Shadowrun 5E - July 11th

[Cergorach]

So, I've never played Shadowrun. I intend to use this new edition as a jumping on point and check it out for the first time. I know the basic premise, and I've seen the game, just never played it.

You've had two days with the pdf, so what do you think? (If you've had time between updating the KS)

Got some info they can share - what's cool about it, what's not?

What's cool about it? It's Bladerunner meets Dungeons & Dragons and creates a great synergy between the two genres (cyberpunk & fantasy). I've been a fan when my RPG 'sensei' brought home the original 1st edition blue hardcover from some German game conference or other after it was just released. It's of course not all sunshine and happiness, Shadowrun has suffered from some serious mechanical and balance issues, more so then most RPGs. And the SR setting has made an excursion into 'undesired land' in the past, not as bad as what WotC has done to Forgotten Realms, but still a lot of 'veteran' fans were not pleased. Fourth edition was not my cup of tea, but things were looking up with the 20 year anniversary edition and this 5th edition is looking not bad at all (but that is through my nostalgia tinted glassed).

Mechanically I think SR is great because it's level less and pretty much classless, as someone that was raised on D&D and it's ilk that is pretty unique. You can try just about everything and there is a small, but real chance that you might succeed, but the game is still deadly (getting killed by an unskilled rent-a-cop with a shotgun was always a real possibility).

The good thing about SR roleplaying wise is that it is way more familiar then any fantasy world your used to, most folks play in some kind of semi-Utopian fantasy setting because most folks can't even remotely relate to a medieval society. Heck chances are that if your not playing in Seattle, your playing in your home town 40-60 years into a (fantasy) future. Humans are humans and orcs are humans to (well a little), so no killing them on principle (because they are evil) unless your part of some racist organization (so no, you can't kill the baby orcs because they are going to grow up evil ;-).

I've seen far more 'what if' musings from my players when we played SR then when we played D&D, due to the familiarity folks tend to get more creative. Also even if your the equivalent to a 20th level character your still a nobody in the eyes of the worlds Mega Corporations, still street scum they can hire to do their dirty work, and maybe try to kill you afterwards (and they could actually succeed). SR also seems to lend itself a lot better to intrigue, stealth, and diplomacy then just running the 'dungeon' from one fight to another. Don't get me wrong, you can do that, but not doing that is just as viable and is rewarded in the same way. You can survive a lot better if no bullets are flying around for one to find your squishy spots...

I like how you can have 'big' stuff and actually keep it, even from character creation. If I want to start the game with a 320,000¥ limousine or a bloody (attack) helicopter, I can. Do I want bound instead of summoned Spirits/Elementals, I can do that. Money is scarce, but things are important. No bags of gold pieces lying around, but stripping the gang that ambushed you of everything usable is very, very nice! We need a car, we can 'borrow' an APC from the parking lot...

Your not playing a character that is Good or Evil, you can be anything you want, do anything you want. But carrying that assault cannon into that mall is going to have consequences or not if you have skilled friends that think ahead (like hacking the security systems)...

 

[exile]

I've dabbled in Shadowrun several times over the years. Most recently, some friends and I are using the 20th Anniversary rules to play through the NYC season of Shaowrun:Missions.

I am playing a peace-loving, dwarven eco-shaman. her fellow runners include a troll bounty hunter (who looks a lot like the archetype from the book) and a Russian, dwarven hacker (who looks a lot like the wizards his player plays in more traditional fantasy games).

It has been a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to picking up the new rules.

Question: Will 5E be supported by a new season of Shadowrun: Missions?

Also, this RPG Spotlight thing is a great idea.

 

[Jhaelen]

Actually my interest for Shadowrun increased after playing Earthdawn. For those who didn't know: Earthdawn is set in the past of Shadowrun. Basically, every 2000 years, a new age begins. Ages are characterized by the ebb and flow of magical power. Earthdawn is set after a major surge in magic, i.e. magic power is on the decline, while Shadowrun is set _before_ a major surge, i.e. magic power is still on the rise.
There are even some recurring characters (basically immortal elves and dragons). Regarding the mechanics I definintely prefer Earthdawn over Shadowrun, though.

 

[tylermalan]

I, too, agree that the RPG spotlight thing is freakin great.

As for my experience with Shadowrun, I've always been a huge fan of cyberpunk but don't like the idea of mixing magic with it. Nonetheless, Shadowrun has been my go-to game for cyberpunk gaming because it gets such good reviews. However, I haven't played much of it. I had a huge gaming group a couple of years ago and we split in half and had two games, and it was really hard. Everyone had a lot of trouble figuring out what they could do (within the setting I mean - when someone calls me, can I have the number displayed on my futuristic Google Glass? Or can't I? And how do I prevent people from tracing my calls? Stuff like that). We also had some trouble with the mechanics - I know this makes us sound like idiots, but it was just hard to figure out how to build our characters properly, what was important and what was useless (in terms of stats and abilities), and remember all of the stat-to-ability connections required to form the dice pools. It didn't come naturally, including to me, and I'm a long time gamer, as were many others in the group.

Anyway, I always felt like if I could just get my group to read some cyberpunk, the game would go a lot more smoothly, but it's hard to find a group whose members are all into the exact same stuff. Like, there's always gonna be one guy who doesn't read much and won't read cyberpunk, no matter how awesome you tell him Neuromancer is.

I'm still buying the 5E book, though! I'm actually really excited for it, even though I don't have a group right now.

To answer your questions, I think the cool part is easily the setting. I love cyberpunk, even if I have to mix it with my fantasy.

In 4E, the stuff that wasn't so cool was... in my opinion, the worst part was probably the hacking mixed with the ability/stat dicepool mechanics. We just could NOT remember/figure out what programs did what and why you need or want them, nor what stats tied into them, nor how your stats change when you are in the Matrix, and thus how you now interact with those abilities and programs. It also didn't seem to be totally clear about what each program was capable of doing. For instance, can the program that takes over cameras also take over droids? And does one of those objects need another program to be used before taking control? Stuff like that. It was NOT easy.