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Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 07:32 PM

It's a simple question here, people. Did you start playing SR before or after FanPro got the license? If you care to post it, I'd also like to know if you started with SR1, SR2, or SR3.

Personally, I first played the game with SR1, but only a handful of times. Later, I cameo'd in an SR2 game at a friend's insistence and I was hooked from there on out. I'm no fan of the system, but it's one of my favorite game settings ever.

Posted by: MYST1C Jan 26 2004, 07:38 PM

I started playing with SR2.01d (read: German second edition) somewhen in 1992.

Posted by: Nath Jan 26 2004, 07:42 PM

I bought SR2 in 1997, but only made a few testing games. I start playing regularly in 2000, which matches SR3 release (no relation though).

Posted by: Traks Jan 26 2004, 07:45 PM

You see, fellow Poll maker, there is one problem with this poll.
I only GM Shadowrun (others are too lazy or don't want to), so there is no correct answer for me.

Also setting "Play year", "Play 5 years" would make this poll more interesting and accurate. My answer - I GM for a year.

Posted by: Cray74 Jan 26 2004, 07:47 PM

I started playing with SR1 as soon as SR was released...1988? 87? I was already playing Battletech by that point (Summer '86) and the FASA catalogs I received advertized the new, upcoming Shadowrun, which immediately caught my attention. So I put an early order and got Shadowrun when it was released.

Posted by: Arethusa Jan 26 2004, 07:48 PM

My first (and so far only) game was this past summer.

Posted by: Playing Games Jan 26 2004, 07:49 PM

thrid ed,just before Man and Machine came out.

Posted by: Lilt Jan 26 2004, 07:49 PM

Started playing in my friends SR group they started to test-out the new SR3 rules. It was probably the first printing that was available in the UK but my BBB is older than that (seventh printing).

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 07:51 PM

Posted by: Pthgar Jan 26 2004, 07:57 PM

I read the Secrets of Power trilogy when they first came out but we didn't start playing until '93.

Ah, I remember like it was yesterday. My buddies and I were sitting aroun because it was raining and we couldn't sk8.
Someone said "Let's play D&D."
I said, "I hate D&D, let's find another game, like Shadowrun."
"What's Shadowrun?"

We went to the comic shop and each chipped in $5 for the rule book (2nd Ed.) and I've been playing ever since. Of the 7 kids form that day 3 of us still play regularly. one of the others now plays Vampire, in fact he wanted to be a vampire that first day.

Posted by: Austere Emancipator Jan 26 2004, 08:06 PM

Umm, my answer would have to be: I haven't got a clue. When, exactly, did the changeover take place? The SR3 book that I have is from '98 (I think) and is obviously from FASA-times, but I didn't buy it until ... '99? '00? And I didn't play (GM) it until the summer of '00, I think.

Posted by: Reaver Jan 26 2004, 08:09 PM

SR1, and in some ways I still miss the old damage stagging codes.

Posted by: Adam Jan 26 2004, 08:10 PM

FanPro's first product was published in summer 2001: Year of the Comet. The latest 3 [maybe four... not sure offhand] printings of the core SR3 book have been from FanPro.

Posted by: Fahr Jan 26 2004, 08:14 PM

SR1 back in 91? then SR2 whenever it came out and on til now...

-Mike R.

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 08:16 PM

IIRC, FASA closed its doors at the beginning of May, 2001.

Posted by: Austere Emancipator Jan 26 2004, 08:19 PM

Pre-FanPro it is, then.

Posted by: L.D Jan 26 2004, 08:28 PM

SR2 back in 1992.

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 08:29 PM

I had considered that only old-time gamers would be here, but I dismissed it. Internet use has expanded dramatically among households in the past two years and the modern gamer is very likely to hunt down forums and other online resources pertaining to their games of choice.

I found the old ShadowRN lists well before I messed around with Dumpshock and this is actually my second appearance here after some time away from the game.

Posted by: Req Jan 26 2004, 08:34 PM

Doing the math, I think I played in my first SR game in 1992. That would be 1st Ed. PLayed for a year, then picked up the GM mantle and haven't looked back. Though I've taken quite a few breaks to run other games in the intervening years...

Posted by: nezumi Jan 26 2004, 09:32 PM

I feel so young with this crowd... I first started playing in 98. This guy kept driving around my high school, offering "CRPGs". First one was free. Eventually they lost their luster and long story short, I started needing my SR hit every week. I've been to meetings, but I just can't get over it.

Your results are going to be VERY skewed, this is true. The people who come here are so immersed in SR, they laugh at jokes about dikoted allied AVS spirits. They're hard core.

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 09:35 PM

Not everyone here is an SR3 freak, nezumi. A good percentage of SR3 freaks are here, but I doubt if even 10% of the people on these boards would meet your description. I certainly don't...

Posted by: Lindt Jan 26 2004, 09:50 PM

but but but... we love dikoted allied AVS spirits, and drones to have sex with... its part of the insanity that lives here!

Posted by: bwdemon Jan 26 2004, 10:12 PM

So far, I'm very surprised that four people polled hadn't played the game until mid-2001. Percentage-wise, that's far more than I expected, but the poll isn't done yet...

Posted by: Foreigner Jan 26 2004, 10:18 PM

I haven't been playing all that long, either.

I joined Sahandrian's group in August of last year, and had my first 'run with them shortly thereafter.

Although I'm a regular contributor to their site as far as posts are concerned, we haven't played together as a group since that 'run finished.

--Foreigner

Posted by: JongWK Jan 26 2004, 10:25 PM

I began playing Shadowrun (2nd Edition) in 1994.

The first thing I learned is that you do not fire Viper Slivergun bursts while your mates are busy in a melee.

Posted by: Omega Skip Jan 26 2004, 10:31 PM

GMing since '92, never missed a beat since then. Actually, wait, I think there was, like, two weeks in '98 when I couldn't get a fix...

Posted by: Prototype Jan 26 2004, 10:39 PM

Bought first edition Shadowtech 'cause it was so cool back in '93 and then bought SRII a wee bit later (Christmas of that year?) and have been playing it ever since!

Posted by: CanvasBack Jan 26 2004, 10:39 PM

I picked up the SR1 book back in 1990. Me and my friends tried to play this once in awhile but at the time it seemed really complicated, so we only did oneshots with it. About the time SR2 came out I got into Virtual Seattle because I wanted to see how a dedicated campaign of Shadowrun would go. That went fairly well, and one of the highlights for me was taking my character to Gen Con and meeting other people who play Shadowrun. When SR3 came out I went out and got the book first thing. What I find somewhat amazing is my old SR1 & 2 books are in much better condition than my SR3 BBB. I do have to say it got used more frequently but still...

Given the disrepair of my SR3 book and the fact that every single piece of errata seems to apply to it, I might cave and actually buy the latest printing.

Posted by: sir fwank Jan 27 2004, 12:17 AM

i started with SR2. i think around '93.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 27 2004, 12:39 AM

Started in... '95 or so? SRII, I'm pretty sure, though it's not impossible that we were playing with a used SRI. I don't remember things like the old stageing/armor systems, though, so probably SRII. After a few games, though, I had a long hiatus that ended a little under two years ago with my receipt of the SRIII core rules as a birthday present.

~J

Posted by: Slamm-O Jan 27 2004, 01:27 AM

am i the only one who started playing because of one of the video games?

i remember it now....We had gotten the snes cart from blockbuster along wiht bladerunner, only got SR since the lord of the rings game wasnt there, i was very upset since the game looked like a dorky demonic gmae (goat skull on cover, or so i thought). But we loved it, the graphics were out of sight! We would rent it 3-4 more times, before.....(i guess this was 94?)

in 1996?.....After coming home after living abroad, me and my 3 brothers were given a 20$ bill for the lot of us, we went to the new mall and wanted to buy books, after getting bored one of my bros wandered around and came into this section with big-ass books, and there was one with shadowrun on the cover! (we found some small ones in another section) He really wanted it since it showed that you could get motorcycles and cars and clothes and stuff as well as the guns and armor you got from the game! i said no

we came back another day and i wanted birthright, had the money but it was no longer there and the other game i wanted was too expensive (we didnt know what an rpg was, i wanted a board game/war game which my dad had gotten us into), so i told my brother i would get sr for him and it is now the only thing the 4 of us do as a group, going to my oldest brothers house once a week (one brother telecommutes now).

so, i played pre-wizkids/fanpro (and got pretty depressed hearing they were going away, no more btech or sr, but i was wrong )

p.s. the nfound ds like 1-2 years ago while looking for bulls place again, after having found it at school one day and seen that it had online resources! maps! we never used maps! but it hadnt been updated since then it seemed, but they had a webring, and this site called dumpshock...

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 27 2004, 01:45 AM

Er, I somehow doubt you played pre-FASA

~J

Edit: by the by, how did you get the title Freedonia Expatriate? I had assumed that that meant you were a former FASA employee, but that post suggests not...

Posted by: Slamm-O Jan 27 2004, 02:16 AM

oh, lol i had to fix the pre-fasa thing. I dont know how i got it, thought i shose it as my location maybe?

Posted by: Raptor1033 Jan 27 2004, 02:16 AM

I dunno exactly when I started playing, before Cannon Companion or YotC, whichever came first. I think it was right around when SR changed hands. My friends and I were playing so many different RPGs and one of them said, "Hey, let's try out Shadow Run" I didn't really want to, when you're playing like 4 or 5 different games you don't really wanna learn a new system, they convinced me to. I single-handedly screwed up our first run (Andy still hates that character for it) and now SR is my favorite gaming system. I love the lack of set-in-stone character classes and level systems games like Rifts and D&D have.

Posted by: Zazen Jan 27 2004, 03:18 AM

Posted by: Shadow Jan 27 2004, 03:20 AM

I bought the Elmor covered hardbound SR book when it was released in '89. I have bin playing ever since.

Posted by: Connor Jan 27 2004, 03:41 AM

I"ve been playing since around '95 or so. At the time all I pretty much knew about was AD&D, but a friend of mine had started to get the cyberpunk bug through a combination of Johnny Mnemonic and the SR video games. He brought me and the rest of my playing group into it and we pretty much never looked back. Although the group started to dissolve a bit after four or five years and we haven't really played as a group since 2002.

Posted by: PuyallupSquatter Jan 27 2004, 03:42 AM

I played 1e a few times, but really didnt get into the game until the 2e rules came around. We used to borrow the confrence room at the local library to play, and I remember our GM was the only one who could reserve it, because he was the only one who was 18 at the time...

I still have quite the eclectic mix of sourcebooks from 1e to present... I just wish that the new stuff had a similar formatting to the old ones. I miss the pictures of the gear and the deckers comments like in the SS Catalogue or Shadotech. IMHO, I would like to see a book for SR3 that would replace my worn copy of Sprawl Sites, tho. All those nice maps of generic locations....

Posted by: Swansonegger Jan 27 2004, 03:59 AM

Started way back when the game first came. My friends bought it, and I wanted to try it out mainly because of the big poster in the game shop with Larry Elmore's painting from the cover of the 1st and 2nd edition books. Heck, I remember phys ads with the +4D6 initiative bonus for 8 magic points (ya, my friends played almost everynight for a year or two).

Posted by: Ditaki Jan 27 2004, 04:39 AM

I bought Shadowrun 3rd edition last year after Christmas with my Christmas money. Didn't touch it (silly me) for an entire year except to get Matrix and Year of the Comet. Then I ran about half a game during December this year and bought Rigger 3, Magic in the Shadows and Cannon Companion and am patiently waiting for Man and Machine to be reprinted so I can find it somewhere...(Sad thing is, I tend to buy lots of books for games I usually don't get to play...spent a good hundred dollars on Shadowrun, ran it once. Spent huge amounts of money on another game line and played maybe ten games of it...silly gaming group.)

Posted by: Slamm-O Jan 27 2004, 04:53 AM

side note --> my freedonia tag is gone now, you ratted on me

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 27 2004, 05:09 AM

Aww, sorry.

~J

Posted by: Trell Jan 27 2004, 05:43 AM

Well, I guess I'm probably the newest player here at the moment. I just started last Wednesday. Well, actually, I started GMing Wednesday, so Crimzero would be the newest.

Posted by: Crimzero Jan 27 2004, 05:54 AM

I started playing last week...

go me!

Posted by: Cain Jan 27 2004, 06:15 AM

I started in 1989. I still have my blue book, autographed by Jordan Wiseman. Shadowrun was my first break from D&D, and I've never regretted it.

Posted by: Fortune Jan 27 2004, 07:18 AM

I bought SR1 the day it hit the shelves, and have been hooked ever since.

Posted by: Bizarro Jan 27 2004, 07:48 AM

Started with SR2 - played (very) infrequently since late '96, up until the middle of last year, and now GMing SR3 every week.

Posted by: DigitalMage Jan 27 2004, 11:12 AM

I started in 1990 I guess, with 1st Ed. I had seen a guy at school with a hardback copy and when I went looking for a new RPG (I had been running Warhammer Fantasy Role Play before then) I was choosing between Marvel Superheroes and Shadowrun.

Shadowrun won out.

I GM most of the time, in fact my first experience of Shadowrun (and WFRP for that matter) was as a GM. Is that unusual, to GM an RPG before ever playing in one?

Posted by: DV8 Jan 27 2004, 11:38 AM

I've never played Shadowrun before.

Posted by: Xirces Jan 27 2004, 12:14 PM

Shadowrun? Never heard of it, is it like Poker?

Actually started playing waay back in 1990 (I think it could have even been '89) with obviously 1st edition. Although I've not actually played (or GM'd) since '93.

I've still got a whole load of 1st edition stuff - Harlequin, Missing Blood, Dreamchipper, SSC, Shadowtech, Shadowbeat, Grimoire, RBB are all sitting on a shelf (although annoyingly, not the nice hardback rulebook, which was kept by one of the other players when we went our seperate ways). 2nd ed stuff includes the rulebook (yay!), VR2, Rigger 2, Silver Angel, plus some others that escape my memory right now.

I've also bought a fair bit of 3rd edition stuff, which on reflection is a bit silly considering I've not played any RPG for over 10 years. Every few months I try and persuade my (now) wife a few friends to try gaming, but can't get enough people together to make it worthwhile!

I need to grow up and get a life

Posted by: Illindril Jan 27 2004, 01:54 PM

I've been playing shadowrun since 1995.
It was the French translation of SR2.

I now use SR3

Guillaume

Posted by: flowswithdrek Jan 27 2004, 02:25 PM

Started playing shadowrun more or less when it first came out. been playing ever since. Somtimes still look back at the old stuff for some little bit of obscure info.

Posted by: Reverendo Jan 27 2004, 02:26 PM

SR2 in 1992

Posted by: Grimtooth Jan 27 2004, 02:33 PM

started 91 or 92 with SR1.
Switched to SR2 Shortly after

Posted by: Rock-Steady Jan 27 2004, 04:54 PM

I'm with M $TIC with that one.

Started playing with Shadowrun 2.01D in 1991/1992.

Posted by: Neon Tiger Jan 27 2004, 05:01 PM

I started playing SR2 and i think it was around '99. Can't really remember.

Posted by: Pistons Jan 27 2004, 05:23 PM

I started playing Shadowrun in 1990 while in college. First edition. I didn't buy my own book until around '91 or '92, when I was in the military and learning Mandarin at DLI, Presidio of Monterey. I also bought first edition Vampire then. Still have both books.

Posted by: lorg Jan 27 2004, 05:28 PM

'91.

Posted by: Kesh Jan 27 2004, 05:47 PM

1st ed for me. Ahh, Food Fight... that poor Stuffer Shack was ruined by the time we were done with it.

Posted by: sable twilight Jan 27 2004, 06:43 PM

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 27 2004, 06:53 PM

SR1 staging had some good points, but then there were the just plain silly bits like the fact that it takes a god-in-training to kill someone with under four shots with an MP laser.

~J

Posted by: sable twilight Jan 27 2004, 08:25 PM

too true, and with auto sucessess from armor, trolls in even light armor really were disgustingly herd to kill.

Posted by: godboyimmaculate Jan 27 2004, 08:52 PM

I owned the 1st edition a long time ago and then played the first time in 90 or 91. One of the players stole a bunch of books and my copy of DMZ. Then I left all my first eds in my gf's trunk and they all got waterdamaged. Still have them though. Seattle Sourcebook is still great for the maps.

Played 2nd ed when it came out, was pretty hardcore for a while (was single in those days . That was around 95-96. Then 3rd edition came out, but had a life so couldn't play quite as much.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 27 2004, 08:53 PM

A friend and I were actually considering setting up a variable-staging system whereby attacks had a different staging number for the attacker than for the defender and some armors would change the staging number against certain attacks (for instance, flechette ammo could keep its damage bonus against non-hardened armor, but the staging against armor would drop to 1 for the defender). It was abandoned after it was determined to be too bloody much work.

~J

Posted by: Just Pete Jan 28 2004, 12:18 AM

SR1, 1989. In on it almost from the very start - delayed only because I was stationed in Belgium.

And for a bit of trivia - D&D, 1979

Posted by: Fortune Jan 28 2004, 02:32 AM

Posted by: LoseAsDirected Jan 28 2004, 05:08 AM

I started with SR2 in 1996, though I had played both the Genesis and SNES video games when they originally came out.. I just didn't know that it was based on a P&P RPG until my freshman year in high school..

Posted by: Frag-o Delux Jan 28 2004, 05:37 AM

Started playing when I was 14, so 1991 it is, I remeber because my paychecks from my summer job were spent on D&D and SR books.

Posted by: IcyCool Jan 28 2004, 06:43 AM

Before FanPro, Started with SR1.

Posted by: Cain Jan 28 2004, 07:09 AM

Posted by: Fortune Jan 28 2004, 07:12 AM

Posted by: Quix Jan 28 2004, 11:15 AM

Started with SR2 in 96 or so. Only bought SR3 because I couldn't replace my tattered SR2 book. So far only one of my remaining players started with SR2 the other 5 all started with SR3.

Posted by: Jérémie Jan 28 2004, 11:25 AM

Posted by: Prospero Jan 28 2004, 12:47 PM

I've been playing since... 89 or 90, don't remember exactly. With SRI. I was pretty young then - just out of junior high and I screwed up most of the rules with all the damage code stuff and was really glad when SR2 came out. I've played a lot of stuff before and since (and am between SR games at the moment. Can't seem to get a group together. sigh.)

Posted by: BIG BAD BEESTE Jan 28 2004, 01:30 PM

Addiction started at 1st Ed for me. (That'd be waaaay back around 1988/89 you young wippersnappers) Played a game one night at the local games club and then went out and bought it - officially my initiation into full-time GMmanship and lack of getting to play ever since. Sigh. Sod's Law really - if you like the game so much you buy it, you end up GMing...

Anyhow, if I could have known about it earlier I'd have been there, but that only leaves the publishers and designers. BTW whatever did happen to those guys with their names on the 1st Ed products?

Right, I took a break in the system for several years when Earthdawn came out (still running two groups a week for that), although I kept up to date with the releases. Thus, I have my complete SR collection of books. Heh, even got the original promotional flyers for 1st & 2nd Ed too. When FASA folded it came as a bit of a shock, but on the bright side I thought that I could finally catch up with 10 years of releases. Then FanPro came along and went into overdrive with the 3rd Ed releases. Good to see it brought back with such fervour - even though I was compiling my own info about Oz (by being there!) and happened to bump into a brand spanking new Target: Awakened Lands sb staring me in the face when I finally reached signs of civilisation. (IE: A games store - although classing Sydney as signs of civilisation is stretching the term a bit )

Since then I been back to Blighty and apart from a couple of appearances at GenCon UK and Spiel over the past two years I haven't really got to play. Just do a little writing for SoE whilst giving Synner Exasperated @ BEESTE Syndrome.

Posted by: sirdoom Jan 28 2004, 03:38 PM

I started with SR 2.01D(Fanpro ) in 1993...

Posted by: Nikoli Jan 28 2004, 05:38 PM

I started in '91 playing First edition, shortly before Second edition came out. Then we transitioned over to 2nd ed shortly after we started.

Posted by: Just Pete Jan 29 2004, 06:21 PM

Posted by: Fortune Jan 30 2004, 12:59 AM

Posted by: Just Pete Jan 30 2004, 03:05 AM

Nice. I had a copy of the chainmail rules, once upon a time. My hat is off to you!

For the rest: yes, we old-timers may actually have worn hats that needed to be tipped, again, once upon a time

Posted by: Kagetenshi Jan 30 2004, 03:15 AM

Some of us young-timers go the whole hat route too. I need to find a good replacement fedora...

~J