History YMMV / Shadowrun

** The ''Universal Brotherhood'' sourcebook describes a thinly veiled {{expy}} of [[ChurchOfHappyology Scientology]]. Just replace the "nuked ghost" thing with insect spirits. Hilariously, it was released in 1990, almost a full decade before Scientology became widely known as an AcceptableTarget and displays considerably more subtle knowledge of said religion than most modern digs at it - specifically its claims of having "an owner's manual for the human mind."

*** Earlier editions had an offsetting hazard of [[ScrappyMechanic grounding]] which allowed for astral beings to cast through it in the real world.

** The first real big 6e adventure book, "Cutting Black", also feels like a major swerve away. [[spoiler:Sure, the UCAS is on its last legs, but those injuries were self-inflicted by bad leadership and there's a real theme of people stepping up and taking responsibility to save and improve their communities as opposed to the megas and nations being immovable objects, and for that matter even just outright counters the 4e idea that the megas and major nations were invincible (Ares would've been screwed without shadow help in the Detroit Bug War, and the once-mighty UCAS is one final crisis away from likely total destruction, with the implication that stuff like this could happen just as easily to any other mega or nation). Hell, it introduces the idea that ''the bug spirits'' might come to terms with Earth someday!]]'

** The first real big 6e adventure book, "Cutting Black", also feels like a major swerve away. [[spoiler:Sure, the UCAS is on its last legs, but those injuries were self-inflicted by bad leadership and there's a real theme of people stepping up and taking responsibility to save and improve their communities as opposed to the megas and nations being immovable objects, and for that matter even just outright counters the 4e idea that the megas and major nations were invincible (Ares would've been screwed without shadow help in the Detroit Bug War, and the once-mighty UCAS is one final crisis away from likely total destruction, with the implication that stuff like this could happen just as easily to any other mega or nation). Hell, it introduces the idea that ''the bug spirits'' might come to terms with Earth someday!]]
* WhatAnIdiot: In one of the snippets from ''Forbidden Arcana'', Lyran advertised that she'd made out with a bunch of reagents from the Great Dragon Hestaby's lair after the latter's exile and tried to sell them on Jackpoint. She completely forgot that Hestaby has an account there. (Nothing serious came of it, fortunately for Lyran.)
-->'''Orange Queen:''' Do tell.\\
'''Lyran:''' ... eep\\
'''USER LYRAN HAS DISCONNECTED'''

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common accusation levied at the game during the Third and Fourth Editions. The 3e and early 4e sig characters were largely antiheroes. 4e's later sig characters were rapists, vivisectionists, spree killers (who in 3e were specifically held up as examples of ''bad'' shadowrunning) and amoral assassins.[[note]]One of the really big moments people took/take issue with is in the ''Emergence'' splat, wherein [[spoiler:Clockwork outright initiates a bounty run on fellow [=JackPoint=] poster Netcat, who is revealed as a technomancer in that book; this kind of behavior would've gotten a runner removed from Shadowland back in the day and many found [=FastJack's=] justification for not doing so to be flimsy and perhaps not even in line with his characterization in older books.]][[/note]] There are ''no'' good [[MegaCorp MegaCorps]] (or factions with enough power to stand up to them), ''[[EvilVersusEvil period]]''. Oh, and [=FastJack=], grand old dean of shadowrunning, is now starting to go senile, though this turned out to be a RedHerring. [[spoiler:He's instead having to deal with an AI trying to overwrite his brain!]] 5e took some steps to come back from this... [[spoiler:except, you know, Deus reappearing and the ''freaking Elder Gods'', pure Lovecraft-level bad shit, seemingly taking an interest on Earth.]]
** Lampshaded in ''Dark Terrors'':
--->'''Slamm-0!''': For once, I would love a nice, quiet [=JackPoint=] evening where the world doesn’t seem to be ending every Thursday.
** Beating this trope senseless and leaving it in an alley is the point of 5e book ''Better Than Bad'', a guide to how to model social change for the better, as well as amplifying it through shadowrunning. [[spoiler:The book also reveals [[MagicalJester Harlequin's]] alive and back to playing TricksterMentor for characters who actually want to save some portion of the world.]]
** The first real big 6e adventure book, "Cutting Black", also feels like a major swerve away. [[spoiler:Sure, the UCAS is on its last legs, but those injuries were self-inflicted by bad leadership and there's a real theme of people stepping up and taking responsibility to save and improve their communities as opposed to the megas and nations being immovable objects, and for that matter even just outright counters the 4e idea that the megas and major nations were invincible (Ares would've been screwed without shadow help in the Detroit Bug War, and the once-mighty UCAS is one final crisis away from likely total destruction, with the implication that stuff like this could happen just as easily to any other mega or nation). Hell, it introduces the idea that ''the bug spirits'' might come to terms with Earth someday!]]

** Renraku full stop. It says a lot when you encounter security right at the front door, meaning you need to be prepared as soon as you set foot inside, else your run will fail before you even start. The layout is the biggest of the corps and the building is 6 floors tall. Random encounters can either help or utterly ruin your run, especially since one of them is for a Renraku Strike Team to recognize you, resulting in an immediate alert and battle. Renraku also has a high chance of hellhounds patrolling the corridors, meaning even usual methods of trying to stealth your way through isn't as effective. There's also absolutely ''no computer terminals on the first floor, meaning Cyberspace and hacking are out of the question'', so any alarm sounded on the first floor will require you to ride it out. Essentially, if you're going to do a Renraku run, you had BEST be prepared for anything and everything.