What is Shadowrun > Game Resources

It can be hard to wrap one’s head around the long history of, major players in, changing politics, and general world-building that goes into Shadowrun. As a game which blends science fiction and fantasy, it’s often hard to find media which helps explain or inspire the setting as well. Here is my attempt to help players find the resources they want or need to get in the mood to roll some Sixth World dice.

Mechanics-Related Content

  • Complex Action – a short, topic-by-topic breakdown of Shadowrun mechanics. Exceptionally useful when you want to brush up on the rules for a specific scenario, maneuver, or action

  • Corporate SINS – a brief playlist focusing on mechanics, a spinoff of the live-play below

  • The Player’s Guide to Foundry – this video is a great reference for players new to the Foundry virtual table top platform

  • Deviant Ollam – a real-world penetration tester and professional breaker-into-things, he covers the many ways social engineering and quick thinking (along with a few tools) can help exploit a building’s weaknesses. Definite skills for Shadowrunners to have

Setting and World-Building

  • The Neo-Anarchist’s Guide – an in-character podcast that covers the major world events from 1990 to 2075 and beyond, hosted by a Raven shaman anarch (of course)

  • The Sixth World – a YouTube guide to the ins and outs of life in the 21st century

Live-Play Content

  • Corporate SINS – five “heroes” find themselves quickly in over their head. The GM is highly skilled at navigating Shadowrun’s rules and the characters are all memorable. Very highly recommended (YouTube, two seasons)

  • Shadowrun PRIME – players playing Shadowrun for the first time, with a focus on mechanics (podcaast)

  • Crit Squad – what starts as a live-play starts becoming a narrative drama as the characters grow to know one another. Highly, highly recommended (podcast, two seasons)

Music to get you in the Mood

  • Aim 2 Head – honestly I wrote most of this campaign while listening to these producers and their release mixes. Many styles, all nicely organized by genre/mood

  • The Glitch Mob – when I wasn’t listening to A2H, it was these guys who filled my airwaves

  • Neon Void – creating live looping sets near-daily, this DJ and their atmospheric, cyberpunk sound have taken off hugely in the past year

Movies to Inspire

  • Ronin – my hands-down, go-to recommendation for heist films. The movie is all about logistics, planning, double-crosses, and the shadowy world of “deniable assets”. Stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno. (Drama, Action)

  • Heat – a cops-vs-robbers story in the modern day, this story focuses on the competing interests of a professional crew and the cops which track them. Stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. (Drama, Action)

  • Mute – a look into the near future, and why some may try to eschew the technological future others embrace. Stars Alexander Skarsgård. (Action)

  • Anon – an amazingly well-told story about life under constant supervision and what it means for people who want to slip between governmental oversight. Stars Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried. (Drama, Mystery)

  • Free Fire – not every one you meet in the shadows has your best interests at heart, or is playing fair. A great example of fencing gear gone bad. Stars Brie Larson. (Action, Comedy)

  • Blade Runner – do I really need to describe this classic? Also very worth watching is its sequel, “Blade Runner 2049”, which expands on the theme of “what is it to be human?”

  • Hotel Artemis – what would life be like for a street doc working for, between, and beneath organized crime? Stars Jodie Foster. (Drama, Action)

  • Total Recall – the remake does a great job of showing life in a world not too dissimilar from places in Shadowrun, including corporate greed, technology overreach, and more. Stars Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale. (Action)

  • Strange Days – everyone’s partying at the end of the millennium, and there’s some bad simsense crime going on in the streets. Stars Ralph Finnes. (Action)

(there are so, so many more. Most noir-era films work for great character and story inspiration, recent movies like Upgrade which focus on technology getting out of hand, classic sci-fi like Johnny Mnemonic, and much of the Ghost in the Shell franchise for post-modern technology. There’s less diversity for modern fantasy, also called “magical realism,” but I’m sure great examples exist)