EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE

The year is 2075, and if you want to survive this Deals are made in steel and lead more often than
world, you need to figure out what you are willing gold or nuyen; success and failure live only a razor’s
to pay. Megacorporations call the shots here, making edge apart. You may trade a piece of your soul to gain
most of the common citizens dance to their tune—or bleeding-edge gear, or you may learn how to bend
crushing them underfoot if they dare interfere with and twist magic that threatens to overwhelm you.
the pursuit of ever-expanding profit. Most people Whatever you do, do it fast, because it's a dan-
don’t have the will to fight back, but there are some gerous world. Creatures of myth and legend walk
people called shadowrunners who stand as the last the streets, while the arcane skills of spellslingers
spark of independence. You are one of them, fighting are in high demand. And of course the monolithic
to survive and maybe thrive. You may be human, elf, megacorps bleed the world dry, sabotaging each
dwarf, ork, or troll, but whatever you are, you will be other in covert cutthroat competition as they go
tested to your limits if you want to have any chance to war over the bottom line. But this is where you
in this world. come in. They may not like you, they may want to
Standing up to the mightiest powers in the world crush you, but they need you and your skills. You
isn’t easy, but you are not defenseless. The world may be a lethal street samurai or well-connected
is both Awakened, filled with renewed magic, and info broker, a spell-slinging mage or code-cracking
wired. Cyber- and bioware implants make your meat decker; no matter what, you’re good at what you
body better-than-flesh, while the wireless Matrix do. Good enough, hopefully, to get the job done
enhances your perceptions with hyper-real senses. and stay alive.
S H AD O W RUN

QUICK-START
RULES
WHAT’S A For ease of reference, the first appearance of any im-
portant term is bolded; such words will be used often
ROLEPLAYING through out the rules and game play.

GAME? DICE
Roleplaying games require one or more players and a Shadowrun uses a number of six-sided dice to resolve
gamemaster (GM). The players control the main char- actions—normally through tests (p. 4). A typical player,
acters of the story. The gamemaster directs the action even in these quick-start rules, may use up to a doz-
of the story and controls the opposition (known as en dice at any one time, so having plenty on hand is a
non-player characters, or NPCs), the props, the setting, good idea.
and everything else the player characters may encounter.
Players and gamemasters must work together to build an CHARACTERS
intense and interesting adventure. As a player, you con- A character in Shadowrun is much like a character in
trol a player character (PC)—a shadowrunner. All of the a novel or film, except the player controls her actions.
character’s statistics and information are noted on your Composed of a collection of attributes and skills, a char-
Character Record Sheet. During the course of the game, acter has the personality the player injects into it.
the gamemaster will describe events or situations to you.
As you roleplay through some situations, the gamemas-
CHARACTER RECORD SHEET
ter will probably ask you to roll some dice, and the re-
sulting numbers will determine the success or failure of Character Record Sheets note the game statistics (num-
your character’s attempted action. The gamemaster uses bers and information) that allow the personality that a play-
the rules of the game to interpret the dice rolls and the er has interjected into his character to interact within the
outcome of your character’s action. framework of Shadowrun’s game system. In other words,
In Shadowrun, you roleplay within the dystopian as you move, interact with people and fight, all the infor-
near-future world of 2075, where your every action can mation you need to know for those actions is tracked on
earn you the street cred to turn you into a living legend the Character Record Sheet. The Character Record Sheet
… or leave you forgotten in a back alley. also tracks damage done to your character during combat.
The five pre-generated characters found in this box are
QUICK-START RULES designed for use with these quick-start rules. If the play-
ers have not already done so they should review those
We have specifically designed these quick-start rules sheets (which include all the stats they’ll need during the
(QSR) to drop you straight into the hyper-dangerous, game) and choose a character. The Gamemaster Char-
shadowy streets of 2075 in minutes! Read through these acters Reference sheet (p. 32) is for the GM and makes
quick-start rules, as well as the Food Fight adventure on it easy to look up the character’s most important stats.
pp. 17-23, Plots and Paydata, once…it won’t take long. Reviewing character sheets while reading these rules will
Then jump right into playing Food Fight which will have enable players and the GM to better understand how the
you practicing what you’ve just read, making the rules rules work. If there is anything on the character sheets not
all the easier to understand and use. Additional helpful covered in these rules, ignore them for now.
information can be found along the sides of each page,
pointing out useful tips and tricks for both players and MORE!
gamemasters, as well as providing numerous exam-
ples—using the pre-generated characters found in this Check out the Ms.
box (see Characters, at right)—of how the rules actually Myth character booklet for
work in game play. a solo adventure that can
help you learn how the
rules work!

2 What’s a roleplaying game? >>

METATYPE SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES n SHADOWRUN
Characters may be of one of the five sub- A derived attribute, Initiative is the sum of Reac- Any movement, action,
groups of Homo sapiens: human, elf, dwarf, ork, tion and Intuition, plus any Initiative Dice from or series of such made in
and troll. Non-humans are known as metahu- implanted or magical reflex enhancers. Initiative carrying out plans which are
mans, while the five subgroups as a whole (in- is used to roll your Initiative Score (see Roll Ini- illegal or quasilegal; crime
cluding humans) are known as metahumanity. In tiative, p. 7), which is used for a Combat Turn. for hire.
the 2070s, humans are still the most numerous Only magically active characters (such as
metatype. the Street Shaman) have Magic, the measure n CHARACTER
of the ability to use magic and of the body’s at-
RECORD SHEETS
ATTRIBUTES tunement to mana (the magic energy) that flows
through our physical plane (see Awakened These pages record important
Attributes represent a character’s inherent abil- World, p. 12). information about your
ities. In these quick-start rules, each character character—players should
possesses nine or ten attributes: four Physical, ATTRIBUTE RATINGS review the character record
four Mental, and up to two Special. All characters sheets and select a character
have four Physical and four Mental attributes. The standard range of natural human at- to play.
The number of Special attributes will vary. tributes is on a scale of 1 to 6, with 3 being
average. Physical and Mental attributes have
a maximum natural rating of 6 plus or minus
n EXAMPLES
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES Throughout this QSR, we have
metatype modifiers—some metatypes can
The Body attribute determines a character’s re- have ratings higher than 6 in some attributes. placed special examples that
sistance to outside forces: the character’s cardio- Augmented ratings (cyberware and magic) refer to one of the sample
vascular fitness, immune system, how well she are listed in parentheses after the natural rat- characters. These examples
heals, and her muscle and bone structure. Agility ing, such as: 4 (6). will show how to use certain
represents fine motor control—manual dexterity, character abilities and help
explain how various rules
flexibility, balance, and coordination. A charac-
ter’s Reaction is her physical reflexes. Strength
CONDITION MONITORS work during a game.
denotes what a character’s muscles can do, in- The Condition Monitor consists of two tracks.
cluding things such as raw lifting power and run- The Physical Damage Track displays wound
ning speed. damage and indicates when the character dies.
The Stun Damage Track shows fatigue and stun
MENTAL ATTRIBUTES damage and indicates when a character falls un-
conscious. (See Resolving Damage, p. 10, for
Willpower keeps a character going when she more information.)
wants to give up, or enables her to control her
habits and emotions, while Logic represents
memorizing ability and raw brainpower. In- QUALITIES
tuition covers “mental alertness”—the ability Most shadowrunners have certain special quali-
to take in and process information, to read a ties—that’s why they’re not the poor sod behind
crowd, to assess a situation for danger or op- the counter at a Stuffer Shack. The pre-generat-
portunity. More than just looks, Charisma rep- ed Character Record Sheets in these quick-start
resents a character’s personal aura, self-image, rules list some qualities. While there are no asso-
ego, willingness to find out what people want, ciated game mechanics for most of these rules,
and ability to recognize what she can and can’t they are included because their names will allow
get out of people. players to instantly get a feel for the unique flavor
of a given character.

<< What’s a roleplaying game? 3

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

METATYPES n SKILLS followed by the rating. For example, Infiltration

3 means the character has the Infiltration skill
Humans: Standard model! Whereas attributes represent an individual’s at a rating of 3. The skill rating is added to the
Elves: Tall, slender, with inherent capacities, skills are abilities an indi- linked attribute to determine the number of
low-light vision. vidual learns over time. Each skill represents dice rolled when that skill is used. For example,
the training and methods a character has if the character with Infiltration 3 also had Intu-
Dwarfs: Short & stout with
thermographic vision. picked up that enable her to use her natural at- ition 4 she would roll 7 dice when making an
tributes in a certain way. To reflect this connec- Infiltration Test. The pre-generated Character
Orks: Tall like an elf but tion, each skill is linked to an attribute. Skills Record Sheets already note the total dice pool
much stockier, also with
are grouped into three categories: Active, of a skill (see Dice Pools, p. 5)
low-light vision.
Knowledge, and Language. For these rules,
Trolls: 2.5 meters tall
and 300 kilograms, with
Knowledge and Language skills on the Char- USING SKILLS
acter Record Sheets only provide additional
thermographic vision flavor; while playing Food Fight, only Active As an adventure unfolds, players are going to
Skills are used. use their characters’ skills and attributes to get
things done. Gamemasters must rely on their
own judgment to decide which skills are needed,
ACTIVE SKILLS
determine the situation modifiers, and interpret
Active skills are the skills characters use to take what it all means.
action. These skills are the ones that usually mat-
ter the most to shadowrunners—firing a gun, TESTS
negotiating a new contract, driving a hovercraft,
and so on. Shadowrun is filled with adventure, danger, and
risk, and characters usually end up in the middle
of it all. You determine what your character does
SKILL RATINGS
in a situation and how well she does it by making
Skill ratings are the numerical values assigned a test—rolling dice and determining the outcome
to skills and are written as the name of the skill, by how well or poorly you rolled.

ATTRIBUTES
All of a character’s attributes are listed on their Character Record Sheet. Sometimes you will see an attribute that has two numbers,
like this: 4 (6)—use the number in parenthesis (in this case, the six) for any dice roll using the Quick Start Rules. The numbers in
parenthesis represents attributes modified due to cyberware, magic, etc.

INITIATIVE
Reaction + Intuition + Initiative Dice from Implant & Magic modifiers = number of dice rolled to determine Initiative Score

AUGMENTED ATTRIBUTES
All modifiers from implants or magic are pre-calculated into your character’s record sheet—just take the rating and run with it!

CONDITION MONITORS
Condition monitors on the character record sheets are also pre-calculated for you!

QUALITIES
Until you move to either Runner’s Toolkit: Alphaware or Shadowrun, Fifth Edition take Qualities as guidelines as to how the character
should be portrayed. If you don’t like them, ignore them.

CONTACTS
The Character Record Sheets list a few Contacts for each Player Character. These are people that the character can call on for
help—intel, equipment, backup, or just a shoulder to cry on. As with Qualities, for these quick-start rules players can use Contacts as-is
for off-the-cuff roleplaying or ignore them.

4 What’s a roleplaying game? >>

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

There are many situations in which the gam- TARGET NUMBER n SKILL EXAMPLES
emaster will ask you to make a test to determine
how well you perform, be it bypassing an alarm AND HITS Here’s some examples of Skill
and Attribute combinations:
system, shooting an assassin, or persuading a When you roll the dice in Shadowrun, you do
security guard that your presence in the corpo- not add them together (with the exception of
FIRE A GUN:
rate facility is legitimate. Normal, everyday ac- Initiative Dice). Instead, you compare each in- Firearms + Agility
tions should not require a test. dividual die to the standard target number of
5. This target number never changes. Instead, SMACK SOMEONE
DICE POOLS as noted above, all modifiers—whether positive WITH A BASEBALL BAT:
or negative—are applied to the dice pool (the Clubs + Agility
When a gamemaster calls for a test, he will pro- number of dice rolled). Each die that is equal to
vide the player with a description of the task or greater than 5 (a 5 or 6) is considered a hit. READ A SCRAWLED NOTE
at hand and which skill is most appropriate for Generally speaking, the more hits, the better the WRITTEN IN JAPANESE:
the test. result. Players should count the number of hits Japanese + Intuition
When a player makes a test, she rolls a num- they score on each test and tell the gamemas-
ber of dice equal to her dice pool. The dice pool ter. Note that scoring one or more hits does not ATTEMP TO NEGOTIATE A
is the sum of the relevant skill plus its linked at- necessarily equal success—it is possible to score BETTER DEAL FOR A JOB:
tribute. On the pre-generated Character Record hits but still fail a test, if you don’t score enough Negotiation + Charisma
Sheets, the number in brackets following each (see Thresholds, p. 6). You also may not be able
skill is the total dice pool; i.e., the sum of the skill to use all the hits you roll because of certain lim- CAST A SPELL TO HEAL
rating and the linked attribute value to this dice its—see below! AN ALLY’S WOUNDS:
pool, based upon circumstances—the character Spellcasting + Magic
is injured, fighting at night without proper vision
equipment, the attempted task is extremely LIMITS n DICE POOL
difficult, and so on—the gamemaster will then There are certain capabilities that are difficult for
Skill + Attribute +/– modifiers =
assign additional plus or minus modifiers (bo- characters to surpass, limitations that are built
Dice Pool
nus or penalty dice) to determine the final dice into themselves or into their gear. In Shadowrun,
pool. The Gamemaster Screen (remember this these are called limits, and they place a cap on
is found on the last page of this booklet) con- the number of hits you can count on any test. n GAMEMASTER
tains several tables that a gamemaster can use When gear is involved in a test, the gear imposes SCREEN
during the adventure to determine which mod- the limit (such as the Accuracy rating of a weap-
The Gamemaster Screen,
ifiers may apply in a given situation. If the play- on). In other cases, one of a character’s inherent
found at the end of this
ers find themselves in a situation not covered limits is used. There are three of these—Physical, booklet, will be useful for
by any of the modifiers on the table, and yet the Mental, and Social. The appropriate limit to use players to review during
gamemaster feels that additional modifiers are is noted as part of any test. game play as well; don’t be
needed, the gamemaster can also use those ta- Typically limits only apply in tests involving stingy and keep it just to
bles as guidelines to quickly create appropriate skills; tests using dice pools from two attributes yourself!
modifiers. are not subject to limits.
The player then rolls a number of dice equal
n TARGET NUMBER
to the dice pool. GLITCHES Your target number (TN) is
If half or more of the dice rolled come up as 1s,
DEFAULTING then a glitch results. A glitch is an error, fum-
always 5. If you roll a 5 or a 6,
that’s a hit.
If the character lacks the appropriate skill for ble, or random fluke that causes the action to
the test, she can still attempt the action, but will go wrong. It’s possible to both succeed in a task n THE NATURE
find it harder to succeed. Improvising in this and get a glitch at the same time. For example, a
manner is called defaulting. Characters who character who rolls a glitch when jumping over OF GLITCHES
default use only the linked attribute in their something may knock the item over, or land on a The exact nature of the glitch
dice pool. Additionally, they suffer a –1 dice nail she didn’t see on the far side. is up to the gamemaster,
pool modifier. If a character rolls a glitch and scores zero though we recommend
hits, then she has made a critical glitch. Critical something dramatic or
glitches are far worse than regular glitches—they entertaining, but not
may cause serious injury or even threaten the disastrous, especially if your
character’s life. group is new to Shadowrun!

<< What’s a roleplaying game? 5

>> QUICK-START RULES <<

EXAMPLE: GENTRY NOTATION

It may prove useful for the player involved in a test, as
SUCCESS TEST well as the gamemaster, to write out the requirements
Gentry is trying to bypass
of a Success Test. People usually remember something
an old maglock on a security
door. Gentry has a Hardware better when they write it down. Taking the time to write
skill rating of 4 (it’s part of tests out at the beginning will have players determining
the Electronics skill group). the requirements of such tests in no time.
The linked Logic attribute Additionally, published adventures may include
makes for a die pool of 10, pre-determined Success Tests for a given situation, so
and Gentry’s Mental Limit of knowing how to read the information is important.
7 will apply to this test. The The standard notation for a Success Test uses the skill
gamemaster doesn’t see any called for by the test plus the skill’s linked attribute, fol-
other modifiers that apply in lowed by the applicable limit in brackets and the number
this case, but thinking on the indicating the threshold in parentheses. For example, the
fly (a very handy thing for a Success Test for using the Hardware skill with a threshold
GM to do), he decides that since it’s an older model, he’ll of 2 would be written as: “Hardware + Logic [Mental] (2)
give Gentry a +2 modifier. This gives Gentry a final dice pool Test.” Note that additional modifiers the gamemaster may
of 12 dice: 6 (Logic) + 4 (Hardware skill rating) + 2 (modifier apply are not included in this standard notation as they
for the maglock being less secure) = 12. can change from situation to situation. If no threshold is
If Gentry were missing the Hardware skill, he’d have listed, then the threshold for the test is 1.
to default to just using his linked attribute, Logic. This
would make his die pool just a 7: 6 (Logic) + 2 (for the old
maglock) -1 (for defaulting) = 7. OPPOSED TESTS
An Opposed Test occurs when two characters are in di-
rect conflict with one another. In this case, the chance
TYPES OF TESTS of success is based more on the opponent than the sit-
uation. When making an Opposed Test, both characters
roll their dice pools and compare the number of hits. The
There are two types of tests: Success Tests and Opposed character generating the greater number of hits achieves
Tests. her goal. In the event of a tie, the action is typically a
stalemate, and the characters have to choose between
SUCCESS TESTS continuing with another test or withdrawing. If the
A Success Test is the standard test to see if a character gamemaster needs a result on a tie, then rule in favor of
can accomplish a given task, and how well. Use Success the defending character.
Tests when the character is exercising a skill or ability for
immediate effect and is not directly opposed by another EXAMPLE: SLEDGE
person or force. To make a Success Test, the character
rolls her dice pool and counts the number of hits.
OPPOSED TEST
Sledge is leaning
THRESHOLDS heavily on a door while a
Hits represent a measure of achievement on a test. In security guard is trying to
order to succeed completely on a Success Test, you push it open from the other
must meet or exceed a gamemaster-determined thresh- side. This test has no real
old with your hits. The higher the threshold, the more appropriate skill, so the
difficult the action. The average threshold is 2 (so 2 hits gamemaster just calls for a
Strength + Body Opposed
are needed to succeed), though other tests may have a
Test. Since it’s a test of two
threshold as high as 4. If the threshold is larger than the
attributes, no limit applies.
character’s dice pool, then there is simply no way the
Sledge gets together his 15
character can succeed. The Difficulty Table on the Gam- dice (7 Strength + 8 Body)
emaster Screen provides an easy-to-use formula to de- and gets a 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4,
termine thresholds, based upon the difficulty of the task. 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6. Six hits! The guard only has a pool of
7 dice (4 Strength + 3 Body), and gets a 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6.
Just three hits. Sledge has a net success of three hits on
this test, and once again the brawny ork provides just the
muscle the team needs, holding the door shut while the
rest of the team starts an escape.

6 TYPES OF TESTS >>

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

EXAMPLE: GENTRY [Physical] Opposed Test.” Many Opposed Tests, n SUCCESS TESTS
however, call for two different skills to be used
IN A NUTSHELL
ROLLING DICE against each other. For example, if a character
In the example from is trying to sneak past a guard, the gamemaster Roll your dice pool—every
the previous page, we would call for an “Opposed Test between the 5 and 6 you get is a hit. More
assembled Gentry’s dice character’s Infiltration + Agility [Physical] and the hits are better, but you can
guard’s Perception + Intuition [Mental].” only count the hits equal to or
pool of 12. Even though the
If the Opposed Test is between attributes, use less than your relevant limit.
gamemaster already applied
the attribute in place of the skill: “Agility + Body Tell your gamemaster how
a modifier for the poor
many hits you got, and your
condition of the maglock, Opposed Test.” If two attributes are used to make
gamemaster will tell you the
after looking at the Difficulty the dice pool, the test is not subject to limits.
results of your character’s
Table (Gamemaster Screen), actions.
he decides that it’s an
Average task, so it only has
COMBAT
a Threshold of 2.
n TELLING PLAYERS
The player rolls his The world of Shadowrun is violent and hostile. ABOUT THRESHOLDS
12 dice and gets a 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, and 6. He Inevitably, player characters will be drawn into
The gamemaster doesn’t
scores 3 hits (well under his Mental Limit of 7), so the combat situations. Whether the characters are
need to tell players what the
door opens! However, was almost a close call, because spraying bullets or throwing kicks, these are the
threshold for any given test is,
if he’d rolled just one more 1, he would have opened the combat rules they’ll use to get the job done.
so players may roll the dice
door but also gotten a glitch (because half of his dice even if they have no chance of
would have been 1s). In this instance, maybe the glitch THE COMBAT TURN succeeding.
would have resulted in the ratty old maglock short-
Combat proceeds in a sequence known as the
circuiting while he was working on it, giving Gentry a
Combat Turn. Each Combat Turn is 3 seconds
nasty jolt of electrical Stun Damage.
long (20 per minute). The Combat Turn attempts
to mimic real combat, resolving issues such as
who acts first, who is faster on the draw, what
OPPOSED TEST
happens when one character punches another,
MODIFIERS and so on. During the Combat Turn, each play-
Situational modifiers that affect both sides of an er—starting with the player whose character is
Opposed Test in an equal fashion are applied to the fastest—takes turns describing his character’s
both dice pools. Situational modifiers that give action and rolls dice to see how well he performs
an advantage to one character in an Opposed it. The gamemaster describes the actions and re-
Test over another are only applied to the one ini- actions of the non-player characters (NPCs), as
tiating the action. Thresholds are never applied well as the final outcome of all actions. Combat
to Opposed Tests. Turns may be broken up into a series of Initiative
Passes if any characters have the ability to take
OPPOSED TEST extra actions in a Combat Turn. The point during
each Combat Turn when a specific character can
VS. A GROUP
act is called an Action Phase. For ease of refer-
Some situations may call for a character to act ence during game play, gamemasters can refer to
against an entire group of opposing characters, the Combat Turn Sequence Table (Gamemaster
such as a runner trying to sneak past a group of Screen).
guards. In this event, only roll once for the en-
tire opposing group, using the highest dice pool 1. ROLL INITIATIVE
available to the group, but add +1 die for each
additional person in the group (to a maximum Determine Initiative for all the characters,
+5 modifier). and anything else that has an Initiative attribute
involved in the fight. To determine a character’s
Initiative Score, roll the character’s Initiative Dice
OPPOSED TEST NOTATION
(noted as a “+xD6” number next to the Initiative
When an Opposed Test is called for, write it out rating), add up the total of that roll and then add
(as with the Success Test, it will make it easier that number to the Initiative rating. The order of
to understand and train you how to quickly de- Initiative Scores from high to low determines
termine such tests for future games) using the the order in which the action will take place. The
skill + attribute for each side of the test with the gamemaster should roll for and record the Initia-
applicable limit in brackets: “Athletics + Strength tive of all nonplayer characters.

<< COMBAT 7
 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

“You may need to 2. BEGIN FIRST 5. REDUCE INITIATIVE

cut flesh, you may INITIATIVE PASS SCORES AND BEGIN
need to cut chrome. Characters involved in the combat now take NEXT INITIATIVE PASS
Either way, you need their actions sequentially in the first Initiative All Initiative Scores at this point are reduced by
a sharp blade.” Pass, starting with the character who has the 10. Any characters who still have an Initiative
—Scar Tissue, Ancients highest Initiative Score. This character is the act- Score above 0 can act again; return to step two,
gang member ing character. If more than one character has the giving those characters who can still take a turn
same Initiative Score, they go at the same time. a chance to act again, in order of their Initiative
Score. Continue this process until all Initiative
INITIATIVE n 3. BEGIN ACTION PHASE Scores are at 0 or lower.

Reaction + Intuition +/– The acting character now declares and takes
Implant & Magic mods = his actions. 6. BEGIN A
Initiative rating NEW COMBAT TURN
A. DECLARE ACTIONS Begin a new Combat Turn, starting again at Step
Initiative rating + sum of
rolls of Initiative Dice =
The acting character declares his actions for 1. Continue repeating Steps 1 through 6 until the
Initiative Score the Action Phase. He may take two Simple Ac- combat ends.
tions or one Complex Action. The character may
also declare one Free Action in addition to any
other declared actions during the Action Phase. MOVEMENT
The Combat Actions listed in the sidebar on
page 10 (as well as on the Gamemaster Screen There are two types of movement: walking
and each character sheet) describe which ac- and running. Characters may move at one of
tions fall into the Free, Simple and Complex cat- these two rates during each Initiative Pass, or
egories they may choose to remain stationary. To walk
or run, the character must declare it during the
B. RESOLVE ACTIONS Declare Actions part of his Action Phase. Walk-
Resolve the actions of the acting character. ing does not take up any actions, but running
requires a Free Action.
Once a mode of movement has been de-
EXAMPLE: SLEDGE
clared, the character moves in that mode until
his next Action Phase. In these quick-start rules,
INITIATIVE all characters have a walking Movement Rate
With all his
of 10 meters, and a running Movement Rate of
augmentations, Sledge has
25 meters. Rates of movement are per Combat
an Initiative Attribute of 11
(8 Reaction + 3 Intuition),
Turn, not per Initiative Pass.
and gets to roll two dice
to add to it (thanks to his SPRINTING
wired reflexes). He rolls
Characters may attempt to increase their run-
those two dice and scores
a 3 and a 5, for a total of
ning distance by spending a Simple Action
8. That 8 gets added to his (rather than just a Free Action to run) and mak-
Initiative Attribute (11), for ing a Running + Strength Test. Each hit adds
an Initiative Score of 19. 2 meters to the distance they can run in that
Sledge is up against some Combat Turn.
punk ganger who only has an Initiative Score of 12 after
the GM’s roll, so Sledge is up first.
COMBAT TESTS
4. DECLARE AND These quick-start rules include two types of
RESOLVE ACTIONS OF combat: ranged, and melee.
REMAINING CHARACTERS Combat is handled as an Opposed Test be-
tween the attacker and defender. The exact
Move on to the character with the next highest skills and attributes used depend on the type of
Initiative Score and repeat Step 3. Continue this combat, method of attack, and style of defense,
cycle until the actions of all characters have been as described in each section. Various modifiers
resolved for that Initiative Pass. may also apply. If the attacker scores more hits

8 MOVEMENT >>
 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

than the defender (the defender wins on ties), 5. RESIST DAMAGE TEST n MOVEMENT RATES
the attack hits the target. Otherwise, the attack
The defender rolls Body + modified Armor Val- WALKING
misses.
ue to resist damage. Each hit scored reduces the 10m per Combat Turn
All combat, whether it involves firearms,
modified Damage Value by 1. If the DV is reduced
knives, or magic, or whether it is a ranged or
to 0 or less, no damage is inflicted. RUNNING
melee attacks, are resolved in the same manner.
25m per Combat Turn
Magic combat is more fully explained starting
on p. 14. 6. APPLY DAMAGE
Apply the remaining Damage Value to the tar- n ACTION PHASE
THE COMBAT get’s Condition Monitor (see the Character Re- See Step 3, p. 8
cord Sheets). Each point of Damage Value equals
SEQUENCE 1 box of damage.
n DECLARE ACTIONS
1. DECLARE ATTACK RANGED COMBAT See Step 3A, p. 8

The attacker declares an attack as part of the All ranged combat in Shadowrun, whether it in-
Declare Actions part of his Action Phase and volves firearms, projectile weapons, or thrown
n DAMAGE VALUE
spends an appropriate action depending on the weapons, is resolved in the same manner. The Damage Value of every
type of attack. weapon is listed after its
RANGED ATTACK MODIFIERS name, in brackets, for
2. APPLY SITUATIONAL example: [Damage: 6P]
Using a weapon is not always as easy as it might
MODIFIERS
seem. Weapon accessories, range, intervening
Apply appropriate situation dice pool modifi- terrain, atmospheric conditions, and the move-
ers to the attacker according to the specific at- ment of the attacker and the target can apply
tack (see the various tables on the Gamemaster dice pool modifiers. The Ranged Combat Mod-
Screen). Modifiers may also apply to the de- ifiers Table on the Gamemaster Screen includes
fender’s dice pool depending on his method of a list of such modifiers.
defense. To determine the attacker’s final dice pool for
a ranged attack, add up all the applicable modifi-
3. MAKE THE ers and apply that sum to the character’s Agility
OPPOSED TEST and appropriate combat skill. The result is the
final, adjusted dice pool. If the dice pool is re-
The attacker rolls attack skill + attribute +/– mod- duced to 0 or less, the attack automatically fails.
ifiers limited by weapon Accuracy or their Phys- In these quick-start rules, for ease of play, range
ical limit. The defender rolls Reaction + Intuition modifiers are not applied (since the Food Fight
+/– modifiers. If the attacker scores more hits adventure is inside a Stuffer Shack, it’s all simply
than the defender (the defender wins on ties), considered “short range”).
the attack hits the target. Otherwise, the attack
misses. If the attack hits the target, note the net
DEFENDING AGAINST
hits (the number of the attacker’s hits that exceed
the defender’s hits), as this is important. RANGED COMBAT
As with all defenses, characters simply roll Re-
4. COMPARE ARMOR action + Intuition, combined with any modifiers
(see Gamemaster Screen).
Add the net hits scored to the base Damage Val-
ue of the attack (p. 11); this is the modified Dam-
age Value. Determine the type of armor used to FIRING MODES
defend against the specific attack, and apply the In these quick-start rules, ranged combat in-
attack’s Armor Penetration modifier; this is the volves firearms that may fire in two modes: sin-
modified Armor Value. gle shot (SS) or semi-automatic (SA). When de-
If the attack causes Physical damage, com- claring an attack, the player announces whether
pare the modified Damage Value to the modi- he’ll fire a weapon in SS or SA mode.
fied Armor Value. If the Damage Value does not
exceed the Armor, then the attack inflicts Stun SINGLE SHOT MODE
rather than Physical damage. Firing a single-shot weapon requires only a Sim-
ple Action, but that weapon cannot be fired
again during the same Action Phase.

<< COMBAT tests 9

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

FREE ACTIONS n SEMI-AUTOMATIC MODE EXAMPLE: SLEDGE

Guns that fire in semi-automatic mode fire more
Counterspelling bullets, and thus are more likely to hit. Each shot COMBAT
Eject Smartgun Clip requires a Complex Action. Firing in semi-auto- Sledge isn’t gonna just
Gesture matic mode delivers a –2 dice pool penalty to stand there and let some
Speak/Text Phrase the defender. street punk whack him with
a bat, is he? He’s up first,

SIMPLE ACTIONS n MELEE COMBAT

and on his Action Phase
he declares one Simple
Change Gun Mode Whenever two or more characters engage each Action to ready his Ares
other in hand-to-hand combat or armed combat Predator V (Sledge has
Drop Object
that does not involve ranged weapons, the fol- more guns to choose from,
Drop Prone but his sidearm will work for
lowing melee combat rules apply.
Fire Single Shot Weapon this punk). For his second
Insert Clip MELEE MODIFIERS Simple Action, he declares
Observe in Detail he’ll fire in single shot
Various factors may affect a character’s ability mode. Then, just because he can, he uses a free action
Pick Up or Put Down Object
to attack, parry, or dodge in melee combat. The to backpedal (officially at a “run” speed) and keep some
Ready Weapon Melee Modifiers Table (Gamemaster Screen) in- distance between himself and the ganger (there’s no
Remove Clip cludes a list of such modifiers. reason not to, even if Sledge can take a hit).
Sprint It is important to note that the same Visibility Now Sledge has to assemble his pool and look at
Stand Up Modifiers used for Ranged Attacks can be ap- all the modifiers for ranged combat. First, the ganger
plied to melee. is running at him, the guy’s within 10 meters, so short
Take Aim
range. There is a –2 modifier for Sledge running, but
Throw Weapon other than that he just adds together his Agility (7)
DEFENDING AGAINST
and his Pistols skill (4) for his base pool. His wireless
COMPLEX ACTIONS n MELEE ATTACKS smartlink gives him +2 dice, but he has –2 dice for his
As with Ranged Combat, defenders use Reaction running modifier, for a final pool of 11. His Limit for this
Fire Semi-Automatic Weapon roll is the Predator V’s Accuracy score (plus a smartlink
+ Intuition to defend against Melee Attacks.
Melee/Unarmed Attack modifier) of 7.
He rolls and gets a 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6. Four
Reload Firearm
RESOLVING DAMAGE hits, and well under his Predator’s limit.
Spellcasting
Involved as they are in an illegal and often haz- The GM rolls the non-player character’s Reaction +
Use Skill
ardous line of work, Shadowrun characters get Intuition (6 dice). He gets a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5. Two hits! That’s
hurt—and often. not enough to dodge Sledge’s shot, so the ork has hit
(and notes his two net hits).
TYPES OF DAMAGE
The two types of Damage that can be inflicted
during combat are Physical and Stun. Each type
is tracked separately.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE
Physical damage—the most dangerous type—
is done by guns, explosions, bladed weapons,
and most magic spells. Weapons that inflict
Physical damage have the letter “P” following
their Damage Value.

STUN DAMAGE
Stun damage—bruising, muscle fatigue, and the
like—is the kind done by fists, kicks, blunt weap-
ons, stun rounds, concussion grenades, and
some magic spells. If something does Stun dam-
age, the letter “S” will follow the Damage Value.

10 COMBAT tests >>

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

EXAMPLE: SLEDGE

DAMAGE CODES COMBAT n HIDDEN ARMOR

All weapons have Damage Codes that indicate how The hapless ganger from All sorts of clothing in the
difficult it is to avoid or resist the damage, and how our continuing example isn’t Sixth World is armored,
serious the actual wounds are that the weapon trolls have natural armor,
happy about getting shot,
causes. and some people choose
so the gamemaster has him
implanted Dermal Plating to
spend his Free Action to keep them safe 24/7. Bottom
DAMAGE VALUE (DV) continue running (Sledge is line: what you think is an
The Damage Value indicates the severity of the backing up and this guy was easy target may not be.
damage inflicted by the weapon—its ability to trans- already going full steam, so
fer damage to the target. In game terms, each point the gamemaster decides the
of Damage Value inflicts one box of damage to the ganger can catch up to him),
target’s Condition Monitor. The base Damage Value trying to bash our ork with his
of the weapon is modified by the attacker’s net hits, baseball bat.
ammunition type, and other factors. Then, the gamemaster has the ganger use his single
Complex Action in order to make a Melee Attack against
ARMOR PENETRATION (AP) Sledge. Batter up!
Weapons also have an Armor Penetration (AP) Looking over the Melee Modifiers Table, he decides that
rating, which represents its penetrating ability—its the ganger gets +2 dice for making a charging attack. He’s
ability to pierce armor. The AP is used to modify a also injured, though, thanks to Sledge’s trusty Predator V.
target’s Armor rating when he makes a damage re- The ganger will take a –1 penalty for his injury (see Damage
sistance test. If a weapon’s AP reduces an armor’s example on p. 12), +2 dice for charging, and otherwise has
rating to 0 or less, the character does not roll armor a base pool from his 4 Agility and 4 Clubs skill, for 9 dice. His
dice on his Damage Resistance test. limit is the club’s Accuracy of 4. He rolls and gets pretty lucky,
a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6. Five hits, but he only gets to keep four of
ARMOR them (due to Accuracy acting as a limit).
It’s an Opposed Roll, though, so now Sledge rolls his
Armor is used with the Body attribute to make Dam-
Reaction + Intuition to get out of the way. He’s got a pool of
age Resistance tests. The armor rating is reduced by
11 dice (8 Reaction + 3 Intuition), and gets a pretty average
the attack’s Armor Penetration (AP) value. Good
1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6. Four hits! That’s a tie, and tie’s always go
armor will protect a character from serious phys-
to the defender. The ganger steps up to the plate and takes a
ical harm. If the modified DV of an attack causing
Physical damage does not exceed the AP-modified swing, but Sledge is able to get out of the way.
armor rating, then the attack causes Stun damage
instead.

RESIST DAMAGE TESTS WOUND MODIFIERS

A character rolls Body + armor to resist damage. Every row on both the Physical and Stun Damage
In some cases another attribute may be called for; Tracks incurs a negative modifier; the more wounds,
Willpower is often used in place of Body, for exam- the higher the modifier. When damage is noted
ple, against certain Stun damage attacks. The exact on a character’s sheet, those modifiers are applied
armor that applies is determined by the type of at- for any tests until the damage is removed. All such
tack (see Armor, above). The armor rating is modi- modifiers are cumulative.
fied by the attack’s AP modifier.
Each hit scored on the Damage Resistance test CONDITION MONITOR
reduces the attack’s DV by 1. If the DV is reduced to TRACKS
0 or less, no damage is inflicted.
The Physical Damage Track has a number of box-
es equal to 8 plus half a character’s Body attri-
APPLYING DAMAGE bute (round up). The Stun Damage Track has a
Once the final DV is calculated, it must be record- number of boxes equal to 8 plus half a character’s
ed on the character’s Condition Monitor. The Con- Willpower attribute (round up). All five Character
dition Monitor has two columns: Physical and Stun. Record Sheets have a pre-calculated Condition
Each point of Damage Value = 1 box on the Condi- Monitor.
tion Monitor. Damage is cumulative. For example,
a character who already has 3 boxes filled in and UNCONSCIOUSNESS
takes another 3 boxes of damage ends up with 6 When all of the available boxes in a track (Physical
boxes filled in. or Stun) are filled in, the character immediately falls

<< COMBAT tests 11

>> QUICK-START RULES
EXAMPLE: <<
SLEDGE EXAMPLE: SLEDGE

DAMAGE DAMAGE, CONT.

On a previous page, Now the gamemaster
we saw the step-by-step marks down those five
rolls for Sledge to shoot this points of damage to the
angry ganger. After making ganger’s Physical Damage
the successful attack roll, Track. He marks off the first
Sledge’s player takes a look three spots, from left to right,
at his sheet for the Ares and then moves down to the
Predator V’s statistics, and
second row on the Physical
tells the GM that the hand-
Damage Track. When he’s
cannon has a base damage
done marking, he notes that
of 8P, but he had two net hits
the first row on the Condition
on the roll, so the ganger is
Monitor is full, so the ganger
facing 10P! The gamemaster
takes a look at the NPC game stats, and finds that he’s got a now has a –1 modifier on most actions (which is where he
Body of 3 and he gives him an armor jacket for armor rating got that penalty on swinging his bat at Sledge). He’s also
12. Sledge’s player cheerfully mentions that his Predator about halfway to losing the fight! If the ganger takes five
V has a –1 AP value, so the ganger loses one die from his more points of Physical Damage, he’ll fall unconscious.
armor rating. 14 dice to soak! The GM rolls and gets a 1, 1, 2,
2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6. Five hits, not bad, but it only lowers
EXAMPLE: SLEDGE
the 10P damage down to 5P. Ouch!

EXCESSIVE
unconscious and drops to the ground. If the Stun track is DAMAGE
Sledge still has initiative,
filled in, the character is merely knocked out. If the Phys-
plenty of rounds in his gun,
ical track is filled in, however, the character is near death
and the rest of the combat
and will die unless stabilized.
turn. He blasts the ganger
again, and hits him even
EXCEEDING THE harder this time: seven more
CONDITION MONITOR boxes of damage after all
the dice get rolled, getting
When the total number of boxes in a column (Physical
him up to twelve, total! His
or Stun) are filled in, and damage still remains to be
Physical Condition Monitor
applied, one of two things happens: If the damage is
only has ten boxes, so the
Stun, it carries over into the Physical column. When damage overflows. His Body
Stun damage overflows in this manner, the character attribute is 3, and he took two extra boxes. No one’s there
also falls unconscious; he or she does not regain con- to try and help him out, so he lies there bleeding and on the
sciousness until some of the Stun damage is healed third combat turn after taking that damage, he loses another
and removed from the Stun column. If a character box—the third overflow box, the most he can take! Now
takes more Physical damage than he has boxes in the it’s just a matter of time. He only has three combat turns for
Physical column, the character is in trouble. Over- someone to reach him before it’s too late…or he’s just a
flowing the Physical column means the character is snack for a devil rat.
near death. Instant death occurs only if damage over-
flows the Physical column by more than the charac-
ter’s Body attribute. Characters whose Physical dam- run have the rare gift to use the power of magic. They are
age has overflowed the Physical column by less than the Awakened: magicians. By using their gift to manipu-
their Body attribute can survive if they receive prompt late mana, magicians cast spells (the art of Sorcery). An
medical attention. If left unattended, such a character Awakened character has a Magic attribute of 1 or greater.
takes an additional box of damage every (Body) Com- Magicians follow many different traditions. A tradition is a
bat Turns for blood loss, and shock. If this damage ex- set of beliefs and techniques for using magic. It colors the
ceeds the character’s Body attribute before medical magician’s outlook and affects how the magician learns
help arrives, the character dies and uses magic. The most common traditions are her-
. metic and shamanic; the only character in this box with
AWAKENED WORLD the ability to use magic follows a hermetic tradition (see
Coydog/Elf Street Shaman).

In 2011, the Awakening transformed the world by mak-

ing magic a reality. The Awakened world is permeated by AWAKENED ATTRIBUTES
mana, the energy of magic. Mana is invisible and intan- Awakened beings and magical effects have their magi-
gible. It cannot be detected, measured, or influenced by cal potency measured by either the Magic or Force at-
machines, only by living beings. Some people in Shadow- tributes.

12 Awakened World >>

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

MAGIC She can cast any spell she knows. If the magician n SIXTH WORLD
has any other spells currently active, called sus-
Magic is a Special attribute that measures the char- According to the ancient
tained spells, she must choose whether to drop
acter’s magical power. Like other attributes, Magic Mayan Calendar, the world
them or keep them active while she casts the new
has a starting value of 1. The Magic attribute may moves through phases
spell. The Street Shaman’s spells and descriptions
be increased in the same way as other attributes, to involving times of magic
are listed directly on Coydog’s Character Record and times of mundanity.
a maximum of 6.
Sheet. The year 2011 saw the end
of the mundane Fifth World
FORCE 2. DETERMINE THE FORCE and the birth of the Sixth
Spells and magic items (foci) have an attribute World, the Awakening, when
The Force for a spell equals the spellcaster’s Magic
known as Force. This measures the magical power magic—which had ebbed
rating. It also serves as the limit for the Spellcasting
of the object or spell. Force is measured on the same low for eons—once more
Test. was unleashed onto an
scale as metahuman attributes (1 to 6).
unsuspecting world.
3. CHOOSE THE TARGET(S)
MAGIC USE
A spellcaster can target anyone or anything she n SORCERY
The use of magic revolves around Sorcery and its can see directly with her natural vision. This is
associated skills.
SKILL GROUP
known as Line of Sight, or LOS. Some spells can
only be cast on targets the caster touches—these Counterspelling
SORCERY targets do not need to be seen, but the caster must Ritual Spellcasting
Spellcasting
Sorcery is the term used for manipulating spells. In succeed in an unarmed attack (see Melee Com-
these quick-start rules, magicians will be using the bat, p. 10) to touch an unwilling target of such a
Spellcasting and Counterspelling skills. spell. Note that ranged combat visibility modifiers
(see Ranged Combat Modifiers Table, Gamemas-
ter Screen) also reduce the magician’s Magic +
SPELLCASTING
Spellcasting dice pool when casting spells.
When a magician casts a spell, the player first deter-
mines the Force of the spell (equal to her character’s AREA SPELLS
magic rating) and then rolls her Magic + Spellcasting Some spells target areas or points in space; in this
dice pool. The success of a spell is measured by the case the caster must be able to see the center of
number of hits attained on the test, though some the area affected. The base radius for all area spells
spells may have a threshold greater than one. The is the Force in meters. Area spells affect all valid
Force of a spell acts as a limit on a Spellcasting Test. targets within the radius of effect, friend and foe
All spells fall into two categories: Physical (P) alike (including the caster); this applies whether
and Mana (M). A target resists a Physical spell us- the caster saw all valid targets or not.
ing the Body attribute and a Mana spell using the
Willpower attribute (see Opposed Tests, p. 6). 4. MAKE THE
Using Spellcasting requires a Complex Action. SPELLCASTING TEST
COUNTERSPELLING The Spellcaster rolls Spellcasting + Magic +/– any
modifiers. Remember that casting a spell requires a
Counterspelling is used to interrupt other spells, Complex Action.
either as they are being cast or while they are sus-
tained. For spell defense, Counterspelling dice are 5. DETERMINE EFFECT
added to each protected defender’s dice pool.
When dispelling, a Counterspelling + Magic Op- Some spells simply require a Success Test, with
posed Test is made against the target spell’s Force + hits determining the level of success (as noted in
caster’s Magic, with net hits reducing the hits scored the spell description). The Magic + Spellcasting
to cast the spell (see Counterspelling, p. 14). test must generate at least one net hit to succeed
Using counterspelling is a Free Action. and may need more if the effect has a threshold
for success.
CASTING A SPELL
OPPOSED TESTS
The Spellcasting skill is what allows a magician to
Spells cast on living or magic targets are often re-
cast a spell, channeling mana through her own force
sisted, and an Opposed Test is required. For area
of will to affect the target of her choice.
spells, the magician rolls only once, and each target
resists the spell separately. As previously noted, the
1. CHOOSE A SPELL target resists physical spells with the Body attribute
The character chooses the spell she wants to cast. and mana spells with the Willpower attribute. If

<< Awakened World 13

 >> QUICK-START RULES << EXAMPLE: COYDOG

SPELLCASTING &
COUNTERSPELLING
the target is also protected by Counterspelling, she Coydog and her buddies
SPELL TYPES n may add Counterspelling dice to this Resistance Test. are in a fight with a corporate
PHYSICAL
A spell cast on a non-living, non-magic target is not wagemage, a security magician.
resisted, as the object has no life force and thus no During his Action Phase, the
Resisted by Body
connection to mana with which to oppose the cast- gamemaster has the wagemage
ing of the spell. us a Complex Action to fling a
MANA
Manaball spell right at Coydog. It’s
Resisted by Willpower
an area of affect spell, and Sledge,
GLITCHES
Gentry, and Hardpoint are all close
MAGIC ACTIONS n A spellcasting glitch can have all manner of interest- enough that they’ll also be hit by it.
SPELLCASTING ing effects, depending on the spell and restricted only The wagemage casts the
Complex by the gamemaster’s imagination. Most glitches will spell at Force 5, which is also
result in unintended side effects—a fireball that pro- his Magic attribute rating. Assembling his dice pool, the
COUNTERSPELLING duces a ghastly amount of vision-obscuring smoke, gamemaster decides that the sprinklers being activated
Free a levitation spell that only allows circular movement, will count as light rain (from the Visibility Modifiers Table,
or an illusion spell that adds an unexpected sensory Gamemaster Screen) for a –2 modifier. Also, one of her
element. A critical glitch may strike the wrong target, teammates already shot the guy, so he’s got three boxes of
SPELL DESCRIPTIONS n Physical Damage, for a –1 modifier, too. His total dice pool
affect the caster herself, or have similar disastrous
Spells are written out is going to be 5 (Magic rating) + 3 (Spellcasting skill rating)
consequences.
using the following format: –2 (visibility modifier) –1 (damage modifier), for a 5.
The gamemaster rolls and gets a 2, 5, 5, 5, 6. Four
NAME [Type: V; Range: W; COUNTERSPELLING hits, almost enough to hit the spell’s limit (it’s Force of 5)!
Damage: X; Duration: Y; Checking under the rules for Opposed Tests (p. 6), the
Drain: Z] Counterspelling is used to interrupt other spells, ei-
GM sees that even though the spell is hitting multiple
ther as they are being cast (spell defense) or while characters, you only make one attack roll, and all the
NAME: Name of the spell
they are sustained (dispelling). characters make their Resistance Tests against that single
V: Either “P” or “M” for roll. Going around the table, they all roll their Willpower to
Physical or Mana type spell. SPELL DEFENSE oppose it. Sledge rolls his 4 dice (Willpower) and gets a 1,
W: Either “Touch”, “LOS” 2, 5, 5, for two hits. Gentry only gets 2 dice (Willpower) and
A magician can use Counterspelling to defend herself
or “LOS (Area).” gets a 3, 4, for no hits! Hardpoint rolls his 3 dice (Willpower)
and others against a spell being cast. To do this, the
and gets a 3, 5, 6, for two hits.
X: If applicable, either “P” magician must spend a Free Action and declare who
Coydog, though, doesn’t have to just roll Willpower. She’s
or “S” for Physical or Stun, she is protecting. If Counterspelling was not declared got the Counterspelling skill (at rating 4), which lets her make
additional notes as needed. in advance, it may not be used to defend others. A a Willpower + Counterspelling test, instead. However, she’s
Y: Either “I” or “S” for protected character must also stay within the magi- also using her Counterspelling to defend the rest of her team,
Instant (spell is cast cian’s line of sight in order for Counterspelling to be like a good little magician! So before she rolls the dice, she
and the effects end) or used. Note that a magician can always use Counter- separates the two pools, because only the Counterspelling
Sustained (the character spelling to defend herself. hits can be used by everyone else (and only she benefits
can choose to sustain the When a protected character is targeted with a from her Willpower hits). First she rolls her Willpower (of
spell across several turns. spell, the magician rolls Counterspelling dice in addi- 6), and makes a face as she gets a 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, for just one
tion to the appropriate attribute (Body or Willpower) hit. Now the player gets Counterspelling, though, and rolls
Z: Drain is not used in
for the resistance test. Hits generated on this test re- those dice (4, her skill ratin): 2, 5, 6, 6. Three hits for everyone!
these quick-start rules
duce the net hits of the spell’s caster. If multiple pro- Totaling it up, Coydog now has four hits, Sledge has five,
and so is ignored.
tected characters are targeted by the same spell, the Gentry has three, and Hardpoint has five.
Counterspelling dice are rolled only once and each Looking back at his spellcasting roll, the gamemaster
target is protected equally. A magician can protect a now compares hits. The wagemage spell-slinger had four
hits on the spellcasting roll, but Coydog’s great spell defense
maximum amount of people in a single Combat Turn
really helped out. Most of the team is just fine, and only
equal to his Magic rating.
Gentry has to take some damage from the Manaball, while
Note that Counterspelling is not “used up” after Sledge and Hardpoint both owe her a beer.
it defends against a spell—it continues to protect the
designated characters against other spells until the
magician decides to end it. es the hits from the original test to cast the spell. If a
spell’s hits are reduced, any effects the spell applies
DISPELLING are also reduced accordingly. If the spell’s hits are re-
SUSTAINED SPELLS duced to 0, the spell immediately ends.
Counterspelling also allows a magician to dispel a
sustained spell, canceling its effect. The character WIRELESS
WORLD
must be able to perceive the spell she is targeting, and
must use a Complex Action.
The dispelling magician makes a Counterspell-
ing + Magic Opposed Test against the spell’s Force + In 2075, a world of augmented perceptions and wire-
caster’s Magic. Each net hit scored on this test reduc- less connections exists: the Matrix. It is built to ensure

14 wireless world >>

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<

that it is omnipresent, accessible from all locations, With a cyberdeck, deckers pit their wits and
and integrated into daily life. Nearly everyone is skills against the guardians of the Matrix. They n MATRIX JARGON
part of this interlinked electronic world, whether have programs that can help them, but in the end ARROW
they will it or not. Your personal commlink allows it’s like any other fight—a test of abilities, skill on (from ARO, or
you to be online wherever you go, 24-7-365. skill. May the best decker win. Augmented Reality Object)
The megacorporations recently tightened their ARTIFICIAL
grip on the Matrix, imposing new protocols that MATRIX TESTS INTELLIGENCE (AI)
allow them to better control the traffic—and even Self-aware and self-
better, monitor it for valuable consumer data. Matrix skill tests use the same skill + attribute dice sustaining intelligent
Augmented reality allows you to access data pool as other tests. The character’s cyberdeck de- programs that evolved
from the Matrix just about anywhere, overlaying it termines the limit for any Matrix Tests, while pro- within the Matrix.
upon your physical senses like a personal heads-up grams can add certain benefits.
AUGMENTED REALITY
display. Want to see a map, a restaurant’s menu, Information added to or
or an incoming email message? It’s just a mental GETTING MARKS overlaid upon a user’s
click away. Matrix authentication recognition keys, or marks, sensory perceptions in
are how the new Matrix protocols recognize own- the form of visual data,
AUGMENTED REALITY ership of a device. If you have four marks on a de- graphics, sounds, haptics,
smell, and/ or limited
vice, you are recognized as an owner; if you have
Augmented reality (AR) includes all types of sen- simsense.
one to three marks, you are recognized as an au-
sory enhancements overlaid on a user’s normal
thorized user with different levels of control over BETTER-THAN-LIFE (BTL)
real-world perceptions. This allows the average cit-
the device. Hyper-real levels of
izen to see, hear, touch, and even smell the Matrix
The basic hacking activity, then, is getting marks simsense that are
continuously while still interacting with the normal potentially dangerous and
in order to control devices. To place a mark on a
everyday world around them. addictive.
device, deckers take a Complex Action to make a
AR is not to be confused with virtual reality
Hacking + Logic Test with a threshold of the target COMMLINK
(VR), where artificial sensations from the Matrix
device’s rating. The limit for this test is the rating of The personal computer
overwhelm your real-world perceptions and im-
the decker’s cyberdeck. used by nearly everyone
merse you in a simulated reality—mentally sepa-
Additionally, the gamemaster may decide to to access wireless
rating you from your physical body.
apply situational modifiers. For example, if a char- services, typically
AR is experienced as visual sight cues, icons
acter is in the middle of a gun battle and attempts loaded with accessories.
known as arrows (AROs, or augmented reality Commlinks also serve as
to hack a device, that player may be required to
objects). You can see arrows by linking any num- the hub of the user’s PAN
apply a –2 modifier; if the character is in a melee
ber of gadgets or cyberware to your commlink. (personal area network).
combat, the gamemaster may increase that to a –3
Arrow data appears as ghostly images and text Often just “comm” or
or even –4.
in your field of vision. You can customize your “link.”
Hacking a mark on a device requires a Complex
interface to “view” this data any way you like. If
Action. CYBERDECK
you accept an incoming video call, for example,
The device used to
the caller’s image/icon appears in your center of
vision (but transparent so the real world can be CONTROLLING DEVICES fight and crack the
new protocols of the
seen through it). If someone starts shooting at The more marks you get on a device, the more you Matrix. The legal owners
you, you can put the caller on hold and close the can do with it. Below is a quick list of the actions are corporate Matrix
“window” or shift it to your peripheral vision so you can perform, along with how many marks you security and research
it doesn’t interfere with real life activities. AR can need and any additional tests that may be required. officers; illegal owners
also be experienced through audible cues. Crack File (Complex Action, 1 mark): If you are shadowrunners and
want to copy a file you’ve been sent to steal, you others looking to twist
HOW THE need one mark on the device holding the file so these protocols to their
that you can attempt to crack the protection on the own ends.
MATRIX WORKS file (assuming the owner was smart enough to pro- DEAD ZONE
At the bottom layer of the Matrix pyramid are indi- tect it). Make a Hacking + Logic [Cyberdeck rating] A location with no
vidual users with their commlinks and other devices vs. Device Rating Opposed Test to break any pro- wireless networks.
making personal area networks (PANs). These users tection that is present.
and PANs wirelessly interact with other PANs and Edit File (Complex Action, 1 mark): Perhaps
devices all around them in a wireless mesh network. you want to edit some important information out
Every character possesses basic computer and of a corporate document, or perhaps edit some
electronics skills. Standard denizens of the Sixth surveillance camera footage so that you don’t ap-
World use their commlinks/PANs on a constant ba- pear in it. This requires 1 mark as well as a Hacking
sis to make telecom calls, experience augmented + Logic [Cyberdeck rating] vs. Device Rating Op-
reality, search for data, keep in touch with team- posed Test.
mates, and manage their finances. If they want to Erase Mark (Complex Action): It could be that
hack, though, they need something more—a small some enemy deckers are out there trying to gain
black box called a cyberdeck. control of your cyberdeck by placing a mark on it,

<< wireless world 15

 >> QUICK-START RULES <<
EXAMPLE: GENTRY

(FAST) FOOD FIGHT

The crew’s kicking back
MATRIX JARGON n and you want that mark gone. Make a Hacking + Logic for some burgers in a local
[Cyberdeck rating] vs. Willpower + Intuition Opposed McHugh’s when a bunch of
DECKER Triad punks decide to rob the
Test to take out the mark that enemy decker put on you.
Someone who explores job. Just Gentry’s luck, he left his
Matrix Perception (Complex Action): Some
and exploits technology gun in the van! A pair of sentry
deckers try to hide their footsteps in the Matrix by
in general and the Matrix guns pop out of ceiling panels—
running silent. Cautious deckers are on the look
specifically, often illegally McHugh’s takes building
and sometimes with out for these people, and they also keep their eyes
open for any marks someone else may have placed security very seriously—and
criminal intent. Gentry decides to just hunker
on their device. Seeing these things can be tricky;
DOT down behind cover and let his
deckers must make a Hardware + Intuition (2) Test to
(from DOT , cyberdeck do the talking. Time
perceive any hidden icons (including anything run-
or Digital Object Tag) to hack the planet! Everything’s
ning silent).
Data attached to AROs/ wireless, so he can do his thing
Perform Free Action (1 mark): If you are making
icons within augmented from anywhere in the building.
the device perform a Free Action—for example, look- The first thing he has to do is get a few marks on these guys.
reality.
ing through a camera—you only need one mark on the Two marks per sentry gun are required if he wants to be able to
DRONE device. No additional test is needed to perform Free control and fire them. The gamemaster decides that Gentry’s got
Unmanned vehicles, Actions. to deal with a –1 modifier for making this attempt in the middle of
typically controlled via Perform Simple Action (2 marks): Making a device a firefight, even if no one seems to be shooting right at him. The
direct wireless link or perform a Simple Action requires two marks. This can gamemaster also decides to give the sentry guns a threshold of 3,
through the Matrix.
include making a wireless-enabled gun (i.e., a gun with since they’re meant to be pretty secure against hacking. Gentry
FIREWALL a smartlink) eject a clip or fire a round. This requires a just happens to have the Fork program running today, so he
A program that guards a Hacking + Logic [Cyberdeck rating] vs. Device Rating decides to go after both guns at once.
node from intrusion. Opposed Test to perform successfully. Gentry figures out his final dice pool. He’s got a Hacking skill
GRID Perform Complex Action (3 marks): Making a de- of 5 (from the Cracking Skill Group), plus his Logic of 6, +2 for his
A series of interlocking vice perform a Complex Action, such as crashing the Exploit program (under these quick-start rules), and another +2
networks. device, requires 3 marks. This also requires a Hacking for his Codeslinger (Hacking on the Fly) Quality (after talking with
+ Logic [Cyberdeck rating] vs. Device Rating x 2 Op- the player, the GM decided to allow a rule for the Quality during
ICON their quick-start rules session). With his –1 penalty, that’s 14 dice!
posed Test to perform successfully.
The virtual representation He rolls and gets a 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, for a whopping
Run Silent (Simple Action): You switch to running
of a program in the Matrix. six hits. Even with his cyberdeck’s limit applied, that’s way more
silent to make yourself more difficult to see. You take
INTRUSION than the threshold of 3, so he’s successfully gotten a mark on
a –2 dice pool penalty on all Matrix actions while run-
COUNTERMEASURES (IC) each gun. It’s a start!
ning silent due to the processing power it takes to cov-
Any software program On his next Action Phase, Gentry works on taking advantage
er your tracks.
installed in a computer of having hacked his way in, and goes after more full control.
system (host) with the He rolls his 14 dice again, and gets a 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6.
express purpose of PROGRAMS Another four hits, again beating the threshold, so he’s now got
protecting that system two marks. That’s enough user authority to start making them
Programs add benefits to the Decker’s efforts. Though
from unauthorized users. shoot for him!
Gentry’s character sheet lists multiple programs, for
Pronounced “ice.” For his next Action Phase, Gentry commands the guns to
the limited scope of these rules, only two are used— fire. It’s just a single shot, so it only takes him a Simple Action,
JACKPOINTS Exploit, which gives +2 dice to actions to place a mark, and thanks to his Fork program, he can do both at once. This
Any physical location that and Fork, which lets you perform the same action time it’s an Opposed Test with the sentry guns’ Device Rating of
provides access to the against two different targets. 3. Now that he’s already got his marks, Gentry doesn’t benefit
Matrix by plugging in with from his Quality or his Exploit program any more, so he’s down
a wired connection.
MATRIX ROLEPLAYING to just a Logic + Hacking test, –1 for the firefight. He’s still got 10
MATRIX dice, and gets a 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, only two hits. The guns get
The worldwide It should be noted that compared to the rest of these to roll their Device Rating of 3, and the first gets a 2, 4, 4, while
telecommunications quick-start rules, the rules for how to use the Matrix are the second gets lucky with a 2, 5, 6. Some security subroutine
network. lightly covered. This has been done on purpose, not or targeting algorithm is keeping him from fully controlling the
only to accentuate the roleplaying nature of the Matrix, second gun right now, but Gentry can surprise some Triad punk
MESHED but also to allow both the players’ and gamemaster’s with unexpected fire from one of them, at least. And he still has
Slang for online,
imaginations to fly during the adventure! Once players another Simple Action, to command them both to fire again!
connected to the Matrix.
dive into the more fully fleshed out rules of the Matrix There’s also lots of other devices in a restaurant that Gentry
NETWORKS found in either Runner’s Toolkit: Alphaware or Shadow- can take over, depending on how the fight goes. Maybe he can
Interacting groups of run, Fifth Edition, they’ll find a host of exciting addition- set up Sledge and Hardpoint, kung-fu fighting in the kitchen, by
computerized devices. al rules. For example, in these quick-start rules, players giving them boiling fry cookers or red-hot stovetops to throw
are able to hack into some of the devices at teh Stuffer Triad toughs into. Or he could lock the doors when the Triads try
Shack and cause some trouble with them, dice rolls al- to escape, leaving them an easy, bunched-up, target for Coydog
lowing. However, the owners of such devices don’t like and her spells. He could also go after the Triad punks and their
deckers manipulating their systems and have security; smartguns directly, popping out magazines or even bricking a gun
entirely. It’s a wireless world, and Gentry’s got lots of tricks up his
security deckers can bite back with just as much deadly
virtual sleeves.
power as a Manaball spell or high-powered weapon.

16 wireless world >>

 SHA DO W R UN

(FAST)
FOOD FIGHT
FOOD FIGHT
INTRODUCTION Time: Sometime between 2-4 a.m.
Weather: Wet, rainy, cold, and gloomy enough for
even the Gothiest of Goths.
Welcome to Food Fight, an adventure designed for in- Sprawl Sites: This adventure has its own map and is
troducing the Shadowrun combat rules. Read through self-contained within the one location, so no other
the entire adventure as many times as needed, and take Sprawl Site maps really apply.
notes, before actually running it. Knowing the ins-and- Brandeen Mettlinger is the mistress of Mel Cozi, a senior
outs of the adventure makes the gamemaster experi- V.P. for mini-corp Alliance Designs. Since the birth of their
ence go more smoothly. son Cody six months ago, she’s been blackmailing Mel,
While Shadowrun is indeed an RPG, don’t worry about
threatening to tell his wife about the affair if he doesn’t pay
being in-character in this first adventure. Role-playing
her. A cheapskate to the core, Mel hired an “off-the-rack”
can come later, as the players get more experience.
shadowrun team to permanently take care of his problem.
As the adventure name implies, there will be food fly-
He ended up with a team of low-rent thugs who aren’t near-
ing through the air, amongst other things. Food Fight is
ly as competent as they want people to think.
a good example of the “drag the players into someone
The assassination attempt starts outside the Stuffer
else’s problems” type of adventure. The players enter a
Shack with a car bomb. Due to Joeby’s reluctance to
convenience store where NPCs are already present; the
push the detonator, Brandeen is in the store when the
gamemaster reads off the situation, and an explosion
bomb goes off.
shatters the store front. Four thugs enter the store, search-
The explosion demolishes a large portion of the
ing for two of the NPC customers. Then the players can
store, slowing the search for Brandeen and Cody. The
react. The players’ goals are to defeat the thugs, protect
longer it takes to discover their target, the more the
the NPC customers, and escape before the cops arrive.
thugs’ frustration and aggression grows. Their shadow-
In addition to the thugs’ two targets, there are five in-
running careers are riding on the success of this first hit,
nocent bystanders that do one of three things: hide until
and they are already in danger of failing. The thugs’ des-
it’s all over, help out the thugs, or help out the PCs. The
peration breeds hostility and stupidity.
bystanders’ actions are dependent on the gamemaster’s
mood and the actions of the players.
Remember to have fun with this. Use the Food Fight THE THUGS
table to fling around some random goo during the bat- The thugs’ names are Stooby, Crank, Fornis, and Joeby.
tle—feel free to use this as enthusiastically as possible in Stooby and Crank, both human, are the muscle of this
the ensuing combat. Encourage the players to come up operation. Former gangers (human), they dress the role.
with their own descriptions of how the goo affects their They are very loud, very ugly, and somewhat intimidat-
characters. ing. Stooby is the de facto group leader. Once inside the
store, Stooby and Crank start off by corralling the other
SCENE 1: NPCs and the characters to one side.
Fornis is a dwarf shaman, the group’s magical back-
AND SO IT BEGINS up. Once inside, he starts searching the store for Bran-
deen. Fornis doesn’t know the rest of the group very
well. He was hired, through a friend of a friend of a guy
who knows a guy, to provide spells in exchange for
SCAN THIS some easy nuyen. He is actually slightly apologetic to
Run Type: This doesn’t really apply as this adventure is people he encounters, telling them he doesn’t really
simply about tossing dice, having fun and getting a want to hurt any innocent people. If he feels his life is
taste of playing Shadowrun. threatened, though, he reacts with hostility and vulgari-
Setting: Stuffer Shack, a twenty-four-hour conve- ty, slinging spells and curses in the same breath.
nience store chain. The players come here for a Joeby, Stooby’s little brother, is the group’s hacker
quick, cheap snack. and the hit man with a conscience. He booby-traps

<< Introduction 17
>> FOOD FIGHT <<

Brandeen’s car with a bomb but can’t bring himself stop the grumblies. Welcome to the Stuffer Shack, the
to hit the remote trigger. Try as he might, he can’t do twenty-four-hour castle of convenience shopping and
cold-blooded murder. Joeby’s hesitation and indecision high-caloric, bad-for-your-arteries munchies.
causes the hit to go awry. Finally, Stooby knocks little Bask in the scents of burnt soycaf and pungent
bro out and sets off the detonation, but Brandeen isn’t floor cleaner. Absorb the hum of refrigeration units,
in the car anymore. the beep of the door sensor. Ignore the wailing infant
Initially, Joeby is not party to the combat. When he in the baby food section. Seriously, why is that brat’s
enters the fray, he hesitates to go into all-out fighting mom fussing so much over price per ounce? One
mode unless Stooby’s life is threatened. While not a brand of baby formula is like every other brand. Only
murderer or fighter, Joeby will protect himself and his the label is different.
brother to the best of his abilities. His hacking skills
could make him difficult to deal with. HARD DATA
The thugs’ stats are on p. 21.
All the players can roll a Perception + Intuition [Mental]
Test to see what is going on in the Stuffer Shack. While
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS this test is not usually necessary during scenario setup,
The following NPCs are already in the store when every- it will give everyone good practice. Since nothing out of
thing starts: Vern, the human store clerk; Veronica, Vern’s the ordinary is going on—normal store lighting, normal
dwarf girlfriend; Dustoo Gorse, ice cream taste-tester; activity, normal morning—this particular test has a nor-
and Jack and Angie Scatman, cat-food thieves. Initially, mal threshold of 2, with no visibility or situation modi-
they all panic or hide. When threatened by the thugs, fiers. If any character fails their Perception Test, they are
these NPCs will do as they are told. They won’t stand up simply too hungry and too distracted by baby and mama
for themselves unless the players encourage them. to really notice the other NPCs in the store. Feel free to
bring the other NPCs to the characters’ attention by other
methods once the fun gets rolling.
HOOKS For those characters who succeed, here is what they
Go through the character sheets with the players. Talk to will see:
each player; ask him what type of person his character is.
Some of the questions could be: Does this character like STORE OCCUPANTS
to play hero? Does this character have a regimented dai-
The baby mama is a mildly attractive elf woman in her
ly structure? How would this character feel if someone
twenties. She carries her infant son—a non-stop, screech-
interrupted dinner time?
ing crier—on her hip and looks as if she hasn’t slept in two
The answers provide the personal hooks into the ad-
weeks. Her clothes are rumpled, and the basket over her
venture. Anyone who likes playing hero should instantly free arm is filled with various items. (Gamemaster note:
jump to Brandeen’s defense because he sees a woman This is Brandeen and Cody, the soon-to-be targets.)
and her child being attacked. Anyone who gets grumpy The scruffy-looking human store clerk balances on a
when their schedule is interrupted would likely shoot back stool behind the checkout counter. His name tag says
first and talk later. And a person who doesn’t like having “Welcome to Stuffer Shack, I’m Vern.” He appears un-
dinner interrupted will definitely take issue with not being derage, under educated, and completely uninterested in
able to purchase his soykaf and krill-filler sandwich. doing anything but collecting a paycheck as he stares
Regardless of personal hooks, the players should feel blankly at a holo-zine. A homely, pudgy female dwarf
like their characters could be killed during the adventure. hangs off the side of the counter, yapping about a new
This should motivate them to stomp out the hit squad, hair removal cream. She talks about an upcoming troll
even if they lack the morality to defend Brandeen and thrash concert she wants Vern to take her to, to which
her son. Vern absently replies, “Sure, Veronica.”
A mousy human technophile, dripping with cheap
TELL IT TO gadgets, hovers around the ice cream freezer. The door
THEM STRAIGHT is wide open. This man grabs containers and puts them
back in an apparently random frenzy. Those players roll-
(Read the section below to the players, word for word) ing 4 or more successes will see his actions in some re-
Imagine a dark and stormy night. The cold drizzle of flective surface, checking to see if he’s being watched,
rain slips down your coat collar, soaking you to the skin. peeling off the container lids, dipping his finger into the
You’re hungry, starving even. Money’s tight. Even if it ice cream, and tasting it before putting the ice cream
weren’t, the number of places to get food at this pre- back. (Gamemaster note: This is Dustoo Gorse.)
dawn hour are limited. There is one place that will take In Aisle 6, two rocker royalty wannabes are making
your hard-earned nuyen. And if it’s not exactly four- out against the cat food display. Given the amount of
star service and nutritious fare, it will fill your belly and paint and accessories they wear, it is nearly impossible

18 Scene 1: And So It begins >>

 >> FOOD FIGHT <<

to tell if they are elf or human. The man is dressed in is fair game to any character or NPC who notices it and
skintight white leather pants, a sleeveless white leather grabs it first. The thugs won’t care about the shotgun be-
shirt and a white-fringed leather vest. He also has sev- cause they already have weapons. A Perception + Intu-
eral kilograms of FauxGold™ jewelry hanging around his ition [Mental] (2) Test is required to notice the shotgun.
neck. The woman is wearing a skintight black leather The explosion was deafening and the flying debris is very
jumpsuit featuring about forty-two working zippers and distracting. Some lights will also be out, and it’s dark out-
nearly eight meters of mesh chain wrapped around her side save for flames in the parking lot. If anyone takes
body. Those players rolling 4 or more successes notice time to look outside, he sees the remnants of a burning
the woman slipping cans of cat food in her jacket. (Gam- car, the results of a sloppy car-bomb job.
emaster note: This is Jack and Angie Scatman.) Veronica cowers behind a collapsible holo-zine rack
and whimpers quietly to herself; Dustoo desperately
GAMEMASTER HINTS tries to squeeze himself into the “safety” of the freezers
(play up the comic relief in this); Angie clings to Jake and
Give the players a copy of the store map. Ask them what blubbers “Don’t let me die! Don’t let me die!”
their characters will be doing. Give them a moment to As Stooby and Crank encounter people, they wave
actually do their thing and describe their actions to each guns in their faces and order them to stand by the refrig-
other. Then read the next section to them. eration aisle. They will do a lot of shouting and threaten-
ing. “Ya don’t cooperate, yer dead!”
TELL IT TO Fornis kicks over shelving and debris while he hunts
THEM STRAIGHT for Brandeen and Cody.
Joeby is laid out in the parking lot. Before the attack,
The elf woman checks out, taking her baby with her of Joeby jammed communications in and out of the Stuffer
course, leaving the store in much needed silence. For all Shack and shut down the surveillance, so Knight Errant
of about one minute. Suddenly she rushes back in with will not arrive anytime soon to thwart the hit. Joeby will
the screeching child. Much as you might wish to ignore not recover for 10 Combat Turns.
the noise, you can’t. “Hush, Cody,” she croons. “Mama Fortunately for Brandeen and Cody, the explosion
just forgot the diapers.” has quieted the baby … for the moment. They are buried
Vern sighs heavily. Veronica snorts. The woman under packages and a collapsed section of shelving ob-
barely gets two steps away from the front door when scures them from view. After the initial shock wears off,
the entire store shakes. The noise of an explosion thun- Brandeen will remain silent, trying to stay hidden. She
ders through the store. Glass and metal fly everywhere. suspects she may be the target of this attack.
Someone screams, “Don’t let me die! Don’t let me
die!” It takes you a moment to shake the ringing from
your ears. Two very ugly, armed gangers step through GAMEMASTER HINTS
the shattered remains of the storefront, kicking over Here are important things for the gamemaster to re-
shelves and debris. They wear leather, chains, and lots member during combat.
of tattoos. Following close behind is a dwarf with lots of • At Combat Turn 5, Brandeen recovers from her
Native American flair, probably a shaman. shock, but remains hidden and quiet. Cody is
“None of yas is gonna get hurt if ya keep yer yaps still silent.
shut and stay outta the way. Now tell me where the lady • At Combat Turn 10, Joeby recovers and joins the
with tha baby is and you all is gonna live to see sunrise,” combat. He will use his hacker skills to harass
yells the leader. any character he sees causing serious injury to
Stooby.
HARD DATA • At Combat Turn 17, the thugs narrow down
The players may now roll for Initiative by rolling their Ini- Brandeen’s hiding place.
tiative Dice and adding the total to their Initiative attri- • At Combat Turn 30, sirens will be sounding in
bute. the distance (if combat is still going on). The
Any character within 5 meters of the impact is knocked cops are on their way. A Perception + Intuition
to the ground and buried under a small pile of product [Mental] (3) Test is required for the characters to
rubble. Remember to take this into account when start- actually notice the sirens.
ing combat. Pushing the rubble off will require 1 Complex • The Defiance T-250 shotgun, with 4 shots [ACC
Action for the character in question. 4, DV 10P, AP –1, Mode SA, RC — ] is just a meter
away from Veronica. She may throw it to a player
if properly coaxed.
BEHIND THE SCENES • If any players stumble across Brandeen, she
The explosion throws Vern back into the cigarette rack immediately panics and resists unless the play-
and knocks his hidden shotgun to the floor. The shotgun er can persuade her to trust them. It takes the

<< Scene 1: And So It begins 19

>> FOOD FIGHT <<

FOOD FIGHT TABLE

1D6 RESULT
hit squad about 3-4 minutes to find her. If the
runners do not step up within that time, she and 1 Nothing breaks
Cody are toast. Glop splashes all over the target and
anyone within 2 meters of him. Characters
2-3
DEBUGGING and NPCs in that area suffer a –1 Dice Pool
Modifier.
Shadowrun can be a deadly game; if the player characters
are in danger of dying, consider using one of the follow- So much glop splashes over the target that
ing options to keep them alive: his face and arms are completely covered.
• Have the thugs stop shooting at any character 4-5
He now suffers a –1 Dice Pool Modifier to
who appears down. all actions as a result of impaired visibility.
• The thugs split after: 1) killing Brandeen and
Cody; 2) if they hear sirens in the distance near- Pyrotechnics! Not only does stuff explode
ing the scene; 3) or if two or more of them are all over the target character(s) and anyone
badly wounded. else in the vicinity, but the damage causes
• Use falling shelves to protect the characters or a secondary effect: falling cans, exploding
distract the thugs. 6 light fixtures, chemical reactions—let your
• Remind the characters that if they have imagination run wild. Callout: The target
DocWagon contracts they can signal for it, character must succeed at a Reaction +
which will bring them medical care. Agility (3) to evade or suffer 5S damage
(resisted by Body + Armor) from this effect.
HARD DATA
If the hacker can’t decide what to do, feel free to drop
hints. Here are some ideas, which can also be used for
Joeby if the gamemaster desires. Each requires the hack- COLOR & CONSISTENCY TABLE
er to get at least one mark, sometimes more, on the de- Roll 2D6 for each column, then add and use the
vice by making either a Hack on the Fly action and rolling
results to describe the mess!
Hacking + Logic [Sleaze] v. Intuition + Firewall; or a Brute
Force action and rolling Cybercombat + Logic [Attack] v.
Willpower + Firewall: 2D6 RESULT
2 Black Chunky Liquid
1. Take control of the floorwaxing drone, crashing it
3 Blue Fizzy Meat
into people or blocking their path.
2. Turn off the store lights. 4 Green Lumpy Metal
3. Activate the sprinkler system.
5 Orange Smelly Plastic
4. Hijack a nearby car and drive it remotely.
5. Unlock various shelves in the store, such as the first 6 Pink Soft Powder
aid supplies or the Simchips cabinet.
7 Purple Spongy Vegetable
6. Remotely activate the PanicButton alarm system.
7. Unlock the rear doors in Area F. 8 Red Sticky Liquid
8. Set any of the machines in Area D to dispense
9 White Sudsy Meat
Shmoozies, soykaf, and more. This can be used to
blind nearby characters or coat the floor so people 10 Yellow Syrupy Metal
slip. 11 Clear Thick Plastic
12 Multi-colored (choose 2) powder
FOOD FIGHT!
Every time someone fires his gun, 1D6 should be rolled
and the Food Fight Table consulted to see what breaks and
the effect it has on the fight. The gamemaster should roll until he can get out of that area, when it will return to
for NPCs, the players should roll for themselves. If the shot a mere –1.
is made in semi-automatic mode, add +1 to the first roll.

MISSION SUCCESS
Then roll 2D6 to determine what the explosion looks like.
The results are cumulative, adding to each other. On
a die roll result of 4-5 the target suffers a –1 dice pool
modifier. If he moves near an area where a 2-3 modifier Because shadowrunners are usually more professional
was rolled, he’ll be suffering a –2 dice pool modifier than this crop of amateur hit men, the player characters

20 Mission Success >>

 >> FOOD FIGHT <<

should come out on top. At the end of the fight, any Lest the characters linger too long collecting the
items found on the ground that are not destroyed may be spoils of combat, the gamemaster should gently nudge
pocketed. Nothing too valuable will be available, though. them to the nearest exit, reminding them that police
The weapons of any dead thugs can be confiscated as statements create permanent records and that Knight
booty. If Vern survives, he is too panicked at the state of Errant is on the way (cue wailing sirens if they haven’t
the shop to care about any looting or the corpses. already been heard).
If Brandeen survives, she thanks the runners profuse-
ly for saving her and Cody’s life and possibly enlists the WHAT IF THEY FAILED
runners for some payback against Mel. She will give the
players her contact information, then leave as soon as If the players fail to save Brandeen and Cody, they should
possible. still make it out of the adventure alive, though not with
While there is no actual payment for this mission— much to show for it. Contrive a method of escape at the
after all, the players just landed in someone else’s prob- last moment. Unfortunately for them, Veronica survives
lem—each player should be awarded 2 Karma with 1 to share her story with the local reporters, giving the
bonus point of Karma for any player who came up with characters’ descriptions to the 10 o’clock news. What a
a truly inspired method of attacking or defending one bad break. Until they can shore up their reputations, get-
of the NPCs. ting work will be hard and they’ll have to work for much
lower rates than most runners.

GRUNTS AND MOVING TARGETS

STOOBY CRANK

Stooby is the leader of the “runner” team. He’s a former A former ganger, as loud and obnoxious as one would
ganger like his pal Crank and full of ganger bravado that expect.
will likely lead to the untimely end of his shadowrunning B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
career.
5 3 3 5 3 2 2 2 2 6.0
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
Metatype Human
4 5 4 4 (6) 4 3 3 2 3 5.0 Initiative 5 + 1D6
Metatype Human Condition Monitor 11 / 10
Initiative 7 + 1D6 Limits Physical 6, Mental 3, Social 5
Condition Monitor 10 / 10 Armor 9
Limits Physical 6 (7), Mental 5, Social 5 Skills Intimidation 3, Automatics 2, Blades 3,
Armor 12 Unarmed Combat 3
Skills Intimidation 3, Pistols 3, Clubs 3, Unarmed Gear 5 clips of ammo, armor vest
Combat 2 Weapons AK-97 [Assault Rifle, Acc 5, DV 10P, AP –2, SA/
Augmentations Obvious cyberarm (Right, STR +2) BF/FA, RC 2, 38(c)]
Gear 5 clips of Ammo, Armor Jacket
Weapons Ares Predator V [Heavy Pistol, Acc 5(7), DV 8P,
AP –1, SA, 15(c), 60 rounds regular ammo]

<< grunts and moving targets 21

>> FOOD FIGHT <<

FORNIS JOEBY

Fornis is a dwarf shaman, the group’s magical backup.

He’s not a violent person and tries to hinder rather than Joeby, Stooby’s little brother, is the group’s hacker and
hurt. If he feels threatened, though, he reacts with hostil- the hit man with a conscience. He just can’t do murder
ity and vulgarity, slinging spells and curses in the same and is the reason everything goes off track. Once he is
breath. back in the action he protects his brother even though he
knocked him out.
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
4 3 3 5 5 5 5 3 1 6.0 B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
Metatype Dwarf 3 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 2 6.0
Initiative 8 + 1D6 Metatype Human
Condition Monitor 10 / 11 Matrix Initiative (AR) 9 + 1D6, (Cold-Sim) 6 + 3D6, (Hot-Sim) 6
Limits Physical 6, Mental 7, Social 6 + 4D6
Armor 9 Physical Initiative 9 + 1D6
Skills Pistols 2, Perception 2, Spellcasting 3, Condition Monitor 10 / 10
Counterspelling 2 Limits Physical 5, Mental 6, Social 6
Qualities Magician Armor 9
Spells Armor [Type: P; Range: LOS; Duration: Skills Pistols 2, Hacking 4, Unarmed Combat 2,
Sustained; Armor equal to hits scored, Perception 3
cumulative with worn armor)] Gear Erika MCD-1 cyberdeck (4 3 2 1, w/ baby
Confusion [Type: M; Range: LOS; Duration: monitor), Renraku Sensei commlink (Device
Sustained; –1 dice pool modifier to target Rating 2), 5 clips of ammo, armor vest
per hit] Weapons Ares Predator V [Heavy Pistol, Acc 5(7), DV 8P,
Ice Sheet [Type: P; Range: LOS (Area); AP –1, SA, 15(c), 60 rounds regular ammo]
Duration: Instant; crossing ice requires
Agility + Reaction Test, Threshold equal to
hits, to avoid falling]
Manabolt [Type: M; Range: LOS; Damage:
(equal to hits)P): Duration: Instant]
Gear 5 clips of ammo, armor vest
Weapons Fichetti Security 600 [Light Pistol, Acc 6(7),
DV 7P, AP —, SA, RC (1), 30(c), w/ concealed
holster, 30 rounds regular ammo]

22 grunts and moving targets >>

 >> FOOD FIGHT <<

STUFFER
SHACK
LITE KEY
There are four vid-cameras
in the store; one focuses on
the checkout counter (Area
A), one focuses on the front
door, a third monitoring the
back corner between Areas
G and H, and the fourth
scans the parking lot.

• Aisle 1: Air filters,

water purifiers, and
other environmen-
tal and antipollu-
tion products for
the home.
• Aisle 2: Automo-
tive and bike sup-
plies. A floor-wax-
ing drone is hard at
work here.
• Aisle 3: Soaps,
detergents, bug
sprays, roach con-
dos, rattraps, big • Area C: The manager’s office and the record-
rattraps and so on. er for the security cameras.
• Aisle 4: Small hardware, household goods, paints • Area D: The dispenser bars for liquid prod-
and sprays. ucts such as Shmoozies, Shakeups, Soykaf,
• Aisle 5: First aid supplies, patent medicines, per- and so on are located here.
sonal hygiene products, and so forth. • Area E: The Cook-It-Your-Self microwave,
• Aisle 6: Pet foods and supplies. Jake and Angie the rotating pizza display machine, and the
are making out here. Synthmeat “Hot Dog” dispenser are located
• Aisle 7: Baked goodies, such as cakes, dough- here. The table in this section offers plates,
nuts, Sweeteez, and Krak-L-Snaps. Breakfast cups, napkins, and plastic sporks.
foods, such as AlmostEgg, BacoSoy, and ready- • Area F: The stockroom and employee break
to-eat cereals. area, featuring the time clock, lockers, and
• Aisle 8: Soykafs, teas, Koko chocolate substitute, some chairs. The area attached to this is the
and beverage mixes. restroom. There is a door in this room that
• Aisle 9: On the right, chips, dips, crackers, and leads to the alley behind the store.
cookies. On the left are candies, gum, and related • Area G: The cold food items are stocked
coma-inducing sweets. here. The microwaveable foods are closest
• Aisle 10: On the left are soypasta, sauces, and ra- to Area E; the rest are “homemade meals
men noodles. On the right are soups and stews. shipped in overnight,” plus kafsoda, synth-
• Area A: The checkout counter. There’s a bar- juice, and soy milk.
code scanner, cash register terminal, cred- • Area H: Frozen foods of all kinds, with deli-
stick receptor, a PanicButton™, a shotgun, cious frozen confections near Aisles 1 and 2.
and various counter displays. Dustoo is sampling ice cream here.
• Area B: An all-in-one simsense arcade ma-
chine is located here. Cost is 1 nuyen per
minute of play.

<< grunts and moving targets 23

S H AD O W RUN

THE NEXT
MISSION
WHAT’S NEXT? CORPORATE WRATH
By interfering with the assault, the player characters may
Food Fight is your first step into the shadows; from there, well have pissed off Mel Cozi. He might send a team
the players’ stories can go in any direction the gamemas- of his own (use Street Mage, p. 28, Mercenary, p. 29,
ter desires. To help, we’ve assembled some plot hooks and Bruiser, p. 30) to give the runners a hard time. Or
that offer ways to continue the story. After that, you’ll find he might decide that the team that beat up the guys he
the Gamemastering 101 section, which offers advice on hired might be the place to spend his money, so he tries
running a game and making it fun for everyone. Then, to hire them to intimidate Brandeen into dropping her
at the end of the booklet, you’ll find five pre-generated blackmail attempts.
non-player characters to help you as your Shadowrun ad- As it turns out, Brandeen has more blackmail mate-
ventures continue. As you get familiar with how they’re rial than a simple affair. In the course of pillow talk with
put together, you can start designing characters of your Mel, she’s learned that he’s been skimming funds from
own for future adventures—or look into the Runner’s Tool- the company for years. If the players learn this informa-
kit: Alphaware for more rules options, more non-player tion, they have a lot of choices. They could turn Mel in
characters, and a host of adventures. to his bosses and get their gratitude, which could lead
to corporate work down the road (with one of the first
LOOKING FOR PAYBACK jobs being ferreting out other embezzlers). They could
initiate a blackmail scheme of their own, telling Mel that
Stooby and Crank may not have been the most likable they’ll turn the evidence over to his bosses unless he
guys in the world, but even the biggest pieces of drek starts throwing work their way. Or they could decide
in the Sixth World have friends. If Stooby and or/Crank that Mel is a bad guy and that Brandeen is better off far
survived, they might round up a few of their friends and from him, so they move her and try to keep Mel from
look for some payback; if they died, the friends come on finding her (if needed, use the Businessman stats, p. 30,
their own. The stats for street ganger (p. 28) can be used for Mel).
for their friends.
The player characters may decide to just beat up all
comers, or they might try other approaches They may
BACK THE SHACK
find a rival gang to be their allies in the fight against Stuffer Shacks don’t have a great reputation—they’re
Stooby and Crank’s friends, or they might decide to put robbed regularly and are often the scenes of gang vi-
on a “we’re sorry” act and see if contrition can get them olence. By saving innocent bystanders, the actions of
an in with the gang (if the gang members are bent on ex- Food Fight may bring the player characters to the atten-
tracting a pound of flesh from the players, though, they’ll tion of local Stuffer Shack owners, who decide to hire
probably just have to settle on the ass-kicking route). them to reduce trouble at their locations. This could lead
To throw another twist in, have Stooby or Crank in- to a whole series of skirmishes, including: stopping an
debted to their gang friends. If the players find a way to infiltrator (use Mercenary, p. 29) who is attempting to
pay off the debt, the other gang members will forgive sneak into a back room to find hidden computer codes
them for what they did. Paying off this debt might re- that a manager (being sloppy) wrote down on a paper in
quire the player characters to make a delivery or pick- a desk drawer; intervening when two gangs (use street
up in enemy gang territory, or extract someone from ganger, p. 28 for most gangers, but throw in a few bruis-
a rival gang’s brothel, or lift some items from an aban- ers, p. 30) decide to stage a mass brawl in one Stuffer
doned research facility in the heart of the Barrens. This Shack; or keeping a very hungry street mage (p. 28) from
could be the start of a whole series of adventures in- stealing a bunch of food after she causes a distraction
volving the gang. flinging items around the store.

24 What’s Next? >>

 If the players are successful, they may draw the at- PLAYERS WILL BE PLAYERS
tention of a rival businessman (use stats on p. 30), who
No adventure survives contact with the players. No mat-
decides to hire a group of mercenaries (p. 29) to take
ter how well the scenario is planned out, the players will
them out. If the runners survive, they’ll be deep in the
always find a hole in the story. The hardest part of gam-
middle of corporate competition and intrigue, opening
emastering is dealing with unexpected actions. Espe-
plenty of possibilities for future adventures.
cially when the players start running down unexpected
adventure paths, throwing monkey wrenches in carefully
GAMEMASTERING 101 planned adventures. Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. It
can be dealt with. You just have to be flexible.
Your friends have begged you to run a role-playing game Introduce elements to pull the players back into the
and you’ve finally given in to the pressure. So here you scenario. Explosions, floods, and random acts of drag-
are, reading this book with chills running up your spine, ons (careful with those—they’re dangerous) are good
sweat rolling down your neck, and fear building a nest in ways of getting the players’ attention.
your belly. Even beyond such extreme measures, good storytell-
Welcome to the shadows. This is how a runner ing will always win the day. If the players are off down a
should feel. But “runner” means a shadowrunner, as in a path you’re unprepared for or you feel it won’t present the
player-character, not you, the gamemaster. most enjoyable gaming for your players, alter your story in
Relax. Sure, gamemastering requires a fair bit of work, a way that both fits the path they’re following while entic-
but it can also be incredibly rewarding. In fact, once you’ve ing them towards the goals you’d like to accomplish while
mastered a few basic techniques, no challenge will be too still allowing the players to wend their own paths. Amazing
big and no obstacle will be insurmountable. things can happen when people are spontaneous.
If the players’ actions leave you confused and not
knowing what to do next, don’t be afraid to throw a few
GAME FACTS random dice, scribble down a few nonsense notes on
The average RPG group size is four to five players with a piece of paper, and talk in- audibly to yourself to buy
one gamemaster (though this box set maxes out at 4 yourself time. Random dice rolls are good for building
players and the gamemaster). One story, also called an tension. And while they’re worrying, the players might
adventure, usually takes four hours of game play. This is say something that gives you a new idea.
not a hard-and-fast rule. Some game sessions last two Every adventure contains the same basic elements:
hours, while others go on for six. The length depends hooks, goals, NPCs, and a series of unfortunate events.
on the difficulty of the adventure, the characters’ ac- The gamemaster uses these elements to make the ad-
tions, and how long the players want to play that day. A venture better. Don’t stress if you forget something. Im-
complicated adventure can be stretched out over sev- portant elements can always be brought in later. Other-
eral sessions. wise, toss it on the “maybe next time” pile and continue
The tools required to play Shadowrun are dice and a with the story. Elements can also be added as needed,
character sheet. Maps can also be used to help players such as starting a car chase or having a PC’s love interest
and gamemasters keep track of where they are in certain give the characters important information. Throw in ran-
spots. Dice, character sheets, and maps are all included dom elements if you need to, and never forget the value
in this box. The only items recommended, but not in- of comedy elements. Mysterious goo splattering across
cluded, are pens and paper. a character’s favorite coat can be quite entertaining.
Read ahead, be prepared, trust your instincts, and
don’t be afraid to be a little crazy, and you’ll be fine.
When your players understand that they’re free to
make what- ever choices they’d like, they’ll have more

<< GAMEMASTERING 101 25

>> THE NEXT MISSION <<

PLAYER KNOWLEDGE VS. fun and your game will become more open, which in the
long run can be enjoyable for everyone.
CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE Players like goodies. Plan to reward them with Karma,
Charlie (the player) might discover that some joe- nuyen, or gear additions if they succeed in their mission
schmoe-on-the-street is carrying a million-nuyen credstick, goals. But plan appropriately for the level of difficulty.
but Charlie’s hot-headed character Torque doesn’t have The characters should not come out of an easy adven-
ture with enough nuyen to buy a major mega-corp.
access to this information, which means there is no reason
Conversely, if they find an extraordinary way to beat a
for Torque to mug this specific NPC for his money. This is high-level NPC that surprises even you, feel free to add
called out-of-character (OOC) knowledge and generally is a bonus to what they earn.
not allowed to influence game play. The most important thing to remember is that RPGs are
On the other hand, given the correct storyline, Torque supposed to be fun for everyone, gamemaster included.
may recognize the NPC as being the thug who hit on his
younger sister. TIPS OF THE TRADE
In which case, it would be reasonable for Torque to The following additional advice will help anyone prepare
beat up the NPC to “teach the bum a lesson,” only to see as the gamemaster.
the credstick fall out of the NPC’s pocket. At this point, it is
acceptable for Torque to steal the credstick if such an act is PLANNING ADVICE
in his nature. Start on the same page. Shadowrun is a very wide and
Only the gamemaster should start out knowing the facts deep pool with over twenty years worth of world devel-
of the story beforehand. It is the players’ job to discover opment behind it. Make sure to discuss the type of game
these facts, using in-character methods, during the course you want to run with your players. If you want to run a
of game play. gritty street campaign where the players are gangers
barely staying one step ahead of Lone Star and your play-
ers want a game of slick professionals traveling around
the Sixth World executing precision heists, you will likely
need to find some middle ground. Take a session to dis-
POSSIBLE RANDOM EVENTS cuss the elements of Shadowrun that everyone likes as
well as the parts that your group is less interested in. The
• A lamppost falls on the characters’ transport.
more communication that happens in the beginning, the
• An NPC buys a player a drink, which turns out to be less often something will break down completely once
drugged. the campaign is underway.
• A street brawl erupts nearby. Give everyone a little spotlight. Give the samu-
• A mysterious package falls from the sky. rai some goons to smash, the hacker a node to cut and
• A dragon appears and destroys a nearby building. the face someone to charm. If a session comes around
where a character ends up in the background, make sure
• An earthquake strikes Seattle.
the next game features that character or his skill set in
• Seattle’s power grid suddenly shuts down.
a central role. Take suggestions from the players them-
• The characters are mugged. selves. The rigger might want a chance to show off his
new drone, but infiltrating a Tír military installation and a
corporate headquarters involve very different challenges.
Pay attention to small skills. The small 1-2 point
THE GAMING AREA skills that round out a character can offer some excellent
role-playing opportunities and offer a way for a charac-
When preparing for the game, keep in mind people will need ter to build on their pre-existing backstory. It can also
to spread out, walk around, snack, and—most importantly— offer a nice complication to a job. What if the hacker is
take bio-breaks. Many local comic and game shops devote tied up with the main system and the team needed a lit-
entire sections to the gaming scene, but some groups choose tle secondary hack? The mage might not be able to take
out a whole security unit, but maybe he can hold them
instead to play in the comfort of a player’s home.
off for a round while the team hacks the door. Playing
If playing at home, tell the players to bring munchies and the expert is fun but using the smaller dice pools can
make sure the bathroom is in working order (which, honestly, lead to those memorable table stories.
is good advice for non-gaming times, too). Don’t expect the Everyone is grey. The best bad guys have a little good
entire session to be completely devoted to role-play and don’t inside. The best good guys have a little bad. That’s the
get upset when people need a moment to stretch. Just gently one thing that’s clear in the shadows. Make sure NPCs
nudge the conversation back into game play when break time reflect this. That gang member might have a soft spot
is over.

26 GAMEMASTERING 101 >>

 >> THE NEXT MISSION <<

for kids. The loyal hacker might have a drinking problem. are boring. Don’t hinge a plot on rolling to find a clue or a
Even the most mercenary runners care about some- lead. If the players don’t find it one way, give them an op-
thing. It may be their reputation, their turf or their legacy. portunity to find it another. Before you tell the player to
Mr. Johnson is the same way. The motivation may never pick up the dice, think about how the story will go if they
make it out in front of the runners but it may color what succeed and if they fail. If only one out- come seems in-
happens during the run. Why people do things is just as teresting, don’t make them roll.
important as how they do things. A Johnson saving his Cross-cutting. Shadowrun exists in three worlds: the
pet project will act much differently than one trying to real world, the astral plane, and the Matrix. A job will
cover up a costly mistake. Knowing why a run is happen- have a lot going on, so keep up the pace by cutting from
ing will make is easier to adjust the plot as players react one story to another. Doing this cuts down on players
to the points you throw at them. hogging the spotlight and other players at the table
Use “The Johnson Screwjob” sparingly. It’s a staple starting to lose interest and no longer paying attention.
of fiction. The runners do their job and the Johnson de- Another technique to borrow is getting in late and get-
cides it’s easier to kill the runners than pay them. Long- ting out early. If a samurai is sneaking into a facility with
time players will expect it every time. In the length of a his buddy running astral, run the scene where the samu-
campaign it might happen. But it shouldn’t happen all rai finds something impeding his progress rather than
the time. Once the team gets screwed by the Johnson, making several Stealth rolls simulating being inside the
the first part of any run will be checking out Mr. Johnson building. Then, just as the tension ramps up when the sa-
to make sure they are legit or picking up leverage so the murai finds some guards, cut away to the mage in astral.
runners make sure they get paid. Discuss how often the Then, right when the mage is about to pass through to
players are comfortable with this happening and set the see the goods with her own eyes, cut back to the samu-
level to your campaign. rai’s fight. And so on.
Leave room to improv. Hinging a mission on a sin- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. On the table side, let
gle action is always tricky. Players love to improvise and players help you with the rules. The hacker player will like-
anticipating their actions is one of the most challeng- ly have studied up on the Matrix, so let them help you
ing skills to learn as a gamemaster. Write up missions as with running the Matrix. If you’re looking for glitch ideas,
points rather than linear guides. React to what the play- open it up to the other players. Taking a suggestion from
ers do and give them space to react to what you do. A the table can be just as memorable as your idea. If a play-
game isn’t a story. It’s a conversation. Your plan won’t er is sitting idle for a long time, offer to let them play a
be flawless. Neither will theirs. The cool stuff happens minor NPC. You have a lot of things going on at the table.
in the middle. You don’t have to serve every course yourself.
Balance rewards. The classic motive for a run is Timeouts are okay. If you get thrown for a loop, ask
frosty nuyen. Runners want new shinies and they have for a time out. Take a moment to refresh snacks, hit the
to make money to get that gear. But players also want restroom and discuss what just happened in game. If a
a chance to improve their skills and attributes. While a player has an issue with a rules decision, ask everyone’s
detailed character advancement system is beyond the opinion on the call and discuss it. Sometimes, taking a
scope of these rules, consider giving players a chance to moment to cool down after a tense moment gives one
add a skill point or two after a successful run, particularly side perspective and makes a compromise easier. If
if they used a skill in a clever way in the course of the job. something happens in a game that causes a disagree-
Balancing skill rewards with nuyen will help them feel as ment, talk about it outside of game. In-game punish-
if they jobs they are taking are truly worth their while. ments and ignoring problems treat the symptoms not
Money isn’t everything. Not every job has to be for the cause. Players get time out of the spotlight to relax
a dollar amount. Mr. Johnson might offer tech, guns or and recoup. The gamemaster needs love too.
equipment. He could also let the players keep whatev- Cut deals. If you are unsure about a plot, ask the
er they can take out a facility as long as he gets what player if they want it or not. If a player wants something
he wants. Contacts help players out of jams all the time. in-game, ask them what complications they might be
When that bartender comes around looking for some willing to accept for it. Players love to feel like they are
help dealing with some go-gangers looking for a pro- conspiring with the gamemaster. Treat them fairly when
tection hangout, the players should be happy to help. the deal comes to light. If a player cuts a deal to make life
Threatening a well-liked NPC is a great way to watch the challenging for everyone, let everyone have a chance to
team put aside differences to put the threat deep, deep cut their own deals. Players are often willing to sacrifice
in the ground. character elements for a guarantee of success. Want to
make sure the crime boss goes down? That loyal buddy
at Lone Star might never talk to the character again.
RUNNING ADVICE Avoid planning to plan. Some teams like to plan
Make failure interesting. Nobody wants to wait around meticulously for hours trying to come up with contin-
for a successful dice roll to get the plot moving. Retries gencies upon contingencies. Others fly by the seat of

<< GAMEMASTERING 101 27

>> THE NEXT MISSION <<

their pants, hoping that luck and Edge will carry the day.
Each group is different, but make sure there’s a cutoff
point where the planning stops and the running begins.
Sometimes the big list of equipment brought along in
the van inspires a creative solution. Sometimes the play-
ers come up with such a brilliant solution the gamemas-
ter has no choice but to stand up and applaud. Find out
what your players prefer and play to their tastes.
The Chandler Rule. “When in doubt, have a man
come through the door with a gun in his hand.” —Ray-
mond Chandler.
Shadowrun is a violent world, and there are likely sev-
eral people who want whatever the players have. If the
players have taken the plot in a strange way, throwing a
few bad guys to beat up can give you some time to ad-
just. The bad guys might have a clue the team overlooked
or offer a way inside the bad guy’s hideout they never
considered. Combat shouldn’t always be a last resort but
it can be a way to inject some energy into a game.
Sneak, speak, and shoot. Most teams will use some
combination of sneaking, shooting and talking their way
through a mission. Figure out what those methods ac-
complish. Don’t make a mission only work through one
approach. Making something more difficult one way or
less difficult another is perfectly accept- able. If a group
has a preferred approach, more detail can go into that
way, but often players will change things up if they get
bored with always sneaking into places.
Death is not the end. The cruel fates of the dice can B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
cause the loss of a beloved character. Decide how final 4 3 (4) 3 4 (5)* 4 2 2 2 3 5
death is and stick to it. Will all runners end up dying on
Metatype Dwarf
the streets? Is death as temporary as in comic books?
Initiative 5 + 1D6
Remember that killing a character is not the worst thing
that can happen to it. The player might be willing to bar- Condition Monitor 10 / 10
gain for their life, with interesting stories generated by Limits Physical 5 (6) (7), Mental 3, Social 4
the deal. What if the mortally wounded mage makes it Armor 12
back to the street doc, but after he gets patched up, the Dice Pools Close Combat 5 (6), Firearms 6 (7),
doc is clamped down by the runner’s enemies? More Intimidation 5
story and a chance to rescue a friend in peril. Leave the Augmentations Muscle replacement 1
ultimate choice of death up to the player. Gear Sony Emperor commlink, armor jacket, 3 clips
of ammo

NON-PLAYER Weapons Ares Predator V [Heavy Pistol, Acc 5(7), DV 8P,

AP –1, 15(c), 60 rounds regular ammo]
CHARACTERS Combat axe [Blades, Reach 2, Acc 4, DV 9(10)
P, AP –4]
* In this listing, the 4 is the gang members unaugmented Strength,
STREET GANGER and 5 is the Strength augmented by muscle replacement.
The fire ants of the Sixth World. People think they’re an-
noying (when they notice them at all), but when street STREET MAGE
gangers show up in force, even strong trolls and power-
The street mage is in a tough spot. She has enough pow-
ful mages have reason to worry. Sure, a few of them are
going to go down in the fight, but they know the power er to get noticed, but not yet enough to overwhelm any
of numbers. That’s why they form gangs. So even if you forces that might come gunning for her. Frankly, if she
encounter one of them all alone on the streets and feel runs into a group determined to geek the mage first,
like giving him a good beating just for being a punk-ass, odds are she’s going down. Since she can’t overwhelm
remember—there are a million punk-asses in the Sixth people just yet, she needs to be clever and subtle—Fire-
World, and lots of them are friends. ball is a spectacular spell, but it draws attention. A well-

28 non-player characters >>

 >> THE NEXT MISSION <<

placed Fling spell, on the other hand, can cause a valu- MERCENARY
able distraction or give someone a blow to the head from
an unexpected direction—while the mage, hopefully, is Yeah, she’s a soldier for hire, but don’t make the mistake
hidden somewhere. If she can make the right friends of thinking that makes her some soulless killing machine.
and stay alive long enough, she could grow into a po- She knows her job, and she knows sometimes she’ll have
tent force on the streets. The destination is available—the to swim in murky ethical waters, but that doesn’t mean
trick, as always, is getting there. she’s going to shoot someone in the back just because
you wave a pile of nuyen at her. She’s a professional, and
she has a code, and things will go best for you if you keep
that in mind. If you cross her, remember—she’s been
working with a lot of professional tough guys for a long
time, and many of them are her friends. Make her mad,
and you’ve got a long list of enemies. Get on her good
side, on the other hand, and she can make some valuable
introductions for you—and maybe even get you into the
hired-gun business.

B A R S W L I C EDG ESS M
2 4 3 2 3 4 3 2 3 6.0 3
Metatype Human
Initiative 6 + 1D6
Condition Monitor 9 / 10
Limits Physical 3, Mental 5, Social 5
Armor 9
Dice Pools Astral Perception 5, Conjuring skill group 4,
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
Firearms skill group 6, Sorcery skill group 5
Spells Fireball [Type: P; Range: LOS; Duration: Instant; 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 6.0
Damage: (equal to hits)P] Metatype Human
Fling [Type: P; Range: LOS; Duration: Instant; Initiative 7 + 1D6
Damage: 2] Condition Monitor 10 / 10
Light [Type: P; Range: LOS (Area); Duration:
Limits Physical 4, Mental 4, Social 5
Sustained; each hit counters a –1 die
Armor 12
visibility penalty]
Dice Pools Escape Artist 7, Infiltration 8, Palming 7,
Gear Armor vest, Sony Emperor commlink
Perception 5, Pistols 8, Running 5, Shadowing
Weapons Defiance EX Shocker [Taser, Acc 4, DV 9S(e),
7, Unarmed Combat 7
AP –5, 4(m), w/ 20 taser darts]
Qualities Toughness
Weapons Ares Predator V [Heavy Pistol, Acc 5(7), DV 8P,
AP –1, 15(c)]

<< non-player characters 29

>> THE NEXT MISSION <<

BRUISER BUSINESSMAN
Nothing about this guy is subtle. His hair is big, his voice It takes a lot of toughness to survive on the streets, but
is loud, and he’d much rather break a shot glass than making your way in the boardroom as a troll is no easy
clean it. If he acts like he thinks you’ve screwed him over, thing. The troll businessman is used to being overlooked
don’t take it personally—he treats everyone that way. He (even though he’s nearly three meters tall) and underesti-
has a chip on his shoulder against the whole world, and mated; over time, he’s learned to use it to his advantage.
he exercises it in loud, violent ways. His methods are less He’s assembled a range of social skills to take advantage
than precise—he carries a pistol because he knows it’s a of any situation—he can turn on the charm or glower
good thing to have, but he much prefers using his club with intimidation, whatever the situation calls for. He also
and taking a swing at anything that looks breakable. If knows how to work outside the rules sometimes, chang-
you come within this guy’s range, treat him like a mad ing records here and there to give him the competitive
dog—talk to him quietly, avoid eye contact, and be ready advantage he needs. He may not have the range of com-
for him to go off at any moment, without a clear cause. bat skills of other trolls and his muscle may have gone
soft, but he’s not a bad shot and is still tough to bring
down. You can underestimate him if you decide to take
him on, but that’s okay with him—he’s used to it.

B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
7 3 3 6 3 2 3 2 1 6.0
Metatype Ork
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
Initiative 6 + 1D6
9 2 2 5 3 4 3 4 1 6.0
Condition Monitor 12 / 10
Limits Physical 8, Mental 4, Social 5 Metatype Troll
Armor 9 Initiative 5 + 1D6
Dice Pools Blades 5, Clubs 6, Intimidation 5, Perception 5, Condition Monitor 13 / 10
Pistols 5, Unarmed Combat 7 Limits Physical 7, Mental 5, Social 5
Gear Armor vest, Meta Link commlink (Device Armor 8
Rating 1) Dice Pools Computer 5, Con 5, Etiquette 6, Forgery 6,
Weapons Club [Club, Acc 4, Reach 1, DV 9P, AP —] Leadership 7, Negotiation 8, Perception 5,
Colt America L36 [Light Pistol, Acc 7, DV 7P, AP Pistols 4
—, 11(c)] Gear Actioneer Business Clothes, glasses (w/
smartlink), Transys Avalon commlink (Device
Rating 6)
Weapons Ares LightFire 74 [Light Pistol, Acc 6(8), DV 6P,
AP —, 16(c), w/ smartlink]

30 non-player characters >>

 ®
GAMEMASTER CHARACTERS REFERENCE

COYDOG GENTRY HARDPOINT SLEDGE MS. MYTH

FEMALE ELF MALE HUMAN MALE DWARF MALE ORK FEMALE TROLL

ATTRIBUTES
B A R S W L I C Edg Ess
ATTRIBUTES 5 2 2 5 4 4 (5) 5 5 1 5.4
B A R S W L I C Edg Ess
ATTRIBUTES
ATTRIBUTES 2 3 (5) 4 2 (4) 2 5 (6) 6 2 5 3.66 B A R S W L I C Edg Ess
B A R S W L I C Edg Ess M 4 3 5 (6) 4 3 6 3 3 2 0.98 SKILLS
ATTRIBUTES Active Skills
3 4 5 2 6 3 3 6 4 6 6 SKILLS Automatics 4 (6), Computers 3 (7 (8)),
B A R S W L I C Edg Ess
Active Skills SKILLS Con 6 (11), First Aid 2 (6 (7)), Gymnastics 2
8 5 (7) 4 (8) 7 (7) 4 2 3 1 1 0.74 (4), Impersonation 3 (8), Influence skill group
SKILLS Clubs 4, Cybercombat 5, Electronics skill Active Skills
Armorer 2, Automatics 2, Engineering skill (3 (8), Intimidation 6 (11), Negotiation 6 (11),
Active Skills group 4, Electronic Warfare 4, Gymnastics Perception 5 (10), Pistols 3 (5), Running 2 (7),
group 3, Electronics skill group 2, Electronic SKILLS
Acting skill group 3, Assensing 4, Blades 4(7) (Parkour +2), Hacking 5, Influence Stealth skill group 4 (6), Unarmed Combat 4 (6)
Warfare 4, Etiquette 3 (Japanese +2), Active Skills
1 (Knives +2), Counterspelling 4, Etiquette skill group 2, Perception 4, Pistols 4(5) Gunnery 5, Navigation 3, Perception 2, Automatics 4 (5), Blades 4 (5), Etiquette Knowledge Skills
2 (Tribal +2), Gymnastics 2, Perception (Semi-Automatics +2), Running 3(6), Pilot Aircraft 5, Pilot Ground Craft 4, Pilot 1 (Street +2), Gymnastics 3, Intimidation Business 3, Corporate Policies 2
2, Pistols 1, Sneaking 2, Spellcasting 7, Sneaking 2 (Urban +2) Watercraft 2, Unarmed Combat 4 (Jujutsu +2) 4 (Physical +2), Pistols 3 (4), Sneaking 1 (Horizon +2), Fashion 2,
Summoning (Air Spirits +2) Organized Crime 1, Psychology 3
(Urban +2), Unarmed Combat 5
Knowledge Skills Knowledge Skills
Knowledge Skills Deckers 3, Matrix Theory 3, National Criminal Organizations 1 (Yakuza +2), Language Skills
Engineering 5 (Mechanical +2), Philosophy 2 Knowledge Skills English N, Japanese 2, Cantonese 2, Or’zet 2,
Magic Threats 3, Magical Theory 3, Politics 1 (Tír Tairngire +2), Sports 2 (Urban
(Eastern +2), Seattle Knowledge 3, Security Ork Underground 3, Seattle Street Gangs 3 Sperethiel 1, Mandarin 1
Seattle Street Gangs 3 (First Nations +2), Brawl +2), Terrorist Organizations 2
Procedures 4
Sports (Stickball +2)
Language Skills CONTACTS
Language Skills Language Skills English N, Or’zet 4 The Juggler
Language Skills English N, Sperethiel 5 English N, Japanese N
English N, Salish N (Elven fixer, Loyalty 1, Connection 4)
CONTACTS Frankie
CONTACTS CONTACTS Red Dot (Bartender, Loyalty 1, Connection 1)
CONTACTS Willie Pete Johnson-san Esmeralda Expertise
(Seattle Screamers Quartermaster, (Weapons Dealer, Loyalty 1, Connection 3)
Scout-Who-Kills-Six-Times (MCT Company Man, Loyalty 3, (Talent broker, Loyalty 2, Connection 4)
(Ganger, Loyalty 5, Connection 2) Loyalty 1 Connection 2) Connection 2)
Sturm Khayyim

<< non-player characters

(Street doc, Loyalty 1, Connection 2)
Signal Black (Skraacha Smuggler, Loyalty 3,
Four-Paws-Laughing (Tír Techno-Terrorist, Loyalty 1, Billy Shen
(Seattle Scrapyard Owner/Mechanic, Connection 2)
(Talismonger, Loyalty 4, Connection 3) Connection 3) (Triad red pole, Loyalty 1, Connection 4)
Loyalty 1, Connection 2)
Mr. Satou
Elkara (Renraku company man, Loyalty 2, Connection 4)
Granny Smith Galadriel Quick Bill McCoy

31
(Orkish Beat Cop, Loyalty 2, Connection 2)
(Philanthropist, Loyalty 3, Connection 1) (Elven Madam, Loyalty 2, Connection 2) (Smuggler, Loyalty 1, Connection 1) Kelly Quick
(Cutters gangbanger, Loyalty 1, Connection 2)

STREET PROFILE STREET PROFILE STREET PROFILE STREET PROFILE

Street Cred: STREET PROFILE
Street Cred: Street Cred: Street Cred:
Notoriety: Street Cred:
Notoriety: Notoriety: Notoriety: Notoriety:
Public Awareness:
Public Awareness:
>> THE NEXT MISSION <<

Public Awareness: Public Awareness: Public Awareness:

 MELEE MODIFIERS TABLE DIFFICULTY TABLE
®
SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIER DIFFICULTY THRESHOLD
Attacker making charging attack +2 Easy 1
Attacking making a Called Shot –4 Average 2
Attacking with a touch-only attack +2 Hard 3
Attacker has friends in melee +1 Extreme 5+
GAMEMASTER SCREEN Character wounded –Wound Modifier
Character has longer Reach +1 per point of Net Reach
Character using off-hand
–2 PERCEPTION TEST THRESHOLDS
RANGED COMBAT MODIFIERS weapon
Character attacking multiple ITEM/EVENT IS: THRESHOLD
SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIER Splits dice pool
targets Obvious/Large/Loud 1
Attacker running –2
Character has superior position +2 Normal 2
Attacker in Melee Combat –3
Opponent prone +3
Obscured/Small/Muffled 3
Attacker in a moving vehicle –3 Friends in the melee +1 per friend (max +4)
Hidden/Micro/Silent 5+
Attacker firing from cover –2 Defender receiving a charge +1
Attacker wounded –Wound Modifiers Visibility impaired see Visibility Modifiers
Attacker using image magnification No range modifiers *You may apply Reach as a –1 dice pool modifier per net point to the opponent instead

Attacker using second firearm Splits dice pool PERCEPTION TEST MODIFIERS
Attacker using off-hand weapon –2 SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIER
Aimed Shot +1 per Simple Action COMBAT TURN SEQUENCE Perceiver is distracted –2
1. ROLL INITIATIVE Perceiver is actively looking/
Blind Fire –6 +3
Initiative Score = Initiative attribute + total rolled on Initiative Dice listening for it
–2 per additional target 2. BEGIN FIRST INITIATIVE PASS
Multiple Targets Object/sound not in
that Action Phase Characters act in turn from highest Initiative Score to lowest –2
immediate vicinity
Target has partial cover +2 3. BEGIN ACTION PHASE
A. Declare Actions. Each character may take 1 Complex Action or Object/sound far away –3
Target has good cover +4 2 Simple Actions during their Action Phase. Each character
also gets 1 Free Action to be taken in this phase or during any Object/sound stands
Visibility Impaired see Visibility Table +2
subsequent phase in the Combat Turn. out in some way
B. Resolve Actions. Interfering sight/odor/sound –2
4. DECLARE AND RESOLVE ACTIONS OF REMAINING CHARACTERS
Perceiver has active
VISIBILITY MODIFIERS TABLE 5. BEGIN NEXT INITIATIVE PASS + Rating
All characters subtract 10 from their Initiative Score. Those with
enhancements
THERMO- ULTRA- scores above zero may act again, in order from highest to lowest Perceiver using
SITUATION NORMAL LOW-LIGHT GRAPHIC SOUND score. –6
Virtual Reality
Full Darkness –6 –6 –3 –3 6. BEGIN NEW COMBAT TURN
Partial Light –2 0 –2 –1
Glare –1 –1 –1 0
Light Fog/Mist/Rain/Smoke –2 –1 0 –1 ACTIONS DEFENSE MODIFIERS TABLE
Heavy Fog/Mist/Rain/Smoke –4 –2 –2 –2 FREE ACTIONS SITUATION DICE POOL MODIFIER
n Counterspelling n Eject Smartgun Clip Defender unaware of attack No defense possible
Thermal Smoke –4 –2 –6 –2
n Gesture n Speak/Text Phrase
Defender wounded –Wound Modifier
Defender inside a moving
SIMPLE ACTIONS +3
n Change Gun Mode n Drop Object n Drop Prone vehicle
SPELLCASTING STEPS
1. CHOOSE A SPELL n Fire Single Shot Weapon n Insert Clip n Observe in Detail Defender has defended
2. CHOOSE THE FORCE up to the caster’s Magic attribute (for Stun Damage for Drain) or up to n Pick Up/Put Down Weapon n Remove Clip n Sprint against previous attacks –1 per additional defense
twice the caster’s Magic attribute (for Physical Damage for Drain) n Stand Up n Take Aim n Throw Weapon since last action
3. CHOOSE A TARGET within the Caster’s Line of Sight or Touch Range Defender prone –2
4. ROLL MAGIC + SPELLCASTING Net successes count up to the Force of the spell COMPLEX ACTIONS Ranged Attacks Only:
5. DETERMINE EFFECT (see spell description) n Fire Semi-Automatic Weapon n Melee/Unarmed Attack
n Reload Firearm n Spellcasting
Defender running +2
6. RESIST DRAIN Depending on magic tradition, Caster will either roll Willpower + Charisma or
Willpower + Intuition to resist the Drain Value as indicated in the spell description n Use Skill Defender in melee targeted
–3
7. DETERMINE ONGOING EFFECTS (–2 sustaining modifier per sustained spell) by ranged attack