The only book I have is the 4th edition core. A few weeks ago I saw several Shadowrun books in a local game store. I can't remember all the names, but there was a magic themed book, a tech themed book, and I think a few others. I would like to add a few books to my shelf to deepen the resources I have for the game and wanted to get some suggestions from the veteran players. Thanks.

Well the short answer to you question comes in 2 parts. Do you plan on running or playing? and if you do play what kind of character do you play the most?

the 'core' rules are spread across 6 different books. Unwired(matrix rules), street magic, arsenal, augmentation, runner's companion(expanded character generation rules), and the main book (anniversary version is the most current).

which books you want depends on what kind of character you play or what kind of game you run. beyond that, there are a lot of nice books out there. i haven't had a chance to get a look at 'Vice' yet, but it sounds like a fun one. a setting book can be useful, if only for getting a good idea of the setting material (the maps are a nice plus).

in general, the arsenal book would be useful for all characters, as everyone ends up needing guns, armor, and transportation. it has the rules for martial arts and advanced combat as well.

The following books have been published for SR 4th Edition (aside from the main rule book):

• Augmentation - Bio/Cyber/Nanoware; advanced implant and medicine rules; Bio-Drones, Cybermancy, Cyborgs
• Arsenal - Weapons, vehicles, drones (icluding modificytion rules); drugs and chemicals; martial arts rules
• Street Magic - Advanced magic rules; new spirits, adept powers and metamagics; background on Astral Space
• Unwired - Advanced Matrix rules and background; artificial intelligence; background on Technomancers
• Runner's Companion - Alternate character creation rules; advanced rules for contacts and lifestyle; background on running SR campaigns

• Runner Havens - Location sourcebook; details on Seattle and Hong Kong; short overviews of Hamburg, Cape Town, Caracas and Istanbul
• Corporate Enclaves - Location Sourcebook; details on Los Angeles and Neo-Tokyo; short overviews on Dubai, Europort, Manhattan, Nairobi and Tenochtitlán
• Feral Cities - Location Sourcebook; details on Lagos and Chicago; short overviews on Bogota, GeMiTo, Geneva, Karavan and Sarajevo
• Seattle 2072 - Location Sourcebook; details on the city of Seattle; compiles and updates Seattle Sourcebook (1st Edition) and New Seattle (3rd Edition)
• Running Wild - Critter Sourcebook; loads and loads of animals (both mundane and Awakened); sapient non-(meta)humans; rules for taming and using animals

• Emergence - Campaign Book; deals with the world becoming aware of Technomancers and AIs
• Ghost Cartels - Campaign Book; deals with the rise, origins and downfall of the Tempo drug
• On the Run - Adventure; aimed at novice SR players and GMs
• Dawn of the Artifacts: Dusk - Adventure; part one of the Dawn of the Artifacts campaign

Midnight - adventure; part two of the Dawn of the Artifacts campaign.

-personally- I'm after everything but the modules, including a lot of earlier addition books

Same here. I just finished completing my SR1 collection when I picked up a DMZ Box Set.

Of these-I'd put aquiring these books in the following priority:
1. Arsenal (extra gear everyone can use, plus gun and vehicle modification rules)
2. Runners COmpanion (Extra PC and NPC options)
3. Street Magic (Pretty much a must have for mages and adepts)
4. Augmentation (Some extra bits of ware, a few flaws and edges---though I can never recall what is good about it)
5. Unwired (uless you are a Techie-this book is not for you. I'd wait until I had a good grasp of the matrix until using and options contained in it)

I'm in the same situation.
I'll probably go for arsenal first. then probably augmentation and Street magic. Then Runners companion. Unwired is less important, as we don't (currently) want to get into that part of the game too much.

Arsenal and Street Magic are definitely "first buys" on my suggestion list. Augmentation less so as (IMO) it doesn't add a whole lot. I see neat stuff once in a while but can never really find a use for it.

Arsenal was my first extra-pickup, and the amount of gear, weapons, vehicles it adds to -any- character is well worth the price. Runner's companion is a second, not for the infected or build-a-furry surge variants, but because of the advanced lifestyle rule and a shitton of extra positive and negative qualities that let you build a character that feels more alive.

In my opinion, get those two, and pick up other books depending on what character you're playing. Those two can be used for a better rules-lite game, without using -everything from every book ever- without too much hastle. Then salt and pepper to taste. If you're playing a mage, grab street magic, a technomancer, get unwired. A sammy, try augmentation. That kind of thing.

Advanced lifestyles are amazing, I love them.

Personally I don't advocate "buildafurry" even though the rules seem to support/suggest them, but they do add some variety to characters. My drake took dynamic skin coloring because he can't wear a chameleon suit in drakeform.

Yeah, that phrase was kind of unfair to use. There are some places where it can be used to be cool, or even make sense, but I tend to roll my eyes when I see a Surge'd catgirl character posted for critique on these boards. Or, more often, metatraits used for plain min-maxing.

And yeah, the advanced lifestyles are awesome. Group contacts, too.

For the good of the collective, you must submit and purchase all!

But yeah, pick up Arsenal and then Street Magic.

Any option can be abused.

Outside the core book, most of the others aren't used all that often, at least by more than one person at a time (chargen, gear stats and GM-only biz.)

As such, if you're not set on supporting your FLGS out of buy-local loyalty, then my dollar goes to the PDF. You can get two books on PDF for each hard copy you buy.

I disagree entirely, that depends on your table.

Like everyone else I'd have to suggest arsenal as your best bet if you can only get one book. New guns, drugs, vehicles, drones, weapon mods, vehicle mods, survival gear, spy toys, and even a few magic related things. Oh, and don't forget FFBA, the armor of champions (and everyone and their dog).

After that I'd suggest augmentation or street magic depending on if you play mundane or awakened more. Then the other one, and then RC. I would put RC higher up, but it tends to only get used for the ton of new qualities which are added and advanced lifestyles (which are both cool, but lower on my list than the goodies in augmentation and street magic). Unwired would be the last one I suggest getting unless you are seriously into playing hackers/technomancers. There are a ton of new rules, not many of which make the matrix any easier to use, and so the things used from unwired tend to get cherry-picked from what I've seen.

Running wild is good if you run the game or really want to play an animal trainer type character.

The one part I'd like to emphasis is Technomancers. If that is something you seriously want to play, there is a lot in this book to give them some more detail and some variety. Even if the other stuff from the book is not used. Like many of the other things, it can either add a lot of flavor and fun, or it can add a lot of min/max opportunities; that all depends on your approach though.

SR4A is a must, my second was Street Magic, but I play Adepts and Mages a lot. Third was Arsenal followed by Runner's Companion. Other players went with Augmentation or Unwired instead of SM depending on their character preferences.

Grexul