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Books to read as a GM

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Beta

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  • Ace Runner
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  • SR1, 5, 6. GM@FtF & player/GM@PbP
« Reply #15 on: <05-04-16/1723:38> »
Norman Spinrad's "Little Heroes" especially if you're dealing with corps and rock & roll. Kibble for teh win.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Little_Heroes.html?id=IHkgAQAAIAAJ

Yep, to me that was absolutely one of the really distinctive early cyberpunk books.  Some of the computer technology described was outdated by the time it was published, but socially it was bang on.  Also one part of why brain altering chemicals/devices are part of the cyberpunk genre (the much larger part being George Alec Effinger's "When Gravity Fails" and follow-on books).

Another book that got desperately left behind by technology, but gets some of the feel for the SR genre is the original "Stainless Steel Rat" by Harry Harrison.  As the series went on it got less and less gritty, IMO, but the social feel in the first one comes to mind a lot when I think about running in 2075 vs 2050.

Quote
We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment.

With regards to fantasy, Liz Williams'  "Snake Agent" and to a lesser extent its sequels (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/429890.Snake_Agent) is way stronger on the fantasy elements than is ShadowRun (there are regular trips to various cultural hells and heavens), but the overall world feel is somewhat similar.  A dark and corrupt near future sprawl, rich industrialists, magic being part of many crimes, etc.  (And someday I will have a character with Badger as an ally spirit (complete with spending most of its time as a tea pot).  If you think of the heavens and hells as metaplanar trips, even that part can almost translate to SR, although the plot lines themselves wouldn't come over so easily.




brasso

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  • Omae
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« Reply #16 on: <05-10-16/0335:13> »
The io9 list is awesome - Gibson probably captures it best for me.

I'd also recommend some non-fiction for adventure ideas as well, eg:

  • Forensics for Dummies
  • Regenesis, Genetics for Dummies - genetech has massively overtaken nanotech in our world, with nanorobotics still a pipe dream
  • Surveillance Tradecraft
  • Yakuza
  • Nanotechnology for Dummies
The system we learn says we're equal under law
But the streets are reality, the weak and poor will fall