Well, it could be twenty-two years ago today, but I sure as hell can’t remember specifically. I can say that right about now twenty-two years ago I was working on the final bits and pieces of the original Shadowrun role-playing game, which was in the final throes of production at FASA Corporation so that it could be rush-printed in time for the Gen-Con game convention that looming August.
What astounds me, and the reason I am writing about this now, is that Shadowrun the game is still out there and still going strong. Twenty-two years later. That’s stunning to me. When I worked on the original Shadowrun as a freelancer with Bob Charrette and Paul Hume I was in grad school, living at home, and chunking out my sections on my trusty Apple ][e. We were concerned that R.Talsorian’s Cyberpunk RPG which had beaten us to market the prior Gen-Con had stolen our thunder and we hoped that the wacky blend of magic and cyberware would allow the game to carve out a niche in the table-top role-playing game market. Twenty-two years later I guess we can confidently say that it did.
While I can say that it is going strong it is not exactly smooth sailing. Catalyst Game Labs, who currently publishes Shadowrun paper game products, is going through (to put it mildly) difficult times do to some internal financial issues regarding the owners and co-mingled business and personal funds. I’m not going to comment on the situation one way or the other. If you are interested you can find out more information through a press-release at the CGL site here, and threads at the Dumpshock and RPG.net forums here and here. I warn you, there’s a lot to slog through, and its messy and nasty.
I am more than proud that Shadowrun has endured thus far, and I am confident that it will continue to do so. It will be interesting to see what rolls around for its 25th anniversary in 2014.
Story by Design 