i just joined this forum and it seems pretty good so far, i been playing 2 ed for awhile, then switched to 3rd, got the 3rd core rulebook, magic in the shadows, and new seattle, then fasa whent out of business and i didnt hear anything new about shadowrun for awhile, now im getting back into it, but i keep seeing mention of things i got no clue about, what's the whole year of the comet thing with surge and all about? and what finally happened with the whole renraku shutdown?

Well, FanPro is publishing new stuff.

SURGE and YotC? Halley's comet showed up and messed with the manasphere, resulting in all sorts of weird stuff happening.

Renraku- Deus and some other folks had it out, Deus lost, had a "resurrection" protocol going, but we're not sure if it worked. And, if it did, it brought back Megara.

Who the heck was Megara?

Whoever the opposing AI was.

Started out as Morgan, then went nuts after she got partially reconstituted...

In a nutshell, Year of the Comet is the year Halley's Comet returns to the solar system. Naturally, in the Awakened world, things get difficult. SURGE is the new strangeness that results: it's much like UGE and goblinization, but different.

As for the Renraku Arcology situation, it has changed, but not really been solved. It's still a warzone, though the powers and factions involved are still out there in the Sixth World, up to various schemes and plots.

Things change, things stay the same...

But it's nice to know that even all powerful AIs are subject to such little things like Murphy's Law.

Hey, WTF you talking about? SURGE is teh win!

Yeah, just what the world needs--a blue furry elf with horns, scales, a tail and --if your a Kenson character--just became magical even though their essence level is almost negative.

Yes, it can be stupid. But it can also be really interesting with some of the "themed" characters.

And you used in elf. I mean, that's a strike already.

SURGE: Anime for Shadowrun!

I don't see anything wrong with that. I like anime.

So? I like cheesecake, but that doesn't mean I want or need to combine it with Shadowrun.

SURGE is like many other things in SR (cybermancy comes to mind): it can be good for a game, or it can be a quick death for it. Limits must be set in any game, unless you're aiming for over-the-top style.

I understand all that, and have no real problem using bits and pieces of it. I just have no need for cat people in my games.

Surge has made an appearance in our games a bit before it was supposed to, actually... This let one player make an interesting character idea, and gives me a controversial topic to make in-character news posts about.

And it's fine so long as it stays rare. I think we've had a grand total of 2 Surge mutants in our game (that's counting PCs, NPCs, and NPCs / PCs I made but haven't used), and only one of them is actually active.

My group is a little behind the actual timeline. SURGE is do to happen after one or two more sessions. I'm still trying to figure a way to work it in. Does anyone have some ideas for me?

Hear the news stories.

Then, inflict it on a character or an NPC the group works with.

At least, that's how I did it.

If you are going to add SURGE, I wouldn't inflict it involuntarily on your players. Contacts, on the other hand, are fair game.