written by brian schoner, jennifer brandes, chris hepler, and bill aguiar
published by f asa
$15.00

It was only a matter time before FASA released another book on the mutated animals of Shadowrun's awakened world. Predator and Prey is a sourcebook for Shadowrun revolving around encounters with animals, in and out of their (and the players') natural habitats. Half adventure module, and half bestiary, the book performs both jobs adequately, creating a whole that is indeed more than the sum of its parts.

The book begins with three separate adventure scripts. Each one takes the players out of their element (urban sprawl) and throws them into places they've never been, facing things they've never seen. The first two adventures would benefit from a GM who had access to the Cyberpirates sourcebook, but it isn't essential.

Forbidden Fruit takes the characters on an illegal l. expedition into the amazon, hunting a rare form of kiwi that Dunkelzahn's will promises big bucks in exchange for. Dunkelzahn's will is the ultimate adventure hook - a dead dragon's last testament divvying up his horde to those who do any number of things. In this instance, the will promises large sums of money to the group responsible for cultivating the rare Brazilian Kiwi outside it's natural habitat. Unfortunately, Amazonia doesn't give up such "national treasures" lightly, so the characters get involved with a quasi-legal border run accompanying a group of scientists.

The key here are the animals of the Amazon. The characters are in a magically active rainforest! Who knows what the characters will have to deal with in there? I do, and so will the GM, but I'm not telling. Suffice it to say that the players will have to deal with everything from the up-front dangerous to the sinister and creepy.

Wild Kingdom takes the players from Florida and across the Caribbean to Africa's Ivory Coast. Here the Cyberpirates hook would be great for providing flavor in these areas, but again it isn't essential. The corporate shenanigans surrounding the run are labyrinthine, but purely secondary to some of the other action. For example, the players are on a ship headed for Africa, but what's between the Caribbean and Africa? The Bermuda triangle...

Once in Africa (if they make it to Africa), the players can expect double-cross after doublecross, which could culminate in (of all things) a running gun battle on an antique coal-burning locomotive trying to beat hired thugs across the border.

These two adventures introduce a couple of new ideas into the dark future. One, that people do live other places besides cities, and those people often share the country with... things. Second, that there are places in the world where political borders actually mean safety and security. This sort of globetrotting can only be a breath of fresh air to a campaign that has to this point been stuck in the sprawl.

Baser Instincts is not as linear as Forbidden Fruit or Wild Kingdom, but has the capacity to be just as exciting, if not more so. Baser Instincts is set right in the middle of downtown Seattle, where a series of exotic animal attacks has left Lone Star baffled. The characters are hired for a rush job.

Along the way, they'll get to fight "monsters" in the sewers, and while working corporate security. If they play their cards right (or wrong, depending on your point of view), they'll get to have a foot chase through a zoo. Whether they're predator or prey in the chase is up to them...

These are three solid adventures, and they are followed by solid source material on the awakened beasties of Shadowrun. Updated stars are provided, though disappointingly no pictures accompany them. I perceive this as a cost-cutting measure, but it would have been worth another $2.50 or so for a few color plates. The bestiary section also discusses special animal abilities (technology negation, hypnotism, etc.).

All told, the books different parts are solid pieces that, taken separately, would be merely passable. Just one or two of these parts without the others would have been a little lame, since the range of flavors available in awakened creatures just can't be sampled in less space than FASA has used here. Together, the book shines.

predator, prey? prey, predator? predator, prey? predator...