Shadowrun_5E_Core_Rulebook_(Master_Index_Version)

There are cracks in the world.
They’re slender, dark, and often cold,
but they are the only things that
keep you hidden. Keep you alive.
They are the shadows of the world,
and they are where you live.

You are a shadowrunner, thriving in the
margins, doing the jobs no one else can. You have
no office, no permanent home, no background
to check. You are whatever you make yourself.
Will you seek justice? Sow seeds of chaos? Sell
out to the highest bidder? It’s up to you, but this
much is certain—if you do nothing, the streets
will eat you alive.

You can survive—even flourish—as long as
you do what it takes. Sacrifice part of your soul
for bleeding-edge gear. Push the limits of your
will learning new and dangerous magic. Wire
yourself into the Matrix, making your mind one
with screaming streams of data. It’ll cost you
something—everything does—but you can make
it worth the price.

SHADOWRUN, FIFTH EDITION is the newest
version of one of the most popular and
successful role-playing worlds of all time—a
fusion of man, magic and machine in a
dystopian near-future. With rules for character
creation, magic, combat, Matrix hacking,
rigging, and more, you have everything you
need to face the challenges of the Sixth World.

FIFTH EDITION

Under License From

®

©2016 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Matrix and Shadowrun are registered trademarks and/or
trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and

the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. Printed in the USA.

SHADOWRUN >noun
Any movement, action, or series of such made in
carrying out plans which are illegal or quasilegal.

WorldWide WordWatch
2050 archive

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ANOTHER NIGHT, 8 Special Attributes 52 Throwing Weapons 132 Computer 144
ANOTHER RUN Initiative and Condition Monitors 52 Unarmed Combat 132 Cybercombat 144
Initiative 52 Physical Active Skills 133 Cybertechnology 144
INTRODUCTION 14 Initiative Dice 52 Disguise 133 Demolitions 144

THE BATTLE FOUGHT 16 Condition Monitors 52 Diving 133 Electronic Warfare 144
Skills 52 Escape Artist 133
LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD 20 Qualities 53 Free-Fall 133 First Aid 144
Forgery 144
Magic 53 Gymnastics 133 Hacking 145
EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE 20 Matrix 53 Palming 133
Magic: Paying with Your Mind 20 Hardware 145
Augmented Reality 53 Perception 133 Industrial Mechanic 145
MegaCorps: Paying with Your Self 21 Virtual Reality 54 Running 133
‘Wares: Paying with Your Soul 23 Locksmith 145
Gear 54 Sneaking 133 Medicine 145
Shadows: Paying with Your Blood 23 Cyberware 54 Survival 133
WHERE TO RUN 24 Nautical Mechanic 145
Bioware 55 Swimming 134 Navigation 145
North America 24 Contacts 55 Tracking 134
Central America 26 Software 145
Lifestyle 56 USING GYMNASTICS 134 BUILDING & REPAIRING 145
South America 26 Climbing 134
Asia 26 EDGE 56 USING FORGERY 145
Edge Effects 56 Rappelling 134
Europe 27 Climbing Failures and Glitches 134 USING NAVIGATION 146
Regaining Edge 56 VEHICLE SKILLS 146
Africa 27 Burning Edge 57 Jumping 134
Australia and OceanIa 27 Gunnery 146
USING ESCAPE ARTIST 135 Pilot Aerospace 146
A DAY IN YOUR LIFE 27 GIRLS WITH GUNS 58 USING PERCEPTION 135
People You Know 27 Pilot Aircraft 147
USING RUNNING 136 Pilot Walker 147
Doing the Dirty Work 28 CREATING A USING STEALTH SKILLS 136
The Meet 28 SHADOWRUNNER 62 Pilot Exotic Vehicle 147
Using Disguise Pilot Ground Craft 147
Legwork 29 and Impersonation 136
The Plan 29 STEP ONE: CHOOSE CONCEPT 62 Pilot Watercraft 147
STEP TWO: CHOOSE METATYPE 65 USING SURVIVAL 136
Do It 29 USING SWIMMING 137 Devising New Active Skills 147
Metatype & Special Attributes 65 KNOWLEDGE SKILLS 147
Wrap It Up 29 Mental and Physical Attributes 66 Holding Your Breath 137
WHAT YOU MIGHT BE DOING 29 CHOOSING KNOWLEDGE SKILLS 147
THE OPPOSITION 30 STEP THREE: CHOOSE MAGIC Treading Water 137 Knowledge Skill Specializations 148
USING TRACKING 137
The Corps 30 OR RESONANCE 68 SOCIAL SKILLS 137 STREET KNOWLEDGE 148
STEP FOUR: PURCHASE QUALITIES 71
The Big Ten 31 POSITIVE QUALITIES 71 Con 138 ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE 148
Organized Crime 33 PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE 148
Gangs 34 NEGATIVE QUALITIES 77 Etiquette 138 INTERESTS 148
Impersonation 138
Academics 35 STEP FIVE: PURCHASE SKILLS 88 Instruction 138 USING KNOWLEDGE SKILLS 148
What the Numbers Mean 88
Mana Chasers 35 Restricted Skills 89 Intimidation 139 LANGUAGE SKILLS 150
Politicos 36 Language 150
The Law 38 Knowledge and Language Skills 89 Leadership 139 LINGOS 150
Negotiation 139
Beneath the Surface 38 STEP SIX: SPEND YOUR RESOURCES 94 Performance 139 USING LANGUAGE SKILLS 150
Cyberware and Bioware 94
Off the Job 39 Lifestyle 95 USING SOCIAL SKILLS 139 Social Skills and Language 151
Money 39
The Matrix 39 Starting Nuyen 95 Social Modifiers 139 USING ATTRIBUTES 152
ATTRIBUTE-ONLY TESTS 152
Music 39 STEP SEVEN: SPENDING Using Social Influence Skills 139 Composure 152
Using Performance 141
Trideo 40 YOUR LEFTOVER KARMA 98 Using Etiquette 141 Judge Intentions 152
Contacts 98
Sports 40 STEP EIGHT: FINAL CALCULATIONS 100 Etiquette & Glitches 141 Lifting/Carrying 152
Food 41
Sex 41 STEP NINE: FINAL TOUCHES 103 Using Instruction 141 Memory 152

Staying Healthy 42 CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT 103 Using Leadership 141 WHERE THERE’S SMOKE 154
MAGICAL SKILLS 142 COMBAT 158
Getting Around 43 Attribute and Skill Tables 105 Alchemy 142
Learning complex forms 106
SHADOWRUN CONCEPTS 44 Learning Magic 106 Arcana 142
Artificing 142 THE BASICS 158
Qualities 106 Combat Turn Sequence 158
THE GAME & YOU 44 Assensing 142
The Gamemaster & You 44 Astral Combat 142 1. Roll Initiative 158
SKILLS 128 2. Begin Initiative Pass 158
HOW TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN 44 Banishing 142
Hits & Thresholds 44 SKILL TYPES 128 Binding 142 3. Begin Action Phase 158
4. Declare & Resolve Actions
Buying Hits 45 Active skills 128 Counterspelling 142 of Remaining Characters 159
Knowledge skills 128
Glitches 45 Language skills 128 Disenchanting 142 5. Begin New Combat Turn 159
Tests and Limits 46 Ritual Spellcasting 142
Success Tests 47 Using Skills 128 Spellcasting 143 Initiative 159
Initiative Attribute 159
Opposed Tests 47 SKILL GROUPS 129 Summoning 143 Initiative Score 159
Extended Tests 48 SKILL RATINGS 129
Extended Tests & Glitches 48 Specializations 129 RESONANCE SKILLS 143 Initiative Passes 159
Compiling 143
Teamwork Tests 49 Defaulting 130 Decompiling 143 Changing Initiative 160
Initiative and Edge 160
Trying Again 49 Combat Active Skills 130 Registering 143 Delaying Actions 161
Time Passing 49 Archery 130 TECHNICAL SKILLS 143
Combat Turns 49 Automatics 130 Aeronautics Mechanic 143 Timed Items & Initiative 161
Actions 49 Blades 130 Movement 161
YOUR CHARACTER 50 Clubs 131 Animal Handling 143 Standard Movement 161
Armorer 143
Metatype 50 Exotic Ranged Weapon 131 Artisan 143 Sprinting 162
Attributes 51 Heavy Weapons 132 Automotive Mechanic 143 Running Modifiers 162
Physical Attributes 51 Longarms 132 Biotechnology 144 Action Phase 163
Mental Attributes 51 Pistols 132 Chemistry 144 Matrix Actions 163

2 SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

Free Actions 163 Falling Damage 172 Superior Position 187 Light Conditions 201
Call a Shot 163 Fatigue Damage 172 Character Using Pilot Unaware of Event 201
Change Linked Device Mode 163 Fatigue from Running 172 Off-Hand Weapon 187 Pilot Wounded 201
Drop Object 163 Fatigue from Environments 172 Environmental Modifiers 187 Piloting a Damaged Vehicle 201
Drop Prone 164 Hunger, Thirst, and Friends in Melee 187 Piloting Using AR/VR 201
Eject Smartgun Clip 164 Sleep Deprivation 172 Opponent Prone 187
Gesture 164 Combat Resolution 172 Touch-Only Attack 187 Crashes 201
VEHICLE COMBAT 202
Multiple Attacks 164 Combat Sequence 173 Melee Damage 187 Tactical Combat 202
Run 164 Grazing Hit 173 Multiple Aattackers 187 Movement Rates 202
Speak/Text/Transmit Phrase 164 RANGED COMBAT 173 Simple Bonus 187 Actions 202
Simple Actions 164 Ranged Attack Modifiers 173 Melee Teamwork 188 Free Actions 202
Activate Focus 164 Environmental Modifiers 173 DEFENDING IN COMBAT 188 Change Linked Device Mode 202
Call Spirit 164 Environmental Modifiers Ranged defense 188 Simple Actions 202
Change Device Mode 164 Compensation 173 Melee Defense 188 Use Sensors 202
Change Gun Mode 165 Visibility 174 Defender Inside Use Simple Device 202
Command Spirit 165 Light/glare 174 a Moving Vehicle 188 Complex Actions 203
Dismiss Spirit 165 Wind 174 Defender Prone 189 Control Vehicle 203
Fire Bow 165 Range 175 Defender Unaware of Attack 189 Fire a Vehicle Weapon 203
Fire Semi-Auto, Single-Shot, Recoil 175 Defender Wounded 189 Make Vehicle Test 203
Burst Fire or Full-Auto 165 Progressive Recoil 175 Attacker has longer Reach 189 Ramming 203
Insert Clip 165 Single Shots 176 Defender has longer Reach 189 Chase Combat 203
Observe in Detail 165 Vehicle and Drone Mounted Defender Receiving a Charge 189 Chase Ranges 203
Pick Up/Put Down Object 165 Weapons 176 Defender has Defended Determine Chase Environment 203
Quick Draw 165 Situational Modifiers 176 Against Previous Attacks 189 Chase Actions 204
Ready Weapon 165 Attacker Firing from Firing Flechette on Catch-Up/Break Away 204
Reckless Spellcasting 165 Cover with Imaging Device 177 Narrow Spread 189 Cut-Off 204
Remove Clip 166 Attacker Firing From Firing Flechette Ram 204
Shift Perception 166 a Moving Vehicle 177 on Medium Spread 189 Stunt 204
Stand Up 166 Attacker in Melee Combat 177 Firing Flechette Passenger Actions 205
Take Aim 166 Attacker Running 178 on Wide Spread 189 Attacks Against Vehicles 205
Take Cover 166 Attacker Using Image Attacker Firing Full Auto Burst 190 Vehicle Damage 205
Throw Weapon 166 Magnification 178 Attacker Firing Long Burst Evasive Driving 205
Use Simple device 166 Attacker Using or Full-Auto 190 Called Shot on Vehicles 205
Complex Actions 167 Off-Hand Weapon 178 Attacker Firing Burst Damage and Passengers 205
Astral Projection 167 Attacker Wounded 178 or Semi-auto Burst 190 HEALING 205
Banish Spirit 167 Blind Fire 178 Defender in Melee First Aid 205
Cast Spell 167 Called Shot 178 Target of Ranged Attack 190 Natural Recovery 206
Fire Full-Auto Weapon 167 Previously Aimed with Take Aim 178 Defender Running 190 Stun Damage 207
Fire Long Burst or Wireless Smartgun 178 Defender/Target Physical Damage 207
Semi-Auto Burst 167 FIREARMS 178 Has Good Cover 190 Glitches & Healing 207
Fire Mounted or Firing Modes 178 Defender/Target Medicine 207
Vehicle Weapon 167 Single Shot 178 Has Partial Cover 190 Medkits and Autodocs 208
Load and Fire Bow 167 Semi-Automatic 178 Targeted by an Magical Healing 208
Matrix Actions 167 Semi-Automatic Burst 179 Area-Effect Attack 190 Physical Damage Overflow 209
Melee Attack 167 Burst Fire 179 Cover 190 Stabilization 209
Reload Firearm 167 Long Burst 179 Active defenses 190
Rigger Jump In 167 Full-Auto 179 Full Defense 191 ROOFTOPS & RAINBOWS 210
Sprint 167 Suppressive Fire 179 Dodge 191
Summoning 167 Shotguns 180 Parry 191 THE MATRIX 214

Use Skill 167 Choke Settings 180 Block 192 WIRELESS WORLD 214
Interrupt Actions 167 PROJECTILES 181 SPECIAL ACTIONS 192 Matrix Basics 217
Block 168 Thrown weapons 181 Surprise 192 Virtual Visions 217
Dodge 168 Shuriken 181 Surprise and Perception 192 The Population of the Matrix 218
Hit the Dirt 168 Throwing Knife 181 Surprise Tests 192 Personas 218
Intercept 168 Grenades 181 Ambushing 192 Devices 219
Parry 168 Grenade Launchers, Rockets, Surprise in Combat 193 Files 219
Full Defense 168 & Missiles 181 Effects of Surprise 194 Hosts 219
Accuracy 168 Projectile Triggers 182 Interception 194 Matrix Authentication
Armor 168 Determine Scatter 182 Knockdown 194 Recognition Keys 219
Armor and Encumbrance 169 Blast Effects 182 Subduing 195 The Matrix: For You
Specialized Protection 169 Blasts in a Confined Space 183 Called Shots 195 and Against You 220
Armor Penetration 169 Multiple Simultaneous Blasts 183 Multiple Attacks 196 Grids 220
Damage 169 BOWS 183 Dead Man’s trigger 197 Looking Down:
Types of Injury 169 Crossbows 183 BARRIERS 197 Grid Overwatch Division 221
Physical Damage 169 Gunnery 183 Shooting Through Barriers 197 Augmented World 221
Stun Damage 169 Drone Gunnery 183 Destroying Barriers 197 Life with a Commlink 221
Wound Modifiers 169 Sensor Attacks 184 Penetration Weapons 198 Shadowrunning with
Exceeding the Sensor Targeting 184 Body Barriers 198 a Commlink 223
Condition Monitor 170 MELEE COMBAT 184 VEHICLES 198 The Digital Underground 223
Special Damage Types 170 Reach 186 Vehicle Combat 198 Deckers 223
Elemental Damage 170 Attacker Making Vehicle Stats 199 Technomancers 223
Acid Damage 170 Charging Attack 186 Vehicle Tests 199 (MIS)USING THE MATRIX 224
Cold Damage 170 Attacker Prone 187 Modifiers 201 CRACKING THE MATRIX SPINE 224
Electricity Damage 170 Called Shot 187 Pilot has Impaired Visibility 201 Matrix Skills 226
Fire Damage 171 Character Has Piloting in Limited Using Computer 226

3SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

Using Cybercombat 226 Spoof Command 242 Hash 257 Spellcasting 281
Using Electronic Warfare 226 Switch Interface Mode 243 Stability 257 Step 1: Choose Spell 281
Using Hacking 226 Trace Icon 243 Suppression 257 Step 2: Choose the Target 281
Using Hardware 226 PROGRAMS 243 Watermark 257 Step 3: Choose Spell Force 281
Using Software 226 Program Listing 243 Submersion 257 Step 4: Cast Spell 281
Using Resonance 226 Common Programs 245 Increased Resonance 257 Step 5: Determine Effect 282
Matrix Attributes 226 Hacking Programs 245 Access to the Step 6: Resist Drain 282
Attack 227 Agents 246 Resonance Realms 257 Step 7: Determine
Sleaze 227 HOSTS 246 Echoes 258 Ongoing Effects 282
Data Processing 227 Host Archives 247 Sprite Database 258 Glitches 282
Firewall 227 Host Attributes 247 Courier Sprite 258 SPELL CHARACTERISTICS 282
Files & Matrix Attributes 227 Host Convergence 247 Crack Sprite 258 Combat Spells 283
Cyberdecks 227 Intrusion Countermeasures 247 Data Sprite 258 Acid Stream 283
Deck Configuration 227 Security Response 247 Fault Sprite 258 Toxic Wave 283
Reconfiguring Your Deck 228 Types of IC 247 Machine Sprite 258 Punch 283
Matrix Damage 228 Acid 248 Clout 284
Bricking 228 Binder 248 THE DANGER Blast 284
Repairing Matrix Damage 228 Black IC 248 OF SIDE JOBS 260 Death Touch 284
Non-Devices and Blaster 248 Manabolt 284
Matrix Damage 229 Crash 248 RIGGERS 264 Manaball 284

Biofeedback Damage 229 Jammer 248 FREE AS A BIRD 264 Flamethrower 284
Dumpshock & Link-Locking 229 Killer 248 Fireball 284
User Modes 229 Marker 248 The Game is Rigged 264 Lightning Bolt 284
Riggers in the Shadows 264
Augmented Reality 229 Patrol 248 BEING THE MACHINE 265 Ball Lightning 284
Cold-Sim Virtual Reality 229 Probe 248 Shatter 284
Hot-Sim Virtual Reality 230 Scramble 248 More than Metahuman 265 Powerbolt 284
The Control Rig 265
Making Connections 230 Sparky 248 Complete Control 265 Powerball 284
Noise 230 Tar Baby 249 Knockout 284
Illegal Actions 231 Track 249 Control Override 265 Stunbolt 284
Rigging Skills 265
Overwatch Score TECHNOMANCERS 249 Rigging and You 266 Stunball 285
and Convergence 231 Technomancer Life 249 Detection Spells 285
Direct Connections 232 Resonance 249 Taking the Jump 266 Analyze Device 285
VR and Rigging 266
PANs and WANs 233 Resonance Signatures 250 Rigging and Limits 266 Analyze Magic 285
Grids 233 Resonance Actions 250 Analyze Truth 286
Grids on a Run 233 Call/Dismiss Sprite 250 Noise and Rigging 266 Clairaudience 286
Physical Damage 266
The Public Grid 233 Command Sprite 250 Matrix Damage 266 Clairvoyance 286
Local Grids 234 Compile Sprite 250 Combat Sense 286
Global Grids 234 Decompile Sprite 250 Jumping Out 266 Detect Enemies 286
Riggers and Deckers 266
Devices and Personas 234 Kill Complex Form 250 Rigger Command Console 266 Detect Enemies, Extended 286
Devices 234 Register Sprite 250 Detect Individual 286
Persona 235 Thread Complex Form 250 Noise Reduction & Sharing 267 Detect Life 286
Data Processing & Firewall 267
Matrix Perception 235 Living Persona 250 Group Command Detect Life, Extended 286
Spotting Duration 235 Rebooting Your Living Persona 251 Detect [Life Form] 287
Running Silent 235 Using Mundane Electronics 251 and Jumping Around 267 Detect [Life Form] 287
PANs & WANs (Rigger Style) 267
Noticing Hackers 236 Threading 251 Electronic Warfare for Riggers 268 Detect Magic 287
Recognition Keys 236 Killing Complex Forms 251 Detect Magic, Extended 287
Owners 236 Fading 251 Getting Hacked 268 Detect [Object] 287
Getting Dumped 268
Matrix Actions 237 Resonance Library 252 Drones 269 Mindlink 287
Brute Force 238 Cleaner 252 Mind Probe 287
Change Icon 238 Diffusion of [Matrix Attribute] 252 Drones in the Matrix 269 Health Spells 287
Pilot Programs 269
Check Overwatch Score 238 Editor 252 Autosofts 269 Antidote 288
Control Device 238 Infusion of [Matrix Attribute] 252 Cure Disease 288
Crack File 238 Static Veil 252 Drone Combat 270 Decrease [Attribute] 288
Drone Perception 270
Crash Program 238 Pulse Storm 252 Drone Infiltration 270 Detox 288
Data Spike 239 Puppeteer 252 Heal 288
Disarm Data Bomb 239 Resonance Channel 252 Drone Initiative 270 Increase [Attribute] 288
Repairing Drones 270
Edit File 239 Resonance Spike 253 Increase Reflexes 288
Enter/Exit Host 239 Resonance Veil 253 A LITTLE SHADOW MUSIC 272 Oxygenate 288
Erase Mark 239 Static Bomb 253 MAGIC 276 Prophylaxis 289
Erase Matrix Signature 239 Stitches 253 Resist Pain 289
Format Device 239 Transcendent Grid 253 Stabilize 289
Full Matrix Defense 240 Tattletale 253 INTRODUCTION 276 Illusion Spells 289
MAGIC BASICS 278
Grid Hop 240 Sprites 254 Magic 278 Agony 290
Hack on the Fly 240 Compiling a Sprite 254 Mass Agony 290
Hide 240 Compiled Sprite Tasks 254 Magical Skills 278 Bugs 290
Force 278
Invite Mark 240 Registering a Sprite 254 Inherent Limit: Astral 278 Swarm 290
Jack Out 240 Registered Sprite Tasks 256 Confusion 290
Jam Signals 240 Sprite-Technomancer Link 256 Drain 278 Mass Confusion 290
Power Points 278
Jump Into Rigged Device 241 Decompiling Sprites 256 TRADITIONS 279 Chaos 290
Matrix Perception 241 Sprite Powers 256 Chaotic World 290
Matrix Search 241 Camouflage 256 The Hermetic Mage 279 Entertainment 290
The Shaman 279
Reboot Device 242 Cookie 256 MAGICAL LODGES 280 Trid Entertainment 90
Send Message 242 Diagnostics 257 Invisibility 291
Set Data Bomb 242 Electron Storm 257 PERCEIVING MAGIC 280 Improved Invisibility 291
SORCERY 281
Snoop 242 Gremlins 257 Mask 291

4 SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

Physical Mask 291 Step 6: Resist Drain 305 Fire-Bringer 322 Shadowrun’s Three Worlds 348
Phantasm 291 Glitches 305 Mountain 322 Spotlight Time 348
Trid Phantasm 291 The Finished Preparation 305 Rat 323 Character Skills 348
Hush 291 Using a Preparation 305 Raven 323 Player Personality 348
Silence 291 Artificing 306 Sea 323 Step In 349
Stealth 292 Step 1: Choose Focus Formula 306 Seducer 323 Pace 349
Manipulation Spells 292 Step 2: Obtain the Telesma 306 Shark 323 Handling surprises 349
Animate 292 Step 3: Prepare the Snake 324 Relocate 350
Mass Animate 292 Magical Lodge 306 Thunderbird 324 Replace 351
Armor 292 Step 4: Spend Reagents 307 Wise Warrior 324 Remove 351
Control Actions 292 Step 5: Craft the Focus 307 Wolf 324 Running Scenes 351
Mob Control 292 Step 6: Resist Drain 307 INITIATION 324 Investigation 351
Control Thoughts 293 Artifact Assensing 307 Initiate Powers 325 Social 352
Mob Mind 293 Disenchanting 307 Increased Magic 325 Action 352
Fling 293 Disjoining 307 Metaplanar Access 325 CAMPAIGNS 353
Ice Sheet 293 ADEPTS 308 Metamagic 325 Campaign Plots 353
Ignite 293 Using Powers 308 Plot Pacing 353
Influence 293 Adept Powers 308 ALL THE ANGLES 328 Plan to Finish 354
Levitate 293 Adrenaline Boost 308 Data Management 354
Light 293 Astral Perception 309 GAMEMASTER ADVICE 332 Campaign Time and

Magic Fingers 294 Attribute Boost 309 ROLE OF THE GAMEMASTER 332 Character Advancement 354
Mana Barrier 294 Combat Sense 309 Alternate Campaigns 354
Physical Barrier 294 Critical Strike 309 PRE-GAME CONSIDERATIONS 332 Street Scum 354
Know Your Players 332
Poltergeist 294 Danger Sense 309 Know Yourself 333 High Life 354
Shadow 294 Enhanced Perception 309 Military or Mercenary 355
COUNTERSPELLING 294 Enhanced Accuracy 309 Group Rules and Boundaries 333 DocWagon 355
Group Template 334
Spell Defense 294 Improved Ability 309 Final Thoughts 334 Criminal Syndicates 355
Dispelling 295 Improved Physical Attribute 309 SECURITY IN THE SIXTH WORLD 355
RITUAL SPELLCASTING 295 Improved Potential 309 DESIGNING A RUN 335 High Threat Response 356
The Hook 335
Step 1: Choose Ritual Leader 295 Improved Reflexes 310 Background 335 HTR Team Response Time 356
Step 2: Choose Ritual 296 Improved Sense 310 Countering Physical Threats 356
Step 3: Choose the Killing Hands 310 Scenes 336 Cover 356
Scene Types 336
Force of the Ritual Spell 296 Kinesics 310 Social 336 Suppression 357
Step 4: Set Up the Foundation 296 Light Body 310 Ambushes 357
Step 5: Give the Offering 296 Missile Parry 310 Investigation 336 Traps 358
Action 337
Step 6: Perform the Ritual 296 Mystic Armor 310 Build Backward 337 Countering Matrix Threats 358
Step 7: Seal the Ritual 296 Natural Immunity 311 Access Limitation 358
Ritual Failure 296 Pain Resistance 311 Transitions 337 PANs and WANs 358
Write the Background 338
Glitches 296 Rapid Healing 311 Opposition 338 Hosts and IC 359
RITUALS 296 Spell Resistance 311 GODs and Spiders 360
Curse 297 Traceless Walk 311 Be Appropriate 338 Wired Security 360
Give Equal Opportunities 338
Prodigal Spell 297 Voice Control 311 Have Stats For Easy Access 338 Countering Magic Threats 361
Remote Sensing 297 Wall Running 311 Tactics for Mundanes 361
Ward 297 THE ASTRAL WORLD 312 Plot Hole Check 339 Contracted Magical Security 361
Game Extras 339
Circle of Protection 298 Auras & Astral Forms 312 Document Hand-Outs 339 Magical Barriers 361
Circle of Healing 298 Astral Signature 312 Critters and Spirits 361
Renascence 298 Astral Perception 312 Maps 339 Drones 362
Props 339
Watcher 298 Astral Projection 313 Music 340 Security Devices 362
Homunculus 298 Astral Movement 313 Landscaping 362
Learning Spells 299 Manifesting 314 Run Templates 340 Barriers 362
DataSteal 340
CONJURING 299 Staying Astral 314 Assassination or Destruction 340 Doors, Windows, & Locks 363
Summoning 300 Astral Detection 314 Sensors and Scanners 364
Step 1: Choose Spirit Astral Combat 315 Extraction or Insertion 340 Automated Defenses 366
Misdirection 341
Type & Force 300 Astral Tracking 315 Protection 341 IDENTIFICATION 366
Step 2: Attempt Summoning 300 MANA BARRIERS 315 System Identification Number (SIN) 366
Step 3: Resist Drain 300 Getting Around Mana Barriers 316 Delivery 342 Issuing a SIN 367
Random Run Tables 342
Glitches 300 Astral Intersections 316 Job Type 342 Licenses 367
Binding 300 REAGENTS 316 Fake SINs 367
Banishing 301 Harvesting Reagents 317 Meet Locations 342 Checking a Fake SIN 368
MacGuffins 343
Spirit Basics 301 FOCI 318 Employers 343 Burned SINs 368
Spirit-Summoner Link 302 Focus Types 318 DROP-IN LOCATIONS 368
Spirit Range 302 Enchanting Foci 318 Twists 343 Hell-Hole Bar 368
NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS 343
Spirit Services 302 Metamagic Foci 319 Description 343 Secret Research Station 369
Unbound Spirit Services 302 Power Foci 319 Nova-Hot Club 369
Bound Spirit Services 302 Qi Foci 319 Personality 344 Mom-and-Pop Shop 369
Background 344
Spirits and Edge 304 Spell Foci 319 Motivations 344 No-Tell Motel 370
ENCHANTING 304 Spirit Foci 320 Large Corp Office 370
Alchemy 304 Weapon Foci 320 Stats 346 Hospital or Clinic 370
Full Build 346
Step 1: Choose a Spell 304 MENTOR SPIRITS 320 Story Build 346 High-End Residential 371
Step 2: Choose Spell Force 304 Mentor Spirit Archetypes 320 Derelict Building 371
Step 3: Choose the Lynchpin Bear 321 Improvised Build 346 REPUTATION 372
Roleplaying the NPC 347
for the Preparation 304 Cat 321 Know Their Purpose 347 Street Cred 372
Step 4: Choose Preparation Dog 321 Notoriety 372
Trigger 305 Dragonslayer 321 Stay Focused on Players 347 Public Awareness 372
Let Them Go 347
Step 5: Create the Preparation 305 Eagle 322 GAME MANAGEMENT 348 LIFESTYLES 373

5SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

>> TABLE OF CONTENTS <<

Luxury 373 Mimicry 398 Getting a Fix 415 Housings 445
High 373 Mist Form 398 Withdrawal and Staying Clean 415 Sensor Functions 446
Middle 373 Movement 399 Overdosing 415 Security Devices 446
Low 373 Mystic Armor 399 Breaking and Entering Gear 447
Squatter 373 Natural Weapon 399 STREET GEAR 416 Industrial Chemicals 448
Streets 373 Noxious Breath 399 Survival Gear 448
Hospitalized 373 Paralyzing Howl 399 GEAR RATINGS 416 Grapple Gun 449
BUYING GEAR 416
Lifestyle Options 374 Paralyzing Touch 400 Standard Goods 416 Biotech 450
Special Work Area 374 Petrification 400 DocWagon Contract 450
Extra Secure 374 Psychokinesis 400 Starting Gear 418 Slap Patches 450
Black Market Goods 418
Obscure/Difficult to Find 374 Regeneration 400 Contacts and Availability 418 Augmentation 451
Cramped 374 Sapience 400 Cyberware/Bioware Grades 451
Dangerous Area 374 Search 400 FENCING GEAR 418 Cybersurgery/Recovery Time 451
Contacts and Fencing 419
Paying the Bills 374 Venom 401 (IL)LEGALITY 419 Headware 451
Buying a Lifestyle 374 Weather Control 401 Eyeware 453
Team Lifestyles 375 Weaknesses 401 Jurisdiction 419 Earware 453
CONCEALING GEAR 419
RUN REWARDS 375 Allergy 401 Noticing hidden Gear 419 Bodyware 454
Cash 375 Dietary Requirement 401 Cyberlimbs 455
Sample Run Cost Calculations 375 Essence Loss 401 Actively Hiding Gear 419 Cyberlimb Enhancements 456
CARRYING GEAR 420
Karma 376 Induced Dormancy 401 Carrying Capacity 420 Cyberlimb Accessories 456
Reduced Senses 401 Cyber Implant Weapons 458
HELPS AND HINDRANCES 378 Uneducated 401 Encumbrance 420 Bioware 459
SIZE COSTS 420
NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS 378 Vulnerability 401 Using Unadapted Gear 420 Cultured Bioware 460
Critter Combat 402 MAGICAL EQUIPMENT 461
Grunts 378 Mundane Critters 402 WIRELESS FUNCTIONALITY 420 VEHICLES AND DRONES 461
Condition Monitors 379 Wireless Bonuses 421
Professional Rating 379 Dog 402 Turning It Off 421 Bikes 462
Great Cat 402 Cars 462
Group Edge 380 Horse 402 Throwbacks 421 Trucks and Vans 463
Lieutenants 380 Incompatibility 421
Sample Grunts 381 Shark 403 GEAR LISTING 421 Boats 464
Wolf 403 Submarines 464
Professional Rating 0 381 Paracritters 403 Melee Weapons 421 Fixed-Wing Aircraft 464
Professional Rating 1 382 Blades 422
Professional Rating 2 382 Barghest 403 Clubs 422 Rotorcraft 464
Basilisk 403 VTOL/VSTOL 465
Professional Rating 3 383 Cockatrice 404 Other Melee Weapons 422 Microdrones 465
Professional Rating 4 383 Projectile and Throwing Weapons 423
Professional Rating 5 384 Devil Rat 404 Firearms 424 Minidrones 465
Ghoul 404 Small Drones 466
Professional Rating 6 384 Hell Hound 405 Tasers 424 Medium Drones 466
Prime Runners 385 Hold-Outs 425
Building Prime Runners 385 Sasquatch 406 Light Pistols 425 Large Drones 466
Vampire 406
The Hand of God 386 Dracoforms 406 Heavy Pistols 426
Contacts 386 Machine Pistols 427 SR5 MASTER INDEX 468
Contacts by the Numbers 386 Eastern Dragons 407 Submachine Guns 427
Feathered Serpent 407 RANDOM RUN 478
Using Contacts 387 Western Dragon 407 Assault Rifles 428 GENERATOR 479
Glitches 389 Sniper Rifles 428
Favor for a Friend 389 TOXINS, DRUGS, AND BTLS 408 Shotguns 429 RECORD SHEETS
Toxins 408
Sample Contacts 390 Using Toxins 409 Special Weapons 429
CRITTERS 392 Machine Guns 430
Attributes and Skills 393 Concentration 409 Cannons & Launchers 430
Antidotes 409
Movement 393 Sample Toxins 409 Firearm Accessories 431
Powers 394 Ammunition 433
Accident 394 CS/Tear Gas 409 Grenades, Rockets, and Missiles 434
Gamma-Scopolamine 410
Animal Control 394 Narcoject 410 Grenades 434
Armor 394 Rockets and Missiles 435
Astral Form 394 Nausea Gas 410 Explosives 436
Neuro-Stun 410
Binding 395 Pepper Punch 410 Clothing and Armor 436
Compulsion 395 Armor 437
Concealment 395 Seven-7 410 Armor Modifications 437
Drugs and BTLs 410
Confusion 395 Drugs 410 Helmets and Shields 438
Corrosive Spit 395 ELECTRONICS 438
Dragonspeech 395 Bliss 411 Commlinks 438
Cram 411
Dual Natured 395 Deepweed 411 Cyberdecks 439
Elemental Attack 396 Electronics Accessories 439
Energy Aura 396 Jazz 411 RFID Tags 440
Kamikaze 412
Engulf 396 Long Haul 412 Communications and
Enhanced Senses 396 Countermeasures 440
Essence Drain 396 Nitro 412 Software 441
Novacoke 412
Fear 397 Psyche 412 Skillsofts 442
Guard 397 ID and Credit 442
Hardened Armor 397 Zen 412 Tools 443
Better Than Life 412
Hardened Mystic Armor 397 BTL Chips 413 Optical and Imaging Devices 443
Immunity 397 Optical Devices 444
Infection 398 BTL Downloads 413 Vision Enhancements 444
SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Influence 398 AND ADDICTION 413 Audio Devices 445
Innate Spell 398 Audio Enhancements 445
Materialization 398 Addiction Tests 414 Sensors 445
Role-Playing Addiction 414

6 SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

>> CREDITS <<

SHADOWRUN, FIFTH EDITION CREDITS Keith Menzies, James Merrill, Tom Metzger, Joe Monfre, Brett Nagel,
Mikael Nagel, Jon Naughton, James O’Laughlin, Rob Oliver, Devon
Shadowrun Line Developer: Jason M. Hardy Oratz, Tim Patrick, Andre Potel, Bryan Pow, Sue Powell, Eric Pullen,
Shadowrun 5 Rules Committee: Peter M. Andrew Jr., Lars Christian Puschmann, Steven “Bull” Ratkovich, Geoff Raye, Richard
Blumenstein, Ghislain Bonnotte, Tony Bruno, Mark Dynna, Tobias Riessen, Ray Rigel, Matt Riley, James Robertson, Grant Robinson,
Hamelmann, Jason M. Hardy, Nathanël Jouen, Adam Large, Aaron Jacob Rosenberg, Amber Sarrasin, Scott Schletz, Rob Schroeder,
Pavao, Steven “Bull” Ratkovich, Michael Wich Andreas “AAS” Schroth, Andrew Selic, Rosalind Sexton, Mark
Writing: Jennifer Brozek, Raymond Croteau, Mark Dynna, Patrick Shimko, David Silberstein, Jim Skipper, Laura Skipper, Mark Somers,
Goodman, Jason M. Hardy, Robyn “Rat” King, Adam Large, Devon Jonathon Staite, Lawrance Susenburger, Brandie Tarvin, Derrick Taylor,
Oratz, Aaron Pavao, Steven “Bull” Ratkovich, Scott Schletz, Malik Steven Tinner, Jan van Pütten, James E. Vaughan, Melynda Vaughan,
Toms, Michael Wich, Thomas Willoughby, Russell Zimmerman Luc Villeneuve, Timm Vowinkel, Shawna Wagner, Bryan Wallbridge,
Editing: Kevin Killiany, Katherine Monasterio Cynthia Wallbridge, Michael Wich, Thomas Willoughby, Dan Wilson,
Proofing: Brooke Chang, Tanner DeLawyer, Patrick Goodman, William Winton, Dan C. Wlodarski A.B.D., Philip C. Wlodarski, Leland
Lars Wagner Hansen, Mason Hart, Matt Heerdt, James O’Laughlin, Zavadil, Russell Zimmerman,
David Silberstein, Jan van Pütten, Jeremy Weyand, Russell Zimmerman
Art Direction: Brent Evans Shadowrun Originally Created by: Jordan Weisman, Bob
Cover Art: Michael Komarck Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd, L. Ross Babcock III, Sam Lewis,
Cover Layout & Design: Matt Heerdt and Dave Wylie
Interior Art: Gordon Bennetto, Joel Biske, Echo Chernik, Victor
Corbella, Brent Evans, Phillip Hilliker, David Hovey, David Kegg, Ian Some Material Based on Previous Work by: Rob Boyle, Elissa
King, Igor Kieryluk, Jeff Laubenstein, Melanie Maier, Daniel Masso, Carey, Bob Charrette, Brian Cross, Tom, Dowd, Dan Grendel, Jennifer
Jeremy McHugh, Raven Mimura, Mark Molnar, Victor Manuel Leza Harding, Paul Hume, Adam Jury, Steve Keson, Drew Littell, Christian
Moreno, Lee Moyer, Alessandra Pisano, Mark Poole, Tony Shasteen, Lonsing, David Lyons, Michelle Lyons, Michael Mulvihill, Sharon
Klaus Scherwinski, Andreas “AAS” Schroth, Christophe Swal, Eric Turner-Mulvihill, Aaron Pavao, Jon Szeto, Peter Taylor, and really
Williams, John Zeleznik everyone who has contributed to Shadowrun over the years.
Interior Layout & Design: Matt “Wrath” Heerdt
Playtesting: Natalie Aked, Rob Aked, Jamal Abu El-Hawa, Robert Shout-outs: Let me start with the really cool thing. At many points
Altschaffel, Thomas Baatz, Matthew Baffico, Mikaela Barree, Nick in the Who Knows How Long development process of Shadowrun,
Berry, Jason Bertsche, Jason Bjorklund, Emily Bourgani, Thomas Fifth Edition, I reached out to writers, artists, proofers, playtesters,
Boxall, Stan Brown, Adam Bruno, Jackson Brunsting, Marisa Buxbaum, and whoever else for quick help, extra work, and a whole variety of
Jordan Byers, Sascha Byrne, Robert Carter, Andrew Coen, Jean-Marc things. And pretty much every time I asked, I got more offers for
Comeau, Kyle Johntz Connor, Gareth Cranefield, Siin Crawford, Marc help than I needed. I am very fortunate to have the talented, hard-
Dagenais, John Dean, Karlene Dickens, Zachary Dietzman, Mike working, and just plain awesome army of Shadowrun people to call
Dudash, Dominique Dufour, Daniel Dunchack, Scott Edwards, Cullen on, and I’m exceedingly grateful for their passion and dedication.
Erbacher, Emily G. Foley, Bruce Ford, Eugen Fournes, Joanna Fournes,
Garrett Fox, Jason Freese, Kurt Fryzek, Grant Gajdosik, Sebastian A few individual call outs: Thanks to Philip Lee for taking dozens of
Gift, Christie Gilbank, Tim Gill, Nita Glew, Patrick Goodman, Tiffany playtesting document and punching them into usable shape; Randall
Goodman, Oliver Grahm, Tim Gray, Chris Hardee, Christian Hayes, Bills helped keep us on track the whole way and then tackled the page
Jon Hoffman, Michael Hoover, Ken’ Horner, Thomas J. Howell, Derek references at the end; James Meiers, Cynthia Celeste Miller, Stephen
Hyde, Magen Hyde, Richard Ingram, Aaron John, Kendall Jung, Jason McQuillan, and Andreas “AAS” Schroth for providing thought, input,
Keats, Brendan D. King, Thomas Klemann, Reinhart Krempler, Adam and smarts along the way; David Ellenberger for being a superstar
Large, Peter Leitch, Dirk Löchel, Dr. Robert Loper, Dave Lundquest, demo person at Pax East; Ross Watson for contributing his experience,
Matt Manganaro, Nadine Mattauch, Chris Maxfield, Tackett passion, and veritable mountain of RPG knowledge; Richard Riessen
McClenny, Michael “Mac” McNamara, Ilya Medvedev, Alex Meeres, and his playtest crew for wrestling with fire; Grant Robinson for being
extra-dedicated to analyzing gear; and Kat Hardy for some awesome
last-minute artistic pinch-hitting, and many, many other things.

But that’s enough credits, right? Let’s hit the streets. Let’s show
‘em what we got. Let’s be faster, stronger, and smarter than the other
vermin. Let’s earn some cash, but even more important let’s earn
some street cred, so that the shadows know our name while the
megacorps don’t know what hit ‘em.

Let’s go shadowrunning!
—JMH

© 2013-16 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Fourth Printing, Corrected, by Catalyst Game Find us online:
Reserved. Shadowrun and Matrix are registered Labs, an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC [email protected]
trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, (Shadowrun questions)
Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. PMB 202 • 303 -91st Ave. NE, E-502 http://www.shadowruntabletop.com
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a Lake Stevens, WA 98258 (Catalyst Shadowrun website)
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any http://www.shadowrun.com
means, without the prior permission in writing of the (official Shadowrun Universe website)
Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any http://www.catalystgamelabs.com
form other than that in which it is published. Catalyst (Catalyst website)
Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are http://shop.catalystgamelabs.com
trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. (Catalyst/Shadowrun orders)

7SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

INTRODUCTION

FUTURE
DYSTOPIA

Welcome to Shadowrun, Fifth Edition. Welcome to the Forget the rest of the interview—the last question
streets. If you’re here, it’s because you think you have is the only one that matters. If you’ve got the guts and
what it takes to be a shadowrunner. And if you got it, we the will, you’re ready for the streets. There are plenty of
definitely want to help you use it. What you have to un- jobs waiting for you. Top-secret research plans need to
derstand, though, is that not everyone’s got it. So we’re be stolen from closely guarded R&D labs. Street gangs
going to throw a quick screening interview at you, just need rival leaders to disappear. Powerful executives
to make sure you’re ready to hit the shadows. Answer need to be protected from street rabble looking to take
fast—no one’s got time to sit around these days. their cash or kidnap them for ransom. Hidden artifacts
need to be recovered from toxic wastelands. And if
Do you have imagination? And your own weapon? you’re willing, there are always people offering cash in
If you’re in a dark alley and the earth buckles under return for putting someone down.
your feet, and some being materializes from the ground
and prepares to attack, are you ready to make that I won’t lie to you—it won’t be easy. The Man takes on
thing—whatever it is—hurt? a million forms, and all of them work hard to keep you
If the situation suddenly changes in the middle of a down. Organized crime outfits want your blood, and the
mission, and you’re swarmed by security guards who corporations want your soul. The cops and the govern-
weren’t supposed to be there, and you’ve got bullets, ment, of course, just want you put away somewhere, out
drones, and magic lightning streaming down on you, of sight and out of mind. Maybe they’ll get you in a cell,
can you keep your shit together? maybe in a tomb. Either option works for them.
Will you trade your flesh and blood for steel and
chrome? But all those people who want to bring you down? Let
Will you risk blowing out your mind to seize a piece them come. You didn’t choose the life of a shadowrunner
of the magic power flowing through everything? to run away from trouble. You picked it to be in control, to
Will you put your whole self into the Matrix so you keep from selling out to anyone. So bring it on. You have
can be faster than the next guy, even if it means you everything you need. You have enough to be more than
might have your brain seared by biofeedback? a street criminal, more than a run-of-the-mill shadowrun-
Will you pay what it costs to be the best? ner. You have what it takes to be a legend.

It starts now.

SHADOW SLANG comm n. Short for commlink, your phone, handheld computer, music
player, game device, and more in the palm of your hand.
When you hit the streets, sling the lingo like a pro with
this handy guide. corp n. Corporation. adj. Corporate.
cred n. Money. Reputation, especially good reputation.
breeder n. Ork slang for a “normal” human. dandelion eater n. (vulgar) An elf.
buzz v. Go away. Buzz off. dataslave n. Corporate decker or other data-processing employee.
chill adj. Good, cool, acceptable. datasteal n. Theft of data from a computer, usually by decking.
chip truth n. A fact or honest statement. deck n. A cyberdeck. v. To use a cyberdeck, usually illegally.
chipped adj. Senses, skills, reflexes, muscles, and so on, enhanced decker n. A person who illegally uses a cyberdeck.
deckhead n. Simsense abuser.
by cyberware. drek n. (vulgar) Feces. A common curse word.
chrome n. Cyberware, especially obvious enhancements. dump v. To be involuntarily ejected from the Matrix.
chummer n. Friend, used in the same sense as “pal” or “buddy.”
clip n. A box magazine for a firearm.

8 SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

dumpshock n. The painful sensation of being forcibly ejected from the razorguy n. A male with extensive combat enhancements.
Matrix while deeply involved in multi-sensory interactions. roke adj. Overly elaborate or unnecessarily detailed. From a shortening

exec n. A corporate executive. of Baroque.
frag v. (vulgar) Common swear word referring to the act of copulation.
fragged adj. (vulgar) Broken, in trouble. samurai n. (Japanese) Mercenary or muscle for hire. Implies an honor
geek v. To kill. code or a good reputation.
go-gang n. A vehicular gang.
hacker n. Someone who illegally interacts with the Matrix, either by sarariman n. (Japanese) A corporate employee. From a mispronunciation
of salaryman.
using a cyberdeck (as a “decker”) or with the power of their mind (as
a “technomancer”). screamer n. Credstick or other ID that triggers alarms if used.
scrip n. A currency that is not nuyen, usually referring to currency
halfer n. (vulgar) A dwarf.
hoi interject. (Dutch) Hi, a familiar form of greeting. issued by a megacorporation.

hoop n. (vulgar) A common curse word referring to a person’s backside. simsense n. A sensory broadcast or recording that lets the viewer feel
hose v. Louse up. Screw up. and experience what the participants feel and experience.
ice n. Security software. From “intrusion countermeasures” or IC.
jack v. To connect or disconnect to the Matrix or other device via a jack. SIN n. System Identification Number. Identification number assigned to
each person in the society.
Use jack in to mean establishing the connection, jack out to mean
breaking a connection. Using jack alone refers to changing from one SINless adj. Lacking a SIN. n. A SINless person.
state to the other. SINner n. A person with a SIN. An honest person.
slot n. (vulgar) Mild curse word referring to female genitalia. v. To insert
jander v. To walk in an arrogant yet casual manner; to strut.
jing n. Money, usually cash. a chip or credstick into chip or credstick reading device.
keeb n. (vulgar) An elf.
kobun n. (Japanese) A member of a Yakuza clan. slot and run v. Hurry up. Get to the point. Move it.
meat n. A physical body. Pertaining to the physical world. Organs so ka (Japanese) I understand. I get it.

harvested for sale. soykaf n. Ersatz coffee substitute made from soybeans.
sprawl n. A metroplex (see plex); v. fraternize below one’s social level.
merc n. A mercenary. squat n. Abandoned urban area used for housing. (vulgar) A dwarf.
mojo n. (Caribbean) Magic. A spell. squishy n. (vulgar) A dwarf, elf, or human. Usually used by orks and trolls.
Mr. Johnson n. Refers to an anonymous employer or corporate agent, Star, the n. The police. Originally referring to Lone Star specifically.
static n. Trouble, usually social in nature.
regardless of gender or national origin. swag adj. Awesome.
trideo n. The three-dimensional successor to video. Trid for short.
mundane n. (vulgar) Non-magician. adj. Non-magical. trog n. (vulgar) An ork or troll. From troglodyte.
nutrisoy n. A cheaply processed food product derived from soybeans tusker n. (vulgar) An ork or troll.
nuyen n. The world’s standard currency. vatjob n. A person with extensive cyberware replacement, reference
omae n. A close friend. Can be used sarcastically.
organlegging v. Trading in organs or cyberware harvested from formerly is to a portion of the process during which the patient must be
submerged in nutrient fluid.
living people.
wagemage n. A magician (usually mage) employed by a corporation.
oyabun n. (Japanese) The head of a Yakuza clan. wageslave n. A low-level corporate employee.
pawn n. (derogatory) Street slang for Knight Errant officers wetwork n. Assassination. Murder.
wired adj. Equipped with cyberware, especially increased reflexes.
paydata n. A datafile worth money on the black market. wiz adj. Wonderful, excellent.
pixie n. (vulgar) An elf. An elf poser. wizard n. A magician, usually a mage.
plex n. A metropolitan complex, short for metroplex. wizworm n. A dragon.
poli n. A policlub or a policlub member. adj. Pertaining to a policlub. Yak n. (Japanese) Yakuza. Either a clan member or a clan itself.
razorgirl n. A female with extensive combat enhancements. zaibatsu n. (Japanese) A megacorporation.

9SHADOWRUN CORE RULEBOOK

ANOTHER NIGHT,
ANOTHER RUN

Smoke filled the air, cut through by the dancing, impossibly straight He was just one of many, wedging his way through a brawling
crimson lines of laser beams. Lights strobed all around him, show- pit disguised as a dance floor, overcrowded with all metahumanity
ing Gentry still-frame images of bodies clashing violently, muscles had to offer, humans included: weekend-warrior wannabes slum-
heaving, chrome flashing razor-sharp contrast against scuffed ming it from Downtown and Renton, soaking in the dirt and danger
black leather. Belly-deep, he felt as much as heard the staccato of a trip to the edge of the Barrens. Then there was the everyday
thrums of too-loud percussion, shaking him to his core. He ig- Redmond populace, as tough and stained as the denim and leath-
nored it all and concentrated on the AR feed piped straight to his er they all wore. Redmond being Redmond, gangers made up a
brain by top-end hardware and his customized implants. sizable chunk of the crowd. Gentry saw a tight knot of orks from
the Crimson Crush (louder and more violent than the slam-dancers
This was Gentry’s first trip to the Skeleton, and the last thing near them), a lone woman in the green and black that marked her
he wanted was to get turned around in the press of thrashing a Desolation Angel (looking for trouble and pretty enough some
bodies on the dance floor, dazzled by the lights and fog, smoth- idiot would offer her some before the night was out), and a troll
ered by the surrounding hordes of metahumanity. Hardpoint looming over everyone else (not wearing any gang’s colors in par-
had sent them all directions for the half-secret—and, Gentry ticular but big enough he didn’t have to). Metahumanity, sweating
dearly hoped, well-soundproofed—back rooms, and ignoring re- and panting, moving in time to the wailing strings and shouting
ality for his AR overlay had gotten Gentry this far in life, hadn’t it? voices from the stage, flash-lit by a retro light show and the lasers
Meatside light shows had never done him any favors. The Matrix and commlinks some of them waved in white-knuckled fists.
was where the action was. Augmented reality or full-on virtual,
whatever—that’s where Gentry did his best work. Gentry wrestled his way clear and sucked in a deep breath.
Chip-truth, he didn’t really care for metahumanity enough to like
The heaving crowd jumped and roared in time to the Arch- it packed this tightly around him. Coydog was waiting for him just
fiends, an all-elf rock band with more guitars and good looks than outside the press of bodies, though, elf-thin and elf-pretty, with
talent. That part, at least, made Gentry feel at home. He hadn’t raven-dark hair. The leather fringe of her outfit swayed just a bit
been back to Tír Tairngire since his sentence had been commut- as she let the Archfiends’ latest guitar riff make her move, and a
ed, but seeing a rock band of nothing but elves reminded him of light sheen of sweat covered her bare arms, showing she hadn’t
home. The crowd had enough humans in it so that Gentry wasn’t been afraid to join in on the dance floor while the night had still
as self-conscious as he’d been back in the Tír, though. Here, his been young.
rounded ears didn’t stick out.

10 ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

BY RUSSELL ZIMMERMAN

When she noticed him, the Salish elf just laughed and shook small KnowSpheres. MCT had designed the drones about three
her head, then tapped her wrist where someone else might wear weeks after the Horizon Flying Eye had hit the market, but if you
a watch. tried to tell him Mitsuhama had copied the design, Hardpoint
was liable to kick you in the shin or punch you somewhere un-
Gentry made a face and said terrible things about her moth- comfortably higher. He’d been in the business long enough to
er in Sperethiel, knowing that despite her pointed ears and high have gray streaks through his beard, but the dwarf was stubbornly
cheekbones, he knew more of the elven language than she did. loyal despite what life had thrown at him.
She got the gist of it, though, and—still laughing, teeth flashing
elf-perfect and white—her little fist thumped into the armor over Sledge, meanwhile, did what he normally did: glowered. Gen-
his shoulder. try knew the ork was vain enough, in his street-tough way, to keep
a synthflesh covering over most of his cyberarms, not wanting
“Let’s go,” Coydog hollered at him, turning to show him which his augmentations to ruin his tattoos and the biceps that were so
hallway to take. Or, upon reflection, Gentry supposed she might central to his self-esteem. His forearms, though, were no-frill mon-
have just called him an asshole. So that he’d know next time, he strosities, Evo-specced combat chrome that didn’t pretend to be
set his snugged-in earbud’s sound filter to pick up her voice. anything but armor plating and hidden weapons. Right this sec-
ond, those arms were crossed across his broad chest, and he took
Coydog sauntered through the shadows of the back halls easy turns glaring at Hardpoint for his goofing off, Coydog for the per-
as you please—Gentry was used to that, with elves—but it took petually amused smirk she always wore, and Gentry for being late.
him a few seconds to adjust. He thumbed at the dimmer-display
for his cyberdeck and sent all the secondary lighting to full pow- He settled on Gentry, natch. Just the decker’s luck.
er. His cobbled-together hackpack was powered by several can- “You’re late,” the razorboy grunted, showing tusks in a snarl.
nibalized commlinks strapped to his messenger bag strap, and “We’re supposed to be professionals, breeder. Mr. Johnson’ll be
when he told them to, they could give him at least a little light here any minute.”
to see by. The last thing Gentry wanted to do was stumble into Gentry shrugged, armored jacket rustling and soft lights from
Coydog from behind. She’d never let him live it down. his hackpack sending shadows dancing.
“Nasty traffic, Sledge. Hardpoint’s directions had me rolling
Hardpoint and Sledge were waiting for them in the back through contested turf. Skirmish started up, an’ traffic went for
room with a half-open window letting moonlight and soft traf- crap. Spikes and Ancients going at it again, you know how it is.”
fic sounds in, and probably a couple of Hardpoint’s drones out.
The dwarf killed time in the middle of the room, juggling a trio of

11ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

Hardpoint didn’t seem to notice he’d been blamed. He just still liked waving the thing around to interrupt the wannabe dai-
kept juggling his KnowSpheres. Coydog looked for something sy-eater.
clean to sit on. Sledge didn’t let it lie, though.
“It ain’t our job to care, chummer. We took the job and the
“So next time you geek the elves, end the firefight, an’ get up-front payment, so now we do it. Period. We go in, download
here on time. You ain’t back in your precious Portland. You gotta the specs, record the infiltration. That’s it. That’s all. It’s simple.”
earn your nuyen in Seattle, kid.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s never that simple! This guy’s hiring us to do
“Right.” Gentry sighed and rolled his eyes, ignoring that, a run against his own company, and you don’t think that’s a little
if anything, he was probably a year or two older than the ork. weird?”
“What, you think being a human criminal in the Tír was just a walk
in the park, huh?” Sledge rolled his eyes.
“I’m saying it don’t matter if it’s weird. It’s just another night.
“You must’a treated it like it was, breeder.” Sledge pushed Just another paycheck.” Sledge reached across the van and
off from the wall he’d been leaning against, arms uncrossing as jabbed the decker in the chest with his sheathed blade again.
he took a few steps towards the human, “Since you got your ass “Maybe he’s Ares internal affairs or somethin’. Maybe he’s from
locked up and put to work, didn’t you?” another department. Maybe he’s angling for his boss’s job an’
wants us to make him look bad. Lots of maybes, but none of ’em
Gentry’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t about timeliness or profes- matter. It’s just another run.”
sionalism, it was about machismo and pride. Both of them had “Listen, if you’ll give me five minutes to …”
too much of it. Sledge took a perverse pleasure in rubbing Gen- “No time, shadowkiddies.” Hardpoint’s voice cut off their
try’s nose in the fact he’d been arrested back in the Tír and had argument, and the dwarf unplugged himself from the Bulldog’s
to work off a long sentence playing the hyperviolent sport urban dash. “This is our stop. Sledge, you’re on point”
brawl, while Sledge had so far avoided Knight Errant or any oth- Sledge hopped out of the van smoothly, leaving Gentry to
er law enforcement body. The violent ork also resented that he fumble with this seatbelt and strap his goggles and headset on.
wasn’t the team’s leader any more, and—knowing that—Gentry The ork’s movements came herky-jerk quick now, his enhanced
had long since been ready for a confrontation. He bet Sledge reflexes turned on and running hot. He had a blocky AK-98 in his
wouldn’t talk so tough if someone took advantage of a backdoor hands, an Ares handcannon holstered at his hip, and his new pig-
to his personal area network and shut those fancy arms down for sticker, long and thin, slung over his back. It was an official Neil the
diagnostics. Ork Barbarian repro, all thin, curved, and fantasy-stylized right out
of a high-budget tridflick, but it had a wicked sharp mono-edge,
“Before you two cripple each other, I thought you might want and that’s all Sledge cared about. The team had a block and a half
to know our boss is outside.” of broken-down Seattle to cover, and Sledge knew the streets
better than the rest of them. He led the way from cover to cover,
Hardpoint’s voice, all business, interrupted the brewing star- alley to alley, hurrying them through the rain-slick shadows. The
edown. A fresh bevy of lights blinked on the external display Seattle shadows were his home, and urban gunfights his way of
panels of his MCT-issued headware, a sure sign he was actively life. They knew he’d get them there.
monitoring one of his recon drones. Sledge shot a backwards glance as he waited at a corner and
flashed his tusks in a smirk at Gentry, who was second. The deck-
“Maybe we should take the job and burn off some steam, huh er had a Colt Government 2066—which wasn’t the worst gun in
boys? Having both of you along for the gig helps our odds, I’m the world, Sledge grudgingly admitted, and Gentry wasn’t the
sure.” worst shot—in his hand, but the real skill he brought to the team
was strapped all over his body. It was some sort of drek-hot Ren-
“I dunno, HP,” Coydog teased and flashed a wicked grin, “If raku hackpack rig that Gentry’d sometimes babble on and on
one of ’em geeks the other, it means bigger shares all around!” about like anyone but him or maybe Hardpoint gave a damn. The
human’s eyes weren’t chipped up like Sledge’s, and the breeder
Sledge kept up the glare, but Gentry lost interest and turned had to wear those goggles of his, half shooting glasses and half
away. supercomputers, to use a smartlink or see in the dark.
Sledge snorted.
“You guys are right. We need to focus, Sledge.” The decker Coydog and her cowboy boots came last. The elf was differ-
sent mental commands to his hackpack, shoving icons around ent. Salish tribal born and raised, but now marking time in Seat-
and canceling the viruses he’d been about to upload into the tle’s Council Island and Everett neighborhoods. She had a foot
ork’s PAN. in both worlds. Native and Anglo, backwoods and city streets;
Sledge liked her. Everyone liked her. She had a big Browning pis-
“Let’s go meet the boss and get the details.” tol holstered at her waist in a sleek, modern gunbelt that didn’t
quite fit in with the feathers in her hair, the strings of colored
✖ beads, the leather fringes on her clothes. She was an interest-
ing gal, Coydog. Sledge saw her lips move, saw hints of color
Sledge wasn’t thrilled with leaving his Harley back at the Skel- flash and ripple from her hands, and then felt a cool breeze swirl
eton, but after a short conversation with the righteous tusker around them all. He knew what that meant, and would’ve smiled
running the door, he was satisfied his bike would be cared for. if smiling was his style. The shaman had gone to work and called
That punk Gentry’s sleek Mirage looked fast but fragile next to up a friendly spirit. They’d be hidden from prying eyes, at least
Sledge’s chopper, but Coydog’s muddy Gopher pickup dwarfed partially, but Sledge sure wasn’t going to let that trick him into
both of them. Satisfied they’d all be there when they got back, relaxing.
the big ork clambered into Hardpoint’s big van, a GMC Bulldog.

But right away, Gentry started whining and wrecked what
should’ve been a quiet ride.

“I’m telling you, facial recognition pegged the guy. Mr. John-
son’s from Ares. You can see him in this fundraiser picture, he’s
part of a security detail, if you’d just take a look at—”

“Well, I ain’t takin’ a look at it,” Sledge cut Gentry off with
an angry chop at the air. His new sword was sheathed, but he

12 ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

The ork stopped at the building’s loading entrance, back to corporate hallways and stairwells, slicing their way deeper and
the wall, covering the team as they approached. It was time for deeper into the belly of the beast.
Gentry to do his job. His smartgoggles brightened and his Colt
was holstered as he began to work with his own brand of magic. And then, suddenly, there they were: dataterminal 501.
No, not really magic, just skill. Soft blue lights flared and danced Sledge took a knee and braced his rifle against a cubicle wall,
while the decker’s fingers shifted and tapped, pecking away at nodding for Gentry to move in. It was showtime.
an imaginary keyboard that his Renraku hardware spun into exis-
tence. Sledge covered them while the decker worked, smartlink Sledge watched as Gentry settled into this corporate spider’s
reticule and the muzzle of his AK sweeping the streets. chair—he had to admit that hacking into a Matrix security agent’s
terminal as a way into the whole system was a decent plan, as-
The ork growled impatience low in his throat like a junkyard suming he could pull it off—and adjusted a few of the sub-sys-
dog, his reflexes wired up so fast it seemed like the decker was tems on his makeshift cyberdeck. Then Gentry pulled a long,
working in slow motion. Coydog laid a gentle hand on Gentry’s slender cable from a spool on his right bracer, the main body of
shoulder and whispered something encouraging to him, but his illegal ’deck, and reached toward a port on the Ares count-
Sledge didn’t have a chance to say something snarky about it. er-hacker’s workstation.
Maybe a half-second later, the doors slid open. Fraggin’ finally.
Sledge thought about wishing the decker good luck, but de-
The ork gave Hardpoint a nod, and the rigger lifted his hand. cided against it.
Several drones leaped to answer his call. A sleek little glossy-
black beetle drone, an MCT FlySpy, lifted off from his palm and That might have been a mistake.
led the way into the building, with Sledge and his AK just be-
hind. Hardpoint rummaged in his pockets and tugged out his ✖
KnowSpheres, and soon enough the trio of little black globes
were buzzing through the air circling the team, recording the job Hardpoint knew better than Sledge or Coydog what the decker
per Mr. Johnson’s explicit request. The FlySpy, nimble and silent, was up to. The dwarf was no expert console cowboy like Gentry,
sped down the hallway ahead of them as the team hurried inside, but he had a handle on the basics of illicit Matrix interfacing. He
getting in out of the Seattle drizzle and putting walls and doors knew how fast things happened in full virtual reality, how every
between them and the external security teams. nanosecond counted and how everything, from your own icon to
the intrusion countermeasures that threatened it, moved at the
The FlySpy led the way. Hardpoint’s tiny drone buzzed along speed of thought. Gentry flew in VR when he could, but Hard-
ahead of them, making sure that security cameras were where point preferred to keep one foot in the real world. That was the
they were supposed to be, or that a corpsec kill-team wasn’t lurk- difference between them. The human liked to escape reality fully
ing around every corner. The dwarf worked his left hand to pilot in the Matrix, where the dwarf preferred to influence the meat-
the little machine, fingers splayed, twisting and planing his hand world, just through drones instead of his own two hands when
this way and that, angling his palm to orient and maneuver the he could help it.
spy-drone, headware and extensive control rig electronics mak-
ing it unnaturally responsive to such simple commands. He had But the speeds were the same. The electronic rush. The
one eye looking through the drone’s optical sensors and the oth- stakes. Hardpoint knew, even if the rough-edged samurai and
er squinted half-shut, while Coydog led him through the halls and the city shaman didn’t, how quickly things could go wrong in an
kept him from bumping into anything. electronic contest.

Gentry was the slowest of them, here; every camera the He heard and saw it through his own eyes and ears, as well as
FlySpy tagged on their team’s heads-up display—visible to all the audio and optical sensor suites in four different drones, when
of them but Coydog, who said she kept losing her AR glasses the claxons started to howl and the security lights began to flash.
though Hardpoint insisted she was breaking them on purpose— It hadn’t taken long, but Hardpoint hadn’t expected it to. Things
became his responsibility. Sledge gave Gentry a little nudge and moved fast in VR. Sometimes a little too fast.
a grunt each time he spotted one, just to make sure the geek was
on top of things. And to hurry him up. The dwarf watched through his FlySpy’s optics as Gentry
rocked in the chair, lurching from side to side. He called his littlest
Gentry reached out through the Matrix, his AR-goggles bright drone back to him—no point in stealth, now—and stowed it in
with streaming data and security override commands, cracking the armored pouch on his belt. He kept his KnowSpheres running
into their nodes one at a time and convincing each camera to run and recording, one swooping all around the team on autopilot,
a loop of the last minute over and over again before they stepped the other two racing away to scout. The decker jerked again in
into the frame. Gentry’s skills convinced corporate cameras to the big chair, body going tense and rigid, somewhere between
shut their eyes tight while the team snuck past. If the decker kept having a seizure and taking a punch. Then again. And again.
it up, Sledge knew their job would be a whole lot easier.
“He gonna die?” Sledge didn’t look up from the sights of his
It was slow going, and tense. The FlySpy took point, Sledge AK, unperturbed by the security alert.
cleared each hallway with the muzzle of his sturdy Kalashnikov,
then came Hardpoint and Gentry, only half there, most of their “Spirits, I hope not.” Coydog bit her lip.
attention sapped away by the electronic wonderland of the Ma- “I doubt it,” Hardpoint said, half his attention elsewhere. He
trix. The dwarf’s three KnowSpheres swirled around the team, piped commands through his headware to the waiting Bulldog,
tiny dog-brains obediently recording. Coydog rode herd, listen- disabling security measures, firing up the engine, and getting it
ing for doors opening and closing behind them, the stomp of se- rolling in their direction for a quick escape.
curity boots, the wail of alarms. Slow and tense, and careful, too, “No,” Gentry himself said, reaching out with one hand to un-
but Sledge would get them there. They didn’t see another living plug himself. The human stood and swiped the back of his other
soul. Together they threaded a careful path through winding Ares hand under his nose to smear away some blood.
“Got the file by the tips of my ears.” He shook his head, still
unsteady on his feet, and Hardpoint watched through a drone
as he blinked heavy eyelids that suddenly had deep bruises

13ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

beneath them. Gentry patted his primary commlink, now heavy team. Just as the security door opened up and the second Ares
with stolen data, a sleek Transys Avalon that rested on his hip team burst into the stairwell near them, the drone’s audio equip-
not far from his Colt. ment picked up the sound of a pair of metallic spheres bouncing
down behind the ork.
“I almost got iced, but me and my baby got the job done.”
Intrusion countermeasures—IC—could tear a Matrix icon The dwarf fought a little smile as he heard the second pair
to shreds in nanoseconds. Some IC, the blackest of the black, of grenades go off, but the hulking troll and his assault cannon
could do the same to a decker’s brain and body through cus- worried him. Ares was so concerned with securing the facility
tom-programmed biofeedback. Judging from Gentry’s condi- that they were willing to blast giant holes in it to try to stop a few
tion, the files had been more heavily protected than Mr. John- shadowunners. Security, not practicality, mattered to them here,
son had mentioned. and that made them unpredictable. Unpredictable people were
Hardpoint started to get fresh information from his recon dangerous to get into firefights with.
KnowSpheres, his reliable MCT headware giving him several
datastream overlays at once. Hardpoint tsked under his breath and shook his head, sending
“Welcome parties are coming. West side, down three sto- out a fresh series of mental commands. The only way to fight fire …
ries,” he said, monotone, matter-of fact. He recorded and re-
ported all at once, telling the others about the incoming security ✖
teams even while his headware showed him black-clad security
troopers, armored head to toe, faceless beneath their glossy Coydog still wasn’t exactly sure how everything had gone so
helmets. In their midst loomed a taller, broader, figure, a mas- wrong, so quickly. One second Gentry had been doing whatever
sive troll, too big to even fit in the full-body security armor the he did in the Matrix, and the next their whole night had gone to
rest of them wore. pot. Claxons everywhere, emergency lights painting the whole
“And east, one floor down.” A second group was jogging up building red, and Hardpoint and Sledge rushing them up stairs, a
the opposite stairwell, looking to trap them. A pale woman in a half-breath ahead of onrushing security goons.
dark suit led a handful of heavily armored guards. Behind them,
Hardpoint recognized combat drones; Duelists, the experimental The crew darted across the roof, heading toward the nearest
bipedal drones Ares was manufacturing in this very facility. building and starting to cross over. The Ares security team burst
Gentry and Sledge could see the problem over the team’s up the stairwell behind them, missing maybe half of their num-
shared cam-feed. Before that KnowSphere could get a better ber, several of the survivors with armor scratched and scarred
look, the woman raised a hand and whispered a word. A flashing from Sledge’s explosives. The troll stood head and shoulders
bolt enveloped Hardpoint’s little spy drone, and the display win- over the rest. The slender, pale woman in her dark suit pointed,
dow turned to static. and they lifted their guns. Supplementary laser-sights flickered
Sledge didn’t speak, just led the team down the left hallway to life beneath their assault rifle barrels, and gunshots rang out.
where they’d have a better chance of making it upstairs unim-
peded. He shouldered the door open and threw a pair of me- Gentry leapt courier-quick across the gap between buildings,
tallic spheres down the stairwell in one smooth motion, then firing blind behind him with his big Colt autopistol. Sledge sprint-
took a knee. Gentry led the rest of them up the stairs hurriedly. ed across a ventilation pipe, chip-quick, and spun to unload a
Sledge’s broad orkish frame blocked Hardpoint’s curious Know- second magazine from his AK. Coydog carefully holstered her
Sphere from being able to track the grenades as they bounced Browning and leapt across the gap, nimble as a deer. Hardpoint
down the stairs, but there was no denying the ensuing explosion stood where he was, letting his stubby little Ingram hang by his
was impressive. Hardpoint’s ears rang from the twin blasts, but he side, and just lifted his arms and grinned. His reinforcements
was able to hear the wailing of injured guards through the audial were here.
suites in his drones. Sledge hadn’t moved, just waited there with
his AK shouldered. A flurry of grenades fell onto the roof, fired one after anoth-
One of Hardpoint’s drones watched as Gentry kicked the roof er from a trio of miniature helicopter-like drones that swooped
access door open, the other floated above and behind Sledge. low overhead. Coydog recognized Hardpoint’s MCT-Nissan Ro-
Hardpoint and Coydog burst onto the roof behind the decker just to-drones a second before the team’s activity was covered by
as Sledge’s AK started to bark and fill the stairwell behind them thick smoke and a fresh wave of explosions that scattered the
with muzzle flashes and fast-moving bullets. The first heavily ar- security team. The dwarf cackled as he scampered to join them
mored guard to recover from the grenades and stumble into view on the new rooftop. Sledge’s AK fired and fired, and was soon
caught a burst for his trouble and went tumbling back down the joined by the autoguns mounted in each of Hardpoint’s support
stairs. Then came a second and third, and Sledge burnt the rest of drones. Coydog ducked as one of the little KnowSpheres flew
his magazine knocking them back out of view. by, turning to record the firefight while the larger drones trad-
Slivers of Hardpoint’s attention flitted from drone to drone, ed fire with the Ares security squad. Between the drifting clouds
watching as the Ares security troll lumbered into view. He swung of thermal smoke and the protection of her own friendly spirit,
up a huge gun and the dwarf’s KnowSphere and Sledge both the security forces had trouble getting clear shots at Coydog and
scrambled out of the way. Hardpoint felt the gun go off on the her friends, but the drones’ mobility and armor plating were their
roof, even two stories away, as the Panther Assault Cannon roared only real defenses.
like thunder and sent a round smashing a fist-sized hole through
the wall where Sledge had been just a second earlier. His drone She heard Sledge’s AK stutter out a long burst and saw the
whirred loudly as it tried to keep up with the impossibly quick ork, Ares troll stagger but not fall. In the corner of her eye she saw
flying up the stairs after him as he ran to catch up to the rest of the Gentry kicking at the rooftop door that would get them clear of
the fight, and everywhere else she looked she saw smoke and
muzzle flashes, swooping drones and black-clad security. She
reached out with a simple spell and sent an Ares goon stumbling
and staggering, exhausted. But didn’t quite drop him. She heard
Coyote bark laughter at her failure and frowned, drawing up a

14 ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

fresh wave of mana. The black-armored thug turned to fire at her, He decked. He could more than hold his own in a fight, and
no doubt shouting into his helmet, but then he wavered and fell he had some subtle combat augs to back it up, but more than
unceremoniously on his face. that—more than anything—this was who he was, what he did.
His mind ran through program after program, subroutine af-
Coydog smiled and started to say something smug to no one ter subroutine, thought about security protocols and lockdown
in particular when the security woman across the way lifted her practices, thought about everything the computer might do so
arms. A sickly blue glow filled the rooftop as she chanted with he could anticipate it, counter it. He knew electronics backwards
a voice that scratched Coydog’s soul. The elf switched to astral and forwards, literally inside and out, and all he had to do, all he
sight to get a better look at what the other magician was up to, had to do in the world right now, was beat this maglock and the
and her blood turned cold. The spirit in mid-summoning was hardwired security system supporting it. His Renraku hackpack
terrible, but just as disconcerting was the black, lifeless, no-aura screamed wirelessly in the back of his mind and ran hot, back-up
mass of drones that emerged from the stairwell. systems getting shut down and processing power shunted from
secondary processors. Bullets flew by and chipped paint from the
“Oh, Ghost,” the elf said under her breath as the wave of wall just near him, and Gentry just reached out, irritated, to snap
Duelist anthro-drones led a fresh charge across the rooftop. Her a return shot without looking.
mana spells wouldn’t do any good against such soulless au-
tomatons. She blinked, dragged her vision back to the material One pop-up window out of many, all juggled at once by Gen-
plane, and drew her big Browning out of its holster as though it try’s headware coprocessors and his top-end smart goggles,
would do her any good. started to show him what he was missing through his gun’s smar-
tlink camera. Hardpoint alternated between twitch-quick pilot-
Sledge appeared out of nowhere, blocky AK nowhere to be ing and wild cheers as his Roto-drones strafed the looming Ares
seen, with a blue-glowing sword in one hand and the bucking, troll and dodged assault cannon rounds. Sledge hacked the last
death-spitting mass of a big Ares handgun in the other. He bar- drone apart and blasted the wreckage point-blank to disentangle
reled into the lead drone with a simple shoulder-check, then she it from his trid-flashy sword, then staggered as an enemy burst
lost a clear view of him as he blurred into motion. A fresh wave tore into his armored vest.
of smoke grenades dropped onto the roof, and all she could see
of him was the faintly glowing blade and the occasional muzzle The terrible spirit loomed over them, ready to strike. Coydog
flash of a point-blan k shot. Coydog likely couldn’t have made raised her hands and chanted something in a language Gentry
out his motions clearly even without the smoke, though, the big didn’t know.
ork was moving so fast. Pieces of Duelist sec-drone started to
tumble out of the smoke. “I’m sorry.” Gentry’s earbud picked up the elf’s voice, wedg-
ing past all the background cacophony to hear her whispered
The distraction had worked, though. The drones had done apology to empty air.
their job, and the Ares security magician ducked back into cover,
her work complete. There was a flash of too-bright light and a There was a thunderclap and a flash of sorcery-bright light-
faint droning in the air. Coyote yipped and barked out anger in the ning. The enemy spirit, assaulted by Coydog on one plane and
back of Coydog’s head, and the elf looked up at a twisted insect by her spirit on another, shrieked in pain and tumbled to pieces.
spirit, all mandibles and outstretched, wriggling legs. She felt bile There was a cyclone hanging in midair for a half-second, impaled
fill her throat. on the ephemeral insect’s claw, before it, too, vanished.

And the worst part was, thanks to a locked door and a sev- In the same instant, Gentry gave the door locks open and
en-story drop, they couldn’t even run away. disengage commands thirty-seven different times and one final-
ly got through. Coydog swayed and fell, elf-thin and elf-fragile,
✖ having given almost everything within her to blast the spirit to
nothingness. Sledge, covered in equal parts blood and oil, dove
Smoke filled the air, cut through by the dancing, impossibly to snatch her up and—kicking her dropped pistol Gentry’s way—
straight crimson lines of laser beams. Lights strobed all around hauled her toward safety.
him, showing Gentry still-frame images of bodies clashing vio-
lently, muscles heaving, chrome flashing razor-sharp contrast Hardpoint’s FlySpy led the way past Gentry’s just-opened
against scuffed black leather. Belly-deep, he felt as much as door, and directions and building schematics began to scroll
heard the staccato thrums of too-loud percussion, shaking him across the team’s network. They had their exit route, finally.
to his core. He ignored it all and concentrated on the AR feed
piped straight to his brain by top-end hardware and his custom- “Straight down, Bulldog’s out front,” the dwarf whooped and
ized implants. flashed a thumbs up. His sole remaining KnowSphere—the oth-
er one lay ruined, the victim of a stray bullet—hovered just over
They needed him to open the door. The team needed him to his shoulder as he started down the stairs. Sledge was next, half
dive back into the Matrix and get just this one door open to save carrying Coydog, shouldering roughly past Gentry but just for a
all their lives. half-second there, in the doorframe, giving him a nod.

Gentry ignored the stutter-flashes of muzzles spitting out Gentry covered their escape with his Colt in one hand and
round after round, whether from Hardpoint’s swooping drones Coydog’s Browning in another, while the remaining Roto-drones
or the Ares Alphas shouldered by corporate muscle. He pushed split up and swooped wide around the rooftop, still firing, and
aside the curses and grunts of exertion where Sledge was, sin- splitting the corpsecs’ attention. A fresh wave of smoke grenades
gle-handedly, dismantling a half-dozen purpose-built combat made the cross-building jump risky, and Gentry knew they’d
drones. He didn’t flinch when the Ares troll’s cannon sent a round make it clear before the Ares troops caught up to them.
close enough to tug at the edge of his armored jacket, or turn
to stare in abject horror at the clawing, chittering nightmare that He had the data. Hardpoint had the footage. None of them
loomed over Coydog. were dead. Johnson would profit from it all, somehow. It was
just another night, just another paycheck, but considerably
more than just another run. ✖

15ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER RUN

THE BATTLE
FOUGHT

It had sucked. “Well it’s not like that’s the only thing I’ll do with the cash,”
The others were scattered, and one of them was a traitor. Whippet said. “Just the first thing. I’m feeling a little wrung out
after all this, you know?”
He hadn’t gotten paid nearly as much as he thought he was
going to get. Crawdad grunted, a sound for which his tusked jaw seemed
particularly suited.
Whippet felt a sharp pain every time he inhaled. He was diz-
zy, weaving unsteadily through the streets. He had his Street “I just wish I had my cycle back there in Puyallup,” Whip-
Sweeper perched up on his shoulder, because he needed some pet said. “That walk—that was no fun. I thought the one dwarf
visual indication telling people not to fuck with him. He needed with the chain was going to rip my fingers off. Good hell was he
it because nothing else about him was accomplishing that right strong! I think he threw Street Rash with one arm!”
now. His stride was uneven. His gaze was fixed on the plascrete
street instead of staring down passers-by. “Uh-huh.” The ork did not seem to be in a mood to reminisce.
Then, responding to some signal Whippet didn’t see, he started
And the night had started so well. the car’s engine. It clicked to life.

✖ “It’s time,” he said, and the car moved ahead.
Whippet folded his hands behind his head. At last. Time to
“I’m going to pay two months’ rent, buy twenty bags of potato get paid.
chips and twenty tins of guacamole, then I’m going to sit and watch
trids of every urban brawl match played between ’71 and ’74.” ✖

He saw the look Crawdad gave him, but he didn’t care. He He had purposefully chosen a route home that would take him
was reclined in the passenger seat of the old sportscar and feel- through uncrowded streets and industrial areas. He didn’t want
ing good. Even though the car was parked in a dark alley and not to run into anyone he knew. He didn’t want to run into anyone at
moving. all. If no one was watching, he could look as pathetic as he want-
ed—he could walk slow, he could limp, he could lean against a
“Way to aim high, kid,” Crawdad said. He kept chewing on wall and take a breather. He could afford to show weakness.
whatever it was he always chewed on. Whippet thought may-
be it was sunflower seeds dipped in tar. At least, that’s what it That was when he turned the corner and saw the line. There
smelled like. were about twenty people, then the line turned the corner. He

16 THE BATTLE FOUGHT

BY JASON M. HARDY

didn’t know how far it went beyond that. The people were stand- position. How she’d missed the approach of the car was some-
ing next to a nondescript grey building, looking a little tense, thing they’d need to ask her about later.
a little apprehensive, and a little excited. Very little. They were
dressed professionally—Whippet could tell it was a line of corp Whippet went for his Street Sweeper, only to find Crawdad’s
drones. He didn’t know what they were doing here, but he hand on his wrist.
knew it wouldn’t do to look weak in front of them. He sighed,
pull himself up straight, ignored the pain in his leg and his ribs, “Slow now,” he said. “They wanted to be shooting, we’d
and walked as smoothly as he could. He saw a few of the corp already be dead. Keep it calm.”
drones eyeing his gun. He nodded curtly at them.
A passenger-side door of the vehicle opened, and a troll
✖ slowly unfolded himself from the interior of the car. He walked
toward Whippet and the others. His legs moved slowly, but his
So far, so good. They found the right vacant lot. Mr. Johnson strides covered so much ground that he moved at a decent
was there. The rest of the team was there. Crawdad had hauled clip.
the item out of his trunk, Mr. Johnson had inspected it and pro-
nounced it satisfactory. The time had now come. The time to Mr. Johnson whirled on Crawdad. “You idiot! You were fol-
put money into Whippet’s account. And the others’ accounts, lowed!”
too, but whatever. Through great force of will, he did not rub his
hands together in anticipation. Crawdad shook his head once. “I told you, I don’t get fol-
lowed.”
That was when the headlights turned on. Two of them, blin-
dingly bright, on the other side of the lot. The car had been im- “Then who clued them in? How did they find me?”
pressively quiet in the dark. Crawdad tilted his head. “You know who they are?”
Mr. Johnson scowled and didn’t answer. He reached into
Mr. Johnson whirled with an angry expression on his beef- his coat and pulled out an impressively large Ruger Super War-
steak face. Air rustled around Snipe, meaning he’d done some- hawk, which he held loosely at his side as the troll approached.
thing or other with magical mojo, but Whippet couldn’t tell what. The troll stopped about twenty meters away from Mr. John-
Ozma’s fingers moved here and there, getting her drones into son. He was dressed in a business suit and a dark silk tie that
reflected what little light there was. With the lights behind him,
he was little more than a silhouette, so other details were dif-
ficult to see. “You’re playing a dangerous game here, Kirby,”
he said.

17THE BATTLE FOUGHT

Whippet raised an eyebrow and looked at his other team whole vacation week. I could do ten guns an hour, which meant
members, but none of them seemed to care much that they had about seven hundred a week, more than 3,500 guns per year.
just learned Mr. Johnson’s real name. Sell ’em at 350 nuyen a pop, and that’s about a million and a
quarter per year. Twenty years on the job, you got about twen-
“None of this is your concern,” Mr. Johnson said. “None of it.” ty-five million. And in all that time, they paid me less than half a
“Materials are missing from the office,” the troll said. “That’s million total.
exactly my concern.”
“Nothing’s missing,” Mr. Johnson said, holding up the pack- “Right before my twentieth anniversary, they dumped me.
age Crawdad had just given him. “It’s right here, in employee Right on my ass. Wasn’t a personal call, wasn’t a visit from a su-
custody.” pervisor. It was just an ARO that popped up in front of me in-
The troll sighed. “It doesn’t belong in employee custody forming me of my termination. I heard they programmed it the
wandering around the Barrens. It belongs in the office. And day they hired me. They know, see. They know when the balance
it just barely got into your custody after it was in the hands kicks in, when it’s cheaper to hire someone newer and less expe-
of these runners.” He waved off Mr. Johnson before he could rienced and not worry about turnover costs and what you lose
say more. “No, the time for talking is done. You’re coming from inexperienced workers. That’s what they cared about, that’s
with us.” why they fired me.”
Mr. Johnson looked ready to shout something defiant, but
then his jaw locked and no noise came out. His right leg moved He smiled an exceptionally tired smile. “So you see, the
forward in a lurching step as if something were pulling it. corps aren’t looking to spread anything around. More money
“He’s being controlled,” Snipe said over the team’s private being spent is more they’re gonna keep.”
channel.
“No shit,” Whippet said. “We don’t move, they’ll take Mr. Whippet almost went over to the guy to talk about the ways
Johnson, the goodies, and any chance we have of getting paid. corps mess with you. But instead he walked on.
Crawdad didn’t hesitate. He brought up both his Predators
and leveled them at the troll. ✖
“You can’t take him yet,” he said. “Man owes us money.”
“Why the hell do I care?” The troll looked at Mr. Johnson writhing on the ground.
Crawdad shrugged and started to drop his guns. Then he “That seemed unnecessarily cruel.” He cocked his gun. “And
jerked one up and fired. A bullet hit Mr. Johnson in the leg, leav-
ing him writhing on the broken concrete. shooting him doesn’t mean I’m not going to shoot back.”
Crawdad had both his guns pointed at the troll. “Yeah, but
✖
you haven’t yet.”
Whippet rounded the corner and saw the line of people stretch- It didn’t take two blinks before the troll blasted Crawdad in
ing forward. There was a fairly plain sign on the grey building. It
said “Job fair.” the chest.
Crawdad stumbled but didn’t go down. His armor vest did its
Good hell, he thought. These were worse than corp drones—
they were wannabe corp drones. Unemployed and looking for job. He let loose with both his handguns, but the troll was at least
whatever crumbs the corp doing the hiring was willing to drop as well armored, and the bullets didn’t seem to do any damage.
their way.
Then headlights went on to the left of the first car, then to the
As he approached the front of the line, he saw a guy in a right. Doors opened, feet hit the ground, and bullets hit the air.
battered coat sitting on the curb, begging. Begging from the un- And everyone scattered.
employed, he thought. Nice move. A dwarf with a black beard
was standing next to him, hand on his shoulder, consoling him. “Ozma, what the hell?” Snipe yelled over the comm. “Seri-
Whippet could hear a little of their conversation. ously, what the hell?”

“Things can’t stay down forever, right?” the dwarf was saying. Ozma did not respond, and Whippet had a sinking feeling.
“The fact that someone’s hiring is a good sign. They’ll hire some But he didn’t think about it much as he ran toward Crawdad’s car.
people, those people will spend some money, that will lead to
someone else being hired, and so on.” Behind them the ground exploded. A spirit of concrete and
rubble pulled itself out of the ground and flung rocks and debris
“I made Ares twenty-five million nuyen,” the beggar said. here and there. Whippet heard a metallic clunk as one of the
That shut the dwarf up, and it came close to stopping Whip- larger chunks hit the roof of the troll’s car.
pet in his tracks. He kept his movements slow so he could be
sure to hear whatever the guy said next. “Have it grab the package, Snipe,” Crawdad yelled. “Have it
“Twenty years in assembly. Ares likes to talk about their hand- grab the package!”
made grips, and I was one of the guys doing the hand-making
on the Predator. It was one of those things where the PR benefit Whippet fired once, twice, three times with the Street
outweighed the savings from having a machine do it, you know? Sweeper, turning behind him as he ran. The weapon lived up to
Plus, I’d like to think I brought skill to the job that a machine its name, making people scatter, keeping pursuit unorganized
couldn’t duplicate. until he reached Crawdad’s car. He ran to the passenger door
“I worked that job for seventy hours a week. After five years, and yanked it open.
I got two vacation days a year. Eventually, at the end, I had a
He felt a small amount of tension, heard the light snap as a
thread broke. He screamed “Down!” as he fell to the ground.

Lucky for him the explosion was mostly on the driver’s side,
sending a small burst of fire out the shattered driver’s side win-
dow. He still caught enough of the explosion that he had the
wind knocked out of him.

He knew that the ground was a terrible place to be in this
sort of situation, so he was trying to get to his feet even as he
was struggling for breath. He saw one of Ozma’s FlySpy drones

18 THE BATTLE FOUGHT

darting nearby. At least she’d know where he was, he thought. It took three seconds, one more than Whippet would have
But that comfort went away quick when bullets hit the ground preferred, but then it was there, the spirit emerging out of the
near him, spraying concrete dust into his legs. ground and forming a wall for the car to smash into.

“Crawdad, you okay?” he asked once he could breathe The wall wasn’t entirely solid, since they didn’t want every-
enough to talk. one in the car smashed. The spirit caught the vehicle, brought it
to a stop, then vanished, services fulfilled.
“Damn fools need to time their explosions better,” Crawdad
replied. “I’m moving west, away from what used to be my frag- Whippet and Crawdad moved carefully on either side of the
ging car.” crashed car. Whippet could make out three sources of heat be-
sides the machinery, two in the front, one in the back. None of
“Okay, Ozma should have a fix on me. Ozma, can you tell me them were moving.
how to get to Crawdad?”
Part of Whippet wanted to just unload his weapon into the
There was nothing. car to make sure no one would move again, but what was left of
“Snipe, where’s Ozma?” his sense of honor prevented him. Plus, dead people don’t pay.
“She’s … frag it, she’s getting into the back of the troll’s car!
Not kidnapped either, just strolling in safe and sound. Switch to He was about ten meters away when the person in the back
backup channels!” moved. Even Whippet thought she moved with blinding speed,
They all switched. ripping through the roof of the car like it was tissue, dashing to-
“Turncoat,” Crawdad spat. “Last time we use someone Hoja ward Whippet and moving while his Street Sweeper fired wild.
recommends.” She was holding something solid, and she caught him across the
“Roger that,” Snipe said. “Remind me to punch him in the chest with it as she dashed by. He stepped backward three times
brain next time I see him.” but he didn’t fall. Then he turned to engage her.
Whippet looked through the dark, scanning for any heat sig-
natures. The fire blazing in Crawdad’s car was causing some dif- She was a marvel. He wanted her either dead or next to him
ficulty, which was probably part of the point. He thought he saw on his next job. By the time he had turned, she was already mov-
movement around the edges of the car, probably some mem- ing toward him, and she had a gun out. He dove right and she
bers of the troll’s team using it as cover. missed. He fired while leaning on an elbow, which is a terrible
As he got breath back, he started running. Getting clear way to shoot. He missed, and his arm hurt.
seemed like a real good idea right now.
“Three following me,” Crawdad said. “Seem to want me dead He knew he couldn’t stay still, so he ran to match her.
pretty bad.” They whirled in the street, almost raising a tornado. He used
“You want help?” Whippet asked. the ruined vehicle as a ramp, he jumped in and out of broken
“I wanna get paid,” Crawdad said. windows, he leapt and pushed off walls to give him a quick
“Roger that,” Whippet said. He didn’t need any other instruc- change of direction. Everything he did, she matched. It was a
tions. He came to a northbound street and veered right. Af- rapier duel where they were the swords, crossing and feinting,
ter a few hundred meters, he found a multi-story building that slashing for a strike.
looked abandoned, and he ran in through an empty door frame.
He picked his way up a crumbling staircase to the second floor, Then it happened. They were charging at each other from
then danced over missing floorboards to get near the street. He across the street, and the woman darted to her left as the first
perched near a broken window, then ducked so that the brick step in a wheeling-around maneuver. She must not have seen
wall would give him some cover. the fire hydrant near Whippet’s left foot. He jumped, planted
Before long, Crawdad was tearing down the street. Two peo- on the hydrant, pushed off, and flipped. His left arm was whirl-
ple on foot were behind him, and a car turned the corner about ing as he flew, and it hit what it was supposed to hit, a solid
three blocks away. Whippet would have to act fast. blow on the head. She stumbled, and a follow up blow from his
He stayed out of view and counted to ten. Then he moved, right brought her down.
going from sitting still to full speed in an inhuman instant. He
extended his legs and flew out the window, becoming a guided Whippet didn’t know what Crawdad had been up to during
missile aimed at one of Crawdad’s pursuers. the fight, but then he was there, gun leveled at her head. Whip-
He nailed the guy right in the chest, just like he knew he pet pulled out a pistol to make doubly sure they had her covered.
would. It should have hurt more, but his bone lacing helped take
some of the sting off the blow. She was down, bleeding and battered, but she smiled.
The two of them rolled on the broken plascrete, which stung “Okay,” she said. “What’s this going to cost me?”
a little, but Whippet knew this was going to happen, and the guy
he had hit did not. Which meant Whippet had a knife out faster, ✖
and he used it faster. The guy stayed down.
In the meantime, Crawdad had used the surprise of Whip- Whippet was still sore. Still limping. But he was looking at a line
pet’s landing to take care of the other pursuer. He did it in fine, of people waiting to be used and then discarded, and at least he
ammo-conserving style, pummeling the guy until he fell, then wasn’t them. Yeah, none of them had been shot at today, they
kicking him, hard, when he was down. wouldn’t be shot at tomorrow, or ever. But none of them had
Those two were taken care of, but the car would be on them ever helped their team earn fifteen thousand nuyen by tackling
in about five seconds. someone from a second-story window. Or by landing a flipping
“Block away, Snipe,” Crawdad said. blow on one of the fastest people he’d ever seen.

He mounted his gun on his shoulder and gave the line of corp
drone wannabes a jaunty wave as he walked away from them

Screw ’em all. He was knee-deep in potato chip money, and
he was going to use it. ✖

19THE BATTLE FOUGHT

SECTION.01

LIFE IN THE
SIXTH WORLD

It would be nice if you had all the time in the world MAGIC: PAYING
to get your bearings in the Sixth World. If you could
walk around, see the sights, and get adjusted to what WITH YOUR MIND
life as a shadowrunner is. But you don’t have that much
time. There are squatters looking for whatever space Remember when I said it was “nice” to know important
you’re taking up, organ harvesters interested in your dates but not necessary? Well, I lied. There’s one date
still-pumping heart, and more than enough hazards to everyone needs to know: December 24, 2011. That’s the
fill a handful of Daily Things That Will Kill You calendars. day the Sixth World started. According to the academ-
Plus, you have to eat, which means you need to make icky types who like to sort things into boxes and put the
some money, fast. So let’s talk for a bit about what you boxes in order, this planet of ours has seen six ages, by
need to know, then you can get up and running to see which they mean six different levels of magic. The pre-
how much more you can learn. Try to stay alive. vious age, the Fifth World, was an ebb in magic. Magic
was shady, disreputable, a bit slatternly, hiding out in
EVERYTHING dark corners and back alleys, very rarely coming out in
the light of day. Then, on December 24, the great drag-
HAS A PRICE on Ryumyo flew out of Mount Fuji and darted alongside
a bullet train full of very surprised commuters, pretty
Read the sentence in the header there. Read it again. Got much putting the world on notice that the ebb was over.
it? Good. Because if that’s the only thing you take away That was just the beginning; magic coming back meant
from this, if that’s the only thing you learn, then you’ll still big changes for the world.
be getting something valuable about the world you live
in. You walk around this world, you’ll see a lot of heaps, In fact, some of the changes had kicked in months be-
and each one of them’s got someone perched on top fore, just nobody understood that’s what was happening.
of it. Every megacorporation has its CEO, governments They called it Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE)—a
have their chief executive, gangs have their lieutenant scientificky-sounding name for children being born who
or head man or chief head basher or whatever they hell looked like the elves or dwarfs of legends and folktales.
they decide to call them. Even that one block in the bar- Only they didn’t just look the parts; the new dwarf chil-
rens that has nothing more than a rusty dumpster, an dren grew to be unnaturally strong and could see in near
abandoned car, and a shed whose roof has caved in has darkness, while the elf children had preternaturally quick
a scary-eyed guy named Rastool who has scared off all reflexes and moved like dancers. For ten years these kids
the other scary-eyed guys so he can claim that spot as were freaks. Then, in 2021, they became average. That’s
his own. Each of them figured out what they would have when Goblinization struck. And it was not pretty. Where
to pay to get to the top of that particular heap, and each UGE had created interesting-looking newborns, Gob-
of them ponied up when the time came and paid it. linization struck people of all ages. The most noticeable
symptom was blinding, mind-numbing agony that came
So this is what you need to know. Sure, it’s nice to in waves. This lasted twelve to seventy-two hours while
know history and important dates and current events the victims changed shape, grew tusks and/or sprouted
and who among the glitterati is schtupping who, but horns, and maybe quadrupled their body mass. Which is
let’s focus on what matters: What will keep you alive, how the orks and trolls came back. Not that they’d been
what will help you get ahead, and what you might have gone—elves and dwarfs and orks and trolls had always
to pay to get what you want. been here, but in the low magic ebb of the Fifth World,
they’d looked just like ordinary humans.
If we’re going to talk about payments, we need to
talk about currency. What I mean is, we need to look In the wake of these changes, it became clear “hu-
at the things you might need to give up in order to get manity” was too narrow a term to cover all the types
ahead. of people roaming the Earth, so now we call ourselves
metahumanity. Turns out the different races don’t like

20 Everything Has a Price >>

each other any more now than they did in all those over the divided city of Denver. The great feathered
legends and fairytales. But we’re all stuck on the same
rock spinning through space, so we deal with it. serpent Hualpa does likewise in Amazonia. A dragon

It didn’t take too long for people to start trying to get named Dunkelzahn managed to get himself elected the
a handle on how to use all the new magic floating around
for themselves. Turned out some people had a knack for president of the United Canadian and American States,
it. While the rest of us were wondering what they were
looking at with glazed eyes and weird expressions, they only to get blown up on the night of his inauguration.
were figuring out how to channel and shape streams of
mana—a sort of magic energy that seems to be just about And don’t overlook the corporate dragons—Celedyr di-
everywhere. Turns out, if you can suss how it’s done, you
can use mana to set the air on fire, make people do things recting research at NeoNET, Rhonabwy managing a su-
they’d never do, or things that are truly esoteric and/or in-
sane. And mana wasn’t just for the spells and stuff we think premely massive stock portfolio, and the great dragon
of as magic. It gave some people the strength to punch Lofwyr directing the largest megacorporation on Earth,
through walls. Others can shame a cobra with their reflex-
es, there are some who can outrun a cheetah, and that’s Saeder-Krupp.
just scratching the surface. And you know all those magic Which makes this a good time to talk about the
goodies from legends and fairytales and myths? We got
‘em all. Enchanted swords, magic rings, wands, amulets, megacorporations.
mojo bags, every potion you can think of all exist. Not that
they always work the way they did in the stories. Don’t MEGACORPS: PAYING
think you can just grab the sword of a legendary warrior
and expect to slice and dice like she did, for example. But WITH YOUR SELF
the point is, magic is out there, and people are using it. The
Atlantean Foundation, the Draco Foundation, Massachu- There was a time when the highest law of any land was
setts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy—they’re the decrees put down by national governments, and all
regularly researching how to do the impossible with a twist bodies in national borders, individuals and corporations
of the wrist and a wink. alike, were subject to those laws. But there was a time
even before that when the only law of the world was
Now, let me be straight with you. The vast majority of power, and you could do what you wanted as long as you
us have no talent for magic, which means we’re likely to had the strength to keep anyone from stopping you (of
look on those who do with some combination of fascina- course, history’s full of evidence that this has always been
tion and mistrust. We love them because they can do the the case, even when national governments held sway).
things we’ve only dreamed about, and we hate them for The state of the Sixth World, then, isn’t really anything
the exact same reason. So if you’re Awakened, get used new. It’s just the latest iteration of the might-makes-right
to folks eyeing you with interest and suspicion. And be way of doing things. The only real change is that once
ready for anyone with a gun to aim it at you first. It’s the upon a time governments were able to restrain corpora-
Sixth World way. tions, or at least enforce some limits. Not any more.

One last and very important thing you’ve gotta un- There’s a lot of legal history we could cover to help
you see how we got to this point, but in the end it boils
derstand about magic: Dragons. They’re large, they’re down to one word: extraterritoriality. That’s the word
that allows corporations to say that whatever happens
dangerous, and they will mess you up. Ryumyo of Mount in their holdings, on the buildings and lands they own,
is subject to their laws—and no one else’s. Gaining ex-
Fuji fame was the first but definitely not the last dragon traterritorial status was a long-held dream of many
of the world’s largest corporations, and when judicial
to have an impact on the Sixth World; they have their decisions in nations across the world gave it to them,
they spent several years pissing on themselves and
claws everywhere. The great dragon Ghostwalker reigns each other in utter delirium. Then they figured out their
infighting was cutting into their bottom lines, so they
stopped fighting one another and concentrated on
pissing on the rest of us.

<< Everything Has a Price 21

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

SEATTLE

Not every corporation in the world has extraterrito- The next step, becoming an AA-ranked corporation,
rial status. To understand who does, you have to know is the one that gets you the big prize of extraterritoriality.
about the Corporate Court, the body the megacorpo- To get to this point, you’ve got to show that you’re big in
rations created when they realized they were spending several nations, you’re tough, and you can take the drek
too much time solving their disputes by ravaging en- the really big boys may dish out at you when they’re in
tire small countries. The Corporate Court is sometimes a pissy mood.
mocked as a toothless entity, a puppet of the world’s
largest megacorps, but it manages—usually—to keep Then you’ve got the top rank, the AAAs. The Big Ten.
open warfare between the corps from breaking out, and They’re not necessarily the largest megacorporations on
that’s at least worth something. Earth, but their size, their diversity, and their power set
them apart. That, and the fact that they somehow con-
As part of its duties, the Court has created a ranking vinced the other megas to give them a seat on the Cor-
system to tell you how big and powerful a particular corp porate Court. Because that’s who populates the Court,
is. At the bottom are the unrated corps, ranging from the justices from the Big Ten. They are the powers that shape
commlink repair business two guys named Mitch start- the world, and everyone, shadowrunner or not, knows
ed in the back of their Ford Americar to companies that their names, because they’re the centers from which nuy-
stretch from coast to coast of the world’s largest nations en flows—and where most of the nuyen normally ends
but don’t cross any borders. To get the lowest ranking up. Ares. Aztechnology. Evo. Horizon. Mitsuhama. Neo-
the corp gives out, the A-ranking, you’ve got to be a NET. Renraku. Saeder-Krupp. Shiawase. Wuxing. If you’re
multinational, doing substantive business in more than going to be a runner for longer than ten minutes, you’re
one country. And no, occasionally selling a bag of Wa- going to work for one of these guys, and if you’re going
foCrisps to a shepherd in New Zealand doesn’t count. to live in the shadows for more than a day, you’re going to

22 Everything Has a Price >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

get screwed over by them. You need to know about these that your fists and legs deliver crushing blows. You can
guys, so we’ve got a briefing coming up. make your senses sharper, your brain faster, and you can
implant knowledge that you never learned in school.
In the meantime, what you need to understand is that You can replace entire pieces of your body with artifi-
these guys are bigger than big. Think of the world’s larg- cial replicas full of extra strength, nimble agility, secret
est manufacturer of computer equipment. Then add in a compartments, and hidden weapons that provide very
powerful magic supplies broker. Throw in a few banks, unpleasant surprises at just the right time.
an insurance firm, an entertainment conglomerate, and
a snack-food giant, and you’re still not a tenth of the way But it’s not free. And we’re not just talking money;
to forming one of the Big Ten. They employ millions of there’s a higher price to pay. All this stuff is useful and
people and control trillions of nuyen. They have doz- great, but it’s artificial. It’s not metahuman, and your
ens of subsidiaries that, on their own, would be AA- or body knows it. Each time you get one of these augmen-
A-rated corporations. Each and every one of them owns tations, you give up a piece of yourself. You lose some-
a piece of land within one hundred kilometers of you, un- thing inside of you, the essence of metahumanity. We
less you’re in the Sahara, the Amazon, or at the bottom of don’t quite understand what this “it” is, but we know this
the ocean. And maybe even then. And each of them has much—the more artificial you make yourself, the farther
convinced their employees that the safe haven they offer you get from actual life. If you get too far, whatever an-
is worth decades of low-paying, mundane, soul-sucking imated you is going to disappear, until all the gear you
work. They command the armies of the wageslaves of the bought just collapses and becomes indistinguishable
world, and one way we shadowrunners know who we are from any other pile of silicon, steel, and chrome. So go
is that we know we’re not them. Of course, just like them, ahead and get yourself augmented up. Get those syn-
we sell our time and sometimes our lives dancing to the aptic boosters, those muscle replacements, and while
megacorporations’ tune. They have the nuyen, and we you’re at it put a sparkling datajack in your head and
want it, which means they determine what the rules of some boss, day-glo nanotattoos on your face. Just un-
the game are. We just play it. derstand that each time you do this, another piece of
your metahumanity goes sliding away.
But if we’re going to be different than them—stronger,
faster, and dare I say better—we need an edge. A few of But wait! There’s more! If you are Awakened, if you
us are lucky enough to get that edge through magic. have any sort of magical mojo, you lose more than your
essence. Your magic theorists, they’ll tell you that mana
For the rest of us, there are augmentations. is tied to life (which is why inanimate objects don’t have
an astral aura and there’s no magic in deep space, but
‘WARES: PAYING that’s another subject). You take away some of the life of
an Awakened person, you take away some of their pow-
WITH YOUR SOUL er. That’s why the spellslingers and adepts among us are
cautious about how many augmentations they get. But
Ever since the days of John Henry, we’ve been fighting they got their spells and their abilities, which means they
the battle against machines, trying to prove that hu- got plenty of ways to keep up even if they aren’t wired
manity had the upper hand on cold iron and circuitry. to the gills.
It took us until earlier this century to figure out that we
shouldn’t be trying to beat the machines; we should be In the end, all this augmentations stuff comes down
joining them. Of course it all began as prosthetics—ar- to a single question: How much of your metahumanity
tificial legs and hands that moved like the originals, cy- are you willing to trade for power? And that, chummer,
bernetic eyes and ears that let people born blind or deaf is a question that covers way more than how many aug-
see and hear. But pretty soon people figured out what mentations you get.
began as medical marvels could be adapted to improve
anyone’s senses and abilities, and it wasn’t a big jump SHADOWS: PAYING
from there to implanted phones and computers.
WITH YOUR BLOOD
These days, every bit of who you are can be improved
with the right piece of gear (unless you’re a mage or ad- Like I said before, this is a world dominated by the
ept—we’ll talk about that in a second). Think you’ve got megacorporations. They like things a certain way, and
quick reflexes? You can be quicker. An artificial neural that way requires a docile population, a world of peo-
network’ll make you faster than a nervous jackrabbit. ple who do whatever work they’re told, build anything,
Think you’re strong? Switch out the muscles you were carry anything, sacrifice anything for the mega, then
born with for a set that’s been custom grown for brawn spend all their money in the company store and be glad
and efficiency and you’ll take strong to a whole new level. they got it so good. Sheep. That’s how megacorps see
Think you’re charming? Implant a few sets of specialized metahumanity: a flock of sheep they have to keep in
pheromone dispensers and people will swoon when you line to serve their purposes.
walk by and nod enthusiastically when you talk.
Which means the rest of us face a stark choice: Ac-
And that’s just for starters. You can put actual plates cept their shit. Or not. There are lots of ways to sell out
of armor on your skin, or lace your bones with metal so

<< Everything Has a Price 23

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

SINNERS AND THE SINLESS survive. We still have to dance to the corporate tune to
some degree—who doesn’t?—but we get to live on our
Some of us choose the shadows, and some of us have the terms, in our way, and if we do it right and build up our
shadows thrust upon them. One of the dividing lines between skills, we can become the best at what we do and get
the world of shadows and the world of light is a SIN—a paid what we deserve. Then, maybe, instead of being
System Identification Number—the identification you need to one of us, scrambling under the heels of the powerful,
be accepted in security systems and government databases we can be one of them, and remake a small part of the
and pretty much any computer anywhere that authenticates world in our image.
people’s identities. If you have one, you’re a SINner, one of the
good, normal people of the world. If you don’t have one, you’re an No matter how each of us got into the shadows,
outsider. You’re pushed into the shadows of the world by default. we’re here now. If we’re going to survive, we have to
find work. There are dozens, hundreds, thousands of
So who is born without a SIN—who are the SINless jobs out there. You can make money off of them, but
people of the world? Well, if your parents didn’t have one, you each one will cost you something. You’ll get a scar from
probably don’t. So children of criminals, along with kids of a a bullet that should have killed you. A leg that aches
high percentage of orks or trolls (who often get denied SINs as in the cold because you broke it crashing your motor-
a matter of course), often start off in the dark. Then there are cycle on one of your less stylish getaways. A missing
criminals—the professional kind, the amateur ones, and the arm because you were standing just a bit too close to a
accidental ones. Whatever they did, however they got caught, bomb going off and a working cyber model is pricy. And
they ended up with a criminal SIN, which is about as useful as a that’s just what will happen to your body. You’ll be dou-
fingerless cyberhand. Most of the time, rather than staying with ble-crossed, betrayed, and abandoned. You’ll see trust-
the norms and being treated like a radioactive leper, folks with a ed friends turn on you and watch others die. You’ll have
criminal SIN drop out of society, either running in the shadows or every last bit of you tested in ways you can’t imagine just
opting for the full-on criminal lifestyle (the mobs and street gangs to see how much you can endure.
of the Sixth World are always hiring).
And if you succeed? If you stay alive? Money, first of
in this world and find a corporate master who will order all, but more. You become a legend. You join the ranks
you around. There’s garbage to be collected, floors to of the people we tell stories about, the shadowrunners
be swept, numbers to be added. The megas have liter- whose names we all know. Dirk Montgomery. FastJack.
al mountains of menial labor to be performed in a nev- Sally Tsung. The Smiling Bandit. You’ll have lived your
er-ending series of twelve- or sixteen-hour shifts. Yes, own life, survived, and even thrived. You’ll have stuck it to
it’s a lot of work, but you’ll have time off occasionally, every man the Sixth World has to offer.
and there’s a whole slew of corporate-approved enter-
tainments. You can even have relationships with other As long as you can pay the price.
people, as long as you don’t associate with anyone your
beloved parent megacorporation might consider in any WHERE TO RUN
way unsuitable. You will never be required to be creative
or inspired. You will never have to take risks. You could We’ve already established that megacorporations are
live, potentially, for a long time (if you’re lucky enough more powerful than nations, but that doesn’t mean na-
not to contract any diseases on the corporate Do Not tions don’t have reasons to exist. For one thing, they
Treat list), and you will have approximately the same provide convenient ways for megacorporations to di-
quality of life as a worker bee. vide up their activities. And while they may not be the
top powers in the world, they provide infrastructure,
For some of us, that’s not enough. That’s not a life. education, law and safety for all those places not inside
The megacorps own enough in the world. They don’t a megacorp’s walls, and a sense of identity to their cit-
need to own us. So we drop out, stay away from the life izens—a lot of people take where they come from very
of a corp drone, and find another way to be. We do the seriously. So nations are still out there, and you should
jobs corps don’t want their regular employees to do, the know some of the more important ones, if only to know
things they don’t want connected back to them. Espi- what kind of identities you need to fake when traveling.
onage missions; missions of theft, sabotage, and as-
sault—maybe assassination if you swing that way. That’s NORTH AMERICA
the kind of work that drifts down into the shadows of
the world, and that’s what we pick up. That’s how we The formerly mighty United States and its northern
neighbor Canada were hit by powerful Native Amer-
ican secession movements in the early part of the
twenty-first century that broke apart both nations and
changed the face of the continent. Perhaps the most
direct heir to the old United States is the United Ca-
nadian and American States (UCAS), which is com-

24 Where to Run >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

posed of much of the northeastern United States and GET RUNNING
southeastern Canada. The nation’s capital is the old
U.S. base of DeeCee, and their ideals and government The good news about shadowrunning is that there is a practically
constructs have deliberate similarities to the nation’s limitless number of jobs out there. The bad news is, pretty much all
predecessor. The UCAS is not as powerful as the for- of them come with a chance of fatal complications. The kinds of runs
mer United States, but it’s got enough economic clout you could do, and the dangers and opportunities associated with
and military prowess to be taken seriously. Two of the them, could fill several books, but here’s a quick list to whet your
Big Ten are based in the UCAS—Ares in Detroit, and appetite:
NeoNET in Boston.
• Stealing the prototype of a new microdrone from the
The UCAS is also home to the shadowrunning cap- secured offices of Mitsuhama.
ital of the world, Seattle—and yeah, I know it’s not in
the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. It’s a • Breaking into a secured node in the elven kingdom of
lump of sprawl that got carved out of the surrounding Tír Tairngire to find out who the High Prince has been
Native American Nation and given to the UCAS. Se- contacting about alleged orichalcum discoveries.
attle’s unique situation makes it an epicenter of trade
and intrigue. Each of the Big Ten has a presence in the • Sneaking into a corporate enclave in Neo-Tokyo and
city (some more than others—NeoNET is all over the slipping out a promising engineer with a supposedly
place, for example, while Renraku’s presence is a pale unbreakable contract so that a competitor can make a
shadow of what it used to be). You can also find the new offer.
Mafia, the Yakuza, and a whole host of other organized
crime outfits and street gangs. The wealthy areas of the • Infiltrating the Congress of the United Canadian and
sprawl shimmer with polished marble and gleaming American States to discover just who is being controlled
gold, while the poorest areas present kilometer after ki- by the mysterious, nefarious Black Lodge.
lometer of polluted land, broken buildings, and creep-
ing terrors. It’s a city of extremes, but it’s the extremes • Investigating reports of high-ranking corporate
of light and dark that make the shadows so extensive executives in Hong Kong who have been acting erratically
and deep. and have vanished for days at a time.

The UCAS’ cousin to its south is the Confederation • Exploring weaknesses in the new Matrix protocols and
of American States (CAS). Far from being the industrial selling whatever you discover to the highest bidder.
weakling it was in the days of the American Civil War,
the CAS boasts a vibrant and diverse range of economic • Pursuing rumors of powerful artifacts hidden in a
activity. Even if they don’t have a homegrown AAA corp mysterious Antarctic tower.
to call their own. More importantly to shadowrunners,
the CAS is home to the largest independent security • Subtly—and permanently—silencing a prominent
corporation in the world, Lone Star. If you’re a shadow- politician’s second wife.
runner, you’ve run into the officers of the Star before.
If you’re a good shadowrunner, you managed to survive • Infiltrating the Sea Dragon’s undersea lair and stealing a
the encounter alive, mostly intact, and out of prison. claw to be used by magic researchers.

Most of the rest of North America is divided be- • Discovering what plans the neo-anarchists of Berlin have
tween the Native American Nations, geopolitical enti- that might upset corporate interests.
ties created when the indigenous people decided to rise
up and retake their lands. The Pueblo Corporate Coun- • Stopping a notorious toxic shaman believed to be
cil has the southwest (including Los Angeles, the home hiding in the horribly polluted, quarantined Saar Special
of Horizon), the Sioux Nation reigns over much of the Administrative Zone.
central plains, the Salish-Shidhe Council governs the
Pacific Northwest—surrounding Seattle—while the Tsim- • Finding out who was behind Aztechnology re-inserting
shian Protectorate and Algonkian-Manitou Council themselves into the divided city of Denver—and then
reside in the north. Also in North America are the un- making them pay.
certain California Free State, the recovering corporate
haven of Québec, and the elven nation of Tír Tairngire. • Discovering just what NeoNET is doing under the heading
of Project Imago.
Then there’s the treaty city of Denver; a charming
sprawl divided among five nations and ruled over by a • Breaking into the Ancients’ headquarters and sending
dragon. The story of how that came to be will have to them a clear message about where elves are welcome
wait for another time. Suffice it to say there’s enough in- and where they are not.
trigue in Denver to keep a very large number of shadow-
runners quite busy.

25<< Where to Run

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

TENOCHTITLAN

CENTRAL AMERICA because Hualpa might find himself looking for some
new investment.
Central America is one word: Aztlan. And Aztlan is one
word: Aztechnology. The nation is basically a division ASIA
of the megacorp. So if you have no problems with Az-
technology, then you’ve got no problems with Aztlan. Imperial Japan boasts the greatest concentration of
If you’ve managed to piss off the Big A, it’s probably megacorporate headquarters in the world. Mitsuhama,
best to stay off their home ground, as they’ve got eyes Renraku, and Shiawase all make their home here, and
everywhere. The nation stretches from its border with a new spirit of cooperation between the three of them
Texas on the north all the way down to Amazonia in threatens to make life difficult for the other megas of
the south. The Corporate Court controls the Panama the world. Citizens of Japan take great pride in their Im-
Canal, and the Yucatan is … complicated. perial government and their homegrown megacorps.
They are less happy about the non-human metatypes
SOUTH AMERICA in their midst, though the general populace has grown
more accepting in recent years.
There are a number of nations down here, but the
only one with a significant global profile is Amazonia. Wuxing is based in the independent city of Hong
Ruled over by the ecologically minded dragon Hualpa, Kong. Hong Kong is a very business-friendly sprawl, in
Amazonia is one place where the corps are second- pretty much the same way the Old West town of Tomb-
ary to the nation. Though after the spanking Aztlan stone was a very gunfighter-friendly town. It’s great to
just gave Amazonia in a recent war, the megas might be at the top or on the way up, but if you lose a compe-
be looking to flex a little more muscle down there, tition in that sprawl, you lose hard. All of which makes
Hong Kong very friendly to our brand of business; the

26 Where to Run >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

megacorporations make or take any advantage they can Perhaps the hottest spot in the area is New Guinea.
to ensure they don’t come out the losers. Australia tried to annex it in 2064, and they met resis-
tance from the prime minister—who promptly disap-
While it’s been divided into several nations, Russia peared. Since then it has functioned as a part of Austra-
has managed to hold on to a winding stretch of land lia, but in recent years anti-Republic resistance has been
connecting its western section to the eastern coast on growing, meaning there are plenty of politically oriented
the Sea of Japan. The city of Vladivostok hosts the head- shadowruns in the area.
quarters of Evo, making it one of the world’s leading
technological centers. A DAY IN

EUROPE YOUR LIFE

The Allied German States, specifically the sprawl of So now you’ve got some idea how to make yourself
Essen, is home to the largest megacorporation in the strong enough and fast enough and maybe smart
world, Saeder-Krupp. It’s also hosted some of the worst enough to do what you need or want to do, and you’ve
ecological disasters in the past century, but we’re sure got a snapshot of a few places you might want to do it.
that’s just a coincidence. The pollution in the area, Now let’s talk about what really matters to you—your
along with other corporate abuses, has made the AGS life in the Sixth World. We’ll start with the people you’ll
in general, and Berlin in particular, a hotbed of neo-an- encounter, in particular the ones you should seek out.
archist activity and other megacorporate resistance.
PEOPLE YOU KNOW
France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Po-
land, and other European nations go about their busi- If you’re going to make it as a shadowrunner, there are
ness as normal, while the Balkans remain a seat of cha- four types of people you need to know. First is other
os and confusion. Plus ça change and all that. runners. Yeah, you’re great—you got the talent, you
got the moves, you do everything better than anyone
AFRICA else—but what you can’t do is everything by yourself.
You may have drek-hot Matrix skills, but you’ll need
Northern Africa has seen Egypt grow both west and some magic surveillance to help keep you safe. Or you
south, though Algeria, Tunisia, Sheba, and the Ethio- may be an ace at long-range weapons, but could real-
malian Territories currently are holding it at bay. The ly use a tank who can charge in and do some serious
Kingdoms of Nigeria are divided among various tribes damage in melee situations. The point is: To be effec-
looking to position themselves to get a piece of the oil tive, you need a team. Ask around, do some trial runs,
revenue flowing through the nation. The ghoul kingdom and find some people you trust. Your team is going to
of Asamando in west Africa is one of the most contro- be the only thing standing between you and death on a
versial nations of the world; some see it as a leader in number of occasions, so you need to be able to count
the struggle for ghoul rights, while others take excep- on each one of them. That doesn’t mean they need to
tion to the fact that metahumans are regularly and de- be normal, likable, or even entirely sane. They just need
liberately fed to the diseased populace of the land. The to be there when it counts.
Nairobi sprawl in Kenya is home to the Kilimanjaro Mass
Driver, which is playing a growing role in promoting The second group is contacts. We understand if
space travel. The nation of Azania has taken over much you’re not a people person—for a lot of us, being called an
of the southern part of the continent, and while cultur- “anti-social psychopath” would be an upgrade. But there
al divisions keep threatening to pull it apart, the money are people we run into. There’s the girl at the corner bar
flowing in from its industrial might holds it together. who’s as good with the tap as she is with a shotgun. The
weapons dealer who always calls you first when a new
AUSTRALIA shipment hits the black market. The owl-eyed guy who
runs the odds-and-ends shop that occasionally carries
AND OCEANIA powdered snow moose horn, which is extremely useful
in alchemy. The Lone Star lieutenant who once let you
Long a center of unique and strange wildlife, the Aus- skate on a pick-pocketing charge because you had a nice
tralian Republic got even weirder after the Awakening. face. All these people and more have two important qual-
The Outback is regularly swept by mana storms, mak- ities: First, they won’t immediately shoot you on sight; and
ing it more dangerous than ever to cross. Many parazo- second, they’re in a position to know useful information.
ologists make the attempt, though, because they know Whether it’s who’s hiring and for what, where someone
there are critters out there that have yet to be cata- trying to keep a low profile might have gone to ground,
logued. The island of Tasmania, meanwhile, seems to new and interesting infestations of security types, or oth-
have become a living organism, using its plant growth er bits of data you didn’t know you needed to know, what
and animal life to quickly demolish anything metahu-
mans try to construct.

27<< A Day in Your Life

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

your contacts can tell you is an indispensable part of your they get from their various Points A to their final Points
life. So treat them nice. Z in a multitude of fashions. Still, despite this, there are
basic steps that show up in most runs, and knowing
If you’re just starting out with one of your contacts them reduces the chance of being pegged as the unin-
and you don’t have much work on the horizon, the first formed newb you are when you’re starting out.
thing you need to ask about is a fixer. These are the guys
who know who’s out there on the street, what jobs need THE MEET
to be done, and how to put those two things together
to get the right people doing the right things. A lot of Nothing’s going to happen unless you know what you’re
the time fixers have specialties—you’ll get one who’s a supposed to do, and you’re not going to do anything—we
source of corporate jobs, another who’s in with the Ma- hope—unless you know how much you’re going to get
fia and knows what they’re hiring for, and so on. So shop paid. The meet is where you work out these basic terms.
around until you find a fixer who specializes in the kind Pay attention to every little bit of the meet when it hap-
of work you want to do. And who won’t hook you up pens, because every detail can tell you something. Is Mr.
with someone you just finished screwing over. Johnson meeting you in person, or over the Matrix? Is
he astrally glowing with sustained spells? Did he arrange
Understand that if you haven’t been on the streets to meet you in a posh restaurant, a skeevy nightclub, or
long and you don’t have any successful jobs under your some dive bar in the barrens? Is he dressed to match his
belt, you can’t expect the fixer to throw you the plum surroundings, or does he look out of place? And, perhaps
jobs. So forget about bodyguarding some CEO’s daugh- most important, is he willing to pick up the tab for any-
ter while she goes to the mall; you gotta work up to that. thing you decide to eat or drink during the meet?
But there’s still plenty of work out there for you, from
getting in the middle of ferocious gang fights to steal- Watch carefully, listen closely, and use everything
ing corporate prototypes to tracking down stray rich you absorb during the meet to inform your job. And
kids who got themselves lost in the urban barrens. Prove wrangle every last nuyen out of Mr. Johnson. You’re not
yourself on the first job your fixer gives you, and there going to get too many other chances to bargain, so use
will be more to come. this one well.

This brings us to the fourth person you need to know, WHY TO MEET WHERE
the person who will tell you what it is you’re being hired
to do and how much you’re going to be paid to do it. 1. Private room in a nightclub. Provides the seclusion you want,
We call this person Mr. Johnson, because that’s what doesn’t have a strong dress code, and has a crowd nearby to
he calls himself. Sure, in Japan he sometimes calls him- keep the participants honest.
self Mr. Tanaka, in the Allied German States he’s Herr
Schmidt, and in Hong Kong he might go by the name 2. Secured Matrix site. You can’t shoot what’s not physically near
Mr. Wu, but you don’t need to remember all that. All you you. Dumpshock is a risk, maybe, but if you’re worried about it,
need to know is that you’re not supposed to know his don’t go in with hot-sim. The problem is that you’re not going to
real name, he’ll be the one telling you the details of your be able to get much of a read off Mr. Johnson’s body language
mission, and there’s a good chance that, one way or an- or facial expressions.
other, he’s going to screw you over.
3. Office in an abandoned warehouse. The upside is, it’s plenty
The number of ways Mr. Johnson can screw you isolated and private. The downside is, it’s plenty isolated and
could fill a book bigger than this one. The simplest, and private. Too many people have walked into meets in places like
most common, is not telling you everything you need to this and not come out. Plus, the amenities are non-existent.
know. Mr. Johnson is in the secrecy business, after all, so
there’s always going to be something he wants to hide. 4. Hotel room. You don’t want Mr. Johnson to know where you’re
He also might be screwing you over in a more deliberate staying, he doesn’t want you to know where he’s staying. So
fashion—sending you into a trap, having you chase af- motel rooms are anonymous and private—which can be the
ter something that doesn’t really exist, that sort of thing. same good/bad thing as the abandoned warehouse, though
Mr. Johnson is inventive. What is it the diplomats say? things usually stay less violent in hotel rooms. Not always, but
“Trust, but verify”? And when a journalist’s mother says usually. And you get room service. Unless you’re at some no-
she loves him, he gets it confirmed by three sources be- tell motel, though some of those offer an array of services that
fore he believes. Shadowrunners consider both groups your nicer establishments can’t match.
to be suicidally naïve; they’ve dealt with Mr. Johnson.
5. Fancy restaurant. Privacy and discretion are guaranteed at
DOING THE DIRTY WORK these spots, and you might even get real meat. Just remember
that sometimes Mr. Johnson is watching the tab you run up like
Okay. All your asking around and making friends has he’s your parent, making sure you don’t spend too recklessly.
paid off—your fixer has a job for you. Now what? There Every part of every meet is a kind of test.
is no one shape for shadowruns to take. They all look
different. They start different, they end different, and

28 A Day in Your Life >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

LEGWORK WHAT YOU MIGHT

Whether you’re going to snatch a middle manager from BE DOING
a secured office, find a missing corporate scion hidden
in a Yakuza compound, or break into a Matrix node to The types of jobs there are in the world are almost as
find a hidden piece of paydata, the first thing you want numerous as the shadowrunners wanting to do them.
to do is get the lay of the land, whatever that land might But if we put a little brainpower into organization, we
be. Check out floor plans, learn about security details, can narrow the types of jobs you might be hired to do
piece together the daily routines of the people involved, down to the following basic types:
find out what the networks and IC are like where you’ll
be going, scope out the area on the astral plane, and Datasteal: Whether it’s plans for a new sonic weap-
check around with the kind of people who know stuff on, information on a corporate manager’s private life,
to find out who else might be interested in what you’re or details of Pathfinder Multimedia’s trideo productions
doing and if there are some things you should know over the next year, data can equal power. So shadow-
that Mr. Johnson either didn’t know or didn’t bother to runners are often sent to snatch data; paydata—the kind
tell you. No bullets are usually fired in this stage, no one worth something to someone.
is punched in the face, and sometimes, shockingly, no
laws are broken, but make no mistake—this is where you Burglary: Sometimes information needs to be stolen,
can make or break your run. The more you know, the and sometimes it’s actual stuff. It may be a racing motor-
more you can anticipate, and the more likely you are to cycle prototype (call me if you get that job—I want in), an
stay one step ahead. Ahead of whom? Ahead of every- artifact stored away in some museum, a corporate exec’s
body else; that’s how runners stay alive. left shoe, an eye, or something truly esoteric. Whatever it
is, it’s not easy to get, which is why someone’s willing to
THE PLAN pay you to go fetch. Sometimes this requires subtlety and
stealth; misdirection, subterfuge, impeccable timing, and
I knew a few runners who loved to wing it—get into nuanced moves. Other times you bust in, grab what you
the action, handle things on the fly and make the next want, then run like hell.
move up as they ran. I visit their tombstones every year.
Breaking shit: Sometimes you’ve got to break a
Look, there’s room for creativity in a run, especially newshound’s car to remind him what he could lose if he
when things happen that you don’t expect, but the best keeps making waves. Sometimes you’ve got to burn a
runners know what they’re going to do when they go in. politico’s house down to inspire her to go into seclusion
So plan. Know who does what and when they do it. And and contemplate her life choices. Sometimes you might
who does it if the runner supposed to do it goes down. have to break parts of an ambitious executive’s body,
Have a second option for each decision point. Have a like his head (what we call “wetwork”), to encourage
foolproof communications plan. Have a backup commu- more teamwork and less independent entrepreneurial-
nications plan for the foolproof one. Know where you’re ism. Destruction, in all its glorious forms, is a standard
going to meet if things go pear-shaped. Know how you’re part of shadowrunning. You just have to decide how
going to pay for funeral expenses should the need arise. much destruction you’re willing to live with.

DO IT Extraction or insertion: In the old days, corporations
would get into bidding wars to win the rights to employ
Some people say the most successful missions are the hot talents in all sorts of fields, including engineers, re-
ones where you get in, get out, and don’t fire a shot. searchers, actors, and even corporate managers. That
Others say that you should go big, go loud, and always was before corporations got the leverage they have
be ready to make an impression. The point is, you have a now. These days, the megacorps have large legal de-
wide range of options. You don’t have to do things one partments and considerable security devoted to making
particular way, but you have to do them. Get in there, sure people stay in place, employed for life by the same
carry out your plan, deal with the inevitable unanticipat- boss. Which means you can’t just wave money at an em-
ed obstacles, then see who’s left standing at the end. ployee if you want to hire them; instead, you’ve got to
get them out of where they are. Extractions of valuable
WRAP IT UP personnel, and then insertions of those people into their
new corporate homes, are a regular part of the shadow-
Unless Mr. Johnson is a total fool, you didn’t get your running biz.
entire pay in advance. So connect with him howev-
er you were supposed to, deliver whatever goods or Delivery: Prostitution may be the world’s oldest
proof of activities you were supposed to, then collect profession, but delivery boy has got to be right behind
the remainder of your pay. And a bonus, if you can it. Sometime after clubs but before fire, humans invent-
wrangle one. ed point A and point B, and they needed someone to
get their stuff from one to the other. It’s been that way
ever since. Shadowrunners, of course, are not hired to
deliver soykaf lattes and bagels to the morning faculty

29<< What You Might Be Doing

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

meeting. Instead, we get jobs like making sure a vial watch the wrong thing. They’d make broad, flamboyant
of dragon blood gets to the right enchanter or deliver- gestures with one hand while making the one actual-
ing a sample of the newly synthesized narcotic to the ly doing the trick look like it’s holding still or look dull
Mafia’s labs for chemical analysis or, always a favorite, and uninteresting as their beautiful assistants wiggle
take a thing they don’t want to tell you about to a per- and strut, doing their thing while your eyes were else-
son they don’t want to identify. As you might guess, where. In misdirection jobs, you get to be the waving
there’s a little more than travel going on here. There will hand or the dancing sideshow, keeping the attention of
be people who want whatever it is you’re carrying—or law enforcement or other runner teams away from what-
want it back—and there’s a good chance they’ll come ever important drek is going down. Of course, all that
after you while you’re in transit. Stay sharp, move fast, attention is seldom admiring and it’s unlikely any of the
and don’t drop anything important. Oh, and make sure watchers have your best interests at heart, so be ready
all your papers are in order, because “delivery” usually to be creative and fast on your feet.
means “smuggling,” which means transit docs with all
the right clearances that look good enough to get you THE OPPOSITION
across borders.
We talked before about the people you should know
Protection: Just like runners are hired to jack data, because they’ll help. Now we’ll look at the other side
steal stuff, break things, and extract people, runners are of the equation. Some of the people here will hire you,
hired to stop runners from jacking, stealing, breaking, some of them will work against you, but make no mis-
and extracting. Sometimes the employer thinks runners take—they’re all the opposition. They’ve got resources
are the best defense against runners; other times the you want, or are living the life you’re looking for, or in
employer needs expendable assets she can plausibly some other way are competing with you for whatev-
deny knowing anything about. Protection can be body- er is out there. You’re going to run into them, so the
guarding, defending, checking an area out for traps and more you understand them, the more likely you are to
ambushes, or tracking down and neutralizing threats. thrive. Or, when you’re just starting out, a better chance
The important thing is to be as good as you say you are. of staying alive.

Hooding: The world might try to beat it out of us, but THE CORPS
some runners hold on to a streak of idealism. They favor
jobs that hurt the rich and powerful and help everyone Most of your runs will be jobs that will wrap you all up
else. It may be as simple as stealing cash or precious in corporate interests, so we’ll start there. That’s not to
goods and redistributing them, but it can also be more say that every megacorp has its hand in every shad-
sophisticated. Remind me to tell you sometime about owrun, or that every corp sponsoring a run is one of
the guys who broke into a Mitsuhama research facility the almighty ones with infinitely deep pockets. There
and got all the royalties in perpetuity for a new gizmo are corporations and there are corporations. The lit-
assigned to the residents of the 178th Street Clinic and tle corporations are small enough to be barely worth
Shelter. the notice of the big fish in the pond. The thing about
the little guys is, well, they’re not that big. That means
Misdirection: Okay, back in the day, before mag- that they’re trying to protect pretty much everything
ic became a real thing, there were people who called they have going for them. If you go up against a tiny
themselves magicians who were anything but. They ran corp, you may not encounter the armies that the megas
a kind of confidence game that lasted just long enough can throw up against you, but you’ll be facing anoth-
for you to believe their act. Their tools were mechanisms
or constructions that did or hid more than you’d expect,
sleight of hand, and the art of getting the audience to

ARES MACROTECHNOLOGY AZTECHNOLOGY EVO CORPORATION

Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #7 Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #4 Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #6
Corporate Slogan: Corporate Slogan: Corporate Slogan:

“Making the World a Safer Place” “The Way to a Better Tomorrow” “Changing Life”
Corporate Status: Corporate Status: Corporate Status:

AAA, public corporation AAA, private corporation AAA, public corporation
World Headquarters: Detroit, UCAS World Headquarters: Tenochtiltlán, Aztlan World Headquarters: Vladivostok, Russia
President/CEO: Damien Knight President/CEO: Flavia de la Rosa President: Yuri Shibanokuji

30 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

er weapon that can be just as dangerous as bullets or one of the better megas to work shadow ops for, but keep
spells: desperation. your eyes open, because they can be as underhanded as
the rest. Ares specializes in law enforcement, military
It’s the big corps with the AAA rating that are the hardware and arms, aerospace (they have five orbital
big time when it comes to shadowrunning. Most often, habitats), entertainment, automotive (the former General
you’ll be running against subsidiaries, outlying assets, or Motors is also part of the Ares family), and smaller divi-
plausibly deniable facilities outside of main corporate sions in many other areas.
territories. Once in a while, you’ll find yourself on a run
directly against one of the Big Ten. AZTECHNOLOGY
If you’ve bought any kind of
Know this: The megas don’t care about you. If you’re
somewhere you’re not supposed to be, they’ll try to kill consumer goods recently, chances
you. They’ll tear into you with lead, spirits, spells, IC, and are you’ve contributed to Aztech-
anything else handy that they can throw at you. And nology’s bottom line. Sixty percent
that’s the sugar-coated version. They’re ready for any- of the goodies you find at your local
thing, and they’re ready to give better than they get. Stuffer Shack (ninety percent if you
count the Stuffer Shack itself) come
Like the dead Chinese guy said, you should know from the Big A. They make everything from chemicals
your enemy. So if you don’t know about the Big Ten, al- to trideo-game software to military goods and magical
low me to introduce you. supplies. They’ve got their fingers in more pies than just
about any other mega, and their public relations cam-
THE BIG TEN paigns are second to none. Which is good, because
they’re also all about blood magic and evil conspiracies.
There are ten megacorps that have a AAA rating from Allegedly. Just don’t say anything about that within ear-
the Corporate Court (hell, they are the Corporate Court). shot of the Big A’s ferocious legal team.
They have all the gold, so they make the rules, and you
need to know the basics about them if you want to
make it in the shadows.

ARES MACROTECHNOLOGY EVO CORPORATION

Most shadowrunners know “EVOlve,” they say in all
Ares from their Ares Arms divi- their ads. Let’s be fair, they
sion, and with good reason. The are a megacorp that looks
Ares Predator is the staple sidearm to the future. Their CEO is an
for the discerning runner. Run by ork and their largest stock-
wealthy playboy Damien Knight, holder is a free spirit. They
the corp has a reputation as a very focus a lot on transhumanist projects ranging from bio-
“American” outfit: gung-ho, milita- ware cybernetics, anti-aging experiments, and other
ristic, patriotic, and individualistic— even more out-there projects designed to take metahu-
Mom and apple pie, in other words. manity to the next stage of evolution. On top of that,
Don’t let that fool you—sure, they’re

HORIZON GROUP NEONET

Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #10 Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #2
Corporate Slogan: “We Know What You Think” Corporate Slogan: “Tomorrow Runs on NeoNET”
Corporate Status: AAA, private corporation Corporate Status: AAA, public corporation
World Headquarters: Los Angeles, PCC World Headquarters: Boston, UCAS
President/CEO: Gary Cline CEO: Richard Villiers

MITSUHAMA COMPUTER RENRAKU COMPUTER SYSTEMS
TECHNOLOGIES
Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #5
Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #3 Corporate Slogan: “Today’s Solutions to Today’s
Corporate Slogan: “The Future is Mitsuhama”
Corporate Status: AAA, public corporation Problems”
World Headquarters: Kyoto, Japanese Imperial State Corporate Status: AAA, public corporation
President/CEO: Toshiro Mitsuhama World Headquarters: Chiba, Japanese Imperial State
CEO: Inazo Aneki (Honorary)

31<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

they’re the first megacorp to successfully set up a base ning against them, because their “zero-zone” policy of
on Mars. Evo leads the megas in goods and services de- shooting first and shooting more later usually means
signed with orks, trolls, elves, dwarfs, changelings, and failed runners get geeked.
other nonhuman people in mind. Their corporate culture
is pretty touchy-feely, but don’t freak—they can be as NEONET
cold and calculating as any other mega. NeoNET is the primary

HORIZON GROUP power behind the Grid Over-
Horizon is based in watch Division, and they
practically invented the wire-
the midst of media won- less Matrix. Needless to say,
derland Los Angeles, and they’re heavily invested in Ma-
they’ve managed to score trix infrastructure, along with
many exclusive contracts cyberware, electronics, soft-
for dealing with the devel- ware, biotech, aerospace, small arms, and many oth-
opment of California. With ers. As a corporation, NeoNET is pretty fractured, with
charismatic ex-simstar Gary Kline at the helm, Horizon the major factions controlled by a long-time corporate
specializes in anything that can be used to manipulate raider, a reclusive dwarf, and the great dragon Celedyr.
opinion (media, advertising, entertainment, social net- Runs for or against NeoNET are a grab-bag, all the time.
working, etc.), along with consumer goods and services, Randomness can be fun, until that time you end up
real estate and development, and pharmaceuticals. Its reaching in the bag and grabbing a scorpion.
corporate culture is “people-centered,” and employees
are well taken care of and encouraged to develop their RENRAKU COMPUTER SYSTEMS
talents and pursue their interests on company time—as Renraku controls the
long as the corp reaps the profits. They had been re-
nowned as being technomancer friendly, but a series of world’s largest data repos-
events culminating in a massacre in Las Vegas helped itory and they own almost
people understand that even the nicest of megacorps all of Asia’s local grids. And
can spin out of control. when nobody knows what
kind of useful (or incrimi-
MITSUHAMA COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES nating) information you’ve
This Japanacorp is all about got squirreled away in your
datastores, it’s going to take
the computers. Robotics, some strong motivation to
heavy industry, you name it— risk messing with you. They’ve got a seriously tradi-
but it’s less well known that tional Japanese culture, and their Red Samurai military
they’re one of the biggest man- units are universally feared. Not respected, feared.
ufacturers of magical goods
around. There’s a rumor going SAEDER-KRUPP HEAVY INDUSTRIES
around that they’re in bed with Saeder-Krupp Heavy
the Yakuza (who am I kidding,
they’re all over each other). Industries can be summed
In any case, they’ve established quite a presence in up in one word: Lofwyr. The
North America over the last few years. The corp pays great dragon owns nearly
very well for success in shadowruns, but when you fail one hundred percent of this
they … disapprove. Be extra careful when you’re run- German-based megacorp,

SAEDER-KRUPP HEAVY SHIAWASE CORPORATION WUXING INCORPORATED
INDUSTRIES
Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #8 Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #9
Corporate Court Ranking (2075): #1 Corporate Slogan: “Advancing Life” Corporate Slogan:
Corporate Slogan: “One Step Ahead” Corporate Status:
Corporate Status: AAA, private corporation “We’re Behind Everything You Do”
World Headquarters: AAA, public corporation Corporate Status: AAA, public corporation
World Headquarters: Osaka, Japanese World Headquarters: Hong Kong, Free
Essen, Allied German States
President/CEO: Lofwyr Imperial State Enterprise Enclave
President/CEO: Korin Yamana President: Wu Lung-Wei

32 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

and he rules it with the kind of attention to detail that LEADING NORTH AMERICAN
only one of his kind can maintain. It’s not impossible to ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS
put one over on Lofwyr, but it’s very difficult—and usual-
ly fatal. The wyrm doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and shad- The O’Malley syndicate (Mafia): Dona Rowena O’Malley
owrunners who go against him (or fail in one of his jobs) runs all things Mafia in Seattle, simultaneously controlling the
might just find themselves on his list—which is probably Finnigan, Gianelli, and Ciarniello families. She ascended to that
also his lunch menu. S-K is primarily involved in heavy position with managerial acumen, effective leadership skills, and
industry, chemicals, finance, and aerospace with a pres- a dead-cold ruthless streak that takes no prisoners. Now that
ence in many other areas, which is just what you’d ex- she has the Gianellis and Ciarniellos working for her instead of
pect from the largest corporation in the world. against her, she is working to secure her territory against anyone
thinking they deserve a piece of Seattle.
SHIAWASE CORPORATION
The oldest of the megas, The Shotozumi-rengo (Yakuza): Led by Oyabun Hanzo
Shotozumi of Seattle, this rengo has a presence in most major
Shiawase was the first corp North American cities. For the most part local groups act
to claim extraterritorial status. independently of each other, but they all seek out the wisdom of
A classic Japanese zaibatsu, their oyabun and listen when he speaks. Questions have been
Shiawase is run in a tradition- raised—okay, murmured—as to Hanzo’s ability to deal with the
al “family” style, with most pressures he’s under on so many fronts: a newly aggressive capa
employees signing lifetime di capi in Seattle; epic Sturm und Drang involving a great dragon
contracts and even marrying and unruly invading forces in Denver; and impatient, ambitious
within the corp. Families, how- underlings in his own organization murmuring questions about
ever, tend to squabble, and his ability to deal. In particular, Oyabun Honjowara of New
plenty of runners have made good cash in the course Jersey is rumored to be building a power base of his own, and
of these quarrels. As for what they do, what don’t they smart money’s betting he’ll make a play for the top spot in the
do? Either directly or through subsidiaries, Shiawase has rengo in the not-too-distant future.
its hands in nuclear power, environmental engineering,
biotech, heavy industry, technical service, minerals, mil- Large Circle League (Triad): Maybe not as powerful as some
itary goods, and a whole lot more. of their Southeast Asian counterparts, the Large Circle League of
New York City is more potent than a lot of people realize. They’ve
WUXING INCORPORATED used the Manhattan Development Consortium to their advantage
The only Chinese play- and infiltrated many corporations, especially Shiawase. They use
the information they gather as leverage. Nothing too overt, mostly
er on the megacorp scene, just guiding and/or pushing events in that corporate-controlled
Wuxing owns a sizeable sprawl in ways they want them to go. They have a more overt
chunk of the Pacific rim. and ongoing battle with the local Mafia lately over control of the
The corporation is quiet and sprawl’s drug trade.
conservative, the stealth-
iest of the Big Ten. Their Povryejhda (Vory): Led by Andrei Petschukov (nickname:
employees are steeped in Terminator), this Seattle branch of the Vory is chock-full of
Chinese culture, even those Russian loyalists and a fair number of Red Army personnel. They
who’ve never been within a have built something—or are up to something, depending on who
thousand clicks of Asia. Traditionally focused on finance you talk to—on a large piece of land they acquired near Puyallup.
and shipping concerns, Wuxing also specializes in mag- No one knows what that something or somethings is because
ical services and goods, vying for the top spot of most they’ve surrounded their property with a massive wall and backed
mystic megacorp. Wuxing has also expanded heavily it up with a pretty impressive astral barrier. What’s happening in
into other markets, including agriculture, engineering, there is anyone’s guess—and there’s plenty of guessing going on.
consumer goods, and chemicals.
The Outer Circle (Koshari): The leaders of Koshari circles
ORGANIZED CRIME in Santa Fe, Phoenix, Denver, and Las Vegas work together,
divvying up territory and business and making sure no one
A lot of shadowrunners will tell you the only real dif- steps on anyone else’s toes. They also regulate where and how
ference between what we do and organized crime is far smaller operations can expand. Right now elements in Los
the organized part. There’s some truth in that. Shad- Angeles are flexing and agitating; they think it’s time the big four
owrunners have occasionally formed organizations, became the big five.
like the legendary Assets, Inc., but as a rule it’s not
something we do. People like us, we don’t take or-
ders well. We don’t like to share with anyone outside
of our team (or often inside it, for that matter), not to

33<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

mention regimentation, hierarchical organization, and the usual gambling, drugs, and prostitution operations, of
all that lock-step discipline are pretty much poison to course, but their specialty is Awakened drugs. For some
us. Organized crime, on the other hand, thrives on that reason the Triads attract a disproportionate percentage of
stuff. Organized crime does the things large numbers mages, which makes them very efficient at finding, test-
of people do well: deals narcotics and other addictives; ing, and preparing the drugs with the best street value.
runs protection rackets; operates gambling rings—just
about anything that requires an army and turns a profit. Remember when I told you organized crime liked to
This means organized crime can often be found deep- keep a low profile, avoid the spotlight, and keep attention
ly entwined with legitimate, respected businesses. In off itself? I was not talking about the Russian Vory v Za-
some cases it’s hard to tell where the crime ends and kone. They can’t match the money and manpower of the
the business begins. other major syndicates, so their primary public relations
tool is intimidation. Their go-to negotiation technique is
Despite their violent reputations, the organizations blunt brutality; the first indication the Vory have entered
that make up organized crime eschew pyrotechnics a new area is usually the bodies of criminals who thought
whenever possible. Firefights bring police attention and it was their turf. The Vory want to shake things up, they
could result in important people getting killed or other- hit every confrontation at a full charge, loud and raging.
wise indisposed. As a general rule, the work they do goes It doesn’t always work, but I’ll tell you this—no one ever
better when no one is looking, so they put a lot of effort likes to see these guys coming.
into keeping a low profile. But don’t be confused—and
don’t get stupid. Just because they’d rather keep their In the Hopi tradition, Koshare is the spirit of overdo-
guns holstered and the money flowing, don’t think for a ing things—gluttonous, disruptive, and irreverent, the uni-
minute they won’t get down and dirty when they need to. versal cautionary example. Koshare does all the things
people should not do, illustrating why they should never
The Mafia is an extensive and significant presence in do them. Which is why the network of Native American
every major North American city, most European cities, organized crime rings call themselves the Koshari. They
and a lot of cities everywhere else. They like cities. They do all the things you would expect an organized crime
usually don’t work closely with the megacorporations be- outfit to do, but they’re especially skilled at talislegging,
cause, let’s face it, they are a megacorporation. The main the illicit smuggling of magical reagents and telesma. If
difference between the recognized corps and the Mafia you’re a t-bird pilot in the western half of North America,
is that when there’s infighting between Mafia’s divisions, depending on the impression you make on the Koshari,
it’s slightly more likely to involve high body counts. you’ll either be recruited, warned off their territory, or
shut down hard.
The Yakuza, by contrast, have tied their fortunes to
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies. This is not to say GANGS
that every Yakuza rengo has a connection to Mitsuha-
ma—they don’t, and some rengos fight tooth and nail We don’t have the room or the time to fill you in on all
against those who do. But the Yakuza and MCT are in- the gangs that are banging around whatever sprawl
extricably tied together. As in four high-ranking Yaku- you’re sitting in right now. Small places seem to get by
za between them own about forty-five percent of the with just one gang, but get much over two thousand
megacorporation. Mitsuhama uses Yakuza foot soldiers locals and you’re probably going to have two or more.
to do their dirty work, while the Yakuza uses MCT as the Over a million locals and you’re talking a healthy gang
greatest money-laundering organization the world has network. You should take the time to figure out that
ever seen. The corporate association gives the Yakuza a network—doing one gang’s work on another’s turf is
ruthless efficiency; anyone who deals with them watch- more likely to get you killed if you don’t know that’s
es their manners. what you’re doing.

The Triads have their origins in what used to be Chi- There are two types of gangs, and by and large as a
na and differ from the other major crime networks in that runner you’re most likely to come across some flavor of
they are decentralized—they have no central leadership, the many street gangs. Street gangs are all about territo-
no supreme commander or high council or arbitration ry. A few broken blocks, a handful of abandoned build-
committee. This can mean a whole new set of protocols ings, the streets around their favorite dive, fifteen differ-
when you move from one Triad’s turf to another; what ent piles of brick, a neighborhood, you name it. Whatever
kept you alive in one place might kill you in the next. Their they’ve got, it’s theirs. They don’t always know what to do
lack of central leadership means conflict resolution within with it—maybe deal minor drugs or run half-assed pro-
the Triads is often bloody and brutal—though they are ca- tection rackets—but they’ll defend it against all comers.
pable of considerable restraint and finesse if the situation Which usually means hanging out and challenging any-
calls for it. The lack of central control also makes them one they don’t know to a fight. There are street gangs
more flexible in adapting to—and taking over—new terri- that aren’t all about the territory. Some gangs are racially
tories. If they ever got over their cultural prejudice against based, like Seattle’s elf-only Ancients; some are bound
women in authority and non-human metatypes in gener- together by a common interest, like the Halloweeners,
al they’d own a lot bigger piece of the pie. The Triads have

34 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

who dress up like ghouls to terrify and assault civilians they thrive—such as the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
unfortunate enough to cross their path. As a general nology and Thaumaturgy and CalTech. Which brings us
rule gangers are young, raw, untrained, unpredictable, to the next category.
quick-tempered, and eager to mix things up. So yeah, if
the needs of whatever job you’re on do not require you to MANA CHASERS
deal with them, avoid gangs. Unless you think your eve-
ning would be much improved by a fistfight. Whenever anything new hits the world, two things hap-
pen in short order. First, someone figures out how to
What street gangs do to a collection of sprawl blocks, make money off of it; and second, someone figures out
go-gangs do to highways. Riding around on souped-up how to use it for porn. So it is with magic. We’re going
cycles and choppers, these gang members look for any to focus on the first one, but yeah—magic’s used for
driver who shows a milligram of fear. The least hesita- porn, just like everything else.
tion, such as looking like you’re thinking things over, can
trigger an attack. This could be a ram, or it could be a Aside from the business of wage mages we talked
game of head-on chicken against a foe with a sawed-off about before, there are a number of other ways to gen-
shotgun propped on his handlebar. There’s no point to erate money from magic, because wherever the money
their attacks—the attack is the point. They are random, is, that’s where we should be. Researching and develop-
indiscriminate, and leap to violence the way a frog leaps ing new spell formulae is a big one. There are a number
to water. Know where the go-gangs are and avoid them. of wealthy spellslingers out there, and they’re generally
willing to lay down a nice pile of cash for something that
ACADEMICS will give them a competitive advantage over their peers.
There’s also a lot of money to be made in the area of mag-
All right, this may seem odd. We’re not known for ical reagents and their uses. Research in this area has been
hanging around in classrooms much or being on the particularly profitable lately as more uses for reagents
cutting edge of academic research. But academics have been found, which has led to increased demand
have their uses. They invariably have schools of busi- for these rare items. Arcanoarchaeologists, researchers,
ness, which can provide you with all sorts of corporate critter hunters, and anybody who thinks they’ve got a
information that PR flacks aren’t willing to share. And knack for it are scouring the globe, gathering up as many
if you’re looking for any sort of historical information— rare animals, vegetables, minerals, and not sure whats as
about the Matrix and technology, about politics and possible. Most go into making reagents, but there is a lot
nations, about magic and spell formulae—academics of stuff that no one knows for sure what it does—a lot of
know more than the common man about a wide range magical research is about figuring that out.
of topics. And universities teach languages—if you
need something translated, check them out. A univer- As you might expect, the leaders in magic sales are
sity makes a good first choice when looking for their the megacorps, namely Aztechnology and Mitsuhama,
kind of data; compared to their corporate counterparts, but if you’re talking about the bleeding edge of magic re-
profs are surprisingly low budget. search, you have to talk about the Draco Foundation and
the Atlantean Foundation. The Draco Foundation came
Generally speaking, universities come in three fla- into being when the great dragon Dunkelzahn died in an
vors: public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit. explosion on the day he was inaugurated as UCAS pres-
That last one is the most common, as the corps like to ident. Since he was a great dragon, he was sitting on a
send their people through their own institutions; it’s pile of wealth, and he left a will that had a huge number
a quality control issue—corps want people who see of odd bequests, including items many people are chas-
the world the way they do, undistracted by contrary ing after to this day. The Draco Foundation was set up
data or plagued by independent thoughts. Most pub- to manage his affairs and estate, while the Dunkelzahn
lic universities are hanging on by a thread. Govern- Institute of Magical Research was established to further
ment budgets are tight and it’s hard to justify funding the dragon’s magical interests. Working in coordination,
schools when public perception is that they only serve these two organizations are formidable players in almost
students the megacorps didn’t want. It’s like there’s a anything even tangentially related to magic.
stigma attached to anyone trying to better themselves
on their own, which sounds a lot like megacorp PR. The relatively recent rise of the Draco Foundation has
Despite that, some public universities remain well-re- brought mixed reactions from its older counterpart, the
spected bastions of learning, insofar as anyone cares Atlantean Foundation, which—as you might guess from
about that drek. The University of Washington in Seat- the name—began as an outfit looking for and into any-
tle is one notable example. thing and everything that might be connected to the lost
island of Atlantis. In the process they developed consid-
Private nonprofit universities provide a resource for erable relic-hunting and magic-researching capabilities.
students who have what corps want but have managed Dunkelzahn recognized this by dropping five billion nuy-
to make their way without committing to any of them. en on the Atlanteans in his will, which amped up their
Yet. Many of the private nonprofits don’t just survive, capabilities pretty significantly. This means they’ve got a

35<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

NEO-TOKYO

friendly relationship with the Dracos—which is perfect- not be as powerful as the corps, but as long as you’re
ly understandable, as I’m pretty friendly with everyone on their turf they’ve got a lot of ways to help you or
who’s given me five billion, too. But there’s a rivalry go- hinder you. Good news is they’re far enough down the
ing on as well; the two groups are often going after the food chain that there’s a chance you can afford whatev-
same things. If you’re going relic-hunting, be ready to er it takes to buy their momentary cooperation. They’re
outrun teams from one or both of these groups. easier to blackmail, too. Ask around, look around, fig-
ure out whom you need to know and what you need to
POLITICOS know about them—you never know when you’re going
to need them.
Politicians may not have the clout they did back in the
day, but there are still taxes to be collected, laws to en- Besides the actual politicians, the other people you
force, infrastructure to be maintained, and careers to be want to know are the policlubs. If there is any cause in
made. Most government crap goes on way over your the Sixth World that two or more people can agree on,
head. You don’t need to worry about who’s president they’ll form a policlub around it. Sometimes the point of
or king of whatever nation you’re in and almost all state the club is to, you know, actually participate in politics.
and regional objectives require resources and man- Other times the clubs are a cover for illegal activities,
power beyond any runner team’s inventory. What you and a lot of them are just an excuse for people to get
want are the local officials—mayors, aldermen, trust- together and get wasted. Most of these groups wield
ees, that sort of thing—who enforce the laws, collect no discernible power; you can pretty much ignore them.
the taxes, fund emergency and rescue services, and try There are a few you should pay attention to.
to ensure everything works. These local leaders may
One is the Humanis Policlub. Elves, dwarfs, trolls, and
orks have been in the world for more than five decades,

36 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<
LONDON

but for some people that hasn’t been long enough to Commission to the radical and violence-prone Sons of
get used to the idea or to like having them around. Es- Sauron. Like the anti-meta groups, these organizations
pecially the orks and trolls. Following the proud tradi- are capable of causing distractions or chaos wherever
tion of racist groups since the dawn of time, Humanis is you may be. And if you get pro-meta and anti-meta
dedicated to putting a friendly face on hate. They’re not groups in the same place at the same time—well, I hope
against anyone, they’ll tell you, they’re just pro-human. your contingency plans can deal with random explo-
They don’t want to take anything away from the other sions and scattered bodies.
metatypes, they just want to make sure humans get their
fair share (which is pretty much everything). In addition to racists of various flavors, you also
need to keep an eye out for the various iterations of
Humanis serves as a nexus for a whole range of the neo-anarchist policlub. Sometimes they go by that
like-minded groups, from the unpleasant and aggres- name, just with capitals (“Neo-Anarchist”); but depend-
sive Alamos 20,000 to the ultra-violent Hand of Five. If ing on the location and the situation they might call
you’re a non-human, if you like a non-human, or if you’re themselves the Panopticans or the Lambeth Martyrs or
going to be traveling anywhere non-humans are going the People’s Party or anything that sounds symbolic, sin-
to be, you need to be aware of what Humanis and its ilk cere, and all about the little guy. Individual groups under
are up to. They could pop in and mess things up at any the neo-anarchist policlub banner come in a variety of
time. Be warned. flavors. Some are wild-eyed bomb throwers who think
everything should be reduced to rubble before trying to
The whole Newtonian thing about action causing build something new; some think everything should be
reaction works with people, just like it does in physics. reduced to rubble and nothing built; some are earnest
There are some notable pro-metahuman groups, from reformers, working within existing systems; some want
powerful lobbyists and organizers of the Ork Rights

37<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

to change how nations work; some want an end to all residential or maybe corporate compounds. Make sure
nations; some like coffee; some like tea. What unites you know who’s patrolling which streets when.
these disparate agendas and the people who love them
is a to-the-core distrust of centralized power in all its BENEATH THE SURFACE
forms and wiles. We’re talking both megacorps and big
government. They’re all about individuals controlling The thing about living in the shadows is that the deni-
their own lives, and families and communities living zens of the dusk tend not to be well organized. We’re
the way they want to live. That is enough to make them here because we don’t get along with all the rules and
radicals in the eyes of anybody with any authority. They protocols and drek formal organization requires. But
are outsiders, often criminalized by the people in power. we’re alive because we understand that sometimes it’s
Just like us. Which makes them natural allies—provided better to work together.
you have a high tolerance for rhetoric.
One of the premiere shadow groups is JackPoint,
THE LAW a collection of exceptional shadow minds gathered by
FastJack, perhaps the best hacker the world has ever
The most annoying thing local politicos can do is sic seen. ’Jack had to step down from the network recently,
local law enforcement on you, because local ain’t local but the group is still going strong. The members of it ar-
anymore. Back in the day, law enforcement was a tangle en’t known, and its information is kept private, but if you
of local, state, and federal authorities doing their own can get wind of anything they’re putting together, know
things—barely talking to one another and almost never that you’re hearing from people who know their shit.
sharing data. Oh sure, if you were a serial killer they’d
spread the word and be on the lookout, but if you were The Denver Nexus is another shadow group with a sol-
a burglar or practiced any other illegal trade, you could id rep. They’re hackers guarding the Denver Data Haven,
pretty much move from one jurisdiction to the next and one of the greatest stores of secret knowledge the world
get a fresh start with no one being the wiser. has ever seen. Or perhaps we should say “never seen,” as
not too many people get a look at what’s stored there.
These days things are both worse and better. The
bad part is most sprawls save their limited budgets by Then there are groups that live in the shadows but
privatizing law enforcement—which means cops are are not tied to shadowrunners. They like the dim light
corps. The two big boys are Lone Star, an independent because of the secrecy it provides. One of these is the
that boasts about its tradition of no-holds-barred Tex- mysterious gathering of mages known as the Black
as justice (i.e., brutality), and Knight Errant, a division of Lodge. A cataclysmic upheaval that hit the UCAS cap-
Ares Macrotechnology. These two compete for big-tick- ital of DeeCee in the summer of 2073 was blamed on
et contracts; Knight Errant recently wrestled the plum the Black Lodge, and many people think the Lodge was
of Seattle from Lone Star’s hands. Other major securi- somehow involved in the recent battle between the
ty providers include Sakura Security, which has a large great dragons Lofwyr and Alamais that ended with Ala-
presence in Japan, German security giant Sternschutz, mais dead. Everyone knows that the Black Lodge has
France’s Esprit Industries (a subsidiary of Aztechnolo- their claws into a whole host of politicians and other
gy), and Mitsuhama’s one-two punch of Parashield and leaders, but no one knows which. Short form: If you spot
Petrovski Security. These companies have international people in black robes casting weird mojo, take some
reach, and their centralized databases are everywhere notes, call the authorities, and get the hell out of there.
they are; do something in one jurisdiction and all the
others know about it. So stay out of the database. Give New Revolution is dedicated to re-establishing the
them nothing—your name, your picture, your favorite old United States of America. A noble cause everyone
make of whiskey, anything—because some smart cop, or else recognizes as a stupid-ass idea that totally ignores
smarter program, can use that anything to finger you. the current state of the world. In 2064 New Revolution
The good part is that while law enforcement corps share attempted a coup, killing the UCAS president and Secre-
all data internally, it’s in their best interest to make their tary of Defense and making a mess. Vice President Na-
rivals look as inept as possible—which means they never dja Daviar survived and teamed with Brigadier General
tell each other anything. So as long as you know who’s Angela Colloton and kept the UCAS together. They hunt-
covering what turf, you can still find cracks to fall into. ed down, tried, and executed New Revolution’s leaders
and everyone congratulated themselves on ridding the
But don’t get cocky. Law-enforcement contracts can world of the lunatics. Yet here we are, over a decade lat-
change hands in a blink; what’s Knight Errant territory er, and the New Revolution is still around. General Col-
one day may be Lone Star the next. Meaning you may be loton helped stand off the coup and hunt the leaders
an unknown free agent one day and an actively sought down, but has been dogged by rumors linking her to the
fugitive the next. And be aware that many sprawls have radicals for years. Rumors that didn’t stop her from be-
multiple security companies in their borders—Knight Er- coming UCAS president. If they’re true, she’s in a heck of
rant may have the city contract while Lone Star covers a position to build New Revolution into a major player;
I cannot tell you how many betting pools there are on
that one.

38 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

OFF THE JOB the speed of VR is convenient for hackers, most people
like the ability to use the Matrix while carrying on with
Like just about everyone with a pulse, you’re going to their lives at the same time.
spend most of your time getting ready for work, work-
ing, or recovering from work. But every now and then With AR, the Matrix is constantly around you. As
you might find yourself with free time and a couple of long as you’ve got the right gear, messages from friends
extra nuyen. Luckily for you, there are a wide range of pop up as floating windows hovering in your field of vi-
activities to make sure that you and your money don’t sion, moving as you move. Stores you walk by tell you
develop a long-term relationship. about their current sales customized to your preferences
based on what you’ve bought before. Music and video
MONEY samples are everywhere, waiting for you to open them
with a quick gesture and see if there’s anything you like.
Speaking of money, always remember to make sure
you’ve got the right kind of currency for wherever you’ll How do these music and movies match up to your
be spending. The dominant currency in the world is the taste, and how do they know where to find you? The
nuyen, but some stubborn nations insist on issuing their magic of corporate control. You see, the Matrix has
own currencies (like England’s pound or Switzerland’s gone through two major Crashes, and been re-invent-
franc). Still, even in those nations the nuyen tends to ed after each one. After the second one, back in 2064,
be accepted readily. All of which is rendered pretty the Matrix made the leap to wireless, and along with
much moot by electronic transactions. Actual cash is that it moved into a neo-anarchist ideal of freedom and
rarely used—maybe for special transactions or in areas openness, a network open and accessible to anyone
so backwards they don’t have Matrix access (scary, but with the tools to log on. That lasted a good decade until
real). You might get dinged for conversion fees in states the corps realized there was a resource out there they
with local currency, but that’s about the only hassle. weren’t exploiting. After confessing that sin to their re-
spective clergy and saying a few Hail Marys, the corps
Certified credsticks are the tool of choice for people went about setting that mistake right, instituting more
who don’t trust wireless transfers or want to avoid leav- controls over the Matrix so that they can better shape
ing any trails. Smaller than your thumb (unless you’re a what goes where. Naturally, their best customers get the
pixie, in which case, shut up), credsticks carry funds cer- best bandwidth, while the less resource-endowed are
tified by one of the financial powers of the world. The left to deal with spotty access and slow traffic.
bigger the bank, the more stable the money stored on
the credstick, so most people like to use sticks certified Unless we know how to play the game. The clamp-
by the biggest bank there is, the Zurich-Orbital Gemein- down of corporate control has re-ignited the battle be-
schaftsbank . tween hackers and the overseers of the Matrix, as shad-
owrunners look to exploit the weaknesses of the new
Corporations jumped on the currency bandwagon system and stay one step ahead of security.
decades ago and started offering corporate scrip, us-
able only in corporate locales. The megacorps love pay- But that’s mostly another topic. For now, just know
ing their employees in scrip, as it keeps money in the that everyone and everything is on the Matrix, but the
corporate family. The fact that corporate scrip’s uses are easiest things to find are the things programmers are
somewhat narrow make it less valuable, but if that’s all betting you want to buy.
there is, take it. Remember, the megas are huge—some-
body somewhere wants scrip and there’s a thriving mar- MUSIC
ket for scrip exchanges.
Music’s been around since homo erectus noticed differ-
THE MATRIX ent things made different noises when you hit them,
and it’s not going anywhere. (Though frankly, some of
When you want to amuse yourself in your downtime, it sounds like Neanderthals banging rocks. But there’s
this is where you start. Music’s on there, movies are on no accounting for taste, right?) Point is, whatever your
there, sports broadcasts, virtual nightclubs, chat rooms, taste in music may be, you can find someone playing it.
epic battles on twisted landscapes, and so on and so For classic rock fans, the legendary Maria Mercurial is
forth. on her comeback tour, laying down the mighty riffs that
made her a star back in the ’50s, and Concrete Dreams
The Matrix is around most of us every minute of ev- is once again calling down the thunder. Orxploita-
ery day, so much that we don’t think about it much. We tion, the sound of the streets, continues to be blasted
just use it. Most of the time we use it as augmented real- in sprawl barrens, with CrimeTime acting as the old-
ity (AR), an overlay that adds information and occasional school standard bearer for the movement. Disposable
glitz to the world around us in the form of augmented electro-pop will never die, no matter how many stakes
reality objects, or AROs. You can also go whole-hog and we bury in its pulsating heart, with the Latch-Key Kids
dive into virtual reality (VR), leaving your meat body be- currently playing the leading role in blasting annoying-
hind for a trip into the realm of pure information. While ly catchy ditties into everyone’s lizard brain. And elven

39<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

CHEYENNE

folk exists for those who don’t like their music turned the masses love, while the hit Water Margin has spawned
up to eleven, with Tír Tairngire icon Deirdre showing an action series about shadowrunners fighting govern-
everyone how it’s done. ment corruption in Seattle (a theme that has gained extra
resonance thanks to recent scandals in Seattle Governor
TRIDEO Kenneth Brackhaven’s administration). Like reality shows?
Toxic Hunter takes you to the most blighted spots in the
Sometimes you just gotta plop down in your favorite world and puts host Brennan “Heavy” O’Dell against the
chair (or on your favorite floorboard if all the furniture local critters; his recent battle with a pack of ghouls in La-
has been burned for heat) and let flickering images take gos was a ratings winner. The classic Neil the Ork Barbarian,
over your brain. For these times, trideo is there for you, a favorite of your parents when they were kids, has gotten
bringing you the latest in news, sports, and entertain- a slick upgrade and reboot that puts you, the viewer, right
ment programming. While 3-D was clumsy and clunky in Neil’s furry boots. First-person medieval sword-swing-
in its earliest years, now it drops you believably into ing, fur-bikini-slashing, muscle-flexing action—what more
the middle of the story. And the level of immersion is do you want?
up to you—stick with the visual and audio versions if
you want simplicity, or plug into simsense to get the SPORTS
full-bore, multi-sensory, emotion-enhancing experi-
ence. You can watch sports events as if you were in If the twentieth century was about figuring out how to
the stands, or you can buzz around the field, seeing the turn professional sports into big business, the twen-
game as the players see it. ty-first was about how to best use sports business to
benefit other corporate interests. Basketball, baseball,
There are fictional trids for every taste. The Cree & football, soccer, and hockey still draw crowds, but now
Dido series provides the slapstick and physical comedy

40 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

fans can follow their favorite player’s MeFeed, watch- WHERE TO SHOP
ing the trideos they watch, listening to the music they
listen to, and learning about their favorite fashion and You need stuff, and there is a vast array of vendors whose every
foods—all of which you can buy with a quick gesture at moment is dedicated to selling you stuff. What a great world, huh?
the right ARO. Where kids once dreamed of following Anyway, here are some representative store chains to give you some
their idols by working hard to earn their way into the idea where to go to get what you need.
big leagues to become stars in their own right, they’re
now content to just buy as much of their idol’s lifestyle DEPARTMENT STORES
as possible. Luxury: Lordstrungs, Lacy’s
First-Class: Fallon and Nelson, The Beaux
The megacorps have also been growing new sports Family Style: Wordsworth, Lears and Mervins, Meyer’s Superstores
that give consumers/fans the addictive rush of fast-mov- No Frills: Kong-Wal Mart, Saver’s Central, WeaponsWorld
ing action and bone-crushing violence. Right now the
most popular new sports are urban brawl and combat GROCERIES AND CONVENIENCE STORES
biking. Urban brawl is a no-holds-barred variant of cap- Luxury: Society Grocers
ture-the-flag played on city streets with guns and magic. First-Class: Meyers Groceries, Natural Vat Foods
Combat biking is something like polo, only played on mo- Family Style: Allenson’s Groceries, Carrefour, Carry&Save, SAMS
torcycles. By psychopaths. Virtual Marketplaces, Quickway
No Frills: Stuffer Shack, Loco Foods, MiniMart, Buy-Low Foods
FOOD
RESTAURANTS
Back when overpopulation of the world was a serious Luxury: Azteca International, The Edge, Takuri’s, Trattoria
concern, people turned to the mighty soybean as a Pagilacci’s
promising food source (when combined with lentils and First-Class: Green Village, The Gravity Bar, La Gallaria, Kau Kau’s,
green food dye, it makes a tasty … oh, never mind). It’s Purple Haze
packed with protein, very versatile, and fairly easy to Family Style: Gracie’s for Ribs, Bosco’s, McKraken’s Seafood,
grow. Thanks to several global plagues and ecological Bangkok Hut, Maximillion’s
disasters, world population is not quite as big a concern No Frills: Cap’n Beef, McHugh’s, Nacho Mama, Nukit Burgers,
as the amount of arable land on the planet, but the net Street Pizza, You Should Not Eat So Much!
result is the same: Soy is a major food staple. Soykaf is
the beverage that gets us moving in the morning, soy- HOTELS
burgers are a popular lunchtime choice, and tofu is to Luxury: TripleTree, Lucas, Hilton, Sheraton, Elysium
our dinners what chicken was in the twentieth century. First-Class: Westin, Gold Lion Inn
There are a few restaurants and grocery stores here and Family Style: Wylie’s Gala, Rubikan Int’l
there that sell real meat, but they tend to be beyond the No Frills: Rent & Rest, Comfy Cubicle, Aston’s Moneymakers,
budget of all but the most affluent. The Cubes

While meat is rare, sugar substitutes are plentiful. The COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS
megacorporate food producers of the world know how Luxury: Nybbles & Bytes, Gate’s Computer Showcase
much people like their sweets, and they know satisfying First-Class: Hardware Etc., Blood Monies Software
cravings keeps populations in line. The Stuffer Shacks Family Style: Software Sellers, Microdeck, DeGear’s Electronics
and other convenience stores of the world are filled with No Frills: Computer Exchange, Hacker’s Delight, Kennedy’s Used
Sweeteez, Krak-l-Snaps, and other nutrition-free foods Electronics
that give corporate drones and poor shadowrunners a
small bit of pleasure in their lives. CLUB FRANCHISES
End of the Earth, Farnsworth’s, Miami, Dante’s Inferno, Equilibrium,
SEX
Flair, Congregation of Rhythms
I thought about calling this section “Romance,” but
threw that out because there ain’t nobody doing the SPECIALTY CHAINS
box of chocolates, bouquet of roses, and horse-drawn Armanté (Fashion), Body + Art (Bodyart), Life by Evo (Design
carriage ride in the park anymore. Then I thought about
calling it “Dating,” but it’s not like you can ask Jane Megastore), Lord’s AutoShops (Auto Repair), Lore Stores Inc.,
the leather-clad razorgirl if she’d like to go to the malt Pentagrams (Talismonger), Robyn’s (Hardcopy Bookstore), Facets of
shoppe with you Friday afternoon. So I decided that New York (Jeweler), Link’n’Fix (Commlink Repair Clinic), Zoé (Fashion)
since I’ve been straight up with you so far, I’ll call the
primal urge what it is.

So yeah, people in the Sixth World have sex. In plen-
ty of ways, in plenty of combinations, and across all

41<< The Opposition

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

metatypes; gender is no object. You got a fetish, you man-metahuman
can be damn sure that someone’s ready to indulge you. vampire virus, or HM-
HVV. This did not, as the
Like everything else in the world, sex has been com- name implies, give victims
modified, a slickly packaged product designed to make the power to change into
you forget it once meant something real. Prostitution bats or wolves. What it did
thrives where it’s legal (about 99.998 percent of the do was leach the body of
known world). Some brothels cater to specific fantasies, radiation-fighting pigment,
stocked with body types or metatypes their customers stop the production of red
want. If your fantasies are more specific—and you don’t blood cells, spurred dental devel-
care much about the human cost of your actions—head opment, and shut down the digestive system. Victims,
to a bunraku parlor, where the employees are pretty no matter what color they began with, turned dead flesh
much puppets, surgically altered and implanted with grey, had to stay out of the sun, grew fangs, and needed
personafixes so that they become stunning imitations copious amounts of fresh blood to stay alive. That last
of simstars and other celebrities. For just a few hundred part’s important—they are not immortal. If you’re ever
nuyen, you can spend an hour pretending you’re some- trapped in a barrens alley with some nosferatu closing
one they’d give the time of day—or whatever you have in on you, a few bullets in the right place will stop them
in mind—to. A booming, and less exploitive, industry is for good.
simsense porn, which lets you feel everything the actors
look like they should be feeling. (I know some actors in As was the case with VITAS, there are a number of
these things—it’s a job with every wiggle choreographed strains of HMHVV which cause different types of pseu-
and fake shriek rehearsed. You don’t want to experience do-undead, including ghouls, banshees, and things that
the kind of boredom they’re really feeling.) don’t match legends. The dark alleys of Sixth World got
a little darker with this virus.
With sex and prostitution being as open as it is in the
Sixth World, you might think it reduces the opportunities But the Sixth World doesn’t need to rely on virus-
for blackmail. You’d be right. But only partly. There are es to mess you up. There are a staggering number of
still some taboos, some lines that should not be crossed. mind-altering drugs, from the street favorite novacoke
Many spouses tend to expect fidelity (and property laws to the mind-bending zen, from the pure combat rush of
still favor the wronged party), so finding incriminating evi- kamikaze to the astral sensation of deepweed. If there’s
dence of cheating is still effective leverage. Also, sex with anything you want to feel, there’s a drug that delivers it.
children (though the definition of “children” varies from We’ve also got new forms of addiction, like better-than-
place to place) is out of bounds, and bestiality and necro- life chips (BTLs, or beetles). To make one of these, take
philia are the kind of things that can negatively impact a your basic simsense recording of some powerful emo-
career if they come to light. In the end, your job is to know tional experience, then amp up every bit of the content.
the basic sexual mores of the area you’re in, so you can Want a bigger adrenaline rush than surfing a ten-meter
use violations of those mores against select people. wave, or a more brain-crushing thrill than skydiving from
the stratosphere? Want to experience something better
STAYING HEALTHY

Staying healthy in the world ain’t easy, and not just be-
cause people are always pointing guns at each other.
There are plenty of other threats to your health to wor-
ry about.

In the early twenty-first century, the world was an
overcrowded mess. Then a new disease came along and
wiped out about a quarter of the population. Whether
it was the planet’s way of rebalancing the ecosystem or
something we did to ourselves is still debated, but Virally
Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome, or VITAS, was nasty.
It triggered something akin to anaphylactic shock—even
in people with no allergies—and people suffocated
to death when their respiratory system swelled shut.
There’s old video around the Matrix of victims fighting
to inhale; it ain’t pretty.

Every now and then a new strain of VITAS raises its
ugly head—nothing anywhere near as bad as the first
outbreak, but it keeps the medicos on their toes. Then,
in the 2040s, we got something entirely new: the hu-

42 The Opposition >>

>> LIFE IN THE SIXTH WORLD <<

than sex? Then upload a BTL right into your brain. Fair vehicle that takes you where you want to go with little
warning, though: You might find reality pales in com- input from you, the driver. And by golly, traffic flows
parison, and you’ll spend the rest of your life enduring more smoothly when everyone uses GridGuide and
the pale shadows so you can have a few moments of you can do other things while you drive, so it’s great. Of
full-color BTL bliss. course, GridGuide only works where the corps want it
to work, which is fine for corporate drones on their daily
So we’ve got your viruses, we’ve got your drugs, and commutes, but no good at all if you need to go into the
we’ve got all the other diseases and situations that have barrens or a not-generally-open-to-the-public industrial
been killing metahumanity for hundreds or thousands of area. And even if you’re in approved areas, GridGuide
years. The question you need to ask yourself now is, how doesn’t respond well to emergencies, like evasive ma-
do I get help once I’m messed up? neuvers or quick getaways. In fact, if you try to do any-
thing GridGuide doesn’t think is wise or safe, the system
Public health systems range from inadequate to is going to drag you down. (But doesn’t it always?) If you
non-existent. There’s just too much money in medicine ever intend to go off the beaten path, or to maybe do
to leave it to the do-gooders. You want medical care of something out of the ordinary, you’re going to need to
any sort, it’s going to cost you. learn how to drive and to have a vehicle that does not
depend on the power of the grid.
The best care is provided by the healthcare corps,
and as long as you’re willing to shell out a pile of nuyen, If you’re traveling from city to city or country to coun-
you get the works, including the best technology and try, you can rely on your personal vehicle, but there are
ambulance service to anywhere in the world, even com- other modes of transportation available. Trains and buses
bat hot zones. But you probably don’t have that much are available in most sprawls, and they can take you from
cash, or you wouldn’t be slugging it out in the shadows. sprawl to sprawl. The security in intra-city transit is pretty
Still, you might be able to afford some basics, like med- light; if you have the nuyen, you can ride. You may need
ics who will pull your bleeding carcass out of the barrens to pass through security, and your SIN will be checked for
and stabilize you until your spellslinger friend arrives longer trips, but on trains the scanners are cheap and eas-
with a heal spell. That may not sound like much, but it ily fooled. Plus, you get to ride a bullet train, which tends
can save your life. That’s why most shadowrunners with to be awesome. If they remembered to clean it.
any sort of rep at all buy a basic contract with one of the
providers. The venerable DocWagon is the most popu- If you opt for air travel, you’ve got three choices: reg-
lar, with decades of experience navigating the meanest ular, suborbital, and semiballistic.
streets, but Evo’s CrashCart, with access to the parent
corp’s cutting edge med tech is gaining ground. Semiballistic is the fastest and the most expensive;
it can get you from Europe to North America in less
If you can’t afford a medical contract, you can always than an hour, and you’ll pay through the nose for the
go to one of the hospitals or clinics run by the med corps privilege. Security is tight. SIN scanners are top of the
and pay for whatever you need at the moment. If you line and nearly impossible to fool. All weapons will be
can’t afford that, you need a street doc. If you survive checked (don’t even think about explosives) and all cy-
more than two runs, chances are you’ll pick up some ba- berware must be deactivated.
sic first aid, like how to keep blood from spurting every-
where. The more runs you survive, the more you learn. Sub-orbitals are slightly slower, slightly cheaper, and
Some runners have a real knack for anatomy and first aid slightly easier to infiltrate. Slightly. Sub-orbital passen-
and earned a rep for doing good work; injured runners gers are usually megacorporate clients, and the corps
took to seeking them out and before long they had a want them to feel safe. Security is tight, and violations
sideline practicing unlicensed med in severely non-ster- will be dealt with harshly.
ile locations. Sometimes you’ll find a real doctor operat-
ing a street clinic. Or former doctors now on the streets Regular air travel is for regular people. Security is
due to addiction, crime, incompetence, or some com- present, but quality varies from provider to provider;
bination thereof. A lot of us tend to find the upgraded if your fake SIN and forged documentation are good
former runners to be more reliable than the downgraded enough you should do fine. Depending.
doctors, but in the end, whichever you choose, you’re
taking a risk. Especially if you’re looking for someone to Of course, if you want to avoid public transportation
install a secondhand cybereye, cheap. altogether, there are ways to get around. Hitch a ride in
the back of a cargo van, or in a container ship, or as part
GETTING AROUND of a drone convoy. And then there’s the almighty t-bird,
the favorite choice of smugglers, spies, and anyone else
One thing you need to always remember in the Sixth involved in illicit border crossings. There are several dif-
World—after “Everything has a price”—is corporations ferent types of t-birds, but they have a few common
love predictability and live to control. Take GridGuide, characteristics: they’re small, maneuverable, capable of
marketed as the ultimate convenience for the commut- landing in tight spots, and able to fly low to avoid radar.
er. It’s a programmed control system for your personal Learn how to pilot one of these babies well, and you’ll
never lack for work. Or anti-aircraft fire from folks you’ve
pissed off.

43<< The Opposition

SECTION.02

SHADOWRUN
CONCEPTS

THE GAME & YOU advancing the story, and the gamemaster should feel that
they can keep the story moving ahead without having to
As a player in a Shadowrun game, your primary objec- engage in prolonged and distracting discussions about
tive is to make things happen. Many of those things the rules. The more members of the group work together,
should be awesome. The gamemaster will set up a story the better their chances of shooting people in the face for
for you, then your character will decide how to respond money in spectacular and amazing fashions will be.
to the initial setup and all the events that happen once
the story gets rolling. Sooner or later—hopefully soon- For more advice on running a Shadowrun game and
er—you’ll face a challenge, something that requires you working with players, see Gamemaster Advice, p. 332.
to test your abilities. The rules are here so that you and
the gamemaster can determine the outcome of your ac- HOW TO MAKE
tions. Did the shot from your Ares Predator V hit the ork
ganger right between the tusks? Are you able to sneak THINGS HAPPEN
past the sleepy dwarf guard without waking him up? Did
you counter the stunball the troll mage threw at you and Your Shadowrun character does all the things a normal
dissolve it into millions of pieces of glittery mana? person does, along with the occasional grand theft,
espionage mission, or hit job. Most of these things—
The rules are here to help you move the story for- common tasks like eating, sleeping, and crossing an
ward, to give you outcomes for the decisions you’re empty street—are done automatically and are kept in
making. They are not a perfect mirror of reality—at times, the background of the game. When you need to do
the rules provide abstract ways to determine the results something difficult or extraordinary, or when you need
of concrete actions, because it speeds up the game and to avoid someone who has got you in their crosshairs,
prevents players from having to roll dice over and over you have to roll the dice to determine a result.
again to complete certain tasks. This chapter describes
the basic rules concepts you need to understand to play HITS & THRESHOLDS
Shadowrun, complete your missions, and get the nuyen
you’ve got coming to you. Shadowrun uses six-sided dice, and usually you need a
good quantity of them. The amount of dice you roll is
THE GAMEMASTER & YOU referred to as a dice pool. Additions to the dice pool are
often noted by a number in front of the term”D6,” so that
Shadowrun games are led by a gamemaster, who guides 3D6 refers to three six-sided dice. When you roll, you
a group of players through the adventures awaiting them. want to see fives and sixes. Each one of these numbers
At the gaming table, the gamemaster sets up and ad- that comes up is called a hit. The more hits you roll, the
vances the story, governs the actions of the non-player better chance you have to pull off whatever you are at-
characters, and determines the results of tests and other tempting to do.
rules-related matters. This gives them a certain amount
of power in the game. When the game is working well, Each time you roll the dice, you’ll be looking to get
the gamemaster will be able to move the story along and enough hits to meet or beat a threshold, which is the
work with the players to make an exciting, involving ex- number of hits you need to do the thing you’re trying to
perience. Role-playing is a cooperative endeavor, and do. That threshold changes depending on what it is you
every member of the gaming group should be working want to accomplish; sometimes it will be a set number
together to help each member of the group have fun of hits, other times you’ll just be trying to get more hits
(even the gamemasters, since they should occasional- than the other guy. There will also be occasions when
ly be allowed some enjoyment). Players should feel like you see how many hits you can rack up over an extend-
their characters can play an important role in shaping and ed period. All of this will be covered more in the section
dealing with tests.

44 The Game & You >>

Descriptions of skills often have examples of thresh- GLITCHES
olds that should be used, but gamemasters can fall back
on the simple guidelines shown in the Success Test Along with fives and sixes, you need to pay attention
Thresholds table. to how many ones show up when you roll the dice. If
more than half the dice you rolled show a one, then
SUCCESS TEST THRESHOLDS you’ve got problems. This is called a glitch. When you
glitch, something bad happens. Maybe you drop your
DIFFICULTY THRESHOLD gun. Maybe you trip over a broken piece of pavement
Easy 1 you hadn’t noticed. Whatever the case, something hap-
pens that makes your life more difficult. Just what it is
Average 2 that happens is left to the discretion of the gamemaster.

Hard 4 The guideline for a glitch is that whatever happens
should make life more difficult for the particular shad-
Very Hard 6 owrunner while not disastrously interfering with their
work. For example, a runner who rolls a glitch while
Extreme 8–10 working to defuse an explosive may drop his wire cut-
ters, or may call up the wrong augmented reality win-
In most tests, the number of hits you get can do more dow of information about the nature of the device. The
than just determine whether you succeed; it can add to gamemaster should not, however, decree that the player
your success. The number of hits you have that is more abruptly cut the wrong wire so that the explosive blows
than what you needed is referred to as your net hits. Net up in their face. As an additional factor, the gamemaster
hits can increase the damage you do in combat or have may decide to make the glitch more severe if the player
other positive effects. At the gamemaster’s discretion, only had one or two hits along with it.
she can reward extraordinary rolls that result in a high
number of net hits (four or more) with a little extra ac- Note that it is possible to roll a glitch on a test that
complishment for the runner, something that may make has enough hits to be successful. In these cases, the
their next test easier. glitch does not cancel out the success; instead, the
glitch occurs in addition to the success. For example,
BUYING HITS a troll could take a mighty swing at a dwarf, rolling
enough hits to make contact but also glitching. The
Sometimes it can save time to skip a test and allow a dwarf takes damage from the troll’s beefy fist slamming
player simply to buy hits, especially if they are rolling into his face, but the force of the swing and the need to
so many dice they are fairly certain they’ll succeed. To aim downward takes the troll off balance, sending him
buy hits, simply count one hit for every four dice in your to the ground after the punch lands. In the next couple
pool, rounded down. Note that this can’t be a halfway of rounds, the troll has to get up on his feet and get
measure—you can’t buy a couple of hits and then roll back into a fighting stance.
for the rest. Either you buy hits with all your dice, or you
roll with all of them. There may be circumstances where a player rolls
a glitch and also does not achieve a single hit. This is
Buying hits often should not be done if there is a called a critical glitch, and this is where the drek hits
chance of a glitch or critical glitch that might significant- the fan. These are the dice rolls that could put charac-
ly change the course of the game’s actions. You need ters’ lives at risk, where they’re going to have to think
your gamemaster’s approval to buy hits. If he doesn’t fast and move faster in order to get out with their hoops
want you to buy hits for the test, then you’re not buying intact. Again, exactly what happens is up to the game-
hits—get ready to roll. master, but a critical glitch should throw a serious mon-
key wrench into shadowrunners’ plans, making them
scramble to recover. While an abrupt, ignominious death

45<< how to make Things Happen

>> SHADOWRUN CONCEPTS <<

is possible when a critical glitch is rolled, gamemasters
and players will likely have more fun if the roll keeps the
players alive but forces them to improvise, test the limits
of their skills, and develop desperate plans to help them
stay alive.

Clearly, a critical glitch is something players want to
avoid, and if they really feel the need to do it, they can
use a point of Edge to do so (see Edge Effects, p. 56). By
using the Close Call function of Edge, players can down-
grade a critical glitch to a mere glitch, or entirely negate a
glitch (note that they cannot spend two points to negate a
critical glitch). This does not, however, do anything about
their total lack of hits. They’ll just have to suck that up.

TESTS AND LIMITS

When you roll dice in Shadowrun, you are generally mak-
ing one form of test or another. There are four things
you need to know when you’re making a test. They are:

1. What kind of test it is;
2. How many dice you should roll (usually this is

a rating of a skill added to the rating of a linked
attribute);
3. The limit on the test, which tells you the maxi-
mum amount of hits you can apply to the test;
4. The threshold for the test.

EXAMPLE

Saskatchewan Pete is on astral overwatch, keeping an
eye out for spirits and spells while his team infiltrates a cor-
porate facility. As they are working to breach an outer door,
he catches a glimpse of an aura approaching and recognizes
it as belonging to a spellcaster. Wanting to take out the threat
before it gives him any headaches, Pete casts Stunbolt at the
interloper, hoping to catch them off guard. He rolls 11 dice on
the test; he gets 3 hits, but he also gets six ones, meaning he
glitches. The gamemaster decides that Pete paid too close
attention to the aura of his own spell, so his astral sight—his
vision of all things magical—is dazzled temporarily, giving him
a penalty on any tests he makes while performing his astral
overwatch duties.

The opposing spellcaster was hurt but not taken out by
Pete’s casting, and he’s still coming. In fact, he’s got a Blast
spell brewing that could put a real hurt on Takouba, the group’s
street samurai. The spellcaster throws it, and Pete tries to
counterspell it. Unfortunately, Pete gets six ones on his Coun-
terspelling test and not a single hit—it’s a critical glitch. The
gamemaster decides that Pete manages to deflect the spell
away from Takouba and right onto himself. Pete then takes the
full force of the Blast spell. A bad overwatch assignment just
got a hell of a lot worse, and the team will have to figure out
how to function with an injured mage.

If Pete wanted to, he could use a point of Edge and avoid
the critical glitch, which would keep the spell from deflecting
to him, though Takouba would still have to deal with its effects.
Get hurt or watch your partner go down—that’s how life in the
shadows goes.

46 how to make Things Happen >>

>> SHADOWRUN CONCEPTS <<

The notation for a test gives you all the information When a limit is imposed by a piece of gear, it over-
you need to know. Test notations look slightly different rides the inherent limit, whether it is higher or lower than
based on the kind of test it is—either a Success test, an that limit. For example, the Accuracy of a firearm acts as
Opposed test, an Extended test, or a Teamwork test. the limit for tests that involve shooting that gun (see p.
Each type is discussed below. 416 for more discussion of gear and its attributes), so no
inherent limits are used in that test. The limit is a game
There are two different types of limits: inherent lim- statistic for the piece of gear that reflects both its general
its and limits from gear. Your character has three inher- nature and the quality of its workmanship.
ent limits—Physical, Mental, and Social—that are derived
from their attributes (p. 51). These limits represent just SUCCESS TESTS
how far you can push your body, your mind, and your
charm (elven characters may be dismayed to discov- Success tests generally occur when a shadowrunner
er that their charm is not, in fact, boundless). In game has to use her abilities to accomplish something in a
terms, limits tell you how many of the hits from your ini- single moment of time. This could involve weaving a
tial roll you can actually use to determine the result of car through traffic at high speed, looking for a needle
the test. If you roll more hits than your limit allows, then in a haystack, or lifting a heavy object. A Success test
you can only count the hits equal to the limit. Occasion- (also known as a Simple test) is a matter of rolling up
ally runners might find ways to extend or even blow by enough hits to meet the threshold for the test, then
their limits, but they should be aware of these limits so moving on. Success test notation looks like this:
they know how it might affect any upcoming tests. One
method to get around a limit is Edge—by using a point SUCCESS TEST Applicable Limit
of Edge, you may choose to ignore your limit for a single
test (see Edge Effects, p. 56). Skill Used in Test

Note that limits generally only apply to tests involv- PERCEPTION + INTUITION [MENTAL] (2) TEST
ing a dice pool derived from a skill and an attribute.
Tests using a single attribute, or two attributes, do not Attribute Used in Test Threshold
use limits.
OPPOSED TESTS
Often, rather than using their inherent limits, runners
will be limited by the piece of gear they are using. Each Opposed tests happen whenever a shadowrunner has
weapon, for example, has an Accuracy rating that serves to pit her skills against another individual, living thing,
as its limit for attacks made with that weapon, while cy- or (occasionally) technological force. Maybe she’s try-
berdecks have attributes that serve as limits on a variety ing to sneak by a security guard in a factory complex,
of Matrix actions. For more info, check out the write-ups knock out a belligerent ganger with her stungun, or talk
on different pieces of gear in Street Gear, p. 416. Mr. Johnson into offering a higher payday. Notation for
Opposed tests looks like this:
EXAMPLE
OPPOSED TESTS Applicable Limit
Takouba has a Physical limit of 6, thanks in part
to his high Body and Strength. He starts his shadow- Skill Used in Test
running career using a Defiance T-250 shotgun, which
has an Accuracy of 4. He uses the Accuracy as a limit SNEAKING + AGILITY [PHYSICAL] OPPOSED TEST
in all tests for shooting the shotgun; his Physical limit
does not come into play. He has an Agility of 5 and a Attribute Used in Test
Shotguns skill of 6, meaning he rolls 11 dice when he
uses the gun. After a time, though, he notices that he Note that Opposed tests do not list a threshold.
is losing too many hits due to the relatively low Accu- That’s because in an Opposed test, you are trying to
racy of the Defiance, so he saves up his nuyen and generate more hits than an opponent. Sometimes the
invests in a PJSS Model 55, with an Accuracy of 6. opponent is rolling the same skill + attribute combina-
He still uses the Accuracy instead of his Physical lim- tion, sometimes a different one; see Using Skills, p. 128,
it, but now that he’s working with a higher Accuracy, for information on what skills and attributes are used in
he is not going to lose as many hits. He may then add specific Opposed tests.
a laser sight to the gun, which bumps the Accuracy
up to 7. It’s now higher than his Physical limit, but the
Accuracy is still the limit he uses when shooting that
particular gun. He’s got plenty of room to grow now.
Once his Shotgun skill gets to 8 or 9, he still generally
won’t hit the limit, and he’ll be bringing drekloads of
pain to anyone at the wrong end of his gun barrels.

47<< how to make Things Happen

>> SHADOWRUN CONCEPTS <<

EXTENDED TESTS EXAMPLE
Sorsha’s Americar took a beating in the last fight, and she
Rather than taking place in a single moment, some tests
take place over time. Maybe you’re taking a few days needs to sit down and get it fixed. The gamemaster judges that
to learn a new spell or you’re repairing your beat-up the damage is severe enough to warrant a threshold of 18, and
Americar and you need to determine how long the job he assigns a Long interval of an hour to the work. Sorsha rolls
takes. Extended test notation looks like this: 10 dice on this test, and the first roll goes well—she gets 5
hits. Fortunately, her Mental limit is 5, so she can count all the
Skill Used in Test EXTENDED TESTS hits. Sorsha takes away a die for the second roll (representing
the second hour) and rolls poorly, getting only 2 hits. She has
Applicable Limit Interval a total of 7 hits now. The next hour she rolls 8 dice and gets 4
hits; then she rolls 7 and gets another 4. Her total is now 15,
Automotive Mechanic + Logic [Mental] (10, 1 hour) Extended Test though her dice pool is dwindling. Her next roll of 6 dice only
produces a single hit, but the roll after that gets 2. She has her
Attribute Used in Test Threshold 18! The Americar is now repaired, and the job took six rolls,
meaning six hours have passed in the game.

Instead of obtaining all of the needed hits in a single EXTENDED TEST THRESHOLDS
roll, Extended tests allow you to make repeated rolls and
then accumulate the hits you made in each roll until you DIFFICULTY THRESHOLD
either reach the threshold, you run out of time because Easy 6
there’s something else you need to do or because people
start shooting at you, or you run out of rolls. Note that on Average 12
each roll of the Extended test, you can only count the hits
equal to or under the applicable limit (unless you decide Hard 18
to use Edge to get around the limit; see p. 56). The inter-
val for an Extended test describes how much time passes Very Hard 24
between each roll. Intervals can be as short as a Combat
Turn or as long as a month. The Extended Test Thresholds Extreme 30+
table provides some suggestions on thresholds for Ex-
tended tests, while the Extended Test Intervals table can EXTENDED TEST INTERVALS
help gamemasters choose the proper interval.
TASK TIME INTERVAL
Extended tests cannot last forever; at some point, Fast 1 Combat Turn
characters reach the limit of their abilities, and further Quick 1 minute
efforts will do them no good. To simulate this, with each Short 10 minutes
successive roll on an Extended test, players should re- Average 30 minutes
move one die from their dice pool. Eventually they’ll Long 1 hour
have no dice left, and the test will be over. Consuming 1 day
Exhaustive 1 week
Generally, all of the rolls for an Extended test do not Mammoth 1 month
need to be made concurrently. Shadowrunners can set
the task aside for a bit, do something else, then pick up EXTENDED TESTS & GLITCHES
where they left off with the amount of hits they had re-
maining in place. A glitch does not necessarily cause the Extended test
to fail. Instead, it causes difficulties or delays in the ef-
A NOTE ON ROUNDING fort. The gamemaster may choose to reduce the hits
accumulated to this point by 1D6. If this reduces the
Sometimes you’re going to have to divide some number total hits to zero or less, the test fails.
or another, and sometimes that will require rounding. The
general rule of thumb is to round up, unless a specific rule On a critical glitch, the test fails—no dice roll needed.
tells you to do otherwise. Whatever work you put into the test is lost.

48 how to make Things Happen >>