(An explanation of the items in each book review can be found here.)
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Release: 1994 (?)
Authors: Paul E. Buchanan, James Cueno, Jani Fikouras, Mike Goldberg, Scott Harders, Erik Jameson, Dave Jordan, Rin Parks, James Prier, Brandon Riddle, Michael Ruane, Shadow, Brion Waters
Editors: Erik Jameson, Michael Ruane & Scott Harders
URL: unknown — please mail gurth@xs4all.nl if you know
Pages: 55
File Size: 157 kB (Word for Macintosh 5.1)
Sections: Credits, Table of Contents, Appendix A, Appendix B
Overview: Edge Runners is a kind of reply to FASA's Prime Runners, whose characters were deemed ¬ tough enough& by Erik Jameson. As a result, this book contains high-powered (some of them very high-powered) characters that were actually being used as player characters — rather than as NPCs — by the authors at the time the book was being written. If you want strong characters to oppose your PCs, and can't be bothered to make some up yourself, this is a good book to track down. It's not really one you absolutely need to have as part of your Shadowrun collection, though.
Notes: This book was re-worked into NERPS: Edge Runners in 1996, for which characters were added, but none were removed.
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Release: 1998
Authors: Paddy, Wbaer & Martin Hocke
URL: http://home.t-online.de/home/ewagner.speyer/index.htm
Pages: 77
File Size: 20.4 MB (RTF)
Sections: Intro, Arms, Equipment, Vehicles, Thaumaturgy, Critters, Archetypes, News, Outro
Overview: The first thing I have to say about this file is that it's too bloody big. 20.4 MB, reduced to 4.33 MB when zipped, is simply too much for a net.sourcebook. The second thing many people might notice is that its layout is almost a straight copy of the Plastic Warriors doc Running Gear; this is okay, Paddy asked permission for this, but I didn't expect him to copy it as closely as he did — I mean, even the ego pics are done in the same way...
Anyway, you're not hear to read that, I guess, so let's get on with the review :) The file isn't all that bad, really. It has lots of new melee weapons and some ranged weapons, a bunch of useful pieces of equipment (and some daft ones, too), a little bit of cyber- and bioware, vehicles (with Rigger Black Book stats only). The next chapter adds physical adept abilities, a few new magical traditions (like "stone adepts," who've apparently spent their lifetime studying rocks; I thought those were called geologists...). This chapter also has data for the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, I guess in case you want to end the Sixth World ahead of schedule :) Furthermore there are quite a few spells, which range from good to absurd ("Just Shut Up"?!) to munchkinous and anything in-between. Critters and some archetypes round out the book.
To tell the truth, I would file this book under "nice, but work on it a bit more." The idea behind the book is good, but the execution leaves something to be desired; with some things the authors apparently didn't know when to stop adding more of the same, while with some others they had good ideas but failed to work them out to their full potential. I doubt this is a book that many people will leave in one piece — although I don't normally do this with books I download, I'm very tempted to remove a fair number of items before I print it out for my own use...
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Release: 1997
Author: BulletShower
URL: http://www.cip.fak14.uni-muenchen.de/~nmatausc
Pages: 73
File Size: 1.41 MB (Microsoft Word 6.0/95)
Sections: Cyberware, Bodyware, Cyberweapons, Chipware, Biotech, Equipment, Powered Armor, Weapons, Vehicles, Computers & Matrix, Services, Neo-Anarchist's Guide To The MSP Metroplex, New Skills, Corporations
Overview: This is a Shadowrun conversion of the Information Overload net.sourcebooks for Cyberpunk 2020, which were edited by Superdan (web site: att2.cs.mankato.msus.edu/~superdan/). BulletShower made a somewhat unofficial conversion (seeing as how Dan appears not to reply to email when asked about converting his work to Shadowrun) and thereby has made available a whole load of useful items to Shadowrun characters. Most of the equipment is either handy or fun to have for your character, although there are some items which make you think "what on EARTH is this good for?!" but this is often the case with some Cyberpunk 2020 equipment, and is part of the fun of that game, really :) Anyway, since it's a net.sourcebook the gamemaster can easily edit out anything he or she doesn't want the other players to have access to before printing out the file, so this is not something that should stop you from downloading the file. Layout of the file is pretty good, which makes it easy to use, another plus point.
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Release: 1997
Author: James W. Lindsay
URL: unknown — please mail gurth@xs4all.nl if you know
Pages: 44
File Size: 549 kB (RTF)
Sections: Vehicle Stats, Vehicle Control Rigs, Sensors & ECM, Vehicle Weapons, Vehicle Modifications, Terrain Effects, Vehicle Combat, Damage Resolution, Vehicle Operations, Optional Rules, Master Vehicle List, Vehicle Notes, Appendix
Overview: This is an alternative Rigger Black Book, written by someone who was dissatisfied with what that book offered. In essence it's a completely new set of vehicle rules for combat, sensor use, vehicle construction, and all the other things you would expect. There is also a table with vehicle stats for use with these rules. On the whole it would have been pretty handy, were it not for the fact that FASA published Rigger 2, negating the usefulness of Jane's Rigger Registry just about completely, especially because in my opinion Rigger 2 is the better book. Still, if you are not happy with Rigger 2, or are looking for a free alternative, you could do worse than try this net.book.
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Release: 1994
Editors: Brett R. Brown (Calvinoi MindFlyer), Paolo Marcucci
URL: unknown — please mail gurth@xs4all.nl if you know
Pages: 20
File Size: unknown
Sections: Physical Adept Magical Abilities, Meditation: Giving Your Adept Some Flexibility, Ability Sets: The Physical Adept Skills You Want (I Hope) in Quick 'n' Easy Packages!
Overview: This is a compilation of physical adept powers from all kinds of sources, such as FASA books, magazines, Usenet newsgroups, and other places. Nearly all the powers can be found somewhere else as a result, but this is still a fairly useful item if you have trouble remembering where you read about a specific power—here they're all in one place, and sorted alphabetically. The Meditation section give rules for changing the powers a physad has though—obviously—meditation. Finally, the Ability Sets are simply packages of related powers (for example, "Scout Set" or "AD&D Thief Set") that provide a quick way of choosing powers for a character, but they offer no cost reduction.
Notes: I am aware that there is a newer version of the Handybook, available here from The Shadowrun Archive, but that exists only in HTML as far as I know, and thus is not a net.sourcebook as such. For this reason, the earlier version is reviewed here.
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Release: 1994 (?)
Author: Mike Ruane
URL: unknown — please mail gurth@xs4all.nl if you know
Pages: 73
File Size: unknown
Sections: Aquatic Vehicles, Aircraft, Helicopters, Strictly Military Supplement, Appendices
Overview: A book with short descriptions and game stats for vehicles, much like the Rigger Black Book, except that it deals with 20th-century vehicles that could conceivably still be operational in the 2050s — that is, mostly military aircraft that can be purchased second-hand through the Underworld Opera, a rigger/fixer organization. As can be expected, the vehicle descriptions attempt to translate reasonably accurately the performance of the real-world vehicles into Shadowrun game statistics. For the most part, this succeeds well enough (although purists and enthusiasts will find a lot of inaccuracies in the details). The appendices cover additional information and game rules needed to make the most of these vehicles, such as rules for putting them together (the Underworld Opera delivers them disassembled) and game stats for 20th-century vehicle weapons and other equipment.
Notes: All stats use Rigger Black Book rules. Although Mike Ruane made this as a net.sourcebook, it is very difficult to find; from what I remember, he mailed a text version to the people who wanted them back in 1994 or '95, but to the best of my knowledge it never appeared on any FTP or WWW sites. My own copy is a hardcopy, courtesy of Erik Jameson (for which he gets my thanks).
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