Shadowrun Background Information

Shadowrun consists of a mixture of fantasy and cyberpunk elements. It has many fantasy staples such as dragons, elves, orks and dwarves. It also deals with the dystopian oppressive world of crime, corporate control and the rebels living on the edge of society.

In Shadowrun you are typically playing Shadowrunners, illegal criminals who get hired by a Mr. Johnson, these Mr. Johnsons are usually middle men working for the corporations. The jobs involve the runners performing various acts of corporate espionage and criminal activities including but not limited to destruction of property, stealing data and extracting key staff.

Shadowrun is a bit of a complicated game to get started in, one of the common things that get asked are what books do I need or which books could be useful to me? We will be covering some of the more important books and what they contain to allow you to make an informed decision.

The Runnerhub currently uses the Shadowrun Fifth Edition ruleset and predominantly operates out of the Seattle Sprawl.

The Books

Core Books

Fifth Edition Core Rulebook

This is the main book on playing the game, it covers all the general parts of the sixth world, as well as how to create a character, core gameplay rules, and much more.

Run Faster

Run Faster is the book you’re looking for if you would like to expand on the base Shadowrun experience. It has information on the cultures and countercultures of the various metatypes, alternate ways to make characters as well as new qualities, and new metatypes to play including shifters, SURGE, infected characters, and metavariants. Also has the Advanced Lifestyle rules which includes new ways to build or customize your home sweet home.

Chrome Flesh

In this book you will find the latest on breakthroughs and the big players in augmentations, as well as having rules for new augmentations, nanoware, genentech and drugs, the perfect book the creation of a street samurai.

Street Grimoire

People with innate magical power are called awakened and this book has a lot of information on magic including new traditions, spells, rituals, adept powers and more to enhance all types of awakened characters.

Data Trails

Data Trails is the book you want if you plan on operating inside the matrix as a hacker and technomancers as it contains new programs, decks, complex forms and submersions, qualities, and more information about the Matrix and the underlying Foundations and Resonance of it.

Rigger 5

Riggers are the wheelmen and remote pilots of shadowrun, this book covers everything they could ever need or want when it comes to becoming one with the machine. New vehicles, drones, modifications, qualities, and special advanced rules.

Supplementary Books

Forbidden Arcana

A further expansion on magic, even more traditions as well as rules for alternate variations available for certain traditions. Expanded alchemy rules to make it more useable, mentor spirits, spells, qualities and new types of spirits.

Cutting Aces

Cutting Aces is the book you want if you want expanded options on how to manipulate people in the sixth world, it covers subjects from cons to props as well as useful spells, adept powers, gear, and new social maneuvers to help pull them off.

Run & Gun

This book is the perfect one for if you are looking for more guns, weapons, and armor, as well as some rules on where to shoot them to have certain effects, as well as environmental and survival rules.

Hard Targets

The assassination sourcebook, all your needs on assassination tactics, info on assassins and bodyguards, with gear, qualities, adept powers, spells, and cyber/bioware to help with wetwork. Also includes expanded archery rules.

Seattle Box Set

This box set contains Ruling the Queen City and Emerald Shadows which has useful information on Seattle and the districts that make it up, how the sprawl operates, as well as the big movers and shakers in the corporate world, government (local and foreign), and underworld. Also includes information on the police and their tactics, the Seattle prison system, policlubs, magical groups, and other various sectors of Seattle. However the set contains no mechanical rules.

Where to Buy

If you would like to buy the books you can find them in PDF form on DriveThruRPG. Alternatively you can also purchase both physical and digital copies of the books from the Catalyst Game Labs Store.

Further Information

If you are looking for further information on the various parts of the Shadowrun world you can find information on the Shadowrun Wiki. Another option is joining the official Runnerhub Discord where you can ask specific questions in the #lore-questions channel.