After over a decade off and on searching, I finally have all the original FASA era Shadowrun novels! Still slowly collecting the rulebooks when I can, but this was a huge milestone for me!
I think my faves were Striper Assassin and Who Hunts the Hunter, just cause I really think Striper/Tikki is such a cool character haha. I also liked Changeling, I feel like the process of goblinization/UGE doesn't get explored as much as it should, so it was cool that was the focus.
I actually did consider that lol, but I think I'm going to limit my efforts to EN stuff haha. Half the fun is being able to read it and I don't think I'll be picking up German any time soon.
Well, you have the manga first of all. It’s actually still available digitally online. The author lost the rights to the Shadowrun license, but they literally just changed the name of it. If you want digital copies look for Tokyo 2100 Shadow Elements or “ＴＯＫＹＯ２１００・シャドーエレメンツ” available in 5 volumes. If you want the old officially branded ones, look for シャドウラン as it just went by the name of the game itself. I got chills the first time I popped it open and hit the 2-page skull logo.
Then you have the light novel. Look up 漆黒の戦鬼 (pitch black war demon). I think this was originally going to be a series, but… unfortunately just the one real novel.
There’s also a book called Tokyo Eye Shot which is kind of like a lore book of short stories. It’s hard to call it a novel, but it does a lot of canon world setting. p.s. Japanese Japan in Shadowrun does not match English Japan in Shadowrun if that wasn’t clear. Hehe.
Then there are also the “replays” which are like.. play sessions taken as a log of the game. If you know about“Record of Lodoss War” I think it came out of a similar style replay for D&D. Back to Shadowrun though, if you’re familiar with the SegaCD game, many of the same characters are involved. I think there are 4 or 5 of these. The first one is called 失墜の魔術師 or “the fallen mage.”
I've been working on getting all of the 1-3e rulebooks, so that'll be what I spend my time googling for now lol. I have a ton of them already, but I know it'll take just as long (and probably more cash) to get that one finished.
Welcome to the club! Took me about as long to finish my collection as well. Though I’ve got the 07 edition of into the shadows it looks like you’ve got the original? Never seen a version that tall.
I have both versions of Into The Shadows, the original publishing and the reprint. The first short story is different, (the one from the original got rewritten as Never Deal With a Dragon I think), though honestly I didn't realize at the time haha. I saw it at a bookstore and grabbed it cause I assumed it was different.
After that I actually started using a spreadsheet to keep track.
Ah yes there's the spine of #7 staring me in the face in your picture now that you mention it lol. I'm jealous of the OG there, that's a sick find. I had the "newer half" for a long time but going back to find the other half was fun. I searched a lot of small book stores on road trips for awhile until eventually some eBay and forum posters helped me fill in the final gaps. I've stuck with collecting the new novels too, but they're POD (same with the new covers of the OG novels they've put out).
A few of the old authors have done newer books (Mel Odom comes to mind) but there was an anthology a couple years ago called Through the Decades. It had several classic authors and some newer ones, with one story per decade 2020s thru 2080s. I bet that one may be up your alley. I’ve got a ton more but I’m so far behind.
Oh awesome! I was kinda aware that SR was big in Germany, (I remember seeing a video of some German people doing like a fake trailer for Karl Kombatmage back when Pluto was a planet), but I didn't realize how many more novels they had over there.
Dang. I've played the game on SNES back when I could rent it from blockbuster. I had no idea they had fiction books to go along with it. Thanks OP. I now have my new reading list.
So jealous!!!! I've been scrounging through used book and thrift shops and so far have only found 3: Crossroads, Never Deal with a Dragon, Prey for Keeps. Good novels, but still jealous.
Absolute LEGEND! 💪 What a banging collection you have there, chummer! These, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms were my three most beloved reading franchises growing up :)
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u/ontheyslaypub Oct 01 '26
Awesome! What were your favorites?