Shadowrun 5th Edition?

[Astrella]

Hello,

I've been looking at several futuristic games, and Shadowrun is one of them. I'm wondering what the game is like, good sides / bad sides. Is it hard to run for a novice DM? Much resources required to get started?

[Kato]

Hello,

I've been looking at several futuristic games, and Shadowrun is one of them. I'm wondering what the game is like, good sides / bad sides. Is it hard to run for a novice DM? Much resources required to get started?

I think this would actually better suited to the RPG forum. But from my point of view... I like SR 5. Coming up with a general explanation is kind of hard, probably better if you mention what you know/what you're looking for.

I guess my biggest pro with SR is the setting, as it lends to a lot of strange ideas. When it comes to game mechanics its... okay. I guess SR is known for being rather tuned for power gaming, abusing a thousand boni each roll. Or mali. (Which in my book is more of a disadvantage but then I play more for the story than the mechanics)

So... maybe better make a new thread in the RPG (various) section and list a few more things what you like/dislike or what systems you know.

[Taet]

You said strange ideas. I think you meant awesome ideas. :smallcool: Somewhere in Things I Am No Longer Allowed to Do While Playing I am no longer allowed to rig my mind into a drone just to scratch that spot on my back that I cannot reach. Why would I not? Technology is supposed to be used. :smallwink:

The regular Shadowrun thread is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?394128-General-Shadowrun-Questions) and it talks about almost all the editions.

For resources you are going to need a brick of d6s no way around that. Some people were rolling twelve at a time as new characters and not very optimized. (And yes we were remembering to use limits which are a way to hold back the minmaxing a bit.) There was a starter kit that had a few premade characters and a short mission for the GM to run and it was a not very expensive box. Which was good because the main player book is a very heavy and somewhat not very well organized block.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm not particularly fond of 5e, I picked up 3e on the cheap and found it to be both simpler and better organised. 3e and 5e have the same layout but I can never find a rule in 5e when I need it (example: grappling, I stumbled across the rules a month after anybody tried it). I've had to skim in 3 but I've found rules within minutes.

Oh yeah, Shadowrun has lots of rules. For a first time GM I suggest something simpler, like Mutants and Masterminds or a White Wolf game. You can do it, it's just not simple and it's too easy to get lost looking up a rule in 5e if you're new rather than winging it. Proceed with caution.

[LibraryOgre]

I love Shadowrun's setting. I think it's well done, a beautiful mess of a world with a lot going for it and a lot to do.

The mechanics of the game are VERY heavy, however, and frequently have trouble being reduced. Some games, you can simply ignore the parts of mechanics you don't like. In Shadowrun, I've always found that harder to do.

[Beleriphon]

Also, with Shadowrun be prepared for like six different ways to achieve what amounts to the same thing. Deckers and spellcasters both have ways to affect combat and the environment that don't actually involve shooting things, and both use completely different systems in game that can be run at the same time as normal combat. Both extra systems have just as many options and add-ons as normal combat (if not more), and the GM needs to know both of them if you have both a decker and a spellcaster in the game. My biggest suggestion is to not have a character that will ever astral project to start with the since the rules are horrifically dense and most of the time a mage wants to just blast CorpSec with fireballs anyways.