Shadowrun: Crossfire – Prime Runner Edition
Shadowrun: Crossfire – Prime Runner Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Your Wonderful New Toys! This Box Contains:
- Quick-Start Rules
- Full Game Rules
- Communication
- Ending the Game
- Mission Rules
- Mission Difficulty Levels
- Upgrading Runners
- Card Explanations
- FAQ
- Appendix A: Glossary of Game Terms
- Appendix B: Strategy Options
- Credits
- Gameplay Setup
- Reference
Your Wonderful New Toys! This Box Contains:
- Nuyen Tokens
- Adjustment Tokens
- Generic Tokens
- Plastic Clips
- 40-card Normal Obstacle Deck
- 40-card Hard Obstacle Deck
- 60-card Black Market Deck
- 51-card Crossfire Deck
- 36 Basic Cards
- 17 Runner Screens
- 4 Role Cards
- 152 Stickers (Upgrades)
- 1 Rulebook (you're reading it)
- 5 Mission Cards
- 1 Client Card
- 1 Dragon Rules Card
- 1 Dragon Art Card
- 1 Instant Guide to the Sixth World
Quick-Start Rules
This Quick-Start Rules guide is designed to allow a group of four players to play as quickly as possible. If you would prefer a complete understanding of the full rules before starting play, skip forward to the rulebook section. If there are more or less than four players, gameplay will change in a few places. See Playing with Fewer than Four Runners and Five- and Six-Player Games (p. 12) in the rulebook.
Setup
-
Find the Runner screens in the box. Each Runner screen has the following stats:
- Metatype: Your runner's race.
- Starting Hit Points: The number of hit points (HP) your runner has at the start of the game. A runner can't be healed beyond their starting HP value.
- Health Track: Numbers and icons representing your runner's current condition.
- Starting Cards: The number of cards you draw from your deck at the start of the game.
- Starting Nuyen: The amount of nuyen you have at the start of the game.
For the Quick-Start Rules, ignore any other elements of the Runner screen.
Each player chooses a Runner screen. Pick whatever metatype appeals to you. If you're not sure, choose a Human. Put your Runner screen in front of you. For these rules, players are referred to as runners.
-
Find the Role cards (Face, Street Samurai, Decker, Mage) and starting decks in the box. Remove the extra Basic cards (two each of Mana, Mark, Quick Shot, and Street Smarts) and put them back in the box. Those cards are extras in case you need additional basic cards.
Each runner chooses one of the roles and takes that starting deck. Choose whichever role appeals to you. If you aren't sure, choose randomly. Note that each Role card has a color; sometimes card abilities and effects will refer to the color of your role. The starting decks for each role are as follows (note that the icons for the starting decks are found on each Role card).
- Street Samurai (black): 1x Mana, 1x Mark, 4x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Mage (blue): 4x Mana, 1x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Decker (green): 1x Mana, 4x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Face (red): 1x Mana, 1x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 4x Street Smarts
Shuffle your starting deck and put it to the right of your Runner screen, and then put your Role card face up to the left of your Runner screen. As mentioned, each runner draws their starting hand of cards. Each Runner screen lists the number of starting cards under metatype.
-
Find the nuyen (money) tokens in the box. Each runner takes their starting nuyen, which is indicated on their Runner screen. Put the rest of the nuyen aside as a bank.
-
Find the plastic clips. Use these to track your current HP (as indicated at the top of your Runner screen and/or under your metatype).
-
Find the Black Market Deck. Each Black Market card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the weapon or ability.
- Damage: How much damage the card deals, if any.
- Cost: How much the card costs to buy from the Black Market.
- Type: Each card has a type. Some effects, card abilities, and mission rules refer to this type.
- Card Ability: The card's special abilities and requirements, if any.
- Assist: An ability on some cards. You can use Assists only during another player's turn to help them. Assists are shown in their own text box at the bottom of the card, if there is one. Some cards deal damage when played as an Assist. Their damage appears after "Damage:" in the Assist box.
Shuffle the Black Market Deck and deal 6 cards face up in the middle of the play area (two rows of 3 cards works well). Those 6 cards represent the Black Market. Runners can buy cards from the Black Market during their turns to enhance their decks. Whenever a card is removed from the Black Market, immediately replace it with the top card of the Black Market Deck.
-
Find the Normal Obstacle Deck and Hard Obstacle Deck (see example below). There is either a 1-bullet icon or a 2-bullet icon on the back of each Obstacle card. The 1-bullet cards are the Normal Obstacle Deck. The 2-bullet cards are the Hard Obstacle Deck. Each obstacle card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the obstacle.
- Damage Track: This set of numbers and/or symbols shows the path you need to take to defeat the obstacle. You must clear each level—in order—from left to right.
- Type: Each obstacle has a type. Some effects, card abilities, and Mission rules refer to this type.
- Color: Each obstacle has a color: black, blue, green, or red. Some effects, card abilities, and Mission rules refer to this color.
- Card Ability: Some obstacles have abilities that affect the game, usually causing problems for the runners. Obstacle abilities can be always in effect, or they can trigger when they are first flipped face up into play (FLIPPED:), when they are defeated (DEFEATED:), when the Crossfire level is at a certain threshold (2+:), or at other times as indicated by the ability.
- Attack Strength: The damage the obstacle deals to a runner facing it when the obstacle attacks.
- Nuyen: The amount of nuyen (money) the obstacle is worth to the team when you defeat it.
Shuffle the Normal Obstacle Deck and shuffle the Hard Obstacle Deck, but keep the decks separate. The runners will face the obstacles during the run.
-
Find the Crossfire Deck. Each Crossfire card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the Crossfire card.
- Effect: The card's primary effect, if any. These effects change gameplay during each round.
- Crossfire Level Effect: The card's secondary effect, if any. This effect often enhances or replaces the primary effect. It only triggers when the Crossfire level is at or above the indicated threshold.
- Continuous Effect Icon: Many effects will have a Continuous icon. These icons are a reminder that the card has an ongoing effect on the game. Continuous effects end when the card leaves play.
- Timebomb Effect Icon: Many effects will have a Timebomb icon. These icons are a reminder that the card has an effect that triggers when the card is placed in the Crossfire discard.
Shuffle the Crossfire Deck. The Crossfire Deck represents the changing circumstances you encounter during the run. A shadowrun never goes as planned, and the effects in the Crossfire Deck will keep the runners looking over their shoulders.
-
Choose a mission leader, who will go first. If you're not sure, choose the runner who has the most HP or choose randomly. Give the mission leader the Crossfire Deck. They will be responsible for managing the Crossfire Deck throughout the game.
The Mission
Your team will be attempting the Crossfire Mission, so find that Mission card in the box. Read the Mission Goal and Obstacles and Crossfire sections aloud to everyone. The Obstacles and Crossfire rules on the Mission card refer to the Crossfire level. The Crossfire level is equal to the number of cards in the Crossfire discard. At the start of the game, there are no cards in the Crossfire discard, so the Crossfire level is 0. Since the Crossfire level is 0, start Scene 1 in a 4-runner game by flipping up a total of 4 obstacles from the Normal Obstacle Deck. To do this, reveal the top card of the Normal Obstacle Deck. Place that obstacle face up facing the runner whose Role card has the same color as the obstacle's color. If there are any flipped abilities on the obstacle, resolve them. Then place the next card from the Normal Obstacle Deck facing the next runner clockwise, and resolve its flipped abilities, if any. Continue this process until you've flipped up 4 obstacles from the Normal Obstacle Deck. Each runner should end up with one obstacle.
If you're playing with fewer than four runners, you'll only flip up as many obstacles as there are runners to start Scene 1. Each runner will still end up with one obstacle. You should also read Playing with Fewer than Four Runners on p. 12.
If you're playing with five or six runners, you'll flip up one obstacle for each player, and then an additional obstacle, meaning one player will face two obstacles at the start of Scene 1. See the Five- and Six-Player Games section on p. 12.
Now you're ready to begin playing!
The Sequence of Play
Play occurs in rounds, with each round consisting of each runner taking one turn. The play sequence is as follows:
- Draw a Crossfire card.
- Each runner takes a turn, beginning with the mission leader. Play continues clockwise until everyone has taken a turn. The mission leader remains the same throughout the game.
- The round is over. Repeat steps 1–3 until the game ends.
Draw a Crossfire Card
At the start of each round, the mission leader puts the active Crossfire card into the discard. This won't happen on the first turn since there is no active Crossfire card. Then, the mission leader draws the top card of the Crossfire Deck and reads it aloud to the team. Follow the instructions for that card. Many Crossfire cards have effects that only happen if the Crossfire level is high enough. For example, if a card effect has the 2+ symbol before it, that effect only happens if the Crossfire level is 2 or higher. On the first turn the Crossfire level is 0, so those types of effects won't occur. While the Crossfire card is active, it remains face up and in play. Place it on top of the Crossfire Deck so that it will not be confused with the Crossfire discard.
Taking a Turn
Each runner will complete the following phases on their turn:
- Play Cards
- Apply Damage
- Take Damage
- Reload
- Black Market
- End Turn
The first thing you do on your turn is play cards, but you'll need to understand what to do with your cards before you can decide which cards to play. Read through the guide until you finish the Turn Example before playing the first turn.
1. Play Cards
You play cards from your hand during your turn, one at a time. If your cards have any abilities other than damage on them, resolve those abilities when you play the card. Your starting decks don't have any cards with non-damage abilities, though. When you play a card, you don't put it into your discard yet. Instead, put it next to the obstacle that you want to damage with the card (you can damage obstacles facing any runner). You don't place cards into your discard until after you apply damage. You are allowed to play cards even if there is no obstacle to use their damage against.
2. Apply Damage
Once you've finished playing cards, you apply the damage from the cards you've played. Applying damage to obstacles is how you defeat them. Choose an obstacle that you've placed cards next to and apply the damage from those cards as explained below. Once you've applied the damage to an obstacle, put all the cards next to the obstacle into your discard. The damage a card deals is indicated by the symbol(s) in the upper-left corner of the card, which is called the damage track.
Damage is represented by symbols indicating a specific amount and color. There are two types of damage symbols:
Colored: Each colored symbol represents 1 point of damage of that color. Each color corresponds to the four role colors (black, blue, green, and red).
Colorless: The number inside the colorless damage symbol indicates how many points of colorless damage it is. Colorless damage won't affect colored damage symbols on a damage track. The cards in your starting deck don't deal any colorless damage.
Obstacles have damage tracks consisting of colorless or colored damage symbols that require that type of damage to be dealt to them in order to defeat them. Each box of the track is a level. A colored symbol means that the indicated color of damage must be applied to that level to clear it.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires a red damage symbol to clear it, that means you need a red damage to clear that level. Damage of other colors or colorless damage is useless against that level.
A gray symbol with a number means that you must apply a total amount of damage of any color (or colorless) to that level to clear it.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires 4 damage to clear, that means you need to deal a total of 4 damage to clear that level. The 4 damage can be any mixture of colored or colorless damage.
You must clear each level, in order from left to right of the track, to defeat the obstacle. It may take several turns of runners playing cards to defeat an obstacle (don't forget you can apply damage to obstacles facing other runners). When a level on a damage track is cleared, that damage remains; use a clip to indicate which levels have been cleared. Partial damage dealt to a level is removed at the end of each runner's turn.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires 4 damage to clear, and you can apply only 3 damage to it, the damage on that level will reset at the end of your turn. The next runner will still need to deal 4 damage to it to clear it during their turn.
Defeating an Obstacle
When you clear the last (far-right) level of an obstacle's damage track, you defeat it. If the obstacle has a defeated ability, apply that effect.
Lone Star Trooper's damage track is 5, green, black. The previous runner dealt enough damage to clear the 5, so on your turn, if you clear the last two levels by dealing a green damage and a black damage, you defeat the obstacle.
Rob deals four black damage and red damage for a total of 5 damage and moves the damage marker over that symbol/box, showing he cleared it.
Jim goes next and deals a green damage and a black damage to the Lone Star Trooper. Since he cleared the last level on the damage track, he defeats the obstacle.
Collecting & Distributing Nuyen
You and your teammates gain nuyen for each obstacle you defeat. The nuyen value of the obstacle is shown in the upper right corner of each obstacle card (for example, 5). The current runner (on whose turn the obstacle was defeated) takes 1 nuyen from the total the obstacle is worth. Then in clockwise order, the runner to the left takes 1 nuyen from that total, and so on until runners have taken nuyen equal to the obstacle's nuyen value. For example, if you defeated a Security Chief, which has a value of 5 nuyen, and there are 4 runners, each other runner would get 1 nuyen, and you would get 2.
There is no limit to how much nuyen you can have.
3. Take Damage
When you are done applying damage, if there are any obstacles still facing you, each one attacks you. When it attacks, it deals damage to you equal to its Attack Strength (in the lower right corner). No matter how many obstacles deal damage to you, that damage is combined and applied as a single amount. Some obstacles also have abilities that trigger when they attack. If those abilities damage you, that damage is also combined with the damage from obstacles attacking you. Subtract the damage you take from your HP and adjust your health marker accordingly.
When your health goes below 1, you are Staggered (see p. 8).
4. Reload
If you have 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw 2 cards. Whenever you need to draw cards and there aren't enough cards in your deck, draw the cards that remain in your deck, then shuffle your discard into a new deck and continue drawing until you have drawn enough cards.
5. Black Market
Now you can buy cards from the Black Market. You can buy any number of cards, as long as you have enough nuyen for them. Each Black Market card shows its purchase cost in a triangular symbol in the upper right corner to the right of the card name.
Put each card you buy into your hand (place the appropriate nuyen tokens into the bank) and immediately flip a new card from the Black Market Deck face up to replace it.
There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in hand.
6. End Turn
Your turn is now over. If the runner to your left is the mission leader, the round is over and the team starts another round. Otherwise, the runner to your left takes their turn.
If there are no obstacles left when you end your turn, your team has completed a Scene! Look on the Mission card for what to do when a Scene ends.
Turn Example
It's Cal's first turn, and he is playing a Dwarf, so he only has 2 cards in his hand. One is Mana, which does blue damage, and the other is Quick Shot, which does black damage. The obstacle in front of Cal is Deckhead, which has a damage track of 2, green, 1, black. It takes a total of 5 damage to defeat Deckhead, so Cal won't be able to do it this turn. Since the first level on Deckhead's damage track requires 2 damage to clear it, Cal could use both of his cards, since any 2 damage will work. He notices, however, that Rob has an Out of Ammo obstacle facing him with a damage track of black, 3. Out of Ammo is really annoying because it says, "You can't play more than 2 cards on your turn." Rob is an Elf and has 4 cards in his hand, so that obstacle ability would really hurt him. Cal decides to help Rob out by going after Out of Ammo. He plays his Quick Shot, putting it next to Out of Ammo. Quick Shot has no ability, and Cal doesn't want to play additional cards, so he moves to phase 2 of the turn, Apply Damage. Quick Shot deals a black damage, and the first level of Out of Ammo requires black, so Cal covers up that level with a clip. The second level of Out of Ammo requires 3, so if Cal had also played his Mana on Out of Ammo, it wouldn't have done anything. It wouldn't be enough damage to clear the second level, so the damage would be lost. Now that Cal is done applying damage, Deckhead attacks him (Take Damage phase). Deckhead has an Attack Strength of 1, so Cal reduces his HP from 5 to 4. Cal only has 1 card in his hand, so he gets to draw 2 cards (Reload phase). He draws 2 Quick Shots (Cal is playing the Street Samurai). Now it's time to buy cards (Black Market phase)! Cal has 5 nuyen since he is a Dwarf. He sees that the Black Market has a Covering Fire card in it, which costs 5, and he decides to buy it. He immediately puts Covering Fire into his hand and flips up the top card of the Black Market deck to replace it. Cal is out of nuyen, so he can't buy any more cards. His turn is over. Jay is sitting to Cal's left, so it is now Jay's turn. Hopefully Jay can take care of the last level on Out of Ammo so that Rob can play more than 2 cards on his turn.
Other Important Concepts
You've already learned enough rules to get the team through their first turn of play. Here are some more important concepts that will almost certainly come up in your first game. If other things come up you aren't sure about, refer to the full rules for an explanation.
Advanced Examples of Applying Damage
Once you start buying cards from the Black Market, applying damage can become more complicated. There are some advanced examples of applying damage in the rulebook immediately after the section on Defeating an Obstacle (p. 15). After you play a few turns, you may want to review those examples for guidance.
Assists
You usually play card abilities during your turn. Some cards have Assists, which you can play only during another runner's turn. These cards will have a separate ability box at the bottom of the card that is labeled "ASSIST" on the left. The text for the Assist is on the right. The runner playing the card makes any decisions regarding the card's abilities. If the card deals damage when its Assist is used, the amount of damage is indicated after "Damage:" in the ability box. The current runner decides how to apply any damage the card does. A card played as an Assist still goes to the discard of the runner who played it.
Staggered and Critical Condition
If you take damage that would reduce you to less than 1 HP, you become Staggered (no matter how much additional damage you take at the same time). If you are healed 1 HP or more while Staggered, draw 2 cards from your deck (even if it's not your turn). You recover and are no longer Staggered. While you are Staggered, your options on your turn will be limited. See the Staggered section (p. 18) of the rulebook for more information. If you take any damage while you are Staggered, you go Critical. When a runner goes Critical, the mission may fail. See the Critical (p. 18) and Ending the Game (p. 19) sections of the rules for more information.
Card Explanations
For each card in the Black Market, there is an entry in the Card Explanations section (p. 22) of the rules that answers common questions about that card. As new cards appear in the Black Market, you may want to refer to that section of the rulebook.
Full Game Rules
Game Objective
Work with your team of fellow runners to successfully complete a shadowrun. Overcome the threats and obstacles that come your way with a combination of skill, hacking, spells, and weapons, and you'll have a successful run. Fail to do so, and you'll be scraping each other off the walls.
Campaign Overview
For each Shadowrun: Crossfire game, you will choose a Mission to play. There are five Missions to choose from in this box, and more will be available in the future. Some Missions are more difficult than others. In fact, some Missions are recommended only for runners with a significant number of Upgrades. Each time you play a Mission, you have the opportunity to earn Karma. You can use Karma to buy Upgrade stickers that make the runner you're playing more powerful. The Upgrades you select will also help define what strategies that runner should use during play. You'll read more about Missions, Karma, and Upgrades later on in the rulebook.
Card Types
Runner Screens
Each Runner screen has the following stats:
- Metatype: Your runner's race.
- Starting HP: The number of hit points (HP) your runner has at the start of the game. A runner can't be healed beyond their starting HP value.
- Health Track: Numbers and icons representing your runner's current condition.
- Starting Cards: The number of cards you draw from your deck at the start of the game.
- Starting Nuyen: The amount of nuyen you have at the start of the game.
- Upgrade Slots: Place Upgrade stickers in these slots.
- Karma: The Karma you have earned limits the value of the Upgrade stickers you may have. Use this area to track how much Karma the runner has gained.
Black Market Cards (Weapon & Abilities)
Each Black Market card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the weapon or ability.
- Damage: How much damage the card deals, if any.
- Cost: How much the card costs to buy from the Black Market.
- Type: Each card has a type. Some effects, card abilities, and Mission rules refer to this type.
- Card Ability: The card's special abilities and requirements, if any.
- Assists: An ability on some cards. You can use Assists only during another player's turn to help them. Assists are shown in their own text box at the bottom of the card, if there is one. Some cards deal damage when played as an Assist. Their damage appears after "Damage:" in the Assist box.
- Card #: Used to keep track of cards in a set.
Obstacle Cards
Each Obstacle card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the obstacle.
- Damage Track: This set of icons shows the path you need to take to defeat the obstacle. You must clear each level—in order—from left to right.
- Type: Each obstacle has a type. Some effects, card abilities, and Mission rules refer to this type.
- Color: Each obstacle has a color: black, blue, green or red. Some effects, card abilities, and Mission rules refer to this color.
- Card Ability: Some obstacles have abilities that affect the game, usually causing problems for the runners. Obstacle abilities can be always in effect, or they can trigger when they are first flipped face up into play (FLIPPED:), when they are defeated (DEFEATED:), when the Crossfire level is at a certain threshold (2+:), or at other times as indicated by the ability.
- Attack Strength: The damage the obstacle deals to a runner facing it when the obstacle attacks.
- Nuyen: The amount of nuyen (money) the obstacle is worth to the team when you defeat it.
- Crossfire Threshold Symbol: The 2+ on the card below means that this effect doesn't always happen. The number in the symbol indicates that the effect doesn't happen unless the Crossfire level is that number or higher. See Crossfire level (p. 13) for more information.
- Card #: Used to keep track of cards in a set.
- Difficulty: How difficult the obstacle is (shown on card backs): Normal (1-bullet icon) or Hard (2-bullet icon).
Obstacle Abilities
Most Obstacle cards have abilities. If an obstacle ability doesn't say when the ability triggers, it's a static effect that applies as long as the obstacle is facing a runner. As soon as an Obstacle card goes to the discard, its abilities no longer apply. Some abilities can be canceled for a turn by a runner action (such as discarding a card).
- When an obstacle ability refers to "you," it means the runner facing the obstacle. When it refers to "each runner" or "runners," it means the entire team.
- When an obstacle ability says "choose," the current runner must make the choice. The rest of the team is free to offer advice.
- When an obstacle ability says "cycle" a card, you discard that card and replace it with a new one from the same deck.
- When a card ability says you can do something that the general rules say you can't, the card ability wins.
Some obstacles have flipped or defeated abilities. Flipped abilities trigger when the obstacle is put into play (even if it comes into play as the result of a card effect rather than the normal Mission rules). Defeated abilities trigger when a runner defeats the obstacle. Less often, obstacles also have Crossfire abilities that trigger when the Crossfire level is at a certain threshold, or abilities that trigger at other times. To sum up:
- Flipped abilities trigger in the order that they come into play.
- Defeated abilities trigger as soon as the obstacle is defeated, so player choice on which obstacle to defeat first matters.
- Crossfire abilities only trigger if the Crossfire level is high enough. The number inside the Crossfire symbol (2+, for example) indicates that the effect doesn't happen unless the Crossfire level is that number or higher. See Crossfire Level (p. 13) for more information.
Timing of abilities/effects: If multiple abilities/effects happen at the same time (such as at the "start of a turn"), the current runner chooses the order in which those abilities/effects trigger.
Bosses
Some Missions will tell you that a boss is part of the mission (the Dragon Fight Mission, for example). When you play cards, you can apply damage to bosses the same way as obstacles, unless the card specifically states that it only affects obstacles. For example, Lightning Bolt's ability says, "Deal 2 consecutive levels of damage to an obstacle." This ability can't be used against a boss.
Crossfire Cards
Each Crossfire card has the following stats:
- Name: The name of the Crossfire card.
- Effect: The card's primary effect, if any. These effects change gameplay during each round.
- Crossfire Level Effect: The card's secondary effect, if any. This effect often enhances the primary effect. It only triggers when the Crossfire level is at or above the indicated threshold.
- Continuous Effect Icon: Many effects will have a Continuous icon. These icons are a reminder that the card has an on-going effect on the game. Continuous effects end when the event leaves play.
- Timebomb Effect Icon: Many effects will have a Timebomb icon. These icons are a reminder that the card has an effect that triggers when the card is placed in the Crossfire discard.
- Card #: Used to keep track of cards in a set.
Setup
Players may wish to refer to the sample game setup diagram (p. 28) while reading these rules.
-
Choose a Mission to play. Each Mission provides a different objective for the team, and some will have a different setup process from the standard setup. If the Mission has additional steps (like flipping up obstacles) after initial setup, perform them before the mission leader takes a turn. You'll find those instructions on the Mission card for that run. (See Mission Rules, p. 20.)
-
Each player chooses a Runner screen. There are five metatypes to choose from: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Ork, and Troll. Players can choose to play different metatypes or play pairs of the same metatype, or any combination. Players can use Runner screens from their own Shadowrun: Crossfire starter box, if they wish. For purposes of the game rules, the players are considered runners.
- Each Runner screen indicates how many HP that runner has. Use a clip (or other means) to track your HP. You can never have more HP than your starting total.
- Each Runner screen shows the amount of starting nuyen that runner gets. Take nuyen tokens equal to that amount. Set the remaining nuyen tokens aside as a bank.
- Each Runner screen shows how many cards the runner starts with (see step 4).
-
Determine which runner will play each role. You can deal the Role cards out randomly or have runners choose. Runners keep their Role cards in front of them for easy identification during play. The reverse side includes a Sequence of Play summary for ease of reference.
-
Runners take their starting decks. A runner's role determines their starting deck of Basic cards (though runner Upgrades can modify their deck). Each runner shuffles their deck and draws cards from it equal to the starting cards amount indicated on their Runner screen.
The starting decks for each role are as follows:
- Street Samurai (black): 1x Mana, 1x Mark, 4x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Mage (blue): 4x Mana, 1x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Decker (green): 1x Mana, 4x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 1x Street Smarts
- Face (red): 1x Mana, 1x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, 4x Street Smarts
Rob has the Decker role and a Human runner. His starting deck contains 1x Mana, 4x Mark, 1x Quick Shot, and 1x Street Smarts. He shuffles those cards, forming his deck, and draws 4 cards (for being Human) for his starting hand.
-
Separately shuffle the Normal Obstacle Deck and the Hard Obstacle Deck. The Normal Obstacle Deck has the 1-bullet icon on the card back, while the Hard Obstacle Deck has the 2-bullet icon. Place each deck in the play area.
-
Shuffle the Black Market Deck, place it in the center of the play area, and flip six cards from the deck face up to form the Black Market (two rows of three cards works best).
-
Choose a mission leader. If the team can't agree, choose that runner randomly. The mission leader remains the same throughout the game.
-
Shuffle the Crossfire cards to form the Crossfire Deck and place it in the play area, in front of the mission leader. That runner is responsible for the Crossfire Deck this game.
-
Place the generic tokens in a common pool for use during the game.
Playing with Fewer than Four Runners
If there are fewer than four runners, some of the runners will take on more than one role. If you take multiple roles, chose a starting deck from one of your Role cards.
The following rules cover games with fewer than four players.
Solo Play (Extraction Mission Only)
In a one-player game, you take on all four roles. Exchange one of your starting deck cards for an Icon Grab Black Market card and increase your starting nuyen by 1.
Two-Player Games
In two-player games, both players must take two Role cards. Both players exchange one of their starting deck cards for an Icon Grab Black Market card and increase their starting nuyen by 1. Additionally, the Crossfire level starts at -2, meaning that you play two rounds before the first Crossfire card is revealed.
Three-Player Games
In three-player games, one player must take two Role cards. That player exchanges one of their starting deck cards for an Icon Grab Black Market card and increases their starting nuyen by 1. Additionally, the Crossfire level starts at -1, meaning that you play one round before the first Crossfire card is revealed.
Five- and Six-Player Games (Optional)
Some Missions can be played with five or six players. Refer to the "Players" on a Mission card for the maximum number of runners that can participate in that Mission.
To play five- and six-player games, the fifth and sixth players must use additional multicolor Role cards from a Shadowrun: Crossfire expansion, such as the Drone Rigger and Social Adept roles from High Caliber Ops. These special multicolor Role cards can be used as one of two different role colors, which must be chosen at the start of the game and remain that color throughout.
If a card refers to a role color that two runners match—e.g., the Decker and Drone Rigger (Decker role) are both green—then randomly determine which of the two runners is affected.
When playing with a multicolor Role card, before play begins, search the appropriate expansion for all of the multicolor Black Market cards that match the chosen multicolor Role card, and shuffle all of those cards into the Black Market Deck. For example, if you choose to play as the Social Adept (a blue or red role), then you must find all of the blue-and-red Black Market cards from High Caliber Ops and shuffle those into the Black Market Deck for this game.
Unless a Mission specifically states otherwise, the following additional rules apply to five- and six-player games:
- Five Players: At the start of each Scene, after revealing all obstacles, reveal one additional obstacle from the Normal Obstacle Deck. Place it facing the next runner to the left. This new obstacle has no nuyen value. (Players can cover the obstacle's nuyen icon with a generic token to indicate there will be no payout when it is defeated.)
- Six Players: Use all of the five-player rules above, but reveal the additional obstacle from the Hard Obstacle Deck instead.
How to Play
Play occurs in rounds, with each round consisting of each runner taking one turn. The play sequence is as follows:
- Draw a Crossfire card.
- Each runner takes a turn, beginning with the mission leader. Play continues clockwise until everyone has taken a turn. The mission leader remains the same throughout the game.
- The round is over. Repeat steps 1–3 until the game ends.
Draw a Crossfire Card
At the start of each round, the mission leader puts the active Crossfire card (if any) into the discard. The mission leader draws the top card of the Crossfire Deck and reads it aloud to the team. Follow the instructions for that card. Many cards have effects that only happen if the Crossfire level is high enough (see below). For example, if an effect has the "2+:" symbol before it, that effect only happens if the Crossfire level is 2 or higher. While the Crossfire card is active, it remains face up and in play. Place it face up on the top of the Crossfire Deck so that it is easy for each runner to refer to it and so it is not confused with the Crossfire discard. Some Missions may change when you draw new Crossfire cards. As soon as an active Crossfire card goes to the discard, that card's effects no longer apply.
The 51-card Crossfire Deck provides the setting for the current round of the run. The situation changes as a run progresses, and this deck provides the challenges that keep runners looking over their shoulders. Most Crossfire cards have a primary effect that changes play for an entire round. Many also have a Crossfire level effect that triggers when the Crossfire level is at a particular threshold. Some Missions might change the number of Crossfire cards in the deck.
Crossfire Level
The Crossfire level is equal to the number of cards in the Crossfire discard. The active Crossfire card doesn't count toward the Crossfire level. Many effects in the game, including on Crossfire cards, depend on whether the Crossfire level is at or above a particular threshold. For example, if there are 5 cards in the Crossfire discard, and the Chummers Crossfire card is active, then you would have to put a normal Human obstacle into play. Shadowrunning is no leisurely stroll. You've got to get in, get the job done, and get out fast. If you let the Crossfire level creep up on you, you'll find yourselves in deep drek.
In card and Upgrade text, the Crossfire level is sometimes referred to as the Crossfire #.
Certain conditions, such as playing with less than four players or tackling specific Missions, may start the game with a Crossfire level that is less than 0. If the Crossfire level is a negative number, that number indicates how many rounds you play before the mission leader draws the first Crossfire card. For example, if you begin a game at Crossfire level -2, then you will not draw a Crossfire card for the first two rounds of the game.
Removing a Crossfire Card vs. Discarding It
At the end of any turn, if there are no obstacles or bosses facing any runner, the mission leader removes all the active Crossfire card, if any, from play and puts it on the bottom of the Crossfire Deck (don't put them in the Crossfire discard). Crossfire cards with the Timebomb icon on them have an effect when they are put in the discard. Putting these cards on the bottom of the Crossfire Deck by defeating all the obstacles and bosses in play is how the runners can avoid those effects. Note this is different than discarding at the start of the turn (as described above).
Reminder Icons
Some Crossfire cards have the following symbols in front of their effects, to help remind you that the effect extends beyond when you first reveal them.
Continuous: This symbol indicates that the effect lasts as long as the card is active.
Timebomb: This symbol indicates that the card has an effect that triggers when the card is placed in the Crossfire discard. If the card is placed on the bottom of the Crossfire Deck (because the team defeated all obstacles and bosses or due to Mission rules), this effect doesn't trigger.
This effect lasts while Unfriendly Fire is the active card.
This effect happens when Unfriendly Fire is revealed, so there is no reminder symbol next to it.
Crossfire Symbol
Some effects and card abilities only trigger when the Crossfire level reaches a particular threshold. The number in the center of the Crossfire symbol shows the Crossfire level threshold necessary for the ability or effect to trigger. For example, "4+:" means that the ability or effect listed after the icon triggers if the Crossfire level is 4 or higher.
Taking a Turn
Each runner will complete the following phases on their turn:
- Play Cards
- Apply Damage
- Take Damage
- Reload
- Black Market
- End Turn
1. Play Cards
You play cards from your hand during your turn, one at a time (you may choose to play no cards if you want). If your cards have any abilities other than damage on them, resolve those abilities when you play the card. When you play a card, don't put it into your discard yet. Instead, put it next to the obstacle that you want to damage with the card (you can damage obstacles facing any runner). You don't place cards into your discard until after you apply damage. You are allowed to play cards even if there is no obstacle to use their damage against. If you change your mind after playing more cards, you can move previously placed cards to different obstacles. Some card abilities can damage more than one obstacle. When you play a card with that type of effect, put the card next to one of the obstacles, and place generic markers next to the other obstacles to mark the multiple instances of that damage.
Assists
You usually play card abilities during your turn. Some cards have Assists, which you can play only during another runner's turn. These cards will have a separate ability box at the bottom of the card that is labeled "ASSIST" on the left. The text for the Assist is on the right. The runner playing the card makes any decisions regarding the card's abilities. If the card deals damage when its Assist is used, the amount of damage is indicated after "Damage:" in the ability box. The current runner decides how to apply any damage the card does. A card played as an Assist still goes to the discard of the runner who played it.
2. Apply Damage
Once you finish playing cards, you apply damage from the cards you've played. Choose an obstacle that you've placed cards (or markers) next to and apply the damage from those cards and/or markers to the obstacles as explained below. Once you've applied the damage to an obstacle, put all the cards next to the obstacle into the discard of the runner to which they belong (since some of those cards might be Assists from other runners). Put generic markers back in the pool. Continue this process until you've resolved all of your damage.
Applying damage to obstacles is how you defeat them. The damage a card deals is indicated by the symbol(s) in the upper-left corner of the card. Some cards do special types of damage. In the damage box you will see an asterisk () to indicate this. In the ability box for that card, you will see " Damage:" followed by instructions. Those instructions happen during the Apply Damage phase, not when you first play the card. Also, cards with Assists may do damage as well. Any text or damage symbols that appear in the Assist box after "Damage:" happens during the Apply Damage phase, and not when you first play the Assist.
Damage is represented by symbols indicating a specific amount and color (see below). Damage can also be variable based on other conditions, or it can be expressed as dealing damage to clear one or more levels on a damage track, regardless of the amount and color. There are two types of damage symbols:
Colored: Each colored symbol represents 1 point of damage of that color. Each color corresponds to the four role colors (black, blue, green, and red).
Colorless: The number inside the colorless damage symbol indicates how many points of colorless damage it is. Colorless damage won't affect colored damage symbols on a damage track.
A card can have multiple damage icons in the upper left (or after "Damage:"). The card does all of that damage. For example, a damage of green, green, 2 means that it deals 2 green (Hacking) damage plus 2 colorless damage.
- Pair Programming: This Hacking card deals two green (Hacking) damage.
- Deathtouch: This Spell card deals two blue (Spell) damage, plus X colorless damage, where X equals the number of Spell cards revealed when you play Deathtouch.
- Lightning Bolt: The asterisk () in the damage box means that this Spell card deals special damage. The text after " Damage:" tells you that Lightning Bolt deals 2 levels of damage, no matter what color or amount the damage track shows.
Damaging Obstacles
Obstacles and bosses have damage tracks consisting of colorless or colored damage symbols that require that type of damage to be dealt to them in order to defeat them. Each box of the track is a level. A colored symbol means that the indicated color of damage must be applied to that level to clear it.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires a red damage symbol to clear it, you'll need a red damage to clear that level. Damage of other colors or colorless damage is useless against that level.
A gray symbol with a number means that you must apply a total amount of damage of any color (or colorless) to that level to clear it.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires 4 damage to clear, that means you need to deal a total of 4 damage to clear that level. The 4 damage can be any mixture of colored or colorless damage.
You must clear each level, in order from the left to right of the track, to defeat the obstacle. It may take several turns of runners playing cards to defeat an obstacle (don't forget you can apply damage to obstacles facing other runners). When a level on a damage track is cleared, that damage remains; use a clip to indicate which levels have been cleared. Partial damage dealt to a level is removed at the end of each runner's turn.
If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires 4 damage to clear, and you can apply only 3 damage to it, the damage on that level will reset at the end of your turn. The next runner will still need to deal 4 damage to it to clear it during their turn.
Defeating an Obstacle
When you clear the last (far right) level of an obstacle's damage track, you defeat it. If the obstacle has a defeated ability, apply that effect.
Lone Star Trooper's damage track is 5, green, black. The last runner dealt enough damage to clear the 5, so on your turn, if you clear the last two levels by dealing a green damage and a black damage, you defeat the obstacle.
To show how this works, let's say Rob deals four black damage and a red damage for a total of 5 damage and moves the damage marker over that symbol, showing he cleared it.
Jim goes next and deals a green damage and a black damage to the Lone Star Trooper. Since he cleared the last level on the damage track, he defeats the obstacle.
Here are some more examples of how to apply damage and defeat obstacles.
Example 1. Rob's turn has come up and he wants to defeat a blue obstacle facing another player that is hurting the team—Lightning Mage, which says that runners can't be healed while it's in play. Ouch! Lightning Mage's damage track is: 3, blue, blue, 1.
Rob has three cards in his hand: Coordinated Attack, Icon Grab, and Street Smarts, so he'll need some help.
First Rob plays Coordinated Attack and chooses Jim, who gets to draw a card and then play a card. Jim offers to play Guiding Spirit, but decides not to use its ability since he likes his current hand. Guiding Spirit also deals blue, 1 damage, which Rob gets to use. Rob then places Coordinated Attack next to Lightning Mage and Jim places Guiding Spirit there as well. But Rob needs a blue damage from somewhere else. So another player, Gregory, plays Clairvoyance as an Assist, which lets Rob draw a card and then discard one, and it also deals a blue damage, so Rob has Gregory place it next to Lightning Mage. Rob draws another Street Smarts, which doesn't help, and discards it. But he has enough damage to defeat the Lightning Mage now anyway. He plays his original Street Smarts, placing it next to the Lightning Mage, and is finished playing cards, so now he applies damage.
The first level of Lightning Mage's damage track requires 3 damage of any type, so Rob clears it by using Coordinated Attack's red, 1 and taking the 1 damage from Guiding Spirit for a total of 3 damage (the colors don't matter). He uses the remaining blue from the Guiding Spirit to clear the second level as well. The damage for the third level (another blue) comes from the blue damage Assist from Clairvoyance, leaving only the final level on Lightning Mage, which can be cleared with 1 damage of any color. Rob's Street Smarts does a red damage, so that takes care of the final level. Lightning Mage is defeated, and Rob didn't even need to use his Icon Grab!
Example 2. On Jay's turn, he decides it's time to get rid of a difficult obstacle—a Gargoyle—facing the next player, Jim. He might also have enough firepower in his hand to take down an Astral Shiver facing him, with some luck. The Gargoyle is tough with a damage track of: 6, 6, black, black. The other obstacle, an Astral Shiver, is less difficult: 3, blue, blue. Luckily Jay is playing a Mage. Jay has a Lightning Bolt, a Stunbolt, a Monofilament Whip, a Quick Shot, and a Mana in his hand.
With the Gargoyle in his sights, Jay plays the Lightning Bolt. Instead of dealing damage of a specific type, it deals two consecutive levels of damage to the Gargoyle's damage track. He then plays a Quick Shot for a black damage, followed by the Monofilament Whip for the second black damage. But first, the Whip's ability allows him to move an obstacle in front of Jim to face him, which he does. Because he played another Weapon card (Quick Shot), Jay knows he won't take any damage from that obstacle this turn. Jay places all three cards next to Gargoyle; he'll take care of applying damage after he plays his other cards.
Now for the Astral Shiver. Jay wants to clear all three levels of its damage track, so he'll need a total of 5 damage (3 + 1 + 1), where 2 of that damage needs to be blue, to defeat it. First he plays his Stunbolt, which is the only risk to his plan. Part of Stunbolt's damage ability lets him reveal the top card of his deck and get additional damage equal to its cost. He reveals a Guiding Spirit with a cost of 3, so things look good. His last play is the Mana, and he places both cards next to the Astral Shiver.
Jay is done playing cards, so he applies damage. For the Gargoyle, he uses the Lightning Bolt to deal two consecutive levels of damage, clearing the 6 damage and 6 damage. When you clear a level, it doesn't matter how much damage you would normally have to do, so Jay moves on to the black damage. He gets one black from his Quick Shot for the third level, and one black from his Monofilament Whip for the last level, and defeats the Gargoyle. But this step of his turn isn't quite over, because the Gargoyle has a defeated ability (Choose a runner. That runner takes 1 damage.). So Jay has to decide which member of his team can best take that damage.
Next up is the Astral Shiver. The first level requires 3 damage, which Jay deals using Stunbolt's ability (and the Guiding Spirit reveal) to clear the level. Stunbolt also deals one blue for its normal damage, which takes care of the second level. Jay applies the last blue damage from his Mana, defeating the Shiver. Jay has defeated the two obstacles, so he distributes nuyen for them starting with himself, and discards the cards he played. He also doesn't take any damage from the obstacle he moved from Jim to himself because of the damage protection he got from the Monofilament Whip.
Collecting and Distributing Nuyen
You and your teammates gain nuyen for each obstacle you defeat. The nuyen value of the obstacle is shown in the upper right corner of each Obstacle card (for example, 5). The current runner (on whose turn the obstacle was defeated) takes 1 nuyen from the total the obstacle is worth. Then in clockwise order, the runner to the left takes 1 nuyen from that total, and so on until runners have taken nuyen equal to the obstacle's nuyen value. For example, if you defeated a Wage Mage, which has a value of 5 nuyen, and there are 4 runners, each other runner would get 1 nuyen, and you would get 2.
There is no limit to how many nuyen you can have, but you should usually spend them on your turn to improve your deck if you can.
Defeating an Obstacle When It Isn't Anyone's Turn
Sometimes an obstacle gets defeated when it isn't a runner's turn. Usually this happens during the Draw a Crossfire Card step of the round. If this happens, treat the runner whose turn is next as the runner who resolves any defeated abilities on the obstacle and who receives nuyen first when distributing it for that obstacle.
3. Take Damage
When you are done playing cards, if there are any obstacles still facing you, each one attacks you. When it attacks, it deals damage to you equal to its Attack Strength. No matter how many obstacles deal damage to you, that damage is combined and applied as a single amount. Some obstacles also have abilities that trigger when they attack. If those abilities damage you, that damage is also combined with the damage from obstacles attacking you. This means you might become Staggered from damage you take on your turn from attacking obstacles, but you won't go Critical from that damage as well. (See Staggered and Critical below.)
When you take damage, reduce your hit points (HP) by the amount of damage you take. When you are healed, increase your HP by the amount of healing. If an effect would heal you to more HP than your starting HP, it only heals you to your starting HP. You can't go above your starting HP. Use a clip to track your HP total. If you take damage that would reduce you to less than 1 HP, you become Staggered (no matter how much additional damage you take at the same time).
Staggered
- Damage taken from multiple sources during the same phase of your turn can't make you become Staggered and go Critical at the same time. Damage taken on later phases of the turn, however, can still make you go Critical if you're Staggered.
- When you become Staggered, immediately shuffle your deck, hand, and discard together into a new deck (meaning you currently hold no cards in your hand).
- Your character also becomes Exhausted and immediately takes an Exhausted token.
- You cannot use abilities from Upgrades while you are Staggered.
- If you are the mission leader, you do continue to manage the Crossfire Deck while you are Staggered.
- While Staggered, if you get to draw cards before the start of your turn, you can keep those cards and play them on your turn.
- A player with an Exhausted token draws only one card during their Reload phase (including the turn they become Staggered).
- If you are Staggered, you can still play cards and apply damage during your turn, and you can still play cards with Assists on other runners' turns.
- You still get attacked by obstacles and bosses during the Take Damage phase of your turn. If you take any damage from them while Staggered, you go Critical (see below). At this point, the run may be aborted (see Ending the Game, p. 19).
- A Staggered character does not have a Black Market phase on their turn (including the turn they become Staggered), but they still receive nuyen.
- If you are healed 1 HP or more while Staggered, draw 2 cards from your deck (even if it's not your turn). You recover and are no longer Staggered.
Exhausted Token
- Unless specifically stated otherwise, an Exhausted token can be removed only between Scenes, and only if a Mission allows the runners to take a Breather (see p. 20) between Scenes. It is automatically removed at the end of the game.
- Unless specifically stated otherwise, a player can never have more than one Exhausted token.
Critical
- If your HP is reduced to 0 while you have an Exhausted token, or if you take any damage while Staggered, you go Critical, even if that damage occurs during another runner's turn. There is no recovery from going Critical during the current Scene, and your current run might be aborted. Shuffle your hand and discard into your deck. You take no more actions during the current Scene, or for the remainder of the game if an abort run is triggered.
When a runner goes Critical, the run is in danger of failure, and the rest of the team immediately decides whether to press on or play an abort round (see Ending the Game, p. 19) unless the Mission doesn't allow an abort.
4. Reload
If you have 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw 2 cards. Whenever you need to draw cards and there aren't enough cards in your deck, draw the cards that remain in your deck (if any), then shuffle your discard into a new deck and continue drawing until you have drawn enough cards.
In addition, if you are told to do something like reveal cards from the top of your deck, and you don't have enough cards in your deck, do as many as you can, and then reshuffle your discard into a new deck and continuing following the instructions until you have completed them. If you run out of cards in your deck and don't have a discard pile, stop drawing cards or doing whatever actions that require you to have more cards in your deck.
5. Black Market
Now you can buy cards from the Black Market. The Black Market consists of the six cards from the Black Market Deck that are face up. You can buy any number of cards, as long as you have enough nuyen to afford them (which you get from defeating obstacles). Each Black Market card shows its purchase cost in a nuyen symbol in the top right corner to the right of the card name. Put each card you buy into your hand (paying the appropriate nuyen to the bank) and immediately flip a new card from the Black Market Deck face up to replace it.
There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in hand.
Some card abilities allow you to cycle (discard from play) cards in the Black Market. When you do, immediately flip a new card from the Black Market Deck face up to replace it. There should always be six cards in the Black Market.
If the Black Market Deck runs out, shuffle the cards in the Black Market discard to restock the Black Market. If there are no cards in the Black Market discard, the Black Market remains out of stock and you can't buy any more cards this game. In this unlikely event, the team will have to win the Mission with the cards already in their decks.
6. End Turn
Your turn is now over. If the runner to your left is the mission leader, the round is over and the team starts another round. Otherwise, the runner to your left takes their turn.
Communication
Runners are not allowed to show other runners what cards they have in their hand, but they can verbally discuss anything they like in order to form an effective plan as a team. To ensure a fun play experience for everyone, try to respect the other runners' wishes about the level of advice they wish to receive.
Advanced Communication Rules
If your team would like to play at a higher level of challenge, the group might want to limit what type of communication is allowed during play. In this case, use the rule that runners can't advise other runners on their play or ask for advice on their own play, with the following exceptions:
- Answering rules questions is allowed; it's not considered advice.
- Runners can talk about what Assist cards they have in their hands and whether they are willing to play those cards on another runner's turn.
- Runners can remind other runners what cards they purchased on their last turn.
- Runners can ask that other runners not purchase a card in the Black Market because they wish to purchase it. They can also request that another runner buy a specific card in the Black Market.
- Runners can ask other runners if they have the ability to clear a specific damage level on an obstacle.
- Trash talk, jokes, and other forms of non-strategic communication are encouraged.
Ending the Game
The game can end in one of three ways: a Win, an Abort, or a Loss.
Win: Each Mission has its own victory condition. Meet the condition and the team wins the game, with each runner earning the Karma award listed on the Mission card.
Abort: If any runner goes Critical, the run may be aborted, if the Mission allows. The team must decide as a group whether to proceed with the current Scene or abort the run.
If the team decides to continue with the Scene and another runner goes Critical during that same Scene, then the game ends in failure, and no abort round is played.
If the team does decide to abort, then the team plays a single abort round, after which the game will end.
If a runner goes Critical when it's not a runner's turn and the team decides to abort, play in the abort round starts with the runner who would have taken the next turn. Otherwise, finish the turn that resulted in a runner going Critical, and then start playing the abort round with the next runner to the left of the current runner, using the following rules.
- In the abort round, each non-Critical runner plays one turn. After each of those runners has taken a turn, the abort round is over. If at least one runner is not Critical, the run is aborted successfully and all the runners receive the abort round Karma award.
- At the start of the abort round, remove the current Crossfire card from play and put it on the bottom of the Crossfire Deck (not in the discard). Do not draw a Crossfire card during the abort round.
- During the abort round, ignore any Mission rules.
- At the start of each runner's turn during the abort round, move all obstacles and bosses facing a Staggered or Critical runner to face the current runner. This movement happens before any other start-of-turn actions.
- Skip the turn of any runner who is Critical during the abort round.
Loss: If all runners become Critical, the team loses the game and the runners receive no Karma award. If a runner went Critical, the team decided not to abort the run, and a second runner goes Critical before the end of that Scene, then the run also ends in failure. Losses often come during the abort round.
Mission Rules
Each Mission is a specific scenario or run that you and your team undertake to achieve glory, gain experience, and/or fill your pockets with nuyen. Depending on which Mission you choose, you'll have a different play experience that will require you to build your decks in specific ways to defeat it. Each Mission indicates the number of runners it's designed to challenge.
Each Mission:
- Modifies the default setup rules.
- Defines the method of play for that game, including:
- When you encounter obstacles.
- Which obstacles you face.
- Special rules of play.
- Has variable difficulty, based on the runners' Upgrades.
- Has rules that can be modified based on the number of runners.
- Provides Karma awards based on a win or successful abort run, and difficulty level.
Most Missions:
- Are divided into "Scenes" with small rewards, breaks, or changes of play mode between Scenes. Each Mission card will describe what happens during a Scene and when a Scene ends.
- Some Upgrades are usable once per Scene. Once used during a Scene within a Mission, they can't be used again during that same Scene. When a Mission changes from one Scene to the next, these abilities become available for use again.
Taking a Breather
A Scene can have any number of rounds, depending on gameplay. A Scene ends when, at the end of any player's turn, all obstacles facing runners have been defeated.
Once the player who finished the Scene has fully completed their turn, including their regular Black Market purchase(s), the runners take a Breather before starting the next Scene. In other words, a Breather is not part of any Scene, round, or turn.
During a Breather, the following rules apply, in the following order.
- End ongoing effects: Unless specifically stated otherwise, any ongoing effects generated by obstacles or Crossfire cards are canceled.
- Remove Exhausted tokens: All runners except Critical runners remove their Exhausted tokens and are no longer Exhausted.
- Heal 1 HP: All runners, including Staggered and Critical runners, each heal 1 HP. (Runners cannot heal beyond their maximum HP). Players that were Staggered or Critical will automatically draw two cards per the normal rules.
- Purchase Cards: Starting with the person to the left of the player who ended the previous Scene, each player may purchase one card from the Black Market. Any cards that "Requires X" to purchase cannot be purchased during a Breather.
- Upgrades: Unless they specifically state otherwise, Upgrades cannot be used during a Breather.
Mission Difficulty Levels
Each Mission has a recommended number of Upgrades for playing that Mission. It is recommended that each runner have that many Upgrades, or else the Mission will be very challenging. In addition, the Karma award a runner receives for completing the Mission is changed by the amount of Upgrades that runner has. Each Mission will explain how much less Karma a runner receives if they have more than a certain amount of Upgrades.
Each Mission will give the team optional challenges for increasing its difficulty in order to gain extra Karma. The team can't take an option more than once unless the Mission specifically allows it.
Upgrading Runners
Campaign Play
Campaign play uses the following rules to increase the abilities of runners across multiple games.
Karma and Upgrades cannot be assigned or acquired during a Mission, only in between Missions.
Players are encouraged to have a "post-Mission session" after each game to award Karma and acquire Upgrades (if any). This ensures that all players apply the appropriate amount of Karma (especially if any of the Mission's bonus challenges are used), as well as plan as a team which Upgrades to acquire to maximize effectiveness.
Note that Crossfire includes multiple Runner screens of each metatype. This ensures that multiple players can enjoy the same metatype, and allows players to build more than one runner if they want to. For example, a player starts out with a human Decker and runs down that path for several games. He could continue with that character, or he could begin a new runner and build a human Street Samurai, alternating between characters game after game, as desired.
Karma
Each time the team completes a run, they earn Karma based on the Mission they played. For example, the Crossfire Mission awards 3 Karma for a successful run, 1 Karma for an aborted run, and 0 Karma for a failed run. Each Mission also has bonus challenge options for extra Karma awards if the team completes the mission in a specific way. For example, if the team completes the Crossfire Mission successfully, each player would update their Karma total by 3 on their Runner screens (assuming no penalties). If the team chose to accept the Bring It On bonus challenge before the game started, they would get an additional 1 Karma each.
The Runner screens are laminated so players can use a dry erase marker to easily track their total earned Karma.
Two- and Three-Player Games with 20+ Karma
As previously noted (see p. 12) in two- and three-player games, any player acting as two roles exchanges a card from their starting deck for an Icon Grab. This rule always applies, with Icon Grab substituted in every time, regardless of the total Karma the runner has earned.
However, when a runner has 20+ total Karma, unless a Mission card specifically states otherwise, the starting deck of each runner with two roles should also be upgraded in similar fashion, as shown on the table below. Choose a Black Market card equal to the nuyen cost listed in the table, and add it to your starting deck.
Additional Card for 2–3 Player Games
| Total Karma Earned | Add Black Market Card with Cost of: |
|---|---|
| 20–49 | 2¥ |
| 50–99 | 3¥ |
| 100–199 | 4¥ |
| 200+ | 5¥ |
Upgrades
Once runners have earned Karma, they may gain Upgrades. These Upgrades represent the new skills, items, weapons, and powers that runners gain with more experience. A runner can't have two Upgrades with the same name.
Karma and Acquiring Upgrades
The total value of Upgrades a runner can have is limited by the amount of Karma they have earned. Each Upgrade has a value that is shown on the Upgrade sticker. In addition, each Upgrade that is placed in any slot on a Runner screen other than the first slot has its value increased by 10. When you acquire an Upgrade, remove the sticker and place it on your Runner screen in one of the Upgrade slots. You can only do so if this doesn't raise the total value of all your Upgrades above the total Karma you have earned (and remember that Upgrades in slots other than the first slot cost 10 more than normal against your Karma total).
If you decide you don't like one of your Upgrades, or want to use that slot for a more powerful Upgrade, you can cover an existing Upgrade sticker with a new one. When you cover an Upgrade, only the Upgrade sticker on top counts. The powers of any covered Upgrades aren't active, and they don't contribute to the total value of your Upgrades.
Mike has earned 5 Karma and gets his first Upgrade, Cigar Money (which has a value of 5 Karma), and places it on his Runner screen, giving him 1 more starting nuyen in games. After earning 15 more Karma (bringing his total to 20), he decides that he'd like to replace Cigar Money with It's A Jing Thing. He covers Cigar Money with It's A Jing Thing. It's A Jing Thing is worth 20 Karma, but that's OK since he has 20 Karma, and the value of Cigar Money no longer counts now that it's covered. Now Mike starts games with 2 extra nuyen (not 3, because Cigar Money*'s effect no longer applies). If Mike had wanted to put* It's a Jing Thing into a new slot, he would have needed an additional 15 Karma (for a total of 35) to do so, because in that case the total value of his Upgrades would be 35: 5 for Cigar Money, and 30 for It's a Jing Thing whose value increases by 10 when it's placed in a new slot instead of the first slot.
Card Explanations
Check here for questions about specific cards.
Black Market Cards
Hacking
Backdoor: Treat the obstacle as if it had no text on it. This ability doesn't work on Crossfire cards.
Hack the World: You can apply the damage from the card you copy to a different obstacle from the one to which you apply Hack the World's green, green, 2 damage.
Icon Grab: The ability to add damage of an additional color checks what cards you have played during the Apply Damage phase. As long as you played another Hacking card during your turn, either before or after Icon Grab, you will get the extra damage.
Jacked In: If you play this card during your turn it will remain in play. You can't discard another card to get it back on that turn. You'll have to wait until your next turn. On the other hand, if you discard Jacked In in response to another card's effect, such as Paired Programming, you can get it back that turn because it will be in your discard and not in play. You can't return Jacked In to your hand after dealing damage with it if you played it that turn.
Pair Programming: The damage from the card you copy can be applied to a different obstacle from the green, green damage of Pair Programming.
Retrieval Agent: You can't return cards you played before Retrieval Agent on the same turn. Those cards are still in play. They do not go to your discard until you deal damage with them. And once you have dealt damage, you can't play any more cards.
Skill
Black Market Contacts: You have to buy the card before playing any more cards.
Coordinated Attack: Yes, you can chain Coordinated Attack cards together. You can't target yourself with the ability, but if you play Coordinated Attack on another player, they can play one on you.
Doc Wagon Contract: You can play this card to heal yourself, if you want. When played as an Assist, you don't have to heal the runner who applies the damage; you can heal any runner.
Hero Move: When you play this card while a Crossfire card or obstacle ability is preventing a runner (including yourself) from drawing cards, that runner won't get to take advantage of the card draw, but the rest of the team will. This card also allows Staggered runners to draw a card (assuming there's no ability preventing them).
Negotiation: This card counts itself toward the discount. For the Assist ability, if the current runner does not buy a card on their turn, the discount opportunity is lost; it does not carry over to the next turn.
Press the Advantage: Here's how it works: You play this card and reveal a Weapon card, then a Skill card, and then a Weapon card. You then get to draw only the first Weapon card and the Skill card. The second Weapon card remains on top of your deck.
Spell
Clairvoyance: You must resolve both the draw and discard before taking any other actions. You can't do anything between the draw and discard actions.
Deathtouch: Make note of how many Spell cards you reveal when you resolve the ability. Use that number later to increase this card's damage. If, after resolving the Deathtouch ability, you draw cards or otherwise alter the top card of your deck, you do not change the damage Deathtouch will deal with the ability. That number is set at the time you resolve the ability. Use markers to remember the damage, if needed.
Guiding Spirit: You can play the cards you drew thanks to the card ability before applying card damage.
Fireball: The blue, blue, 2 damage and each instance of level damage can each be applied to a different obstacle. Or you can apply one instance of level damage to the same obstacle to which you apply the blue, blue, 2 damage.
Lightning Bolt: Consecutive levels means that you clear two levels of damage in a row. For example, if you use it on an undamaged Bonelaced Adept, you could clear the 4 and blue, or the blue and 1, but not the 4 and 1. Also, if a damage track only has one uncleared level left on it, you can still use this card, but the extra level of damage is wasted.
Stunbolt: Make note of the nuyen value of the card you reveal when you resolve the ability. Use that number later to increase this card's damage. If, after resolving the Stunbolt ability, you draw cards or otherwise alter the top card of your deck, you do not change the damage Stunbolt will deal with the ability. That number is set at the time you resolve the ability. Use markers to remember the damage, if needed.
Weapon
Aztechnology Striker: You can apply this card's damage to different obstacles than the ones you take from other runners using the card's ability. You can choose to take an obstacle or not from each runner, giving you between zero and three obstacles (in a 4-player game). Preventing an obstacle from attacking also prevents any abilities that trigger when that obstacle attacks.
Covering Fire: You can't heal yourself with this card. You must choose a runner other than yourself. Preventing an obstacle from attacking (when played as an Assist) also prevents any abilities that trigger when that obstacle attacks.
Katana: If you play multiple Katanas on your turn, your non-Katana Weapon cards will benefit from each one, and the damage will add up fast. Each instance of +1 damage can affect the other Katanas you play during that turn, but each does not affect itself.
Monofilament Whip: Preventing an obstacle from attacking also prevents any abilities that trigger when that obstacle attacks.
RA SM-4 Sniper Rifle: If you play a Katana during the same turn as this card, Sniper Rifle will get +1 damage. You can apply that damage first (even in combination with other cards) to get the obstacle down to its last two levels and still defeat it with the two levels of damage from this card's ability. Alternatively, if you don't want to deal two levels of damage but need the +1 damage from Katana's ability, you can use that on an obstacle that is not down to two levels (but you will not be able to use the two levels somewhere else). Also, if a damage track only has one uncleared level left on it, you can still use this card, but the extra level of damage is wasted.
Remington Roomsweeper: You determine which obstacles Remington Roomsweeper damages when you apply damage. Once you start applying damage, you choose a runner, and Remington Roomsweeper does damage to all the obstacles and bosses facing that runner. Use counters to mark the extra instances of the Roomsweeper damage. If you play a Katana on the same turn as Remington Roomsweeper, the damage to every obstacle or boss that Roomsweeper damages is increased.
Obstacle Cards
Elf Blademaster: If the runners can't decide which cards to discard among the group, each runner must discard 1 card.
Gang Leader: If you have 3 cards or less in your deck, you place those cards into your discard, but don't reshuffle. The next time you need to draw a card from your deck, then reshuffle as normal.
Trickster Initiate: An example of how this works would be if Lightning Mage (3, blue, blue, 1) was facing a runner with the top level cleared and you played Fireball (blue, blue, 2) and placed it next to the Mage. You would clear the blue, blue but couldn't apply the 2 to its damage track to clear the 1.
Unusual Suspects: The runner who defeats the obstacle can be one of the runners.
Weapons Specialist: Each runner can take no more than 1 damage from this ability, no matter how many Black obstacles there are.
Crossfire Cards
Coordinated Defenses: If Coordinated Defenses is discarded during the Draw a Crossfire Card step of the round, and there are obstacles that have been defeated but are still in play because of this card's effect, those obstacles are immediately defeated and the mission leader is considered to be the defeating runner.
GPS Hack: Either of the chosen runners can be the Decker.
Grenade!: The chosen runner can be the Street Samurai. If any obstacles are defeated as a result of this card's effect, the mission leader is considered to be the defeating runner.
Harlenquinade: The chosen runner can be the Mage.
Upgrades
Jack of Everything: Those cards all need to be the same color.
FAQ
Q: Is it okay to apply damage from a card to a damage track level even if you won't clear that level as a means to use the card?
A: Yes, but any wasted damage is lost.
Q: If two obstacles attack and deal enough damage to make my runner Staggered, and one of those obstacles has an ability that deals more damage to me, do I go Critical?
A: No, you only become Staggered. All damage dealt to a runner during the Take Damage phase happens simultaneously; that damage is combined into a single damage total (a packet). This includes Attack Strength damage, card ability damage, and any other source of damage step damage (e.g., two obstacles that each deal 2 damage facing the same runner deal that target a packet of 4 damage). Damage packets are resolved first by the current runner, and then clockwise around the table.
Q: If a card I play defeats an obstacle on another runner's turn, who collects nuyen first?
A: Nuyen distribution always starts with the current runner, even if another runner's card dealt the damage to defeat the obstacle via a card such as Coordinated Attack or through an assist ability.
Q: Can you play an Assist whenever you want to as long as it's during another runner's turn?
A: Yes. You can play an Assist whenever you want when you're not the current runner, even if the current runner passes their turn.
Q: When I play an Assist, such as on a card like Backdoor where an obstacle is chosen and it also deals a green damage, who decides which obstacle gets chosen?
A: When someone plays an Assist, the current runner decides where the damage goes. The runner playing the Assist makes decisions for all other effects; in this case, choosing the obstacle card that will have its abilities canceled.
Q: If an obstacle or boss limits a color of damage that can be dealt, does it also limit the abilities of cards of that color?
A: No. It only limits those cards' damage that can be applied, not their abilities.
Q: How does Coordinated Attack work?
A: When a runner is targeted by Coordinated Attack's ability and chooses to play a card, it's as if that runner played the card on their turn. They follow all instructions on the cards, pay any additional costs, and any references to "you" mean that runner. The only difference is that the runner who played Coordinated Attack is the one who applies the damage from that card.
Q: How does damage applied to multiple obstacles work?
A: After you play a card like Fireball, place that card next to an obstacle to indicate that you are going to apply the blue, blue, 2 damage from Fireball to that obstacle. Then take 3 generic markers to represent each of the levels of damage from Fireball. Put each of those markers next to an obstacle to indicate that you plan to deal a level of damage to that obstacle. When you apply damage to an obstacle, apply the blue, blue, 2 or damage level, depending on whether you placed the card or a generic marker next to that obstacle.
Q: If I have a replacement effect on an Upgrade that says I can do something, and an ability on an obstacle says I can't do it, who wins?
A: The "can't" wins. For example, say you have an Upgrade that says, "Each time you would heal, you can draw a card instead." And a Buzzback obstacle facing you says, "You can't draw cards." If you get healed, you can't choose to draw a card, because the "can't" of the Buzzback wins.
Q: Does the mission leader have to draw another Crossfire card if they somehow get to take an extra turn?
A: No. Only one Crossfire card per round should be revealed.
Q: When a Timebomb effect has a Crossfire threshold, does the Timebomb card count toward the Crossfire level?
A: When the Timebomb effect goes off, the Timebomb card itself is not in the discard yet, so it does not count toward the Crossfire level. For example, if a round ends with no cards in the discard pile and Top Shelf is the active Crossfire card, runners do not take 2 damage.
Q: If I have both Pain Is Gain and Red Haze as Upgrades, when I heal can I draw a card and gain 1 nuyen?
A: No. You can either draw a card or gain 1 nuyen, not both. Drawing a card or gaining 1 nuyen replaces the healing, so you can only do one or the other.
Q: My group is having a hard time successfully completing the Crossfire Mission. What do we need to do to win?
A: Most cooperative games are challenging to win, and a Shadowrun cooperative game is doubly challenging! If you're looking for help, hints, or strategies visit the Shadowrun: Crossfire forum at http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com for strategy tips from the designers as well as the Shadowrun: Crossfire community!
Appendix A: Glossary of Game Terms
Abort/Abort Round: When a runner goes Critical, the run may be aborted. If at least one runner is not Critical at the end of the abort round the team gets a partial victory.
Assist: A card ability you can play only during another runner's turn.
Assist Damage: Damage given to the current runner to apply by another runner when they play a card with an Assist.
Attack: What obstacles do to damage you.
Attack Strength: A stat on obstacles and (some) bosses that determines how much damage they do when they attack.
Black Market Deck: A group of Hacking, Skill, Spell, and Weapon cards that improve the runners' decks.
Boss: A mission obstacle with special rules; usually tougher than standard obstacles.
Breather: Runners take a Breather after a Scene is completed but before the next Scene starts. During a Breather, runners remove an Exhausted token (if not Critical), heal 1 HP, and may purchase a Black Market card.
Bullet Icons: On the backs of obstacle cards are icons used to distinguish the difficulty of obstacles for easy reference. The difficulty is either Normal (1-Bullet Icon) or Hard (2-Bullet Icon).
Clear: When a runner deals damage to an obstacle equal to what the damage track indicates. When a level is cleared, a clip is used to mark the cleared level.
Color: There are four colors in the game, representing runner roles: black, blue, green, and red. Obstacles corresponding to those roles have the same color.
Critical: A Staggered runner that is damaged goes Critical. When this happens, the current run may be aborted or lost (in some Missions). Runners that go Critical can be used in future games.
Crossfire: An effect on Crossfire cards that lasts until the card is discarded or removed (usually for one round of the game).
Crossfire Deck: A deck containing Crossfire cards.
Crossfire level (Crossfire #): The total number of Crossfire cards that have been placed in the Crossfire discard.
Current runner: The runner whose turn it is. Many game rules depend upon which runner is currently taking their turn.
Cycle: The act of discarding a card from play and replacing it with a new card from the same deck.
Damage: Obstacles and bosses deal damage when they attack. Runners subtract damage from their HP total.
Damage symbol: There are two types of damage symbols in the game: colored and colorless. There are four colors of damage symbols: black, blue, green, and red.
Damage track: On obstacles and bosses, the row of colored and colorless damage symbols that you have to clear by dealing that type of damage to defeat it.
Flip: Drawing a card from a deck and putting it face up into play.
Flipped: An ability on Obstacle cards that triggers when the card is put into play, either by flipping it or placing it in play due to an effect.
Hand: The cards each runner holds.
Heal: There are two types of healing: hit point (HP) recovery and damage track healing. Runners lose HP when damaged. When an ability heals them, they regain that many HP (but not more than maximum). Obstacles and bosses have damage tracks. Damage to damage tracks is represented by levels that are cleared. Damage track healing restores some amount of cleared levels.
Healing card: A generic name for any card played to remove damage on a runner, either as its primary ability, or as an Assist.
Hit point (HP): A statistical representation of how damaged a runner is. Runners can't heal above their maximum HP, and they become Staggered when they go below 1 HP.
Karma: A reward gained by runners who complete runs, either partially or fully. Karma allows runners to buy Upgrades to improve themselves.
Main Color: When a player takes more than one Role card, their main color is the one that matches the color of the role whose deck they're playing.
Mission: A specific run that the team chooses to undertake as part of the game. Completing one successfully or semi-successfully earns the runners Karma.
Mission card: A game component that contains information about how to set up and run a specific mission.
Mission leader: The player who takes the first turn of the game and is in charge of the Crossfire Deck.
Move: When an ability or effect forces an obstacle or boss to move, its position is changed to face a different runner. Effectively, you're drawing the obstacle or boss to you.
Multicolor Cards: The new multicolor cards have a card frame that shows two or more colors. A multicolor card has two or more types as listed, and it counts as all listed types for card abilities and effects that look at type.
Nuyen: The worldwide currency in the Shadowrun universe.
Reveal: When you reveal a card, usually from the top of a deck, you show that card to all runners but do not put it into your hand. Usually you will leave it in play revealed (Crossfire cards) or put the card face down on top of the deck it came from. Sometimes you discard the card.
Role card: A card that determines what role/color (i.e., Face-red, Decker-green, Mage-blue, Street Samurai-black) a runner will play during a run.
Role color: The color associated with a runner's chosen role. It sometimes determines where a flipped-up obstacle with a matching color is placed.
Run: Another name for a Mission in the game.
Runner(s): A player (or players) in the game. In rules text, "each runner" or "runners" refers to the entire team (all players).
Runner screen: A game component showing runner information such as metatype, HP, starting cards, starting nuyen, Karma, and Upgrades.
Scene: Each Mission is broken into one or more Scenes. Runners usually heal after a Scene ends, and some abilities can only be used once per Scene.
Staggered: Runners become Staggered when their HP drops below 1. When Staggered, a runner gains an Exhausted token.
Team: The group of runners going on the Mission and playing the game.
Upgrades: Abilities that the runners earn through gameplay to make them better. The Upgrades are shown on stickers that are placed in slots on a Runner card.
You: In card text, the current runner.
Appendix B: Strategy Options
Running the shadows is no easy business, so here are some things you may want to think about while playing Shadowrun: Crossfire.
- Think carefully about who can afford to take damage on their turn, and which obstacles you'll need to defeat before the end of the turn of the runner those obstacles are facing. This is especially true on the first turn of the game: you almost certainly can't defeat the obstacle facing you if you are the mission leader. Ask your teammates what they need to defeat the obstacles facing them and help them out. You can prevent them from taking damage and will earn nuyen for everyone faster. Sure, you'll take some damage, and any obstacles facing you might attack you again on your next turn, but the team will be in a better position to win.
- Don't always empty your hand. It's important to play cards when they will make a difference, not just to play them. You only draw two cards a turn, and often buy a third, so you'll break even by playing three cards. Be mindful of your role and what colors the team needs to beat on obstacles facing them. As the Decker, if you have a Hacking card you can use to get past a colorless damage level on an obstacle this turn, ask your team if they think you'll need it for green on your next turn. None of them might have a green damage in hand, and will need you to finish off a Trip Beams with your green damage on your next turn.
- Don't hoard nuyen. It's great to save up for the Aztechnology Striker when it's in the Black Market, but only one runner needs to do that. If that runner isn't you, or if the Striker isn't in play yet, spend your nuyen to buy cards. The card you buy now helps you defeat more obstacles sooner, which provides more nuyen for your next card that much faster, and so on.
- The Fireball looks really powerful (and it is), but the other three 9-cost cards all deserve to cost 9.
- Assist! The secret power of the Assist cards is that the team as a whole gets to play that card a few turns earlier. Obstacles defeated earlier means more cards bought now and less damage taken by the team. (Notice a theme here?)
Credits
Fire Opal
Lead Designers Gregory Marques and James "Jim" Lin
Designers Mike Elliott, Rob Heinsoo, Sean McCarthy, Jay Schneider, and Rob Watkins
Design Producer Jay Schneider
Editing (First Edition) Cal Moore
Business Director Gerald Linn
Finance James Mitchell and Demaris Schneider
Technology Director Louis Towles
Quality Assurance Conan E. Chamberlain
Catalyst
Crossfire Logo, Layout, Design Matt "Wrath" Heerdt
Card Design Shane Hartley and Matt Heerdt
Shadowrun Line Developer & Production Coordinator Jason M. Hardy
Art Direction Brent Evans
Editing (Prime Runner Edition) Philip A. Lee
Layout (Prime Runner Edition) David Kerber
Cover Art (Prime Runner Edition) Mark Molnar
Interior and Card Art Tom Baxa, Gordon Bennetto, Joel Biske, Thierry "bOne" Bonnet, Victor Corbella, Arndt Drechsler, Benjamin Giletti, Phil Hilliker, David Hovey, Igor Kieryluk, Ian King, Michael Komarck, Victor Manuel Leza Moreno, Mark Poole, Marc Sasso, Andreas "AAS" Schroth, Eric Williams, and Matt Wilson
Catalyst Crossfire Team Randall N. Bills, Loren Coleman, and Brent Evans
Production Randall N. Bills
Shout Outs
Thanks to all of our awesome playtesters who helped make the game better: Sabrina Brickner, Conan E. Chamberlain, Richard Garfield, Tim Hahn, Lee Hammock, Wei-Hwa Huang, Mr. Johnson, Koni Kim, Tom Lehmann, Dan Moen, Ken Nichols, Brendan O'Connell, Brad Rhodes, Janie Rhodes, Russell Rice, Demaris Schneider, Jeremy Virden, and Mike Webster.
Special thanks to Donald X. Vaccarino for showing everyone a new way to build decks, and to Tom Lehmann for Mission assistance on Close the Portal.
Shadowrun: Crossfire ©2018 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Shadowrun and Matrix are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. ©2018 Fire Opal Media, Inc.
Gameplay Setup
The final pages of the rulebook show a labeled diagram of a full game in progress, identifying every component on the table: Runner Deck, Discard, Role Card, Runner Screen, Damage Clips, Damage Marker, Normal Obstacle Deck and Discard, Hard Obstacle Deck and Discard, Obstacle, Mission Card, Crossfire Deck, Active Crossfire Card, Crossfire Discard, Black Market Deck and Discard, Bank, and Generic Tokens.
The diagram's sample Mission Card reads as follows:
MISSION: Crossfire
The Job
Getting in was easy, just like Mr. Johnson promised. But you've got heavy company on the way out.
Difficulty: Normal (No upgrades needed) Players: 2–6
Mission Goal
Your team will face off against obstacles in three Scenes. Each Scene ends when you have defeated all obstacles facing runners. Once the third Scene ends, the team wins the mission!
Obstacles & Crossfire
At the start of each Scene, flip up obstacles as indicated in the chart below. When flipping obstacles, first flip obstacles from the Hard Obstacle Deck equal to the Crossfire level. Then if you still need more obstacles, flip obstacles from the Normal Obstacle Deck for the remainder. Place the first flipped obstacle facing the runner whose role color matches the obstacle's color. Distribute the rest clockwise. The first round begins with the mission leader.
| Scene | Flip Obstacles Equal To |
|---|---|
| 1 | Number of Runners |
| 2 | Number of Runners +1 |
| 3 | Number of Runners +2 |
Ending a Scene
The standard rules apply for taking a Breather after each Scene.
Karma Rewards
If the team wins, each runner gets 3 Karma. If the team aborts and has a successful abort round, each runner gets 1 Karma regardless of any bonuses or penalties. The team can also choose the following bonus challenge options:
Bring It On! Flip up one additional obstacle at the start of each Scene: +1 Karma
Danger Zone Start the game with one card in the Crossfire discard: +2 Karma (In the same game, the team can choose this option up to once for each runner.)
Karma Scaling
Each runner gains the following Karma award or penalty based on how much Karma they have earned.
| Karma Earned | Award/Penalty |
|---|---|
| 0–10 | Full Karma award |
| 11–30 | −1 Karma penalty |
| 31–50 | −2 Karma penalty |
| 51–75 | −3 Karma penalty |
| Each additional +25 | Additional −1 Karma penalty |
Reference
Roles and Colors
There are four color-coded categories of roles: Mage (blue), Face (red), Decker (green), and Street Samurai (black).
How to Play (p. 12)
- Draw a Crossfire card.
- Each runner takes a turn, beginning with the mission leader. Play continues clockwise until everyone has taken a turn. The mission leader remains the same throughout the game.
- The round is over. Repeat steps 1–3 until the game ends.
Taking a Turn (p. 13)
- Play Cards (see p. 13)
- Apply all non-damage card abilities.
- Apply Damage (see p. 14)
- Apply all damage from played cards.
- At the end of this phase, played cards are discarded.
- Take Damage (see p. 18)
- The active player receives damage from obstacles facing them (if any).
- If a character's HP is reduced to 0, they become Staggered.
- Reload (see p. 19)
- If you have three or fewer cards in your hands, draw two.
- Black Market (see p. 19)
- Cards purchased go into your hand.
- End Turn (see p. 19)
Taking a Breather (p. 20)
- Remove Exhausted token (unless Critical).
- Heal 1 HP.
- Purchase cards.
Icon Reference
- Crossfire Level Effect: The effect only triggers when the Crossfire level meets the threshold shown.
- Continuous Effect: The effect lasts as long as the card is active.
- Timebomb Effect: The effect triggers when the card is placed in the Crossfire discard.
- Exhausted Token: Marks a runner who has become Exhausted (from being Staggered).
- 1-Nuyen Token, 3-Nuyen Token, 5-Nuyen Token: Represent nuyen of the indicated value.
- Generic Tokens: Used to mark multiple instances of damage applied to different obstacles from a single card.
- Adjustment Tokens (+1/−1, +2/−2, +3/−3): Used to track temporary adjustments to values during play.
Jim goes next and deals a green damage and a black damage to the Lone Star Trooper. Since he cleared the last level on the damage track, he defeats the obstacle.