Court of Shadows is a different book for Shadowrun in many ways; one of those is that development work was shared between Jason M. Hardy, Shadowrun line developer, and Monica Valentinelli, who developed the Firefly RPG line and also has worked on Vampire: the Masquerade 20^th Anniversary Edition and Unknown Armies Third Edition. Since we worked on the development of the book together, this article is also a combined effort.

Every book begins with an idea and, in this case, it started with a meeting filled with them. At Gen Con 2015, the two of us sat down to discuss the raw bones of what a Shadowrun book set in the realm of faery might look like. The possibility of adding a nuanced and bold new setting for Shadowrun was really exciting, and our conversation was immediately filled with “What if …?” questions. We were curious to explore what a street samurai or a rigger would do in the Seelie Court and associated realms. How would hackers navigate the realms? How would they get there? Which faeries would be active, and what motivates them to act? And, most importantly, why would a group want to play there in the first place?

Of course, these questions speak to the fundamentals of game design. What do the players do when they’re sitting together in a group? And what motivates the individual player to act? In order to answer those questions, we brainstormed several possibilities to build off of the core rulebook and add exciting options and styles of play. Before we could address all of the deeper aspects of the realm of faerie, however, we needed to identify the two key aspects of the Seelie Court itself: what types of faeries will the players encounter, and how are they organized.

To stay true to the Shadowrun setting, we decided to pull from folklore and myth that encompassed Celtic lore while also incorporating multicultural myths and legends. This led to the assembly of a giant list of faeries that included dozens of spirits from many environments and geographic areas. With this list in hand, we assembled a team of writers who could come at the setting from a variety of perspectives. While the Celtic focus remains integral to the Seelie Court setting, the list of fae creatures addressed in this book speaks to the many different types of characters found in Shadowrun.

This helped us confront a particular challenge with worldbuilding, something Monica calls the “monolith.” Sometimes, to describe an alternate world quickly and efficiently, an entire continent is covered with lush, rich jungles, or a city home to millions of people is filled with high-tech skyscrapers reaching for the sky. Our world, though — our reality, history, and our peoples — aren’t like that at all. We may default to stereotypes because that’s a shortcut, but just like New York isn’t all skyscrapers and South America isn’t one big jungle waiting to be explored, the world of Shadowrun is diverse in its many particulars.

In any faerie setting, there are certain tropes. Often, there might be an exotic banquet hall filled with food mortals can’t/shouldn’t eat or drink, and fae who are alien and terrifyingly beautiful. Historically, these fae tend to be ageless, timeless creatures beyond our understanding, who have lived so long their existence is a fading memory, and they do not follow the rules or laws of mortals.

Court of Shadows explores some of these tropes through the lens of the Shadowrun setting, while applying new twists. As we discussed the setting, though, we became concerned that the less details we provided, the more we ran the risk of creating a monolithic faery culture — which would only wind up boring players. So, after we focused on ensuring the Court of Shadows would highlight so many different types of fae, we decided to build off of that to avoid the monolith and create a unique, diverse setting for runners everywhere.

We decided to use the Sixth World Tarot thematically in order to fully flesh out the Seelie Court’s factions. Each major arcana of the tarot represents a group of fae that are pursuing their own goals, which helps add layers of meaning to the faeries players will encounter in the Court. We hope the rich culture of the Court and the levels of intrigue built into its structure provide a unique experience for Shadowrun players — or any gamers who want to dive into this setting.

Click Here to download excerpts from Catalyst Game Labs' Shadowrun: Court of Shadows.

Monica Valentinelli and Jason M. Hardy led the development of Court of Shadows.