I can summon monsters

Seriously. I can. I know, it’s late right now, and maybe I’m not thinking clearly, but here’s the deal–I typed something, innocently, into Facebook. Something my toddler daughter said about pandas that was nonsense. She said “Pandas like to blow up fire.” Really, she said that. And I thought it was cute and funny, but that was it. But then this panda creature that blows up fire (whatever that means) came across my screen as a whole illustration–a pandamander.

PamanderSo great. I knew what it looked like. But what does it do? More importantly, how could I use it in Shadowrun game terms?

I didn’t have to wonder for long. Soon, this arrived:

Pandamander-2

It’s clear, then. With the work I have been doing on the upcoming critter book, Howling Shadows, I have gained the ability to summon new beasts out of thin air. Either that, or I know some really creative, really weird people who do things when whims strike them. Which is also good.

h/t to Kat Hardy and Jackson Brunsting

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Shadowrun Missions: Killing Pawn PDF Available

The next Shadowrun Mission is available (BattleShop, DriveThruRPG)!

Shadowrun Prime Mission 001

Shadowrun Prime Mission 001

    There are certain things shadowrunners know. They know Mr. Johnson will not tell you everything. They know sometimes the things you don’t know can kill you. And they know that one of the keys to survival is staying one step ahead of the opposition—or, in times when you are working for a devious Mr. Johnson, not falling too many steps behind.

    The corporate enclave of Manhattan is the scene for some high-stakes manipulation that will test just how skilled shadowrunners are. Killing Pawn is a Prime Mission, a higher-level challenge designed for characters that have already triumphed in a large number of regular Missions and are ready for something tougher. Runners will have to think fast and shoot even faster if they want to come out ahead in this game—or at least not get captured in the first few moves.

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Market Panic and Serrated Edge now out! What are they? Read on!

It seems like it’s about time to have some new Shadowrun releases, doesn’t it? I mean, besides the awesome news about electronic versions of classic novels. How about two new books That’s right, two books are now available for available for PDF purchase and print pre-order. First, we have the corporate sourcebook for Shadowrun, Fifth Edition –it’s called Market Panic (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG), and it’s your guide to the plots and plans the Big Ten are hatching as they scramble for that elusive extra billion nuyen. We also have a new adventure for you called Serrated Edge (Battleshop, DriveThruRPG). Set in Denver, it gives you the chance to expose some wolf in sheep’s clothing–and put in motion events that will shake up the Sixth World! But let’s take them one at a time.

First is Market Panic, with detailed info on each member of the Big Ten, plus a look into the life of a corp drone and the machinations of the Corporate Court:

PAIN POINTS

Chaos is horrible for business—unless your business is shadowrunning. The Big Ten megacorporations of the Sixth World are reeling, with scandals, disasters, and crippling attacks coming at them from all angles. NeoNET is scrambling to maintain AAA status, Ares is trying not to let the secret rot at the heart of the corp become public, while Aztechnology, fresh from taking on a dragon in Amazonia, is looking at a facedown with another great dragon. And that’s not all—every corp is a pile of schemes, turmoil, upheaval, and teetering chaos, because that’s how they operate.

Market Panic runs down the state of the Big Ten for Shadowrun, providing the background, story developments, and plot hooks players and gamemasters need to add excitement, intrigue, and Sixth World flavor to their adventures and campaigns. If you’re going to run for or against the big megacorporations—and that includes all shadowrunners—this is critical information to have so you know what you might get thrown into, who you’re going up against, and how you might obtain enough intel to survive. Market Panic is for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition.

MarketPanicCover

Next up is Serrated Edge, everything you need for a hot time in the Sixth World’s leading city of intrigue and espionage, Denver:

SCALPEL OF HATE

The Sixth World is many things, including a stunning series of case studies on the mechanisms of hate. There are some true experts out there, people who know that just walking up to someone or something you don’t like and throwing a solid punch is satisfying, but nowhere near as satisfying as causing destruction that runs deep and lasts forever.

The Aurora Warrens of Denver hold a dark secret, as some people trusted to help its residents are instead giving full rein to their darkest impulses. Shadowruuners typically are not heroes riding in to save the day, but in this case the work they’re being offered gives them a chance to dig into these secrets, perhaps fix some of them, and maybe even bring a few people to justice—however they happen to define justice. With dark secrets, double-crosses, and plenty of nuyen flying around, Serrated Edge gives players plenty of chaos to keep up with while launching them into a series of adventures that will shake up the city of spies and maybe bring about a better future. Or curse it to worse.

Serrated Edge is an adventure for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition.

SerratedEdgeCover

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SHADOWRUN & BATTLETECH LEGENDS FICTION RETURNS

From the moment Decision at Thunder Rift published in 1986 for BattleTech and Into The Shadows published in 1990 for Shadowrun, novels became an integral part of each universe. Unfolding a living arrow of time where the universe changed and progressed, while also presenting different sides of each story: all the shades of grey.

Over one hundred and thirty novels published across two decades for these two phenomenal settings, with well over two million copies of BattleTech novels alone having been sold worldwide in over ten different languages: BattleTech is one of the largest, longest-running science fiction universes. In some countries, they have outsold prominent licensed literary properties such as Star Trek and Star Wars.

Now, after many years of work by Topps Company, Inc., Loren Coleman and the dozens and dozens of authors who contributed their skills to the skein of amazing stories woven through BattleTech and Shadowrun, we’re ecstatic to announce the return of these Legends as we begin rolling them out in epub, available across a wide spectrum of digital venues:

The first releases, available right now, are:
Never-Deal-With-A-Dragon
SHADOWRUN

  • Never Deal With a Dragon: Secrets of Power #1 (Robert Charrette): $0.99
  • Choose Your Enemy Carefully: Secrets of Power #2 (Robert Charrette): $2.99
  • Find your Own Truth: Secrets of Power #3 (Robert Charrette): $4.99
  • Order from: BattleCorps, DriveThruFiction, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Kobo (some sites may take some time to propagate appropriately). [We’ve a Legends (E-Pub Fiction) page where all of these will be posted for ease of review.]

    Also, don’t forget that Shadowrun has over a half-dozen, brand new print novels, with more action on the way!

    WolvesontheBorder
    BATTLETECH

  • Wolves on the Border (Robert Charrette): $0.99
  • Wolf Pack (Robert Charrette): $2.99
  • Highlander Gambit (Blaine Lee Pardoe): $4.99
  • Main Event (Jim Long): $4.99
  • Double Blind (Loren Coleman): $4.99
  • Binding Force (Loren Coleman): $4.99
  • Order from: BattleCorps, DriveThruFiction, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo (some sites may take some time to propagate appropriately). [We’ve a Legends (E-Pub Fiction) page where all of these will be posted for ease of review.]

    To celebrate the return of these Legends several epubs for each line have newly commissioned covers; the remaining book covers will be a combination of new and pulled from the archives.

    Additionally, this is obviously just the tip of the iceberg. On a regular schedule we’ll be rolling out the entire Shadowrun and BattleTech Legends!

    The first two epubs for each universe include a fantastic introductory price. It’s never been a better time to return to these brilliant novels, or dive in for the first time. Spread the word!

    BT Embers of War
    BATTLETECH: EMBERS OF WAR PRINT PRE-ORDER/EPUB AVAILABLE
    Last year we announced the return of BattleTech print fiction in Embers of War and it was available in a limited printing for Gen Con 2015. The release of this book was pushed back for a variety of reasons, including creating a new co-branding for the cover design, as well as coordinating with the return of the Legends.

    The time is now to grab your epub copy, as well as preorder your print copy of Embers of War, the first new, novel-length print BattleTech fiction in seven years!

      For Ezra Payne and the Stealthy Tiger mercenaries, professionalism is everything. Hired to assist in the bitter, bloody fighting on the planet Hall, they quickly earn a decisive victory for their employer. They settle afterward in for a needed period of rebuilding, and a few months’ peace before moving on to the next contract.

      But their respite does not last. More mercenaries, hired by the Allied Mercenary Command itself, land on Hall. They believe the Tigers’ employer to be league with the Word of Blake, a shadowy interstellar organization that worships technology, and which has been building its own empire among the worlds around Terra.

      The Tigers want nothing of this battle, but war rages across the Inner Sphere. The hard-fought cease-fire cannot last, even on Hall, and when every faction is embittered and fueled by fervor, peace has no chance at all.

      As a new conflict erupts, will the Stealthy Tigers’ BattleMechs be enough to save them? Or will the looming threat of renewed war engulf them in its fiery embrace?

    Order from: BattleCorp or DriveThruFiction.

    Or Pre-Order the Epub/Print combo from BattleCorps.com

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