Revolution Campaign Guide (V1.0)

r E volution V O L U T I O N T H E C A M P A I G N r E volution V O L U T I O N T H E C A M P A I G N iNTRODUCTION "Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.” Welcome to 2084. Welcome to the Sixth World. Welcome to the REVOLUTION. This is a guide to the REVOLUTION campaign, a story of cyberpunk conspiracy, apocalypse, and horror that we will tell together about magical revolutions, technological evolutions, and whether somewhere between them there’s a future for Mankind at all. Though your characters will begin as street-level shadowrunners—elite criminals for hire living on the fringes of society—they’ll be drawn into the ultimate war, and maybe even eventually become one of the near-mythical midnighters, those elite of the elite who pull off runs on the Corporate Court’s orbital headquarters and against spirit gods in their astral courts. REVOLUTION is about hope and despair. It is about people and the conflicting priorities of human civilization, daring to ask how far our race has truly come since we climbed down from the trees, and whether or not we’ll even still be human at the end of our evolution. The world of rEvolution is like an apocalyptic Garden of Eden trapped in a cellular "eclipse phase,” the period between when a cell is infected by a virus and when the virus appears within the cell and transforms it. During this period, the cell does not appear to be infected, but it is. Like this Schrödinger’s infection, the Sixth World contains the secrets and spoils of both good and evil, of ignorance and enlightenment, of barbarity and virtue. Whether a prison or a playground, reality is what we make of it. The impending techno-magical Singularity of this viral transformation can break our shackles or deepen our illusions, but only we can decide. As a campaign, REVOLUTION presents this world to your characters who are faced with this inhospitable future. They’ll need to make a stand in the coming revolutions that will influence the evolution of their lives and the fate of those around them, if not the world and civilization at large—for better or for worse. It’s up to them. WHAT’S IN THIS GUIDE This guide covers the basic information you’ll need to create a character and jump into our session zero, when the group will gather and collaboratively create a shadowrunner team, a city to call home, and a shared objective to kick off the campaign. Don’t worry about actually creating your character now or even coming up with a concrete concept, all of that can wait until session zero. For now, look over this guide to get a general idea of what your choices are. If you’re confused about something or want more info on a given topic, feel free to ask me for more. The first section covers the numerous Available Races that you can choose to play as. The second section is about the Sixth World itself, from its history to its culture. The third section explains the possible Citizenships & Backgrounds that your character might hail from. Finally, the fourth section is about your character’s Archetypes & Concepts, explaining the common positions you’ll find on a shadowrunner team. Menehune (Transoceanic Islands): Even hairier than the AVAILABLE BASE RACES average dwarf, menehune are well-adapted to oceanic life, with leaner In 2084, humanity isn't what it used to be. The changes wrought by the builds, a layer of insulating fat, and nictitating membranes that allow appearance of magic and runaway technological development have them to see underwater. More affable and compliant than most dwarfs, resulted in a colorful mélange of new races. Broadly, humanity 2.0 can be they are a seamlessly-integrated, accepted, and visible part of the sorted into four categories—classic humans, metatypes like elves and Polynesian cultures they hail from. orks, metasapients like pixies and sasquatches, and transhumans like infomorphs and genetically-enhanced parahumans. ELVES No other metahuman culture has had the obvious world-changing effects HUMANS as elves have. Three nations in Africa, Europe, and North America, A shrinking minority, humans are still found anywhere civilization is. isolated neighborhoods in almost every major sprawl, personalities acting Earth’s many ethnic and racial groups form the foundation for all other as a primary face or voice for almost every major world power, and a metatypes and transhumans. Their abundance prior to the appearance of natural monopolization of the entertainment industry. Lithe, almond- magic gives them a sense of unity in their humanity that has only grown eyed, and silky haired, elves are the new standard of metahuman beauty. with the rise of the megacorporations and decline of nation-states. More isolationist and ethnocentric than even dwarfs, elves grow up with Though baseline humans are rapidly dwindling, those that remain are a sense of superiority that’s little discouraged by their incredible natural much the same as they were at the beginning of the century. charm and athleticism. Few elves dare to go against this hierarchical Nartaki (Indian Subcontinent): Curiously, humans do in fact culture, and are widely shunned for doing so. Elves are theorized to have possess one metavariant: the nartaki. They resemble humans with the a lifespan measured in centuries, and have enhanced low-light vision. exception of blue, red, or gold skin and an additional pair of arms. Most Dryads (Any): Small, slender, and with hair that changes color have entered into a form of Hindu priesthood and seek to live a simple with the seasons, dryads are considered to have an unearthly grace and and unrestricted lifestyle in pursuit of magical Enlightenment. beauty beautiful even by elven standards. Unique among metatypes, all reported dryads are females, and unlike other metatypes possess no particular region of origin. Consequently, dryads lack any singular, in- METATYPES depth culture. The metavariant is drawn to natural environments, and There are four metatypes that appeared in the early years of the they tend to stay away from highly polluted areas. This is due to their Awakening: dwarfs, elves, orks, and trolls. Collectively, they make up ability symbiotically bond with their surroundings. over half of metahumanity, and metatype-human tension has risen as Nocturna (Europe): Referred to as Night Ones, nocturna their population continues to grow. All metatypes have pointed ears, resemble bestial elves, with dark fur from deep blue to violet covering with some variance among metavariants. Except where noted, all their entire faces and bodies. A reclusive nature and hypersensitivity to metatypes share the ethnic background of their parents. bright light make this metavariant nocturnal, making it difficult for them to fit into standard society. But this relative invisibility has also helped DWARFS hide them from the worst discrimination, allowing them to carve out a Dwarfs possess an unparalleled ability to fit into any locale or culture in niche in the societies and businesses of the night. Natural hunters, they the world. Typically just over a meter tall with barrel-like builds and are particularly quick and possess powerful hearing. ample body hair, they are stoic, silent, and strong-willed as a culture. No Wakyambi (Southern Africa): Wakyambi are thinner, more long- metatype is as socially and culturally close-knit—some say xenophobic— limbed, and up to a whole meter taller than even standard elves. as dwarfs are, making them the subject of as nearly as many bigoted Incredibly uncommon and reclusive, they rarely have contact outside conspiracy theories as the long-lived elves. Though slow to react both their hunter-gatherer tribes, which are worshipped by surrounding locals. culturally and physically, they are incredibly durable in body and soul, More nimble, cunning, and instinctive than the average elf, they possess impressively strong, longer lived than humans, and possess an uncanny sense of prescient survivalism. thermographic vision. Unfortunately, their diminutive stature makes life in Xapiri Thëpë (Amazonian Basin): These odd metavariants the Sixth World more costly than for most. resemble small elves that are partially or entirely green-skinned due to a Gnomes (Central Europe/Asia Minor): Even smaller than secondary skin layer containing chloroplasts, which expands as the xapiri baseline dwarfs, gnomes’ youthful forms are compensated for by the thëpë ages. Xapiri thëpë have their own tribal culture and nature religion ability to rapidly process information. Overcoming their low numbers, completely separate from the rest of the world. The few that ever leave gnomes have found niches throughout urban environments, including are usually exiles, runaways, or diplomats, the last the most common. many in the shadows. They possess a strange resistance to spells that has Their ability to photometabolize makes them particularly vulnerable to made them a frequent target for kidnappings and experimentation. pollution, and they have less rational thought processes. Hanuman (Southern Indian Subcontinent): Hanuman resemble monkeys more than dwarfs, with elongated limbs, feet, and hands; ORKS profuse hair except on the face; a prehensile tail; and an agile frame. The most populous metatype by far—comprising almost a quarter of the Their lack of status in Hindu culture leads hanuman that move away from global population—orks nonetheless haven’t had the same success with their villages and attempt to integrate with the modern world while living carving out their own identities and nations as elves and dwarfs have. in a social purgatory—a shadow realm that often leaves them away from Bulkier than humans in terms of both height and muscle, with lower home, without citizenship, and thrust into new subcultures.

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