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Sprawlrunners
Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment
by Martin B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/23/2021 20:51:44

This book provides excellent, near future, cyberpunk rules to augment your Savage Worlds game. Although Sprawlrunners mirrors Shadowrun in a lot of ways, the content of this book is just as flexible as you want it to be. Want Trolls and Elves? Sure. Straight tech no Tolkien? Still works great! Pink mohawks, mirror shades, black coats - whatever your flavor, it works, and it keeps it fast, furious, and fun! The author even put in two ways to run the net - Fast Lane and Slow Burn - to determine how detailed you want hacking to be (see also, how much game time do you really want to devote to the decker).

My favorite part is that the author makes the mind-blowingly bold choice to do away with "money makes you awesome." When I first encountered that in his thoughtful preface, I was like "nope - not going to work." But it does! Almost every cyberpunk/sci-fi game is rooted in "you have to make money to buy equipment/cyberware." That's antithetical to Savage Worlds (accounting is not fast, furious, or fun), and it's actually not in keeping with the themes of cyberpunk fiction - Nuyen/Credits/Eddies - they are straight up mcguffins as far as cyberpunk stories should go - that big score that never quite works out. Instead, he uses a really simple mechanic to handle general gear as well as using a similar mechanic (that relies on edges) to handle cyberware. You get an allotment of "stuff" to gear up as needed, but you don't have to be a CPA to track it. Want chrome? Take edges and get chipped, swapping it out as the job needs it. Just a brilliantly simple mechanic to handle that part of the story! That sort of gear mechanic is not unique to this game, but the author's version is done exceptionally well.

The bang for the buck is fantastic (and there's official VTT options out there). It's not a setting book per se - you won't get 100+ pages of fluff to bloat the size of the book, giving you a pseudo history of the next 60 years and the names of 2-dozen corporations. Instead, you get the framework to tell your stories of the sprawl.

If I have a criticism, it is that I want more! I would love some archetypes, more extras, a plot-point campaign, more gear, more cyber, etc. I would especially like to see more edges for two of the core runner types: hackers and jockeys (think decks and rigs). Reminder - this is a five star review, and I'm not saying the book is incomplete at all. All you need is the SWADE core rule book and this to run the shadows/sprawl. If you are interested in running a cyberpunk game with Savage Worlds, I highly recommend this book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sprawlrunners
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Shadowrun: Rigger 5.0
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
by Martin B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/16/2018 18:54:49

Quick Hits: Good book, but has a lot of fluff

Overall, this is a good accessory. Its greatest quality is the amount of variant rides and such it offers, which is what I wanted out of the book. Readers will be happy with the ways you can customize your rigger; however, the volume of add-ons is more like a chapter or two in the core rulebook as much of the book is dedicated to "establishing the mindset" of a rigger.

That's my main criticism: it has a lot of fiction; “reviews” of the items from “real-life” shadowrunners; etc. Unfortunately, there was probably too much of it – at least half of the text was a setting piece, so it's not much of a real “rules crunch” supplement. I think readers would have been better served with a smaller book with less fluff (and a lower price).

Also, as others point out a lot in these Catalyst books, the editing could have been better, but it did not detract from the overall readability of the book.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Shadowrun: Rigger 5.0
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Shadowrun: Fifth Edition Core Rulebook (Master Index Edition)
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
by Martin B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/20/2018 15:45:49

TL/DR: Solid version of the game; hefty, well made pdf with lots of rules crunch.

First off, I've played Shadowrun since the 90s through most of the editions. 2nd was always my favorite, but I really, really like this version.

Second, if you're new to Shadowrun, the rules in every edition are complicated and a tad convoluted. The 5th edition core rulebook has around 400 pages of rules (the rest are neat little fluff pieces to introduce the setting, appendices, and indexes). And yes, like every version of Shadowrun, there's like five have-to-have supplements and another five or so good-to-have supplements. So, all in all, a lot of rules. To make the trip even more fun, as you read through, you probably won't understand most of these rules on your first read-through, and, in my opinion, it's a tough "jump-in" game (unlike, say, a d20 system), but this edition keeps the rules more streamlined and consistent than other editions.

Third, if you're interested in this edition, I think it's worth the $20 sale price, not the $60 cover. Also, I read some reviews that knocked the pdf quality. I prefer pdfs to hardcopies, and the edition that I downloaded reads well on both my surface and my laptop. For the reader on my android phone, the book shows up in a weird default zoom setting that's itty-bitty, but a quick double-tap, and it's perfectly readable and scrollable. The default bookmarks are ok, and the gynormous table of contents is fully hyperlinked. I have no qualms with the quality of the pdf, and the version I downloaded is fully updated with the most recent errata and copy-editing.

All in all, I think it’s a solid edition of Shadowrun. Is it worth moving on from 4th edition and re-investing $100 - $300? I don’t know – if you’re happy with those rules and the versions (hardcopy or pdf) you have of those books, then I can see why some wouldn’t update. However, if all you have are 2nd or 3rd edition books that are falling apart, and you’d really like a version that other people can easily get their hands on in either hardcopy or pdf form, then I think it’s worth the jump.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shadowrun: Fifth Edition Core Rulebook (Master Index Edition)
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