Why oh why do I not have The Fifth Element on DVD yet?

The only reason I didn't mention ROD (which is also amongst my favourites) is because there was a "2 only" rule in play.

That, and, y'know, I love KnK more.

yeah, the AR/VR hacking stuff in 4th ed seems to be trying to go right at the hacking from GotS.

SR3 was more along the lines of the Armitage and to a lesser Extent MD Geist Anime Movies i guess . .

You know, just something I'll throw out there; we've all been picking our "Top 2 Influences", but what I'm wondering is, do your influences change depending on location or style of game?

Examples; for games set in Caracas, Black Lagoon just seems to set the tone perfectly. Over the top, explosive, and with a tendancy to sort everything out with violence. Gunfights in the streets, minimal police presence (smart enough to keep their heads down), an overcrowded slum city teeming with criminals and gangsters.

For Neo-Tokyo, I can't help but want to reference the beautiful cityscapes and future pop sounds of Jet Set Radio Future.

Games set in Hong Kong will doubtless be influenced in some way by the works of John Woo, and indeed you can also do a whole lot worse than loading up The Dark Knight just for the beautiful Hong Kong cityscapes.

Indeed, that begs the inverse question; what kind of game would you use The Dark Knight as an influence for, and where would you set it?

hi hi

I wont go over those already covered, however...

For dirt, grit and dystopia, Children of Men covers a great deal of what goes on in a shadowrun. It is a pretty decent primer on how you might use social skills and contacts to complete a run rather then going in guns blazing. It still has all the elements of betrayal, corruption and conflicts between policlubs and law enforcement.

For those who play Shadowrun on the more lighthearted humorous side (come on, sometimes you just cant help it) I have to go with Big Trouble in Little China. The run is a basic extraction, you've got magic, gangs, a "rigger", guns, critters and spirits. The only thing its missing is cyber-future stuff.

P.S. Twilight of the Papers was classic classic shadowrunning.

P.P.S. Pretty sure Dark Knight is set in Chicago (though bugs make that difficult) Batman in general tends to take a New York theme if I'm not mistaken.

Gotham was supposed to be New York, but wasn'T called New York so people all over the world could identify with living in that City.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

I'd use the Dork Knight to run a more high-power mercenary/vigilante kinda thing i guess O.o

Bit of trivia knowledge... The Plates on cars in Dark Knight And Batman Begins are based on the Illinois plates(at least that what I had heard as of Batman Begins)

As to the OP... Cyber Wars(aka. Avatar or Matrix Hunter...) Big B-movie, but When I rented it I thought someone that played SR had made this.

And Strange Days... It screams BTL.

The latest Batman films were filmed in Chicago. That's why.

- J.

In honour of Luc Besson, I watched it in french with no subtitles. I'm so familiar with the film that I had no trouble knowing what everyone was saying, and it was hilarious to hear Bruce Willis crack one liners in smooth french. The only downside is Ruby Raud isn't nearly as funny.

Agreed. I would have mentioned Snatch if no one else had. I like me some adventure-ish games, too, so the Indiana Jones, National Treasure, and Mission Impossible franchises seem appropriate.

Thanks for the heads up on Burn Notice folks. Haven't really watched TV since they canceled Firefly but I just finished the first three episodes from Netflix and I'm loving it. I love the tactical awareness and unorthodox techniques and technologies, though I think the grittiness of Strange Days is a better fit for Shadowrun than the pretty girls in their underwear- I mean bikinis, everywhere.

Oh, and thanks also for the heads up on Babylon AD. Certainly a good reference for some of the less hospitable places on the Shadowrun globe.

I would have to agree with just about every suggestion thus far. I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the first 2 Robocop movies. The third was drek but the first 2 weren't that bad for what they were. OCP is the big evil megacorp, Detroit goes from quiet suburbs to gang ridden sprawl and industrial areas. Robocop is basically a cyberzombie and Kain in the 2nd is a cyborg (brain in a combat drone). Sure its from the police's point of view but its a pretty good idea of what life is like for a LS/KE beat cop in Seattle I would think.

Yeah Burn Notice rules. If anyone hasn't seen it you should. It will instantly make you think of shadowrun and it is an awesome show.

And the new season starts this Thursday on USA Network(at least where I'm at)

Yeah I've been really wanting to watch season 3. So far there has not been a single bad episode for the first two seasons.

yeah, because we could only go to top 2 but in Robocop, especially #1 you get all that cyber ware-how we explain a smart link to new players, the idea of cops as corporate employees instead of civil servants and the evil corpers.

Actually, another series that can be a cool inspiration for Shadowrun is Firefly. You get the whole high-tech cityscape meets horrible Z-Zone slums, the melting pot of cultures, and a lot of the style of Shadowrun.

Firefly? wasn't that Joss wheadon's sci fi space opera? are you sure you're not htinking of Dark Angel with Jessica Alba?

hi hi

It doesn't really matter what the setting is when I'm watching a movie; when the characters are doing some sort of illegal operation that involves careful plans falling apart, backstabbing by employers and general subterfuge, it reminds me of Shadowrun.

The middle half of Beyond Good and Evil reminded me a lot of Shadowrunning, as did much of Thomas Harlan's House of Reeds even though nether has particularly strong ties in plot. All the visceral feelings that one experiences on a run form the connection; like the constant fear of danger, the anticipation and careful planning, the exhilaration of a close getaway, the ever present paranoia of hidden forces working against you. Sometimes those are the most memorable parts of the run.

To be fair, the part where someone throws a satchel charge full of C4 at an HMHVV infected dragon is pretty memorable too, I cant recall many movies where that happened, but I can sometimes relate the feeling of desperation.

I doubt it, very much.

He's talking about the background. The setting that the action takes place in. Of course, the charaters in Firefly also work for SR archetypes in personality and role.

No, I mean exactly what I said.

The cityscapes of Ariel could have been taken directly from Shadowrun artwork. The setting focuses mostly on projectile weapons, with Lasers as fancy toys for the rich (and some cool stun-guns that would match up nicely with the Screech Sonic Rifle). It features a group of criminals living off the grid and taking jobs from shady middlemen. The series includes three excellent high tech runs; In War Stories they assault a heavily defended orbital facility, in Ariel they have to sneak a patient into a hospital to make use of the high tech scanning equipment there, and in Trash they attempt to steal a rare artefact from a gated AAA community (private police force riding in hover vehicles, secluded location and controlled passage into and off the area... sounds like a gated AAA community to me). On the side they do a little smuggling work, have to protect one of their own from a bounty hunter, and end up working security for a brothel on one occasion (because the community leader... read, local gang lord for SR flavour... wants to burn it to the ground to get his bastard child back).

Take out the space-ships and the stetsons, and it's very Shadowrun, and unlike modern crime dramas it has plenty of cool sci-fi ideas to steal. There's a mission where they smuggle their prize out through security by dropping it in the garbage. All the trash goes down to an automated drone, with they reprogram to fly off to a place of their choosing. Now tell me you couldn't pull that one off in SR.

Tell me why I am supposed to take out the stetson.

Hackers for when you have to have an all decker run except no substitutes.
And as for Tv shows I like the Dresden Files for the feel of the magic and the bound spirit in a skull. Even tho the books where better.


Also if I could add a non-topic. Tailgunner Jo was a great comic about an experimental cyber-sam getting back at the corp that created him. Really good read too.

Good point. Keep the stetson

I'd have to add Banlieue 13 (AKA District 13) to the list, as it shows several things that could happen in a run. If you took the walls surrounding the District down but kept the place as it was, you'd get an idea as to what the Barrens would look like...

I'll add a few more, as I was thinking about this as I was digging myself out of snow last night -

Someone mentioned Cowboy Bebop's music. That's good, but you should watch the series too. What the crew of the Bebop are doing is basically 'running at its best (and worst; their luck doesn't seem particularly good) with the cybered ex-cop, the ex-Tong adept, the sneaky face without a past, and the kid hacker. Plus you've got a mafia war, genetic experimentation, ghosts in the machine, drug deals gone sour...it's a great series but man does that end get depressing.

I'm also a big fan of ensemble heist movies, so I'd like to also mention the Ocean's movies (11, 12, 13) and my favorite, Gone In Sixty Seconds. I know that Gone isn't exactly a classic and people will argue with me about quality, but it's a fun movie about drivers and thieves and what they're capable of. Plus, that chase at the end is just awesome and c'mon, Sphinx.

My dad got Children of Men for Christmas and I caught the first five minutes of it the other day; the scene were he walks out onto the London street and it's just got this abandoned, dirty, destroyed look to it got stuck in my mind and popped back in when I was going through Chicago stuff yesterday. That captures the "feel" of Bug City to me; I'll probably watch that when I start working on some stuff for myself.

And I won't watch R.O.D past Twilight of the Paper Sisters. From there it just got kind of gut-punchy every five minutes or so.

Ronin, for sure.

Children of Men, for some reason, seems very SR to me.

Don't know if any of these have been stated before but here is my list...

Babylon A.D. (Mostly the setting, though VD does pull off a surprisingly professional Merc)
Ronin
Cypher
Gattaca
The Lawnmower Man (1&2 are both Cyberpunk movies)
Nirvana
Future Sport
They Live
The Fifth Element

Some movies I told my players to watch before building their characters
The Saint (Watch it and tell me if you think the protagonist isn't a very professional Shadowrunner)
The Professional (Add some cyber and he is your street sam)
The Specialist
Johnny Mnemonic (Gibson Cyberpunk book to movie)

Neuromancer (Not out yet, but unless they dork it up it will fit)

Good choices all, and some ones that I should see. I just got into Burn Notice last night and it's great.

My choices are: Strange Days. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/ ) Anyone who can watch that movie and not wonder if the screenwriter played ShadowRun or CyberPunk is missing something.

And Freejack. The time travel crap is silly, but the rest of the movie and ambiance is spot on.

Almost added Freejack, but that time travel crap made me pull it.

They've cast Hayden Christiansen as Case. I'm afraid Neuromancer can already be considered well and truly dorked.

(oh, and the director has only directed one film previously, Torque, which stank).

My personal favorite is Domino. Simple job that goes disastrously wrong and escalates into insanity, with idiocy, double dealing and craziness aplenty.

Neuromancer is stuck in development hell in perpetuity. Seriously, if this movie is ever made I will eat my hat.

PS: Hayden Christiansen is actually a decent actor so don't judge him by Star Wars. And he was removed from the cast list on IMDB.

Sometimes more "Burn After Reading" than "Burn Notice". "Snatch" is a good way to split the difference. "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZRSGtLfeTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPqLimAxNbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylmJIKHlUsI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svfpOVuypMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym54kXQ32Gc...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-jflicAD4

I'm pretty surprised nobody has mentioned DRIVE, It has an enhanced assasin on the run, a wisecracking rigger, evil corp sending more enhanced assasins and the 2 funniest hitmen to ever come from Texas. The rigger type has some hilarious one liners which slide right into a game.

And THE WAY OF THE GUN, because it just seems like every run I have ever been on, overally simple plan made with wrong info ending in huge gunfight and leaving me with a feeling of violation

I missed Drive intentionally (if it's the show I'm thinking of) because instead of doing Gumball Rally: the Show, they instead did Lost on Wheels.

I'm a little bored with conspiracy shows nowadays.

^^ Oh, come on. He broke the guy's sunglasses with a shockwave! That should count for something. Besides, Dacascos has talent, not acting talent, but talent nonetheless.

All I can say is meh. When they started marketing it as being heavily conspiracy ladened, I turned right off. *shrug*

Who the Hell gives that as a Christmas present?


There were only four episodes and no one watched any of them. And because it sucked. Though it's been my experience that SR players aren't necessarily sticklers for quality in their media.


Perhaps because the crew is transparently a D&D group. The first time I saw the pilot I could almost swear I heard Joss Whedon rolling a d20.

Given the time and place of its production, I'm not surprised. But the single my cyberpunk movie I've ever seen is Back to the Future Part II -- the scenes in 2015 and in alternate 1985. Think about it.

People with taste. I love that movie.

By that logic, every "space" show with an ensemble cast is transparently a D&D group.

Drive didn't suck. It was actually pretty good. The problem was that it only had four episodes.


The only crew that is transparently a D&D group is the crew from Crusade. A Mage, a Thief, and a Fighter (Captain). You don't get much more D&D that than.

Resouvoir Dogs, because lets face it all our games end up that way by design (ie a double cross), or by one of our players who thinks taking grenades with them is stealthy because they fit in oversized pockets.

Hackers, because every hacker, or pre-fourth edition, every decker has a mischievious streak and looks to toy around with systems.

... and nail AJ.

Can I say that here still?

Hell'z yea! Hit dat shizt from da back... two times double up... uhhhh uhhh...

Wait, did I type that out-loud?

I would have to agree with everything so far that's been said of what I've seen. Bear in mind I don't watch nearly enough TV these days.... but ah, 5th Element, Firefly, Boondock Saints. I can see the parallels there.

And another to add:
Repo: The Genetic Opera for the incredibly powerful corporation, the atmosphere, the futuristic setting, the street culture, the obscure drugs, the surgeries, and the... um... "wetwork" ... my jaw was on the floor as our DM watched with us and debated adding zydrate to the list of drugs in our Shadowrun campaign to pay homage.
I doubt Shadowrunners sing quite that much though...

It occurs to me that I may be referring to a different 'Drive' than the rest of you. I've never seen a TV show called that, I was referring to a Mark Dacascos movie in which he plays a cyber enhanced character.

That would be the one yes.

heres a link to it in IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116147/

with such wonderful witing as,

Malik Brody: You don't look like Miss Daisy, I should be driving you no fucking where.
Toby Wong: Shut up!
Malik Brody: Can't smoke can't talk, I'm fucking covered. You take the car, I'll walk. Drive your own fucking self.

and

Trooper #2: You're under arrest!
Malik Brody: Under arrest? I'm a fucking hostage!

even

Delivarence Bodine: They say you can tell what a man's like, by the type of car that he drives. So when did Godzilla get a hold of your car?

or

Malik Brody: I think we've done all the damage we could here, wanna go blow up something in LA?

They made a TV show of that? Quick, somebody check to see if hell is frozen over.