Is/was Shadowrun the most widely played cyberpunk RPG?

Mostlyjoe · February 17, 2016, 06:53:59 PM

Shadowrun was kinda it's own thing. Cyber enough, but it really didn't scratch the itch compared to full body conversions, etc. The whole essence thing kinda mehhed me.

That said, Shadowrun was fun, if cumbersome.

I migrated from Cyberpunk 2020 to Gurps Cyberpunk games. Then...well the genre kinda died out after the late 90's mecha game craze.

I was using Tri-State for some cyberstuff before the market dried up.

Shadowrun in some fashion just kept chugging along.

danbuter · February 17, 2016, 07:56:50 PM

I was playing Shadowrun when it was first released. I'd never even heard of Cyberpunk 2020 until the late 90s when I saw it on the internet.

Shadowrun was in Waldenbooks, and that's what got me to notice it.

Omega · February 17, 2016, 11:18:21 PM

Quote from: danbuter;879673I was playing Shadowrun when it was first released. I'd never even heard of Cyberpunk 2020 until the late 90s when I saw it on the internet.

Shadowrun was in Waldenbooks, and that's what got me to notice it.

This is probably the biggest advantage Shadowrun had. Marketing. They were all over at conventions and on book shelves. While Talsorian was sometimes nearly a cypher as to what they had out.

On the other hand Cyberpunk spawned one of the most popular CCGs after Magic. But then that was a collaboration with WOTC and a rocky one at that. Whereas Shadowruns CCG is pretty much forgotten. And Netrunner was recently re-released as a non-CCG by FFG and took off again while Shadowruns new card game is again mostly forgotten.

Itachi · February 18, 2016, 04:35:46 AM

Omega, the new Netrunner has no connection with Cyberpunk 2020.

Shawn Driscoll · February 18, 2016, 04:44:14 AM

In my neck of the woods, each edition of Shadowrun saw less play of the game. Fans were just buying the books as collectors (cool art inside!). Cyberpunk as a whole was becoming boring for most players. GURPS and 2020 were early casualties. You could count the number of good cyberpunk novels on one hand. Steampunk was more popular by far soon after.

Omega · February 18, 2016, 05:00:55 AM

Quote from: Itachi;879770Omega, the new Netrunner has no connection with Cyberpunk 2020.

Did I say it did?

The FFG Netrunner is the original Netrunner with all the Cyberpunk 2020 refferences removed and shifted to FFGs Android setting.

Shipyard Locked · February 18, 2016, 06:46:36 AM

Quote from: Shawn DriscollCyberpunk as a whole was becoming boring for most players. GURPS and 2020 were early casualties. You could count the number of good cyberpunk novels on one hand. Steampunk was more popular by far soon after.

Again, the dominance of fantasy elements over science elements, even in how we interpret technology.

Quote from: Omega;879774The FFG Netrunner is the original Netrunner with all the Cyberpunk 2020 refferences removed and shifted to FFGs Android setting.

And the Android setting, tellingly, has a setting book* but no actual RPG. Perhaps Fantasy Flights evaluated the feasibility of a straight cyberpunk RPG and decided it wasn't worth it. Which is sad. (Or maybe not, perhaps it would have been another funky-dice nightmare.)

* https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/the-worlds-of-android/
Notice how the tagline is "The World Changed, people did not," and they double down on that point in the marketing copy - not even the courage to fully embrace the transhumanism inherent in up-to-date cyberpunk.

Omega · February 18, 2016, 07:06:50 AM

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;879786And the Android setting, tellingly, has a setting book* but no actual RPG. Perhaps Fantasy Flights evaluated the feasibility of a straight cyberpunk RPG and decided it wasn't worth it. Which is sad. (Or maybe not, perhaps it would have been another funky-dice nightmare.)

Part of that may be a slight to Talsorian as the collaboration with WOTC was not exactly an amiable one. Excising anything CP2020 related was the only way Garriot could have sold the game to FFG and still retain the general feel.

That is though all irrelevant to weather or not a pure cyberpunk setting is feasable. Moreso because there are several different views on what cyberpunk even is. Just because it hasnt taken off doesnt mean its not viable. WOTCs DeathNet could have taken off if they had spun it off into its own book. Or not.

Shawn Driscoll · February 18, 2016, 07:39:11 AM

What year is wi-fi invented in Shadowrun? I seem to remember much groaning when players bought old editions of the setting.

Willie the Duck · February 19, 2016, 07:30:46 AM

What year in continuity, or as in what edition and its published year?

Omega · February 19, 2016, 07:56:15 AM

According to a friend who loves Shadowrun. The edition where they introduce wireless wasnt all that great due to some issue with how wireless was used?

What was so bad about it?

Shawn Driscoll · February 19, 2016, 02:01:13 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;879971What year in continuity, or as in what edition and its published year?

What year in the setting. Thus, the groaning part.

Omega · February 19, 2016, 04:30:02 PM

I believe they advanced the story 10 years when wi-fi was introduced. After the events of Dunkelzahns apparent demise? That was 2057? So probably some time after that in the timeline?

Apparition · February 19, 2016, 11:54:43 PM

The wireless Matrix kicked in in 2070.

crkrueger · February 20, 2016, 12:13:05 AM

Wireless was a thinly veiled attempt at giving hackers combat relevance, because they could hack vehicles, cyberware, everything.

Makes perfect sense if your natural response to the second crash of the global network would be to make everything on earth plug into the third iteration of the matrix wirelessly thus eliminating the one last security feature you had. :rolleyes: