Editing Shadowrun (section)

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

Edition design style: still mostly black and white, but with green as an accent color. Full-colour character images for the example characters. The edition that asks you if you have heard about this film called "The Matrix?".

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

Edition design style: the core book is in full colour, with a lot of light blue for page backgrounds. Pretty chill looking for a dystopian game.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that [[Catalyst Game Labs]] cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. They are also a bunch of cheapskates, chincing out on the fees to the printing company, with book quality that showed it. The first few printings of the core rulebook were literally falling apart before you could get them to the checkout counter. Catalyst being Catalyst, the company stonewalled on replacing the defective products until civil action was threatened, at which point it switched to printing companies whose books fell apart less often. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

Edition design style: again in full colour, dominated by red and black. The opposite of the 20th anniversary book - this is the angry and edgy edition.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

Edition design style: Purple? Purple. Purpleeeeee!