Shadowrun: Which Edition to use?
- Thread starter DM-Frost
- Start date
From 2nd to 5th is quite a big jump.
The main change was the Matrix. Since 4E it has become wireless to keep up with the real world technology and also in an effort to keep the party together instead of having nearly all of the PCs on the frontline while the decker was sitting in a basement miles away.
The main change was the Matrix. Since 4E it has become wireless to keep up with the real world technology and also in an effort to keep the party together instead of having nearly all of the PCs on the frontline while the decker was sitting in a basement miles away.
Abstruse
Legend
First off, balance. SR5 has done a very good job of fixing a lot of the persistent holes in SHADOWRUN over the years (Quickness/Agility as the God Stat, for example). Pretty much all the various rules run off the same "engine" as it were, so for example decking/hacking doesn't feel like a mini-game with little relation to the rest of the rules. The system has a lot more support now through online supplements than it did in previous editions (CGL was releasing 1-2 new mini-sourcebooks a month for SR4A up until the end and the organized play Missions adventures go up very regularly). A lot of the SR2 books you own are still valuable resources to use in the game. You can't use any of the stats for NPCs or gear, but any of your sourcebooks on locations (Aztlan, Tir Tairngire, Denver, etc.) can still be INCREDIBLY useful (I used my old 1st Ed sourcebooks all the way up until planning my SR5 campaign). Also, your adventures can still be used with minimal fuss - just remake the NPCs, restat any Matrix stuff to the new system, and adjust any skill challenges. All the maps, fluff, plots, etc. can still be used and there are some AMAZING adventures for the older editions.
And here's the important part IMO: The game is FAR easier to learn than ever before. It's still got a bit of a steep learning curve, but new players pick up this edition faster than I've seen them pick up almost any other rules-heavy RPG including D&D/Pathfinder. If you're curious and don't want to drop the $20 for the PDF just yet, the QuickStart is available for free on Drive Thru and on the Shadowrun website if you want to kick the tires. Trust me, it's worth it.
If the decker is busy with the matrix, how is he also *active* on the front lines? The issue I had was not so much of physical presence, but of ability to act in the same universe. The decker is acting in the full simsense of matrix. Surely he can't dodge real-world bullets or spells worth a good gosh darn.
Abstruse
Legend
It has to do with the fundamental changes to how the Matrix works since 4th Edition. The Matrix is now wireless, so you can connect when you're out and about. AR is a big thing now too (which is Augmented Reality, sort of like how Google Glasses work today) and pretty much everyone uses it. But deckers can hack from AR as well.
Another big change is that a LOT of gear is also wireless-enabled. Your gun, for example, may be wireless-enabled to get additional benefits from your Smartgun (you get to change fire modes and eject clips as Free Actions rather than Simple Actions, and you get a +2 die modifier on attack rolls if you have wifi enabled). A hacker can now attack the computer components in the Smartlink through the Matrix and "brick" it or completely disable it. There's a lot of (easy to understand) mechanics involved that balance it out so it's not as game-breaking as you might think, but it's a way for hackers to actually participate in combat.
I'll be honest - online support isn't a selling point, for me.
Okay, so, in other words, you have to rework *all* the mechanical bits in the modules. That's not exactly minimal fuss. Not that I expect backwards comparability three editions back, but this is kind of like saying your old gas car will work on a futuristic highway, just so long as you swap out the engine for a new electro-inductive engine...
See previous note about not being big on online support. If I drop cash, it'll be for a print product. I don't want to have a computer between me and my players.
That's not really the relevant bit. Where you can be was never an issue my players had problems with. Again - the issue was that actually doing the job of a decker put them in a completely different simsense world, such that they couldn't do the job of hacking the system and still not get shot in the head. Much like mages in astral space, their bodies needed to be guarded. If that's still true, I'd still prefer to leave them back somewhere safe, and let the meatjobs get the physical work done.
Okay, this sounds like it is more the meat of the problem. It leads me to another question, though - in essence, what is the meat and potatoes of deckers these days?
In the past, the real point of having a decker was invading the opponent's computer system, either to extract data or to control security systems and the like. It was dreadfully inconvenient (see previous note about the decker's body being vulnerable), effectively split the party (because the decker's real adventure was in a simsense world), but was also extremely powerful.
From what you're saying, I have this lingering fear that yes, all that power is still there, but without the inconvenience and vulnerability. I'm not sure I'd be happy with that, from a balance perspective.
Falling Icicle
Adventurer
Abstruse
Legend
See, this is where the conversation ends. You've already made up your mind that you're not going to even try this edition and you're just using this as an excuse to argue online. I don't tolerate edition wars on my own site and I'm sure as hell not going to play them in someone else's sandbox. If you want to see what the game looks like now, there's a bunch of previews online and a Quickstart you can download for free. If you just want to complain that they changed it so it sucks now, talk to someone else.
I've been playing this game since 1991. It was my first roleplaying game. I own 2/3 of every single thing published for Shadowrun. I read the sourcebooks for fun. I'm into Shadowrun the same way that those people who dress up in Starfleet dress uniforms for their weddings are "kinda into Star Trek I guess". Shadowrun 5th Edition is the best edition of this game. Period. The rules are solid and balanced. Pretty much every problem from the 1st-3rd era and the 4th-4A era have been addressed. Tonally, the game feels more like Shadowrun than it has in over a DECADE. If you're a fan of Shadowrun, you owe it to yourself to look at this edition of the game. End of discussion.
darjr
I crit!
in 4e and I'd guess more so in 5th is that hacking is done on the fly during the mission and that everyone is essentially in VR all the time. VR overlays the real world and hackers can hack it while they see the bad guys taking a bead on them. It was very cool in 4e missions being a hacker and infiltrating the offensive systems of the soldiers shooting at you to put a wrench in their works.
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