Shadowrun Returns Announced, Kickstarter Campaign Begins

In case you’re a fan of the Shadowrun tabletop setting you’ll be very pleased to know that Jordan Weisman, the original creator of Shadowrun, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Shadowrun Returns, a 2D PC/iOS/Android turn-based title that takes place in the 2050 era of the tabletop setting. The funding goal is set at a reachable $400,000 and the lowest reward tier comes at $15 for a PC copy of the game and an exclusive wallpaper, with higher rewards ranging from an illustrated short stories book to a tabletop game of Shadowrun with Mike Mulvihill. In the words of the team, here are some additional reasons you may be interested:

Shoot Straight. Conserve Ammo. And Never Cut a Deal With A Dragon.

Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun, is back and Shadowrun Returns (for Apple & Android tablets and PCs) is the game that Shadowrun fans have been waiting for a long time. A graphically rich 2D turn-based single player game with deep story interaction, meaningful character development, and highly-contextual tactical combat, Shadowrun Returns is not only going to make some old geeks (like us) very happy but it will introduce new players to a dynamic gaming universe that is beloved around the world.

…

There are a couple of key ideas at the core of Shadowrun Returns.

Deep, Interactive Stories

We intend to follow a braided anthology structure for our story. Jordan, his partner Mitch Gitelman and Mike Mulvihill, who led Shadowrun game development at FASA Corp. will craft and structure the meta-story, then supply key information for a group of writers to weave into their own short stories, which we’ll then use as the basis for our missions. To ensure an authentic tone, we’ll incorporate the storytelling skills of many Shadowrun authors and designers who’ve been carrying the flame over the last 23 years such as:

Michael A. Stackpole
Mike Mulvihill
Tom Dowd
Malik Toms
Mel Odom
Jason Hardy
Stephen Kenson
The result should be an overall narrative that is layered, textured, and satisfying.

One of the many innovations in Data East’s Shadowrun Super Nintendo game was a unique conversation engine that opened up new avenues of conversation based upon information you learned through interactions with characters and objects. We intend on taking a similar path with a new twist or two.

Contextual Gameplay in Four Realities

Four realities overlap in the world of Shadowrun (the Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral) and associated character classes such as the Street Samurai, Hacker, Combat Mage, and Shaman, each have the ability to view and interact with the world in ways the others can’t.

Here are some ways that selecting each character class allows you to see the map from a different perspective:

Street Samurai see a threat assessment overlay of the environment that notes enemy appraisals, options for cover, potential weapons, and statistics for drawn weapons.
Combat Mages see magical auras, granting them the ability to locate magical items, identify spells being prepared, and find the intersections of magic lay lines where they can recharge their power.
Hackers/Deckers see the digital control circuitry that allows them to manipulate the physical world via the digital one.
Shaman see the (true world) that lies in the astral plane, distinguishing the true nature of people, plants, creatures, and magical objects while buildings and other (dead) objects appear as mere shadows.
Missions (aka “Runs”) in Shadowrun Returns can require interaction with all four realities simultaneously, requiring you to use information learned from each character’s perspective to coordinate their context-sensitive actions to get the job done. . . and survive.

That’s why we decided to make Shadowrun Returns a turn-based game so we can offer you a wide range of context-based gameplay options from which to craft a your plan.

The Streets Tell a Million Stories

One of the things that we feel most strongly about is that the world of Shadowrun was created for all of us to tell stories within. That’s one of the beautiful things about in-person tabletop role-playing the stories are extremely relevant to you and your friends because they were made by you and your friends.

In honor of that tradition, we plan to release our PC-based level editor when we release Shadowrun Returns so that everyone can create their own Shadowrun stories & (runs). When you upload your stories, you can make them available to your Friends Only or the entire Shadowrun community.

On top of that, the project is part of Brian Fargo’s “Kicking it Forward” initiative, which means that if funded the team will use 5% of the profits of the project to fund other promising Kickstarter projects. Good stuff.