Shadowrun: Anarchy or FATE for Shadowrun game?

[Astrella]

Hi,

I've been wanting to dm a Shadowrun game for ages but the complexity and chunkiness of the system always held me back a bit. Now with Anarchy out I've been wanting to give it a try, but I've heard people also suggest using FATE instead? How do the two compare?

[Beleriphon]

Hi,

I've been wanting to dm a Shadowrun game for ages but the complexity and chunkiness of the system always held me back a bit. Now with Anarchy out I've been wanting to give it a try, but I've heard people also suggest using FATE instead? How do the two compare?

Cue and Fate are different games from what I understands. FATE is largely driven by your aspects. So your high aspect might be an Wired Ork Street Samurai or an Deranged Elf Technomancer. That basically gives you permission to do things that and elf or an ork could do, in addition to being a street sam or a technomancer.

I'm not at all familiar with Cue however, but as I understand it there are attributes and such, but its much simpler than normal Shadowrun, or even D&D.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Fate is a popular, light, generic system, so it gets brought up pretty much constantly whenever someone asks "what system should I use for X?" I'm not hugely enamored of that trend, as I think the game has stylistic strengths and weaknesses that people often overlook. It's probably the best system I've ever encountered for talk-heavy games, but I'm not hugely enamored of its combat engine (though it does encourage non-stabbing contributions, which is nice) and I'm downright pissed at what it calls support for magic systems-- it talks a *lot* but basically says nothing useful.

So the question is ultimately "what kind of game do you want when you say "Shadowrun?" If you want just a cyberpunk D&D, Fate probably isn't what you're looking for. It might work better for an Oceans 11 style heist game, though I know there are systems out there aimed more at that genre-- Gumshoe, possibly? Maybe The Sprawl, if you like Apocalpyse World it sounds like it's perfect for that sort of thing.

[kyoryu]

I think the game has stylistic strengths and weaknesses that people often overlook.

As a big Fate fan... you're absolutely correct. Fate does some things amazingly well, and other things very poorly.

Fate is a great game if you want your game to run like a TV show or movie. It's a terrible game if you want a "tactical combat simulator" or if you want to do things "like they'd really happen". Fate deliberately models fiction, so things work the way they do in movies and TV shows. That doesn't mean they can't be realistic, though, as you can certainly have realistic fiction.

I wouldn't personally run Tomb of Horrors in Fate, as an example. Wrong system. Or, at least, the game would end up looking like "Tomb of Horrors: The TV Show" rather than "Tomb of Horrors: The D&D Module".

[twas_Brillig]

Maybe The Sprawl, if you like Apocalpyse World it sounds like it's perfect for that sort of thing.

I can't say whether the they're any good, but there are some Shadowrun hacks for the Sprawl floating around its Google Group (https://plus.google.com/communities/100639022106768583265/stream/8950f6db-61e3-4e4b-bbbd-5e2434f91e33). "A Touch of Shadows" is here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yTwU19foRrRg5iuvZqiXy0HMuS1MiD4QhaFBs7LSQCg/edit) and another beta take here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mJyiiynaKst-HPoRY4WYu7XAJUVRqnsfgFSp0u5V0IY/edit).

Obligatory mention of the second season of the Friends at the Table (http://friendsatthetable.net/) actual play podcast, which starts using the Sprawl around episode 10. Its finale shattered the cockles of my heart, so there's that. Some viewing advice here (http://careydraws.tumblr.com/post/144810140520/the-space-tragedy-season-of-streamfriendss).

[Hyperion]

Shadowrun Anarchy is ridiculously good. You still get some stats and the likes for your character, equipment, get cues, tags, Shadow Amps and some advancements but on a simpler scale. You can make any concept works with way less mechanical involvements compared to the regular game. Fate felt very empty to me...the cue system somehow manages to not feel as empty to me at least.

The cue system also focuses on an exchange of stories and the likes between the players and the GM. Players can spend Plot points to essentially create situations or modify a scene. Not to the point of the GM but players do have some narrative control on what's going on. As the GM in anarchy mostly your role is to make sure the game goes smoothly and you don't get other players negating something that someone did like for example:

-Player A spend plot points to put some obstacles on the road during his turn. Player B interrupts player A, as a street shaman or whatever and spend a plot point to say that spirits come and clean up the road. As the GM you can suggest that Player B finds a better use of using his plot points instead of negating what Player A just did.

[Longes]

FATE all the way.

[CantigThimble]

Shadowrun Anarchy is ridiculously good. You still get some stats and the likes for your character, equipment, get cues, tags, Shadow Amps and some advancements but on a simpler scale. You can make any concept works with way less mechanical involvements compared to the regular game. Fate felt very empty to me...the cue system somehow manages to not feel as empty to me at least.

One of the most enjoyable things about Shadowrun is all the disparate elements that are brought together in one setting. I think that design-wise those need to be mechanically distinct to represent the setting properly in game. A physical adept, a cybered up runner, and a mundane troll need to work in different ways, and if they all just have high strength and toughness, then you've lost some of the essence of Shadowrun. Even if they do the same job, they need to play differently for it to be Shadowrun. FATE is pretty bad at those kinds of subtle mechanical differences.

[Earthwalker]

I love Fate and would certainly be able to run some thing shadowrunny in the Fate system but I aren't sure how well it would work.

How I run the games (this is person thing I think)

Fate - Proactive characters that have goals and that drive the plot
Shadowrun - Monster of the week style play (well more shadowrun of the week) Get a mission, complete the mission kind of deal.

So I aren't sure if Anarchy isn't worth a try. (I don't know the system sorry)

[Longes]

I love Fate and would certainly be able to run some thing shadowrunny in the Fate system but I aren't sure how well it would work.

How I run the games (this is person thing I think)

Fate - Proactive characters that have goals and that drive the plot
Shadowrun - Monster of the week style play (well more shadowrun of the week) Get a mission, complete the mission kind of deal.

So I aren't sure if Anarchy isn't worth a try. (I don't know the system sorry)

FATE works great for Shadowrun, and with the right players it's easy to have them make their own runs/find Johnsons whose interests would allign with what players want to do.

[kyoryu]

A physical adept, a cybered up runner, and a mundane troll need to work in different ways, and if they all just have high strength and toughness, then you've lost some of the essence of Shadowrun.

That's what stunts and, to a lesser degree, aspects are for.

[Earthwalker]

FATE works great for Shadowrun, and with the right players it's easy to have them make their own runs/find Johnsons whose interests would allign with what players want to do.

I have no doubt it can be done. I just feel for me it would change the flow of the game. The group I play Shadowrun with are much more used to having the GM create the story and them respond to that.

The group I play Fate with have only ever played Fate and so they get it. Trying to get my shadowrun group to play FATEowrun (as it were) would be more difficult.

Saying all this it has got me wanting to try (and also wanting to pick up Shadowrun Anarchy)