Shadowrun Fifth EditionThe fifth edition of the Shadowrun roleplaying game has been released by Catalyst Game Labs in ebook format, with preorders for print editions being accepted at the company’s website.

For those not familiar with the game, it’s based on a futuristic Earth controlled by megacorporations and a pervasive computer network (the Matrix), yet filled with magic and mythical creatures. Characters can be samurai, shamans, deckers, or a variety of other archetypes.

The changes from 4th to 5th edition Shadowrun aren’t drastic. The cyberpunk aspects have been modernized a bit. Hacking the matrix has been simplified some, mostly to make it’s mechanics and timeline more consistent with other tasks. Gear quality now places a limit on dice pool hits. And magic has been tweaked some.

Also available now are free Quick-Start Rules and a 4th-edition-to-5th-edition Character Conversion Guide.