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How is Shadowrun 4.0?
- Thread starter Del
- Start date
Longshadow
First Post
I'm just gona cut-n-paste from a response on this subject I sent to a friend of mine:
*Streamlined dice mechanic. Seems like it will go much faster -- especially with the advice strewn liberally throughout the text.
*Magic seems more scalable. Time and play will determine whether this impression seems true. Still ugly in the right hands, but not as unbalanced, feast-or-famine, potentially overwhelming from the get-go as in previous editions. "Mystic Adept" quality is underpriced, IMO, though. Losing Astral Projection for gaining access to adept abilities shouldn't equate to a 5 point savings.
*Melee combat -- after 17 years they finally fixed the broken fraggin' melee combat rules. Really looking forward to their combat book and advanced rules for Martial Arts add-ons and such.
*Tech seems more believable without sacrificing playability. (But, see comment on magic and first impressions above.)
*Monetary pricing on gear seems more sane now. I can actually see the suggested prices for pay-offs that have floated around the last few editions working now. No more cybered combat monsters barely sliding by on SOTA upkeep funds while living on tap water and ramen noodles.
*Interesting details in the history section. Not just on the changes in the five year jump (RIP Captain Chaos), but the little (trivial) details here and there that didn't make it into previous histories.
*Contained (i.e., finite) skill system and attributes. Reminiscent of the modified WOD rules used in Adventure, Trinity, et al. Since I'm a big fan of that particular variant, no complaint here.
I'll refrain on final judgements until I actually get a chance to run the thing.
*Streamlined dice mechanic. Seems like it will go much faster -- especially with the advice strewn liberally throughout the text.
*Magic seems more scalable. Time and play will determine whether this impression seems true. Still ugly in the right hands, but not as unbalanced, feast-or-famine, potentially overwhelming from the get-go as in previous editions. "Mystic Adept" quality is underpriced, IMO, though. Losing Astral Projection for gaining access to adept abilities shouldn't equate to a 5 point savings.
*Melee combat -- after 17 years they finally fixed the broken fraggin' melee combat rules. Really looking forward to their combat book and advanced rules for Martial Arts add-ons and such.
*Tech seems more believable without sacrificing playability. (But, see comment on magic and first impressions above.)
*Monetary pricing on gear seems more sane now. I can actually see the suggested prices for pay-offs that have floated around the last few editions working now. No more cybered combat monsters barely sliding by on SOTA upkeep funds while living on tap water and ramen noodles.
*Interesting details in the history section. Not just on the changes in the five year jump (RIP Captain Chaos), but the little (trivial) details here and there that didn't make it into previous histories.
*Contained (i.e., finite) skill system and attributes. Reminiscent of the modified WOD rules used in Adventure, Trinity, et al. Since I'm a big fan of that particular variant, no complaint here.
I'll refrain on final judgements until I actually get a chance to run the thing.
Shemeska
Adventurer
I despaired every day at GenCon that I saw the length of the line to get SR4. Suffice to say, I didn't manage to snag a copy. Arrrrgggg.
Looking forward to it, less for the system mechanics changes, and more for the setting development. Also waiting for them to release System Failure (and the pdf of Shadows of Latin America which will not see print).
Looking forward to it, less for the system mechanics changes, and more for the setting development. Also waiting for them to release System Failure (and the pdf of Shadows of Latin America which will not see print).
kigmatzomat
Hero
I've got an SR4 book and posted this thread about it on ENworld.
If you can filter past lots of whining, kvetching, and house rules by people who want SR1/2/3 back, you can stop by Dumpshock.com's forums and get a decent amount of information.
Good: faster, mechanics. Excluding hacking the rule is Stat+Skill+/-modifiers in d6s; 5-6 are successes. Anyone who's played RPGs can learn the base system in about 15 minutes. Newbies to roleplaying as a whole should pick up the concepts as fast or faster than d20.
Indifferent: still quite min-maxable and people who demand mind numbing realism in their elf and magic-laden RPGs will still be disappointed in the firearm rules. Also the books have a number of formatting errors and minor typos since the final books were never seen by FanPro prior to sale.
Bad: The matrix rules as a whole are quite good but rather than use the same general mechanism as magic (stat+skill limited to Force successes) they came up with something else (Program+skill). This bothers me from a game design standpoint since it adds a different mechanic for players to learn and from a real-world standpoint b/c they negated the impact of the characters stats. I can deal with choosing realism over playability or playability over realism but something that adds complexity while decreasing realism burns my britches.
If you can filter past lots of whining, kvetching, and house rules by people who want SR1/2/3 back, you can stop by Dumpshock.com's forums and get a decent amount of information.
Good: faster, mechanics. Excluding hacking the rule is Stat+Skill+/-modifiers in d6s; 5-6 are successes. Anyone who's played RPGs can learn the base system in about 15 minutes. Newbies to roleplaying as a whole should pick up the concepts as fast or faster than d20.
Indifferent: still quite min-maxable and people who demand mind numbing realism in their elf and magic-laden RPGs will still be disappointed in the firearm rules. Also the books have a number of formatting errors and minor typos since the final books were never seen by FanPro prior to sale.
Bad: The matrix rules as a whole are quite good but rather than use the same general mechanism as magic (stat+skill limited to Force successes) they came up with something else (Program+skill). This bothers me from a game design standpoint since it adds a different mechanic for players to learn and from a real-world standpoint b/c they negated the impact of the characters stats. I can deal with choosing realism over playability or playability over realism but something that adds complexity while decreasing realism burns my britches.
Chaldfont
First Post
I was one of the lucky ones at Gencon. I got in there Friday morning right as the vendor hall opened up and nabbed a copy.
I haven't played SR since 1st edition so I don't really know what they did with the rules in between. Still, I really like the fixed TN and lack of extraneous Dice Pools (though that term is used for all Tests now). It looks like it will be the type of game where you can play a session without cracking the book--which I desire greatly now that I DM a D&D game with 13th level PCs.
As far as balance, I can't say without playing it. Like in any point-buy system I am sure there are countless ways to game the system to get a munchkin PC--but GM approval fixes that pretty easily.
Can't wait to run an SR game now.
I haven't played SR since 1st edition so I don't really know what they did with the rules in between. Still, I really like the fixed TN and lack of extraneous Dice Pools (though that term is used for all Tests now). It looks like it will be the type of game where you can play a session without cracking the book--which I desire greatly now that I DM a D&D game with 13th level PCs.
As far as balance, I can't say without playing it. Like in any point-buy system I am sure there are countless ways to game the system to get a munchkin PC--but GM approval fixes that pretty easily.
Can't wait to run an SR game now.
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