I bought SR when it was first published in 1989, and bought a few of the sourcebooks, but I was really hooked when I got UB and Harlequin. Those two adventures are the reasons I still stick to SR, where as most other RPGs have been sold off.

Lars

Yes. So much so, that many of my friends can tell you who Patrick Bambra is without more then a moments thought. UB was fantastic.

Harlequin was equally as brilliant though we never got attached to the characters but to the mechanism.

yeah, that was the last adventure where we had decker pc's allowed in our group. the UB Black ice fried a PC and then two NPC's who we paid to see what took out the PC. After that we said frag it, and went in.

Mr Bradstreet has been an inspiration in roleplaying. From Merc:2000 to GURPS Spec Ops.

However, what I really liked in Shadowrun is Renraku Shutdown. I also like that Shadowrun ultimately is well written, balanced with support.

It is not only about killing things.

I agree, a lot of what drew me in was the 'fluff' that made it seem like a real world. I miss that when it dissappeared from adventures. So many games are just numbers and let the players create the fluff but the idea of a Dewine Dee ™ jump suit or the prizes at Cratchet Family Entertainment Center seemed to make it more real.

While not necessarily a single brilliant moment...I really dug SOTA '64. I like Adepts, I like cops, I like spies...it's like the book was tailor made for me (minus the, what was it, Euro-magic or something that makes up the other chapter? I honestly don't think I've ever read it). Not only was it covering source material I liked, but I liked how it was covered. Good stuff. Top notch work.

As for what single moment of the game really hooked me in the first place? I loved that the degree of success affected final damage. A really accurate knife was as dangerous as a wildly swung sword -- someone with finesse and skill could, in theory, still be dangerous. I loved that, the very first time I read through the book. It wasn't a matter of needing a "critical" lucky roll of a 20 or something...every single attack, you did more damage the better you were with your weapon. Awesome. SR was the first game I'd run into with that sort of mechanic in place.

And Combat Pool. Sweet, lost, Combat Pool.

Of all the RPGs I've read or played, the Shadowrun sourcebooks have always felt the most life-like to me. Not "realistic", but life-like. Those four-color photo adverts in 1st edition's Seattle Sourcebook and London Sourcebook always prime my creative pump when I flip through them.

Shadowtech - for everything. The fluff, the shadowtalk, the gear.

Corporate Shadowfiles. Very "realistic" feel.

Dragons of the Sixth World. Moment of genius: Elf-boy got eaten. The shadowtalk in Sirrurg´s section.

Street Magic. In use all the time, and very few troubles with it.

Unwired. Cleared things up for me. I´m really looking forward to that new wireless world section.

Novel-wise 2XS, Who hunts the hunter?, TAKC3000. For the characters.

Corporate Download. More Awesome than you can shake a stick at.

Oh, another inspired moment was whoever created the idea of Good as Gold TM jewellery. Too funny...

The Renraku Arcology Shutdown, culminating in the Brainscan adventures is the high point in SR for me.

I enjoyed the secret, powerful AI plotline stuff so much that when Emergence first introduced the concept of these "baby AI's" in SR4 I, at first, really hated the idea. However, I now admit that the "traditional" AI plot arc of secret super-powers has kind of run its course. I don't know if I'll ever have an AI player, but I can accept their place in the canon universe now.

Super Tuesday was a moment of genius.

For me, the biggest genius of Shadowrun is the SR4 Technomancers. The description, the abilities, everything.

I haven't been here for anything before SR4, though. I haven't been exposed to a large part of the Shadowrun timeline.

Nigel: I recommend Technobabel and Psychotrope if you like TMs. Features some nice Otaku Action.

I'll add the Seattle SB to the list. It seeded half of the plot, already introducing Huang, Cliber and Cham The Man.
Before System Failure, Pax appears in Brainscan and get a whole chapter in Threats 2, which you listed.

Also, absolutely everything to do with Art Dankwalther. That was just an inspired storyline, including the ultimate resolution.

Though it was a fan done thing, and is, sadly, no longer updating(and accessible only throught he Wayback machine):

The C.L.U.E. Files!

^^ This. I'd been a fan before that, but that storyline is what really hooked me.

Very few things haven't enthralled me, and I like where Catalyst is going, advancing things forward even further. (Yes yes yes, I can hear the Deckers now complaining about missing their couches and comfy, safe rooms when tripping the Matrix!).

I just wish I had been able to game earlier. And was able to be a Player instead of GM.

The look on my Player's faces when they realized their first run was for the prototype of "Dunkie-Pop: The Popcorn of Dragons", pure gold!

For me, I was instroduced to Shadowrun in 1997 as a concept of "Magic and SMGs!", but it really didn't strike a chord with me until I saw the Street Samurai's Catalog. The entire thing was organized as a weapons catalog, which I thought was kewl! Also, it helps to have a picture for a weapon, piece of gear, etc in a game that depends largely on picturing things in your mind. The more concrete images you can get, the more immersed you feel in the world.

And the cover art was just awesome! (props to Fyndhal for using it for his image!)

Crash 2.0

As I was reading through System Failure I actually felt chills and imagined myself there. When there was the little blurbs about different Joe Nobodies being in the matrix as the worm hit and the imagery of the satellites falling from the sky, everything with Winternight, Deus, Novatech and the Otaku, it was just wonderfully put together. I loved it.

That wrap up of so many meta plots and sneaking threats has me excited to see what the writers and developers are going to do to top it. It has me watching little things in the fluff now, like the last page of Emergence;



Seeing things like this makes me hope that characters and major movers and shakers are going to wrapped up into another big world changing event somewhere in the next 5-6 years of SR Timeline...

Shadowrun was my first RPG that just FELT right. DnD, even my favourite setting for it(Ebberon), lacked something. DnD always seems to be looking up, thinking hey, if it isn't good now that's why you're supposed to play good duys right? And SR's classless system... Beautiful.

You can play bloody well anything you want. Wanna be a mage who uses a flamethrower? Go for it. Street Sammie who is devastating at any range? Go for it. A cracked-out ex rocker who's a jack of all trades? Yep.

And the fact that the plot, actually makes sense. It's actually a decent picture of where the world is going(oh gods do I hope that the world Awakens)

Are you saying it hasn't started already?

Maybe. Maybe not. I've got a friend who definately might be a mana-spiked elf.

me too! i spent hours pouring over the gear books and spending way too much time lording over my wepons and cyberware thanks to the street sam's catalogue and, later, shadowtech. id spend hours drawing my characters paying meticulous attention to the details on the weapons to make sure they matched those in the books.
it's prolly cuz of those that ive stuck almost entirely to the tech side of the game (but i always make sure to have a finger-wiggler behind me to watch for that magic-stuff)