About This Blog

Azaael's Shadowrun Haven is based heavily on the earlier editions of Shadowrun. So if you come here wondering what I'm talking about with 'Target Numbers' and 'Combat Pool', but aren't familiar with the old days, that's why.

We've probably played far more 2e/3e than anything else in our time, and have generally gotten along with it more. Lots of sourcebooks, lots of memories, and while the system isn't perfect it's a very strong and very fun system all in all. I've nothing against the new games-in fact, I have people who I count as my buddies who work on them-but in terms of everything our table has just seemingly had a tie more into the old days. I like how skills worked, how the pools worked(combat, etc), how character generation worked out(and I love how BeCKS, the Karmagen system of 3e, became a canon system later.)

Plus, 1st through 3rd edition fluff is basically all interchangeable. You can use SR3 rules if you want to play in the 2050s, and the timeline for the old days is generally 2050 up until the mid 2060s(when the Crash 2.0 happened.) The fluff of the old days is a lot more...'80s Cyberpunk' for lack of a better term; yeah, it seems a bit dated, but there's a nice charm to it, and it's why generally it's what I run when I DO get to run these days(having a kid and living overseas away from the majority of my old buddies makes running constantly difficult, though perhaps Discord will work out one day.)

But if you want to learn more about the older editions, you've come to the right place! That's not to say I'll never do new edition stuff-in fact, I'll probably post a couple of character concepts I've had in it-but generally speaking expect a good 80% or more of this blog to be more classic Shadowrun based. They're still fully playable, just like any old edition of any game-and IMO, there's no need to necessarily jump fully feet first into a new edition of a game if you still have fun playing the old. (If you want to play them all, do it! If I were invited to a 5e game I'd certainly play if I had the time. I played it already a couple times, and have run in 4th edition as well.)

I decided to put together this site as a fun info dump for all things old-school Shadowrun(and a little new school.) Be it some house rules or stuff we use in the tabletop world(I mean, we play in the regular Seattle, but it's always fun to add your own gangs, bars, clubs, dives and the like), along with houserules, art I get commissioned, and lots of other stuff!

For folks curious about the older, some good Old School Shadowrun Books I would suggest are:

Shadowrun Core Rulebook, 1e, 2e and 3e: I'd say read them all. We mostly use the 3e ruleset but the fluff in the others are awesome.

Shadowbeat: One of my favorite fluff books. It deals with the media, music, and has a wonderful cyberpunk edge.

Man and Machine, Magic in the Shadows, Cannon Companion, Matrix 3, Rigger 3: These are your 3rd edition rules sourcebooks.

Fields of Fire, The Grimoire, Street Samurai Catalog: These are older sourcebooks, but the fluff in them was, again, great. I feel like the fluff in 1e/2e topped 3e, but 3e's rules were the best of the old, so it's why I sorta suggest a lot of combinations.

Shadowtech: The 1e version of 'Man and Machine', I feel that the fluff in this one is incredible, and worth reading.

Tir Tairngire: Book about the Elven Nation. A fun read.

Seattle Sourcebook: For me, the 1e version was the best. Something about that old fluff...

London Sourcebook, Sprawl Sites, Neo-Anarchists Guides, Shadows of Asia: All good sourcebooks.

Universal Brotherhood: One of my favorite old adventure hook/creepy sourcebooks.

Threats, Paranormal Animals of North America, Paranormal Animals of Europe: If you need some opposition that's not a corp...

And I mean there are more, but these came to my mind now writing it.

I like chatting with other SR fans, so feel free to drop messages! You can find my Twitter at https://twitter.com/AzzyFGC . (I also am highly into fighting games.)

Anyway hope you enjoy your stay!