[SteelFox]

Not to mention the VERY cool GM screen that comes with the Runner's Toolkit. Seriously, I believe it's the best I've ever seen in all rpgs out there.

[CanRay]

I took it to a local gaming Con, and everyone there agrees with you.

I was getting people grabbing their friends out of the crowd to look at it. 

[Nekojin]

I'd like to thank everyone who gave input, and figured I'd let you know what I've done.

* I ordered the 20th Anniv. Rulebook from Amazon pretty much right away.
* I ordered the Runner's Toolkit after a week.
* Both of those have arrived, and I've been immersing myself in them (mostly the core book, but some of the Toolkit stuff too) for writing the first scenario.
* I have Bug City (Shadowrun 2nd Ed.?) on order, mostly so I can slap down a player who wants to run a Cockroach Shaman
* I have Arsenal on order, ready to be picked up at Orccon next week.

I'll be grabbing the other Core books over the next few months, as finances allow.

[raggedhalo]

If it helps, Street Magic gives rules for insect shamanism - one of which is that it's NPC only!

[Mirikon]

If it helps, Street Magic gives rules for insect shamanism - one of which is that it's NPC only!

... because anyone in their right mind will see an insect shaman, and promptly give him as bad a case of lead poisoning as they possibly can.

[JustADude]

If it helps, Street Magic gives rules for insect shamanism - one of which is that it's NPC only!

... because anyone in their right mind will see an insect shaman, and promptly give him as bad a case of lead poisoning as they possibly can.

Personally, if I knew I was going up against Insects, I'd take an ITS Gonryu if I could get my hands on it, and add MRSI software, because there's no such thing as too much Dakka.

Burst Fire, after fiddling with the overlapping explosion rules, means a net of 4 times the base grenade damage when you fire 2x Short Bursts with grenades using MRSI software. Although since it's 2 times base damage for 2 grenades, that's a bit of a Diminishing Returns situation, and you might be better off using Wide Bursts to spread the AOE over the largest area.

(Single MRSI / Triple MRSI)
HE Grenade = DV 20P/40P AP -2,  -1/m radius
White Phosphorous Grenades = 16P/32P (Fire) initial + 8P/16P (Fire) for 10 Combat Turns, AP -Half, 10m radius.

Tough choice, there... probably take a belt (Yes, the Gonryu is belt-fed ) or two of each, since you never know if setting everything on fire will be a good idea or not until you're in the thick of it. Amiright?