Introduction: Rigger 3
by Mike Mulvihill

Rigger 3 is the advanced rule and gear book for those grease monkeys, gearheads and anyone else who plugs their brain into a vehicle or drone. Full of options, expansions and updates to existing rules presented for rigging and drone use in Shadowrun, Third Edition (SR3), Rigger 3 also offers information on non-riggers and the use of vehicles within the Shadowrun universe, as well as a quick-resolution vehicle-combat system for situations that demand fast results and even a more realistic collision system.

Along with a significant percentage of new material, Rigger 3 represents a compilation of material that was either originally published in various now-out-of-print Shadowrun books, or was based on previous editions of the Shadowrun rules. This includes material from Rigger 2, Rigger Black Book, Fields of Fire, Street Samurai Catalog, Aztlan, Cyberpirates, Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life and the Germany Sourcebook. Any references in this book to the Shadowrun rules refers to SR3. Other rule books that may referenced in this book are Cannon Companion.

Rigger 3 begins with Life In the Fast Lane, a look at vehicles in ordinary life. The way a vehicle is used in 2060 is addressed here, from license, registration and insurance to the electronic interfaces, and even automated driving. The uses of GridGuide (for both the legal driver and the rigger trying to dodge Lone Star) are covered, along with remote vehicle access, hacking a vehicle and even normal safety systems. The chapter finishes with a "who's who" of vehicle manufactures.

All of the attributes, skills (including some new ones), edges, flaws, dice pools and resources that are important to a rigger are covered in The Rigger. The gear and implants a rigger needs in order to truly rig a vehicle or a drone are also covered, as well as rules for maintenance overhead and lifestyle reductions.

Sensors and Electronic Warfare covers the means by which riggers can detect or hide from their friends and foes. Rules for adding and upgrading components, sensor dead zones, ships and long range sensors and even sonar rules are covered. Electronic warfare is expanded to give players a choice of attacks and defenses, from jamming a signal to overriding a signal and taking command of someone else's drones and vehicles.

A rigger's most unique tools are Drones. This chapters gives more options for using drones, including rules for programming them with their own set of commands using autosofts-dedicated software that allows drones a bit of freedom and intelligence. It's only a small step from a drone with an autosoft to a full-fledged robot, rules for which are also covered in this chapter.

Riggers can "drive" just about anything, and that includes specially created security systems. These Security Riggers are a new line of defense against shadowrunners and are able to control a building like others do a vehicle. Rules for decking a rigged security system are also covered.

The chapter on Ships and Subs introduces the really big naval ships, as well as the undersea vehicles that have become more and more important as aquaspheres have become more common. New attributes, such as Hull, Bulwark and Sonar are introduced and defined, with rules for ship combat and damage running the gamut from ramming and boarding to taking on water and sinking. Naval weapons are detailed as well, including anti-ship weapons, torpedoes and extended-range weapons.

Special Vehicle Rules are all of the rules that are unique to a specific vehicle or type of vehicle. This section contains advanced attribute rules such as Fuel, Economy, Landing/Takeoff Profile and even Setup/Breakdown Time. Vehicle stress-the amount of unseen damage a rigger puts on a vehicle-is also covered. Finally, rules are included for lifting and pulling objects, trailers, long distance hauling, mechanical arms and legs, hovercrafts, aircrafts and suborbitals.

Advanced Rules covers the optional rules for a campaign-level Shadowrun games, such as fuel rules (like variable fuel consumption and fuel grades), optional rules for long-term maintenance, quality factors-edges and flaws for vehicles-and vehicle subsystem damage. Other advanced rules cover remote control decks as well as electronic warfare. In addition, two alternate rules systems have been added for vehicle combat. The first is a simple system to integrate vehicles into standard combat and the second is a revised ramming and collision system. Both of these systems can be mixed with standard SR3 rules.

New Toys is more gear for the gearhead. Weapons include rockets, missiles, torpedoes and even harpoon guns. There are accessories to remote control decks, new cyberware packages, cyberdeck enhancements, and all the wild and wacky tools of the trade-from autosofts to oil-slick sprayers and morphable license plates.

There's nothing a rigger likes nothing more than to build his own vehicle. The Vehicle Design chapter gives the player all the tools to do just that, from the chassis to the power plant. This chapter also includes all the design details a player needs.

While designing a vehicle is cool, however, there are still plenty of modifications and customizations that a player can slap on an existing vehicle. Vehicle Customization covers this essential topic with nearly 100 different modifications-from ejector seats to state-of-the-art armor, to nitrous oxide injectors for that last burst of speed. Rules include using a shadow mechanic, finding parts and determining the time it takes to install them.

The Vehicle List is a complete listing of vehicles, updated to conform with the rules presented in Rigger 3. The list includes not only the stats for the vehicles, but expanded descriptions as well as the names of similar models not presented. Rules on locating lickely vehicles to "liberate" from their current owners are also included here.

Finally, the book concludes with the Chassis and Power Plant Tables for use with vehicle design, a remote control network/vehicle record sheet as well as some of the more useful tables for reference.