Tabletop Review: Shadowrun: Used Car Lot

Shadowrun: Used Car Lot
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Page Count: 34
Cost: $7.95
Release Date: 07/13/2012
Get it Here: DriveThruRPG.com

Used Car Lot is a Shadowrun supplement, in the same vein as Parabotany or the Gun Heaven series, in which you are given a collection of in-game stats for a variety of items. In the case of Parabotany, we saw magical plants of all kinds. In the case of Used Car Lot, we’re getting thirty vehicles that can be used in your game. Mileage with a product like this will vary (no pun intended) as it all depends on if you really need an eight dollar book containing nothing but vehicle stats. Personally, it’s not something I would ever need, but some GM’s have neither the time nor ability to think up new vehicles, so there is a definite audience for this product – it’s just not for me. Especially with that eight dollar price tag. Parabotany had the same price tag, but was seventeen pages longer, and as flora isn’t something the average GM thinks of, it was a far more interesting and useful product.

As with nearly all Shadowrun products, Used Car Lot is written form the point of view of JackPoint, a Matrix based chatroom of sorts geared towards the most elite Shadowrunners out there. With each vehicle’s stats, you are given commentary by runners. Generally it’s about the vehicle in question, but there may also be some conversation or a snide remark snuck in there as well. The in-game commentary is definitely the highlight here.

Oddly enough, the supplement is divided into two sections: one for North American vehicles and one for those found elsewhere. This seemed strange to me at first, because I would have assumed that in 2070, especially with corporations having more control of the world than governments (although we could say this is already the case IRL…), there wouldn’t be closed borders to certain vehicles like there are now. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, as four of the vehicles appear to be Eurasian only.

That’s pretty much all there is to Used Car Lot. There’s just not a lot of substance to this piece. Half of each page is mediocre artwork followed by one to two paragraphs about the vehicle in question and then a stat block. That’s really skimpy, especially for the price tag and page count. CGL could have done a lot more with the concept. Unfortunately, what’s here doesn’t justify the price tag. Again, if you’re incapable of designing vehicles yourself and/or you don’t want to use ones in the core rulebook, Used Car Lot might serve a purpose, but otherwise this is an easy supplement to pass up. Below is a list of vehicles contained within the supplement in question.

Thundercloud Pinto (Motorcycle)