Shadowrun is one of the PnP RPGs dating back to the 80s, when PnP was in its prime. For those who don't know, PnP means "Pen and Paper"- a game played with character sheets and dice, like Dungeons and Dragons. The Shadowrun series, though not as well known as AD&D, was nevertheless popular enough to spawn a multitude of novels and three video games, one for the Genesis, one for the SNES, and one for the Sega CD (the latter was never released in the states).

Each of the CRPGs made covered the Shadowrun universe with attention to different details. The SNES version involved a full immersion in the universe- the buildings LOOM, rising high into the sky and casting the streets into shadow, while the storyline covered intricate details of the Shaman's craft such as the constant search for seemingly mundane items to attain new power. You can access the shrine -here-.

The Genesis version, OTOH, focuses on the bigger picture- the actual life of a professional Shadowrunner. It is this version that comes the closest to capturing the PnP experience, with the ability to customize your character, explore an enormous gaming world (you almost certainly WILL be lost the first time you enter the Salish-Sidhe), meet all sorts of people in both predetermined locations and in random encounters, and- and it is HERE that this game truly shines- take Shadowruns, randomly generated "quests" to earn Karma(XP) and Nuyen(GP), which are as involved as any of the preconceived quests seen in other games, be it "take item A from location B to location C," to "break into heavily guarded location X and rescue Y."

Unless you jump on the cheat codes first thing (and thereby miss out on all the real fun), you can expect 40+ hours, EASILY, just on these Shadowruns- never mind the main plot. So choose your archetype and run the shadows... will you be a futuristic Samurai with cybernetic blades and a finely crafted weapon from Heckler and Koch? A Decker with a souped up Cyberdeck jamming through the Matrix and making Kevin Mitnick look like the callers in the customer support horror tales? Or a Shaman wielding awesome magics in the palm of your hand?

Created and Maintained by:

Shadowrun © 1994

FASA Corp.