Recommend me a few Shadowrun 4E Books

[Shades of Green]

The last time I was around in the Shadowrun community, the only SR 4E book to come out was the 4th edition core book, and, besides, I didn't have much money to buy its sourcebooks when they came out. And I know little or no about the newer (post-2006) SR 4E books.

Now I'm selling off my worn-out SR 3E collection to finance the purchase of SR 4E books. This means that soon I'll have available funds to buy a small number of SR 4E books to supplement my SR 4E core-book. If I'll have to choose, say, 3-4 Shadowrun 4E sourcebooks, which should I choose?

Note that I'm contemplating running a re-imagined version of Bug City (possibly moved to 2072 this time) as a sort of S.T.A.L.K.E.R-inspired sandbox, so the sourcebooks should fit Chicago and the Bug Spirits well.

 

[pawsplay]

I've been pretty happy with every one I've owend or even thumbed through (the Runner's Companion is on my wish list). I'd focus on stuff you can definitely use. What material specifically are you looking for? Critters? Spells? Totems?

 

[Shades of Green]

For starters, expansions of magic, including Bug Spirits, and definitely critters. Guns are secondary. Rigging and hacking would be nice.

 

[Wik]

Hm. The Runner's Companion is a good book, but it has the potential for power creep - why be a hacker when you can be an AI? Why be a mage when you can be a free spirit? And so on, and so forth.

Many of the newer 4e books really do up the ante in terms of options available to players, which leads to some of my problems I also had with 3e D&D - those who are inclined to search the books for the best options, and "shop around" will make vastly better characters than those who just use the core book. Each of the rule expansions also tend to increase the amount of processing power needed by the GM to run things, in my experience.

If I'd take my pick, I think the Armoury ("Arsenal"?) is a great starting place, as it's a bunch of gear options, without really adding complexity to the game. Great to use as a sort of "treasure book" to award PCs, without directly giving them access to it directly. It's also a must have for any rigger PC.

Street Magic is also a personal favourite, but that may be because I've always "grokked" Shadowrun Magic, whereas I've strugged with the Matrix and Rigger stuff.

 

[Shades of Green]

So, if I understand correctly, both of you are recommending Street Magic to me, so it'll definitely be on my to-buy list. Now, I need a book of critters, and maybe a book about hacking/rigging if that doesn't up the ante with complexity.

Maybe I'll be looking for a location sourcebook, maybe not.

 

[Shades of Green]

Currently I'm convinced to buy Street Magic.

Other books I'm interested in feedback on are:
Unwired
Arsenal
Running Wild
Augmentations
and MAYBE Feral Cities OR Sixth World Almanac

(I'll probably buy 2-3 out of these in addition to Street Magic)

 

[Wik]

Another product I'd recommend is the GM's screen. It doesn't come with critters (is there a 4e critter book yet?), but it does provide all those tables you're gonna need.

As I said above, Arsenal is a great book, especially for riggers. However, I'd keep it out of player hands, and use it mostly as a means to reward them for runs and stuff, and not as a source for cherry-picking.

If you're looking at the "Fluff" books, I liked Corporate Havens and Runner Enclaves. Or whatever they were called. Great pieces to read. The Runner Enclaves was slightly better, if only because Corporate Havens had a whole section on LA, which was pretty much ridiculous (imagine having to be on a run and worry about Facebook Status Updates - yeah, how lame would THAT be?). I also liked the runner book because Hong Kong just seemed so damned awesome, and would be a great place to run a campaign.

 

[Shades of Green]

So far I'm pretty sure I'll buy the following:
Street Magic
Arsenal
GM Screen

I might also buy one or two of the following:
Unwired
Running Wild
Feral Cities

Advice would be welcome.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I might also buy one or two of the following:
Running Wild
Feral Cities

If you're interested in using Chicago, which is still messed up significantly so long after Bug City (and there are still bugs there!), then you want Feral Cities as a good resource for it. I do believe that Chicago is the most-detailed city in SR, after Seattle, of course.

Running Wild has critters, normal, para-, and cyber- (feral AIs!). And lotsa stuff on funky spirits, too.

Brad

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Hm. The Runner's Companion is a good book, but it has the potential for power creep - why be a hacker when you can be an AI? Why be a mage when you can be a free spirit? And so on, and so forth.

I don't allow those in my game. I do have a fond memory of a foolish, foolish GM who allowed me to play a free spirit in one of his games. Oh, that was ridiculously OP.

Many of the newer 4e books really do up the ante in terms of options available to players, which leads to some of my problems I also had with 3e D&D - those who are inclined to search the books for the best options, and "shop around" will make vastly better characters than those who just use the core book.

I think, though, that a lot of the stuff in the splats is bringing previous gear/things back into the game from previous splats. OTOH, they do add some new stuff anyway.

I do notice that most of the really usable cyber and bioware comes straight outta the core book. Augmentation adds a lot of neat stuff, but it doesn't really invalidate the core book stuff.

Brad