From:	Nightfox <DJWA@******.UCC.NAU.EDU>
Subject:	wyrm and solarial
Date:	Thu, 14 Oct 1993 17:05:43 -0700

So here I am stuck in the wilds of Austin, Texas. Cut off from my friends
of the past 4 years so I could go to Grad School >sob<. And cut off from
their Shadowrun sourcebooks >GIANT sob<. Finally, I go and blow the cash
necessary to make sure I am not pulling Shadowrun info out of thin air.
Low and behold, I see this new _Shadowrun Companion: Beyond the
Shadows_, toss that onto the pile, get a hearty "Thank You!" from the
cashier and head home.

How's the Companion? It's some okay stuff. Like most FASA books, some of
it is entertaining, some genuinely forgettable, and the rest a
smattering in between. I think it is useful along the lines of a "Dungeon
Master's Guide." It describes possible ideas GM's may want to introduce,
but it is by no means critical to future Shadowrun play. They did a
revision of the Skill web and cleared up a few loopholes, also gave some
alternative character generation ideas.

The big buzz that I had heard about Edges and Flaws turned out to be a bit
over-hyped for the small section it got. I'd rather role-play most of it
out anyway. You can give your character and edge of "Common Sense" that
means the GM will have to tell you if you are about to do something
stupid. I always thought that was what empty soda cans were for.
(>>BONK!<< "Okay maybe the rest of the team thinks it would be unwise to
streak the I-marines wearing nothing but a hand-grenade and a smile, so my
character won't do that.) Somehow demanding