For the next couple of weeks, Humble Bundle is running a Shadowrun Fourth Edition Complete Bundle. Included in the Bundle are the complete third and fourth seasons of the Shadowrun Missions organized play scenarios.Shadowrun Fourth Edition was my introduction to Shadowrun and also to the cyberpunk genre as a whole, by way of urban fantasy. The Shadowrun Missions scenarios, specifically Season 4 which was coming out from 2011-2012 when I first ran them, were the first pre-written RPG modules I ran. I’ve run Back in Business a couple times for a couple different groups. Missions season four may also have specifically appealed to me as a Seattle native with its return to Shadowrun’s version of Seattle.The plot of the adventure features runners being hired by “Bull” MacCallister, a retired Shadowrunner (based on the PC of the head writer of the Missions program), to rescue an archeologist who’s been kidnapped. The run leads them into Seattle’s Ork Underground. As part of the recovery effort, they meet representatives from the Atlantean Foundation, the Draco Foundation, and Saeder-Krupp, who were contacted by the archeologist to gauge their interest in buying the artifact. The scenario sets up the focus on the Ork Underground and the focus on the foundations and corporations tracking down artifacts, both plots which continue throughout the season.I’m a big fan of the format of the Shadowrun Missions scenarios. Each scene is set up with a “Read It To Them Straight” section, detailing info freely given to players; a “Behind the Scenes” section giving the game master information about motivations and backgrounds and intentions of NPCs; a “Pushing the Envelope” section for if your group of runners are breezing through the scenario too fast; and a “Debugging” section for when players meet plot and something inevitably goes wrong. The sections combine to make scenarios both accessible to the game master reading through for the first time to get the plot as well as the game master at the table needing to reference specific things about a scene.I also really liked the printable new contact bookmarks I could hand players when they met new NPCs they could call in a favor with. Each comes with a short bio and some stats on what skills the NPC can provide if called in using the Shadowrun contact rules.Overall, I’ve had fun with this one each and every time I’ve run it. It makes an excellent introduction to Shadowrun with multiple different objectives popping up and players having to choose who to do business with. It also starts the season off with chasing down a magic artifact through an underground city filled with fantasy Humanoids, so you know, expectations get set. It’s definitely one that seeing it listed in the bundle got me thinking about running the season again for my current group.
