Shadowrun: Run Faster provides a wealth of options and tools for character development and customization, broadly expanding the choices available for metatypes, qualities and more while also provides background information on the world that can be used to enhance roleplaying. While it is a little disorganized, overall Run Faster is an immensely useful sorcebook primarily for players but GMs will find much to use as well.

Shadowrun: Run Faster, is a Core Player Handbook for the 5th edition of Shadowrun, so what does that mean? It means that this book is full of character options, discussions and variant systems to all for greater customization and understanding of the character and their role in the Shadowrun world.

The book begins with one of the ubiquitous fiction sections, then it looks into what life is like for the various sorts of people (corporate, streets, and so on) in the Shadowrun world who become ‘runners, some general advice on working with others and general discussion of how to rounds out a character to make them more ‘real’ by understanding where they are from and what they want. But also some notes on this being a social game and advice on making characters that will play with others because that is more fun for everyone.

Next is a discussion of codes of honor (to be used with the disadvantage of the same name) ranging from Bushido to White Hat Hackers. This section provides some excellent tools for adjudicating codes and roleplaying with them.

The Spice of Runners’ Lives discusses odd jobs for odd employers to give more variety to runs and also includes an (all too brief) section about playing other styles of games, such as playing as a DocWagon HTR team or cops. Still, some fun ideas here and equally useful for GMs and players.

The More Than Skin Deep looks at the various metatypes (and other groups like shifters and the augmented) and how their culture has evolved and how it impacts outsiders (like runners). Not sure if I am sold on the biology is culture argument (except for maybe shapeshifters) but still a useful window on what being a “X” is like in the world.

Construction Kits provides optional character construction routes: pure point buy, the “sum to ten” method and life modules, which builds a character by building their background from childhood onto the start of play. I very much like the life modules system as it makes one think about the character as more than just a collection of game stats.

The Mess of Metahumanity expands the horizons for metatypes and provides rules for metasapients (such as centaurs), changlings and shapeshifters and a considerable number of metagenic qualities (both positive and negative) to customize characters who were affected by the SURGE. While Into the Night provides rule for playing the infected, vampires (and all their variants) and ghouls. Probably a section that one should be cautious with however.

As You as You Can Be brings in a number of new positive and negative qualities (including my favorite, Day Job) which give a lot of ability to customize characters, which I always think is a good thing in addition there are eight new archetypes (running from burned company man to undercover cop) which take advantage of the new qualities.

Who You Know is all about the care and feeding on contacts, including how to pay them for their services, and a new Organization Contact option. Random tables for quickly fleshing out contacts are included along with around 45 new contacts. All useful things for expanding the knowledge web of the characters with useful guidelines for the GM to keep it managed.

Bosses and Betrayers talks about employers and the hazards of dealing with them. It has some good breakdowns on what to expect from various sorts of employers (corps, criminals, amateurs and so on). Again, useful for both players and GMs. A Dump of One’s Own looks at where the runners live and adds more detail, if you want to use it, to the lifestyle choices of the characters. Finally, Pack your Kit rounds out the book with a few dozen standard load outs of equipment for everyone from stylish suits to combats bikers, good for quickly figuring out what you need or what an NPC has to hand.

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If you are a player of SR5 then it should be the second book you buy after the Core Rulebook. Lots of options, though the organization of the book leaves a bit to be desired. As a player, the $24.99 price pint of the PDF is going to pay off in fun goodies. As a GM, the gear packs make for a much earlier time crafting bad guys. All in all a very nice addition to the game.

Nice format, good layout. Fantastic art. Nice looking scan. Bloody expensive. Book contains several chapters, ranging from alternative character generation, the big ones being sum to ten, where you get numbers instead of letters for your priorities, and 4e style point based build.

Catalyst has mentioned revamping their editorial process, and it shows fully in Run Faster. I had sworn off buying another Shadowrun book as they're released because of the failure of the majority of the previous releases, but this version helps me feel a bit better. Now hurry up with Data Trails!

This book was exactly what I was hoping for. There are expanded rules for character generation, including rules for creating infected, shapeshifters, changelings, sapient critters like pixies (a personal favorite), and various subspecies of the original five races. They even brought back the point-buy system which some may remember as the Build Point system from 4e, except this time it's 100% karma, which I think streamlines the process. As usual, the in-character descriptions were entertaining and informative, particularly the part written by a vampire and the one written by a Mr Johnson. Those parts both gave me a much better understanding of the way the sixth world interacts with these types of characters. If you like 5e, you'll like this expansion.

To start off, I've been a big Shadowrun fan for years, and I've been having issues with some of the Fifth Edition books, primarily with editing. The first thing I'd like to say in regard to Run Faster is... Thank you, Catalyst, for turning around the recent slump. I was prepared for this to be my last Shadowrun book, but you've most definitely turned it around.

First off, the editing and layout are great. I think I saw maybe two or three typoes all-in-all, but given the book is two-hundred and fifty-five pages, that's pretty good. Things are easy enough to find, without the wonkiness from Street Grimoire, and a lot of the fluff is great (though I have my quibbles about the write-ups on each metatype and their 'culture'). Those were honestly my biggest concerns. I love the implementation of shapeshifters, the various metavariants (Nartaki and Fomorians for the win) and most especially the Infected. Said section gives you everything you need not just to play an Infected, but to run one for your game. It's easy to tell why the Infected are so dangerous, which is a feeling I love to get when I look at possible threats in my games. My players are going to 'appreciate' this book from a much more amusing perspective (side note; mutaqua are awesome).

The alternate Character Creation options are great to have, especially the Sum to Ten system; it's Priority System, but you are given '10 points' to rank out your Priorities. That lets you do things like have an A/A/C/E/E, or a B/B/B/D/E, which really allows for a lot of customization, either to expand your proficiency or increase your specialization in certain roles (yes, it does make min-maxing a little simpler, but I don't let that rule my table. Common Sense is King.). I didn't run through a Life Module yet, but the ideas seem great; the only concern there is that there's a lot of countries missing that I'd love to see for later use.

Qualities are another great part of the book, and I'm definitely going to be using them. Hobo with a Shotgun is flat-out evocative, Lightning Reflexes finally gives an option to the no-magic, no-'ware types in combat and Witness My Hate definitely provides Direct Spells with some extra punch. There's a whole lot more, but I don't want to spoil them for y'all.

The information regarding Contacts and jobs is some useful stuff to have as well, and I love how it highlights some of the concerns everyone should have about a job, including the Johnson's risks. It's a perspective that doesn't get enough illumination at times. The new Lifestyle bits are useful as well, giving much more options to spruce up your home and make it something more than a monthly expenditure. Finally, there's the kit 'packs' at the end, gear with some modifications and the like that are bundled into simple 2,000-20,000/1-10 Karma purchases so you don't have to do the math. Personally, I enjoy doing the gear math, so I'm not likely to use them. It's great for the people who don't want to bother with it, however. Also, the Mono-whip pack is great; you get a mono-whip, and a year of DocWagon with 1 free resuscitation. Given the concerns with mono-whips, that's just what the doctor ordered.

Overall, I consider this book to be the best Fifth Edition book out as of yet (besides Core), and it doesn't even have loot in it. That's saying something for me. I hope y'all find this review useful.