Why Shadowrun is better than D&D

 

Shadowrun is much better than D&D by all accounts.  Although Dungeons and Dragons from Wizards of the Coast is marketed as the best Roleplaying game, you have to remember that D&D, and Pathfinder, and most level based games have a knack of pidgeon-holing your character into a particular role.  If you choose to be a paladin, then you are stuck playing a paladin (because that's your character class).  Although 5th edition has been trying to tool with alignments, it still doesn't bring you the freedom that Shadowrun has.  Shadowrun is clearly superior to Dungeons and Dragons in a number of ways.

Character Creation

 

Take for instance, the differences in character creation.  Dungeons and Dragons has you rolling for attributes, or buying them with points.  Or you may start out with a particular array.  Shadowrun, and particularly 4th edition, has you buying your attributes with 200 build points.  Now, of course Pathfinder and Rolemaster has you buying attributes too.   Just that both of these games handle the next step differently.  By your race and role.

Both Shadowrun and Dungeons and Dragons have you choose your race.  In Dungeons and Dragons and other games like it (Pathfinder, for instance) you choose your race: whether elf, human, dwarf, halfling, gnome, half-elf, or half-orc.  In Dungeons and Dragons, your race confers you certain benefits.  Like for instance a human may get an extra feat, and an extra skill point.  And an elf may get other benefits.

In Shadowrun you pay for the privilege of playing a different race other than human.  This represents how rare each metatype other than human is.  Like it costs 20 build points to play an orc, and 30 build points to play an elf.  And each metatype, other than human, has certain advantages in Shadowrun (see SR4A, page 81).

In the next step you choose your role.  In Dungeons and Dragons role is defined by your class, in Shadowrun, you define your role through the taking of qualities (something like Advantages and Disadvantages in Steve Jackson Games' GURPS).  Dungeons and Dragons still has you picking a class.  In fact, many players would pick a class based on the party's needs and not their wants. 

Take for instance you wanted to play a paladin.  In D&D you'd pick a class called paladin, and this determines some basic factors about your class.  In both D&D and Pathfinder, this would be your base attack bonus, your saves, and your class abilities. In Shadowrun you make your own role.  You aren't pigeon-holed into a particular class and role (say, like tank or healer).  You make your role your own. You want to play a mage?  Then you spend 15 build points to take the magician quality and gain the powers of a magician.

You want to play a paladin in Shadowrun?  Then you take the code of conduct quality and choose Chivalry as your code of conduct. In Shadowrun you define your role.

Both games have skills.  In D&D, skills define what you know and feats define what you can do.  In fact, in third edition D&D, the fighter got all the feats and the rogue got all the skills.  In Shadowrun, there are active skills -- which are defined as what you can do; knowledge skills, which define what you know; and language skills, which define how well you communicate in your chosen languages (Shadowrun's world is a global village). 

These are chosen through build points (you get a lot of build points).  In D&D there isn't a lot of skills, but there are a lot of feats. In Shadowrun there are more skills -- however room is given for the Game Master (Dungeon Master in D&D) to define other skills if the need arises.

After you build your characters, you go on adventure in D&D, and in Shadowrun you go on shadowruns.  In D&D you are expected to be good, in Shadowrun, you're a criminal. Both games offer an escape, and both games handle these differently.  As a result, both have their flaws.

Game Concepts

The flaws in both games are in the mechanics (or game physics as I like to call them).  D&D has you rolling primarily the d20.  That's why the system as a whole was called the d20 system during the 2000s. 

Shadowrun uses the d6.  In fact, it uses dice pools, which are multiple d6s.  If you roll a 5 or a 6, it's called a success. If you rolled more 1s than you have 5s or 6s, you glitch.  And if you roll just a number of 1s and no 5s or 6s, you critically glitch.  Which is a spectacular failure in Shadowrun.  While in D&D you roll the d20 to resolve most rolls, in Shadowrun you roll d6s.  While the chances are just about the same, you find that you have a better chance of success in Shadowrun than in D&D or Pathfinder.

Conclusion

Both games have their flaws.  Both games have their strengths, and both games provide some fun.  While in D&D you primarily play a hero (depends on which world you play in, remember?),  in Shadowrun you play a criminal out to break the law and are considered a deniable asset to your patron.  In D&D you become the Man.  In Shadowrun you stick it to the Man.  Although Shadowrun is better than D&D, you play different roles in both, and in both you can be successful in having fun.