Author Archives: jhardy

The Shadows in Focus: Sioux Nation series continues forward! With previous books focusing on the Sioux Nation as a whole and the city of Cheyenne, we now have a new adventure that will plunge runners into a tumultuous family and political feud that could have repercussions for millions of Sioux Nation residents–and plenty of people beyond those borders. The adventure is called Starving the Masses (Battlecorps, DriveThruRPG)–here’s the full summary:

A Half-Step from Chaos

If there’s anything shadowrunners have learned over and over again, it’s that the veneer of civilization coating much of the world is extremely thin (in the Barrens, of course, it’s non-existent). There are so many tensions in the Sixth World that altering the delicate balances just a hair or two can bring chaos and conflict to areas that had previously managed to scrape together a peaceful appearance.

If you want to cause that chaos, all that’s needed is a little gentle pressure on one of the essential arteries that keeps civilization alive. And no artery is as susceptible to this pressure as the food supply.

Stripped of a lucrative position and exiled from his family, Theo Two-Hearts has a score to settle, and he’s going to take it out on the entire Sioux Nation. Like many vengeance-minded people before him, he’s turned to shadowrunners to do his dirty work. If they sign on to his plan, they’re going to confront some of the toughest forces the Sioux Nation can throw at them. The first bit of chaos they create will rain down on them—if they survive, much more will follow.

Starving the Masses is an adventure that is part of the Shadows in Focus: Sioux Nation series for Shadowrun, Fifth Edition. It can be played alone, or the Sioux Nation and Cheyenne books can be used to add more richness and details to a challenging run!

[Note that this blog post is being dictated, as Mr. Hardy felt typing posed too great a challenge.]

I don’t … I just can’t … there’s ponies. Ponies and Amish. And they’re all thrown together and statted out. Statted! Stats for ponies!

The world used to make sense to me. Mr. Johnson … he wore a suit.  And he screwed you over good, and you took it! And yeah, there was gunfire and grenades and spells raining down all over, but it all worked! But now, now you kids with your Tumbles and your Instant Grahams and your, and your …

[unintelligible]

… couldn’t hold a candle to even one of Betty Grable’s legs! What was I talking about?

This adventure. Yeah. Did you see the cover? I didn’t know hallucinogens that strong even existed. Holy freakin’ cow dung on skateboard. You should see it. Gaze upon the madness. Gaze!

And here’s where it gets horrible, where my reality and my nightmares twist into some terrible pretzel of madness. I have that horse! On the cover. She’s in my house!

It’s just … I can’t … I can’t think about this. So take it. Take your adventure with the ponies and Amish and war buggies, and you go play it. It’s a Mission, they tell me! It’s real, they tell me! Do what you want with it. I gotta lie down.

SMH2015-01 Friendship Is Tragic

I had a convention to attend and other business keeping me busy this week, which meant I didn’t keep up with the full pace of Shadowrun releases this week. But with all the stuff coming out, how could I? Let’s run it down.

First, for you Shadowrun fiction fans, we have a new novella by acclaimed author Jennifer Brozek. Among her many credits include writing some of the much-praised dialogue for Shadowrun Returns as well stories in Shadowrun, Fifth Edition and Seattle 2072, so she is an experienced Shadowrun hand. Her new work is called DocWagon 19 (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG, Amazon), and here’s the rundown:

The Life of a Lifesaver

DocWagon—saviors of the needy, rescuers of the desperate. Willing to go anywhere, rescue anyone, as long as that “anyone” has forked out enough advance cash to justify the effort.

Reporter Amelia Hart has embedded herself with a DocWagon team to see what their life is really like, and she’s in for a wild ride. From an OD’ing celebrity to an aggressive team of hackers, from pesky gangs to an extremely rich and powerful client teetering at death’s door, this night will give the team all they can handle. But will they survive long enough to remember that in the Sixth World, nothing is truly random?

Full of memorable characters and rich Sixth World flavor, DocWagon 19 is a thrilling ride with the people struggling to save lives in a sprawl with a million ways to make people dead. Strap in, hold on, crank up the siren, and get ready for a crazy ride-along through the full chaos of the Shadowrun setting.

We also have a new Mission for you! The latest in the Chicago-set Missions, SRM 05-05: While the City Sleeps is now on sale and ready to take all comers (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG)! Here’s the story:

It took a while, but the third adventure in the Boardroom Backstabs series, entitled The Battle of Manhattan, is now available for print-pre-order and PDF purchase (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG)! It can be part of a corporate-themed campaign, but it also stands alone as its own adventure. It’s a wild ride, with in-flight shenanigans, on-the-ground rolling combat, and more! Shadowrun teams will need to keep their wits about them and use every skill at their disposal to get through this one, but there’s plenty of fun and nuyen waiting for them if they can hold on. And it’s dual-statted, meaning it can be used by players of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition and Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition. To whet your appetite a little more, here’s the book’s back-cover copy: