Runners in the Shadows

Runners in the Shadows is a game Forged in the Dark about a group of daring operatives building a criminal enterprise in a fantastical dystopian vision of near-future Earth. There will be dangerous meets, crazy heists, bloody fights, chases, escapes, deceptions, betrayals, successes, and deaths. It's a bit like Blade Runner meets Ocean's Eleven, but there's ghosts and ninjas.

• Playing this is like a TV show set on Earth, but featuring a flexible mixture of escapism and realism - providing a relaxing way to appreciate and confront issues present in the real world, without being subject to its many burdens (such as reprisal from our fellow humans who live in this world with us). Think of the gaming group you will form as your safehouse, so to speak - a place to discuss and confront these dark reflections about ourselves and the world we live in. For me, it's a place where we can say something about a life of criminality and vice, and laugh at (or revel in) the "rewards" and pitfalls of hypocrisy, anger, and greed.
• The Man won, the world is haunted, sure... but What about it is too familiar to our own world? What supernatural things are common there that would we find surprising? There is a rich metaplot to explore if you're into that, but you'll also need to make this fantasy Earth your own. The tone is flexible: switching from "black trenchcoat" to "pink mohawk," and options for everything in-between are covered in the expanded Running the Game & Changing the Game sections.
  

Play to find out if the fledgling crew can thrive amidst the teeming threats of rival crews, powerful gangs, ruthless agents, corrupt law enforcement, and the sweet allure of the future’s many vices.

Plug in, reload, and breathe deep of the cost of becoming a legend in the shadows.

WHAT IS THIS?

• A game based on the same robust set of rules that helped win Blades in the Dark its place among the best games of 2015 and 2016. Runners places a heavy focus on the fiction first: to do it, you have to do it. There are new rules too - not like A LOT, but definitely enough to warrant a standalone game.
• More than a reskin, full conversions of the Blades crew playbooks to cyberpunk themed playbooks are included: Assassins, Couriers, a Cult, (arcane or emergent), Mercenaries, or Shadows. Plus, an all new crew playbook for those Radicals who hope to be the change they want to see in the world.
• Includes a detailed setting guide for play in the rapidly growing city of Kingston, Jamaica, which feeds off the datasphere surrounding its recent freedom from British rule in an alternate-history Earth. Artifacts recovered from newly discovered mythical cities such as Aztlan in the Caribbean Sea are drawing great interest here from abroad. With entry to the vortex guarded by many supernatural threats, and local waters threatened by pirates and angry spirits, those willing to go fetch a high price on the high seas. Or maybe you set your story in another sprawl of your choosing: guides and play tools for stories set in Hong Kong and the Enclave of Seattle are both included. 
• Tons of friends & enemies (and frenemies) to make in this game, plus a complete gallery of factions designed to inspire creative play in high custom or pure vanilla sandbox, totally unique to your player group. Don't want magic? Toss it (that part is modular, so you can do that). You do want dwarves and trolls and all that? Grab the option pack for that, and you're golden.
• Slick teamwork mechanics to get things moving from whatever angle you can come up with. Maybe you want to assist the Muscle by bricking their opponent's gun for a cyberpunk tag team move? No problem: get involved directly to increase their impact or negate some of the risk. Or maybe you just want to hack someone to grant a small benefit for the Muscle in a fight? Easy: spend 1 edge and narrate yourself in, and boom: your teammate gets to roll an extra die to blast 'em! Better hope they roll well though.. you are involved too.

WHAT TO EXPECT

• Rules to create your runner using seven futuristic criminal packages of abilities and accompanying fiction that you can mix and match to your heart's content: the Face, Hacker, Muscle, Punk, Rigger, Snake, & Trigger. Plus three optional, supernatural playbooks. These are mutually-exclusive and quite unique from one another: the Adept, Mage, & Techno. These are also built with their optionality in mind, to support so--called "vanilla" or magic-free cyberpunk stories. Obviously I am biased: but I think you should keep them in, so you have to fill your kitchen sink with even higher-flying stuff.
• All runners are not created equal.. the rules for permutations let you trade out gear for dice, or take on more rivals to get more cool stuff or whatever. Dozens of new special items to satiate the GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) in all of you. High-flying drones, killer attack pets, and street drugs: oh my.
• A complete character story system. Get rich (or die trying) so you can retire to a comfy spot with a side income you can rely upon. Or don't... and end up awash in vice, misery, and poverty. If you do happen to die, maybe keep playing as a Free Spirit. Or I don't know.. get infected instead, so you'll become a biological vampire with heightened magical powers (not the ones of Victorian myth). Or heck, throw your brain into a capsule to become a shell, so you can transcend your silly mortal coil. Cyberpunk story generator: FULLY ENGAGED.
  
• Bonuses galore: a veritable cornucopia of gameplay options, as well as advanced permissions & abilities to change and expand the game to suit your tastes. Gun-Fu. Initiation. Forgotten Mentors & Emergent Paragons. Ley Lines & Geomancy. War Machines. Centaurs. Pixies. Aliens!? Pretty much the whole kitchen sink..  
• A detailed chapter on Kingston, complete with accompanying handouts: a district map, faction trackers, and all the NPCs, schemes, and rumors you need to run an exciting sandbox game. Plus, a tense starting situation involving a murderous crime family & their hit squads, brutal go-gangers, and a squad of former pilots turned mercenary-smugglers. 

GAME INFORMATION

Number of players: 3-6. 
Age of players: 13+ (18+ suggested)
Length: 2-5 hours per session. 
Page Count: 379 (full game). The Sheets PDF is also included and features 45 pages of handouts and playbooks you absolutely need to create characters and play. However, the full game is recommended for the best experience - especially GMs planning to run the game. Either way, use the included Extra Materials and Online Keeper linked on this page to facilitate online play, and be sure to get hooked up with the community via the fan Discord (scroll to and expand the Additional Info to see all the Links).

BONUS MATERIAL

Also included is a one-shot-friendly, brochure-style version of the character sheet (Runners Lite) to get a game started super quickly!

DEMO INFORMATION

The black & white version of the Sheets is available as a pay-what-you-want item.

PRINT  VERSION?

The number of pages means this book is estimated to cost at least $40 to print. The costs and availability of the game in print can be accurately reassessed after going final with page count and printing options. All purchasers of the early release of Runners in the Shadows will receive full credit for what they spent on their purchase here, applied towards their future purchase of the "print + PDF bundle" of this game - options are being considered and I look forward to making a more substantial announcement.