I've always considered Shadowrun FASA's bastard stepchild: given only enough support to keep it alive while attention is lavished on its older brother BattleTech and little sister Earthdawn. At first, the Shadowrun Companion seemed to be just another pathetic band-aid for this hemophiliac of a game, and the fact that no less than nine people were listed as the authors made me nervous.

I can assure you, however, that my fears were completely unfounded. The Shadowrun Companion is an enjoyable, workable supplement with plenty to offer Shadowrun players and gamemasters alike. It opens (as do most supplements in the cyberpunk genre) with a little fiction - in this case an excerpt from an internet chat-room discussion involving several disgruntled shadowrunners. I was hooked.

I'm not as familiar with the mechanics of Shadowrun as I would like to be, but the information in the book didn't dwell much on mechanics. Instead, it was comprised largely of wiz campaign ideas and character developments. In fact, two-thirds of the book deals completely with characters. The concept of character in Shadowrun is completely broken down, examined, and reassembled, with commentary and suggestions throughout. Racial varients get some attention, and I may have to go out and find a Shadowrun game just to play one of them. Do sylvan, British Isles sorts of elves turn you off? Try the Wakyambi, a rare race of African elves. Do trolls seem a little too cookie-cutter? How about a Cyclops or a Minotaur. Are your orks a little too... well... orky? Try playing a middle-eastern Hobgoblin or an oriental Oni. Other race variants are discussed, all with accompanying illustrations. I was impressed.

The SC also provides tips and variants on character creation itself. It includes a system of edges (such as quick healing or photographic memory) and flaws (such as "elf poser," a human who really wishes he could be an elf) that provide bonus points for purchasing skills and attributes, or cost points for added abilities. Skills get a new look, with a new skill web, and training times and costs are dealt with.

Almost as cool as the race variants is the section on contacts and friends. The authors provide some game mechanics to reflect the concept of favors and getting introduced to your friends' friends, but they're almost afterthoughts. The section provides tips on making such contacts characters in and of themselves - people with lives and wants and needs, people who may need the players' help instead of the other way around. It's good to see actual role-playing addressed, instead of just roll-playing.

The gamemaster section is just as nifty as the player section. It has all the usual GM stuff: how to plot an adventure, tips for gamemastering, etc. But it also has hooks and curves that, while cool for Shadowrun, can be applied to any cyberpunk-style campaign. The rules for state-of-the-art gear are particularly cool (Simply put, the characters must pay X amount to keep their stuff up to date).

The last chapter discusses several alternate campaign ideas, from the obvious (the all-mage campaign, or the special forces campaign) to the unique (the paramedic campaign, where the players make up a Doc Wagon team responding to high-threat emergency calls). The gang campaign idea is particularly detailed, including details on several gangs (some of whom are quite disturbing...)

Publishing a rules companion more than half a decade after the release of the game may seem a bit lame to some, but the book overcomes its rough first impression quickly. Every Shadowrunner should check this Companion out.

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