Customer Reviews

Man & Machine: Cyberware (Shadowrun (Fasa Corp.))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shadowrun 3rd Edition has been very well thought out, in my opinion the best game balanced edition to date. This book adds a very needed overhaul to the implant technology for SR. The authors went through great detail to cover all areas of 'cybertechnology' which had been previously covered in SHADOWTECH and CYBERTECHNOLOGY and made them better balanced and playable. In addition to updating the previously published 'technology', it adds many new systems as well as explains some of the most debated and controversial game rules. The book is very well laid out and most references made to other SR books are very well cross-referenced. A must for any Gamer that wants to keep up with the SOTA. It surpassed many of my expectations.

This 3rd Edition book is great! The revisions to the rules that they've made in here make things so much easier and so much more interesting! There are no more unfair advantages (well, some maybe, but less). And it's much more mage friendly. All of this is VERY good. And the additions are cool, too. The balance tail, for example, looks cool and is functional, too! All you 'Runners out there, GET THIS BOOK, it's worth it!

Although packed with all sorts of useful information, nifty 'ware, and cool equipment, Man & Machine continues the latest FASA trend of fairly flavorless material. As a reference book, this is excellent... well cross-referenced, covering a great deal of information previously availiable only after searching through multiple volumes, and well clarified and thought-out. For the toymonger or the street sam in the group, this is a must-see. However, don't expect any shadowtalk here, folks, it's strictly rules and equipment.

...and some that do.

Man & Machine is the "tech" book for Shadowrun, Third Edition (SR3). It replaces Shadowtech and Cybertechnology, and collects all the myriad bits of cyberware, bioware, and chemicals into one easy-to-use volume. There is no Shadowtalk, as this is, primarily, a rulebook.

What's in? There are extensive discussions on cyberware and bioware, including a revised way of combining the two that reduces the interaction considerably. While I'm not entirely happy with that, I can see the reasoning behind it. An entire new category of equipment, nanoware, is included. It's not the all-powerful nanotech of transhuman science fiction, but it's at an appropriate usefulness for a technology still in its infancy.

We also have chapters on chemistry and pharmaceuticals, from thermite and fuel-air explosives to new cocaine derivatives. There are also rules for cybermancy, and a brand-new section on medicine, surgery, and healing for the game.

What's good? Actually, the single best thing about the book is the chart detailing EVERY SINGLE PIECE of personal enhancement in the game. It's almost like the nigh-deity-like chart from Fields of Fire. The contents are uniformly of fairly high quality, and it's very useful. It re-introduces bioware (which skipped SR2 entirely, save from using Shadowtech), and adds decent other material and rules, which are always good if they're filling a hole (as they are here).

What's bad? Not much, really. Just little individual bits...like the fact that cyberlimbs are, by and large, useless. I have to agree with a previous reviewer that having a lot of marginally useful cyberware isn't very good. The major part is revealed in the designers' notes...where they discuss what they decided caused Essence loss...and then proceeded to ignore it for a lot of items. Their definition was nervous system interaction...which is all well and good, but bone lacing and peg legs have no nervous interaction whatsoever, and therefore should not cost Essence...at all. And, I'm still a tad peeved that almost all of my SR2 characters would go into massive system shock and die upon conversion.

All in all, though, it's still a good book, and nigh-essential for anybody playing a Shadowrun game.

(Dito my review of Cannon Companion) Crammed full of info, new gear, and clarifying/expansive rules this sourcebook is a must have for those interested in cyberware, bioware, all new nanoware, what is does for you, how it works in you, and how to fix it when it breaks (and with the new rules, it breaks a lot). All of the above plus extensive sections on Cybermancy, Chemistry, Damage, Healing, and Surgery. Following other recent trends in SR products, M&M has misspelled words, and misaligned columns, has broken away from good old Shadowland postings, and refrences you heavily to other books forcing you to fork out the Y and own four different sourcebooks in order to understand a certain game mechanic to its completion. While those not gifted with photographic memory will possibility find the huge amounts of new rule varitations and expansions cumbersome, it is always a pleasure to figure out what it takes to build a friggin' ambulance in the Shadowrun future.

Welp, in keeping with 3rd edition FASA dumps the slick look of the older books and goes for pure game mechanics. It's basically a compressed version of Shadowtech and Cybertech with very little new stuff thrown in. So, if you own all the gear books for 2nd edition don't even bother picking this up, it's just as easy to look it up in them. The tables within the pages(not in the back) are misaligned and the descriptions are not up to par at all with the old stuff.

While a good idea they have way too much stuff. Who in their right mind would ever need almost 160 pages of rules and equipment. While adding far more depth and volume they added so much that using the book is a little tedious at first. Also they mad eit so that unless you are a street sam or cyber-monster yuo will never need this much ware'. Also who giver a rat's a-- if you fart in a public place you don't need bioware to prevent it and ant GM who uses that to penalise their characters should be drawn and quartered. SHadowrun is designed to be free flowing while this book covers a lot of holes in SR3 it also slows character creation and game play.

All in all not bad and worth your money but be ready for an info overload.

I really like this book and since I've read both the english an the german version I must say I prefer the german one. This is mostly because the german translators included shadowtalk in it (and real fun stuff by the way). What I don't like is the shock rules. I think it's overpowered. This book is definately worth a buy for all those cyber- and bioware junkies out there. Quite some new stuff and mostly really cool.

the new rules for cyberlimbs (and torsos and skulls) and the bioware clarifications gives that fourth star but the new stress rules are bit too sluggish and well, a bit stupid at some points (stress on intelligence and willpower?) the new nanoware is quite nice but you need too much gizmos to keep it working the new cybermancy rules and preview are very enlightning about what cybermancy really means and how it works the new chemistry stuff is also nice but as usaul the really effective compounds is impossible to get your hands on

-too many useless and only because its "cool" gear(eye guns cyberfangs cyberhorns cyberguns balance tails etc.) and too many stuff they just put there so you will have somthing to drool on-

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