Customer Reviews

Shadowrun Companion: Beyond the Shadows

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Beware: If you're looking for the 3rd Edition version of the Shadowrun Companion, this is not it!

The Shadowrun Supplemental has fast become the most controversial publication of the twenty or so that comprise FASA's cyberpunk fantasy role playing game "Shadowrun". The edges and flaws allow you to take your character into greater depths of detail, but are also a min-maxer's paradise. The 100 point system for generating characters is far more versatile than the old priority system, but it also produces characters that are far more likely to be mages or metahumans, or both, because the cost in points of such traits is not nearly so high as it tends to be in the priority system.

The alternate campaign ideas are a good start, but they're just a start. I think that whole new game supplements based on other popular sci-fi fantasy would do very well under a Shadowrun rules system; but in order for a genuinely rich gaming environment to be created for an alternate campaign, new availability charts, street indexes, legality ratings and special rules have to accompany. A good example of this is Bug City, which is very much a cross between Mad Max and Aliens, in terms of genre and atmosphere.

Some of the suggestions for new pools are likely to make dice tests out of combat more complicated, along with increasing the raw number of dice involved, and they serve no real purpose. Combat pool can be used to dodge, or attack. Magic pool can be used for defense, drain resistance or casting spells. What would you use an athletics pool for other than adding dice to athletics tests? What would you use a social pool for except assisting social skill tests? Athletics is a straight skill roll to gain successes "Let's see... I could throw in my whole athletics pool for this test, or I could save it for.." For what? Pools refresh when you're next eligible to act, and athletics skill requires a full action. Social skills are either straight rolls or opposed tests, so what would a social pool be saved for? It would only serve to destroy the balance maintained by availabilty ratings by doubling the number of dice players can roll to find rare items and sell stolen gear; and the target numbers wouldn't change.

Paying cash for karma or recieving karma for cash can not be based on a straight scale if it is to be used at all. Like the basic factors in every field of the shadowrun game, there has to be a law of diminishing returns. If you keep spending karma to raise your atrributes, you'll find that it gets harder and harder to do so, and the results you see will become less and less significant. So it should be in the cash/karma balance. I leave it to the game masters to work this for themselves, but the system as they have it is unusable in my opinion.

Despite its shortcomings, I have to reccomend this book to anyone who has ideas for characters that they haven't been able to realize with the existing system. I reccommend this book for the possibilities it can offer and the good ideas it contains. I also offer a word of caution. This rules supplement was not constructed with the careful attention to balance and long-term insight that produced the SR2 main book, and as such, many of the options it presents could ruin your game.

That's all. Thanks for your time.

Gunnm

This book although from second edition works nearly perfectly with third. This book goes over metahuman subtypes, shapeshifters, enemies, edges and flaws, and evan alternate campaighnes like Lone Star Doc Wagon and evan the military. This book is a must have but if you play the third edition make shure you get the third edition companion if it's available.

This book is what a GM (NPC) and PC's always has been dreaming about!!! Simply BRILLIANT! But there is missing something, like the lack of the different POOLS-describtions. There are some good desribtions on the different combat scenes and alot of other neat stuff. It's very handy!!!!!

This book contains tons of useful information it tells you how to create shapeshifters and metahuman variants and the new character creation system helps make really good characters in a short peiod of time

The Shadowrun Companion is one of the best suppliments to the Shadowrun II role-paying game. It allows a set of more standardized rules for those who would wish to expand their game in terms of scope and creaativity.
Not only does it allow the GM to follow new venues, it also gives many ideas as to character types, and possible campaign settings. Basically put, this book is designed to get the creative juices flowing, and gives some rules, and rules suggestions to help form those ideas.
This product is just what the Shadowrun universe needed to help take it to the next level.

This Shadowrun sourcebook is different to most of those to date, in that it is not based around one topic.
The Shadowrun Companion is a tool for fine tuning your Shadowrun games.
Containing additional rules for Karma, The skill web, character creation and Archetypes.
It also provides the GM with plenty of Scenarios which let your players take unusual roles outside of the usual shadowrunners Vs. corps scenario.
The book also contains a multitude of little tips and tricks for impoving your games.My Personal favorite is the list of reasons why the bad guys never kill the PCs when they have the opportunity.
"I dont like to get my hands dirty, but Bubba is on his way and Bubba never washes anyways:"

if you are looking for something to put a little life back into your scenario or just feel like trying something different, Beyond the shadows could be exactly what you are looking for.<BR

The Companion is the most useful sourcebook I own. It's full of new ideas and rules and a great point based character creation system. I felt that it clarified several things that SR2 left out. A must for the serious GM.

As with any game, you need details. this book in my opinion is a vital part of the shadowrun universe. While one could incorporate "Uncouth" or "College Education" into a charicter background, this provides yet another way for starting chars to beef themselves up. The descriptions are funny, and the artwork is good. If you buy this book, get the Riggers 2.0 ...I just love the Gremlins Flaw.

This book exspands your horizions in the shadowed world. New characters and new contacts, and new rules...