I was thinking about this, and wondering, how many shadowrunners actually have access to shadowland? I know it's supposed to be pretty hard to find, and I would imagine it to be much more so for non-deckers.

Also, what would it mean for players? If a player has access to shadowland, they can access almost every single book writen for shadowrun anytime they go online. I'd say that's one heck of an edge, if nothing else. Any ideas?

It's a Level 2 Contact.

~J

Luckily many of the entries in the location books are questionable or just plain wrong. So, if you've done your work before hand, you can actually plan on them using a piece of info that is (in your version at least) incorrect.

Not to mention that many of the shadowtalkers are a little insane and doing data searches through Shadowland has a pretty good chance of getting back to the wrong folks (some searches, at least).

Shadowlands is also fairly open-access. It's a BBS. Granted, a well-hidden BBS, but if you can find it you can pretty much post and read whatever you want. For the record, I think it's Hacker House that needs passcodes and the likes for entrance. Most of Shadowlands is open-access, far as I know. And if you aren't supposed to be someplace in Shadowlands, you'll get SOTA IC, glaciers blacker than Lucifer's heart, and some of the best shadow-deckers in the business bearing down on your buttocks.

Still, the public areas on Shadowlands can be one heck of a security hazard (hence the omission of names/dates/details on most of the shadowtalk) but it is a ton of information. Sifting through it usually requires an SK or a frame in order to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

Least, that's what I gather. All the other things the other folks say are true, far as I can tell.

Shadowland requires passcodes, just not as many as, say, Nexus.

You're probably better off trying something bad on Shadowland than Nexus, too.

Also remember that you have to pay a hefty sum to get in.

Also, what is Nexus and do I want to know?

I'm not staring at Target: Matrix right now, but, if I remember correctly, it's kind of the Shadowlands archive. There are several Shadowlands nodes around the world, but most of them connect to Nexus for archiving, etc.

It's protected by a very large tribe of Otaku (and some wiz deckers) and is located in Denver.

Nexus is, IIRC, the Denver version of Shadowland. Helluva lot bigger.

The Nexus is the Denver data haven. Shadowland is a BBS system that's linked to it, but totally distributed.

right. it'd be more accurate to say that Shadowland is the Seattle version of the Nexus, since the Nexus came first, is a hojillion times bigger, and acts as a central archive and distribution center for information posted on the local Shadowland boards. there's a Shadowland system for most major cities, each of which archive their material to the Nexus, and each of which mirrors important stuff that the Nexus receives (like the various sourcebook "downloads"). Seattle was the first BBS to call itself Shadowland; eventually, other metroplex-local shadow BBSs began calling themselves Shadowland as well, sorta like a franchise.

Second that. The German Shadowland is supposed to be based in Frankfurt and archives in the Helix system. There is, however, supposed to be limited connectivity between all Shadowland systems. It says in Matrix that they are all part of a PLTG run by the Denver Nexus.

Don

So have any of you guys had to handle your players having Shadowland as a contact? How do you handle it, assuming they have a reasonable amount of time to search for info and a reasonably powerful SK? Do you just assume it's a Level 2 Street contact and keep it simple, or have you gotten more detailed with it?

I haven't had to deal with any players bothering to take it as a contact yet, but I'd like to encourage a few of them to do so, since I think their character's would probably take part in Shadowland. I just haven't figured out a comfortable balance on how to handle it. I'm leaning towards the simple approach, but that seems to take some of the flavor out of it. I almost feel to keep the flavor of Shadowland as a contact it would take a huge amount of work.

SRComp p65. There's a section entitled "Shadowland". My spidey sense is tingling, so there might be something in that about it. Just a hunch.

Matrix is really the place to turn, after you've read what SRComp has to say. An appropriate database gives you a -2 to data searches you perform in it. And Shadowlands is appropriate for a LOT of searches

I've had a few characters with the Shadowland contact...I handle it as a regular decking run/contact. If the user is matrix proficent I let them use their computer skills, with Ettiqute (Matrix) as Complentary, if not they use the slow way and onlt get and Ettq roll...deckers take shorter times to retrieve info and snail users wait for responses...long time wait on their part

So Captian Chaos runs the first Shadowland, Seattle's. And most of stuff we see in books is what gets posted to that? And Jane-in-the-box is one of the prime admins for Nexus? for which there is no way to access without paying some serious cash or racking up the right markers?

Oh, and wasn't there a Target: Matrix book or something like that put out?

There was.

~J

I never make a decker without the Shadowland contact. Ever.

Most of my players take Shadowlands as a level-2 contact. They have learned what an invaluable source it can be. Also I encourage all of my deckers or otaku to take shadowlands as a contact. when I have new players to Shadowrun and thy try their hand at playing an otaku or decker I usually give them Shadowlands as a free contact. From the source books (Target: Matrix in particular) it appears that shadowlands is used by more than just deckers, but anyone interested in shadowrunning and shadowrun related activities.\

Veracusse

As a corollary, do any of you try and push Maginet as well? It's kind of underdeveloped, as there's a mention in Grimoire II, part of it in SOTA 2063, and the reference in Burning Bright. It's supposed to be Shadowland for magicians, but it always seems that the magicians are cool hanging out in Shadowland.

Don

I always took Magicnet or Magenet to be a part of Shadowland -- I would imagine any specialized MOS would have a section for shop talk.

-Siege

Nope, Magicnet's something completely different from Shadowland. It has a legal side with an underworld attached. It's pretty well developed in Target: Matrix, if I remember correctly.

With Shadowland being a rating two contact, does it recommend what level some of the other data havens - Kaliningrad, Helix, Mosaic etc. - would be? They often seem to be the forgotten ones until people need local information.

And if you do have trouble with players over-using data havens, then just remember how much information they store. Even with smart frames and search bots it shouldn't be too unlikely to get swamped with data. Sometimes too much data is worse than too little.

Level 2 FoF contacts.

I assume "Shadowland" is region-specific. Since Seattle is the presumed locale, it assumes the Seattle hub. But I wouldn't allow you to get access to everything because each SL sysop is going to have their one rules and procedures (as it is kind of their fiefdom), so they should be separate contacts under the FoF rules, and then alter the TN accordingly, i.e., the Nexus might have a general -1 TN since it has "everything", and the Helix would have a TN mod for European info, etc.

If your PC is overusing SL as a contact, then tell them they get a "nice" (by which I mean, "really fucking pissed") IM from the sysop telling them to pay their fair share (the SR2Comp ratio of data contributed to taken was 2.5:1) or they are PNG'ed. Other than that, there are rules for Contact abuse, let alone GM fiat of "sorry, they're down for maintenance" (like they were in the metaplot of Cybertechnology).

The Seattle version of Shadowlands has data from around the world. Most sourcebooks that we see in book form are supposedly edited together by the Seattle sysop. Local chatter will be lighter, of course, but you can get some data for just about any corner of the globe through it.

As a rule, databases are level 1 contacts, data havens are level 2 contacts, and BIG data havens (ie, Nexus) are level 3 contacts. Matrix, p 128.