Cyberpirates!
Published by FASA Corporation
Written by Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler
$18.00
Since FASA's Shadowrun RPG first hit the shelves, in 1990, the game's unique mixing of fantasy and cyberpunk has intrigued thousands of players. Early in the game's history, Shadowrun became plagued with an escalation of power levels; it seemed that each additional supplement enabled the characters to kick more butt, with Street Samurai Catalog giving way to Shadowtech, Cybertechnology and Fields of Fire, and so on. For many gamemasters and players, whose campaigns did not focus on muzzle velocities, this was unacceptable. Their voices were heard by the developers at FASA.
Over the last few years, Shadowrun supplements have turned to different ways to expand campaigns without simply providing new and better ways to kill people. The latest example of this is Cyberpirates!, which provides settings for high-seas adventures. As with the Underworld Sourcebook, this excellent title gives a whole new direction for Shadowrun campaigns. In a Cyberpirates!-based campaign, players take the part of high seas freelancers, rather than untraceable pawns of megacorporations. This is a significant change from the traditional Shadowrun style; a pirate campaign must be PC-driven. While the gamemaster can lay down teasers of lucrative cargoes and open ports, the PCs choose their targets, their customers, and the size of the media splash they want to make.
. . .This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 19, 1998
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