Editing Shadowrun (section)

===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.