Our shippers are closed for holidays December 18, 2014 until January 2nd, 2015. Your orders will continue to process but will not ship until their return.

Thanks for your orders and enjoy games through the holidays!

Catalyst

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!

Shadowrun: Crossfire is in the wilds, being played and enjoyed by thousands of gamers. Not only has it had great critical acclaim, but it’s rapidly selling out of its first print run; we’re already lining up a second printing, and the first Mission Pack!

With all of that excitement in mind—alongside the wonderful campaign nature of the game in earned karma and stickers—we’re announcing a Create a Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission Contest.

If you love the Shadowrun world and Shadowrun: Crossfire and have a story you’d like to tell, here’s your chance to get in on this action! Design your own mission to have a chance to win!

How do I design a Mission? Well, first of all, play and/or review the three Missions that come with the Crossfire game. Then check out the free Missions we’ve released as PDFs (at the bottom of that page): Ambulators, Close The Portal, and the just releasing now alongside this announcement Into The Ork Underground. All six demonstrate the wide range of experiences you can build for a Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission. And, of course, follow the rules outlined below.

Contest Details:

1. All submissions must use the Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission Template (download the template). All submissions become the exclusive property of Catalyst Game Labs.

2. Anyone can submit a Mission and you may submit any number of unique Missions. At shadowruntabletop.com, under the Shadowrun Play section of the forums, in the Shadowrun: Crossfire section, a new thread called Crossfire Mission Contest Submissions has been added for this contest.

3. There are three categories:

i. Fan Favorite
This will be voted on not by Catalyst, but by the community (see 7., below).

Voters should look at the mechanics, challenge, and storytelling of a Mission and select which one provides the most enjoyable overall experience.

ii. Wildest Ride
This will be voted on not by Catalyst, but by the community (see 7., below).

This category is all about the unexpected. The Mission still needs to be fun and challenging, of course, but it’s the sideways twists in the middle of the Mission taking people by surprise that’ll win this slot.

iii. Inclusion In Official Organized Play
That’s right, we’ll soon be announcing all the details of the Shadowrun: Crossfire Organized Play that we’ll be rolling out in 2015. And one or more of you could have your Mission published and mailed to participating stores as part of the Shadowrun: Crossfire Organized Play program!

The decision for these winners will be made by Catalyst Game Labs, as well as the game designer luminaries that created Crossfire: Mike Elliot, Gregory Marques, Rob Heinsoo and more!

If there are submitted Missions we choose to include in our Organized Play, the author(s) will be contacted by Catalyst Game Labs directly. The author(s) will be required to sign a standard Catalyst Game Labs author contract and will be paid for their work at our standard rate and payment terms; the author(s) will also receive a free copy of their Mission. The contract must be signed before we can include the work in the Organized Play standard development/editorial process, just as with any other written work published by Catalyst Game Labs.

While we’ll work directly with the winner(s) to ensure their vision remains as much as possible within the Mission, it also must meet our normal criteria and pass through our normal processes.

5. While we’d encourage submissions be posted directly to the forum thread noted above, we understand that may not be possible for some. Submissions will also be accepted at randall@catalystgamelabs.com, subject line: Create A Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission Contest.

6. This contest will run until November 30th. The community has until that time to post their submissions, at which time the thread will be locked.

7. While Catalyst Game Labs reserves the final say on those Missions accepted into the Organized Play, the community will choose the Fan Favorite and Wildest Ride categories, as noted above.

From November 30 to December 30th, the community can playtest all posted Missions and then post their choices for the Fan Favorite and Wildest Ride categories.

All questions surrounding this contest should be sent to randall@catalystgamelabs.com.

Those are the details…can’t wait to see what curve balls you runners throw!