In the cyberpunk genre where style is more important than substance the issue of branding is paramount. However as we move through the Shadowrun gear section the branding of items fades away. It’s important that characters are firing an Ares Predator or Colt Manhunter but not important that they’re using an Espirit Smartlink or Parashield Cyberears. Obviously it’s not smart to list 50 different brands of toolkit that function identically. However it is important if you’re stressing the cyberpunk aspects of Shadowrun to identify what brand of equipment the characters are carrying. It’s more interesting to receive McDonnell-Douglas Aviator CyberLenses than it is to receive cybereyes despite being a handful to write and say.

If you’re going to go this amount of trouble then it’s important to utilize this detail in play. Is the character wearing a Petrogas corporate jacket on a meet with a Thales-Raytheon Johnson? does his cyberware scan as a complete set of Emerging Futures technology? When the character glitches does her Optical Dreams smartlink reticule hard code it’s location to the deckers Bicson commlink implanted in his skull and require a third party hotfix to correct? It’s a lot to say and doesn’t affect the mechanics of Shadowrun unless the GM or players decide  its does but it’s does add to worldliness of your game.

The next time your PCs are installing some cyberware, buying a long coat or picking up a toolkit consider offering them a branded piece. If the player would rather have the generic brand then let them know that the no-name brand falls below the stuffer shack brand in terms of coolness.

Random Corporation Table

Roll 1d6 for the hundreds value, 1d6 for the tens value and 1d6 for the final value.