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Animal Races in the Kingdom of Grimsby, which details six new races, all of which are animals. But it never defines if they are anthropomorphic (human-like) or actual intelligent animals as it does make a rather big difference. Oddly, none have speeds listed, so can the crow and owl fly? All have natural weapons, sometime exceedingly good weapons The Cat is much as one would expect and a killing machine with 2d4(!) claws. That needs to be scaled back but the fact that they can use their claws as thieves' tools, perfect! The Donkey tough and capable of carrying great weights, they have a vicious kick which they cannot use while carrying a shield implying anthmorphism perhaps? Giant Owl, wise and powerful, with 2d6(!!) talons and a fear causing screech! Very powerful combo, both need to be scaled back for playability, but good potential. Hound, as as you would expect, with pack tactics (always useful) as an ability, though their Canine Obedience ability which (potentially) forces others to obey them is an interesting call. Raven is a trickster, as one might expect, and could be fun in the right hands. Lastly, Rooster, which has a inspiring call which recharges at dawn (thematic) and a natural feather fall which also recharges at dawn(?), certainly that should be after a short rest. Good potential and great ideas, but they need to be expanded and clarified before they can really shine.
Find other reviews and more at my gaming journal: https://wordpress.com/post/seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Power Plays is a sourcebook, specifically a “Runners Resource Book” for the Sixth World Edition of Shadowrun covering the Big Ten Megacorporations who, let’s face it, run the Sixth World in a very real sense. While tagged as a Runner Resource, it strikes me as more a book for Games Masters who want to know what is going on at the higher levels so that they can decide what filters down to the level of hiring runners for. Overall, an interesting read with some excellent chapters and lots of inspiration for games.
Shadowrun: Power Plays, is a Runner Resource Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, providing a look at what is going on in the corporate world, as the megacorps are the primary villains in the world, knowing what is happening with them is important.
It begins with an introduction, as expected, this one talks about why the megacorporations get talked about so much, tldr: because the rule the world. One of the ubiquitous fiction sections follows then we begin.
Power Networking begins with a discussion of how the systems work that keeps the corporations in power and throws around terms like “postcapitalist corporatism”, “neofeudalism” and “zombie capitalism” but that section (thankfully) is thankfully short. It then moves into useful things, like what the letter rating means, what corporate scrip is (corporate internal money) and how it is used. A short section on the Zurich Orbital Bank and the Corporate Court and how they reinforce megacorporate power. And lastly, short overview of a few of the groups that oppose corporate dominance.
The next ten chapters are one for each of the Big Ten megacorporations, in alphabetical order:
Ares, big guns and big money, has fallen down to number nine in the rankings after the . . . kerfuffle in Detroit and then with the whole UCAS. But they are still big and swinging to try and move back up from their new home base in the CAS. It gives a lot of details about Ares corporate culture and what pies Ares has fingers in. As Ares’ CEO is about to step down there is a seven-way (or maybe already down to six) competition for who gets the big chair. All of this means job opportunities and there are some more snippets of adventure seeds in the shadowchatter. Lastly there are two new qualities, one positive and one negative, tied to Ares. (And a NERPS ad at the end of the chapter!)
Next is eveyone’s favorite villain, Aztechnology, it starts with the usual spiel about how while runners hate Aztechnology, the rest of the world loves them because of reasons (propaganda, false news, and so on) which I have never found convincing. Aztechnology has offended too many people with long institutional memories (the Catholic Church and Texas among them) for them to be continually perceived as so saintly, but that is my point of view and not the official canon take on it. But this mask, as it is described in the book, has just suffered a huge blow in the form of a massive data-breach the fall out of which will certainly show up as the timeline continues to advance. Light on directly actionable adventure seeds but setting up big for the future. The two new qualities, again one positive and one negative, one directly tied to Aztechnology, the other adjacent to their practices (Blood Magic Resistance).
Next we transform into EVO, the transhumanity focussed corporation, and the troubles and benefits it has received from accepting Monads (the AI-human fusions that were the major metaplot of the previous edition) as part of EVO. There is considerable discussion of internal conflict within EVO and how that is damaging the company. The new Monad inspired tech is causing waves especially the “anti-gravity zeppelins” that could revolutionize shipping. There are implied things for Shadowrunners to do, (join in the corporate schzim, highjack anti-gravity zeppelins) but no real support for any of it. This chapter just falls flat to me and I am not entirely sure why. Though the fact the new EVO-themed qualities, both positive, are not interesting (or worth the points to my mind) certainly did not help.
Next on the horizon is Horizon, the media corporation and smallest of the Big Ten. Horizon seems to operate under the work smarter, not harder paradigm, primarily producing non-material things: entertainment, advertisement, reputation polishing, spin doctoring, this is where Horizon excels. Horizon is guided by the Consensus, a computer program that constantly analyses the thoughts and opinions of its employees and uses that to shape the actions taken by Horizon. More successful corporate citizens have higher scores in the Consensus and their opinion weigh more heavily in the consensus (so there are political games to manipulate that score). There is a section on the sorts of jobs that Horizon hires for, usually data manipulations in various forms, and how they expect them to be done, which is quietly and without leaving traces, and how they deal with shadowrunners. All useful information along with implied adventures, nothing concrete though. The two qualities are both positive and includes a version of the previous edition’s “Too Pretty to hit” which uses Charisma for defence, but no indication how this should interact with the social armor rules from Firing Line.
Mitsuhama Computer Technolgies, now the largest and most powerful of the megacorporations (and that is saying something). Though how it became so is rather circular, it is the most powerful because it is the largest and is the largest because it was the most powerful and absorbed so many smaller corporations . . . Though it is also the premier magical corporation and known for their “Zero Zone” policy for their corporate holdings, making them shoot to kill areas, which I have always thought was a bit foolish but such is the Shadowrun way. MCT is now struggling to integrate all of the new pieces into the greater whole, leading to extractions both against and within Mitsuhama. Additionally, MCT is exploiting the metaplanes, strip mining is the term used, and clawing every advantage it can. So, much to build off of and inspire missions. The two qualities are odd, I think they are negative but it is unclear.
Renraku with history to current activities, engagingly written and gives a sense of what the corporation has done to keep its status among the top corporations. Renraku is an interesting corporation, aggressively seeking out new opportunities to keep ahead of the game, it feels like a living corporation. Combined with some discussion about how Renraku handles hiring shadowrunners and how said runners can leverage working for Renraku to their advantage, hopefully. The new qualities are interesting with one interacting with contacts in an innovative way.
Next up, Sadler-Krupp, everyone’s favorite dragon run megacorporation. Due to recent trials and tribulations, SK is not longer the largest mega and that makes Lofwyr, the dragon in charge, unhappy, and no one likes an unhappy dragon. So SK is planning to claw its way back to the top and you had best not get in their way. The section of how SK interacts with runners is useful and the new qualities are interesting and both could easily be reworked to apply to the other megas as well.
Shiawase, the one that started it all in the Shadowrun timeline, it was a set of court decisions around Shiawase that established the idea of corporate extraterritoriality. It remains a powerful corporation with ties to the Japanese Imperial family and a long term view of business that has served them well. Shiawasa is both the archetypical megacorporation and Japancorp with these traits are reflected in how they do business both with shadowrunners and the rest of the world. There are some potential adventure hooks, especially for games set in Seattle (where Shiawasa has purchased the former Renraku Arcology!). The section end with three(!) new qualities, all positive, though I think Human 2.0 is over-costed for what it provides.
Moving to the newest of the mega, Spinrad Global! Brainchild of Johnny Spinrad, that living fashion trend, and built into an AAA corp by a merger with Global Sandstorm and the “rental” of a seat on the Corporate Court. Spinrad has gone from strength to strength, but can that continue? Well, that is the question, the corporate cultures of Spinrad and Global Sandstorm do not mix well and the new corporation has no lack of rivals. It will be a wild ride, one way or another. The new qualities are odd, the Fashion Influencer seems like it needs more information to make sense, after all if you are an influencer, people should recognize you, yes?
And we are finally to Wuxing, the last of the megas alphabetically, based in Hong Kong they are the only Chinese megacorporation. Wuxing are masters of finance and feng shui and have leveraged both in their climb into the top tier of corporate power. Wuxing finds itself beset by enemies from without and, possibly, from within as well, but they remain powerful, using magic that other do not expect. Their long term goals are ambitious, unifying China, so probably outside of the scope of most runs but there is smaller scale trouble for characters to get involved in. Wuxing only has one new quality and a new trait for gear (“cheap knockoff’).
At the end a couple of pages gives a few words for some of the surviving AA corporations, the tier below the megas. Sixteen are noted of which one is Korean, one is from South American (and noted as being a front for the cartels) and the rest are North American, European or Japanese. That seems like a missed opportunity to expand the range of corporate players.
As is sadly usual, there is no index, which is especially problematic in a book full of NPCs and twenty new qualities. A page dedicated to the ranking of the megas and another with Fin could have been put to much better use. An interesting book and vital for Games Masters and others who wish to stay current with the metaplot. However, many of the new qualities need to be cleaned up and better explained to fit into the current rules design. It certainly in an interesting read though and provides a lot of things to ponder.
Read more of my review on my gaming journal: https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Street Wyrd is the long awaited Core Magic Book for the new edition of Shadowrun, and it is going to be a required book for Shadowrun games masters as it provides so many new resources in spells, adept powers, metamagic, magical groups and so much more. And players will be happy with new ways to improve their characters.
Shadowrun: Street Wyrd, is the Core Magic Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, expanding the available options for magic in all of its wonderful forms.
It begins with an introduction, as expected. One of the ubiquitous fiction sections follows which is the view of a single sequence of events from the perspective of four awakened and one mundane character, interesting reading.
Starting with State of the Arts, which looks at the perception of magic in the game world. The Unified Magic Theory which had dominated the perception of magic is starting to break apart and new forms of magic are emerging but not without push back from the existing structure. Magic from outside, from other planes, is breaking into the Sixth World and bringing with it new dangers, new spirits, new opportunities.
The Tome of Now is a collection of new spells for 6WE (and a few reprints from the core book to fill in various sequences) including favorites from earlier editions such as slay. This is a good addition to the range of spells but the best part is Grimmy the Grimiore a rogue “helper” program that pops in an presents four interesting spells including the delightful Loki’s Musical Number which can turn any heist into a scene from a musical!
Next is Elements of Magic which, after a short in-game world introduction, presents a spell design system and then shows how it applies to some of the existing spells (nice to show your work, as it were) and then some new spells using the system. Someone may find a way to break the math but it is very clear that spell design should be a collaboration between player and games master, which is also how it should be.
Entering into A Congress of Spirits with a warning of the changes to the spirit worlds. Then four new spirit types are introduced (plant, guardian, guidance and task, presented in that order) before moving to rules for free spirits, which have always been an interesting wrinkle in the Shadowrun cosmology, and their powers and ways to control or fight them. Rule for summoning ally spirits, expensive to do but they provide an amazing amount of power, and binding other spirits. All of this plays into the Astral Reputation mechanic which tracks how well, or how poorly, a summoner treats their summoned spirits, it is a needed mechanic to prevent certain types of abuse as summoners are potentially very powerful in the system. Lastly, there are new spirit powers and a little additional information on great form spirits.
From spirits to flesh, as the following section, Force and Grace, provides more information on adepts who use magic to make themselves better. It begins within world discussion about adepts and the ways that the corporations engineer perceptions of what adapts are to control their place in society. Then it moves on to the different types of adepts, defined as “ways”, such as: warrior, for combat specialists, speaker, for social types, and so on with burnout, who mixes cyberware and magic, being the most interesting to my mind. Each of the ways has some special twist on how they focus their magic. There is, of course, a set of new adept powers including using adept magic to improve mental abilities, which had been avoided in previous editions, and old favorites like the elemental powers are updated. Lastly, it includes new initiate powers for adapts which allow for some interesting character options.
Alchemy get its section, sort of, in Imbuing Magic, which talks about a new style of alchemy (verboten to be used by player characters but its products are commercially available) and intrudes a wide variety of new triggers. The new alchemical items can be used by anyone, but only made by the corporations, they have fun names for the effects and magic for the masses in an interesting idea. Two things stood out to me, first, these new preparations take up fourteen pages of the book and they are all versions of existing spell effects, the descriptions are fun but that is a lot of pages. Second, it is a real insult to player character alchemists whose ability to be a functional option took a big hit in the Sixth World edition and here is a whole bunch of neat, shiny alchemical things which . . . they are not allowed to make. Problematical and iffy game design at best.
Seeing and Believing look at and expands the magical traditions available, beyond the basic hermetic and shamanic division, ancient religions, Abrahamic religious, karmic traditions, animist tradition, modern traditions, and more, each with its own set of suggested qualities to help model that tradition. At the end are new magic themed positive and negative qualities.
Rungs of Power is an expanded look at initiation and metamagic, mostly metamagic, after a brief in-game discussion of initiation, it goes into new metamagic options, nineteen of them in fact, ranging widely from divination to improved ritual magic. What caught my eyes was the new defensive (“apotropiac”) metamagics, referenced in Collapsing Now and now have full rules, that reflection metamagic is going to ruin someone’s day. It ends with some clarification on what are material and sympathetic links and how they can be used.
Continuing the initiation theme, we move into Conclaves and Covens, which looks at how initiatory magical groups work. It starts with an introduction to the types of groups and very nicely weaves the rules and mechanics though the in-game material. The rules for how to use magical groups for player characters is a model of clarity and simplicity, easy enough to grasp and for a GM to use. It also looks at a handful of groups in detail, and to serve as models for GM or player created groups, and a bunch more just as thumbnails for inspiration. Excellent chapter, skilful blend of source material and game mechanics.
Toil and Trouble ventures into some of the dark sides of magic, blood magic and insect shamans. Blood magic has two sides (“a life side and a death side’) but only one, unsurprisingly the life side, is safe to one’s soul. Death magic is a route to quick power but at the cost of addiction to the magic and corruption of one’s spirit (that soon becomes visible to anyone who can see the blood mage’s aura). Invae, the name the insect spirits use for themselves, are slowly becoming more multi dimensional (no pun intended), not exclusively the enemy as some are seeking ways to ally with metahumanity. But they remain alien and while there are shared interests, the distrust and inability to communicate run deep, however it does allow for more interesting and nuanced plots involving the invae. The chapter end with new blood magic spells, metamagic and a foci, and expanded rules for insect spirits in the new edition. While not quite as smooth as the previous chapter, this one also nicely integrates rules and in-world perspective.
An appendix restates how mana ebbs and flows function. Sadly, no index follows.
A vital book for magic use in the Sixth World Edition of Shadowrun, all games masters should acquire one and players who like awakened characters will probably want to pick one up to. (Though enchanters are nearly completely neglected.)
4.5/5 rounded up for DriveThru's Star System.
Read more of my reviews and other writings at: https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Collapsing Now is a sourcebook, specifically a “Runners Resource Book” for the Sixth World Edition of Shadowrun covering a variety of groups that shadowrunner might work for or against. It suffers from a lack of direction and uncertainty if it is a player or GM facing work. For the lore and background information, worth picking up for Shadowrun Games Masters, but not an immediate must have unless you are featuring one of the highlighted groups in your campaign.
Shadowrun: Collapsing Now, is a Runner Resource Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, providing a look at some of the groups that shadowrunners might work with, for or against.
It begins with an introduction, as expected, which is actual rather useful in explain the purpose and organization of the book, well done. One of the ubiquitous fiction sections follows before we get into the meat of the book, the ten organizations. Each of the organization sections ends with statistics for operatives for that group and sometimes other things too.
Starting with the Freedom Network, a European (specifically Dutch) originated set of groups with a shared anti-magic/anti-technomancer agenda, running from a respected think tank down to thugs on the ground. It is, in many ways, the Alt-Right mapped to the Shadowrun world but with an anti-magic stance alongside the nationalism. Includes references to, but no rules for, advanced counter magic and anti-technolmancer tricks this group has access to.
Next up, Greenwar, everyone’s favorite eco-terrorists, and their ties to the greater ecological movement. It is an interesting chapter that explains some about Greenwar’s methods and aims and a rouge sketch of their organization with much implied but little explicit about the leadership there of. Included with the Greenwar NPCs are new, unpleasant weapons like the acid thrower and spore grenade which are signature weapons of the group.
Grey Cell is next, it is an interesting group, well financed and deeply informed, with access to elite operatives, cutting edge technologies and magics and dedicated to quashing magical threats. Intriguing and . . . totally out of place to my view of Shadowrun. They are heroes, their operatives are Professional Rating 8 (special forces level) and they are probably backed by a dragon. Who needs the player characters to save the world when you have Grey Cell? It is a fun idea after a fashion but just does not fit in my view of the Shadowrun cyberpunkish dystopia.
Halberstam’s Brain is pure creepshow, a crazed AI (more or less) and a genius toxic shaman are harvesting human brains and using them for processing power and torture, which they call research. They are both evil and have even more evil plans for the future. They must be stopped, which make them excellent villains. Very good support for the horror side of Shadowrun which is a rarely used sub-theme. A new adept power (Improved Mental Attribute) is included.
The Monads are next, leftovers of the big metaplot threat of the last edition, which I had my problems with (overwriting character’s personalities does not usually make for a fun play experience). Where to find the holdouts that are still around and what sorts of tricks they have, interesting powers but dangerous. GM will have to be careful how they use monads for the reason noted above and the fact that they can totally screw over tech-based characters with very little effort.
Ordo Maximus follows, turning back to the magic side of things, the Ordo is a secret society of the right and wealthy masking an inner circle composed of those infected with the vampiric virus in all its happy variants. It talks a little about the organization of the Ordo, some of its projects and an actual section on advice on using the Ordo in a campaign. The Ordo is interesting, but we already have the Megacorps, the Black Lodge, the Dragons, Immortal Elves and the Tirs, various governments, the space for conspiracies is getting awfully crowded . . .
The Sea Dragon rears her head next. Moving from being a background character to a major player, if not the major player in North America, this section helps to explain how that happened without anyone noticing, which I find highly suspect. Apart from that, a valuable resource on what resources The Sea Dragon brings to bear on problems, which you should avoid becoming one of.
Why do shadowrunners not form a union? The Shadow Chapters section tries to answer that question and the people trying to change that equation. Given the ways I have seen shadowrunners portrayed over the year, such a task seems Sisyphean at best and this section does little to change my opinion of that.
There is a megacorporation among law firms, Stark, Theissen and Van der Mer, and they are given some coverage here (they also figured heavily in the 5th edition adventure Toxic Alleys), a bit more about the founders of the firm and how they became so powerful and who they work for. There are some implied jobs but mostly just information.
And ending the book, is the Yakuza, with a discussion of their manners, methods and history. The Yakuza of the Sixth World rose in power along with the Japanese Imperial States and the Japanese Megacorps, but somehow they remain powerful while being extremely limited in their recruitment, primarily only recruiting male, non-metahumans of Japanese origin for the higher ranks (and -to a lesser extent- at all). Except for BTLs and a little over a page on what the Yakuza are doing in various parts of the Sixth World, there is little here you could not get on any other source on the Yakuza. This section could really have benefited from some Yakuza specific plot hooks and advice on playing ex-Yakuza characters.
As is sadly usual, there is no index. It is an interesting book, containing a lot of interesting information on the Sixth World but I am not sure who this book is aimed at, the information in general is aimed at Shadowrunner but there is also information that is obviously directed at Games Masters and should not be available to players . . . Ultimately, it needed more support for both sides, more information on playing campaigns centered around these various factions and more support for the GM to be able to do so.
See more of my reviews and other writings at: https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Slip Streams is very much a book for Games Masters, lots of information, lots of adventure seeds, all expanding on the effects that magic is having on the world. If the magic side of Shadowrun story is your jam, this is the book for you. Otherwise, it is an interesting read and there are no lack of adventure ideas that it throws off. For players, the in game information is a fun read and the new character option is intriguing but not for all campaigns, talk with your GM first.
Shadowrun: Slip Streams, is a Plot Sourcebook for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, expanding on the magical situation across the world but with a focus on events affecting North America.
As is expected, it begins with a brief introduction and a glossary of terms related to astral space, this is very handy and important to what follows. Then the requisite fiction section before the meat of the product begins.
The first section, Frayed Fabric, take a look at the weird events happening across the world, weird in this case meaning magical, ranging from echoes of other times and places to full on gateways between Earth and various metaplanes (other places, usually very magical in nature). This is all in world information but there are a handful of sidebars explaining how certain things function in terms of game mechanics. I highly approve of this, there is little more annoying that having things described that change the way a game world works and then not providing any mechanics for it, even if I think a few of the mechanics could have been more clearly expressed, it is still the right way to do things. However, there lots of interesting things in this section to drop in as background to a game or to use as plot hooks.
Next is Soldiers of III Corps, which ties into one of the big mysteries alluded to in the Cutting Black book, the disappearance of III Corps of the UCAS Army. Now, let me begin by saying that this plot line simply does not work for me, if a third of a nation’s army disappeared (and it is explicitly noted as a third), over 100,000 people in this case, plus a small town of 40 or so thousand people, vanished, it would be noticed. No official look-down on the news or denial is going to conceal that, yet here, it happens. But back to the book, the area from which the disappearance happened has been locked down, tight, by the UCAS government and a mysterious research facility is being built there and rapidly expanded, surely this will end well. The soldiers of III Corps are beginning to return but they are . . . different. Not just mentally messed up, though there is that too, but bleeding purple blood different. Most seemed to have been trapped in a place called Dis, which will figure more as we go on, and bad things happened to them. But the returnees are showing up all over the world and there is a race to get them both by the UCAS Government and other interested parties, things are getting messy, but good work for Shadowrunners. This section concludes with a page of statistics for the guards at the site of the disappearance and nasty people they are too.
Bad Mojo how some of the various power players are trying to leverage the weird things happening to their advantage ranging from various corporations (natch) to a variety of magical groups. Again, good for background material and adventure ideas.
Who you gonna call? Details some of the magical organizations, starting with seven pages on the Black Lodge which somehow fail to actually provide anything useful (for me anyway), but the Black Lodge is one of my least liked Shadowrun trope groups, so this is not surprising. It tries to make the claim that they are not really evil, they just do evil things because . . . mumble mumble. The Aleph Society gets some new information about their quest to bring magic to the masses (but to themselves first). The current status of the Astral Space Preservation Society (hint: they are not doing well) who are one of the few actual white hats in the Shadowrun setting, so nice to see some more info on them. And twelve more organizations including the Voodoo based collective Cracking the Bones and the Catholic Church’s magical investigations, the Order of St. Sylvester. Good information here and many potential enemies and employers.
Hiring Board is, well, exactly what you would expect from that heading, various job opportunities for people. A good idea, not so strong execution. Many of them are only one paragraph long and some get a sidebar giving additional game details but several are extrapolated from pieces in earlier chapters (and thus did not really need to be made explicit here) or give a hiring brief for a massive campaign which the GM will have to make up for bit and pieces in this book. I think an entirely out of game, “look here are ways to work these ideas into your campaign with some mechanics to support it” would have been far more helpful.
Cast of Shadows is a mix of generic and specific NPCs, a few spirits and a new creature. Some of the characters are tied to adventures in the Hiring Board section (but neither directly references the other, a few see p xx links would have been helpful here, people). Again, such things are always vaguely useful for a GM but a few of the specific character would have been better presented as clear examples of this sort of role played by an NPCs who has been influenced / empowered by the magic of a metaplane that wants X to happen.
Lastly, there is new Game Information for various things covered in the book, including new rituals, effects of mana flows, and rules for playing returned soldiers (purple blood and all). Interesting stuff though the GM should be careful and not use it all at once. Sadly, no index, which is especially annoying for a product with multiple sidebars which may need to be referenced.
Overall, a useful resource and good read for a Shadowrun GM. Though again, I lament the (over)emphasis on magic at the expense of everything else. What I liked about Shadowrun is the mix of cyberpunk and fantasy tropes and multiple ways to build to the same effect but the recent direction seems to be all about the magic with technology a poor second.
See more of my reviews and other writings at: https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Krime Katalog is an Equipment Book for Shadowrun, for both the 5th and 6th World editions, detailing the new offering from Krime! Mostly weapons and weaponry support but now with vehicles too! Krime always verges on the too silly for my tastes but the book has a lot of interesting equipment and ideas in it, so it is still quite useful even if you strip away the trapping of the Krime and players always like new weapons and vehicles to play with.
Shadowrun: Krime Katalog, is an Equipment Book for Shadowrun, Fifth and Sixth World Editions, having mechanics and statistics for both. Providing weapons and beyond from the company Krime that specializes in weapons and equipment for larger metahumans.
It begins with an introduction to the Krime Corporation which may or may not been started by former Shadowrunners and their meteoric rise to success as providers of weaponry scaled to orks and trolls, with the implication of some shady business deals and a lot of luck propelled them to their initial success.
Then, the new weapons, starting with personal weapon ranging from a holdout pistol and moving up through size and destructiveness ending with a rocker propelled grenade launcher. One of the things I found most interesting was the writeup of a T-shirt cannon, that has some fun uses. The weapons are interesting if occasionally, well, silly and some of the art of the weapons is absurdly impractical. Some players will like that, some not so much. But there are a lot of interesting ideas even if you choose to use them in a different form.
There are a few vehicular weapons, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-drone optimized grenade launchers. Then new weapon accessories, ammunition (laser rounds! Basically fancy tracers) and grenades. Certainly things that can be adapted and that players will have fun with.
Next, introducing Krime Motors! With offering ranging from troll and ork scaled subcompacts to massive 10-ton prime mover trucks, a “fishing” boat and even a tankette (a single person tank)! Some fun and interesting vehicles.
Lacking is a single compilation of weapon and vehicle statistics and which specific skills (or specializations) are used with each of the weapons. But overall a strong product with a lot of good ideas . . . as long as you do not find Krime a little too cute and beloved by its creators (as, well, I do).
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Shadow Stock - Ingentis Athletes provides ten non-player characters, all trolls, sharing a sports theme and information on the troll meta-variants (cyclops, formorians, giants, and minotaurs). More useful for Game Masters than players, it would have been supported by providing more context for the role of trolls in sport in the Sixth World and a few examples of shadowruns where sports were directly (or indirectly) involved.
Shadowrun: Shadow Stock - Ingentis Athletes, is the first of the Shadow Stock resources for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, providing NPCs organized around a theme and new character options, trying to be something for everyone.
It begins with a brief in game introduction which boils down to “here are a bunch of athletes and ex-athletes who are operating in the shadows.” Then on to the characters!
The ten characters cover a wide range of sports from football and soccer to urban brawl and “azzieball” (and no, that later one is not really explained) and have a wide range of skills: brawlers, drivers and even organizers. Sometimes there is a little mismatch between character description and the skills the character has and, since many of these seem like they could be used for player characters, it seems odd they are not given knowledge skills as well. But most of the characters have more than one way they can be brought into games which is good design. Lacking is any actual character art, there are a few generic troll pieces but nothing specific to the characters and only one that touches on the sports theme.
The work concludes with an in-game world discussion among the various troll variant types about how they differ, which is an amusing read, and then game mechanics for the variants.
Overall, a solid if niche work, nice to see some broadening of roles for trolls. I look forward to seeing more of the Shadow Stock line.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Tales from the UCAS: Age of Rust is a missed opportunity, a sourcebook for the Omaha, Nebraska, region which is undergoing a period of unique instability and change making it a potential hotspot for the sort of work Shadowrunners do. Unfortunately, it fails in providing anything beyond the most basic plot hooks and minimal background material.
Shadowrun: Tales from the UCAS: Age of Rust, is location/adventure resource for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, expanding on the situation in part of the UCAS and providing adventure hooks.
It begins with an introductory piece laying out what the situation is in Omaha, Nebraska, where due to border shifts and changes in the UCAS, NORAD has withdrawn from the Offutt air force base here (where it apparently relocated after the creation of the NAN) leaving a massive economic and political hole in the local area. But with instability comes opportunity for some and that is what this work tries to present.
The next seven pages (almost half of the product) are game world artifacts, conversations, reports and such like talking about the situation in Omaha followed by two pages of in-setting analysis from commentators. While a fun way to present data, this could have been condensed a bit more to provide more room for other material.
Next we have some information on the city of Omaha itself, which is only two and a half pages and somehow fails to mention organized crime or notable fixers, both things that visitors from the wrong side (i.e., shadowrunners) might want to know something about. Nor does it mention the local Henry Doorly Zoo, sport teams, universities or a host of other cultural things that might be of interest.
The next section is on looting NORAD, while I entirely approve of base crawls as a style of adventure there is not much here to help out a GM. It suggests that weapons (naming AK-97s as a potential find, a Russian made weapon, really?) and ammo might be found and what magical assensing can show at the only three locations it names on the base. In fact it only devotes a page and a half, and almost a page of that is what they can find assensing, to what could be really interesting exploration mini-campaign. A huge missed opportunity.
Lastly there is a new vehicle and a half explanation of one of the strange events which refers the reader to a PDF only sourcebook for a previous edition! As the last page was only half used, they could have as least explained it in broad strokes.
While an interesting read it is simply not very usable as is, there are plot hooks but no useful support is for them and one, I quote “More information about what Buzzard Transit is up to will come in future books” which essentially says, do not use Buzzard for anything but background because otherwise we will contradict you in a future published supplement. No maps, and it needed at least three: one for Omaha, one of the local area (to show NAN encroachment) and one for the base. No index either but that is at tolerable for such a short work.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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The Pike Pole, a nautical themed weapon, presents just that. it gives a brief history of this sort of weapon and how they have been used along with ideas for a how a character could have learned to use one.
Several variations on the pike pole, both mundane and magical, are included each with its own illustration. As are rules for trip and disarm attacks using the weapon. All well and good except it is a tool turned into a weapon that is just better on all levels than weapons made as weapons.
As listed, it does not have the heavy or two-handed properties yet has reach and does a 1d10 damage for 5 lbs of weight and 1 gold (or 5 gold if you want the improved one that gives you a small bonuses with the maneuvers). It is a spear with a hook, it should do spear damage (1d8) and have both the heavy and two-handed properties to bring it in line with other pole arms (and the trip and disarm should be added to other weapons as well, if you are giving out those maneuvers).
A good idea and excellent presentation of the weapon, but it just too good mechanically. However, that is easily fixed.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Wizard School of Awakening: How to Make Friends presents a new arcane traditions for wizards one that specializes in imparting magic life to objects, awakening them as it were.
The mechanics are quite fun, allowing the wizard to create two "thoughtlings" (awakened objects) at 2nd level and then more as they gain levels, to a maximum of five, each has its own personality (of a list of tweleve ranging from haughty to silly) which gives it or its creator access to special abilities. As the wizard grows in power they can awaken larger objects and magic ones as well, eventually gaining the ability to build a magical "homestead" which will maintain animate objects at the wizard's home.
There is a lot of potential for fun and interesting interactions between the awakened object and the wizard, and other people too, but there are some questions. Can the awakened objects speak for example? Or how does an awakened shield move? Why does a large awakened object only have 3 more hit points than a tiny one? Why do they inflict force damage when they attack? A little more attention should have been paid to such questions.
From a Dungeon Master's perspective, some advice of how to cope with someone who know has a character plus at least two awakened object (and maybe a familiar too). That could easily double the party size! Also several of the ability granted by the awakened objects personalities (kind and lazy especially) could cause some balance issue as they strike me as subtly powerful.
Overall, a very fun and inventive class, one that would be very well suited to a solo campaign. A DM will have to weight if they will fit into their campaign and how to balance them if they do. But, mostly, a job well done here.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Creator Reply: |
You bring up a lot of excellent points and ideas!
Thank you loads for your feedback, I'll see how I can address these questions and issues when I revisit the class in the near future!
I'll see if I can clear some of these up soon in the FAQ, though some may take me some more time to get around to.
Again, thank you very much for taking the time to not only read but review the School of Awakening : ).
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Shadowrun: Firing Squad is the first sourcebook for the Sixth World Edition of Shadowrun covering combat, always an important part of the game. The new equipment, combat options and advice widely expand the tactical choices and the discussions of the role of violence and its place in the world and characters’ lives allow for interesting roleplaying if that is your focus. A must have for any Shadowrun GM and any player who enjoy combat focused characters.
Shadowrun: Firing Squad, is the Core Combat Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, expanding on the combat side of the game through new gear and new rules and options. Pretty much everything a street samurai could need.
It begins with a short introduction laying out what is in the book, then we have one of the ubiquitous fiction sections, before we find the Weapons Rack section, more new toys for the violently inclined ranging from new melee weapons to guns of all sizes to crowd control water cannons. More options are always good and there is something for just about everyone, lethal, less lethal, probably non-lethal, big, small, it is all here. There are also new ammo types (two) and gear mods (though more of those later). Even a combat chainsaw (from the Ash Arms)! It does fill in some needed gabs, like a portable flame thrower but has some strangeness, such as why the ‘Xiphos’ Tactical Gladius, which is literally modeled on the classic Roman short sword, is an exotic weapon? The second part of the weapons rack section is new weaponry from rEVOlution Arms, weapon designed by Monads (if you have not been following the metaplot, human bodies and brains inhabited by AI) which all use the wild die, which has not seen much use in the game until now, and include wacky things like laser weaponry, PULSE stunners, and more. I have serious game balance questions about some of them (PULSE stunner I am looking at you) but they mostly seem like interesting bleeding edge technology to add to the game.
Suit Up comes next, which is defense to the previous section’s offense, it also introduces a “social rating” for clothes and armor that affects edge gain in social situations (surprise!). So you get everything from Ares customized ‘Bug Stomper’ armor and Mil-Spec armor to high fashion from Armante and Vashion Island. There are also a wide variety of possible modification to armor, some of which are extremely effective and will be highly sought after including one (“mystic weave”) which actually provides some protection against magic!
Customizing Weapons follows which is a section about . . . customizing weapons. Long, short, heavy, light, guns, melee, guns that are melee weapons, it is all here, get the precise weapon you want. My favorite has to be custom style which lets you get a social bonus from a properly decorated gun!
Honing Your Edge provides advice on planning for combat and basic tactics. Much of this is in character, in game world discussion which makes it more interesting. But there are also rules for tactical formations and tactical networks to give mechanical effect to the applied tactics. This is followed by Sharp Combat which includes 32(!) new Edge Actions and two new Edge Boosts. This seems like a lot of Edge Actions, because it is, but it includes all of the sorts of special maneuvers that were separate actions in previous editions, wrapping them all into Edge Actions makes sense. Play will see if tracking all the Edge Actions becomes unwieldy and if they are all relatively balanced. This section ends with Martial Arts, giving players more things to spend their precious karma on in exchange for additional options in combat. The new form of martial arts developed in the Sixth World is easily my favorite part of this section.
These Violent Delights looks at the use of violence as a tool, especially for people such as shadowrunners, both in a moral and practical context, this discussion is again almost all in world. Then it looks at some of the codes of honor existing in the Sixth World, adds a new negative quality of Pacifism and has some additional tweaks to the heat and reputation rules.
Violent Ends looks at the trauma receiving and inflicting violence can cause to people both from an in world perspective and gives mechanical rules for suffering and recovering from trauma. While I appreciate the concept and the deeper understanding of the problems of violence, actually using such rules to inflict trauma on characters seems likely to make players unhappy, so I would suggest discussing it with them before using these rules.
The last section is Fighting Forces which provide statistics for various security forces, paramilitaries (read Humanis) and gangs. Especially for the security forces I would have liked a little more information about standard unit size, expected deployments and, although basic tactics are mentioned, I would have liked that expended on as well.
The book concludes with tables of new equipment, which is nice but would be better if: 1) it incorporated the weapons from the core book, and 2) if the rEVOlution Arms listing included what sort of weapons they are as the alphabetical listing of names is not always clear. The armor list does include the armor from the core book to include the new social rating. As is sadly usual, there is no index.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: 30 Nights is a Campaign Book for Shadowrun detailing Ottawa and setting 30 “Nights” worth of adventurers there. There is some good information and some interesting adventures, some of which can be adapted to other situations, but not a required book unless you want to play in Ottawa or need ideas for adventures set during the Blackout part of the metaplot.
Shadowrun: 30 Nights, is a Campaign Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, letting players experience the UCAS blackouts (as discussed in Shadowrun: Cutting Black) directly.
It begins with an introduction with describes the terrible things that happened in the 1977 New York Blackout and leads into a brief discussion of the layout of the nights/ adventures. Then there is one of the required fiction pieces. Next we get a description of Ottawa, UCAS, it is short (twelve pages) but useful including such things as talismongers and weird mana zones within the city but it is lacking a map of the city, which would be exceedingly helpful as places are continually referenced in the city description and the adventures that follow.
The meat of the book is the 30 Nights, each one a situation that must be coped with, overcome or avoided. The nights are divided into several chains of linked sequences if the GM wants to focus on particular themes.
The adventures are varied, starting with building up a safe haven followed by traditional shadowrunner missions, some mysteries, some magical threats, a mixed bag. Most are more adventure frameworks than full adventures requiring considerable work from the GM to make playable. Many of them look fun but a few have real issues. One of these is a mystery where you are trying to learn about a sinister group performing rituals, there are three points where to move to the next stage one particular clue need to be found and that right leap must be made to move forward, and two of those require getting information from people who are likely to be uncooperative if not hostile. This is poor design. Another in a jail break from a Lone Star containment facility that is covered in less than three pages and has no map (in fact, nothing has a map).
Also, there is some issue with the framing of the whole Blackout/30 Nights, it is predicated on something all mysterious knocking out all the functioning tech in multiple cities across the UCAS. So, for the entire adventure period, there is no way to reliably access the Matrix, no power, no vehicles, the GM is reminded not to screw over decker and rigger characters with this by directly trashing their stuff but they are still crippled as characters. There is a little discussion of this in the first few nights but not much about practical things such as how do you network with your contacts without the Matrix (no phone, no text) and no working vehicles?
There are a great number of NPCs, both named and generic, given stats in the back of the book along with a new creature and many new creature powers. Weirdly, there is an index to the NPCs right after the NPC section which is alphabetical, exactly as they are organized just a few pages before. Now, if this also noted which Nights the NPCs showed up in, this might actually be useful however, it does not and just seems like repetition (and, no, there is no other index).
There is fun to be had here but the GM should not be expecting to be able to pick the book up and use adventures, additional work will be needed. The GM should also make sure this kind of semi-apocalypse setting is what the players are interested in, as it is Shadowrun but maybe not the play experience everyone is looking for.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: Cutting Black is a sourcebook for Shadowrun and lets you know how and where the metaplot is going with the Sixth World edition of the setting. It is mostly written in an engaging “what is happening?” style gathering fragmented information and shaping it into something coherent. It is almost all primary “in world” data with no authorial analysis, so you only get to see what the people involved can see with no explanations or looks behind the curtain. If you like that sort of sourcebook, it is a fun ride. I have some issues (placed at the end of the review to avoid spoilers) but I found it an engaging read.
Shadowrun: Cutting Black, is a Plot Sourcebook for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, this particular book provides an overview of what changed in the world as the editions rolled from 5th to 6th. Spoilers ahead so stop reading the review here if you want to experience them first hand
The material in this product is presented as an in game artefact of information, which is interesting, if disjointed, presented with information scattered and covering weeks of actual time as it was reported on the shadow boards. The information gathered from fragmentary news reports, first hand data being broadcast and other scraps of data that could be dug up.
Following an introduction, laying out the theme of the book, as is traditional, there is one of the ubiquitous fiction sections and then another, shorter one, leading into Ruptured Detroit. Long story short, Damien Knight and Ares brought all the toys to stomp a massive bug hive under Detroit and it did not go so well. Ares losses were huge, Knight is gone and Detroit turned into a battle ground between bugs and people and mixes of the two. This event is the catalyst for the rest of the events that follow.
Next section, Ghost Army, the UCAS mobilizes and sends a major force to intervene in Detroit and it just vanished. Roughly one hundred thousand soldiers and their equipment (and the area they were passing through) just gone. No explanation given but some very evocative stories from investigating where the army vanished from.
Next section, Blackout, which details the UCAS Government’s response, including abridging the Business Recognition Accords that gives the megacorporations such power. Then cities start going dark, all power and technological systems failing, the cause: unknown. But it causes havoc throughout the UCAS and only the UCAS.
A long fiction section leads to UchrASh which details further bad things happening to the UCAS, invasions from Quebec and some of the NAN states, which are not very successful by cause more troubles. Chaos erupting among the political classes in DeeCee and drumroll please St. Louis and Seattle breaking away from the UCAS to become free(ish) cities.
Detroit Now looks at what the current state of play is in Detroit, who has power, what kinds of opportunities are there to make money and what survived the bugs and the bombs. A great resource for Detroit after the disaster.
Next Atlanta, somewhere outside the UCAS!, gets an update in Atlanta Now! A short section bringing Atlanta up to date and its new status as the home to Ares Macrotechnology. But nice to see the CAS getting some time.
As the Dust Settles looks at some events outside of the UCAS even: the fall of the UK’s New Druidic Movement government and what replaced it, problems in the NAN and Quebec, and a little more.
The last page of the book is the only new game information with Sixth World stats for insect spirits. However, without support material, they are not very useful in and of themselves. No index.
Cutting Black is an interesting read but the lack of actual, well, information on what is happening (rather than just the in-game perspective on it) is deeply frustrating for a GM. Yes, it is a new edition, the Game Designers want to shake things up and tease new secrets to reveal later. I get it. But it makes it far less useful as a resource than it could be. Worse, from the perspective of me as a GM and my Shadowrun game (and I suspect for other long running SR campaigns), it makes a set of big, setting changing moves in the Metaplot . . . that cut across how my Shadowrun campaign has been developing the setting. I have a deep and abiding hatred of major changes made to the setting without involving the people who actually play and GM the game. And the changes here are significant enough that I either have to totally change my campaign or part ways with the new metaplot. As the new metaplot as presented in the book is rife with major actors taking stupid pills, unexplained choices, continued privileging of magic and dragons over megacorporations and technology and other sheer absurdities, I know which I am path I am following. So, while this book was an interesting read, it has almost no use to me as a Shadowrun sourcebook.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: No Future is a sourcebook for Shadowrun and lets you know what the media landscape is like in the Sixth World of Shadowrun. It casts a wide net covering music, popular entertainment, news, sports and more. If you like this level of world building, this is the book for you, for others, there is general information on the world and run ideas but perhaps not enough to make this a required purchase.
Shadowrun: No Future, is a CyberPunk Sourcebook for Shadowrun, this particular book provides an overview of where culture is in the Sixth World, ranging from music to sports, media to fashion. The limited amount of game mechanics for the version I reviewed were for Shadowrun, 5th edition, but the cultural information is edition independent.
Following an introduction, laying out the theme of the book, as is traditional, there is one of the ubiquitous fiction sections, then begins Look Forward in Anger which looks at the power of the media to shape perception in the Sixth World and how the corporations use that to maintain their grip on the world. Each of the major megacorporations gets a short write-up of how they deploy their media power and how its works. And maybe, just maybe, how you can fight back.
Blitzkrieg Bops looks into the music scene of 2080, new music genres, who are the current stars and what happened to some of the old ones. It also looks at venues, up and coming acts from all around the world and some notes on sythlinks. It ends with a section on making music with rules for playing a rocker and making music (or other art), both live and recorded, unfortunately, the rules are essentially unusable with parts verging on incomprehensibility.
Creation Starts With Darkness covers what is being broadcast (streamed, whatever) that makes it way as part of the public perception of the world. Initially focusing on popular shows with considerable discussion of how they portray the world around them. There is a surprising amount of potential plot and adventure fodder here and that is just the show! There are also discussions about geographical hubs of activity (all North American sadly), media corporations and some of the people who hire Shadowrunners in the mediasphere. Also much flavor in the form of series guides, broadcast schedules and more. There is a page, just a page, on pornography in the Sixth World, which just skims the surface of the subject but is no less amusing for its brevity.
Next, after some fiction, is Leading & Bleeding about the news media in 2080 which is entirely corporate controlled and follows the corporate line almost all the time. A description of the corporate playbook for media control follows along with the major corporate players. Next there are the organizations fighting back against the sterilized and manipulated news. There are implied plot hooks here but they are not as frequent, clear or fun as in the previous one.
The Thrill & Agonies delves into sports, mostly professional, and the place they have in defining communities. Several “future” sports are included such as Combat Biking and Urban Brawl and information on how all of the sport have adapted to cybernetics, magic and metahumanity. This is all great background material but a little light on the adventure potential though the suggestions on fallen athletes becoming Shadowrunners, and the pitfalls thereof, has potential both for player characters and NPCs, Logos or at least colors for the new sports teams would have helped to flesh out this section and made it more useful, at least from my point of view.
We Suck Young Blood is about cool hunters, influencers and how the corporations aim to make some money off of them (and you). This implies certain sorts of missions and games and some of the corporate players are mentioned but it is not properly expanded on and there is no real guidance to how to incorporate these ideas or corporate groups into a run or campaign. Which is a shame as there are some interesting thoughts here.
Lastly, there are new toys: musical, cybernetic, fashions, weapons (of course), printing presses and other exotica. Fun as usual but nothing particularly game breaking but certainly good thematic support.
While the entire product does not match the superb chapters on music and media, it is an amazingly useful resource for making the Sixth World feel like a real place for the characters (and their players). However, if emphasizing that side of the game world is your jam, get this right away.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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Shadowrun: The Neo-Anarchist Streetpedia is a sourcebook for Shadowrun and lets you know a little bit about a lot of things in the Sixth World of Shadowrun. It is edition agnostic, making it a useful book no matter which edition of Shadowrun you play though timelinewise it is set at the start of the new Sixth World Edition (2080), so some of it could be spoilers for games set earlier in the timeline. It is a fun read and a good way to provide an in-game look at the world to players but by no means a required book.
Shadowrun: The Neo-Anarchist Streetpedia, is a Deep Shadows Sourcebook for Shadowrun, this particular book provides an overview of just about everything important in the Sixth World, from a NeoAnarchist perspective of course.
As is traditional, the book begins with one of the ubiquitous fiction sections, then moves into From the Ashes, Neo-Anarchism, which explains the background to and current state of the Neo-Anarchism movement in the world of Shadowrun.
Then, the meat of the product, the data here is organized alphabetically, with some exceptions, such as famous AI (Artificial Intelligences) being tucked inside the AI definition. But the information is apportioned haphazardously, as you would expect from something that is presented as being crowd-sourced, which is often annoying at least to this reviewer. Nations often get short shrift, this is especially annoying for countries that have never appeared in sourcebooks or whose last appearance was more than a decade ago, to only get a paragraph light on details and high on snark (and some nations, like the Scandinavian Union, do not even get that).
There is also a missing referenced entry, Omnistar references that it is a combine of DocWagon, Lone Star Security and Manadyne and to refer to the individual entries . . . but there is not one for Manadyne. Very unfortunate.
But for all of these flaws, it is still a useful and interesting resource, giving the “state of play” at the beginning of 2080 and the Sixth World edition.
Note: Read more reviews and other gaming articles at my journal https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/
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