About

Monad//A is a collection of various tools and utilities for the Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 RPG system. A monad aptly, is a group treated as one entity—similarly this tool is part of the larger Monad family which includes Monad5 (opens in a new window) (the original Monad tool for Shadowrun 5E) and Monad//Map (opens in a new window) (a system-agnostic tool for generating stylised real-world maps).

I initially encountered Shadowrun around 2010 through some storytelling videos on YouTube. I bought the fifth edition core rulebook in late 2015 and have been playing on-and-off since then. As many Shadowrun fans, I loved the setting and the lore, but found the system overly complex and difficult for newbies to get into. Shadowrun Anarchy was a breath of fresh air, but for me the pendulum had swung too far in the other direction—one of the things that I loved about Shadowrun is how it rewarded preparation and specialisation, which I found missing in Anarchy 1.0. Anarchy 2.0 revived my interest in the system and I’m hoping Monad//A will be a useful tool for it.

Designing RPG tools is a hobby of mine. I made some tools for other systems as well: Rampart (opens in a new window) (a character manager for the Delta Green system) and Factotum (opens in a new window) (a collection of tools for the Mythras system).