For me, the famous Acme Ritual Circle pic, a ripoff of Jackson Pollock. A moment of genius by Tim Bradstreet.

http://www.volny.cz/shadowrun/files/bradstreet_25.jpg

http://www.monroegallery.com/showcase/imag...sonPollock2.jpg


Then there's the section in one of the histories in which Arnie runs for president: SR called this before Arnie even went into politics!

Two highlights in an already amazing game. I also love the integrity Catalyst have had in staying true to the original feel of FASA while still keeping the game ahead of current tech.

I think Dunkelzahn's Will captured me, hook line and sinker.

Of course, the image that accompanied last year's Runner's Companion section on dragons (a dragon at a table performing some magic herbal stuff) would be one of those impressive moments of sheer genius.

Ancient History more or less.
Yes, the last Will.
BattleRun ^^

I really really loved the novels in the preying for keep series with Jack Skater and team that was just the finest example of SR for me. But The big d becoming pres then nuking himself kinda takes the cake.

Aw, shucks.

I don't know, I love all of the Shadowrun metaplot. I love how it takes the real world, and then goes off in a completely different direction. I like the idea that there's a sense of mystery behind places I've been to or know of. I love looking through the Bug City sourcebook, reading about places, and thinking "Frag, I've been there!". No other game but Shadowrun keeps that connection to the real world, but then twists it around in such a delightful way.

So much of the 1st edition art still sticks in my mind as being, especially all the Tim Bradstreet pieces. I'm probably in the minority, but I still love Jeff Laubenstein's work too.

The descriptions of the original archetypes and especially the monologues - I really miss the monologues - really resonated with me. Still do. At the point that I picked up SR1, I'd never played a RPG that had that sort of grab-and-go character system.

The flavor-packed vignettes and short stories they've used throughout the editions... so many good ones that just set the mood.

-paws

The terrified look on the policeman's face as the van he is strapped upside down on the front off is recklessly sped by the gun-toting shadowrunners who stole it. The cover of Harlequinn also made a big impression on me when I first saw it as a kid.

Oh, and there's a "Six Demon Bag" in one of the books. Made me laugh out loud.

What got me was the gear books. There would be the picture of the item, the rules for it in the game, and then all the commentary from the Runners talking about it like some sort of demented knitting circle.

I most especially liked the byplay of Smiling Bandit and Wolfman in Shadowtech, when they were talking about the lung bioware that increased capacity... and then Wolfman wanting to kill Bandit because of dog breath (on the Toxin Exhailer page). That was priceless.

Actually, if I'm really to pick a moment of genius, I'm going to say the "Corporate Shadowfiles" book. It's a bit long to call a moment, but from cover to cover that book was one of the best books I had ever read. It was rich in information, in atmosphere, in tantalising clues. I tracked down a copy years later and read it all over again. Chromed Accountant, you are missed!

Deus Storyline. 'nuff said, i just love it.

Hatchetman's story about becoming a CZ. Absolutely incredible.

The BBS-like older books. Where you had people injecting their views throughout.
Hatchman's story, still hits me today.
The Sega game. It's what actually got me into the PnP rpg.
Shadowbeat, they pulled that off so well. Really brought the world to life for me.
There's more but all I can think of right now.

Oh god, where to begin...

Probably my favorite game moment is the one where my girlfriend, completely on a whim, pushed a mob bosses' grandma into oncoming traffic and having to deal with the repercussions of that. It lead to a trip to Tokyo and assassinating fashion models while they were on the runway. Games like that make me really appreciate Shadowrun.

Gamewise, I would have to say the fact that the metaplot is this constantly evolving thing. Storylines from years ago pop up when one of the writers gets the urge or has a favorite character or plot and you get some really fascinating things from it. I'm a huge fan of SURGE (go on, stone me now) and how that was introduced in Year of the Comet; Dunkelzahn's Will, because I think SR was the first game to treat dragons as people - machiavellian, power-playing, constant one-upping people with a short fuse and loaded nuclear warheads for natural weapons - people with hopes, dreams, wants and needs. Dunkelzahn was my hero, and he still is; SOTA '64 and orxploitation; Peregrin from Renraku Shutdown - I was so happy to see that they kept her alive post RS; Pax from RS, who I think is still out there running plots; my most especial favorite though was Bug City - holy god, that book grabs you by the balls with its post-apocalyptic introduction and just keeps this grip on you as you keep reading. There's this real Aliens meets Terminator 2 feel to it that just sets off something wonderful in my head. I wouldn't have minded if the CZ had stuck around (keep in mind that I haven't read Feral Cities yet).

I also want to say that part of what really pulls the above books and metaplot off is how well the writers have always emulated online conversation. The message boards and shadow talk feel like real people commenting on today's news and weather and chance of being shot in the face, and you get distinct personalities from each of the shadow posters. I do miss the more "open range" feel of Shadownet, but Jackpoint's pretty good at keeping things together too.

And as much as I bitch and complain about the constant negativity around here, I love Dumpshock. You guys are funny, smart, and always hold my interest when I'm looking for five minutes to blow online. The devs actually talk to us like human beings and my fellow posters all sound like folk from Shadownet. There's conspiracies, hate-ons, in-jokes, rumor-monging, and just screwing around that makes this place just a fsking joy to be in.

That is what I miss the most in SR4... the Shadowtalk byplay between all the commenters. There's not nearly enough of it.

Lenina Huxley: I have, in fact, perused some newsreels in the Schwarzenegger Library, and the time that you took that car...
John Spartan: Hold it. The Schwarzenegger Library?
Lenina Huxley: Yes. The Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn't he an actor when you...?
John Spartan: Stop! He was President?
Lenina Huxley: Yes! Even though he was not born in this country, his popularity at the time caused the 61st Amendment which states...
John Spartan: I don't wanna know. President...

Demolition Man (1993)

After the "funny" Shadowtalk added to the German 3.01 books, you can't stand it anymore, trust me...

I couldn't write the Hong Kong setting without working a Six Demon Bag in somewhere.

you could, you are just too much of a nerd not to do it ^^

Bandersnatch entry:
>>>>>(You into old movies? Pre-simsense, I'm talking. Check out an old classic, Predator, with Arnold Schwarzeneggar before he went into politics. That's what the bleeder looks like, pretty close.)<<<<<
--Bladerunner (13:58:02/3-26-51)

Paranormal Animals of North America (1990)

Inconceivable!

Shadowtalk always did it for me. And the bandit was the man. I actually used that as my nick on IRC for years.

Yes, but what's in it?

Normally, I turn off large portions of my brain to watch this kind of movie. Its not a bad thing, just suspension of disbelief. I wish I had noticed her last name was Huxley years ago.

It wouldn't be a really, really loose interpretation of Brave New World otherwise. It's also why everyone keeps calling Spartan a savage.

I've always loved the Shadowtalk. It was what I missed about the 3rd edition books (Magic in the Shadows, cannon companion, etc) and it's what I'm glad to see back in the 4th edition books. I also like how the personalities are mostly kept consistent (the notable exception being Truthseeker and Dr. Bones' personalities in "Cyberpirates" being at odds with previous material in the canon, but that was a rare exception). I think it says something when you find yourself mentally reacting to some Shadowtalkers like you would to people on the internet in real life (i.e. mentally saying, "Yeah, blah blah blah" when Hugh Mann, Dark Father or Crescent Moon posts, etc).

I LOVED Hachetman's story in the beginning of Cybertechnology, about how he got all of his cyberware at some points in his life. It just felt so believeable. Too often, I think, when we create characters with cyberware, we don't think about what lead them to get it, but this story (how he got his cybereyes after being rendered blind by a shotgun muzzle flash, his cyberhand and eventual entire arm because he didn't want to walk around with his pinky missing after being forced into yubitsume by the yakuza, etc.) has inspired me to really give that kind of thing some thought when creating my cyberware-equipped characters.

I have to say I enjoyed the Art Dankwalther story. It was so unlike anything else that I had seen in Shadowrun.

And finally, I just enjoy the real-world references peppered throughout the books. Ahnuld has been mentioned already, and there have been many others - the Bruce Springsteen song in the Flash-Pak entry in Street Samurai Catalog ("Why am I remembering some song lyrics right now? Something about being "blinded by the light...")...and for some reason I can't remember any others offhand, but there's been quite a few.

See, that is what makes a lot of the earlier books so interesting. If you're going to add fluff, Shadowtalk should be one of the biggest ones. Heck, I wouldn't mind a little less pages of story and a little more pages of Shadowtalk since that is read a whole lot more often.

I would really like to see a new Prime Runners book. For the big names, we don't need stats. A known history, personality, background, etc would be great. And a "What happen to them" section about the old guys that disappeared would be nice too.

I'd never be able to watch it. I couldn't sit through more than 50 minutes of Borat. It was funnier listening to the guy who played Borat talk about the movie than it was to watch the same scenes in the movie (one of the things that they had to make sure of was that he couldn't be arrested; the rest of the crew? Sure, but not Borat. So there's a point at which he knocks on a guy's door to ask to use the phone, takes a shower, and gets thrown out of the guy's house wearing only the dude's towel and the cops are coming so he's hiding under the bench seat of the van trying to figure out how to a) give the towel back while b) not getting arrested for public nudity).

but then, how do you get most of thoese little references that make you go WTF and LOL? O.o

Sadly, I miss them. But if I do not turn off portions of my brain...
Revolts!

AUGH! IT BURNS AND STINGS! x.x . .
Seriously, i really do not like Die Hard all that much . .
And being IT-Guy and in Tech-Support, that hurt me allmost physically <.<

Yep.

Then both of you can understand why I defensively 'kill -9 upperthought'

I had to do that to myself once. I'd like to avoid any more situations that require it.

That's from DotSW IIRC, showing Professor Schwartzkopf at Charles University (see SoE).

The picture that got me was the cover from ShadowTech.

It's been so long that I now just smile knowingly.

The Renraku Arcology Shutdown plot.

Sci-fi horror at it's best. Well thought of, creepy and mysterious. The backstory for this starts way back to the very first novels set in the SR universe (the Secrets of Power triology) and it's just great to see how it all leads to the Shutdown. It has great elements to it, such as the Titanic-like reversal of human ambition and folly, all the sick stuff that happens inside and the whole sheer mass of it all. It goes without saying that the Renraky Arcology : Shutdown sourcebook was itself a little stroke of genius.

(Props to all the SR staff who were involved in that project !)


[Edit : typo]

Hatchetman. Cybertechnology is easily one of my favorite Shadowrun books of all time.

I liked Surge and the YotC.

Could someone post, in order, all the novels/sourcebooks which make up that storyline? I'd love to read it start to finish.

Hope I'm not missing anything (and it's possible my order is a bit off):

Secrets of Power Trilogy (novels)
Technobabel (novel)
Psychotrope (novel, related from the angle of the AI Mirage)
Renraku Arcology: Shutdown
Brainscan
Matrix (not really part of the storyline, just talks about the otaku a bit)
Threats 2
System Failure

I want to say Pax and her dissonant tribe gets mentioned somewhere else before System Failure, but I can't recall where. There also also tiny bits of info scattered into older books, basically just about the Arcology and SCIRE, but those aren't really critical to the story, just bits that tie it back to some old Shadowrun material.

The Novels don't really go into too much Detail of the whole Shutdown . .

Yeah, the Secrets of Power trilogy just basically mentions Morgan (Renraku's first AI) and her relationship to Dodger. It's connected to the Deus storyline basically because Morgan is, but it doesn't cover the shutdown. Technobabel has an appearance by Deus, though he's not mentioned by name. The main character is basically an otaku created by Deus to carry out a certain mission pre-Shutdown, but the otaku refuses. Psychotrope doesn't directly deal with Deus at all, but does deal with some otaku created by another AI named Mirage, who interacts with Deus a bit in System Failure.

The real meat of the storyline takes place over Renraku Arcology: Shutdown, Brainscan, and System Failure. Threats 2 does detail two groups connected to the storyline, Deus' Network and Pax's dissonant otaku, Ex Pacis.

all in All, in the Novels, NOBODY knows what happened in there.
It's only touched upon ny some news broadcasts some characters are watching.
Also, Psychotrope . . i liked it ^^

For me, it has to be the people. Shadowtalk, Hatchetman's story, etc. The Dragonheart trilogy is what got me really into the storyline in the first place. Black Madonna is a great example of what happens when elves meddle in human affairs.

[Edit:] Thanks for the info!

of all the . . well, there ARE lusty brown elven nipples . .

They were the first books I got my hands on, thank you very much!

Am I the only straight male alive who doesn't obsess over Nadja Daviar? She's hot. So are my girlfriends. I can actually TOUCH my girlfriends. This makes my girlfriends more interesting to me. If I want perky brown nipples, I have porn for that.

QED

I loved SR from the start 20 years ago. after playing lots of D&D the idea of being a "magic user" with an SMG tickled the heck out of me.

I liked the original UB- before the bug meta plot got used too much, Queen Euphoria and 2XS

Oh wow! Queen Euphoria! How could I have forgotten that! I remember playing that with my Shaman PC. The GM hid the module cover the entire game which made us pester him to let us see it even more!

That was a great adventure. I would love to write a sequel to it someday.

It's true, the shadowtalk in 2E was one of the best parts of the sourcebooks. And I'm glad it's back in 4E, but it's still not as entertaining as it was back in 2E.