10 in Ten, Proper Nouns

This is dedicated to Glenn Royer over in the Shadowrunner’s Union Facebook group. In the post on creating immersive gaming through using Proper Nouns we discussed why to do it. Here is 10 simple ways to do it.

1. Start with one organization. It can be a Corp, a criminal group, security provider or gang. Decide which pistol they use, which SMG, which taser/stun baton and their patrol vehicle of choice. Then next run/next month do another. In a year you will have all the major groups for your campaign done.

2. Do 2-4 ads to beat your players over the head with. You can just do tag lines or graphics if you have skillz. Or copy mine. Then hit them again and again.Try a gun, a car, a clothing line/perfume, a food item, or an event/Trideo. And, as above, do a new set next run/month.

3. Use a date stamp* method to feed these ads. Mr. Black starts every game with a quick news update. A quick promo is slipped in. This small trick brings a lot to your GM repertoire. Starting every session with the same verbal bit helps to settle your players down, and lets them know the session has started. The promo creates mood and immersion. And the news can create foreshadowing, as can the ad promos. In just a few moments, you set up future arcs, entertain your players and invite them to the table to play, and embed their characters deeper  into your world.

4. Start naming NPC’s on a small scale. Pick a couple and give them names, a single trait and an appropriate dice pool or two. They can be contacts, enemies, or various dramatic personages. Use whatever filling system you prefer. Index cards, Google Docs, whatever program you like, as long as you can share it across platforms. Do 3-4 this month, and another 3-4 next month. 

5. Steal NPC’s, ads, promos, whatever you need and like. TV, film, books, anime, comics, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, whatever. Don’t be afraid or ashamed. You are trying to have a better time with your friends, not write The Great American Novel. You have limited time, so adapt what you need from the best and brightest creators in the world. If Picasso and Mr. Black can do it without a moral qualm, so can you.

6. Stealing concepts can come from various places. Here’s 2 on the cuff. Mr. Black likes his movies and TV shows on hard formats (DVD/Blu-Ray). Because of the extra features. On the Talladega Nights DVD is an extended riff of Ricky Bobby and Cal extended commercial promos and public service announcements. Not only are they hilarious, they can give you ideas, pitch and tones. The same is true of SNL’s ESPN Classics sketches. Pete Twinkle’s line reads inspire Mr. Black every time...

7. You don’t have to do it alone. Your players can help you out. We all know Shadowrun has its 20 Questions. Mr. Black has 100 in his 20 questions, and many are asking his players what their favorite foods and pop culture are. If you have 5 players, and each of them creates the names of 5 songs and TV shows and movies and ice cream flavors (and more!) you now have 25 of each to use in your game. And your players will feel included when you use them. Rewarding their players with Karma and Nuyen? That’s fair. Having their favorite song for 2080 blaring over the Crews earbuds during the action section of your game, and giving that character imaginary** front row tickets to their favorite imaginary** band? That is fragging priceless omae. And it shows you listen to your players, and makes your Mr. Johnson or fixer look omnipotent.

8. A good app on your phone can help, for when inspiration hits. Note down names, ideas, or quirky traits. Get it down somewhere, so you can expand on it later. You can do quick screenshots, take photos, and do internet dives, and save it all for later.

9. So you have named 3-4 key members of the Street Spiders, a local go-gang, decided they are all riding Suzuki Mirages (fast and cheap) and carrying Colt L36’s (just cheap. You lifted a street level blacklister from the Black List, did some screen captures of a graphitti you liked (or did a quick design in a graphics app) as their street tag to show the players, and created a small charity to help clean up the streets to hire the Crew (or is it a holding company for Brackhaven Investments, looking to clean up the neighborhood so they can flip it?) Now you have a nice little run for your players! Throw in some hangers talking about the trideos from last night (“Hoi butch, you scan that new Doctor Quinn trid? That Sarah Iron Bear is smootchie!” “Chip truth butch, but when Sully came out of that pond shirtless? I go ba-bootchie for Chrissy Kane!”) and you have got something chummer.

10. And steal from Mr. Black! Here are some ads to use. Mr. Black will load 3-5 every month just for all of you, dear readers! 😉

*Date Stamping is a technique for showing both the passage of time, and establishing mood and place through use of holidays, news feeds and more. See Part 2 of Creating Immersive Gameplay.

** Imaginary in that they are just part of your game. They cost you and the player nothing. No one got extra nuyen or karma. 

Creating Immersion in Shadowrun, Part 1 - Proper Nouns

In this series we will be looking at methods to increase the immersion of your gaming universe. While these methods are intended for the Shadowrun milieu, most will work in other games or settings. 

Why increase immersion? Shadowrun is set on Earth, our Earth, just different. Creating that difference is key to making your game come alive. More than that, Shadowrun is a “city” game. Most of the time, your adventures will take place in cities, and usually the same city. And just like the song, cities never sleep. Because cities are full of people, and everyone is doing something, and something is always happening. We will be looking at easy ways to simulate that “hustle and bustle”. So let’s dig in and make your gameworld sing!

The first method is to use proper nouns. What the heck, you say? The truth is that Shadowrun and our world are close. A little too close. So we will use proper nouns to help separate the two. Shadowrun is famous for all that sweet, sweet gear, the many Corporations, and so much more. So use the names for that gear. Any game can have mooks wielding big pistols. Only in Shadowrun do the Ancients pull Predator V’s on your Crew. A Colt 1911A1 in .45 caliber is not a Predator V. Just the name, the Predator, brings up images of Shadowrun’s most famous weapon, with decades of service. For over 30 years, runners' first choice in offensive weaponry has been putting chumps in the ground. Use the name, and bring the fame to your game.

This is the singular weapon of Shadowrun...

But using a piece of gear’s proper name does more than create separation. It can provide important clues for your players. A bunch of guys shooting at the Crew with SCK Model 100’s might be from Renraku, seeing as that model of sub machine gun is the choice of the Red Samurai. Perceptive players or their characters know that the Ares Predator has a Smartlink, and that the Colt Manhunter comes with built-in laser sight. Which means the former is the choice of the cybered and the later is the preference of the Awakened. And everyone knows  Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbits are tiny subcompacts with pathetic acceleration (unless they have been heavily modified for high speed sewer heists.) Use brands and names to provide vital but subtle information for your players. Again, use the name.

It has a distinctive style...

Using these names will also fill your world, and help feed the over-capitalization of 2080’s Shadowrun to your players, and through them, to their characters. They don’t eat burgers, they dine on McHugh’s 150-Grammers (with Cheez, Pleez!) or feast on Frankenburger XL’s. They carry J-Pads or Fairlight LifeTec tablets (“For your life, on the go.”) Are they wearing classic Levi’s, hip Greenberg’s, or the new RedThreads styled by popular P2.0 star Jacob Histle? (“RedThreads are the only thing that gets this close, to this body…”) Are Choco-pops the candy of choice amongst young women in Seattle? Is that a steaming cup of SunHind’s soycaf in their hand, or an extra-large Stuffer Shack Morning Bru and a Spicy Kriller breakfast burrito? Hammer them with brands and their various products. 

New at Stuffer Shack!

Fill their world with music, trideo, and other entertainment by name. Remind your players of the ubiquitous of Neil the Ork Barbarian. Action figures, on tshirts, kids in parks screaming Neil’s trademark battle cry, Neil the Goddessed-damned Ork Barbarian on Ice! Surround them with pop culture: Karl KombatMage, Tyler Kwan’s Emerald City Urban Golf AR game series, Knight Errant’s NarcLine, KFRK’s Morning Music Pump, Orxanne’s newest #1 hit, the controversial “Breeder’s Bounce”, number 1, well everywhere, including all those P2.0 and MeTube trids of teens dancing to it, and commlink ringtones. (#2 ringtone this week is “Unicorn Splooge”, from the ‘teenty’ hit, ‘Corn Porn’) After all your players’ real life choices in entertainment are more informed that “some music” and “that TV show”.

Neil is large, Neil holds multitudes...

Use groups and organizations all have proper names as well. Locally, it is not football season, it is Seahawks Season! The footage of the car fire shutting down the 210? That’s not news, that’s KSAF news. That is not just some event in a hotel they are hiding their extraction target at. They are at The Regency On The Lake, and they walked past the “Fay McFadden Cooking Expo 2080” (And you can bet your hoop they are handing out free samples. How else are you going to distract the enemy Sammie when the Corp black ops team comes to retrieve “the package”?) Those aren’t “right wing” or “left wing” protesters, those are Archconservatives protesters and New Democrat protesters. Are those just some “Yaks” headed the Crew’s way, or are they Kanaga-gumi bagmen?

It’s a very distinctive tattoo....

Your players probably skipped over all this in their hunger for better dice pools when they created their characters. Giving a name to everything reminds them that they are strangers in this land, and that an entire world exists around their characters. 

It’s a very distinctive name...

People have proper names as well. As we talked about in the post on The Thing, using proper names for NPC’s is a powerful tool. Think about the closing of Venom. Eddy Brock walks into the bodega and greets the lady behind the counter. “Evening, Mrs. C!” She is not a nameless faceless non-person. Not only does Eddy know her well (he uses a nickname) but she is a “Mrs.” Mrs.Chen has a husband and family. The gangbanger, on the other hand, doesn’t even warrant a name. He is quickly disposed of while Venom quips. He gets  frakkin’ eaten. The “name v. no name” is a real life psychological technique. The FBI instructs kidnapped people to tell their names, and the fact that they have family who love them, to their kidnappers. It helps create empathy. Use this tool in your game. If you players begin to empathize with the NPC’s that populate your world, maybe their characters won’t go on sociopathic rampages killing them all and start role playing with them.

The guy on the right? “Shakedown Thug”
Is not a proper name...

And do this trick with your players as well. Never use the players names, or their characters’ archetype at the table. Always use their characters' names whenever possible. This helps with that separation again. “Bob, what are you doing now?” only helps to isolate the players from the milieu. “Okay, what is Shadow Wolf doing now?” is much more powerful. By using the characters’ names repetitively we help everyone at the table to remember those names, and encourage them to do so as well. And Bob is not doing anything in your world. Bob is an accountant, sipping Mountain Dew and munching on Flaming Hot Cheetos (see what I did there?), hanging out and rolling dice with friends. On the other hand, Shadow Wolf is a master Adept, his very body and mind magickally attuned to the Sixth World, trained in the arts of Shinobi-jitsu, and is about to unleash a magickal katana and an Ingram Smartgun upon some foes. Reinforce that difference at your table, and see the difference it makes with your players.

But there is another side to all this name calling. Mr. Black once played in a Dark Heresy game. At one point in the campaign, we spent about 4 months of real time on a planet doing investigations. But about half way through, we forgot the name of the planet. We all thought it was going to be a single quick mission, one night and done, so none of us wrote down the name. 2 months later, even the GM had forgotten the name, until it became important. So Mr. Black just started calling it, “Planet Whozifritz”, which stuck. So now the planet has a silly joke name. And the same will happen in your game. If you don’t name it, someone will step up with a quip. And that will stick. And every time someone uses the new name, your players will start laughing and cracking more jokes, which will kill the tension and pacing of your game. Nothing kills immersion in your game quicker than people making out of game jokes about it at the table. So make sure you do the naming, and make it stick.

It will make sense in a moment...

So give everyone and everything a name, and use them on your players. That’s not some food cart on the corner, it is Soy-Not Noodles, run by Joe. That is not the police, that is a Knight Errant, in a K-E Kruiser. That is a DocWagon/Crash Cart that just showed up, not some ambulance. That is BamBamBoom’s Jitter Fog playing in the elevator, not just some drab music. Those hard looking boys are members of the Yellow Lotus, not just Triads toughs. Keep reminding your players of those differences and enhance the immersion at your table, merely by using proper nouns.

The Vital Victor Wong

 

“In the 1950s, while studying art under Mark Rothko, Victor Wong had his first art exhibition at the City Lights Bookstore. During this time, Wong befriended Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He illustrated Oranges, Dick McBride's first collection of poetry, which was handset and printed at the Bread and Wine Mission in 1960. He met Jack Kerouac in the early 1960s, who chronicled their meeting in his novel Big Sur (1962). In the novel, Wong is characterised as "Arthur Ma".” - from Victor Wong’s Wikipedia page.

Can you pick this man as the new focal point of your entire campaign?

Advisor to the Last Emperor of China. Poet to Chiang Kai-shek. Conferred with Nazis just before they fled the Communist takeover of Tibet. Was a spiritual trainer the “the chosen one”. Set in motion a movement to open mankind to the 6th Age. Guided the infiltration of Hell. Abetted the utter destruction of ghost demons from the 4th Age*. Set up an operation to deal with the psychic tremors of the assault on Hell. Created a lineage and trained his descendants to protect mankind using eon-old martial arts and magical masks. Are you GM enough to put this change-point hero in your game and confound your players?

Remember, the shortest guy here is the hero...

We are of course speaking of Egg Shen, hero of Big Trouble in Little China and his real life counterpart, Victor Wong. We will be viewing his legacy in film and life as one continuous life, mashed together, So let’s start at the beginning.

David Lo Pan was cursed with “no flesh” by the first Emperor of China, Huangdi**. Portuguese Jesuits have dated his rule to approximately 2697-2952 BCE, right on the cusp of the end of the 4Th Age. (Other scholars have put his ascension anywhere from 2700 BCE, to 3707 BCE, to 6078 BCE!) But by using the Jesuit claim (and their ties to the Order of New Jesuits) we can get close enough to the last age of magick to get this started. Was Egg Shen there? Has he been a guardian, looking to stop Lo Pan’s efforts for over 5,000 years? Was he tasked by the White Tiger of the West, or the Yellow Dragon of the East, aka Cheng Dai? If so, he is an immortal, but which one? One of the elves? A dragon? A drake? Something else?

“You never could beat me, Egg Shen.” - Lo Pan

No, he will outlast you, Lo-Pan...

Later, Egg Shen reappears in the records of men, this time as an advisor and the tutor to Puyi, the Last Emperor of China until 2058 and the ascension of Emperor Tianzi of Beijing. He did so under the nom de guerre Chen Pao Shen. Did he instruct the Emperor on methods to tame the Dragon Lines? Was the fragmentation of China a cover for Egg Shen’s movements and telesma gathering? Six-Demon Bags don’t make themselves! Did Egg Shen need the tears of China’s Emperor to create an alchemical potion to see things that can’t be seen?

Our next glimpse of Egg Shen is during the Second World War, in Tibet. Here he oversees the Chinese efforts to takeover Tibet. Is he trying to stop the Ahnenerbe’s efforts^ to assimilate ancient Tibetan mystic rites? Keep Austrian mountain climbers away from sleeping Dragons? Stop thefts of the sacred Kangyur?

Journalist, artist, poet, actor, millennia-old
mystic master with a singular purpose,
the creation of the 6th Age...

After his Tibetan activities, Egg Shen moves to America and adopts the name Victor Wong. Under this name he helps inspire the 50’s Beat culture. The early “mind expanding” activity of the Beat poets and artists start to seep into the American zeitgeist. This slowly paved the way for magick acceptance and counterrevolution. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” indeed. The death of Rothko, one of Wong’s teachers may have been the result of several of Wong’s “hidden works”, those he inlaid with mystic elements and telesma, to permeate San Francisco’s Chinatown. Could they have corrupted the flesh of mere mortals on viewing? Was this in reaction to the creation of the Wing Kong Exchange and the growth of the Wing Kong Triad and their various street gangs such the Lords of Death? Did Victor Wong’s various alchemistrical artworks spur the Chang Sing’s martial abilities? Are they still hidden? And if found, what power do they contain in 2080? Is the ultra rare, “Red” edition of Oranges a tome of spell formulae?

Next is the action of Big Trouble in Little China. We have already discussed this, so let’s jump forward a few months...

Only Eddy could be taken in by this cunning disguise...

While Egg Shen’s activities in BTiLC are well known, less is known of his return to Tibet, and the training of the “chosen one” Chandler Jarrell. Egg Shen, under the guise of “Old Goupa”, protects the Ajanti dagger, a weapon foci capable of banishing spirits from the Outer Metaplanes. After awakening Jarrell’s mystic abilities, Jarrell is able to send home a powerful spirit intent on devouring a “spike baby”, or more properly its Essence. The spirit has obviously been freed during the assault on Lo Pan. Did Egg Shen get any vacation at all, or was that an act for Jack Burton? Or has Egg Shen learned to bilocate? 

You look like this if your were in 2 places at the same time...

And what if there is a layer to BTiLC that the veiled eyes of Westerners missed? 

Egg Shen changes history, once again...

Under the Wing Kong Exchange are various hells, (the Chinese, famously, “have a lot of hells”) the Black Blood of the Earth, and the Bog of Dead Trees***. Did Egg Shen actually lead them through Diyu, Chinese Hell, to get to Lo Pan’s palace? Or was it a journey into Diyu? With the various creatures, spirits, and hells, the latter makes more sense. This also creates the repercussions for Egg Shen’s next appearance.  

A little Chinese black magick...

Led by Egg Shen, Wang Chi, Jack Burton,  and the Chang Sing “shake the pillars of heaven”. Did they actually shake the 8 pillars that support the earth and heavens? This may be why Egg Shen sets up shop (literally) in Perfection, Nevada, using the name of Walter Chang. Did all that “heavens shaking” wake the “Graboids”, as “Walter” names them? Is Chang’s Market a penance? Did Egg Shen set up a second family to protect mankind and assuage his guilt? Does one of his family still run it today in the PCC? Just how much telesma must it have? And are you willing to send your Crew into Ute territory to hunt/dodge giant shrieking sand worms for magickal worm scat?

Or fake his death. 3 families are enough for even an immortal...

Lastly, Egg Shen sets another family lineage into play. Knowing that “all Asians look alike”, Egg switches to being perceived as Japanese. He then trains his grandchildren in “ninjutsu”, but it is more likely an ancient combat style (similar to Sinanju) perhaps taught to him during the time of the Yellow Emperor. 

Stopping nuclear threats and defeating the spirit masks...

He creates a set of masks for his protégés, which are certainly imbued with magickal energies. Is this part of the “False Face” troubles****, 

Or both!

or an effort to stymy it? Has Egg Shen thought this far ahead all along? Has he created a school of White Tiger/Yellow Dragon operatives to oppose evil “outsiders” intent on destroying the world, armed with fighting techniques from the 4th Age, powered by alchemical potions and the wisdom of Cheng Dai, emboldened by hidden artworks of immense power, and armed with advanced foci?

“I’ve waited a long time for this Jack.” - Egg Shen

Perhaps he has…

*BTiLC. Lo Pan is a ghost and a demon, served by powerful free spirits of wind, water and electricity.

** We are playing a little loose with the timeline given in BTiLC. But doing so gives us the immortal Yellow Emperor, the first Emperor of China, and allows us to play with the 4th Age. Well worth it, Mr. Black thinks. For those who think otherwise, Egg Shen and Lo Pan may have been playing games with each other for 2,258 years ago, (272 BCE.)

^The Ahnenerbe went to Tibet to find proof of “Glacial Cosmogony” in part through “geology and earth magnetic”...

***To be discussed in a future post!

**** To also be discussed in a future post!

The Vital Trideography of John Carpenter, part 3. Big Trouble in Little China

 John Carpenter may not be the first filmmaker that comes to mind as the creator of the dystopian future genre, but he came damned close. Films from his golden era set the tone for everything Shadowrun, including the addition of magic. Mr. Black will take you through 6 of his groundbreaking and iconic films, and illustrate what a GM can take from them and add to his or her game.

We are doing 6, in chronological order: We have covered Escape from New York, and The Thing. Now we cover one of Mr. Black’s all-time favorites, the true glory that is Big Trouble in Little China (BTiLC). Spoilers ahead, so grab your Six Demon Bag, and settle in. We have lots to cover…

(But before we do, Mr. Black needs to address an issue of cultural appropriation. There are some who have problems with BTiLC over its use of Asian culture. We will be looking at this movie and its applications through Mr. Black’s eyes, an angry Caucasian grognard. Mr. Black apologizes in advance for any anger and/or hurt he may cause, as that is not his intent. Dear Readers, you have been warned…)

“I’m a reasonable guy, but I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things." — Jack Burton

1. BTiLC places magick, specifically,  “Chinese Black Magick”, into a mundane world. It is worth thinking about Jack Burton’s slack jaw as he is exposed to the magick. He and the other “Westerners” experience shock, fear, and true awe*. We as gamers are so used to magick in our games and entertainment, that it barely registers. But we need to remember it is rare. Channel Jack, Gracie and Margo’s fear and wonder, and apply it to the mundanes in your games.

   
   

   

   Scares the drek out of Mr. Black!

2. This is one of the few “Hollywood” movies that show us magickal martial arts. Embrace this! Adepts do not fight like a cybrawler or a street samurai. Channel Wang Chi at the wedding fight when describing the actions of enemy adepts when they start smacking your crew about. Describe their unnatural grace, their inhuman speed, the preternatural glow their limbs give off when Killing Hands or Elemental strikes are used. Facing a martial adept should be a frightening experience.

   
   

   

   He is here to kick ass and chew bubblegum...

3. BTiLC is often praised for the way it portrays Jack Burton and Wang Chi. It appears initially that Jack is our hero, but on rewatching it is Wang Chi who is actually our hero and our protagonist. Reflect on their changing roles, when you give time to let each character shine in your games.

4. There are 2 “warrior societies”, the Wing Chung and the Chang Sing in BTiLC. They are our stand-ins for the Triads in the trideo. Use them for interesting encounters. The Triads of Shadowrun should be full of low status gangbangers, cybered-up mid level members practicing various martial arts, and high flying masters of martial arts and physical adepts performing trust badassery. If they are just “Asian-looking guys” with guns, why make them Triad members? Use their uniqueness, create a special and memorable encounter for your players.

   
   

   

   The Yellow Lotus are here to say hello...

5. We get a good look at a “Chinatown”. We should remember it is more than just pagodas, guardian lions and out-of-place spirit gates. It is a living, breathing place, a home for immigrants. It is full of regular businesses, not just take out places and mahjong parlors. Tell your players about the smells coming from restaurants, the signage in various characters and syllabaries, the sounds of multiple languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, CitySpeak, and likely some sort of pigeon tongue), the bustle, people everywhere, most in Western or semi-Western wear, but some in traditional (more likely “reformed”) Hanfu or Tang style clothing. Use the differences (e.g., in the opening gang fight of BTiLC, one of the gangs wears white, the traditional mourning color of Chinese culture) as a reminder that it is a foreign place, but not alien. And depending on its size, walking tours (or ARo tours) would not be out of place, and great fun for GM’s (a running gun battle sidestepping tourists, people taking selfies with buskers in traditional outfits, gamers chasing special “Tomogatchi-Ko”** icons, hawkers peddling “real” “Peking Duck”, lion dancers, and wedding/funeral parties/parades? Sign Mr. Black up!)

6. The Three Storms. 

   
   

   

   What GM worth their salt doesn’t want to throw these 3 at their players? Even though good old Mr. Black’s trench coat is blacker than Vantablack, we still get chills whenever Lightning enters from the Heavens on his preternatural blue bolt. If you ever wanted to unleash the full magickal, mystical force of Shadowrun on your players, these three gentlemen are where to start. Don’t worry too much about stating them out. After all, if you haven’t drunk Egg Shen’s potion you can’t truly hurt them!

   
   

7. Never forget Lo Pan. 

   

   He’s never forgotten you!

   Not the truest face of evil. He is no Noah Cross. But he is a greater personnel threat. Need an ancient terror for your game? He is your man. Need a soulless murderous sociopath with money and local power? Lo Pan is your man. Need a smart dressing smack talking spellcaster capable of shredding your Crew? Lo Pan is your man! And do you need all of the above wrapped in a sympathetic goal, to regain his humanity? Lo Pan is still your man! Better yet, confound your players by blinding them with magick, sicing monsters on them, and condemning them to the Hell of the Upside-Down Corpses, all while doing your best kindly Mr. Ping impression!

   

   And you were not put on this Earth to “get it”!

8. Egg Shen. Kindly old wizard, or eternal philosopher-sorcerer in the shenguai xiaoshuo*** tradition? You decide. Of all the strange events and beings in BTiLC, he just might be the strangest.

   

   An American Legend

9. And lastly, Mr. Black just wants it on record that James Hong is a Goddess blessed American treasure. Born in Minneapolis, served in the Korean conflict, with 142 films (and counting) and countless TV appearances. He embraces his ethnicity and his country of birth, and always entertains while doing it. In his 90’s, he teaches a new generation of AAPI actors, and doesn’t even have a star on the Walk of Fame. If anyone in the film business deserves an American Medal of Freedom, it is James Hong.

*an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.

**Tomogatchi-Ko is a AR trideo game similar to Pokémon Go. Special areas of a city (or those willing to pay the designers a fee) have unique “battle gatchi” to capture.

***Shenguai Xiaoshuo is a traditional Chinese literature that roughly translates to “Gods and Demons”. It concerns immortal beings fighting each other. Has Egg Shen been waging his war a lifetime, or since the demon Lo Pan was cursed with “no flesh” centuries before… Mr. Black has more to say about mixing Chinese classics and culture with Shadowrun, but that is for another post.