Never Deal With A Dragon (Book 1)
By: Robert N. Charrette

I would like to thank keen_northwest for selling me the book through Amazon Marketplace. I have also gone back and retroactively added thanks to the seller of the anthology book in my previous review. Again, apologies for the terrible photo of the cover. My scanner is still not operational.

As stated in my Into the Shadows (unnumbered) review, Robert N. Charrette has been in the business as a graphic artist, game designer, art director, commercial sculptor, and author of future books in this series. He co-wrote Bushido, Aftermath!, and Daredevils for Fantasy Games Unlimited. He has also done work on Battletech and Shadowrun for FASA.

A year after the events of the prologue (literally everything that happened in the Into The Shadows story), Sam Verner is back at Renraku and feeling quite empty. The higher-ups deny him contact with his sister, who had undergone Kawaru (Goblinization), the standard procedure of which is to send the changed to Yomi island. One day he witnesses something odd happen while decking at work. A persona icon appeared before him, but not just any persona icon, this one belongs to a dead man. Soon, his new girl brings him an opportunity to escape the shackles of Renraku and begin a search for his sister. The extraction takes a deadly turn however, when his extractors abandon him and leave him and his girl to the mercy of the Tir Tairngire border patrols. Barely escaping with his own life, Sam drags himself to the only people he can turn to, the Shadowrunners who had attacked his VTOL one year ago. What he learns of his own magical potential then leads him on a journey that starts with one Dragon and ends with a song.

Once again, one of the major problems with this book is there does not appear to be an editor, as there are fantastic typos most everywhere within, for example: the use of ‘fo’ instead of ‘of’. Not to be a broken record, but there really isn’t any excuse for putting out professionally published material like this. That is most likely a problem with the publishers, not the author however. It also does not detract enough to lower the score fantastically.

The author seems to rely on tired stereotypes of how Native Americans talk in this book. Though, I think I can let it pass this time. “What? Why?!” you might ask. Well, I’ve given it some thought. Ok, say magic has returned to the world. It’s been about 33 years since the government had ordered the extermination of all tribes. You decide to form a gang of “traditional” Amerindians (for the reasons any other gangs are formed), but your only experience with “traditional” Amerindians is from old entertainment shows, you’re probably going to be more than a little off. Also, this was released in 1990. I don’t believe we had gotten all anally PC yet. Kind of a weak justification, but I’m going with it. If you can stand a few “paleface”s, it shouldn’t really bother you too much anyway.

A lot of plot threads also appear and are dropped (as you might be able to tell from my quick non-spoiler summary), but seeing how this book is part one of the Secrets of Power trilogy, this can be excused. Some of those threads have already popped up again in the second book, not to give anything away.

I would also like to rescind my outburst about the insanity of showing someone hanging a severed dragon head in the previous book. Even though it does not appear, if the dragon were a Lesser Dragon, and not a Great Dragon, it still makes some semblance of sense. I apologize for flying off the handle like that.

Cover Page Idiocy: I have no idea what “In 2050 Magic is a Commodity Money Can’t Buy” is really supposed to mean in the context of the story.

Page 123
“As the door slid open, she skipped past him. Trailing her scarf along his shoulder, she gave him an inviting smile as she backed into the chamber. She had every confidence that Jenny was monitoring the room and would have the ground team squared away in their hiding places.”

Overall, the book was well-written and kept me enthralled enough to read about 150 pages in a single sitting. That is about 40% of the book. My rating for this book is another solid:

A-

I’ve decided to forego future polls as I think I’m setting myself up with a lot of things I won’t end up reading, and I’m not quite sure how to get to the results of anyway.

1. My sleep schedule

I haven’t been getting regular sleep lately for some reason and stuff relating to it like headaches, eye aches and nausea haven’t really been keeping me in a writing mood.

2. Internet Video Sites

Sites like The Spoony Experiment, The LP Archive and That Guy With The Glasses are my virtual kryptonite. I will sit for hours watching that stuff like the pathetic little person with way too much free time, I think I am.

3. My Tabletop Group

This may seem like a minor distraction, but after a session, I don’t even want to look at anything relating to Shadowrun for about a week. This probably has more to do with the fact I’m easily overstimulated and crash hard afterward than it has to do with any sort of quality issues.

4. Knights of the Old Republic

Yes, I’m currently trying to play this game, and already I am further than my original save.

5. The Second Book

I’ve sort of broken one of my own rules and have gone on to read parts of the second book, and am in fact, almost finished with it. I’m hoping beyond hope I don’t end up sticking plot points from the second book into the review of the first.

6. Writing This List of Terrible Excuses

Oh yes, you didn’t think I was going to make a list of excuses without actually getting anything written did you? Since the plot is much more centralized in this book, it should be easier to get all of what I want to say written out without re-researching what each story was about, central characters, and what every author has done.

Today we’re going to be reviewing the unnumbered Shadowrun story anthology… which was reprinted as novel number 7 with one different story (which completely escaped my research when I was purchasing them, and only came up once I started working on this article). This one is the unaltered original (I will review the extra story in the Novel 7 version, assuming I can get ahold of it). I will state now, this book is now out of print, but if you look hard enough, you just might find a copy… Seriously, I got mine off Amazon.com.

I would first like to start with a time line, just to bring you to where we start. Unfortunately, a time line would be very very long. So I’m instead including a link to a post I’m putting up before this, with all the time line info that was included in the book.

Click Here

INTO THE SHADOWS
COLLECTED BY: Jordan K. Weisman

I would like to thank greatbuybooks for selling me this book through Amazon Marketplace.

Jordan K. Weisman is, at least according to the Contributors section: The creator of the Shadowrun universe, which already peaked my interest. This is kind of like Gene Roddenberry approving and editing together a collection of Star Trek fiction. It’s a pretty cool first outing. It also goes on to talk about how he was inspired by the Mayan belief that a “New World” is born every 5200 years.

First we have to look at this beautiful cover art which depicts a Dragon battling a heli by, as close as I can tell, Jeff Laubenstein. The first time I saw this picture I laughed at how ridiculous this notion was, but after finishing the book, I understand it quite well. What I still don’t understand though is what greets us on the next page.

What?! This makes no freaking sense if you’ve played Shadowrun at all in the past. It doesn’t even happen in the book (spoiler, I guess, but its less infuriating for Shadowrun vets to know that), so it’s just there… for some reason… mocking me. What the hell, Mark Nelson?

Anyway, I digress. Let’s get started on the book proper.

Into the Shadows by Robert Charrette

Robert N. Charrette has been in the business as a graphic artist, game designer, art director, commercial sculptor, and author of future books in this series. He co-wrote Bushido, Aftermath!, and Daredevils for Fantasy Games Unlimited. He has also done work on Battletech and Shadowrun for FASA.

The first thing we see when we go here is a quite detailed and grisly close-up of an Ork pointing a pistol off-page at some unseen foe by Jim Nelson. I’m not including any more pictures besides the cover and that confusing inside picture because I don’t want to be sued, and because seeing these for yourself is kind of a treat, in my opinion.

This story follows Sam Verner, an employee of the Renraku megacorp as he wakes up in a Renraku clinic with a headache and a newly installed Datajack in his temple. The master of the Renraku empire, Inazo Aneki is there personally, informing Sam that he has been transferred from Tokyo to the arcology project in Seattle. After they leave, Sam is informed by a nurse that his sister cannot go with him as she has begun to start Kawaru, the change, Goblinization. This plot thread is kind of left hanging, for now, but we return with Sam boarding a VTOL. Soon, the VTOL is attacked by a group and Sam and a few of the others are captured. Where it goes from here, I leave for you to read. This story is apparentally expanded in the first novel: Never Deal With a Dragon. I’m looking forward to it.

Graverobbers by Elizabeth T. Danford

Elizabeth Danford is a freelance illustrator, writer, editor, and computer game designer. She also did a few of the illustrations in this book.

Before the story starts proper, we’re greeted to another illustration. A collaboration between the story’s author and Jeff Laubenstein. The illustration depicts two men taking a freight elevator. One of them is very very large. Kind of like a rubber ball, stuffed into a jumpsuit, looking very nervous. Next to him, a smaller man grabs his shoulder, grinning in reassurance.

The story starts as the illustration shows, two men, Porky Pryne (the large one, a decker) and Will Grey (some sort of shaman) taking a freight elevator. Porky is nervous because he’s never been part of Will Grey’s and an unseen person named Meg’s graverobbing (cleaning out accounts from deceased salarymen by hacking into the network’s system). Will assures him he’ll do fine as he consults spirits, who show favorable results for this job. They take their place in the office, impersonating a paint crew as Porky works. It’s a rather short but nice story so I’ll leave it at this.

Tailchaser by Paul R. Hume

For Paul Hume, this appears to be his first work of fiction. He’s a trained actor, and has had experience in programming computers.

Before the story opens proper, we get an illustration of an Elf carrying a pistol, some sort of cybered commando, and a Troll carrying a lighter-looking human from a skyscraper bearing the name: UNIOIL. According to the credits, this piece is by Tom Baxa.

The story opens on a very badly botched run as someone identified as Mr. Cortez chews a group of runners out, carrying on about UniOil, Natural Vat, Mr. Yoshimura, and someone named Mirin. The scene changes as we next follow an Elf identified as Thorn (or Thom if you read it the way I did the first few times) who seems to be being chased around Redmond by a group calling itself The Night Hunters. He gets cornered and is almost shredded to ribbons when, out of nowhere he is saved by a heavily muscled man wielding an assault carbine. He awakes in a makeshift clinic as he’s being patched up and meets the team. The doctor who just patched him up, Iris, the mage, Neddy, the troll, Smedley… and some guy, who I don’t believe gets a name. They’ve found him to hire him for their second run against United Oil, which is a megacorp, at this point whose security was run by the Western Dragon, Haesslich. Thorn gets an idea. What idea you ask? You’ll have to grab yourself a copy to find out.

Striper by Nyx Smith

There is little to no information about Nyx Smith, even on the contributor page.

The story is preceded by an illustration by Elizabeth Danforth. In it, an androgynous youth with face paint sits perched on a stone block overlooking a nearby street. She wears leather and mesh, a cigar in her right hand. Almost overshadowing this image though, it the scene behind her where a Dwarf hits on a very skimpily-dressed prostitute.

Tikki is a shapeshifter. Tikki’s joyboy just tried to rat her out for a previously-unknown bounty. Now the joyboy rests in Tikki’s stomach. The rest of the story has to do with Tikki’s search for the source of the bounty and is actually quite exciting, though, not something I would have expected from Shadowrun. The character seems to return for the novel “Striper Assassin”, though, I have not aquired this book yet.

Whitechapel Rose by Lorelei Shannon

Lorelei Shannon. The contributor page doesn’t say much beyond multi-media artist, belly-dancer, and writer. Checking wikipedia though, it seems Lorelei has credits for Laura Bow 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra (One of my favorites, though, it says she only worked on Additional Written Material and some voice acting for that one), Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (as a video capture artist in the DOS version), and was the screenwriter of Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh (which makes me smile as Spoony blasted the hell out of that game for his website, but it seems more likely the acting was just terrible).

Before the story opens… guess. Another illustration! Another one by Mark Nelson (who brought us the confusing second posted image). This one is rather nice though. A man draped in Victorian garb and shadow alike, clutches his doctors bag as he glances back over his shoulder at a snarling hell-hound behind him.

The story is about Jack, a decker with an unusual Victorian aesthetic. He’s tall and lanky, forever mistaken as an Elf, but has friends in the Halloweener game. Yes, the gang is called the Halloweeners. Yes, they are canon. He gets a job to dig up the profile of someone named Nadia, and sits with his best girl, and his cat, as he engages his camera obscura and sets the Matrix to appear as Victorian London, and he, is Jack the Ripper. It reminds me a bit of The Ripper, a game Spoony talks about as being one of his favorites in the preamble leading up to his Johnny Mnemonic review. Having seen it all the way through, I have to agree. Though, the similarities end pretty much at Victorian London, and computers… I was just happily reminded of it as I read on.

Turtle in the Tower by Ken St. Andre

Ken St. Andre has done work for Tunnels & Trolls, Monsters! Monsters! and Stormbringer. Wasteland on the PC.

The illustration, by Jim Nelson, is of a man, walking down a grimy, steamy street, covered in light weaponry, wearing a trench coat. Behind him is a giant tarot card. The Tower to be exact, and the tower is on fire. Along two edges, a row of turtles border.

This one, is much more fun to read than it is to explain, so I’ll leave it at that.

Free Fall by Tom Dowd

No, not the baseball player. Tom Dowd is one of the co-designers of Shadowrun, and as such deserves quite a deal of respect. He has also worked on quite a number of other properties I’m too tired to mention.

We get another Tom Baxa illustration here. It shows a woman cradling a man in her arms rather sadly, as another man rips out some sort of jack on the man she is holding, while the computer screens around her show “Error”.

This story deals with a plan to steal Honey Brighton away from the megacorp that currently holds her in possession. I do believe there is a reason I’m getting more and more hush about the plots. One that has nothing to do with being up all night writing this.

Would It Help To Say I’m Sorry? by Michael A. Stackpole

Michael Stackpole has done quite a bit for FASA, and has written quite a few books for the Battletech series. He also worked design for the 1988 game, Neuromancer, 1990s A Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate, and of course, Wasteland.

This story’s illustration by Elizabeth Danforth and Jeff Laubenstein is such a jumble of images, it’s hard to describe. I suppose I could say it’s two people seated at a table, being waited on by a woman while insanity blooms in the background, but that’s a bit too abstract to imagine, and the reality isn’t quite as visually interesting as you’d think.

This story concerns Iron Mike Morrissey and Tiger Jackson as they take a job that seems easy enough, too easy for the pay. Oooo… seriously, most of these stories are about 20-30 pages long.

It’s All Done With Mirrors by Michael A. Stackpole

Imagine some sort of scene from Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) and add in a robotic arm and you have your illustration. For being so corny it is quite fun. Jeff Laubenstein deserves praise for a work that evokes such hilarious imagery and spot-on accuracy.

This story takes place just after the last one, is longer, and ties up a few of the other stories loose ends, maybe adding a few new ones to tangle. It adds the characters Dr. Raven, Wolf and Stealth. That’s all I can say.

—————–

Page 123

It is much like stalking prey in the wild, where a single misstep may snap a twig, disturb a stone, or upset some noisy little creature and thus alert the prey to the hunter’s approach. She must choose each step with care, be sure of her ground, remember it is better to wait, keep to a position of concealment, even retreat, only to try again some other night, rather than risk discovery. Do anything to avoid alerting Ohara to her interest. She gives herself until midnight to reach his residence. That gives her adequate time to withdraw, whether she confronts the man or not.

-Striper by Nyx Smith

—————–

Overall impressions. It was a pretty fun read. There were numerous typos but it didn’t really detract too much from my experience. If you like cyberpunkish literature, you could do a lot worse than this book. For a Shadowrun newbie, it’s also probably very helpful to get in-touch with the setting’s backstory. How people act, how they dress, and just how cool their abilities can be are also probably helpful. Love it, hate it, you decide. For me though, it was a solid…

A-

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2002-2008   -  The Resource Rush. United Oil and other major corporations demand and get licenses to exploit oil, mineral, and land resources on U.S. federal lands, including designated Indian lands. Redical Amerindians respond by forming the Sovereign American Indian Movement (SAIM).

2004 – Libya unleashes a chemical weapon against Israel. Israel responds a nuclear strike that destroys half of Libya’s cities.

2005 – A major earthquake in New York City kills more than 200,000 people, with damage at 20 billion dollars. It will take 40 years to rebuild the city.

2006 – Japan announces the creation of a new Japanese Imperial State. The Japanese deploy the first solar-powered collector satellites to beam microwave energy to receptors on the Earth’s surface.

2009 – Angry that the government has leased additional Indian lands to United Oil, SAIM commandoes capture the Shiloh missile facility. They launch a Long Eagle missile toward the Soviet Union, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis ends when the warheads mysteriously fail to detonate.

2010 – In retaliation for the Shiloh affair, the US government passes the Re-Education and Relocation Act, authorizing the detention of thousands of Native Americans in concentration camps (euphemistically known as “reeducation centers.”)

First outbreak of Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS), which kills 25 percent of the world’s population before year’s end.

2011 – The Year of Chaos. Governments begin to topple, famine stalks the world, nuclear power plants suffer meltdown, with extensive radiation fallout.

The first mutant and changeling children are born, signalling the start of the UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression) Syndrome. The news media dub these new beings as “Elves” and “Dwarfs”.

On December 24, thousands of Japanese witness the first Dragon to reemerge from dormancy on Mt. Fuji. The same day, Daniel Howling Coyote, Prophet of the Great Ghost Dance, leads his followers out of the Abilene ReEducation Center.

Beginning in this year, political chaos begins to engulf the planet. In 2011, the Federal goverment of Mexico dissolves in riots, while Tibet regains independence as magical defenses seal it off from the invasion and render the region incommunicado.

2014 – Ghost Dancers announce the formation of the Native American Nations (NAN), with the Sovereign Tribal Council at its head. The Dancers claim responsibility for the eruption of Redondo Peak in New Mexico; Los Alamos is buried under 100 feet of ash. A federal force sent in to retaliate is destroyed by tornadoes called down by the Ghost Dancers.

The United Free Republic of Ireland is established, while the white-controlled government of South Africa collapses.

2016 – In a period of three weeks, US President John Garrety, USSR General Secretary Nikolai Chelenko, Prime Minister Lena Rodale, and Prime Minister Chaim Schon of Israel are assassinated. All but the Garrety assassin is killed in violent shoot-outs with local law officials.

2017 – U.S. President William Jarman issues the infamous Resolution Act, sanctioning the extermination of all Native American tribes. In response, the Indians begin the Great Ghost Dance. Freak weather and other uncanny events destroy or disrupt U.S. military bases hosting troops slated for use in the Resolution Action. On August 17, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams erupt simultaniously just as government troops are finally about to begin their attack.

2018 – First-generation ASIST (Artificial Sensory Induction System) technology created by Dr. Hosato Hikita of ESP Systems in Chicago.

The Treaty of Denver is signed. With this agreement, the federal governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico acknowledge the sovereignty of NAN over most of western North America. Seattle remains as an extraterritorial extension of the US government in Indian lands.

The US spaceplane America, with its secret military payload, disintegrates in orbit. The wreckage lands in Australia, killing 300 in the small town of Longreach.

2021 – Goblinization. On April 30, 10 percent of the world’s population suddenly begin to metamorphose into new racial types known today as Orks and Trolls. This transformation, popularly known as Goblinization, marks another threshold point in the reemergence of magic on Earth. Humans react violently to the presence of the metahuman races in their midst.

Quebec declares its independence, receiving immediate recognition from France.

2022 – Severe rioting continues all over the world in response to the phenomenon of Goblinization. The US government declares martial law for several months, while reports trickling out of the Soviet Union indicate deaths on a mass scale. Many changed beings go into hiding or withdraw into separate communities.

Only another outbreak of VITAS quells the race violence, leaving another 10 percent of the world’s population dead in its wake.

The term “Awakened Beings” is coined to describe the metahumans and other emerging lifeforms.

2024 – First simsense entertainment unit (a kind of sensory VCR becomes available.

President Jarman is reelected US President in a landslide victory based on the first use of the remote-vote system. Opposition parties claim fraud.

2025 – Several prestigious US universities establish the first undergraduate programs in magical studies.

2026 – The US Constitution is amended to include all metahumans.

The first cyberterminal (a room-sized isolation chamber for a single operator) is developed. Funded by various intelligence agencies, the goal of the research is to make it possible for strike teams of “cybercommandoes” to raid data systems.

2027 – First commercial fusion reactor power plant comes on-line.

2028 – In the United States, the CIA, NSA, and IRS pool their resources to recruit and train Echo Mirage, the first team of “cybercommandos”.

2029 – Computer Crash of ’29. A mystery virus attacks databases worldwide, resulting in total financial chaos. The government and the megacorps attempt to fight the virus with their own cybercommandos, but eventually must recruit maverick hackers to fight the virus. In the course of fighting the virus and attempting to rebuild the world data system, the Matrix is born. The surviving hackers now have knowledge of cyberdecks and begin to cobble together their own units.

NAN declares that the emerging Elven folk are welcome in tribal lands.

2030 – The remaining United States of American merges with Canada to form the United Canadian and American States (UCAS). A coalition of southern states oppose the idea.

2030-2042   -   Euro-Wars. In this twelve-year period, Europe and Asia are rocked by a series of wars that result in a complete political transformation.

The former Soviet Union fragments, while the Awakened come to dominate vast wilderness areas, including portions of Siberia, Mongolia, and the mountains of northeastern China. Switzerland remains, as always, neutral. The Germanies recombine, becoming one of the stronger states in the new Europe. In a return to city-state politics, Italy, sovereign France, and southeastern Europe fragment into hundreds of tiny sovereignties

2034 – The first “grey market” cyberdecks become available.

The government of Brazil topples in the aftermath of an invasion by Awakened forces, including three Dragons. The Awakened declare the new state of Amazonia.

The Confederated American States declare their independence from the UCAS.

2035 – The Elves of the Pacific Northwest secede from NAN, declaring themselves the nation of Tir Tairngire (Land of Promise) and confiscating Indian land for themselves. Violent clashes between Indian and Elven tribes break out.

California declares independence from UCAS and is immediately recognized by Japan. Japanese troops land to protect their interests.

Texas succeeds from the CAS and makes an unsuccessful attempt to seize portions of southwestern Texas ceded to the tribes of Aztlan by the Treaty of Denver.

The Tsimshian tribal coalition withdraws from NAN.

2036 – A small community of Awakened beings in rural Ohio napalmed by Alamo 20,000, a terrorist group dedicated to destroying all Awakened beings. Over the next 15 years, Alamo 20,000 is linked to the deaths of a thousand metahumans and openly sympathetic human supporters.

2037 – First simsense entertainment unit is introduced (What was the deal in 2024, anyway?)

2039 – Night of Rage. Racial violence breaks out in major urban centers of North America. Thousands die, most of them metahumans and their supporters.

2041 – EuroAir Flight 329, enroute from London to New York, is destroyed over the Atlantic, killing all passengers and crew. Though garbled, the last transmission seems to indicate that a Dragon attacked the craft. Many believe the flight was sabotaged to retaliate for the Night of Rage.

Policlubs, youth-oriented associations devoted to spreading various political or social philosophies, first appear in Europe. Each club hopes to recruit the masses to its own viewpoint and thus play a leading role in the European Restoration.

2044 – Aztlan nationalizes all foreign-owned business. Semi-open war breaks out as some corporations fight to retain their holdings. Under cover of the fighting, Aztlan annexes most of what is left of Mexico except for the Yucatan, where Awakened forces halt all takeover attempts.

2046 – The first simsense megahit, “Free Fall” starring Honey Brighton eventually sells 50 million copies.

The policlub idea spreads to North America, but with violence in its wake. The Humanis Policlub in particular, attracts a major following that cuts across economic, social, and political divisions. In a series of paid advertisements, Mothers of Metahumans (MOM) denounces Humanis as an arm of the shadowy Alamo 20,000/

2049 – The Governer of Seattle signs an exclusive trade deal with representatives of Tir Tairngire. Seattle, already a major cultural and economic center for the UCAS, NAN, and large segments of the Awakened, now takes on new importance as the only access to Elven goods and services.

2050 – Now, the seventh generation cyberdeck is introduced, now down to keyboard-size.

Welcome to first-edition Shadowrun, chummers.

I’ll start by making this statement: I do not hate this game.

The gamemakers had a good license, but they made a few missteps when it came to designing it. The resurrection system, for instance, is something I’ve not seen before and perhaps quite revolutionary (then again, I don’t tend to play too many multiplayer games). You die, a buddy resurrects you, your buddy dies, and then you start to slowly die. A process known in the game as “bleeding out”. Cool stuff, it promotes teamwork and shared goals beyond “capture the dang flag”. There is only one problem with it… There is no such thing as magic that can bring the dead back to life in Shadowrun continuity. Well, perhaps that is a misstatement. Maybe Dragons can do it, as they can perhaps also have mastered magical control of time, space (oh yes, teleportation is another no-no, but it’s in the game) and anything else mortal magic cannot comprehend, but not a ragtag bunch of runners portrayed in this game. Perhaps the system could have been better and less flame-wartastically explained as a healing spell system. You aren’t dead, just severely injured. The person who cast the spell is now sort of trying to maintain it in a hot combat situation. If they die, you start to “bleed out” and eventually just die of your unhealed wounds (barring interference by a tree of life).

Another common complaint I’ve heard is that the eliminated all the “ugly” races. Well, let me ask you this. If given a fairly good time-schedule, assuming that’s what you got, would… no, could you code in the at least 14 other races to play as and still keep on schedule, including addressing balance issues (I’d love to see you try to code a giant into the game)? Probably not. You would, instead, probably opt for a smaller selection of characters that fill various playstyles like: The all-rounder, the fast but easily killed one, whatever Dwarves are (if I remember right, they have the most essence, or something like that), and the guy who can take a lot of punishment but is ultimately slow.

Another problem that has come up when I’ve looked is about the essence system. Essence is based on meta-type in this game, and in most versions of the RPG that I could find, starting essence is always the same (barring Qualities/Advantages/Disadvantages). This can also be explained by issues of balance between the abilities of each race. I haven’t really done a bangup job with this point, but perhaps I could if I actually saw someone complaining about this.

Next, is a problem I have just come across in the instruction manual. Well, not so much a problem as an anomaly. According to the story, the game takes place around the year 2029, or, at least it is implied. This was the year, in continuity, of a major computer crash that predates (I believe, correct me if I’m wrong) the earliest start date for the RPG. It’s only about 8 years after Goblinization first hits, and it seems a bit off that Trolls would get hired by the megacorps so fast.

Actually, with that fact in hand a few other things make more sense. Like why the Smartlink system in the game is so stupid. Because it’s a more primitive version than what most people use when they play the tabletop game.

Looking through the manual, I’m not seeing many more potential problems. The tech looks fairly on-setting, the magic, besides the aforementioned teleportation and resurrection appear on-setting (except maybe smoke. I’m… not positive on that one).

Oh, yes, something interesting they also did with this game was make it playable by both XBox 360 owners and PC gamers together. There exist a few problems with this, but it’s actually a very cool thing to try doing. If anyone can name any other games that do this in the comments, I would be most appreciative.

While it was not a productive use of the license, and really too true to the RPG, it probably does not deserve the disgust it is remembered for.

I believe this is where I end this post (as it is 2AM, I’m having chest pains, and my fingernails feel bigger with each key press). I’ll be back for some tabletop and other sorts of Shadowrun reviews/articles/musings soon. Why did I choose this subject for my first post? So I could get it out of the way as soon as possible.

From the shadows to your deck, this is Dark Horse saying: Watch Your Back. Shoot Straight. Conserve Ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.