An open question to those familiar with Shadowrun.

[brains?]

What the hell? Right, so I love the novels of Phillip K ****, Neuromancer, Orson Scott Card, Iain Banks' Against A Dark Background. All that malarky. So I pick up a copy of shadowrun thinking, "Yeah, I've been enjoying M&M, a little bit of gritty cyberpunk should sort me out good and proper for when I need a little room to stretch my streetpunk legs". And then I get into it and there's all this Tolkein nonesense. A Dragon was President. Orcs run drug rackets. My dentist is a mother-loving Elf. I mean, okay, I appreciate that I should have opened the book first (it was a fiver, mind) and that you can (I hope) prune these rather kitsch elements from it, but who in their right mind thought that releasing all that as part of the core material was a good idea? Jeez.

[Saph]

I guess you're not familiar with what "Shadowrun" means, then? :P

Shadowrun is high-tech sci-fi combined with modern fantasy, all mixed in together. The magic and extra races are just as big a part of the core material as the tech.

[jiriku]

Because the only thing cooler than an elf wizard with an uzi is a shotgun-toting troll cyborg. Or maybe vampire hackers.

[estradling]

but who in their right mind thought that releasing all that as part of the core material was a good idea? Jeez.

The people who have supported it enough for it to 4 editions and celebrate it's 20th anniversary clearly think it was a good idea. I get that it wasn't what you were expecting... and you don't like it... that's all fine. But just because you did not take a few minutes to find out that it wasn't something you would like doesn't mean it is bad...

[Tyger]

So the picture of the troll and dwarf on the front cover didn't tip you off? Or the caption on the back of the book with its references to "creatures of myth and legend" and "spell-slinging mages"???

If you are looking for pure cyberpunk, may I recommend GURPS Cyberpunk? Removing the arcane elements from Shadowrun would kill the feel and balance of the game rather badly, unless it was handled with a great deal of care and attention to detail. Doable, but way more work that necessary.

EDIT: Oh, and if you love the genre and those authors in particular, check out anything by Richard Morgan. You will not be disappointed.

[Another_Poet]

Yeah, the whole premise of Shadowrun is that magic ebbs and flows in cycles, and a major tide hit the world in the early 21st century. It's high fantasy in a dystopian future. Awesome.

The world is actually pretty awesome, I wouldn't trim that "kitsch" if I were you.

[kestrel404]

What you're apparently looking for is "Cyberpunk 2020". Or possibly "transhuman space". Those are straight sci-fi (and both good within their genres).

Shadowrun is D&D in the future. That's what it was when it was first made, and it's become its own genre since. Lots of fun, don't take it too seriously (or do, that can be a blast in and of itself), and just relax and go with it. If you don't like the tolkien influence, then what are you doing surfing THIS board? ;)

[Revlid]

Okay, I'm calling Troll.

[vollmond]

Okay, I'm calling Troll.

dang it, no, i'm always the troll.

fine. i'll take ork.

[LibraryOgre]

Okay, I'm calling Troll.

I think I gotta agree. The game has been out for 20 years... there are players in my 4e game who have barely been out that long, and my Pathfinder game has someone who is younger. There have been numerous threads here in the past few weeks about Shadowrun. A quick google search comes up tons of stuff on this.

If he went into it THAT ignorant... really, it's his own fault.

[BRC]

...yeah, what you're objecting to is essentially the core concept of the game Shadowrun. I'm actually having trouble figuring out how you heard about the game without knowing about the fantasy aspects. I'm not judging you, it's certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm curious to know how you got the impression it was purely cyberpunk.

[TheCountAlucard]

Like the others, I've gotta wonder how you happened to get to the History Lesson for the Reality-Impaired before you realized that it had fantasy elements to it...

[LibraryOgre]

Like the others, I've gotta wonder how you happened to get to the History Lesson for the Reality-Impaired before you realized that it had fantasy elements to it...

Or flipping through the book, looking at art...

[Lost Demiurge]

What the hell? Right, so I love the novels of Phillip K ****, Neuromancer, Orson Scott Card, Iain Banks' Against A Dark Background. All that malarky. So I pick up a copy of shadowrun thinking, "Yeah, I've been enjoying M&M, a little bit of gritty cyberpunk should sort me out good and proper for when I need a little room to stretch my streetpunk legs". And then I get into it and there's all this Tolkein nonesense. A Dragon was President. Orcs run drug rackets. My dentist is a mother-loving Elf. I mean, okay, I appreciate that I should have opened the book first (it was a fiver, mind) and that you can (I hope) prune these rather kitsch elements from it, but who in their right mind thought that releasing all that as part of the core material was a good idea? Jeez.

Friend, Shadowrun rocks. Some of the best games I've run or played have been with Shadowrun.

The setting is unique. I'm kind of surprised you went into it blind... Had you never heard a thing about it, beyond the cyberpunky angle?

[CharPixie]

You can, of course, completely excise the magic and fantasy aspects of it and keep the core part. Which is how I run Shadowrun, most of the time.

[BRC]

You can, of course, completely excise the magic and fantasy aspects of it and keep the core part. Which is how I run Shadowrun, most of the time.

While I respect that you can use the system for a normal Cyberpunk game, I don't like how you refer to the Cyberpunk aspects as the "Core Part", implying the magic has somebody been grafted on. the Fantasy aspects are just as much a part of Shadowrun as the cyberpunk bits.