Shadowrun; would you recommend it to me and my players?

[Dragor]

I've heard quite a bit about Shadowrun. I know as much as that it's quite a hardcore and unforgiving cyberpunk futuristic setting with elements of the fantastical in it. This all sounds very appealing to me (as I'm a big Blade Runner fan, for example, and I'm a D&D fanatic).

However, I need to know a little more. I myself play a lot of D&D (as stated above) and World of Darkness. I'm very much a team player, and like to gel with other characters against the odds. I never like the feeling that I'm being beaten to death with the 'Easy' stick. From what I've heard, Shadowrun is my cup of tea...

What about the rest of my group, though?

• Player A loves to powergame. He doesn't like to break the game, but every time we play a new system, he's over it like a pack of wolves, picking it apart and seeing what cool combos he can do with the system. In a conversation about roleplaying, he's the one talking about his new build and what it's good at, while I smile and nod. He's not VERY big on roleplaying, but always keeps his characters close to heart and can be very in character.

• Player B is a very casual player. He plays for laughs, not stats, and is sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. He can be blown away by too complicated systems. He's the 'quiet one', by all means. His characters can be a bit shallow, but it doesn't matter; he's great to have around and his sometimes annoying impatience usually gets the game moving ahead (so it's quite balanced).

• Player C is usually our DM, but he's taken a back seat for me recently. His characters always, without fail, try to be, or are, bad-asses. This can sometimes be a bit annoying (the 'lonely ranger' archetype he reuses does get a bit tiresome) but generally he's the humour monkey and gets the combat done. He delights in the amusing details I give for his combat. He's not big on the planning, and usually runs off to get the job done while the rest are debating.

Shadowrun sounds appealing to me- but how about my players? Thanks in advance.

[Owan]

You'll only know if it's for you by giving it a try really, it's been my favourite game setting since I first got hold of a copy during the SR 2nd Edition days, and as such I tend to recommend it to anyone and everyone.

The 4th Edition (I think it's the only version on the market at the moment) isn't bad, it's a new system and some of the rules are a departure from the old versions, but it retains the original setting very well while making some necessary changes and adding onto the game world lore quite nicely.

As to your players...

For Powergamers
The 4th Edition character creation system is a powergamer's dream, entirely based on points, allowing flaws that will never matter to the character, providing loopholes to get some significant bonuses and so on. A powergamer will easily end up with a character which is immensely good at a few particular tasks and useless for almost anything else. You'll need to take care to ensure this doesn't happen, such characters tend to be hugely combat oriented, and the game is not necessarily so. Depending on how you run the game it might be several sessions between firefights, and a character who can't do anything else but has a dice pool of 15 with automatic weapons, is guaranteed to end up on the sidelines in such a game for everything except the six rounds of combat that occur during a run.

For Casual Players
The system takes quite some getting used to. A casual player who's not really read the setting will be quite confused by the character creation system even. Provided you can explain bits to them this should be fine though. I've found in the past that such players tend to get more involved with the interplay of characters, so they do well with the social aspects. Again, that'll depend on how you're running your game I suppose.

For Lone Wolf Players
Whether the game's suitable for such players again depends on how your game is running. Teamwork is vital in a lot of situations in Shadowrun, no one character is capable of carrying out all the required tasks for a run. Then again, a stealthy character or a character who's "alone" in astral or matrix space can be useful too, and gives them a sort of freedom.





I'm not sure if much of that will help you decide. I just re-read it and it looks a bit like a damning indictment of the game, which isn't what I'd intended at all, it's an excellent game and the current edition (I feel) is fairly well designed. I think you'll only know whether it's for you once you've tried it out really.

- Allow a whole session for character generation, it will take that long the first time.

(Better yet, as I see you're in England, go along to GenConUK in Reading this weekend and have a go there, that'll help you decide!)