Hey there,

I am new to shadowrun and I have the main book, cannon companion and I am waiting on man machine to come out. Can anyone suggest some good source books and what not to purchase so I can get a better feel for what's going on in the world of shadowrun.

Thanks
K

Depends what you want to add to the game.

Matrix adds more depth to the matrix and decking(hacking).
Magic in The Shadows adds a lot to magic, including new spells, metamagic, and a whole lot more.
Rigger 3 revised adds a lot to vehicles, combat and building custom designs.
SOTA 2063, add a few things like bioware additions, added security, merc campaings and more magic.
Target Wastelands adds more campaing settings like the artic and the desert. Including gear for those harsh climates.
Target Awakened Lands also nick named Target australia, because the bulk of it s taken up by the land of Oz. Adds some flavor tothe world and some magic.
Shadow Companion it adds the point system an alternate way to make characters and new meta variants and I can't remember much else.
New Seattle well it covers Seattle after 63 I think.
Dragon of the Sixth World, well the title covers that.
Shadows of North America covers the major history of North America up to now, or 63
Sprawl Survival Guide, adds to the everyday life aspect of Shadowrun. Like housign costs and enterainment. General fluff of the sixth world.
Wake of the Comet and Year of the Comet revolves around Halley's comet comeig back on the 50th anniversery of the awakening and settingoff a bunch of stuff, like SURGE.
Theats 2 is just more plot hooks to use for campaings.

Depending on what you want to add to your game just look at the Offical site and read about the stuff available.

You may want cars and big guns so Rigger 3 is what you'll want. If your group isn't to keen on hacking company computers then Matrix will be of no use to you.

Tell us what you want to play and we can tell you what books to buy. Some of us will say buy them all.

You will almost definately find use for Shadowrun Companion and Magic in the Shadows. Between Man and Machine, Cannon Companion, Shadowrun Companion and MitS you have covered the basic characters, and Rigger 3 will come into its own even if you don't have any PC riggers in the game; everybody likes a nice car. "Matrix" will really only come in handy if your thinking about spending alot of time in cyberspace. If you're getting into GMing Shadowrun I also recommend the GM screen/critters sourcebook combo and the First Run adventure set, just to get you up and running, pun not intended.

I keep forgetting the critter booklet in the GM screen. We seem to rarely run into critters, or at least I try my damedest to not run into them. I haven't made a character based around critters so I don't look at them too much.

About all I can add to Deev and Frag's post is that if you're going to add any book now, you may as well make it Sprawl Survival Guide. It's only a "flavor" book, but it does go into respectable detail about everyday life in 2063. You won't have to deal with too many complex rules, and you can safely ignore any rules you don't understand. However, you'll get a good overall feel for the world, which will be very helpful as a new player and GM.