Shadis #27: The Edge: California Free State

California Free State

A sourcebook for Shadowrun
Published by Fasa Corporation
$18.00
reviewed by James Macduff

California Free State is the West Coast sourcebook for FASA's ultra-popular Shadowrun RPG. "But wait, isn't Seattle on the West Coast?" you say. Yes it is, and any player of the game will tell you how important that city is. But isn't all of the West Coast. In fact, it's only a relatively tiny part of it. California Free State provides information on the rest — that big chunk of real estate between Aztlan and Tir Tairngire. As you may expect, Shadowrun's Cali isn't the sun 'n surf paradise of Baywatch and Beach Boys songs. It isn't even the smog-ridden hellhole of Colors and Falling Down. It's far, far worse than any of that. As any Californian can attest, the state has a wide diversity of climates, territories and people. San Francisco is vastly different from L.A. and the Redwood forests of Eureka have little in common with the deserts of Palm Springs. California Free State has taken that diversity into account and intensified it, detailing a fragmented, hotly contested area which morphs into something entirely new every few miles. After the break-up of the United States in 2034, California issued several secession threats. The UCAS responded by kicking them out in 2036, and all hell broke loose. Now, twenty years later, the Golden State is a patchwork of free townships, corporate holdings, environmental disaster areas and a central government in Sacramento trying desperately to exhibit some sort of control.

In the North, the eco-terrorist elves of Tir Tairngire have designs on the independent townships dotting the state's remaining Redwood forests. Further south, the pro-human government in Sacramento still controls the breadbasket of the Central Valley, but remains beholden to the huge agricorps whose vested interest in the region is quite apparent. San Francisco was "liberated" by Imperial Japan in 2036, and is currently occupied as a de facto colony. Disgruntled metahumans and angry natives fight an ongoing guerrilla war from the uncontrolled East Bay.

The Big Sur coastline of Cali is a mess of pseudo-toxic waste-dumps, horrifically radioactive sea monsters, and bands of pirates. Los Angeles is sharply divided between the super-rich and desperately poor, as movie moguls and sim-stars live luxuriously secure from the intense squalor of the rest of the city. San Diego has long since become part of Aztlan to the south, and the Mojave desert is an expansive wasteland of powerful magics and Road Warrior-like nomads.

Like many Shadowrun supplements, California Free State presents its information as a futuristic on-line chat session: one particular decker will describe a given area, while numerous fellow shadowrunners chip in with their ideas, witticisms, and opinions. In terms of atmosphere, this format works very well, allowing players to quickly get a feel for the environment without getting bogged down in rules. A bare minimum of stats at the end of the book balances against over 150 pages of background, setting descriptions and flavor text.

The writers have a good feel for the contrasts and diversity that the real-life California holds, and have exacerbated those characteristics admirably for their dark future setting. While the book suffers a bit in trying to convey too much information (there are six distinct sections of the entire state), enough attention is given to each area to launch a fairly solid campaign from any of them. And the sheer variety of California ensure that campaigns losing steam will be able to switch gears and keep going with a minimum of fuss.

As befits many sourcebooks, the area and the background take precedence over hard core adventure ideas. Such an emphasis requires that a GM planning to set a campaign in Cali do a little more work than might be expected. California Free State seems intended as an overview to provide GMs with an idea of where to go, but nothing more explicit. Someone expecting to thumb through it once and be ready to rock and roll is going to be disappointed. A working familiarity of Shadowrun is essential, as well a willingness to create adventures from some very generalized background material.

That, however, is a minor quibble. While newbies may want to shy away, veteran players will have lots here to enjoy. As diverse as the state it portrays, California Free State has more than enough goodies to keep experienced shadowrunners sunning and surfing for quite awhile.