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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hurtfultater" data-source="post: 2105534" data-attributes="member: 29120">There are a number of people here saying that system does not significantly inform setting or playstyle.  I don't quite understand that.  A system with a less flat probability curve (like SR) will, regardless of the median results of tests, be more predictable than a flat curve system like d20.  This means that for the middle ranges of difficulty (i.e. non-trivial and not nigh-impossible), the bell curvey system will be, from a player and character standpoint, more predictable, especially on open tests.  Unless all your PCs are incapable of inductive reasoning (let's all play the Momento RPG!), this is going to effect what risks your characters take. More minor issues like long-term character flexibility (in which a specialized character can switch specialties or become more well rounded, and vice-versa) and incremental advancement also inform play style.  The setting is also shaped by system quirks:  if wired reflexes and the initiative system are changed to d20, that makes combat take on an entirely differant character, thus shaping how Lone Star, shadowrunners, etc. do things, and it makes the street samurai and adept archtypes differant.  One of the things I like about SR is that every archtype has a sort of existance no one else can touch.  The face/fixer has an underworld, magicians have the astral, adepts and samurai have the quickened interaction - the theme of daily interaction with entities that are fundamentally other is reinforced by the system*. I'm excited about SR 4th, as they've said they're making the matrix wireless and coterminous with meatspace.  With this, deckers will no longer be NPCs and the player who does a solo adventure while everyone else eats dinner and flips through your books.  They've also promised a unified mechanic, and that is one of the missing features.  While I didn't find SR3 too complicated, I also like rules more than a man should, and it'll be easier to dragoon people into playing. *This is if you aren't beer and pretzels playing SR to be a fun game about the A-Team, only where Baracus is a sociopathic cyborg dwarf.</blockquote>

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