Customer Reviews

Shadowrun System Failure

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Just like most Shadowrun source books the premise it explores is very interesting and makes for not only great gaming ideas, but great science fiction. However the way this book was written and put together is a mess. This is sad considering how pivotal the events are that are portrayed. Still it is what it is.

System Failure encompasses various events that culminate into the rewriting of how things are done on the Matrix (fictional Internet on steriods for you non-SRunners out there). Novatech, a major player in the corporate world, goes public with their company and a massive surge of buy/sell happen. Deus, the powerful AI from the Renraku Shutdown sourcebook intends to recreate itself. A viscious computer worm infects the Matrix, trying to create another Crash. The cultish minions of Winternight (from the Threats sourcebook) finally enact their carefully prepared plan to bring Ragnarok on Earth. These things all happen apparently at once. Am I spoiling it for you? Not really. System Failure can't stop blabbing about it either.

The main problem with this sourcebook is it repeats itself. Over and over again. It's like I'm reading the same data at least three times. All of the events I described you get reported to you as if you work for the Government, in triplicate or more. This makes reading the book tedious. Instead of making one section for each event each section talks about all the events, most of the time repeating past information. Some sections try to play off as a post from Shadowland, but they don't do a very good job with the banter.

There are no adventures in this sourcebook per se, but they do give some detailed suggestions for runs. This part of the book is actually pretty good. It's almost like getting just the adventure synopsis from one of the old Shadowrun adventures and you fill in the blanks as a game master. Not bad for a sourcebook.

So should you get this or not? I can't tell you enough how messed up the writing is on this book. You can probably cut a good 1/3 off of the content and not miss a step. However, like I previously said, it's a good plot premise. I say get the book, but don't go out of your way to do it. Find it at a bargain price, and you're golden.