A bit of Shadowrun terminology

Okay so I thought that I'd connect folks to a bit of Shadowrun information, more so you might understand some of the terminology and the like.

Here's the Wikipedia rundown:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun

(As mentioned, we usually run around with the 1^st through 3^rd editions, spanning the 2050s to the early 2060s; after that I feel it got a bit too...'modernized' instead of the classic, slightly campy cyberpunk.)

This will at least give a bit of a rundown, though, of the gist of the world and such.

Here's a more full glossary, courtesy of the Wiki:

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Glossary

And here are a few definitions of various words that might pop up:

Chummer: As it might sound, it's slang for 'buddy/friend/dude' in this setup.

Drek: Shit.

Frag: Fuck. Yeah, some of the curse words are fairly self-explanatory. Later editions started using more real world words. While I have no issue of this(I curse like a sailor IRL), I feel that it took away a little of the 'character'.

Tir Tairngire: An Elven nation located on the West Coast. Owned and ran by elves; non elves are anywhere from a little to a lot biased against.

Humanis Policlub: A bunch of anti-metahuman humans in a sort of political club. They can range from just loudly assholish toward metahumans(elves, dwarves, orks, trolls, metavariants, etc), to downright murderous.

Hermetic Mage: Often just called 'mages', they cast spells but believe in more stringent, scholastic 'theories' of magic. They summon and bind elementals as well to do their bidding.

Shamans: Also magicians, they can cast any of the same spells as mages(they summon nature spirits instead of elementals and don't bind them), but they believe in a more natural, primal 'system' of magic. They have totems, idols, and other spirits they follow.

Adepts: Adepts have magic, but channel it 'inside.' Their magic lets them fight/shoot better, or increases their reflexes or attributes, or gives them other cool abilities. Not all physical adepts need be actual martial artists, as some of them channel their powers into archery, firearms, stealth, and so on. In later editions they started channeling it into a very wide variety of skills; in the 2050s, we mostly deal with 'classic' adepts. Sometimes called physical adepts or 'physads'.

There are also Hermetic and Shamanic adepts, who are more partially in tune with magic, and also Sorcery/Conjuring adepts who can only do one aspect(where full magicians can do both.) This is more of a rule thing, and the Magic chapters are pretty broad, but this will at least let people know what is mentioned in the stories.

Astral: The fast 'other world' which basically sits on top of the main world, and all sorts of things can and do live there. There are also the deeper metaplanes which no one understands totally, not even some of the immortal elves. Astral Perception is when magically active people(including some adepts) can 'peek' into that plane, they can function in both worlds at once(albeit at a penalty in the real world, as its disorienting.) Astral Projection can only be done by full mages and shamans, and they completely leave their bodies with the astral form to explore it. Their body must be kept safe during this. Yes, they can fight(and die) in astral space. (Mental attributes are used in place of physical ones in astral space since there is no physical body.)

Deckers: Hackers. Have big cyberdecks and plug into the Matrix, where they basically have avatars and do everything they need to with that. Their avatars even fight(other hackers, or IC-sometimes called ice-or Intrusion Countermeasures, which are programs.) Deckers can be hurt or even die in the Matrix(through lethal biofeedback during combat.) When a decker 'jacks in', they're sort of out of it in the real world and must be defended.

Riggers: Nicknamed for their 'Vehicle Control Rigs' and also a take on the term 'Jury rig'(since they tend to be good at fixing stuff on the fly), its the nickname for folks who control vehicles and drones through said VCR, which is a piece of cyberware in their brains. They essentially become 'one' with their vehicles while jacked in. They can also be hit by lethal biofeedback if something goes wrong(which can of course lead to wreckage.)

Street Samurai: Usually heavily cybered(though not always), sort of classic 'street warriors'. They can range from honorable who literally follow bushido codes to sort of crazy and everything in between. They have a variety of combat specialities depending(some are all around, some are more gun focused, etc.)

Face: Usually the member of a team that does a lot of the wheeling and dealing, with good social skills and high Charisma. Sometimes specialized, other times they're just the team member with a lot of said skills, and they can be of any occupation. Often they are schooled in several types of etiquette and good at negotiation at the very least.

Fence: People who sell ill-gotten goods that Shadowrunners may 'liberate' from various jobs.

Fixer: The people who set Shadowrunners up with jobs, or at least point them in the direction of jobs.

'Mr/Ms Johnson': A catch-all nickname for the people who drop jobs for Shadowrunners. Working for, or hired by, various corporations, Johnsons(as they're called), while they often meet in person, are otherwise anonymous, they drop the jobs, give the pay, and otherwise listen to their bosses(sometimes screwing over the runner; a saying goes '9 times out of 10 a Johnson will deal straight with you. The 10^th you need to look out for.' You can read a little about Johnsons here: http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Johnson They do go under different names in different countries. Generally it's a very 'generic' sounding name for that particular country.

Megacorporation: A corporation generally so huge they obey their own laws on their territory. Generally AAA and AA ranked have this status. Gone into a bit after 'The Meet'. Will probably have a separate section describing various megacorps briefly.

SIN: System identification number, or basically your ID that is pretty important. Without a SIN, you're consider sinless, can disappear without a trace and no one will care. That being said, having a SIN for a Shadowrunner is considered a flaw(that gets points) in some games because you need to go doubly careful to cover your tracks(a benefit to being SINless is that you don't exist, so if you get caught and escape they have nothing to track you with.)

Bioware: While cyberware is self-explanatory, bioware is more 'natural augmentations'. It's friendlier on 'Essence'(your 'body wholeness', starts at 6, hit 0 in game and you basically die), harder to detect, and more expensive. Mages/adept sometimes like getting some since it doesn't harm their magic as much(Magic is harmed by getting cyberware.)

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Okay so that's a quick little bit of terminology. You can check some stuff yourself as well on the sites, and I'll probably do more of these! But I figure this can sorta help get folks off the ground if they read something in a story and don't understand it or would like to know more.