Every runner should know when it’s time to cut and run, right?

In a sense, that time has come for me. I’ve been working on Shadowrun for 10 years now — half of its lifespan. I started as an editor at FASA, moved on to be assistant SR developer under Mike Mulvihill until FASA closed, took over the line a few months later for FanPro, and then jumped ship with it to Catalyst. I started right before the conversion to Third Edition, and then three years ago led the charge to Fourth Edition. Three editions, three game companies.

I’m not the type of person who sticks with jobs I don’t like. In fact, I pretty much refuse to work on anything that I don’t gain some sort of personal satisfaction from. No mundane wage slavery for me. So I think it says something about what a fun and interesting job this has been that I’ve stuck with it for so long. There have been some glitches and low points of course, but overall it’s been a very enjoyable experience.

To be blunt, however, I’m burnt out on Shadowrun. I’ve been burnt out for awhile, actually. It happens. Unfortunately, this is not the type of job that’s easy to take a break from — the deadlines don’t stop coming, and I haven’t had a backup person who could take over full time. Even though I’ve been feeling the need to move on, I’ve also wanted to see Fourth Edition along at least through the core rulebooks. Now that Unwired is off to layout, I feel complete. Especially as that book goes a long way towards dealing with some of the shortcomings we’ve still faced with the SR4 matrix rules.

So the time has come for me to step aside as lead SR developer. I’ll be staying with Catalyst, of course, but I’ll be switching gears and taking point on a new game line — you’ll hear more about that in a few months. I’ll also still be working on Shadowrun, but in an auxiliary capacity, at least through some of our 20th anniversary stuff — can’t miss that, after all. The very competent Peter Taylor will be taking on the lead SR developer job — he’s been a pleasure to work with since he started as a freelancer and we adopted his Euro Sourcebook project and transformed it into Shadows of Europe. He’s been working as an assistant developer for over a year now, and we’re pretty excited to have him on board and taking the helm. This switchover has actually been in the works for awhile, so you won’t see any changes in the upcoming schedule.

Who knows, I may even have time to do some actual writing for Shadowrun now, rather than always being busy with the editing and dev work.

Before I sign off, let me take the opportunity to say thanks to all of the fans who have stuck with the game over the years, and also to the new players who were drawn in by the revised Fourth Ed. rules. Thanks also to the freelance writers, artists, and editors who I’ve worked with over the years and who have helped to maintain Shadowrun as a vibrant and explosive universe — couldn’t have done it without you!

So, this won’t be the last you hear from me, but this is the last time I get to take the credit and/or blame for Shadowrun . I hope it’s been as fun and interesting for you as it has been for me.

– Rob Boyle

http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/?p=216

So, Synner is now becoming Lead SR Developer. Nice promotion.

Congrats Peter, and good luck to Rob. Look forward to the new project.

I'll miss the green hair . Have fun Peter.

Wow this is pretty big, I'm surprises there isn't more discussion.

I think Rob pretty much saved SR. The cartoony, less grit, less street direction Mike had SR3 going was very bad IMO. I think Rob came in with SR4 and fixed a lot of setting things that were becoming pretty critical. So if he's burned out, the he goes out with all my gratitude and a well deserved "Good Job!" from me.

As for Peter, I don't think there could have been a better choice. Though I only know him from DSF, I too saw him begin with the Europe SB, take it and run and work hard with vision to create SoE and then continue with several other books after that, all top quality and the best releases SR had seen in some time.

I think SR continues to be in good hands, so congrats to Synner, and I look forward to more great books

Question: Synner will you still be doing writing as well, or are you taking that hat off completely to do Rob's old job now?

Let me put it this way: I wish I could say I wasn't going to be writing as much in the future, but I've been doing so much writing recently it isn't even funny. So, I guess the answer is that while I will be toning down my participations, you can rest assured you'll still get your easter eggs.

Thank all of you for the support. It's a darn big pair of combat boots I'll be trying to fill.

Excellent.

Sometimes I'm ashamed of being so easy to please.

This topic does make me wonder though, how many people involved in writing SR still actually play it. I can sympathize with Rob, as I tend to get burned on SR as well. I haven't been at it hardcore for ten years like he has, and I only have little spats of "I wanna do something else now". So I can see where he's coming from. I know a few other people that are involved in the game and rarely if ever play, and it's kinda sad. Get over exposed to something, and you're going to waht something else. Too much chocolate cake. *shrug*. I hope Rob enjoys what he's working on now.

Ah, give him a couple of months, tops, and he'll come crawling back, begging to shoot someone in the face for money... They all do!!

whop is next to get immortalised as shadowtalk?

So a secret run through a European fixer and now the development plan is through Portugal instead of the UCAS?

Enjoy the rest Peter. It is no fun doing a job you're burned out on.

I've been considering this for a while and I keep coming back to 'wow'. Rob's leaving the Shadowrun line is definitely bigger than some silly 4th edition coming out I jumped on at the tail end of 2nd edition, and I seem to recollect Rob's name being towards the top of the list back then too. It's been a long ten (!?) years of enjoying the products of Rob's work (and certainly appreciating stories of line developers who serve every role in the process but barely get paid enough for one). But making a game is a creative process, and no matter how much you love it, it is draining. Definitely better to leave it while the game seems to be doing its best, with a truly successful fourth edition bringing in lots of new players, a system still going strong despite heavy die-offs in a tight industry, and what is ultimately a creative and exciting product - and let those creative juices fill up again while pursuing something else.

Synner is a good man, though. From what I've seen, his work is well-thought out, creative and beautiful - everything you need to keep a successful line growing strong. Your baby is in good hands, and I'm definitely eager to see what comes down the pipe.

I think I speak for all of us old people when I say 'wow'... and reflect there isn't a whole lot more to say but 'good luck, I look forward to when our paths cross again' (which I suspect will be fairly soon).