Greetings. I saw it mentioned in a thread here about Shadowrun that many newer players are unfamiliar with the early lore/history of the game. I’d actually been contemplating doing a Let’s Read of Shadowrun for a while now, so why the heck not?
A bit of background: I started gaming in the late 80’s as an young teenager and after some D&D I was introduced to Shadowrun and it quickly became my favorite game. I played regularly from 1st Edition through mid 3rd Edition when I finished college and left for the military. Since then I’ve lurked on Shadowrun forums and collected most of the books but never had a chance to do anything more than read the newer editions.
With that said, let’s get started.
Shadowrun 1st Edition core rulebook
First printed in 1989 by FASA corporation, product #7100.
Softcover, 208 pages plus some reference sheets at the end. The borders are a dark colored circuit board design with a horned skull at the top in the and. The front cover art is a scene by Larry Elmore. It features an elven decker plugging into a data terminal, a scantily clad female mage holding a shotgun while the other hand glows and a street samurai with a SMG in each hand shooting and some goons across the street. On the bottom of the front is the caption WHERE MAN MEETS MAGIC AND MACHINE.
The back cover has a picture of a Feathered Serpent on the top. The bottom half has a couple of brief paragraphs describing the game. I don’t plan to quote most of the book in these posts, but since this was the pitch kicked off Shadowrun to anyone looking at the book in a store I’ll post it in its entirety.
The Year is 2050
The blending of technology and human flesh began in the late 20th century. Interfacing the human mind with computers was just the first step. Implants that “jacked up” reflexes and cybernetic replacements followed quickly. Then came the Awakening. A five-thousand-year lull in the flow of mystical energies subsided, and Magic returned to the world. Elves, Dwarfs, and Trolls assumed their true form, throwing off their human guise.
In the world of 2050, the megaplexes are monsters casting long shadows. As shdowrunners, that’s where you live, in the cracks between the giant corporate structures. When the megacorps want something done but they don’t want to dirty their hands, it’s a Shadowrun they need, and they come to you. Though your existence is not acknowledged by any governmental or corporate database, the demand for your services is high. You might be a Technomancer, sliding like a whisper through the databases of giant corporations, spiriting away the only thing of real value-information. Or perhaps you are a Street Samurai, an enforcer for hire whose combat skills and reflexes make you the ultimate urban predator. Or perhaps a Mage, one with an ancient gift, the ability to wield and shape the magical energies that now surround the Earth. And that’s exactly the kind of firepower you’ll need if you get hired to make a Shadowrun…
Opening it up most of the interior pages are black and white with a few exceptions. The binding is decent, mine only has one page loose. The interior front page has an Aztec/Mayan looking symbol on top and the Shadowrun logo below it on a black background.
Pages 2-4 are the table of contents. It’s quite useable, with the major sections in all caps and numerous subsections listed under each one. The major sections in order are:
THE YEAR IS 2050
NIGHT ON THE TOWN
AND SO IT CAME TO PASS
GAME CONCEPTS
METAHUMANITY
CHARACTER GENERATION
ARCHETYPES
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER
USING SKILLS
COMBAT
MAGIC
THE MATRIX
EQUIPMENT
AFTER THE SHADOWRUN
BEHIND THE SCENES
CONTACTS
CRITTERS
THE NORTHWEST IN 2050
SEATTLE
FIRST RUN
Each major section starts with a fictional quote from the game world. Artwork is scattered throughout the book, in a mix of styles from serious looking Tim Bradstreet pieces to cartoonish Jeff Laubenstein works.
Page 5 is the credits. It lists three designers, five folks under Concept, two for Additional Fiction, eleven playtesters, four editors, two Special Thanks and eleven discreet names among the various Production Staff.
With all that said, let’s get into the individual chapters.
THE YEAR IS 2050
Opening quote: Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon. -Street Proverb
This section is just pages 6 and 7. It’s the opening blurb from the back with a couple of extra paragraphs talking about how the years after the Awakening were filled with turmoil, panic and chaos. It mentions plagues, a computer collapse and central authority crumbling. I note with amusement that the first paragraph talks about a three thousand year lull in magic while the back cover said five.
Most of page seven is a Laubenstein drawing of a troll carrying a big club while lighting a cigar.
NIGHT ON THE TOWN
Opening quote: Shadowrun n. Any movement, action, or series of such made in carrying out plans which are illegal or quasilegal. -WorldWide WorldWatch, 2050 update
This section is an introductory short story. Pages 8-11. It features characters named Ghost, Dodger and Sally Tsung meeting up in Club Penumbra. Sally asks Ghost and Dodger to help her with a datasteal she’s been hired to do. They travel to a Mitsuhama data terminal in downtown Seattle. Dodger opens the terminals security shield with a physical passkey he got from some contact and then jacks in with a program carrier. (A bit of cyberwar that let a decker jack in without a cyberdeck, but at greatly increased difficulty. Program carriers were a thing in 1st edition that never made it to later editions.)
After some tense overwatch Dodger gets disconnected and barely gets out of the way before the security shield comes back down. Then corporate goons start rolling up and they shoot their way out of there and back into the night.
There’s a couple pieces of art in this section. A serious looking black and white artwork of Dodger over a cyberdeck and the runners paying off some squatters to watch their bikes in an alley.
AND SO IT CAME TO PASS
Opening quote: “Walking the beat those first couple of months was bizarre. You never knew if your partner was going to suddenly grow fangs.” -Pat Mifflin, Retired Policeman
This section is pages 12 to 19. It’s the basic history of the world from 1989 through 2050, focusing heavily on North America. It’s written from an in-universe voice, for example the first sentence is “Today, in 2050, our world is radically different from that our great-great grandfathers knew.” However unlike later Shadowrun books, there’s no source given for this text. It’s not explicitly a posting to Shadowland, there’s no listed author and no posters inserting Shadowtalk throughout.
The subsections are:
-Rise of the Megacorps
Corporations get more powerful from the 1990’s onward. Food riots in 1999 New York lead to court decisions that allow Corporations to have their own private security forces and something called the Shiawase Decision in 2001 gives corporations the right to extra-territoriality.
-Resource Rush
With their new powers, corporations increase exploitation of resources, particularly on land belonging to Indians. Angry radicals form the Sovereign American Indian Movement (SAIM) to fight back violently. They succeed in capturing a nuclear missile facility in Montana and getting the launch codes.
-The Lone Eagle
After negotiations fail a SEAL team recaptures the facility, but not before a missile is launch towards Russia. US President Jesse Garrety warns Moscow and everyone worries that that nuclear war might erupt. (Remember, this was published in 1989, before the breakup of the USSR when the cold war was in full swing.) A couple of hours later the USSR calls back and says the missile was stopped. Voice analysis indicate he was lying, but no explosions are recorded.
-The Blame Falls
Corporations use manipulate public outcry over the Lone Eagle incident to pass a law calling for anyone connected to SAIM to be rounded up. This turns into a general roundup of most Indians in North America into camps that the corps run, with horrific conditions within.
-Tribulations
A new disease called VITAS breaks out and kills an estimated 25 percent of the worlds population. This causes massive world instability. “In January 2011, more governments fell than in any other five-year span in history.” Famines and massive civilian riots followed. Then right after VITAS comes the Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE), with strange “mutant and changeling” babies born all over the world. Newsweek dubs them “Elves.” (The 1st edition book doesn’t actually mention dwarves here. Poor guys get overlooked in their first appearance…) On 24 December, the great dragon Ryumyo is seen by bullet train passengers as he circles Mt Fuji while at the same time Daniel Howling Coyote uses magic to lead followers out of their concentration camp. The year 2011 gets dubbed the Year of Chaos.
-The Sixth World
A couple of paragraphs mentioning that 2011 marks the end of the old world and the beginning of a new one. The text says some folks talk about the Mayan calendar, but dismisses it since the Mayans predicted a great World Destroying calamity the text notes that the world is still going.
-The Dance
Daniel Howling Coyote drop out of sight and starts spreading the word of a new Great Ghost Dance across North America. In 2014 he goes public, announces the formation of new Native American Nations and demands everyone of European, African and Asian ancestry leave North American under threat of dire magical retribution. Countries ignore him and the media tries to make him a laughingstock. They demonstrate their power by causing Redondo peak in New Mexico to erupt, destroying Los Alamos. Howling Coyote takes credit, a military reaction force sent to capture him is destroyed by sudden tornados and then he goes underground again.
-The Indian Question
After two years of guerrilla war in North America, President Garrety is assassinated. His successor, William Jarman issues Executive Order 17-321 calling for the total extermination of all Native Americans. Congress ratifies it a month later. While the US gathers forces and prepares, Howling Coyote’s followers begin the full scale Great Ghost Dance in 2017. Freak weather disrupts US military preparations, and then Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens and Mt Rainier all erupt simultaneously with tremendous fury. The US government is finally convinced that the magical threat is real and begins negotiations.
-The Treaty of Denver
The governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico agree to recognize the Native American Nations and give them most of western North America. Seattle and California are retained by the US. As soon as the fighting ends the Native American Nations start bickering among themselves, with only Howling Coyote able to keep them co-operating. Also, in 2018 new technology is invented for brain interfaces, making Simsense possible.
-Goblinization
On 30 April, 2021 one out of every ten people worldwide metamorphisize into “hideous humanoid shapes.” Some changed quickly, others spent days in agony. Afterwards for years to come, many humans would goblinize when they reached adolescence. Many of them are traumatized by the experience. They are soon deemed “orks” and “trolls” by the media. This spawns a new wave of hate, fear and prejudice in the world, from normal humans against these new races. (It’s at this point that the history mentions Dwarves for the first time.) In 2022 a wave of race riots sweeps the globe and many new nations split in the chaos. Quebec succeeds and the Caribbean League is formed at this time. As the year closes another wave of VITAS sweeps the planet, killing another 10 percent of the population and the race riots die down for a while as folks cope. 2022 is also when the term “Awakened” is coined for the new races and other species emerging around the planet.
-Magic and the Matrix
The first simsense commercial player becomes available. A “remote vote” system is used for the first time in US elections despite widespread accusations of fraud. In 2025 academia finally accepts magic with several universities offering programs in occult studies. In 2027 the first cold fusion power plant goes online. By 2029 several companies including Sony and Fuchi Industrial Electronics are developing prototype cyberterminals that allow a user to interact with the “world data network” with his mind. These early terminal are massive, requiring sensory deprivation tanks. The CIA, NSA and IRS (?) pool resources to exploit this under a code name of “Echo Mirage.” Many early users suffer psychoses after using the equipment.
-Crash of ’29
On February 8, 2029 computer systems across the world are attacked by a deadly virus program of unprecedented power. Systems crash, data is wiped and a lot of hardware is even burned out by the effects. As the internet dies more governments topple and the economy crashes. Echo Mirage is activated to fight the virus and a cadre of 32 of the most brilliant computer hackers graduates with their sanity intact. Four die in the first engagement with the virus, and corps discover that this new technology can go through any existing computer defenses like they don’t even exist. They begin research on ways to counter it, including using programs that mimic the lethal biofeedback that can kill. This is the first generation of Intrusion Countermeasures, or IC.
Echo Mirage gets better and eventually defeats the virus. By late 2031 the last known virus code is defeated. Only seven of the original members survive. Soon after, four of them vanish into the private sector and take the technology with them. Soon after, corporations start selling the new cyberdecks to use the new matrix.
-The Superpowers
This section covers the breakup of the US and Soviet superpowers. The Eurowars are mentioned as the Soviet Union breaks up, along with the succession of the Siberian territories to Awakened natives. (Nothing about shapeshifters, just Awakened natives.) The US unites with the remains of Canada to form the United Canadian and American States, then in 2034 ten southern states break away to form the Confederated American States. Aztlan is mentioned as having separated from the Native American Nations, it grabs a piece of Texas. Texas breaks away when the CAS doesn’t help it, then gets beaten and rejoins the CAS a few months later.
The Eurowars are still going and getting worse until 2033 when an airstrike by FA-38 Nightwraith fighter-bombers takes out key targets on both sides, forcing a stalemate. Nobody knows who was responsible for the strike. Afterwards, unable to stabilize their economies, most of eastern Europe , Italy, and southern France shatter into hundreds of tiny states and city-states.
-Independence Fever
A force of Awakened beings led by three Great Dragons take most of the Amazon basin from Brazil. Soon after the Brazilian government falls and the new nation of Amazonia claims most of their territory. In the north, a group of Awakened, mostly Elves, separate from the Native American Nations and form the country of Tir Taingire in the former region of Oregon. The country of Tsimshian also withdraws from the NAN. After all these defections Daniel Howling Coyote resigns and withdraws into isolation. California also withdraws from the UCAS and is promptly invaded by Japan, with San Francisco totally controlled by Japanese corporations soon after.
-New Violence
This is the final section, covering events from 2036 to 2050. New waves of racial violence begin with the napalm fire-bombing of a small community in rural Ohio, with a group called Alamos 20,000 claiming responsibility. In 2039, the Night of Rage happens, with worldwide race riots against the Awakened in the course of a single night. Other incidents listed included the destruction of EuroAir Flight 329 by the great dragon Sirrurg. The section goes into the birth of Policlubs, Aztlan annexing all foreign businesses and all of former Mexico except the Yucatan, and the Veracruz settlement in the wake of a corporate military strike on Ensenada.
It ends with the paragraph “This year, 2050, has seen the development of the 7th generation cyberdeck, which is now keyboard size. Though the hatred between humans and metahumans still simmers, things are relatively quiet. But even in an Awakened World, how long can that last?”
And that’s the end of that chapter. I didn’t mean to go into quite so much detail on it, but I wanted to cover just how in detail the core book got. Overall it did a good job of setting the general feeling of the world. A lot of events are mentioned in passing, many of which are later expanded on. But overall, reading this as a kid in 1989 it really felt like a history primer from a cyberpunk future, like it was just scratching the surface of a detailed world.
The next chapter is Game Concepts and starts into the dice mechanics. I’ll continue with it as time allows; I’m on reserve for work the next few days so I may or may not have much free time. Till next time Chummers.
