Shadowrun | Through Gamer Goggles

Crossfire: Why I like to play the Street Samurai: Simplicity with Versatility

Card Games, Catalyst Game Labs, Shadowrun, Shadowrun Crossfire Comments Off

Jul 212013

Excerpt from Catalyst Game Labs

Sure the Street Samurai can deal a ton of damage—it’s one of the top damage dealing roles in the game. But the role also has many other tools it puts at your disposal.

So how do you deal damage as the Sammy? By playing Katanas with other weapon cards. A simple combo that’s fun to play. Katanas also stack with each other, so buy lots of them if they show up.

The problem is that your damage is all black and colorless and there are very few obstacles you can defeat with just that type of damage. This color-focus is the Street Samurai’s weakness, but you can do something about it and still stay in your color.

Read more and see some of the cards at Catalyst Game Labs.

NEW PATHFINDER COMBAT PAD NOW AVAILABLE

D&D, Paizo Publishing, Pathfinder, Rifts, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, Silvervine Game System Comments Off

Jul 132013

New and Improved, This Game Accessory is the Ultimate Tool for Managing Combat in the World’s Best-Selling Fantasy Roleplaying Game

REDMOND, WA (July 12, 2013): Paizo Publishing, LLC, leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels, announces today the release of the new and improved Pathfinder Combat Pad for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

The Pathfinder Combat Pad includes everything players need to put combat management at their fingertips for their tabletop roleplaying game. A wet- and dry-erasable surface allows players to customize the Pathfinder Combat Pad with specific player and party information; turn markers and guides for the ready and delay actions; and a magnetized board to easily track initiative. It includes:

1 magnetic wet- and dry-erase board

2 combat round indicators

8 player character magnets

4 non-player character magnets

8 enemy magnets

2 next round indicators

2 active turn indicators

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game builds on more than 10 years of system development and the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming to create an unparalleled fantasy roleplaying experience. Players need only the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook to play, but Paizo Publishing produces a wide range of books and accessories to enhance your Pathfinder experience, from hardcover rules compendiums to complete campaigns to packets of beautiful, full-color maps. For more information, please visit paizo.com.

About Paizo Publishing

Paizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo’s Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game, the result of the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming, is currently the best-selling tabletop roleplaying game in hobby stores. Pathfinder Adventure Path is the most popular and best-selling monthly product in the tabletop RPG industry. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the ten years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 50 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.

Shadowrun Crossfire – No Deck Thinning

Card Games, Catalyst Game Labs, Deck Building Games, Shadowrun Comments Off

Jul 102013

Deck-building games have a tradition of allowing you to remove cards from your deck (“trashing” them) during the course of the game. That allows you to remove the least significant cards from your deck and therefore gain greater access to your best cards. Shadowrun: Crossfire doesn’t have trashing, and I’m here to explain why.

1) No drawback. In games like Dominion or Thunderstone, the ultimate goal of the game is to fill your deck with cards that are worth victory points. These cards dilute your deck as the game nears its end . . . and they dilute your deck the most if you’ve made it small by trashing! ButShadowrun: Crossfire is about adventuring, and there is no end-game dilution effect. Trashing under these conditions would be incredibly powerful.

2) Loss of identity. In Shadowrun: Crossfire, each runner gets a different starting deck, depending on your role. These cards aren’t strong, and you’d sure like to trash them after you’ve bought a few replacements, but they define your identity! So instead of trashing, we added various black market cards that key off your starting cards—either by enhancing them, or by depending on their presence for best effect. Your starting cards end up staying relevant throughout the game.

3) Variety. It’s cool in Dominion if you can draw and play your whole deck every turn, but it wouldn’t be quite as cool in Shadowrun: Crossfire, where you’re supposed to be facing new and unpredictable challenges and situations every turn. Instead of letting you draw your whole deck every turn, we went for making each individual card powerful and significant.

—Sean McCarthy

You can read more about Shadow Run Crossfire at Catalyst

Shadowrun 5 Official PDF & Print Preorder Release Date

Catalyst Game Labs, Shadowrun Comments Off

Jun 262013

On December 21st, 2012, Catalyst Game Labs announced the Year of Shadowrun, the most ambitious release of games for Shadowrun in its almost twenty-five year history. The cornerstone of the Year of Shadowrun is the release of the Fifth Edition of the tabletop roleplaying game.

Catalyst Game Labs is extremely excited to announce that onJuly 11th the PDF of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition will go on sale for$20 (available both at www.battlecorps.com/catalog as well aswww.drivethrurpg.com). Along with Harebrained Schemes’release of Shadowrun Returns on July 25th, fans of the Sixth World will have more Shadowrun drek to leap into than you can shake a fist full of credsticks at!

Additionally, while stores have been able to pre-orderShadowrun, Fifth Edition for some time (and if you can support your local game store, please do!), that date will also see online pre-orders available for the print books, both the standard edition as well as the limited editions we’ll be offering (details surrounding the limited editions will be provided in a future post).

The print edition of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition will be available in stores come August.

We’ve been publishing a series of blog posts covering a host of topics surrounding the development of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition, as well as the other games in the works, at shadowruntabletop.com. Additionally, we’ve released five Shadowrun, Fifth Edition free preview PDF—including a brand new one today—to allow gamers a huge look at the new edition from all angles. We’ll release one more free preview PDF, covering the Matrix, in another week or two, leading up to the July 11th PDF release date!

See you then!

Check out shadowruntabletop.com and www.shadowrun.com to learn more about all that’s happening in the Year of Shadowrun!

Any news sites interested in reviewing the Shadowrun, Fifth Edition PDF please contact randall@catalystgamelabs.com.

Catalyst Game Labs?
Catalyst Game Labs is dedicated to producing high-quality games and fiction that mesh sophisticated game mechanics with dynamic universes, all presented in a form that allows beginning players and long-time veterans to easily jump into our games, while helping fiction readers enjoy our stories even if they don’t know the games.

Catalyst Game Labs is an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC, which specializes in electronic publishing of professional fiction. This allows Catalyst to participate in a synergy that melds printed gaming material and fiction with all the benefits of electronic interfaces and online communities, creating a whole-package experience for any type of player or reader. Find Catalyst Game Labs online at www.catalystgamelabs.com.

Words With Randall Bills of Catalyst Game Labs at Origins 2013

Battletech, Catalyst Game Labs, Featured, Interviews, Origins 2013, Shadowrun 1 Response »

Jun 252013

Randall discusses his gaming history with us and shares some juicy information on some of the upcoming releases, like Sprawl Gangers, Hostile Takeover and Crossfire for Catalyst Game Labs. I hope you enjoy what he has to say.

Visit Catalyst Game Labs to learn more about their games.

Words With Loren Coleman of Catalyst Game Labs at Origins 2013

Battletech, Catalyst Game Labs, Featured, Interviews, Origins 2013, Shadowrun 2 Responses »

Jun 242013

Loren Chats with us about an intense amount of gaming goodness. Some highlights are the story behind his ownership of Catalyst, his induction into the Hall of fame, and future releases. The releases include crossfire, Hostile Takeover, and Shadorun 5th ed just to name a few.

You can visit Catalyst to learn more about their products.

The Story behind the Shadowrun 5 Cover

Catalyst Game Labs, Shadowrun Comments Off

Jun 202013

If you are a Shadowrun fan you probably already know that 5th ed. is right around the corner. Yesterday Catalyst Game Labs posted the story on the thought process of selecting the cover. You can read the story here.

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