Hey there folks, I've recently been lucky enough to be offered one Shadowrun book of my choice, from the list of all Shadowrun books ever. Obviously, I want to make a good selection, so I thought I'd come and see which books you all think are particularly impressive. Now, I just started playing SR as of fourth edition, but I am well aware that there are awesome books from times past, especially (it seems to me) third edition.

In the course of browsing the forums I've seen lots of books mentioned in a favorable light - System Failure, Cybertechnology, Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book, Corporate Shadowfiles (or something corporate), and the like. And forgive me if this has been discussed before (to be honest, I think it has), for my search-fu is weak. But if you all feel like chiming in with what your favorite book is (and really, who doesn't like talking about their favorite stuff), I'd appreciate it.

Actually, on the Awesomeometer, I'd have to give SR2 books a huge leg up on SR3. And if Shadowbeat was technically SR1 (can't remember at the moment), then it gets higher marks too. And this from an avowed SR3 junkie. But given that anything pre4 is just fluff and background if you now play 4, I'd have to say look hard at SR2 stuff.

Specific recommendations from me, in no order:
- Shadowbeat
- Lone Star
- Cybertechnology (actually, if there were an order, this would be 1 or 2; one word, name really: Hatchetman)
- Seattle Sourcebook (original)
- Portfolio of a Dragon (Dunk's will; chock full of badass)

Those are currently on my "every Shadowrun player should read these" list. My list changes now and then. Actually, there have been a few threads on just this over the last couple of years, so if you can find those you'll probably get a ton of ideas.

Edit: Also, for your reference, here's the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shadowrun_books

edit edit: Oops, you said you had tried searching. Missed that.

edit edit edit: A few threads that may or may not help:
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=16699

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=14096

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=11423

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=9407

K, now I need to work.

Everyone seems to love Hatchetman. To be fair, there are clearly a lot of really awesome characters from Shadowrun's past. Poor Captain Chaos. Here's hoping he isn't lost to the digital void. Wasn't there a book that talked about the economy of the Sixth World? That sounded pretty cool, but then, I'm an econ major.

Edit: And apparently people like the Lone Star book? And the campaign around the Renraku Arcology stuff sounds cool, for the same reasons System Failure does.

Those threads do help, Eidolon, thanks. I actually remembered reading one of them previously, but I couldn't find it again now that I need it. Still, people like talking about awesome stuff; who else has a favorite book?

Edit Edit: And now with KK's chiming in I'm hearing a lot of stuff about Shadowbeat. What is that, and how is it awesome?

...I have to concur with eidolon, particularly on Shadowbeat.

I am also partial to the London Sourcebook which I feel is some of the best location fluff I have read. I am still using it as a reference for the "everyday" details of UK life and society.

There is another little used ('cept by me of course) source which is in the back of Paradise Lost module. It details the Kingdom of Hawai'i pretty well (better than Shadows of Asia). And it's true, Haole's can't surf.

Bug City is a totally badass setting and fairly dear to me as I grew up in that podunk town called Milwaukee just to the north and made numerous trips to Chicago.

I really liked Mr Johnson's little black book; but I Gm, so maybe I am biased. It nevertheless includes lots of nice ideas; same goes for Sprawl Survival Guide -which is better for players, IMHO.

I also loved the Tir Tairngire sourcebook, it opened my eyes to the mystery underlying shadowrun's metaplot. Lot's of run ideas, too.

Of course, for practical gaming purposes it would be really handy to get the SR4 BBB if you don't own a copy, Augmentation or SM are cool too, but you are probably getting those anyway, so I encourage you to delve into the past...

Cheers, and happy hunting!

Max

Yeah, I have the BBB sitting on my shelf, and I can get Street Magic or Augmentation any time, but the old books, those ones have the extra cool factor. I mean, if you could choose any one Shadowrun book, what would your choice be?

If I had to pick one, the original Seattle sourcebook, largely because there's not a lot of space devoted to rules you won't use.

Sadly I have never had a chance to read Shadowbeat or the Lone Star sourcebook and I think I might be too young to appreciate the style of the Seattle Sourcebook (or just might not get much of it because I've never been there) but I can certainly agree on Cybertechnology as the best sourcebook out there.
For some reason I have strong emotional ties to the companion as in the past there were many groups where I showed the book around and the players exploded with awesome after they saw that there was an official alternative to the priority-based character creation system.
Last but not least: Bug City. A book full of good writing and even useful in a SR4 campaign if you're not too strict about the timeline.

Shadowbeat. Bug City is great, but it suffers from a lack of rockers that that leaves it just short of awesome.

The Sprawl Survival Guide.
See the Daily Life part of the SR4 BBB ? Expand it to a whole book and you've got the SSG.
It could be better, but I still think it's a must-read to realize what it's like to live in the 2060s.

I liked Street Samurai Catalog and Fields of Fire from 2E.

I missed the pics and ad-like layout in 3E and 4E.

Cybertechnology is a lot of rules. It's like Augmentation. So the rules sections will be pretty much useless to you, but the fiction is superb.

Hmm... it realy depends on your reason to get the book.

If you want it for the cool factor, the ask for a Shadowrun 3rd Ed. limited edition (black "leather"), alternatively a 4th edition limited edition (also black "leather").

If you want it for a cool and historical setting then ask for Universal Brotherhood.

These three are both fairly rare and difficult to get hold of, where as many of the other ones, including most mentioned abov, can be found on ebay fairly often at a reasonable price.

Lars

Six copies of Universal Brotherhood at various price levels.

No limiteds up at the moment that I could find.

Can't believe I forgot to suggest the Street Samurai Catalog. In fact, get both of them just because it's fun to have them.

My personal favorite is Cyberpirates. Lots of world info, plus the best, IMO, Shadowland chatter.

I have no reason to go for anything limited edition, although upon reading up and finding that Universal Brotherhood gets some seriously high praise, that does seem interesting. But no worries tisoz, if you tell me you wouldn't want to give up a copy of that, I won't sulk about it

So there is one more book I've heard about, Target: Matrix. Anyone who's noticed me ask about the Matrix rules or my periodic howlings that Unwired should be released yesterday knows that I find the Matrix stuff interesting. So what's the best matrix book out there, and what's in it?

We used Fields of Fire so often back in the day that we wore it out. It remains my favorite through all these years.

The Lone Star sourcebook, and Paranormal Animals of Eurpoe/North America has some of the best shadowtalk, imho.

But for overall awesome, my money is with Universal Brotherhood.

Well spotted.