[phydaux42]

I haven't played Shadowrun since 2nd ed, but I'm thinking of startig a 2050 campaign.

What is the minimum list of books nessasary to run a 2050 campaign?  I'm thinking the 4th ed core rule book and the new 2050 book.  Is that enough?  Will all my Mages, Shamans, Riggers, Street Sams & Deckers have a good enough selection of guns & gear with just those boks?

What is a "recommended" list of books? 

Thanks,

phy

[DarkLloyd]

get the Shadowrun Companion too, it should be useful if nothing else for the edges/flaws.

You'll want Street Magic.

I think you could skip Unwired if you are doing 2050, CanRay did a good job with those matrix rules.

And I have no idea how much of the 'ware in Augmentations is available in 2050, but you might need it............

Arsenal is a must buy. Just limit the lasers to just the medium size one and this should work perfectly as is. Guns are guns after all. also the martial arts section and gun and vehicle mods.

[Wakshaani]

The Sr4 core book is enough to do just about everything. Adding the 2050 book to run a 2050 game is a good idea, obviously.

Beyond that, the rest of teh 'copre' books are the Runner's Companion (Qualities galore!), Arsenal (Stuff for everybody!), Augmentation (Stuff for the non-magicians!), Unwired (Stuff for Deckers!), Street Magic (Sttuff for mages!), and either the 6th world Almanac or the new Seattle guide, to help iron the setting into form.

Everything after that is gravy. Delicious, delicious gravy. Mmmm...

[WSN0W]

Street Magic would be the big one I'd recommend if you are doing bare bones list if you have some magic heavy PCs. If you don't, you may not even really need it.

Runner Companion is nice, but a lot of its elements (Meta varients, SURGE, etc) are not very common or in the case of SURGE, hasn't happened yet. The advanced Life styles and quality are useful.

Arsenal and Augementation suffer from the same 'is all of this Tech really out yet' question. 2050 has its own gear list and that time frame doesn't have genetech and nanotech of note.

On DriveThruRPG you can find some pdf's of older editions if you are looking for some more 2050's source material to fill in gaps of the 2050 source book. But honestly though, I think just 2050 and 4edA is all you really 'need' to play.

[Teknodragon]

Lasers are availability "Good luck with that". No, seriously, I looked it up.

SR4A, obviously. Runner's companion, but no SURGE/changelings (Halley's Comet is 12 years away at the time). Metavariants with GM permission, and sapient critters likewise--though to the eyes of all, they're mostly critter and not much sapient. Technomancers? Chummer, you need to lay off the soybeer and late-night trids, get real.

As WSNOW notes, Arsenal and Augmentation have 'when was it built' problems, though a lot of the mods should be available for the former.

Street Magic is pretty good straight-up, though things need to be kept within the (broad) limits of magic outlined in the 2050 book.

This Old Drone, old guns from Gun Heaven 1 & 2, Used Car Lot are also useful, though the obsolescent/obsolete qualities need to be removed and the price adjusted accordingly.

6th World Almanac is a good idea to remind folks what has and what has not happened.

I also suggest a viewing of the early parts of Predator 2, Robocop, and listening to a mix of Dokken, Asia, Megadeth, and a 'Best of the 80's' compilation.

[Reaver]

Not having read the 2050 book (sorry CanRay! On my to do list!) I would say that is the place to start. Street magic would help some. Runners companion in small bits might be helpful. (just keep in mind that. AIs, surge, etc, haven't happened yet, so they are not really available in 2050)

Same with some gear, bioware, and cyberware. Nano ware is nowhere important at this time either. (unless retconned in somehow... Like I said, not read the book)

Enjoy! Have fun!!

[phydaux42]

thanks for the input.  since I'll probably just run a few one-offs with pre-gen characters down at my local FLAGS, I'll just pick up 4th Ed & the 2050 book (when it comes out).  That should offer enough spells, guns & gear to keep things interesting.

[Crimsondude]

I would strongly suggest the Runner's Toolkit box set because it has a lot of useful material for GMs and PCs (PACKS, cheat sheets, GM screen, etc.)

Unfortunately the original, set-in-2050 Seattle sourcebook isn't available. It is useful not just for what is and isn't available, but also really helps set the tone for what 2050 was like alongside the SR2050 book. However, there are several copies available on eBay.


But as far as what you need? Just the core book and SR2050.

[Henzington]

The other books are nice and have lots of options but if you are just starting the Core or SR4A is fine.  The big reason to get this over the other SR4 core books is the index at the back which covers that book and Arsenal, augmentation, Runner's companion, Street Magic, and Unwired.  Its great to have if you like the game and get these other books later for more options.