Edition warring is for chumps, but isn't D&D specific

[Derren]

It is a bit fiddly, but at least in 5E, no idea if they were also present in older editions, the back of the book has comprehensive tables on all modifiers which are quick to look up or print out (sadly they are in color). What is missing is the gear (laser sight, etc.) but I expect the players to know what the weapon they bought does.

 

[SamVDW]

Except for how 5e has unbogged a great deal of it. I wouldn't call it "light" by any means, but it hasn't been a monotonic descent into madness.



So, you do what I do.... Don't look them up.

In 5e, here's a limit on the overall effectiveness of the character anyway (f'rex: weapons have accuracy limits, such that you can't get more than so many successes on a roll), so after a certain point, the effort to get it exactly right sees diminishing returns. You get much the same result if you just don't worry about *all* the details - just use the most prominent ones, and you wind up okay. Do this for both PCs and NPCs, and it works out just fine.

There are definitely ways to make Shadowrun more playable, but I don't want ALL of their rules and a house-rule supplement sheet (or two, or three...) to add.

I love Shadowrun, I truly do. It is my favorite game setting of all time. But the game mechanics that formerly attracted me to the game when I was a kid now push me away from it as an adult.

 

[Umbran]

But the game mechanics that formerly attracted me to the game when I was a kid now push me away from it as an adult.

I'm not using a house-rules sheet. I'm simply not encouraging my players to remember *every* modifier, and not bothering to dig for *every* one myself. If both sides do this, it comes out in the wash.

But really, my point through this is that many of the mechanics that attracted you when you were a kid, and you would now look at as problematic, are probably gone from 5e.

Is it a rules-light system now? Goodness, no. But it is much, much better than it once was.

(And I'm speaking as a guy who also loves FATE and its variants, for their simplicity and narrative richness)