The official Shadowrun site has put a video over the countdown clock on the homepage.
The sixth edition of Shadowrun is known as “Sixth World”, the name of the new Shadowrun era and this teaser video suggests we get there with a violent takeover that sunders the Matrix and kills hundreds of thousands.
One of the challenges that Shadowrun has been facing is similar to that of Cyberpunk. Our real-life technology has progressed far more swiftly and far further than the original games expected.
For example, in life today, everything is connected and connected by WiFi. That would mean hackers could sit somewhere safe, never take physical risks, and still be great hackers.
Cyberpunk Red solved that problem by dropping a nuke to end a corporation war and tearing up the net. Now there’s millions of tiny networks but no internet.
I wonder if this marketing video from Catalyst Game Labs and Rem Alternis Productions hints at a similar fate for the Matrix.
In July, Roberty Volbrecht and Michael Messmer wrote about the Matrix in Shadowrun 6. They talk about moving hacking into sync with the rest of gameplay, a great idea, but also say this;
Instead of needing to worry about what is the master and what devices are slaved to it, all you need to know now is whether they share a network. Want to hack a device? Just identify what network it is on, gain access, then do your thing.
So could it be that the Sixth World trailer video is all about a world / nation re-setting event that ends the Matrix as we know it?
When is Shadowrun 6e out?
I thought it was due out at Gen Con. Now, I’m not sure. This Facebook video from Catalyst Game Labs came out just a week ago and says;
Shadowrun at Gen Con 2019! Shadowrun: Sixth World core rulebook and additional products will be available later this year; buy the Shadowrun: Sixth World Beginner Box now at store.catalystgamelabs.com!
Which suggests the core rules will be available later this year.
The video, though, shows the Shadowrun Sixth World book.
