Real World History of Shadowrun
FanPro has been publishing Shadowrun for nearly five years now; we released our first Shadowrun title, Year of the Comet, at GenCon 2001. Five years and dozens of products later, and still some people are confused as to who we are and how things came to pass, so here’s a quick primer on the real world history of Shadowrun:
1989: FASA Corporation publishes the first edition of the Shadowrun tabletop cyberpunk-fantasy roleplaying game. It is an instant success.
1990: The first Shadowrun novel-Never Deal with a Dragon by Bob Charrette-is published by Roc. FASA also publishes a Shadowrun fiction anthology this year: Into the Shadows.
1992: Shadowrun, Second Edition is published, revamping the SR rules.
1993: Beam Software develops and Data East releases a computer RPG for the SNES console titled Shadowrun.
1994: BlueSky Software develops and SEGA releases a computer RPG for Sega Genesis also titled Shadowrun.
1996: A Japanese company called Group SNE develops an interactive fiction computer game for the Mega CD console (in Japanese only).
1997: FASA releases the Shadowrun collectible trading card game.
1998: Shadowrun, Third Edition is published, cleaning up the SR2 rules.
2001: FASA Corporation closes its doors. The Shadowrun IP is sold to WizKids. WizKids licenses the rights to publish the Shadowrun RPG to FanPro LLC.
2003: WizKids releases Shadowrun: Duels, a collectible action figure game.
2005: Microsoft announces plans to release a Shadowrun FPS for its X-box 360 console.
2005: WizKids/ROC publish Born to Run, the first in a new trilogy of Shadowrun novels.
2005: FanPro publishes Shadowrun, Fourth Edition.
