Shadowrun Fifth Edition Author: Jason M. Hardy | Language: English | ISBN:
1936876515 | Format: PDF
Shadowrun Fifth Edition Description
- Hardcover: 476 pages
- Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs; 5th edition (September 25, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1936876515
- ISBN-13: 978-1936876518
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.7 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Shadowrun 3rd edition was the last RPG I played before taking a break from the hobby for about a decade. I've now bought the SR5 core book and played a couple of sessions. My initial, cursory impressions:
As always, the Shadowrun setting is one of my favorites: a combination of cyberpunk and magic. If you're looking for Neuromancer meets Necromancer, Shadowrun is the standard. And as always, the wide variety of gear, weapons, and avenues for character improvement - cyberware, bioware, spells, foci, super-cool guns, etc. - is great. (Of course, this is also the reason SR has always appealed to powergamers, but that's another story.)
In physical terms, the core book is well put together: massive, with good artwork, slick glossy pages, fold-out art, and story insertions to provide local color. It tends to "sprawl" here and there, with information on a single topic appearing in several different areas. This is a classic element of SR sourcebook organization, so it's no surprise that it's still around, if a little toned down. However, there are too many errors. Not errata, rules that need to be changed; errors, things that should have been caught in proofreading. (Like a citation for the cost of fake IDs directing the reader to page 367 when it should be page 443.) As a former copy editor, I know that manuals are much harder to proofread than, say, novels or articles; but for that reason, good proofing is much more important, because there's less context to guide the reader. (And citation proofing is especially important in as discursive a rulebook as this.)
Shadowrun's game mechanics have always been famously (or notoriously) complex. That's both more and less true in SR5.
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