Any SR6 playtest report?

[Derren]

So with it being out for a while now has anyone played SR6 yet and can comment on how well the new edition fares?

From what I read I am highly sceptical of the new edge system but I would like to hear some playtest reports about it.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

There was at least one group that I know of, which tried to run a campaign of it, but gave up after the first few sessions because they found the rules to be un-salvageable. Here's a link to their report:

Spoiler

As a summary, though:

• The whole Edge system is bad, in part because it has such a small effect on the dice.
• They streamlined a lot of the situational modifiers by tying them into Edge, which means most situational benefits are irrelevant. You're going to get your two Edge per round, regardless of what else you have going on.
• Since your armor only affects whether or not someone gains Edge by attacking you, armor is effectively irrelevant.
• Since Strength only affects whether or not you gain Edge by attacking someone, Strength is effectively irrelevant.

For all of the work that you put into playing the game, most of it ends up not mattering at all. You'd be better off playing any other edition.

 

[Derren]

There was at least one group that I know of, which tried to run a campaign of it, but gave up after the first few sessions because they found the rules to be un-salvageable. Here's a link to their report:

Spoiler

As a summary, though:

• The whole Edge system is bad, in part because it has such a small effect on the dice.
• They streamlined a lot of the situational modifiers by tying them into Edge, which means most situational benefits are irrelevant. You're going to get your two Edge per round, regardless of what else you have going on.
• Since your armor only affects whether or not someone gains Edge by attacking you, armor is effectively irrelevant.
• Since Strength only affects whether or not you gain Edge by attacking someone, Strength is effectively irrelevant.

For all of the work that you put into playing the game, most of it ends up not mattering at all. You'd be better off playing any other edition.

Thanks, I will look at it. But I will also like to hear some more perspectives.

The armor thing I noticed in the previews and is one of the main points why I am sceptical about it.
Strength seems to be either all or nothing. You can max it on a troll and have a punch which does as much damage as a assault cannon or you leave it at 1 because its useless otherwise. Its also double comical that the troll who can punch through a motor block gets weaker when picking up a hammer and doesn't do more damage as a feeble dwarf as strength only scales unarmed damage but not damage with melee weapons...

 

[phexter]

I do play SR6 and love it. It has some quirks, every SR has them, but still it is working. SR6 will get troublesome if you/your group is all about min/maxing and stats optimizing, since SR6 is shifting toward storytelling and using what‘s logical for everyone instead of trying to rule everything. The Edge works fine as well, and is not supposed to have a game changing impact, it‘s supposed to give you an edge, hence the name.. and as long as you keep it aligned with the story and player spend it it‘s a nice system overall. Armor/attack feels good to me, too... SR6 combat is supposed to be fast and deadly and done with within a couple of rounds instead of having an evening of number crunching and (depending on your INI) waiting a lot...

But for clarification, I was playing SR3 before we switched ... an I never liked it. And also, SR6 still is missing many things you are probably used to and like any catalyst product is not very well written in my opinion. For that matter I have the German rulebook, which I think is somewhat better.

Last but not least I have to say that not everyone in my group feels this way, some have the same reservations like those in the previous post, but I personally feel it is more because of them clinging to old behavior and an old number crunching system they where used to play for several years.