All right, so last night I ran a game of Shadowrun at a con and came home and a fever slapped me hard and laid me out good. I meant to be awake, but my body instead insisted that I be horizontal and blanket-wrapped. So when our intrepid layout guy released two new books into the wilds of the internet last night, I was deep into fever dreams where text was coming alive and changing right before me, even though the book I was reading had already been printed. It was annoying.
But really, if we look at the parts of the headline to care about, the whole “two new Shadowrun books released” is a whole lot more interesting than the crap about the line developer having a little cold, so let’s get to the good stuff. The first of the two books is an e-book called Aetherology (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG), your guide to the wild and wacky metaplanes of the Sixth World. Seriously, I think reviewing this book totally got my brain in the right place for the aforementioned fever dreams to develop. Here’s the full rundown (and make sure you pay attention to the last part, where it says this book works with both Fifth and Fourth Editions!):
Stretch Your Reality
There are waking dreams, there are active hallucinations, there are feverish visions that cannot be classified. And then there are the metaplanes, an adrenaline-fused combination of all of these, and more. Everything you dream of, everything you fear, everything beautiful and everything grotesque can be found out there. If you travel to the planes, you may lose your life, lose your mind, or if you’re lucky, just lose your way. But you may find hidden secrets of magic and perhaps make powerful allies. It’ll be a change from everyday life in the sprawls of the Sixth World, but may well be worth it. Are you ready for something entirely different?
Aetherology offers a grand tour of many metaplanes—the wild, the weird, the dangerous, and the everything in between. Prepare for mind-bending journeys to alternate realms of existence and the opportunity to encounter a new host of dangerous spirits and creatures. With rules on astral phemonena and new powers for the critters detailed in the book, Aetherology offers a whole new twist to your Shadowrun games.
Aetherology is dual-statted, meaning the spirits and creatures inside can be used in both Shadowrun, Fifth Edition and Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
Then we have London Falling (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG), the latest in the ongoing series of convention mission compilations. You can buy the e-book now, or pre-order the print book! Want four adventures that can be linked into a campaign, with all the dual-statted game information you need? Then look here:
Smoke & Shadows
London—where the thick fog (sounds nicer than smog, doesn’t it) makes for some truly deep shadows. Every crooked street, every cramped building holds a secret or two, as well as a person or two who will go to great lengths to ensure those secrets are kept. There is, for instance, the dark secret of a minor noble who has not been seen in Parliament in months. And the researcher who has a startlingly large amount of people interested in his work. The courier who carries one secret in his head and another in his gut. And an explosive secret that has been festering in the West End Underplex for years or even decades.
Skilled runners have the chance to uncover these secrets and more, but they’d better be ready for the forces of the world that would prefer to keep things covered up. They are tenacious, dangerous, and, perhaps most surprising for England, not at all polite.
London Falling features four adventures for Shadowrun set in London. Initially designed especially for gaming conventions, these adventures are now available to all players who want to dive in and see if they can survive the challenges of the Big Smoke. London Falling has stats that allow it to be compatible for both Shadowrun, Fifth Edition and Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
So that’s what’s available, just in time for Cyber Monday! Enjoy!
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