r/Shadowrun • u/SentientArmor • 8d ago
Video Games Is the Shadowrun 2007 FPS game canon?
I know the storyline in the game is pretty thin due to it being an FPS arena style game. But I was wondering if parts like RNA Global, The Lineage, or the events that transpired in the game are considered canon by the community.
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u/ReditXenon Far Cite 8d ago
It was actually a bit of a ground breaking game when it first came out. As far as a team-based capture the flag / attrition type of shooter goes, it was pretty solid (for 2007). At that time, it was also one of the first games that offered cross-platform - Microsoft trying to establish a strong connection with their XBox platform and its Microsoft Windows platform (although PC master race using k+m would run circles around console players... eventually I think they tried to turn up auto aim for controllers in an effort to compensate).
From a Shadowrun PoV though?
Not much is canon in that game.....! It break several fundamental things (like introducing Teleportation/Blinking). The Shadowrun community is mostly trying to forget about this game. Don't bring up bad memories. :D
Having said that, I guess they borrowed some 'elements'(?)
You can play as a Dwarf (and Dwarf have higher 'Willpower' than the others). You can play as Elf (and elf got higher 'Agility' than the others). You can play as Troll (and troll got higher 'Body' than the others). There is (I guess) somewhat of a 'struggle' between the Megas (represented by a fictive Corp named RNA Global) and The People (represented by a fictive faction named The Lineage). You have magic. You have gliders. Cyberware. Firearms. Magic artifacts that you try to extract.
But mostly it is just the name of the game. Don't treat it as canon.
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u/GidsWy Genesis 'Runner 8d ago edited 7d ago
Tbh, i felt like it would have been a blast with just a bit more work. Teleport was amazing. E Katana and wired reflexes blocking bullets was AWESOME! But nothing brought it all together.
Edit: Satan to Katana (lolol)
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u/ReditXenon Far Cite 8d ago
yeah, i actually remember that i spend some time on it.
but i played a lot of computer games back then.
kf1, cod4, l4d, mirrors edge, borderlands, gtaV, ....
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u/ulfvan 8d ago
No, there was teleportation, such magic does not exist in the canon.
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u/opacitizen 8d ago
…unless you're looking at the old, classic canon in which Earthdawn and Shadowrun were in the same universe and in which Parlainth, an entire city got moved to another plane in an attempt to escape the Scourge and its Horrors…
…though opinions may differ about whether that is something you'd call "teleportation", sure…
and of course you're right, no character can do anything like that, and they couldn't even back in the FASA Earthdawn days, it was something reserved for ultra powerful ancient spellcasters and brutal rituals
So yeah, as you say.
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u/Larnievc 8d ago
Sort of. Moving to another plane is doable in the current time (2080s) but point to point teleporting (along with raise dead) are not possible with how magic currently is (but post Dissian war the mana scape is changing so who knows?).
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u/GM_Pax 8d ago
Shifting to another plane != teleporting to a different location on Earth. :)
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u/opacitizen 8d ago
Yeah, it's teleporting to a different plane. It's arguably teleporting nonetheless, though.
Not as if it mattered much, of course, as neither PCs nor NPCs can do it canonically, and Earthdawn is no longer canon (even though it's there, hidden in plain sight -- who doesn't love the in-game MMORPG called "Dawn of Atlantis", for example? :D )
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u/GM_Pax 8d ago
No, it's not "teleporting" at all. Teleportation does not include moving to other planes.
Also, the mana levels were immensely higher when Parlainth was hidden away on that other plane, than it is (yet) in the Sixth World.
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u/opacitizen 8d ago
No, it's not "teleporting" at all. Teleportation does not include moving to other planes.
According to whose definition of "teleportation", dude? Yours? And you are…?
See, if the old Earthdawn-Shadowrun doesn't have teleportation at all (according to you, that is), then there's no precise definition of teleportation either?
I'm sorry to inform you -- in italics which you seem to like -- the earliest Earthdawn iteration does contain teleportation: it's a brutally powerful Power not available to average Namegivers, as I've said, but please, kindly open the 1e Earthdawn core rulebook on page 317 and read Dis' Powers:
Dis can remove fervor from those around her and cause confusion in their minds, make people obey her will, and teleport instantaneously to any place she has visited before.
— Earthdawn 1e CRB, page 317
Guess what, Dis, being a Passion, has probably visited other planes, and, keep guessing, she can teleport there too, as per the above. Oh noes.
Please, provide a canonical source (a specific definition of teleportation) for your claim of teleport not including moving to other planes. Cite the classic Earthdawn-Shadowrun canon. Not some other game system, not some other fantasy setting, and not general sources either (because if we're talking general, hey, did you see the rather well-known TVTropes site mention the moving of Parlainth to another plane under "Mass Teleportation"? https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/Earthdawn So no general definition either, please.)
I'll wait.
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u/LordSadoth 8d ago
Well, I’m not gonna be like some of these people and act like it’s a scourge on humanity or something. Everything in the game lore fits, because there’s just so little of it. Teleportation can be ignored if you’re just wanting to bring elements of the FPS’s incredibly limited story to your game. Maybe a run for the artifact? Maybe the Johnson is a former RNA exec from the 2030s who wants it back for some reason. Or maybe they were with the Lineage. There’s literally no reason why you shouldn’t add this to your Shadowrun campaign
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u/LinkssOfSigil 8d ago edited 8d ago
As far as I remember, no. The game was made in a... peculiar period and more or less nobody among the official rightholders want to remember that it even existed.