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CONTENTS
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RUNTHROUGH.................................................................................. 4
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ACADEMIC MAGE...........................................................................8
BANSHEE HITMAN....................................................................... 19
BEAST SUMMONER...................................................................28
BLOODPANTHER.......................................................................... 35
BURNED-OUT MAGE..................................................................43
COYOTE SHAMAN...................................................................... 50
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CYBER NINJA.................................................................................60
DECKER FIGHTER.........................................................................65
DEFENSIVE DECKER.................................................................70
DISSONANT TECHNOMANCER........................................... 79
DRONE RIGGER..............................................................................88
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EAGLE SHAMAN..........................................................................98
FACE FATALE................................................................................108
GUN FU SAMURAI........................................................................116
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR........................................................ 124
RACING RIGGER...........................................................................130
SNIPER............................................................................................. 139
SOCIAL ADEPT........................................................................... 146
STREET DOC.................................................................................155
STREET SAMURAI BLADE FIGHTER............................... 162
qualities index...................................................................... 175
 Introduction 3
The world of shadows is vast and diverse. Every close quarters. There are a few people you might

SHADOWRUN: SHADOW CAST

run is a puzzle with more than one solution—if you not expect to see in the shadows, like the street
stay in the shadows, you’ll find the really is more doc, who most runners see at the end of a job when
than one way to skin a cat (you’ll also find some they need some stitches, or the academic mage,
runners who take that saying far too literally). Go- who seems more comfortable in a scroll-filled li-
ing to steal a prototype? You could blast your way brary than a trash-filled alley. These and more are

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in, sneak in, charm your way past the guards, or all discussed in this book.
hack the local host to give you permission to walk Shadow Cast is not only about providing a
in as an authorized employee. Trying to remove a broader range of character options, but also about
high-ranking corp employee from one company at providing tools for these options. Each archetype
the request of another? You could pummel them has a variety of backgrounds to help players and

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into submission, persuade them to want to leave, gamemasters think about where the character
sneak them out, or convince them that what they might come from and how that shapes their behav-
thought was their life was a dream, and their new ior. This includes suggestions on game stats that
job is reality. could be used for different backgrounds.
Creativity and imagination are invaluable in Each archetype also includes plot hooks and
carrying out these various plans, but you also need qualities to help flesh out and use the character,
the skills to help you travel in whatever direction along with advice on playing the character. This
you choose. latter section provides both strategy and tactics,
Shadow Cast provides information on twenty helping players use the range of characters in this
archetypes who have skills that push some of the book in a variety of situations.
normal boundaries of shadowrunning. There are
some that follow darker paths than many other
shadowrunners, like the Dissonant technomancer
or the Bloodpanther, who works the shadows e
while also serving the nation of Aztlan. There are
The end of the book has some cards showing
sample character stat blocks for some of the arche-
types in this book. This previews a full deck called
the Mug Book.
The goal of this book is simple: to help play-
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characters to wield traditional skills with different ers and gamemasters experience the full range of
twists, like the face fatale, who specializes in seduc- characters in the Sixth World and to find fun ways
tion or the street samurai blade fighter, who shuns to put those characters to use. Enjoy Shadowrun’s
firearms and prefers to operate with sharp steel in infinite variety!
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CREDITS
Writing: Kevin Czarnecki, Jason M. Hardy, Ken’ Horner, Clifton Lambert, Art Direction: Ian King
James Meiers, Hjal Nelson, Scott Schletz, James M. Spahn, RJ Thomas
Shadowrun Line Developer: Jason M. Hardy
Cover Art: Tyler Clark
Proofing: Bruce Ford, Jim Greene, Mason Hart, J. Keith Henry, Carl Schelin
Illustrations: Paola Andreatta, Bruno Balixa, Tyler Clark, Angga Dwipayana,
Kat Hardy, Jack Hoyle, Gareth Keenan, Lukasz Matuszek, Victor Moreno, Marco Special thanks To everyone who made me think about all the different ways to
Pennacchietti, Júlio Rocha, Rob Ruffolo, Andreas “AAS” Schroth, Bruno Senigalha, be a shadowrunner.
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Filipe Siqueira

Design & Production: Matt “Holostreets” Heerdt

© 2022 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Shadowrun and Matrix FIND US ONLINE:
are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., Shadowrun questions: [email protected]
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InMediaRes Productions, LLC.

First Printing by Catalyst Game Labs,

an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC
7108 S Pheasant Ridge Dr
Spokane, WA 99224

 // INTRODUCTION
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Runthrough They’re following your trail. Use the alternate route.”
“How do you … why do you think I’d listen to you?”
The man nodded his head slightly. “Sorry, I don’t
by Jason M. Hardy mean to get in your way. Do your thing.”
“I think I’d feel better taking the alternate route,”
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Rasa said. “Too many chances that something spotted

Pistol in hand, Quincy waved at the eerily calm man us on the way in.”
lying on the cot in the sparse cellar room. It was a fair point. It’s rare for two trolls to go any-
“You have to move. But if you listen to me, you where without someone or something seeing them.
might survive this.” “Back way it is,” Quincy said. “I’ll clear the way.”
The man nodded. “I know. Every time I listen to you, They had to backtrack some, returning to the room
it works well.” that had served as an improvised guard station. Two
“That’s … what?” people still lay on the floor. One was starting to stir, but
The man sat up, but not quickly. “I like to come
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the restraints on his arms and legs were keeping him

back here. Run through this scenario again and again. from doing anything.
It’s helped me get used to it. And honestly, at this point “Check the restraints,” the man said.
I find you calming.” “Would you stop saying things?” Quincy said. “No
Quincy looked at Rasa. “What the hell is going on?” one is looking for your advice.”
“What’s going on is, I hear sirens,” Rasa said. “We “I’m just trying to help. Most of the time, you leave
don’t have time to stand around.” his wrists loose, and he gets to his commlink and sends
Quincy gestured on the man. “On your feet—now! out an alarm. That means trouble.”
We have to move.” “What they hell are you …” Quincy started, but he
The man stood and brushed the front of the hospi- broke off as Rasa knelt down and yanked on one end
tal gown he was wearing. “Of course. We can walk and of the restraints around the guard’s wrists. “What are
talk.” you doing?”
Quincy opened his mouth to ask Rasa a question, “He was right. They were a little loose. Come on.”
but the man they were supposed to be rescuing spoke There were three doors out of the room—the one
first. they had just come through, the one they had first used
“You don’t want to go back the way you came. to enter this room, and a closet. Quincy opened the

SHADOW CAST // RUNTHROUGH

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closet door. He pushed a mop and broom aside and a lock on the back door (Quincy gave thanks for people
punched through the wall. Moving his arm back, he who use wirelessly controlled door locks), and another
grabbed the sheet rock and pulled, making the hole was a camera near the door. A third was probably con-
he had just punched considerably larger. A few more trol on a shutter door for the small loading dock. The
punches, along with a big kick, and the hole was big other three seemed very much like commlinks.
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enough. He went through, and the man he was trying “There are three people in the alley. Two will be to
to rescue followed. Rasa came last, closing the closet our left, one right. We should probably go right.”
door behind her. “The two people on the left are smoking. They won’t
Then they were off and running. This part of the cause you any trouble.”
basement had narrow hallways—not quite troll-sized, “What?”
but also not used much, so they moved at a good pace. “They’re just on a smoking break. Not security.”
They were plain and un-ornamented, white paint on Quincy would have turned fully on the man if the
the walls and grey vinyl floors. Nothing valuable down hallway allowed him to make a graceful turn. Instead,
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here, so no one paid much attention to them. They could he just turned his head.
probably stay in these hallways for fifteen minutes and “I need you to shut up and not interfere.”
not get caught. But they would also be trapped, with “I’m just trying to help.”
no way out. Quincy knew he couldn’t let the calm here “You have been sitting in the room we took you out
make him complacent. of for a week. You don’t know what’s going on outside
They hustled toward the back of the building. They of the room, so I don’t need you pretending like you do.”
were heading toward a door that would open on an al- “I keep telling you, I’ve done this lots of times.”
ley. There was no chance the alley would be empty. The “Please just shut up and keep moving.”
trick would be picking the path of least resistance and The man, thankfully, obliged. As he moved, Quincy
quickly hammering through it. It was the sort of thing blew through the firewalls of the camera and door lock.
that would be much easier with overwatch or outside He’d leave the camera on until he just before he was in
help, but those things would have to wait until Quincy range of it, but he unlocked the door immediately. He
and Rasa made it to a higher class of jobs. wanted to be able to move through it without stopping.
For now, he was all the overwatch they had, so Quin- He picked up the pace, and Rasa kept up with him.
cy did a quick scan. There were half a dozen devices in Two running trolls meant there was a good chance any-
the vicinity of the door they were heading to. One was one ahead of them would hear them coming.

RUNTHROUGH // SHADOW CAST

 Quincy later told himself that the only reason he first him seem completely rational. “That’s why I keep com-
looked left when coming out of the door was because he ing back to it.”
needed to know what the threat from that side would “What does that mean?”
6 be, even if he wasn’t going in that direction. That didn’t
fully explain why his body was so ready to move left,
The man smiled broader and tapped his fingers audi-
bly on his lap. He said nothing.
but he just attributed that to fast reflexes. “What the hell is your problem?” Quincy yelled.
SHADOWRUN: SHADOW CAST

He went left, because when he looked in that direc- “Sorry. I’m sorry. It’s a bad habit, at this point. I
tion, he saw two people leaning against the building know how you get. I know how to irritate you and …
wall, smoking and looking completely surprised when sometimes I do it on purpose, just because I think it’s
he burst out of the door. funny when you yell. But I shouldn’t provoke you when
A glance right showed more trouble at that end of we’re doing something this serous. And I forget that you

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the alley—an ork security guard who was already lev- don’t know me, since to me, we’ve met many times. You
eling a pistol in his direction. It hadn’t shown up as a see, I’m a time traveler. I’ve lived through this whole es-
device on Quincy’s scan, which meant he wouldn’t be cape … well, at least a dozen times. It’s like re-watching
able to improve the situation by hacking it. So he just my favorite trid. I love it.”
pointed and left it to Rasa. “This is … you’re a what?”

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Rasa came out of the cellar firing. The guard was “A time traveler.”
being careful—one arm extended, the other arm bracing Quincy tried to focus on the road, but his mind was
it—while Rasa was just fast, squeezing the trigger on spinning. “You’re a time traveler, but … you keep com-
the run, almost shooting blind. Three bullets flew. One ing back here to be rescued?”
didn’t hit anything besides the building across the way. “Yeah. Look, I know the questions you’ll have. If
The second hit the guard’s gun. The third hit his hand. I’m a time traveler, why don’t I do something signifi-
The ork yelped and dropped his weapon. The smok- cant? Why don’t I assassinate the justices who made
ers, startled, hid behind a dumpster for cover. Quincy the Shiawase decision? Or the founders of ORO?” He
just ran. shook his head. “It says something about humanity
He had given up commenting on the wisdom of Ra- that whenever we think of how we could really change
sa’s aiming technique several jobs ago. Now, he just ad- the world, we start by coming up with a list of who
mired the results. to kill. Anyway, it’s complicated, but there are a lot of

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Transportation was the next hurdle. Quincy had a
hacking process he had run so many times it was basi-
cally a reflex—step one, step two, step three, taken at
almost the same pace as his footfalls. If there were any
Ford Americars nearby with only modest alterations to
time travel shows that could explain it to you. The gist
of it is that we needed to past to basically be what it
was in order to create the present. We need the same
people to exist, the same tech to exist, and so on. So
we can’t change anything significant. If I try to fire a
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their factory settings, he would have access to them in gun at someone, it jams, or the bullet veers wildly off
moments. the path. If I try to stab anyone, I drop the knife before
There were three. piercing anything. It’s weirdly disorienting, but that’s
That was perfect. He started each car and made how it works.”
two of them signal that they were occupied and ready “But you said sometimes things change. Like getting
to travel home. GridGuide started moving two of the in the blue car.”
cars, including a blue one that pulled away from the “Sure. You can change immaterial things. We take
curb as Quincy ran by it. The third one wasn’t much the blue car, or we take this car. I explain all this to you
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farther away. the minute you meet me, or I explain it to you now.
Quincy opened the rear door as he ran by it, then Those are minor differences, but they don’t affect the
opened and entered the driver’s seat. Rasa scooped up overall mission. The outcome is the same.”
the man, shoved him into the back seat, then crammed “Which is?”
herself in after. The man leaned forward, despite the obstacle of Ra-
The worst part of the Americar hack was, of course, sa’s legs in front of him, and patted Quincy on the shoul-
two trolls in an Americar. Rasa was sitting diagonally der. “You succeed. It goes well.”
across the back seat, and Quincy had one leg on the “Good to know.” He looked in the rearview mir-
passenger side of the car. He still felt extremely cramped, ror. There were a few cars back there, but nothing he
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and he had to accelerate with his left foot. marked as a problem. “Is anyone chasing us?”
He had already overridden GridGuide, so he was “I hate to give anything away.”
in control of the vehicle. That didn’t mean he peeled “Oh, so now you don’t want to talk about what you
out. He moved briskly but without obvious panic. Her know?”
merged into traffic and became the most easy-to-over- “It’s more that I don’t feel like telling you what you
look thing in the world—an Americar going nowhere already should know.”
special. Tires squealed a few blocks away. Horns honked.
The man in the back decided things were now calm Someone was coming through.
enough that he could speak. Quincy accelerated. He knew how to end this—he
“I’m glad you skipped the blue one,” he said. “It al- just needed to know how to get there.
ways smells like deepweed.” “You’ve done this so many times, so tell me this—
“Look, omae, what in the holy hell are you talking what route should I take?”
about? You keep saying drek like this, like this is some The man didn’t respond. Quincy glanced in the rear-
show you watch over and over.” view mirror and saw him grinning sheepishly. “I hate to
“Oh, no, not a show. It’s real.” He smiled in a way say it, but I’m not great with directions. I’ve done this a
that, combined with his hospital gown, did not make lot, but you’ve taken a lot of different routes, and I don’t

SHADOW CAST // RUNTHROUGH