Shadowrun Books

Nyx Smith is a master at characterization and plot development. He continues to write stories that will grab your attention from you, even when you're not reading. The involvment of the yakuzza, the Japanese mob, in this book was a shock. It made for wonderful reading. It even gives the reader a little bit of cultural education.

From start to finish this book gripped me far moreso than any other SR Novel and many other books that I've read. Smith's knowledge of Japanese customs and vocabulary, in addition to the way 4 or 5 elements are brought together and found to be contributing to the main plot towards the end, as well as the tense contrast between explosive, emotional scenes and calm, focused times makes this a must read for anyone.

This was a decent enough read, but it seems like Nyx had a page limit, he hit the limit, and then he stopped the book short. The beggining was filled with detail that brought the main character (who I ended up liking even though I'm tired of the "strong female warrior" role) to life, but the end just seemed like an easy out!

It has been a while since i read this book but as a remember it had great character development, nice action sequences, and even though you guys dont think so...i really thought the ending was great. one of my favorites so far.

I was somewhat disappointed by this book. The main character was very well written and interesting. The perspective of the Japanese culture was wonderful, accurate and added more depth to the book- I'm very glad to see that Nyx did his research. However, the ending left much to be desired. Little was written about some characters who were most crucial to the plot. Far too much emphasis was placed on the main character to the point the others were drowned out. Consequently, near the ending it feels like you've missed something, as if author didn't include some vital information to complete the story. It all comes together in the last few pages, but it still left me feeling empty. The book was very enjoyable otherwise.

I love the shadowrun books. I got hooked when i was going through some old books of my dads and found the first three shadowrun books. They looked good so I read them. They have kept me on the edge of my seat but this time I fell off of my seat because it was so boring. I couldn't finish the book!

Run Hard, Die Fast is a fast paced, action packed, juice pumping, hard hitting and spine chilling book. The characters are so in depth and mysterious that i wasnt able to put the book down. This is the first book of its kind that i have read, and i dont see how they can get better. Im going to buy more Mel Odum as soon as i can.

finally a look into the enigma that is argent. and mel odem is probably the first writer for shadowrun to acctually use some of the cybertech. grade A+ work and the characters were intreaging. he has yet again been able to bring that little something that all his books have back. a must buy!!

Where to begin, I have been playing shadowrun for many years, we will leave it at that. This was the first novel I have had the pleasure to read. Not truly knowing the character of Argent, I really enjoyed the plot and team development. They were strong and well thought out. The story was great for the subject / plot of the adventure. It shouldn't be passed up. I would recommend this book and have. I look foward to reading other titles.

The plot elements were great, but the execution of these elements were poor, especially considering Mel's previous Shadowrun work. I guess the first problem was utilizing one of Nigel Findley's (RIP) most famous characters in a manner unlike before. He became a munchkinous character with too much coincidental training and unnecessary cyber for a character like he was before. Also, the irony of his mentor's situation was fantastic, but fairly useless and kind of stupid.

I must admit that i am somewhat biased about this book because i love orks and orc culture. I loved the whole book except the ending, kinda weak. still i love everything shadowrun so all n'all not a bad book. hell, charette set the whole thing off anyway huh ? how bad could it be ?

A cool tale about an average runner trying to stay alive. A good story all around.

it seems to me that the story was written to be a follow-up to his first story arc secrets of power. The characters seem to have developed and grown between the stories. It was nice to see a shadowrun author " stretch" out a story and show a different side of the characters. Hope he writes another story to continue the past four.

The main character, an Ork, is excellent. He really gives you can idea of how life is for the poor and down-trodden in Seattle. The storyline was a bit lacking.

This book did not deliver what I wanted at all. The summary of the book stated that it was supposed to give ideas for GM's to write their own adventures. However I would have liked some ideas and stats on the items that Dunkelzhan handed out in his will so I would know what my players were up against.

The will was the only good thing in the book and was NOT worth the money I paid for this book.

If you are a Shadowrun GM or a player, do yourself a favor and pass this one up since you can download the will from their website for free.

The Big "D" is dead, and he's left a will. This book sets in motion events that will guide the world of Shadowrun for years to come. As well as ahving a chapter concerning the events of Dunkelzhan's death, it has a transcript of his will (courtesy of Captian Chaos, as always). With over 200 separate entries for GM's and player alike to use, this sourcebook is unlike any other FASA has put out. It allows the PC's to be active an go out after the missions they want, instead of waiting around for Mr. Johnson to call. A must have for anyone playing Shadowrun

In _Super Tuesday_, Dunkelzahn (the only great dragon to cultivate a popular public image) became a serious candidate for the presidency of the UCAS. This book opens with the event that shaped so much of later Shadowrun history - Dunkelzahn's assassination on the night of his inauguration.

As with the other really great Shadowrun sourcebooks, this volume is organized as an electronic document from the fictional Shadowrun world, as posted at that spiritual home of shadowrunners everywhere: Shadowland. Captain Chaos (sysadmin extraordinaire) begins by posting nearly raw coverage of the assassination, then Shadowland chat (some in the form of articles by major shadowrunners like the Chromed Accountant) interspersed with backtalk, rumors, and on-line quarrels from the various folk who post to Shadowland. Lots of ideas for GMs here.

First, of course, there's the death itself, and the who-killed-Dunkelzahn theories as the murder continues to go unsolved. The primary focus of this book, though, is Dunkelzahn's last will and testament (Captain Chaos includes the full text of the bequests).

The Big D left large chunks of nuyen to found various foundations and study groups, the entire estate being administered by the new Draco Foundation under Nadia Daviar, who's gone from the Big D's mouthpiece to one of the most powerful women on the planet. The individual bequests, though, leave a lot of room for speculation and for adventures. (On occasion, the purpose of a bequest is made clear by later events; this was still happening as of the release of _Year of the Comet_, so it's still to one's advantage to get a copy of this book just to get the text of the will.)

Many of the bequests could give rise to adventures either to protect an item in transit from the Draco Foundation to the new owner (or to acquire it), such as the undiscovered da Vinci "Seraphim". Some items offer even more scope, having unspecified properties, such as the dagger Wyrmtooth (to his security advisor) or the Ring Ouroboros (to Ryumo).

Some bequests, of course, are famous: the Big D owned HUGE blocks of stock in various competing AAA megacorps through various shell companies - enough to change the balance of power in various boardrooms across the world now that the secret's out. The most notorious (at least, up to the present) gave the chief of internal security of a AAA megacorp 4 million shares and an accompanying seat on the board of directors - but of *another* AAA megacorp, a blood enemy. Other bequests include bounties on toxic shamans and practitioners of blood magic, with particular reference to Aztlan.

And, of course, there are the conditional bequests, e.g. "to the first party to find my lair in the Caucasus Mountains".

Heck, the will alone is worth the purchase price. It's followed with postings from various runners who've gotten involved with the bequests, one way and another, and the dirt they've dug up on some of the more mysterious items. (Not just outlines for how an adventure based on a bequest might be designed, but a good read.)

Has a lot of good info on spicing up those standard "there's a package in research center 4-B we want you to get" runs. Nice new info on anti-magical security and executive protection too. Good if your runs are staring to go a bit bland, but hardley a fundemental.

The corp security handbook has informtion involving corporate security that I don't believe any book has captured to date. The rules may have been republished in other newer source books, but much is lacking in the reprinted material.

Prime Runners is a detailed sourcebook of NPC's for Shadowrun GM's. The characters included in the book are well-developed, with several adventure hooks to help GM's whose creative juices may have temporarily dried up. The entries are well documented, and the Prime Terrors section in the book make great adversaries for elite shadowrunners who think they have seen it all.

This book is a collection of many colorful persons, who live and work in the Shadowrun universe. If you want to play with the best, this is the book for you. The list of occupations includes decker, rigger, organized crime, terrorist, magician, journalist and others. All of them are some of the best in their field, and they may either be on your side, or not.

The layout of this book is much like the familiar npc-description layout found in many FASA books, but more complete, with extensive character history and motivations. There are many suggestions and "rumors", that can be used as plot-devices in shadowruns. The evil terrorists are especially nice to throw in, if a shadowrun is going a little too easy for the players.

A good book for the gamemaster, but players should probably not read it.

Sure some of the new SR3 books have bits and pieces of inforamtion about the Tir in them, but this book has it all. If you are playing a campaign in the Seattle area, I really don't know how you can play without involving the Tir into the game.

Tir Tairngire is the sourcebook with _the_ lowdown on just what happens in the former state of Oregon. Politics, Economy, History, it's all there. Just when you thought it was safe to wave the humanis flag Tir Tairngire lets everyone in the awakened world that the keeb's are here and here to stay. Another quality Shadowrun product from the late great Nigel D. Findley.

If you play Shadowrun, you've got to have this book. At first glance, it seems to be just another excuse to get you to buy something, but if you're trying to figure out what's really going on in the Sixth World, the megacorp info section is worth it's weight in gold. Want to know a little more about Zurich-Orbital, corp war, the origins of Aztechnonolgy or even who Damien Knight really is? It's all here, chummers.

This is a great book to own if you are a first time player of Shadowrun. Though it has its flaws I definately reccomend getting this book. It can really give you some good ideas for runs and it has is chock full of info. Not to mention the fact that it has a lot of cool artwork.

Considering Shadowrun has hit many updates since it was first made some may look at this book as tired and old. To be honest that would be short sighted. Considering how much it costs these days and how most of the information is still pretty valid, or at the very least useful, I would say this is a good book to get for any Shadowrun player.

You get an expansion on the rules and spells that were presented in the core rules book. That includes more spells, more totems (for shamans) and most of all more ideas to better round out your character or for gamemasters to fill out their adventures. If you want the full magic picture this book is essential, even if you have the newer books.