Hey guys,

Can some folks help me out a bit and give me a rundown on the history of cloning in Shadowrun. I know there ARE such things as clones in Shadowrun, but other than a couple references here and there, such as the "Escaped Clone" Quality, I don't find a whole lot of information on them.

I'm planning on making use of clones in the current plotline that I'm working on, but I'm not sure what books I should be looking to for reference information. Any information would be helpful, such as plotlines involving clones from some of the older novels or adventures I may not have read, as well as any old 3rd or 2nd edition books that have clone information in them that I could pick up on DriveThruRPG. I've perused my 4th Edition books, and I don't see a whole lot on clones, but maybe I'm missing something.

Anything would be helpful, thanks!

Good luck.
There ain't much on clones to begin with.
No Rules aside from the escaped clone flaw and no fluff for it either.
As far as background is concerned, the SR world is incapable of making copies of persons in the flesh.
And usually, clones are made braindead and kept in storage for spare-parts for rich people, nothing else.

I cant offer much on metahuman cloning, but cloning technology is definitely used for animals on a reasonably common basis. I am inferring this from the fact that Running Wild lists the availability and cost of cloned pets/animals as relatively low with traditionally bred animals being much more expensive/harder to acquire

Or the brain is removed at an extremely young age to become a jarhead (re Augmentation, page 162, Cyborg Wetware).

ah, right,i actually forgot about that . .
or they could go the halberstamm-babies route with them too . .

Yeah cuz that wasn't creepy at all...

Arsenal and some of the earlier 2nd and 3rd edition books on cyberware (Man & Machine for example) are your best bets. I've got it in my head from some where that they do clones in 2 ways. First is force growth where it is brain dead and just a source of parts and the other is slow growth where the brain works and is generally intended as an actual viable person. Now just what they intend with that viable person is another story. This latter one is what the escaped clones generally come from. This might be something I came up with at some point and it just stuck as part of my own game canon (hate it when that happens).

The Halberstamm-Babies were, effectively, the first real Jar-Heads.
But instead of using them for Combat Operations, they used them for Matrix Stuff.
Biological Computer-Components closer to an AI than to Otaku/Ice/Agent/TM

Something like this?

Yeah Stahlseele, cuz I needed you to go in depth on those things. The only thing I remember reading that was creepier than those kids was the reporter's story from Missing Blood when the bugs first showed up.

*looks at name and avatar*
oh the irony . .

I'll take a gander at Man and Machine. Thanks for all the information. I'm somewhat surprised that clones haven't really played much part in any of the plotlines. Any information on which megacorps do the most work on cloning, or which ones have actual cloning facilities, or countries / regions where cloning is banned?

There has been a thread here in the forum called the "What is the Kusanagi Protocol"

It seems, that at GenCon 2005 there has been a mission about a major shadowrun figure cloning himself and downloading his memories and personalities every few days, so that he can "survive" dying (kind of like in "6th Day").

In 3rd edition, cloning had been attempted, but failed. Clones were physically perfectly functional, but mentally braindead, and astrally no different than any other chunk of biological matter.

M&M has a short blurb on this. You may have better luck with the SOTA books.

I am fully aware of the irony. Perhaps more ironic if it wasn't Mantis, yes?

In Corporate Intrigue, the plot of four adventures, Insubstancial Rumors, Floating Secrets, Had Truths and Cold Facts, involve a clone of corporate court judge Yoshiko Hino of Evo, and the "Project Dike". There is also a short story in Jet Set, the Giggling Assassin, that continue the plot (the associated adventure is supposed to be related, but it's written in a way that doesn't allow the PC to ever figure it out). Evo CEO Anatoly Kirilenko ordered to create a clone that obeys to him (I guess the original Hino loyalty went to Buttercup). The fact the clone served for some time on the corporate court seems to suggest it somhow had a functional brain. It seems to also involve e-ghosts and something bigger called Project Dickens.

Its worth noting that Forced Growth Wimps are only the most COMMONLY used cloning techniques.

Shadowrun still has access to traditional cloning techniques, and can actually make copies of bodies(though notably not minds) - it just requires being grown slowly(you know, not in the span of a few months), and possibly being actually born(remember Dolly?), with the cloning taking place in vitro. After all, designer babies are becoming a thing in shadowrun(I believe shadowbeat had a blurb about a baby by a lesbian couple), so its not unreasonable to assume shadowrun has made some improvements on what we have access too. Doesn't mean that kind of cloning is very common, though.