It’s the end of the world, and we’re feeling fine!

By contributing writer Michael Brown

The Shadowrun roleplaying game by Catalyst Game Labs is expected to start strong in 2013 with a supplement called “Storm Front” which, according to Thomas Willoughby, a staff writer for the Shadowrun game, is “the next stage of the ongoing meta plots. The ‘stuff-blows-up’ book.”

Willoughby also added that the new supplement will feature more on the current dragon civil war storyline, things going on in North America, and still more corporate machinations. And with December 21, 2012, the predicted Mayan date of the end of the world as well as Shadowrun’s heavy Mayan influences, the setting is promised to take an interesting turn that day according to a video Catalyst has released on their website and on YouTube.

A free MMORPG and a kickstarter project to bring the 1990’s Super Nintendo Shadowrun video game back to life as a PC game are also in production, so it looks like the future of Shadowrun may not be so bleak after all. – At least for its fans.

– 30 –

Like its game world, Shadowrun had a bleak future itself until being rescued by Catalyst, who have been publishing game material at a rapid pace and developing plot after overarching plot, one of the most well loved features of Shadowrun that goes back to its days at FASA. The world of Shadowrun has seen its first dragon president, the assassination of the same and the aftermath, the chaotic return of Halley’s Comet, a dragon civil war, and the usual corporate machinations. And brave shadowrunners have the ability to affect these events and the world around them.

Originally set in the year 2050, Shadowrun’s setting has advanced 24 years and nowtakes place in 2074. Corporations have the same powers as foreign countries and largely can’t be touched. The world’s climate and landscape have changed, the most drastic being North America.

The United States has split into several other countries. The Southern states have once again seceded and formed the Confederated American States. Canada’s provinces have joined with the Northern states to create the United Canadian and American States. A Native American uprising has resulted in the creation of the Native American Nations.

Technology has advanced in huge leaps, allowing people to graft cyberware on their bodies. Computer users can now go into the worldwide communications grid known as the Matrix (which came before the movie by the same name) in virtual reality and aren’t limited by keyboards and wires.

Add to that the Mayan prophecy of magic returning to the world, bringing elves, dwarves, orks, trolls, and other creatures of myth to reality and things get even more crazy. In this future, you play a shadowrunner. A criminal for hire. A deniable asset. One corporation needs to steal a prototype from another corporation? They hire you and your team, if the pay is good.

Since its release over two decades ago, Shadowrun has been a cult favorite with roleplaying game fans across the globe. Originally published by FASA in 1989, the Dystopian future where magic meets man and machine has gone through four editions and almost as many publishers. But the Cyberpunk/Fantasy hit lives on and refuses to die, thanks to its faithful fans and loyal game designers who are determined to keep it alive.

-10-

Links

Shadowrun Official Site

Catalyst Game Labs