I did this one back a year or so ago.

If someone asked you what Shadowrun was, what would you show them?

What’s In Your Library?

Movies
1] Blade Runner [Nothing to say, but this IS THE MOVIE]
2] Jonny Mnemonic [2 Streets Sams and a Hacker]
3] Ronin [The perfect example of a team, including the “New Guy”]
4] Raiders of the Lost Arc [Remember Indy was Hired to find the Ark]
5] The 5th Element [Good old Die Hard in Space]

TV Series
1] Burn Notice [Follow His Rules, and you will be surprised what happens]
2] The A-Team [You all know it is a Shadowrun game, just accept it.]
3] CSI: Miami/NCIS {Both} [Look at them sometime as a SR game]
4] Wolverine and the X-Men [Season One, was a great example of how a team could get started]
5] Special Ops Missions {The Military Channel} [Die Hard the Game Show is the only way to describe it]

Animie {Its it own category]
1] Ghost in the Shell [All of them]
2] Black Magic M66 [The City is a great]
3] G.I. Joe [The Animie that was done was fantastic for the “Near Future Tech”]
4] Cowboy Be-Bop [This is a Shadowrun Team]
5] Tank Police [The LAPD gets M1A1’s]

Shadowbeat!

~J

I would show them Silent Mobius, Black Lagoon, Blade Runner, and Snatch.

Outlaw Star! A trash talking street punk/ bounty hunter, a kid-genius hacker/mechanic, an amnesiac with strange abilities, a hyperactive combat specialist and a highly philosophical and often mysterious assassin/ martial artist.... this is a shadowrun group in space.

Leverage.

Thank you: I was going to add this one [I have not watched it much], but I could not think of the name.
I do have a bunch of others, but I wanted to keep the list small and I could not remeber the names of many ones I wanted to list.

City Come-a-Walkin, Neuromancer, Mirrorshades, Borderland.

Movies
- Italian Job, it's a nice example of a Job
- Sneakers, because they're "white hat" runners conned into doing a black hat job by an evil Johnson, and getting even
- Soylent Green, excellent setting background; pollution, economic slump, evil corporations, general malaise
- Cast a Deadly Spell, magic and mythos in "modern" society
- Sin City, mood piece (I like 'noir)
- Enemy of the State, to get people into paranoia mode

And yeah, Blade Runner and Johnny Mnemonic are good too.


Series
- Dresden Files, to get people thinking about magic in modern society
- Hustle, for more social/trickster groups

Anime
- Black Lagoon, they're practically shadowrunners in a feral city

Most of my favorite examples are listed above, to them I would add:

• The Usual Suspects "That you did not know you stole from Lofwyr, is the only reason you are still alive. He needs..."
• Anything by Whedon, esp. Firefly / Serenity and Dollhouse

Aside from the already listed ones:

- Strange Days
- A clockwork Orange
- A Scanner Darkly (wonderful setting piece)
- Equilibrium (Gun Adept)
- Immortel (A bit excentric, but great Cyberpunk movie)
- Way of the Gun

Word.

Also, it was stated but look no further than GitS:SAC if you don't understand the matrix in Shadowrun. So many times at the game shop people have confessed to not understanding the matrix in Shadowrun. I tell them to think of or watch Stand Alone Complex and suddenly they get it. There are limits, in that things haven't gone all Eclipse Phase yet, but short of that they have a lot better idea of what it is and a desire to try the rules out.

Other Movies I have that both are good to show the game and good Run ideas.

-Flavor [in the this is a Runners Life way]
Harley Davison and the Marlboro Man
Batman [any]
Hellboy
The Whole Ten Yards
Tequila Sunrise
Munich



-Run Ideas
A lot of Hitchcock Movies
The Kingdom
Sahara [The 2005 version not the Bogart version]
Man of the House
Silverado

i drop about twenty novels and the corebook in their lap. "this is shadowrun, start reading"

A book that really fleshes out a distopian future and has many elements of the shadowrun setting would be Stephen King's (writing under Richard Bachman) The Running Man. For those who haven't read the book, it is VASTLY different from the movie. The only similarity between the book and the movie is that a gameshow is involved and they are trying to kill him. Everything else was changed.

While Snatch does not show a shadowrunning live (although you could say that Boris was a Mr. Johnson when recruited Sol and Vinny to fetch the diamond), it does show how the life in the shadows should look like.

"Do you like dags?"

Digital Dead (book) is a great example of the level of tech in many areas and has a good SR type of feel. Its prequel Red Forge of Mars is good, but not so much SR feel to it.

Ghost in the Shell is a perfect example of SR in nearly every way imaginable.

Firefly has the proper outlaw feel to it, and you just substitute 'Central Planets' and 'Rim' with 'Corperations' and 'Shadows' and you basically have SR in space.

Cowboy Bebop, has the hacker, the big fighter, the face/infiltration specialist, and the gun sam.

Also, can't forget I Love Lucy, because her plans always end about as well as a Runner's plan does

Films:

The Matrix - Beyond the look and the feel, the Matrix is an Ultraviolet node and Neo's a technomancer.

Fifth Element - A brighter, shinier cyberpunk.

Johnny Mnemonic - Essential cyberpunk. Though whoever put that 'jack in the dolphin is owed a commission from Dunk's Will.

Ocean's 11 / 12 / 13 - A quintessential run featuring your ragtag, pulled together at the last minute shadow team.

Gone In Sixty Seconds - Same, but with a much "grittier" bunch of folks.

Constantine - Not the comic, I realize, but a good visual representation of what magic would look like in the Sixth World.

Books:

The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam / Paris - Full time author, part time thief gets wrapped up in plots he has no business being in. No cyber, no magic, hell, the guy can barely throw a punch - but this is the literary version of Burn Notice.

Music:

KMFDM - Good technothump with lots of anarchist sound.

OhGr / Skinny Puppy - Technothump with anticulture and protest messages.

Lady Gaga - A shining example of what a simstar would be in the 2070s; smart, technologically savvy, and bombastic. Plus, her music parodies and plays with the darker side of fame and superstardom.

Y.K. and the Seatbelts - The soundtrack to Cowboy Bebop; what more is there to say?

Anime / Manga:

Ghost in the Shell - Anime, manga, and video games. A look at the criminal underworld from a cop's point of view in the high speed technological future. Mostly focuses on cybercrime (with lots of trips into cyberspace) but also touching on everything from AI rights, transhumanism, cybernetic morality, individualism, governmental rights - it's very meaty.

Cowboy Bebop - Bebop is Shadowrun, down to your archetypes: Spike the adept martial artist with a mob history; Jet the ex-cop; Faye the con artist without a past; and Ed and Ein, the hacker kid. Perpetually unlucky when it comes to finishing off a run, but sometimes it ain't about the money. I know nothing about the manga though.

Tenjo Tenge: What happens when adepts of all stripes go to the same school? Tenjo will show you in wincing detail. Manga only, strongly suggest finding it uncut though that makes it fairly NSFW.

Megatokyo: You laugh, but it shows a fluffier version of cyberpunk of the Sixth World. Ignoring the "dating sim" main story, it also touches on AIs, simstars and fame, otaku culture (Japanese otaku), corporate "troubleshooters" (Ed and Dom), megacorporations ("Sony: Live in your world, die in ours") and a good visual depiction of cyberspace and avatars.

Video Games:

Grand Theft Auto - Play it pink mohawk or completely straight, this is what most SR players imagine when they hear "Shadowrun".

Resident Evil - Evil corporation plays god for money and power. Blows up entire city with a nuke, gets away with it. Which part doesn't sound familiar?

Gaming Material:

Shadowbeat - Someone on here recently proclaimed that they had no idea why everyone wants this book so bad. I'll tell you why: it's a great bird's eye view of what the Sixth World looks like outside of the criminal point of view. Discussion of music, television, sports, Sixth World culture; it's like a field guide to the Sixth World.

State of the Art 2063 / 2064 - Specifically, for the culture sections in the back. These are two books that I'm getting my grubby hands on by the end of 2010 or else, and for exactly the same reason as Shadowbeat.

Shadowrun 4a - Brown noser! Seriously Catalyst, you did a great job with this book. I know there's a distinct cry for less fluff, more crunch nowadays, but 4a did an awesome job in presenting an updated Sixth World and giving us a look at what it looks like circa 2072. It's big, its pretty, it shows running in all of its glory, and you even manage to sneak some culture stuff in there.

Television -

Burn Notice - A how to guide to being a runner, including etiquette, running on the fly, and simple ways to get yourself out of trouble. Also emphasizes tact over dakka, which should be ever runner's creed. When you're a spy...

I was wondering how long it would take “The Matrix” to show up.
This is my last resort quick description, usually with the header “This is Wrong, but “The Matrix will give you a basic concept, mix it with Harry Potter and the forget everything and start over.”
This get there attention and then they are open to Blade-Runner, Jonny Mnemonic or The Ronin.

What I am surprised about is the number of Shadowrun Players that have no clue what Blade Runner is.

Is that even possible?

The Sega Genesis game.

We had a potential player who the interrogation went like this.

Ever Seen Blade-Runner?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Johnny Mnemonic?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Ghost in the Shell?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Ronin?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Tank Police?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Batman, any of them?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen Blade [One I forgot] ?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen The 5th Element?
Answer: Nope!
Ever Seen The Matrix?
Answer: Yes that was a Cool Movie!

Blasphemy!

Don't forget the crazy AI and the catgirl.

What if I just haven't actually seen it, but I've at least heard of it?

I've heard of it, I've seen parts of it, but I'm not interested in watching Blade Runner. Huh.

Two I haven't seen on the list so far:

Heat the movie (A run gone bad and what happens when you piss off the cops)
Hardwired the book--If half of SR is Neuromancer, then the other half is Hardwired.

So, Kovu, what did you do to the potential player? Smacked in the head?

I'll say this outright: Blade Runner is an intensely boring movie that you have to be in the right mood to watch. I like Blade Runner. It has a lot of suspense, but not a lot of thrills. This is similar to recommending the documentary "The Smartest Guys in the Room", but feeling that it is incredibly boring (it is quite informational, however). If I wanted to turn off someone from Shadowrun, I'd probably force them to watch Blade Runner, then watch them wander off to pick up some DnD books because they want some actual action.

Johnny Mnemonic is possibly one of the worst cyberpunk movies to ever have been made. The short story is good enough, but the movie is terrible. Again, if I forced someone to watch Johnny Mnemonic, they'd have to be a real Keanu Reeves fan to get turned onto Shadowrun.

The two movies that best describe Shadowrun to me AND also have appeal for people who don't play Shadowrun are Heat and Ronin. I'd recommend Ronin more than Heat, I think, because Heat is more about the relationship between law and criminal elements while Ronin describes the story solely from the merc's point of view. I'll also give a nod to The Big Hit. It's another terrible movie, but terrible in a campy way and may appeal to folks who like humor. Or Mark Wahlberg, I guess.

I agree that Blade Runner can be a long boring movie
I like Johny Mnumonic and yes it does have its slow points
But You have heard about it and seen it.

It the SR players that have not even heard about it that shock me.

Whatever the person and I have both seen will become shadowrun for them.

Well, Johnny Mnemonic is indeed a rather bad movie, but it happens to be very very very cyberpunk. So it has at least that saving grace.

Blade Runner.. well, I like costume plays too, so I can cope with a somewhat slow movie more focused on drama than action. And it just looks so awesome.

So what are these "movie" things I keep hearing so much about?

I'm sorry to say I'd have the same responses to that list except for GitS. I've never been big on watching movies.

That said, Avatar actually has a decent sort of look at the Corp mindset, and at a stretch you could say those people that defect are similar to ex-corp runners. Bit of a stretch, and ya need to wait a few months before you can pull it out and give a home showing.

Never heard of it. Say, ever read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

~J

Plays on stage have MORE action than Blade Runner. Even Shakespearean comedies which have no action. At least with a play, I know I won't be bored. I can't say the same about Blade Runner.

Actually, does anyone remember the movie Freejack. Great example of a few things for shadowrun in this movie. First yo come to mind is Mick Jagger's charecter and his orginzation ( Bonejacks I think) were a great example of private security or corp goons.

Blade runner the theatrical version where Deckers has his narration gives an excellent mood/feel for shadowrun.

Ghost in the Shell (1st movie and the series) I think covers the cybernetics and digital world

Another Couple
-Pulp Fiction
-The 7 Samorai/Maganicent 7

Remember when they were doing the TekWar series on, I think it was, FOX?

That would be a great pointer!

Yes, many years ago. I really didn't like it to be honest. The taking care of robotic animals and the christ figure living within the simsensen/tv device were interesting quirks of the future human culture, but I liked the noir/hairboiled route the movie went even more. I still find it strange that two entire police departments existed in the city without being aware of each other, but it might be me not remembering that situation correctly when the two characters met.

How did I miss this? Someone's getting beat to death with a water noodle for this...

USA is having a Burn Notice Marathon

Aw, and here I am at work and not home to torture my gf with it

The Blues Brothers
-I know Riggers that can drive like that
-Also nice Low Tech was to take out security.

It's kind of like the Bible. You've seen it aped, modified and distorted in a million-and-one other places even if you can't place where you've seen the original. It's an excellent work in and of itself but you're not missing out on some big cultural revelation by not having seen it. I heard a film critic say, "It's an excellent film but there's nothing as 'over' in science-fiction as Blade Runner."

It's still one of my favorite movies.

If I was going to show someone Shadowrun I wouldn't bother pulling out literature or films to show as examples. It's like trying to do the same to explain Dungeons & Dragons; it doesn't work. Instead I'd sketch a picture of a dragon holding a Gatling gun with a high-tech widget in his arm and have him smoking a cigar. And I'd add a Japanese elf girl with a sword and big boobs and some kind of ridiculous looking pistol. I'd point at the piece of paper and say, "That's Shadowrun. Now can we go to Arby's, Mom?"

Shadowrun isn't dystopian. Not anymore. It's a world which is geared only towards Shadowrunning.

I think I would show Mexican Wrestling to have a player understand that this is a word which is a world where anything is possible. It's ludicrous, over the top, and people can show up from the dead. The only other option I can think of is a Marvel comic.

Book: Altered Carbon (the Takeshi Kovacs Novels) by Richard K. Morgan are awesome SR references IMO.

Deus Ex: Need I say more?
Bioshock: Renraku Arcology under water.
Burn Notice: Most of my games start out this way.
The A-Team: Most of my games end up this way.

Mmmm... Deus Ex, likely my favorite FPS game, though Bioshock is right next to it.

Hard Boiled. From the opening Coffee House shoot out, to the warehouse when the Str.Sams ride in on dirtbikes throwing gernades, to the honor gun battle at the end. If it had magic in it, John Who would have made the perfect SR movie.

AD Police Files are great SR anime from private security POV.
Dirty Pair is another fine SR anime (just ignore the space travel). Hire to find something and trouble insues. Ends in gun fights. Usually after a double cross or plot twist.

I'm astonished that nobody mentioned
Robocop
before ?

HokaHey
Medicineman