Running the Void in the Sixth World

Space … it’s really, really big.

Operating in space within Shadowrun history and lore goes all the way back to the beginning, when the corporation known as Ares Macrotechnology purchased everything that used to be NASA. From there, as editions progressed, we got the Haley’s Comet plotline in the third edition classic Night of the Comet and the first real look at space operations in Target: Wastelands. Then in forth edition, we got a massive update in Hazard Pay, which set the tone for space travel for the next two editions via the Space Operations Charter. Enacted by both the United Nations and the Corporate Court in the 2070s of the Sixth World, this charter severely limited who could go into space and severely limited the operations of those who did. This was the status quo for the next two editions.

Then, things changed, and we now have Explosive Decompression, the latest Shadowrun campaign (and resource) book to exploit … explore the dark void of space.

In-universe, the Disian Shadow War left some corps scrambling for new revenue streams. So they loosened their grips on the SOC (just a bit). And we all know that shadowrunners would never ever take advantage of such things. So now, we have more opportunities for shadowrunners (now known as voidrunners) to operate in space.

But that’s only part of the story.

The biggest reason Explosive Decompression came into being was economics; the fans wanted the book and it’s my job to make products for them. But while the concept was easy, the book’s execution proved to be a bit more complicated.

The biggest problem with advancing the technology in any gaming universe is that it can fundamentally change what said universe is about, sometimes to the point where it’s a completely different universe or setting. For Shadowrun, the focus needs to stay on shadowrunning. Granting access to space risks changing it from a cyberpunk-fantasy dystopia and into a generic sci-fi setting with dragons. While that may sound cool on the surface, it’s not Shadowrun.

The trick then became how to balance the two while giving players and gamemasters something fun. The answer was fairly simple. When I wrote the space section in Hazard Pay all those years ago, I resolved to prevent Shadowrun from becoming Shadow-Trek. This philosophy was maintained in Explosive Decompression by grounding it more in hard, rather than fantasy, science. This means that when running the void in Shadowrun, the technology is more akin to the Alien franchise or the wonderful series The Expanse.

This worked out better than expected. By sticking with hard science, the book provided something new while not overshadowing (or overtaking) the mystical elements of the setting. In the Sixth World, void running isn’t for amateurs. One needs very specific sets of skills and expensive equipment to make it happen.

But for those who have the skills, gear, and most importantly: guts, the vast rewards are there.

- RJ Thomas