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View Full Version : Fantasy system, Shadowrun feel



Kaulesh
2011-02-05, 10:13 PM
My group has been relying on our GM way too much. He has expressed interest in playing in a fantasy game. He's been running Shadowrun for a good half a year now and I'd like to take over for a session or two and give him a break.

By "Shadowrun feel," I don't mean story. I know about Earthdawn and I don't think it's what we're looking for. Specifically, I want something that has the familiar feel of Shadowrun's mechanics. I want a system where hit points aren't a resource to be traded back and forth. A game where a starting character can take down someone much more experienced without having extremely good dice rolls. Having short character creation would also be a plus. We only meet once a week for 2-5 hours, so not having creation take up the whole session would be a plus.

Our GM made a valid observation - a big portion of D&D and class-based systems is your "build." With Shadowrun, it feels like you're more than just a Rogue 3 or Wizard 5. Combat isn't the first choice. Well, it's not supposed to be. Our group is just special.

So, yeah. Anyone know of a medieval fantasy game with similar mechanics to Shadowrun? I've glanced at DragonQuest and HarnMaster, but they seem a bit much to learn (and teach five others) in such a short amount of time.

a_humble_lich
2011-02-05, 10:53 PM
I would suggest GURPS, but that also can be hard to learn and create characters for.

How about Shadowrun? Remove all of the high tech stuff and you have a decent fantasy game. Since there's no cyberware, I'd guess most players would end up either magicians or adepts, but that isn't really a problem. You already have magic, elves, dragons, etc.

Of course, part of your goal was probably to try something new, but fantasy Shadowrun sounds like it could be fun.

Xefas
2011-02-05, 11:01 PM
Let me start out by saying I don't know anything about Shadowrun. However, I can still offer some vicarious advice!

In the 5th episode of the Narrative Control (http://narrativecontrol.libsyn.com/) podcast, whose opinion I give a non-trivial amount of credence toward, they voted Shadowrun as the #1 setting that deserves a better system (Exalted was #2). They cited Primetime Adventures and a slightly modified Burning Wheel as good alternatives for representing the Shadowrun "feel" as well as setting. They also make a passing mention of a few things a friend of theirs is doing to hack Don't Rest Your Head into playing Shadowrun.

I don't know if any of that is true, because I don't know anything about Shadowrun, but I hope that my linking you to the podcast itself might give you a lead on some ideas.

Dr.Gunsforhands
2011-02-05, 11:19 PM
I too would support a low-tech high-fantasy Shadowrun attempt. The players already know the system, and without all of the technology shopping or worrying about SINs character creation should be really quick.

You will want to open up the Runner's companion to give them more low-tech character options, restructure the way lifestyles work if you use them at all, and maybe tweak the way the Astral plane works. Of course, that all assumes you're willing to get your setting from somewhere else, or build one from scratch.

You might also look into Exalted. It's a different setting and feel from Shadowrun with its over-the-top fantasy, but the mechanics are eerily similar sometimes; most rolls are skill+ability, with the d6's replaced with d10's. Your damage track loads you with penalties until you go down, and while it says that the PCs are basically gods among men, I have looked at some of the men and the PCs have approximately as much of an edge as your typical 400-point Shadowrunner.

(That is to say, a pretty big one, but not completely untouchable unless you specifically set out to be that way, in which case you can take a shotgun to the face and shrug it off.)

woodenbandman
2011-02-05, 11:43 PM
Burning Wheel.

Totally Guy
2011-02-06, 03:01 AM
I was going to suggest Burning Wheel (the first draft of the game was inspired by Shadowrun) but it takes a lot of time to learn.

I've seen people start Shadowrun Mouse Guard hacks but I don't think that any of them have been fully completed or playtested. There's a Realm Guard hack (Mouse Guard used for a party of Lord of the Rings' rangers) out there that's got lots of good feedback, even Luke Crane, the MG, BW author endorses it.

JaronK
2011-02-06, 04:45 AM
You can actually do D&D 3.5 SR style, but you have to optimize like crazy. Yes, optimize.

See, in SR, everyone is deadly. One sniper shot will kill you. A full auto assault rifle burst will kill you. This is why combat isn't the easy way... eventually someone will get you, one way or the other.

Now imagine a D&D game where everything's optimized like crazy. All the monsters have their feats swapped for nastier one... Shock Trooper and Spirited Charge are common. Wings of Flurry and Wings of Cover are default Sorcerer spells. Every Barbarian is Lion Totem, every Cleric has DMM:Persist rolling ASAP. Combat is deadly as heck if enemies spot you. And the enemies? They're smart. They fall back when attacked to get friends. They have preset procedures. If they get the drop on you, they'll kill you.

And the group? All T3 or below, all stealth based, all optimized. They too can kill in a round though. If they're going into a dungeon, they're clearing it inside silence fields to avoid detection, scouting for alternative routes, figuring out how to avoid patrols, using Minor Image to fake living versions of guards they've already killed. They run missions like it's Splintercell. Figure a basic group of Beguiler, Factotum, Unarmed Swordsage, Binder as a sample. Make good use of teleports, Darkstalker, and so on to always have information advantage.

It can be a LOT of fun.

JaronK

MeeposFire
2011-02-06, 05:21 AM
1e and 2e D&D definitely have a lack of "build" feel for the most part. At the beginning you can kill with one hit and be killed in one hit easily. Character creation is fast and can be made nearly completely random if you like.

Andrewmo
2011-02-06, 08:36 AM
Have you considered Runequest. The mechanics are not similar to shadowrun but the effects are similar beginning characters can kill more powerful/experienced opponents and combat is very deadly. A lot of people are put off by the Glorantha setting (I like it) but Mongooses RQ 2 is none world specific. They have published several settings for it Glorantha, Elric and fro asligthly earlier version Hawkmoon, Lhankor and I think Conan. The recent setting which may interest you as it has a similar feel to some bits of shadowrun is Wraith Recon which is fantasy special forces. (There isa 4th ed D+D version of it as well)
Character design is fairly simple but there are no character classes so your characters can be quite unique.

Kaulesh
2011-02-06, 03:26 PM
Thanks for all the great responses. I actually thought about Burning Wheel and RuneQuest, but I had never looked at them before so I passed over them. I may go back and give a few systems a second look.