The Shadowrun Supplemental 12.pdf

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In This Issue:
S HADE T ROMPERS # 2
It’s time for some Legwork!
B ERSERK
A new sport - Urban Brawl...
with character!
New Columns!
Damage Control, Places to Go,
People to See, and the return
of A Little Learning...
SwiftOne Speaks
SwiftOne gives his take on FASAs recent releases.
And more!
Cover Art by Drea O’Dare - http://members.xoom.com/kethrine/
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The Munchkin Table
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Editorial Verbiage
Adam Jury (adamj@dumpshock.com )
Editor
Adam Jury ( adamj@dumpshock.com)
Artwork Drea O’Dare
Dvixen
Alex van Chestein
I.M. Simmons
Sixth months for the last issue. Four months for this issue.
An improvement, but not good enough yet. With this issue the
goal of being bi-monthly has been thrown out the window for
now, and The Shadowrun Supplemental officially moves to being
a quarterly magazine. This gives me a bit more time to breathe
and allows me some extra time to edit and compile the contents
of the magazine.
Additional Contributors
David Buehrer
Mark Imbriaco
Adam Jury
George “Wolfstar” Metz
Marc Renouf
Brett “SwiftOne” Sanger
The other main news is that we’ve moved web addresses
again - yes, again - this time to http://tss.dumpshock.com , which
will be the last time we ever move. I swear. My email address
has also changed to adamj@dumpshock.com . Please update any
links, bookmarks, or address books that you may have. Please
put TSS in any emails you send to me regarding The Shadowrun
Supplemental, so I can keep organized.
that have shadowcomments in them, please just use plain greater
than signs (>), instead of the old format that used lots of greater
than and less than signs.
So, with little major news to talk about, I’m going to spend
some time talking about submissions. For once I’m not going to
say “We need more submissions”, because we’re actually doing
pretty well in that regards. We’re still in need of submissions,
but we’re not in desperate straits. The stuff that I would really
like to see more of is source material - Locations, runner groups,
gangs, initiate groups, smugglers, plot ideas, and that sort of
stuff. There’s a lot of rules material already available in previous
issues and coming out from FASA right now, people are wanting
new source material, so let’s give it to them!
Submissions
If you have further questions about submission for The
Shadowrun Supplemental, you can read them in their entirety at
at adamj@dumpshock.com , or send me a ICQ message, my UIN
is 2350330.
Slushpile Submissions have become The Cluttered
Datastore (For gear and magic stuff, mostly), and Places to Go,
People to See (Locations and NPCs). You can submit these via
the web at http://tss.dumpshock.com/tss-cd.html o r by emailing
As you can see, we’ve added more short sections to the
magazine - Bull’s Damage Control column, along with the return
of A Little Learning... ...is a Dangerous Thing!, and Fun on the
Run, the new humour column. If you have ideas or suggestions
for future editions of these columns, please send them to me
and I’ll pass them along to the appropriate author. Also, please
note that just because we have a column dedicated to certain
topics doesn’t mean we don’t take reader submitted articles on
the same subject!
Legalities
This magazine is in no way endorsed nor produced by FASA
Corporation. Shadowrun, Matrix, and various other phrases and
names used are copyrights of FASA Corporation (1989 to the
present date.). The staff of The Shadowrun Supplemental and
the original authors of each article have no intent to infringe on
FASAs intellectual property and rights. FASA has not read this
material in advance, and none of this material is approved by
FASA.
Copyrights
All contents are copyright (2000) by their original authors or
artists.. The compilation of material is copyright (2000) by Adam
Jury.
The other main issue is mixing Shadowrun and Real World
in articles. Rules material and “Developers Say” material does
not belong in the “Shadowland” style. For an example of an
article that is written entirely in character, please look at The
Corporate Review in this issue. It’s treated like a file uploaded
to Shadowland, with shadowcomments inside the main text. Then
look at Anything to Declare? which is entirely out of character,
and as such doesn’t - and can’t - have shadowcomments inside
the article itself. If you want to mix In and Out of character
material (As is done in The Cluttered Datastore), please try and
keep the material seperate from one another, as was done in The
NARCAR Phenomenon in issue #11. When submitting articles
Redistribution
This magazine may not be reproduced in any other computer
format without permission of the editor, nor may it be archived
on any other publicly accessible computer system or Internet site
without my permission. Edited versions may not be distributed,
it may be edited only for your personal use and within your own
gaming group.
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Berserk
By Eleanor Holmes (jestyr@iname.com) and
Jamie Houston (mad_hamish@hotmail.com), with additional material from
Alexandre van Chestein, Adam Jury, and Brett Sanger
History
A spin-off of Urban Brawl, Berserk was established in the
2050s thanks to a marketing push and pressure from government
and corporate agencies. The original Urban Brawl game was
played with felons and criminals, and the fannish adulation such
undesirables enjoyed as a result of their status as Urban Brawl
players was considered risky by corporate spindoctors and
government sociologists alike. Violent criminals were not seen
as good role models for impressionable children and sports fans,
and the UCAS government banded together with several
megacorporations (most notably Ares, Shiawase and
Gaeatronics) to pressure the Urban Brawl league into cleaning
up their act.
A player who tags out another with sufficient force to wound
them has to call “Medic” after the tag, to ensure that the victim
receives timely medical attention if necessary. Failure to comply
with this rule earns a three-point penalty.
The playing field is usually dotted with mannequins to
represent civilians; tagging a civilian scores a one-point penalty.
Wily players will lure their opponents into firing on a mannequin
whenever possible.
The Referees
There are normally five mundane referees controlling the
game – one in the referee’s crows-nest, two on the playing field
and two in a control room scrutinizing the extensive video feeds
and communicating with the on-field referees to indicate
infractions.
Most of the league resisted, but there was a significant
faction that could see the appeal in more glitzy, marketable games
that didn’t endorse acknowledged criminals. A breakaway group
formed the North Continental Brawl Union in 2055, funded by
healthy donations from lobby groups, governmental subsidies,
and generous corporate sponsorship. However, a protracted legal
battle with Urban Brawl’s ruling body ISSV left the NCBU
legally unable to broadcast any matches played under the
trademarked, patented and heavily protected official Urban
Brawl rules.
Magical Control
The referee team also includes two mages, one in the
referees crows-nest and one projecting astrally over the field. In
addition, astral space around the Berserk arena is thickly
populated with watcher spirits and elementals with orders to
identify all illegal uses of magic on the field. Any illegal use of
magic during a game earns an immediate disqualification for
the rest of the game for the player responsible, a five-point
penalty for the offending team, and possible referral to a post-
game disciplinary tribunal, depending on the circumstances of
the incident. For example, mages who lose their head and
stunbolt (or worse yet, manabolt) an opponent in the heat of
combat will be referred to the tribunal after the game; a mage
player who casts a Levitate spell to save the life of a player
who’s just fallen off a four-storey building will probably get
away with just the game disqualification.
Rather than play a pale imitation of “proper” Urban Brawl,
the NCBU’s brightest marketing sparks and sports experts put
their heads together and cooked up a brand-new game – fast-
paced, flashy and exciting, Berserk bears little resemblance now
to the game that spawned it – and it’s fast catching up on Urban
Brawl’s media dominance.
The Game
Berserk is an urban combat game, somewhat akin to the
old paintball games of the 20 th century. The game is played in
four quarters of twenty minutes each; there are two three-minute
breaks after the first and third quarters, and a fifteen minute
half-time break.
The Medics
DocWagon supplies two trauma medics for each game; they
are equipped in Glo-Yellow full body armor and are forbidden
targets. Tagging a medic is a five-point penalty. The medics are
totally independent of the Berserk teams, and provide impartial
medical aid on-field and off; severely injured players may be
evaced at the medics’ discretion as all Berserkers have
DocWagon contracts. Medics are often ex-HTR docs who enjoy
the adrenaline of mid-combat trauma work.
Points are scored by ‘tagging’ enemy players with firearms
or melee weaponry. The referees will adjudicate disputed tags,
but most players are sensible about accepting a fair tag on them.
Each tag is worth one point, and the victim is considered to be
‘tagged-out’. A tagged-out player has to run back to their home
goal area and hit a large button, referred to as ‘tagging in’.
Tagged-out players aren’t considered eligible targets for more
tags, but they can’t participate in the action until they’ve tagged
back in at their goal. A tagged-out player who tries to score
their own tags, provide covering fire for team-mates, or otherwise
participate in combat receives a three-point penalty.
Gimmicks
Berserk is a game about trid ratings, and game organizers
use any number of gimmicks to spice up a Berserk game. Usually
the first quarter is a full-light ‘day’ quarter. The second quarter
has very dimmed lighting and is a ‘night’ quarter. The third is
variable – sometimes rain, fog or snow. The fourth quarter is
usually back to daylight conditions but with a twist. One of the
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more popular gimmicks involves the appearance of fake ‘Lone
Star officers’, who carry encoded passes worth bonus points if
slotted in the goal area. Tags from ‘Lone Star officers’ are
permanent tag-outs for the rest of the quarter. Other gimmicks
include armed ‘Citizens Defense Forces’ appearing from
amongst the mannequins, hordes of ‘killbot’ drones, or rigger-
controlled robotic ‘animals’. The home team is responsible for
selecting each game’s fourth-quarter gimmick, with approval
from the opposing team’s management.
Magic
The use of magic is rigidly controlled in the Berserk game.
Magicians, and aspected magicians, are permitted to use one
and only one Sustaining Focus holding one of a short list of
available spells. All other applications of magic are forbidden –
no spellcasting on the field, no use of spirits, no metamagic, no
astral perception or projection, and so on.
Adepts
Adepts are the single exception to the ‘no-magic’ fiat. Their
powers are carefully monitored, and those such as Killing Hands
and Astral Perception are prohibited – but they are highly sought
after for those teams without sufficient funding to keep up with
the SOTA curve of cyberware for their players.
Berserkers
The players, or “Berserkers”, come from all walks of life –
generally they’re already trained in professional athletic violence,
and many are ex-gangers, ex-cops or elite security personnel,
and more than a few ex-shadowrunners. There are typically 22-
25 Berserkers on a team, of whom 18 are nominated to play any
given match. Each team may deploy up to 15 players at any one
time; substitutions are unlimited and may be made for any reason,
but only between quarters.
The Playing Field
Berserk is usually played in an arena approximately the
size of a large city block. The stadiums are vast, elevated affairs;
seating usually begins several storeys above street level, and a
typical Berserk arena seats 100,000+. The ‘field’ is a scaled-
down city block or two, thickly interwoven with alleys and
walkways. Overhead ‘telephone wires’ run between the buildings
for easy use of grapple lines and flying foxes; the entire set-up
is designed to allow as much spectacular action as possible.
Buildings in the ‘block’ generally are limited to four storeys
high, although variations have been noted – there are currently
few rules about what consitutes a regulation Berserk playing
arena. In this, as in everything about Berserk, flexibility is the
key – the game designers made a conscious effort to keep the
game simple and fluid, and in comparison with other popular
North American sports, it’s relatively unregulated.
Weaponry
The firearms in a Berserk game fire a modified gel round
that splatters on impact and contains a luminescent dye to tag
victims with. Melee weaponry is blunted, and the impact surfaces
are coated with the same dye to indicate a successful tag.
The team as a whole has a roster of permitted weapons that
may be on the field at any time, and it’s up to the individual
team to allocate weapons to the fifteen fielded players. The roster
currently stands at 20 pistols, 4 SMGs, three shotguns, one rifle,
one bow or crossbow, and unlimited melee weaponry. This can
make substitution strategies rather involved, as substitutions will
often need to be between players who prefer the same class of
firearm, so as not to exceed the limitations of the roster. Players
on the field can swap weapons with each other at any time, and
are also allowed to improvise weapons and tools from anything
they find on the field – with the usual proviso that combat should
be non-lethal (so garrottes made from electrical flex, for instance,
are a bad idea).
Tridscreens dot the Arena’s walls, showing multiple views
of the action at any one time. A cylindrical scoreboard is usually
suspended from the rim of the arena’s roof, and below the
scoreboard is a referee’s ‘crow’s nest’.
The buildings in the block are often real buildings that have
had an Arena put up around them; otherwise, they are constructed
to be as realistic as possible. To spice up a game, there are often
additional threats around – real gun-toting ‘civilians’ interspersed
amongst the mannequins of passers-by, automated sentry
weaponry on building roofs and corners, and the like. Players
are allowed to disable automated measures if they’re able to,
and can take action against hostile ‘civilians’ without scoring
penalties.
Cyberware
Due to the self-limiting nature of cyberware, there are no
restrictions on the amount or type of ware a player may employ,
with two exceptions – cybernetic (or external) comms gear must
be disabled for the game, and since the regrettable incident of
the 2059 Spring Demonstration Spectacular, subjects of the
mysterious procedures known as ‘cybermancy’ are not permitted
to take the field.
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