Shadowrun 1st Edition To Be Reprinted

​

1988's 1st Edition of the near-future urban fantasy game Shadowrun is being reprinted, according to publisher Catalyst Game Lab who tweeted the announcement this weekend.

Shadowrun is currently on its 6th Edition, which came out in 2019. The game features a dystopian fantasy cyberpunk future with elves, trolls, dragons, cybernetics, megacorporations, and automatic weapons. Characters include technomancers, mages, and street samurai.

Coming soon, Shadowrun 1st edition reprints!Relive the classic fantasy of the Sixth World with all of the dystopian action that entails!

You can currently buy the game via print-on-demand at DriveThruRPG for $11.99.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

What a backhanded commentary on their new edition.

6 editions and they are still figuring out the rules...

There is a happy medium between the overdone rules mess they have been chasing for six editions, and Shadowrun anarchy.

It is clear now that the current IP holder will never pursue that design space.

I quite liked Shadowrun Anarchy, whether you embraced the distributed GM approach or just used it as a rules light version of Shadowrun. I was disappointed that very little was ever done to support it.

I have fond nostalgic memories of Shadowrun 1e, but remember little of the mechanical specifics beyond those warm fuzzies. I suspect that we did a fair degree of tossing out rules and minutiae like we did with D&D 1e to streamline play.

 

[kronovan]

I'll ditto the idea that a reprint of SR 2e would've been a better choice. My personal favorite edition is 3e, but I remember 2e being playable - not so much with 1e. Being a fan and consumer of the same publisher's tabletop miniatures lines, I can't say I'm surprised. Based on some of their recent decisions, I lost faith in CGL a few years ago. Maybe they'll do what WotC did with earlier editions of D&D and reprint them sequentially up to a certain edition. Unfortunately CGL has a track record of product abandonment, so I wouldn't be surprised if they deep six the whole idea of reprints if the 1e reprint sales are poor.

 

[Crusadius]

I played the heck out of 2E and bought any supplement that came out for it at the time. It was eminently playable and character creation was fast (a big plus as my characters for a time kept being.... "retired early").

 

[ngenius]

Yeah, agreed.

This will go about as well as FFG's reprint of the 1st edition of WEG Star Wars. That is still in clearance sales today. Nobody wanted that edition. Same thing here. If this were a reprint of 2e? I think people would be all over it.

Really? Do you know where? Because it sure ain't Amazon.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I'm gonna be the devil's advocate about SR 2e.

I don't think it was playable. I admit I only played one session. But in the first 5 minutes my mate, Frog the Power Gamer, broke it. He took one look at the rules and realised that, when shooting someone, the dice pool system would allow him to throw something like 12 dice (I feel it was more like 15-18 dice), looking for a TN of 2. Even with a light pistol he'd easily do Deadly+2 or more damage. Meanwhile his target/victim would be rolling, at best 6-8 dice, looking for 3's. Unless that target was a troll in heavy armour they were going down. And if it was a troll in heavy armour obviously you'd break out the HK227 with the AP rounds. Or, since Frog's character was a mage, just hit 'em with a stun bolt.

I'll be honest, I have no idea how any other aspect of the game worked, I walked away shaking my head in disappointment. I really did (and still do) want a Shadowrun that works. But we're what, 6 editions in? And still no winner. Many wieners. But no winners.

 

[Vincent55]

complexity in a system makes it hard for those who don't want to read and understand the rules and interactions and who like to play such games. There are other games for those types and they have their fans, if you try and increase the fan base while alienating the ones who were with you from the start you end up collapsing the entire house of cards at once. Better to put out a simple version and support both than it is to just cut it off and focus on one or the other. So it is good to bring back an older version and reprint it, maybe you might gain new fans of the older versions and that is good as well.

 

[Reynard]

complexity in a system makes it hard for those who don't want to read and understand the rules and interactions and who like to play such games. There are other games for those types and they have their fans, if you try and increase the fan base while alienating the ones who were with you from the start you end up collapsing the entire house of cards at once. Better to put out a simple version and support both than it is to just cut it off and focus on one or the other. So it is good to bring back an older version and reprint it, maybe you might gain new fans of the older versions and that is good as well.

RPGs are a form of art. The companies and creators should make those RPGs in a way that is consistent with their vision and their goals. If maximizing players is the goal (as it is with 5E D&D) you sacrifice vision for accessibility. But if that isn't the goal, you don't. You stick to your vision.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I'm not interested in this product in the slightest!
I already have a Shadowrun 1st ed. rulebook, in excellent condition.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Really? Do you know where? Because it sure ain't Amazon.
View attachment 336998

Fair point, I remember seeing it in Miniature Market and Gamenerdz clearance sales, but maybe that was a couple years back. This came out in 2017 and they were floating around for cheap for a long time. Though, looking on Ebay I still see sellers selling them for $35 now.

 

[Mannahnin]

That's pretty much it. While I didn't play a lot of Shadowrun back then, I was more of a Cyberpunk kid, I have some fond memories and like looking through the book. The color templates within the pages were something novel for the time, and setting a game in Seattle was kind of a neat idea. It's been more than 30 years since I last played the 1st edition of Shadowrun, so I can't quite remember what most of the problems were other than Deckers taking too long when going to the net. I really did like the priority system used for character generation and wouldn't mind seeing it in more games.

My recollection is that some of the dice pool math was borked in 1E and they improved it in 2E.