I liked that scenario, never had the feeling of beeing Harlequin's pet and shadowed by it and found it great by the disruption it creates with standart shadowrunning.

Critics in books and on the french GROG site were always good.

Yet Hermit seems to think it was labelled as one of the worser scenario in the game.


I'd like to have some opinions about it?

Loved it or not?

Great adventure ideas if taken for themselves.
Not so great because of the 'save the world' factor.

Average.

Edit: Interestingly enough, the corresponding vote doesn't show up.

I had to vote null because I can't really answer this poll.
It's not a bad adventure. It's just that it's a "Shadowrun: Parallel Universes" campaign where the runners save the world.

When you play Shadowrun because you want to play a freelance criminal in a cyberpunk Sprawl, Harlequin's Back is not what you're looking for.

Hey it's true!

5 votes in so far though I just see 3 of them.

Regarding the Vote Discrepancy-- I believe Null Votes show up in the count, but not in the individual areas. Similar to voting "Present" but not Yes or No.

Harlequin's Back, in my opinion, really needs characters who are invested in that type of campaign. Saving the world can be a job, but the GM needs to find a way to link it to the character's motivations. When my group played through it, some of them were willing to do the 'hooding' thing and save the world for all the warm-fuzzies it gave them, even though no one would ever believe they did it. Some of the other characters were the staunch professionals, mirror shades, that do the job without questions -- IF they get paid. That combined with some heavy handed tactics where characters were forced to sleep.

Basically -- fun adventure, if you're ready for it. Depending on your group composition, it may not be for you, though that can be true of any published adventure. Survival of the Fittest and the DotA series are not designed for a group of Barrens rats to do. The Denver missions aren't for folks who don't want to get involved with organized crime, and Manhattan is the wrong place to be if you want to avoid the Megacorps.

1. Not what I was expecting after H1.
2. Took extra work to keep it running smoothly.
3. Helps establish and define the Horrors metaplot.
4. Shows some possibilities for Metaplane adventures.
5. Had some great Harleaquin fiction. Interaction with a Passion and a great opening scene.
6. Darke caused years of paranoia and hatred of anything Aztec for my players.

Personally, I like it, but it has several points where it is a different world with Shadowrun rules. That can be fun, but needs prepared players. If your players expect another shadowrun and like the cyberpunk criminals aspect of the game, this campaign - which it is, it is a campaign in several adventures - will piss them off by being neither. There's other things that frusrate - the ending, Karma rewards - but mostly, it is something completely different from Shadowrun.

By itself, it is great, very well written, conclusive, and entertaining. It just needs players who accept they will stop playing Shadowrun for a while. Also, it needs careful handling of Harlequin. If not handled well, this easily becomes leading the players by the nose with a super-NPC. And nobody likes that, though that's neither the explicit intent of the campaign, nor necessary.

Pretty much this. I've only read through it rather than run or played it, but I found I was a lot more amenable to it if I was in more of a "fantasy" mood than strictly cyberpunk. Aside from that, it seems like a pretty fun ride.

On the note of Harlequin himself, I can see how he'd be hard to handle or end up railroading someone.

I won´t say it´s great, but it´s good. Higher powered groups not relying on gear too much preferred.

I liked it because it was different from the usual shadowrun adventure. It also provides some great inspiration for Astral Quests.

Well seems like it's pretty appreciated