Introducing players (and myself) to Shadowrun, A complete newb asks the folk here.... Options

[Willowhugger]

I'll be honest in that I've never actually played a game of Shadowrun in my entire life despite being a fan of Cyberpunk for some time. It seems like a natural fit since I write fantasy influenced cyberpunk as my job (see sig). However, I only knew Shadowrun from the time I got a pack of cards with one of my comic purchases and the vague description that it was "Like Bladerunner or the Matrix only with elves, trolls, and stuff."

Well, I reached an impasse with my current game and decided to run some cyberpunk to give my players a genre that they hadn't tried. Plus, there'd been a copy of Shadowrun 4th edition on the wall of the local game shop for some time. I purchased it and decided to give it a try.

I really like what I've been reading.

From what I can tell though, there's a HUGE world and intricacy to the setting that's well beyond what's presented in the Core Book though and a lot of people have very strong takes on what the game should be about.

So I was hoping that I could turn to the folks here for some advice on what's some of the most appealing parts of the setting, some suggestions on how to seague my players into the world, and anything else I should know before I start my campaign with them. I want to get an evocative mood.