History TAbletopGame / Shadowrun

* NoFEMAResponse: In ''Bug City'', after insect spirits are discovered infesting Chicago and possessing its citizens, most of the city is sealed off to prevent them from escaping. Ares is the only responder.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Dragons. Unlike most [=NPCs=], Dragons get [[LuckStat Edge]] and can use it in ways even the [=PCs=] can't. However, the [[BoringButPractical simplest]] way for them to do this is to simply be OnlyMostlyDead after being turned into [[ChunkySalsaRule chunky salsa]] by the [=PCs=]. There is no way for the [=PCs=] to beat this, and the dragon can immediately turn around, hide, and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections from a position of complete safety, use their various pawns to completely and utterly wreck the [=PCs'=] lives.]]
** This is of course still under control of RuleZero, of course, so most reasonable game masters will let you kill them permanently as long as you do it in a suitably awesome and/or thorough manner.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Occasionally, Our Dragons Are '''[[OurPresidentsAreDifferent PRESIDENTS]]''': Lofwyr's the big shot at Saeder-Krupp (BMW after a few good buyouts), and Dunkelzahn was President of the UCAS for a little over 10 hours before the bomb in his limo tore open a NegativeSpaceWedgie.
** Dunkelzahn was also pretty net-savvy, too. Look in any of the first edition's sourcebooks- he usually goes by 'The Big "D"', though one occasion (in the Street Samurai Catalog) saw him use his real name.
*** The Big D wasn't the only Great Dragon on the Matrix. Hestaby was a Shadowland regular under the handle "Orange Queen", and Celedyr (who is also one of the two majority stockholders of a technology megacorp) was a lurker in many forums under the handle "Stone-Diver" or "Script-Diver".
*** Dunkelzahn's [[{{Will}} will]] brought a number of other Shadow-talking Great Dragons out of the closet, if only to bitch about how the Big D hadn't left them anything.
** ''Shadowrun'''s dragons may be the only dragons you actually run away from. They aren't fightable: they're stronger, tougher, bigger, and smarter than you (human average stat: 3 (max 6), dragon average: 8, great dragon average: 13--except body/toughness and strength, those are 35+). Oh, and unlike every other {{NPC}}, ''they have Edge'' (the LuckStat, only [=PCs=] have it) and great dragons can do some nasty things with it that you can't. There's a damn good reason why you never deal with a dragon.
*** Alamais, a Great Dragon who operates in Europe, was hit with an orbital weapon system intended for use against military targets and survived.
*** They burn some Edge (permanently decrease the stat by a bit in exchange for something like a guaranteed critical success or surviving certain death) and let you THINK that you killed them, and then when you get home you discover that your entire family has been eaten, your [=SIN=] has been revoked, and there is now a bounty on your head that is so large that every shadowrunner in the time zone is now after you.
*** Maybe that's the reason for this entry in [[http://ancientfiles.dumpshock.com/Dunk_Will.htm Dunklezahn's will]]:
----->For a period of ten days beginning on 14 February 2057, Lars J. Matthews will cease to possess any legal status. He will be stripped of all evidence of legal existence, including SIN, credsticks, [=DocWagon=] contract, bank accounts and so on. To the individual or group who ends Lars J. Matthews' physical existence during those ten days, I leave all of Matthews' assets and 1 million nuyen for a job well done. If Mr. Matthews survives and can prove his identity, his legal status and all possessions will be restored to him. Haven't you heard? Never deal with a dragon, Lars.

* MysteriousEmployer: Known in the business as "Mr. Johnson" or as just a "Johnson."

* NoFEMAResponse: In ''Bug City'', after insect spirits are discovered infesting Chicago and possessing its citizens, most of the city is sealed off to prevent them from escaping.

* HeroicSociopath: This would be you. I.e., the {{PC}}s. In some cases, strike the Heroic part.

* LittleUselessGun: Light and holdout pistols.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Aztechnology is known as one of the cuddliest, nicest corps around as far as the public know. The shadows know that they're [[CompleteMonster Complete Monsters]] who mess with blood magic, bug spirits, and Horrors that feed off pain and fear.

* {{BFG}}: The Thunderstruck Gauss Rifle, assault cannons, sniper rifles, etc.
* BloodMagic: Practiced by Aztechnology mages, and others.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Literally; Self-awareness can't be written into a program; it has to occur on its own. The best that the corps can do as far as creating AI goes is to monitor their most data-intensive programs closely and see what happens. Second, the result may be self-aware but not sentient, like a dog or a cat. Or it could be the very rare third type where it still is somewhat like its original program. These are called xenosapients because they are so alien to metahumanity that they are pretty much StarfishAliens. Then there are the metahuman-like AIs. Some have just spawned from nothing, some from existing programs and others seem to be based on people that got trapped in the Matrix during the Second Crash - which was ''caused'' by an AI shutting off an arcology from the rest of the world and performed gruesome experiments on the people living there. In its defense, it was constructed from the "dissected remains" of a friendly one, '''and was completely aware of this when it became sentient.''' The arcology experiments were part of a decade-long {{Scheme}} to free itself from the corporation that butchered its predecessor - which involved blowing up the internet. Figuratively, it's mostly subverted in 4th edition. By that time, AIs are given the full rights of citizens and are as well-behaved as the rest of meta-humanity, if not noticably better on average. That doesn't stop the public at large from believing in this trope.

* LikeCannotCutLike: Monofilament wire to monofilament armor.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards x ShootTheMedicFirst / SquishyWizard: Magic is the most powerful weapon available to most shadowrunners. Magic is the only way to heal serious wounds quickly. The most efficient means of making people more resistant to damage is [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Cybernetics, which Eats Your Soul.]] Result; the aphorism, "[[FutureSlang Geek]] The Mage First".

* AintNoRule: When it comes to the armor. There is no rule saying that the players can't wear body armor under the armored business suit.
** Except, of course, the rules about armor layering causing agility penalties. It doesn't ''forbid'' players from layering, but it does force them to weigh the benefits of protection and mobility.
** And, at least in 4E, your armor bonuses don't stack; you only take your highest Ballistic and Impact scores.

*** In one of my games it involved a technomancer burning some edge to hack an [[KillSat Ares Orbital Cannon]]. Admittedly it was only a city block that was just gone but that would have taken out just about any dragon.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: This troper was GMing when a player managed to get a critical success on a melee attack with a monofilament sword in the first round and he went first. Doing the math he managed to hit the Halloweener for over 2.5 times the guys max damage. I ruled that he got cut in half in one stroke. The rest of the gang got the hell out of there.

Probably the most popular CyberPunk [[TabletopGames role playing game]], which pisses off CyberPunk purists to no end (due to the system's blend of cyberpunk with fantasy species and tropes). Games were made for both the SegaGenesis and SuperNintendo in the 90's. Both were very different from each other, and the Genesis version was considered a classic for its console, while the less-popular SNES version is thought of as one of the console's hidden gems. There was also a Japan-only game for the [[{{OtherSegaSystems}} Sega CD]]. A recent adaptation for the Xbox 360 and PC, however, has been much less well-received. The primary reason you will find it referenced is the rare use of cross-platform multiplayer between the 360 and PC versions (This game is also the ''reason'' it is rare, as gameplay was massively unbalanced in the favor of PC players due to superior controls.).

** This is of course still under control of rule 0, of course, so most reasonable game masters will let you kill them permanently as long as you do it in a suitably awesome and/or thorough manner.

** Also don't steal or do anything that make you want you dead no matter the cost. Reveal Aztechnology blood rituals or steal a set of the Renraku Red Samurai's signature armor, and they might just call down a KillSat on you.

* StealthPun: When Shadowrunners get their jobs, it's traditionally from a contact using the pseudonym of Mr. Johnson. Not only is this an oblique reference to prostitution (customers are "johns", since they rarely use their real names for legal and personal reasons), it's also a subtle clue as to what to expect, as Mr. Johnson is quite possibly setting the team up. That's right, Mr. Johnson [[spoiler: is dicking you over.]]
** Or, it's just because Johnson is one of the most common names in the U.S. In awakened Germany, they are called Herr Schmidt, and so on.

* TakeThat: [[http://old.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/SRGEPromo.pdf Shadowrun: Gibson Edition]], the April Fool's joke for 2010.

* ThirtyGambitPileup: The circumstances leading to the Second Crash. To begin with, you have [[MegaCorp Novatech]], the largest privately owned company in the world, gearing up for an IPO to solve their cash flow problems. In order to accommodate the massive amount of trading that's expected, the East Coast Stock Exchange upgrades their servers. Meanwhile, [[AIIsACrapshoot Deus]], having been disassembled and stored in the heads of his cult members since fleeing the Renraku Archology, decides to take over the [=ECSE=] and use its facilities to compile and upgrade its code, giving it almost complete control over the Matrix. Meanwhile ''again'', [[AnimalWrongsGroup Winternight]], a Scandanavian Luddite terrorist group, has obtained a number of nuclear warheads and has modified them to produce massive [=EMPs=]; with the help of a rogue member of Deus' Otaku cult, they have identified two dozen of the world's Matrix nodes. Disabling over half of these would bring down the Matrix permanently and send the world back to the dark ages. The same rogue Otaku also helps assemble a virus to be implanted directly in the [=ECSE=] servers to do the most damage. On the appointed day, Deus invades the [=ECSE=], takes over, spreads itself worldwide, takes over dozens of other servers and forces them all to work at upgrading his code. At the same time, Megaera, another [=AI=] who had been battling in Deus' "subconscious", breaks free and attacks him. Meanwhile ''yet again'', Mirage, the original [=AI=] who had served as Deus' and Maegera's source code, breaks into the [=ECSE=] servers to eliminate Deus. While they are battling, Winternight's Jormungand virus is triggered, along with a significant number of their [=EMP=] devices. Between the devices destroying vital Matrix nodes, the nigh-unstoppable virus, the battle and subsequent damage caused by three battling [=AIs=], the damage done to the [=ECSE=] servers and dozens of others by Deus, and a Dissonance Pool created by the rogue Otaku to amplify everything else's effects, half in hopes of destroying Deus and half out of spite, the entire Matrix collapses.
** If you didn't get all that, you're not to blame. For the Shadowrun movers and shakers, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday this was par for the course]], the only difference being the collateral damage.
*** Also this can happen during a run too. One story got so tangled up that the runners gave up, shot everyone, and used the MacGuffin as a paperweight.
*** "[[ButForMeItWasTuesday One story]]?"

* XanatosGambit: [[ThirtyGambitPileup Too damn many to count.]] Every country, {{megacorp}}, and two-bit astral spirit has a lot of irons in that particular fire. And then there's the dragons... In fact there is a negative quality you can take that gives your character a built in cranial bomb and the GM decides what corporation gets it.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Literally; Self-awareness can't be written into a program; it has to occur on its own. The best that the corps can do as far as creating AI goes is to monitor their most data-intensive programs closely and see what happens. Second, the result may be self-aware but not sentient, like a dog or a cat. Or it could be the very rare third type where it still is somewhat like its original program. These are called xenosapients because they are so alien to metahumanity that they are pretty much StarfishAliens. Then there are the metahuman-like AIs. Some have just spawned from nothing, some from existing programs and others seem to be based on people that got trapped in the Matrix during the Second Crash - which was ''caused'' by an AI shutting off an arcology from the rest of the world and performed gruesome experiments on the people living there. In its defense, it was constructed from the "dissected remains" of a friendly one, '''and was completely aware of this when it became sentient.''' The arcology experiments were part of a decade-long XanatosGambit to free itself from the corporation that butchered its predecessor - which involved blowing up the internet. Figuratively, it's mostly subverted in 4th edition. By that time, AIs are given the full rights of citizens and are as well-behaved as the rest of meta-humanity, if not noticably better on average. That doesn't stop the public at large from believing in this trope.

* XanatosGambit: [[ThirtyGambitPileup Too damn many to count.]] Every country, {{megacorp}}, and two-bit astral spirit has a lot of irons in that particular fire. And then there's the dragons... In fact there is a negative quality you can take that gives your character a built in cranial bomb and the GM decides what corporation gets it.
** Special note goes to [[spoiler: Dunkelzahn's HeroicSacrifice mentioned above. As anyone who played Earthdawn will point out, the Horrors managed to drive a few ''gods'' mad back in the Fourth World. So it's even odds whether Big D's plan is going to succeed or not.]]

* LittleUselessGuns: Light and holdout pistols.

It has a strictly fantasy offshoot, ''Earthdawn''. For a while, it has been stated that ''Earthdawn'' is actually a prequel to ''Shadowrun'' placed in the Fourth Age (''Shadowrun'' being Sixth), but this connection is no longer used officially, as the two games are now managed by differend publishers. There's also a SpaceOpera offshoot in the works, ''Equinox'', but it currently looks like VaporWare.

* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: Played straight with almost every corporation, but seemingly averted with Horizon. Horizon actually appears to give a crap about their employees, and develops products that benefit metahumanity rather than attempt control it. They're also nice to the runners they hire, which has led some younger runners to consider Horizon to be the "good" MegaCorp. More savvy runners, however, are creeped the hell out by this, and conclude that Horizon NEEDS to be up to something nefarious. [[spoiler:[[AssimilationPlot They just might be right.]]]]