Shadowrun Fourth Edition, by Catalyst Games, is a cyberpunk role-playing game where magic, cybernetics and virtual reality coexist. Player characters are known as shadowrunners. They act in the shadows and outside the law, doing the dirty work of the megacorporations and other powerful forces that control the Sixth World.
The fourth incarnation of Shadowrun takes place in the year 2070. Magic has been re-awakened. Cyber- and bioware implants give people amazing capabilities, while the wireless Matrix seamlessly integrates a global virtual reality with the physical world.
Humans, elves, dwarves, orks and trolls populate Earth, and in Shadowrun technology and magic coexist. Creatures from myth and legend are real, magicians of many types wield tremendous power, and megacorporations, tribal governments, and the remnants of old nations fight for supremacy.
Shadowrunners do the dirty work for these powerful actors, scratching out an existence on the mean streets. They make data grabs, kidnap corporate defectors, infiltrate high-security research facilities, get to the bottom of mysteries, fight other-worldly threats, and uncover secrets not meant to be known.
Shadowrun 4 was released in 2005, seven years after the publication of Shadowrun 3. Catalyst Game Labs is the current publisher, and more information can be found at Shadowrun.com.
