or musician). Who you listened to and who you repped told you a lot about someone and in general I feel it had a lot more of a cultural impact than it does today. Clothing brands, commercials and like really strove to grab up bands for their products and in some ways it felt like they were larger and more important than even actors in their given time. Often whole movies would be scored by a single band to lend their kind of flavor to a piece. It really held serious weight. Movies like The Crow (The Cure) and Donnie Darko (which is a 00s movie, but was set in the 1980s and had the same done for it as other 80s movies by the Tears for Fears). Music from these movies and their scores really hit home.

Silver Angel was the first published Adventure for Shadowrun. It was paired with the original Game Master’s screen for 1st Edition Shadowrun. What’s interesting is that it also came with standees (cardboard cutouts that you could use to show placement of characters and NPCs) which we wouldn’t see again until DMZ was released. These paired excellently with the Sprawl Maps.

This adventure is pretty short, but you can see the gritty bones of what would become the Shadowrun we all know and love.The story includes a dynamic cast of interesting street level people including a ripper jack and a dancer. As well, it is positively dripping with atmosphere. Tom Dowd laid some beautiful writing down on these pages. A line really sums up Shadowrun perfectly.

It seems I am often drawn to Shadowrun adventures with famous characters in the fiction of the world. Starting with Dark Angel and now moving onto Queen Euphoria, there is something special about the world that was written in those first few adventures of Shadowrun.

Queen Euphoria is one of the classic adventures that in general is one of the few truly horror based adventures in Shadowrun. Given there are always horror elements in all adventures in Shadowrun. The Dystopian world that our characters live in brings about some amount of horror in general. However, there are some special things that only Shadowrun can bring to bear. This is the first taste of real true horror (Though I think it’s been blunted by some design decisions i’ll talk about in the spoilers section). I think this had a kind of success with the players that the designers had not expected and then they began to do it quite a bit more.

Most of you know me as someone who writes things for Shadowrun and Cyberpunk concepts in general. I currently am playing Cyberpunk Red just as often as playing Shadowrun 3rd edition. So I begin to see the tying threads between concepts and stories. A lot of stories in Shadowrun cannot be ported to Cyberpunk. The fantasy element is played pretty often in these stories, but every once in a while it’s left almost entirely out. This gives us the rare opportunity to tell the story in both universes almost entirely unchanged. Divided Assets is one of those adventures.

I know it’s been awhile folks! I’ve been busy writing Holostreets! Blood For Money and Blood on the Pavement. I am looking for people to review these in any capacity so if you are interested please reach out to me! Otherwise, lets get into Divided Assets!

Divided Assets is a Shadowrun adventure for 2nd Edition. The plot revolves around kidnapping and the ramifications of extractions on the family of those being extracted. It’s an interesting take on the idea of looking outward into Shadowrunning (or Edgerunning for that matter). A lot of times players run these crazy scenarios where death and violence explode into the lives of people who can’t even imagine what they are about to see and experience. This would leave a lasting sting that is never really talked about!

Dark Angel is a Shadowrun adventure for 2nd Edition. The plot revolves around recovering the original recordings from the Legendary Rocker, Dark Angel. Seems he killed himself (though it’s murky that anyone would set himself on fire as a way of going out) and some new kid suddenly showed up with recordings and signed contracts. This of course seems like the HOTTEST of Bull Drek that could be, because Angel swore he would never record them and sell out. It’s up to you and your friends to recover the songs and get the skinny on how this person got their hands on these things.

Overview:

Bottled Demon is a Shadowrun adventure written for Shadowrun 1st Edition. The premise of the adventure revolved around a local fixer needing muscle to ensure a deal goes down nice and clean. What he has is worth some serious nuyen and he is willing to pay out a good deal of cred to make sure he is safe while finding a buyer.

“Is this the path to Eden?” - Johnathan Tang

Double Exposure is an adventure for 2nd Edition Shadowrun. It is a very story heavy adventure that brings characters in a really unique situation that I haven’t seen in many other adventures. This adventure will put the player characters right in the middle of a new sprung up commune in the barons. What’s even wilder? This organization even seems to be actually growing sustainable food crops. They are accepting anyone with a pulse that wants a better life and is willing to work for it. Sounds too good to be true? Yeah, its Shadowrun baby, of course its fucked.

Before we dive in! I wrote another section of my adventure: Protect and Serve.

Music in the 80s was a bit more defining than today (Though Taylor Swift has definitely revived some of the old feelings of hardcore allegiance to a band or musician). Who you listened to and who you repped told you a lot about someone and in general I feel it had a lot more of a cultural impact than it does today. Clothing brands, commercials and like really strove to grab up bands for their products and in some ways it felt like they were larger and more important than even actors in their given time. Often whole movies would be scored by a single band to lend their kind of flavor to a piece. It really held serious weight. Movies like The Crow (The Cure) and Donnie Darko (which is a 00s movie, but was set in the 1980s and had the same done for it as other 80s movies by the Tears for Fears). Music from these movies and their scores really hit home.

One of the most common problems new GMs (And old for that matter) is running the Matrix for their players. In every edition of Shadowrun, the matrix has been a pivotal part of the game. It makes sense in the larger picture, Gibson’s Neuromancer (Which you absolutely NEED to read if your running Shadowrun or Cyberpunk! [Hardcover or Sprawl Trilogy (Plus Burning Chrome) - Good Christmas Gifts!] gives us the first console cowboy and we have been seeking that experience every since.

Silver Angel was the first published Adventure for Shadowrun. It was paired with the original Game Master’s screen for 1st Edition Shadowrun. What’s interesting is that it also came with standees (cardboard cutouts that you could use to show placement of characters and NPCs) which we wouldn’t see again until DMZ was released. These paired excellently with the Sprawl Maps.

This adventure is pretty short, but you can see the gritty bones of what would become the Shadowrun we all know and love.The story includes a dynamic cast of interesting street level people including a ripper jack and a dancer. As well, it is positively dripping with atmosphere. Tom Dowd laid some beautiful writing down on these pages. A line really sums up Shadowrun perfectly.

It seems I am often drawn to Shadowrun adventures with famous characters in the fiction of the world. Starting with Dark Angel and now moving onto Queen Euphoria, there is something special about the world that was written in those first few adventures of Shadowrun.

Queen Euphoria is one of the classic adventures that in general is one of the few truly horror based adventures in Shadowrun. Given there are always horror elements in all adventures in Shadowrun. The Dystopian world that our characters live in brings about some amount of horror in general. However, there are some special things that only Shadowrun can bring to bear. This is the first taste of real true horror (Though I think it’s been blunted by some design decisions i’ll talk about in the spoilers section). I think this had a kind of success with the players that the designers had not expected and then they began to do it quite a bit more.

When we play games with magic often we look at it in the lens of our understanding most of us learned from games like Dungeons and Dragons. That is to say that magical people always go into combat with magical shields and energy blasts. Fireballs and Counterspells to keep yourself from getting fried. Shadowrun has a lot of this too, but there is more insidious magic that exists and it’s as old as the human race.

Program Names for more immersion

I’ve always wanted to sit down and write down some fun program names for decking programs. Having programs with ratings is one of the things that made older editions of Shadowrun infinitely more fun.

This is an attempt to make something more interesting for folks. Let me know if this is something folks enjoy and if they would want more of them!

Analyze Program Suite

Browse Program Suite

Commlink Program Suite

Deception Program Suite

Decrypt Program Suite

Read/Write

Spoof Program Suite

Sleaze

I know it’s been awhile folks! I’ve been busy writing Holostreets! Blood For Money and Blood on the Pavement. I am looking for people to review these in any capacity so if you are interested please reach out to me! Otherwise, lets get into Divided Assets!

Divided Assets is a Shadowrun adventure for 2nd Edition. The plot revolves around kidnapping and the ramifications of extractions on the family of those being extracted. It’s an interesting take on the idea of looking outward into Shadowrunning (or Edgerunning for that matter). A lot of times players run these crazy scenarios where death and violence explode into the lives of people who can’t even imagine what they are about to see and experience. This would leave a lasting sting that is never really talked about!

Dark Angel is a Shadowrun adventure for 2nd Edition. The plot revolves around recovering the original recordings from the Legendary Rocker, Dark Angel. Seems he killed himself (though it’s murky that anyone would set himself on fire as a way of going out) and some new kid suddenly showed up with recordings and signed contracts. This of course seems like the HOTTEST of Bull Drek that could be, because Angel swore he would never record them and sell out. It’s up to you and your friends to recover the songs and get the skinny on how this person got their hands on these things.

Overview:

Bottled Demon is a Shadowrun adventure written for Shadowrun 1st Edition. The premise of the adventure revolved around a local fixer needing muscle to ensure a deal goes down nice and clean. What he has is worth some serious nuyen and he is willing to pay out a good deal of cred to make sure he is safe while finding a buyer.

As we continue to march forward in reclaiming our past a few people stepped up and created tools for our future. One such person is Lord Nago. He has created several pieces for a 2nd Edition Shadowrun Roll20 setup. With his permission i am making this post and hosting these files for him. Feel free to reach out to him on Reddit if you have questions or requests!

Here is his original post on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadowrun/comments/1bu2c8i/custom_sr2e_sheet_for_roll20/

Greetings Shadowpunks!

With last year behind us, I look forward to what will come in the future. This year I hope to finish two new tools for the site: Weapon Designer and Vehicle Designer. These will more than likely take at least 3 or 4 months each (Though the vehicle one will take something really special to finish in that time). My hope is always to allow players more control over their characters and to give GMs the tools to be able to create custom things quickly and easily. I hope these will continue to help people make great games!

Cons and I have a kind of strange relationship. In general, I absolutely love meeting people but I get very concerned with large crowds. So Gamehole turned out to be just about the perfect size for me. Plenty of people but easy enough to walk around without having to struggle through a crowd. One of the main concerns with a “smaller con” is that its harder to get big names to show up to the cons. Gamehole Con doesn’t have that problem at all. People from all over the country flew into Madison for the event!

After doing a lot of thinking about this little side project of mine, I had decided I perhaps needed to begin to supplement the cost of this website/hosting for tools/investment of time. I hate to make any kind of clutter or cause anyone any strife when it comes to reading my articles, using my tools, or just generally enjoying the spirit of the reason my site exists. However, seeing the cost continue to rise, I will need to come up with something.

When we play games with magic often we look at it in the lens of our understanding most of us learned from games like Dungeons and Dragons. That is to say that magical people always go into combat with magical shields and energy blasts. Fireballs and Counterspells to keep yourself from getting fried. Shadowrun has a lot of this too, but there is more insidious magic that exists and it’s as old as the human race.

Program Names for more immersion

I’ve always wanted to sit down and write down some fun program names for decking programs. Having programs with ratings is one of the things that made older editions of Shadowrun infinitely more fun.

This is an attempt to make something more interesting for folks. Let me know if this is something folks enjoy and if they would want more of them!

Analyze Program Suite

Browse Program Suite

Commlink Program Suite

Deception Program Suite

Decrypt Program Suite

Read/Write

Spoof Program Suite

Sleaze

This is a scrape from the https://www.shadowrunrpg.com site for ALL of their Erratas. They seem to have kind of let this go to seed and I know a TON of people are looking for this. I take no claim for any of this, I just want to preserve it for future generations to have the corrections they might be looking for.

Shadowrun 3rd Edition Errata

Version 4.1 Date: 02/28/2004

All changes are reflected in the corrected thirteenth printing of Shadowrun, Third Edition (the fourth printing by FanPro). Many changes have been made over time, so some earlier printings may not have all of the corrections. The printing on which a correction was made is noted in [brackets] after each entry below.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

As we continue with these examples we are going to continue to add more complexities to these systems. In this system we are going to introduce multiple nodes. Each node itself will have its own security sheaf. Each system will be marked with a letter and its Sheaf will be added in a table next to its letter. A new rule you will need to pick up as well is that security tally carries as the decker moves between different subsystems. The way SR3 explains it, is that until you leave the host wholesale or log in from a different RTG. This means however that each host only cares about its own tally.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

A lot of cyberpunk revolves around crazy new technology. In almost every system imaginable, this includes some kind of virtual reality system that people have become obsessed with. Part of this is due to the escape it offers. A paradise outside of the nightmare society has wrought with shifting laws to allow for hyper capitalism. Regardless of why, it leads to characters who want to enter this world and most importantly, take on the counter cultural heroes known as Hackers, Deckers, Phreakers or the likes.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

Awhile ago we had need for a good security generator. I know there have been quite a few, and I checked on an old one that I used to use, and the hosting was going out on it. I took a lot of the concepts and rolled them into a new React project. It goes a bit above and beyond for it most of what was there. It gives rules and allows for some amount of tracking during a run. One thing I definitely want to consider is making a save/load feature.

Most of you know me as someone who writes things for Shadowrun and Cyberpunk concepts in general. I currently am playing Cyberpunk Red just as often as playing Shadowrun 3rd edition. So I begin to see the tying threads between concepts and stories. A lot of stories in Shadowrun cannot be ported to Cyberpunk. The fantasy element is played pretty often in these stories, but every once in a while it’s left almost entirely out. This gives us the rare opportunity to tell the story in both universes almost entirely unchanged. Divided Assets is one of those adventures.

I’ve always found it so interesting that so many movies out there feel like the framework for what became Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. I know the zeitgeist of the time was that technology was going to give us a world that would allow for infinite convenience and automation. That would have allowed tech to come into every aspect of our lives, from micro foods that give us all of the nutrients needed to cars that could beat traffic by flying into the sky. This was what we had dreamed of in the 1980s. Some of us however, saw the writing on the wall. We knew that with automation would come the loss of jobs, with new and greater technology corporations greed would not be satisfied with old profits and that the human cost would rise. So a few things from the shiny future dared to show us its underbelly and from that we started to see the dystopia.

In the vast and complex landscape of cyberpunk fiction, two prominent universes have captured the imaginations of fans worldwide: Cyberpunk and Shadowrun. While both exist within the gritty, neon-lit framework of cyberpunk, they diverge significantly in their themes, with Cyberpunk focusing on legacy, and Shadowrun focusing on the living. I hope to highlight how each universe uniquely defines the essence of its characters and the worlds they inhabit and why this matters to you and your game.

Sometimes you just need a movie to get your Cyberpunk on. What better way than to catch some of the best Cyberpunk movies out there. Anyone running Shadowrun should have at least seen these movies mentioned in order to get some insight into the minds and feelings surrounding the game as its inception. Some of these are newer movies but based on much older properties.

What is Cyberpunk?

This is a question that is often asked when it comes to trying to wrap your head around the Cyberpunk Genre. Often it’s referred to as “High Tech, Low Life” which does encapsulate the idea rather well. To me, cyberpunk is the struggle for the common person to push against a society that has been devoured, body and soul, by consumerism, and is hiding its blemishes under neon lights and synthetic moods.

I’ve always found it so interesting that so many movies out there feel like the framework for what became Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. I know the zeitgeist of the time was that technology was going to give us a world that would allow for infinite convenience and automation. That would have allowed tech to come into every aspect of our lives, from micro foods that give us all of the nutrients needed to cars that could beat traffic by flying into the sky. This was what we had dreamed of in the 1980s. Some of us however, saw the writing on the wall. We knew that with automation would come the loss of jobs, with new and greater technology corporations greed would not be satisfied with old profits and that the human cost would rise. So a few things from the shiny future dared to show us its underbelly and from that we started to see the dystopia.

Sometimes you just need a movie to get your Cyberpunk on. What better way than to catch some of the best Cyberpunk movies out there. Anyone running Shadowrun should have at least seen these movies mentioned in order to get some insight into the minds and feelings surrounding the game as its inception. Some of these are newer movies but based on much older properties.

What is Cyberpunk?

This is a question that is often asked when it comes to trying to wrap your head around the Cyberpunk Genre. Often it’s referred to as “High Tech, Low Life” which does encapsulate the idea rather well. To me, cyberpunk is the struggle for the common person to push against a society that has been devoured, body and soul, by consumerism, and is hiding its blemishes under neon lights and synthetic moods.

I’ve always found it so interesting that so many movies out there feel like the framework for what became Shadowrun and Cyberpunk. I know the zeitgeist of the time was that technology was going to give us a world that would allow for infinite convenience and automation. That would have allowed tech to come into every aspect of our lives, from micro foods that give us all of the nutrients needed to cars that could beat traffic by flying into the sky. This was what we had dreamed of in the 1980s. Some of us however, saw the writing on the wall. We knew that with automation would come the loss of jobs, with new and greater technology corporations greed would not be satisfied with old profits and that the human cost would rise. So a few things from the shiny future dared to show us its underbelly and from that we started to see the dystopia.

One of the most common questions we get on the various Shadowrun Subreddits is what edition is right for me and my group? Think is unfortunately always answered with the obvious “It depends”. I’m going to hopefully lay out all the information to make the choice for you and your group. Each edition has a lot to offer and gives a completely different feel to your game. Let’s see where your group falls. This will be a living document, so as I find some better examples and feedback on how best to explain some editions.

In the vast and complex landscape of cyberpunk fiction, two prominent universes have captured the imaginations of fans worldwide: Cyberpunk and Shadowrun. While both exist within the gritty, neon-lit framework of cyberpunk, they diverge significantly in their themes, with Cyberpunk focusing on legacy, and Shadowrun focusing on the living. I hope to highlight how each universe uniquely defines the essence of its characters and the worlds they inhabit and why this matters to you and your game.

Sometimes you just need a movie to get your Cyberpunk on. What better way than to catch some of the best Cyberpunk movies out there. Anyone running Shadowrun should have at least seen these movies mentioned in order to get some insight into the minds and feelings surrounding the game as its inception. Some of these are newer movies but based on much older properties.

What is Cyberpunk?

This is a question that is often asked when it comes to trying to wrap your head around the Cyberpunk Genre. Often it’s referred to as “High Tech, Low Life” which does encapsulate the idea rather well. To me, cyberpunk is the struggle for the common person to push against a society that has been devoured, body and soul, by consumerism, and is hiding its blemishes under neon lights and synthetic moods.

Books/Sites Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core
• aboutsanteria.com - Vocab For Santeria
• Images are used from Creative Common Licenses.

As we forge ahead in new paths of magic in the world we come to another tradition that fall outside of the UCAS and CAS control for the majority of their practitioners. Yoruba in this cases. This faith has similar bone structures of Voodoo and Palo Mayombe. With powerful spirits being called to in order to effect change and offerings to be left and honor to be given.

Books Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core

As my introduction to magical traditions seems to have gathered a good deal of attention, I thought I would continue on with this. As always, if people have specific things they want covered, please send me an email, or reach out to me on Discord, and I’ll be more than happy to sit down and write something up for you.

Books Used in this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core

I’ve always been drawn to various faiths as I grew up. What people believed and why was always so interesting to me. Being able to walk into a new church, temple or holy place and seeing the customs, hearing the music and enjoying lessons the faiths had. I tend to gravitate towards character concepts that have faith as their foundation. In Shadowrun, this often meant a Magical Tradition.

Enhance Travel Bag Adventurer

I have never written one of these product reviews, but as I understand it, this is how you make a successful blog: finding the best of the items for those who would actually use them. I thought perhaps I would start with something I use pretty often. So let’s talk about the “ENHANCE Travel Bag”

I’m one of those people who have to own the books. I get that people love PDFs, but for me there is nothing better than a new gaming book for something I am running. In that respect of course, I tend to bring a bunch of my books with me to always be prepared. As it turns out, carrying a bunch of books is a huge pain. My wife and I looked all over and mostly I was using a backpack, but that tended to beat the heck out of my books. This was our alternative.

Books Useful for this article.

• SR1 Core - PDF
• SR2 Core
• SR3 Core - PDF
• SR4 Core - PDF
• SR5 Core
• SR6 Core - PDF

This question is more common for new players than most GMs realize. Without classes and sets of specific dynamics to choose from, some players (especially those from games like Dungeons and Dragons) have a hard time understanding what kind of character to put together and that makes character creation overall much more difficult. I’m going to lay out some old school archetypes for you and what the perks are for trying to fit that role. This discussion should be more or less edition agnostic, so from 1st to 6th, this should get you going.

Books Used in this article.

• SR3 Core
• Mr. Johnson’s Little Black Book

Shadowrun is a game about high risk and high rewards. Too often we however only see rewards of nuyen. Some Gamemasters stretch their legs and add in things like extra contacts or some exotic ammos, but when was the last time you had something like a program, spell or exotic material for resale? Each of those rewards can lead to more stories and more stories is ALWAYS better!

Books Useful for this article.

• Magic In The Shadows
• SR3 Core
• Street Wyld

One of the things a lot of people may overlook in Shadowrun is how spells are purchased/learned in game. I think it’s very important to understand that mages and shamans need to get access to either teachers or buying formulas. This can also be an excellent opportunity to bring in new NPCs and teachers. In most games I see a lot of people just spend the karma and poof! New Spell! Also character creation is much more exciting when you add personal touches to your character in this way.

Books Useful for this article.

• SR1 Core - PDF
• SR2 Core
• SR3 Core - PDF
• SR4 Core - PDF
• SR5 Core
• SR6 Core - PDF

This question is more common for new players than most GMs realize. Without classes and sets of specific dynamics to choose from, some players (especially those from games like Dungeons and Dragons) have a hard time understanding what kind of character to put together and that makes character creation overall much more difficult. I’m going to lay out some old school archetypes for you and what the perks are for trying to fit that role. This discussion should be more or less edition agnostic, so from 1st to 6th, this should get you going.

As we continue to march forward in reclaiming our past a few people stepped up and created tools for our future. One such person is Lord Nago. He has created several pieces for a 2nd Edition Shadowrun Roll20 setup. With his permission i am making this post and hosting these files for him. Feel free to reach out to him on Reddit if you have questions or requests!

Here is his original post on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadowrun/comments/1bu2c8i/custom_sr2e_sheet_for_roll20/

This is a scrape from the https://www.shadowrunrpg.com site for ALL of their Erratas. They seem to have kind of let this go to seed and I know a TON of people are looking for this. I take no claim for any of this, I just want to preserve it for future generations to have the corrections they might be looking for.

Shadowrun 3rd Edition Errata

Version 4.1 Date: 02/28/2004

All changes are reflected in the corrected thirteenth printing of Shadowrun, Third Edition (the fourth printing by FanPro). Many changes have been made over time, so some earlier printings may not have all of the corrections. The printing on which a correction was made is noted in [brackets] after each entry below.

We have another Zine that blazed trails in the Shadowrun universe! Started by Jerry Stratton and continued by Tony Moller. This along with the Shadowrun Supplemental were among the first player published materials out there. The first issue came out in 1992 and the last in 1994.

As these are free to distribute I wanted to ensure it had a place among the archive of everything else Shadowrun had to offer for those who may have missed the boat so to speak on these wonderful publications.

On January 1st, 1992 we were given Shadowrun in its second form. Now revised with an attempt to bring the systems together and resolve some rules disputes, this gave us the form Shadowrun would exist in for some time. In 1997 Adam Jury rounded up some articles and put together the first Shadowrun Supplemental. This was a collection of articles written by players and Game Masters about topics they wanted to see in their games. Things they wanted to share with the world at large of Shadowrun players.

After doing some digging into character sheets for an up and coming game. I suddenly realize the crap shoot that was finding character sheets for Shadowrun. On one hand, it makes sense. The IP has been shared and scattered to the winds across half a dozen companies all keeping their own digital presence. On the other, we used to have things like dumpshock.org to keep us with what we needed. Nowadays, well it’s a whole different ball game. I think it’s time to change that. One place, all the sheets you’ll ever need.

A long long time in a galaxy far far away, any kind of shadowrun content was gold. It was rare and beautiful to behold. Decker was one of those nuggets from the era. It was difficult, but getting ahead was extremely satisfying. This of course led to save scumming like never before! All of this said, it was written in an era of windows that has since passed, but just like everything these days. A spark held in someones heart allowed it to step forward into the future.

After doing a deep dive on researching old Shadowrun Programs (and I think I’ve decided to collect them all for mirrors) I stumbled onto an SR2 Character Creator. This was great for me because if I end up going down that road of making a character creator, I now have all of the base data files to extract the data and put it into a standard format (JSON in this case).

After seeing various sites I used to rely on disappearing day by day, I have grown nostalgic about the various programs i had used through out the years. As I have seen new players dig for resources for them to come up empty it has sparked my own interest in tossing my hat into the ring. I of course cannot promise I will suceed in some of these plans that seeing this data has given me, but what I can promise, is getting the data into a place for it to be preserved for the future.

There are a lot of tools I used growing up and trying to learn Shadowrun. The few that always made me happiest were the ones that really gave me the fully control and customization that Shadowrun allows. People at FASA really dug into the idea that characters will want signature weapons/vehicles/spells/etc. That being a major part of who they are meant we needed that DEEP control over who and what they were.

As I continue on with this site, I stumble across all kinds of things I want archived. I hope that this archive out survives me and that we can preserve things that would once be just a figment in someones memory for those who have yet to pick up a Shadowrun book. This is all done in that effort, to make a preserved snap shot of the world as we knew it when we first began our own journeys. If you have anything that you think is worth preserving, send it my way. I’ll be more than happy to host it as I am able.

The New Ghost Busters - RPG using Shadowrun 3rd Edition

Around 20 years ago I fell in love with a franchise I thought was dead. It was funny, it was spooky and it was wierd. I was never the same after seeing Ghostbusters for the first time. I too wanted to hold back the darkness with my wit and genius. Fighting with the heart of a lion against what goes bump in the night. Soon i ended up learning about Call of Cthulhu the table top game and Shadowrun. I decided I wanted to try to add the action of Shadowrun into the mystery and investigation of Call of Cthulhu. This birthed this madness below.

I’ve decided to attempt to collect as much as I possibly can for various projects. I’ll keep updating this as I find more tools. Some of these may not work anymore (As most were made for Windows 3.x and 95). If anyone knows of any others, please reach out to me at Dean@ this domain! I can’t wait to hear from you.

My Tools

Edition Agnostic

Shadowrun 1st and 2nd Edition

Shadowrun 3rd Edition

Shadowrun 4th Edition

Shadowrun 5th Edition

Shadowrun 6th Edition

Generic Tools

After doing a deep dive on researching old Shadowrun Programs (and I think I’ve decided to collect them all for mirrors) I stumbled onto an SR2 Character Creator. This was great for me because if I end up going down that road of making a character creator, I now have all of the base data files to extract the data and put it into a standard format (JSON in this case).

After some more requests for tools, I bring you all my initiative tracker. So far it is made for Shadowrun 2nd And 3rd Edition (With a simple toggle for each edition). Currently it is configured to instantly remove initiative as they take damage. This is how my table plays however I realize a lot of others may not. I will make a toggle in the future which will remove this feature for tables that don’t play with it.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

Awhile ago we had need for a good security generator. I know there have been quite a few, and I checked on an old one that I used to use, and the hosting was going out on it. I took a lot of the concepts and rolled them into a new React project. It goes a bit above and beyond for it most of what was there. It gives rules and allows for some amount of tracking during a run. One thing I definitely want to consider is making a save/load feature.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

When you have a decker in the group, a lot of people miss some golden opportunities. Deckers can add great resources outside of opening security doors and stopping poison gas from geeking your team. Part of it is realizing how much cyber crime your decker can do for you. This usually comes in the form of a few common decking activites.

Books Used in this article.

• Matrix
• Target: Matrix
• SR3 Core

When you have a decker in the group, a lot of people miss some golden opportunities. Deckers can add great resources outside of opening security doors and stopping poison gas from geeking your team. Part of it is realizing how much cyber crime your decker can do for you. This usually comes in the form of a few common decking activites.

Books Useful for this article.

• SR2 Core
• Lone Star

This post uses my Lonestar Campaign Setting found here.

Adventure Title: Coding

Adventure Type: Cyber Crime

Setting: Seattle, 2075

Plot Overview:

The group of officers arrive on scene of a catastrophic traffic accident (Go Gang related attack with civilians caught in the crossfire). The EMTs arrive after the officers give what aid they can. One of the victims has an incredibly rare blood type and is an organ donor (this rare type is resistant to organ growth, so vat grown organs are off the table) and needs to be rushed to the nearest hospital (with police escort). Another group of officers is called to give a police escort to a family who’s in desperate need of that heart.

Books Useful for this article.

• SR2 Core
• Lone Star

This post uses my Lonestar Campaign Setting found here.

Adventure Title: Blood for Money

Adventure Type: Kidnapping

Setting: Seattle, 2075

Plot Overview: Brendon Evers thinks he has a perfect plan to finally get out from under his parents thumb. However his two friends (Eddy and Simon) let slip to their more dangerous street friend Kyle, who has an idea to make everyone rich (except Brendon of course, he will be dead).

Adventures using this setting

• Blood For Money
• Coding

Lone Star Campaign

For a long time i’ve had a desire to run a Lone Star game. I’ve always been a huge fan of police procedural’s on TV and I thought i’d take a stab a writing a small campaign for it. I then had the idea of releasing these as episodic posts someone might be able to use for their own campaign.