I Remember the Future

[stevekenson]

So, for folks who might not know (or care), 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the Shadowrun RPG. Shadowrun remains one of my favorite RPG worlds of all time, as expressed, I hope, by the amount of writing I did for it. Writing for SR got me my start in the RPG industry, and the game itself gave me a lot of fun memories.

It’s hard to believe the game is twenty years old: I remember quite well cutting across the Royal Ridge Mall from the camera store where I worked my post-high school/pre-college job to the small hobby shop and seeing the full-color rulebook for the first time. FASA’s promo fliers for Shadowrun were brilliant, tantalizing pieces of marketing, with their hints about a crazy mixed-up fusion of cyberpunk and Tolkien-eqsue fantasy. I bought the rulebook right away (scandalized at the time that it cost 28 dollars, the most I’d ever paid for a new RPG at the time) and that weekend convinced my friends to play it. We plunged into the Sixth World and never looked back.

Now, twenty years later, it’s fun to look back on things like this:

Pocket Secretary: The pocket secretary is an office for the businessman on the go. The compact unit functions as a portable phone, a computer (100 Mp), and filing system. Standard software performs call screening, answering-machine functions, automatic teleconfirmation of credit transactions, word processing with standard letters on file and stenographer functions. Pocket secretaries are never equipped for jacking into the Matrix. Cases are shock- and water-resistant for durability and long service. (Shadowrun, First Edition, 1989, page 125)

Which pretty much describes the iPhone sitting on my desk to a “T”, except the pocket secretary weights about half a kilogram versus the iPhone’s 133 grams and we still have no idea how much a “megapulse” of memory is versus my phone’s 16 gigabytes (indeed, “megapulses” were specifically chosen to avoid later embarassments like the starship computers from Traveller with 16 kilobytes of memory). Plus the idea of wireless connectivity and the things you can use it for is barely a glimmer back in the pre-WiFi/pre-Web Dark Ages. Shadowrun has made efforts to update its tech over the years, up to and including the current edition’s wireless and omnipresent Matrix (the name of which SR was using years before the film, by the way).

So, happy anniversary, Shadowrun. Hope your dark future’s so bright, you’ve gotta wear shades...

Comments

[jediwiker.livejournal.com]

>We plunged into the Sixth World and never looked back.
>
>Now, twenty years later, it’s fun to look back on things like this:

Well, I guess you just ended your twenty-year-long "not looking back" streak. ::grin::

JD

[xomec.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, all good things must end...

[oakthorne.livejournal.com]

*raises a glass...or cup of soykaf*

My current gaming group has requested a Shadowrun game once our current Exalted arc comes to an end. It's going to be a blast, I think. :)

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Echo that. I think you did great work for SR, and I'm proud of my little contributions as well. I remember learning about SR during my first failed attempt at college, hooking up with a gaming group that insisted I'd love the game. I did, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I was such a power gamer back then. But as with any hobby, I got better as time passed and appreciated the game more and more for reasons other than how much of the opposition I could mow down with guns and magic. Being able to write things for the game that I always wanted to write was real icing on the cake.

Happy anniversary, Shadowrun!

[mearls.livejournal.com]

Dude! I bought Shadowrun 1e at Hobby Emporium in the Royal Ridge Mall, too! After buying all my game books at Waldenbooks for years, that place was like gaming nirvana.

[xomec.livejournal.com]

Heh. Small world, ain't it? Yeah, I bought nearly all my gaming stuff at Hobby Emporium for a couple of years, until I went to college.

[winterhawk.livejournal.com]

Shadowrun pretty much dominated my life from 1991-2006, and I have nothing but fond memories and fond feelings for it. Going from player to GM to actually getting to contribute to the magic (who'da thunk I'd ever get to actually add something to the game I loved so much?) was quite a ride. Even though I've kinda moved on now (damn you, addictive MMORPG!), SR will always have a spot in my nostalgic memories, and I plan to continue keeping up with the new developments as it moves into its third decade.

Happy anniversary to the best RPG ever. :)

[freeport-pirate.livejournal.com]

I got mine at the Complete Strat in NYC and tried to start a campaign. We played twice, I think, and then all agreed that while the world was fun the system was, um, not. Now all the various cyberpunk stuff from the 80s just looks quaint.

[xomec.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the thing with the future: sooner or later it happens and it never looks like what was imagined. A lot of cyberpunk tech is getting as dated as jet-packs.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

embarrassments like the starship computers from Traveller with 16KB of memory

Hey! My favourite Traveller playing of all time leaned heavily on the 1970s computing technology. Players had a lot of fun dealing with starships and systems that were, essentially running on PDP-11s built on vaccuum tube hardware...

I rather enjoy the retro-tech feel of Classic Traveller, and this is one of the things I'm not tremendously keen on in the new Mongoose edition (that they've attempted to update the tech).

[sintheticphylum.livejournal.com]

I came into Shadowrun a little late, all things considered. It was kinda funny how it happened. I was browsing for something 'new' to read at my local used book store, and came across a REALLY interesting book cover; it was the cover for Never Trust an Elf, by Bob Charrette. I was hooked! Dragons, Orks, and Magic mixed with more cyberpunk action than I could ever ask for! At the time, I'd been playing mostly World of Darkness, D&D, and Cyberpunk 2020, and I was getting tired of all three. Shadowrun was a breath of fresh air. I found the gamebooks, and I've never looked back!

Aside from the obvious reasons (elves with assault rifles, dwarfs in tanks), I've loved the way that Shadowrun has actually evolved over time; the creators understand that technology is always changing, and the game reflects that. And despite the constant evolution, the game has stayed the same where it counts; it hasn't lost itself in the face of bigger/better/more, like some other game systems.

I hope that Shadowrun is still around in another 20 years! And I'll STILL be playing it! Now, if only I can get my books finished and published...

[garan-du.livejournal.com]

I can remember when a pocket secretary was called a slide rule.

[xomec.livejournal.com]

It's like the Manhattan Project physicist's comment: "I remember when calculators were blondes with nice legs." (Since a calculator was an actual person who performed calculations for the scientists.)

[garan-du.livejournal.com]

One of my math teachers in high school was a mathematician on the Manhattan Project, and he told us of this room filled with mechanical adding machines that sounded like a frieght train roaring by. And, of course, those blond "calculators" were running from machine to machine, serving them like Priestesses of hungry Gods.

I also remember when you could only get one phone from Ma Bell. In black. An iPhone in the late 1950s/early 1960s would've been treated like a Star Trek tricorder. Come to think of it, a show like Star Trek on TV in the late 1950s/early 1960s would have been treated like a Star Trek tricorder...if we even had had a reference for such a thing. LOL

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

the current edition’s wireless and omnipresent Matrix (the name of which SR was using years before the film, by the way).

Gibson scooped both as early as 5 years, and doubtless someone before Gibson will be dug up as well.