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.

Rifts Lone Star Review

 

Today, I'm reviewing Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star by Kevin Siembieda.  Basically the north half of Texas, Lone Star is about the genetic engineering lab called the Lone Star complex.  It is here that "mutant" dogs are bred and genetically engineered.

The book begins by touching on the ten thousand year history man has with the dog.  While the dog was genetically engineered from the wolf ten thousand years ago, the dog has become man's best friend.  For instance, in the Fertile Crescent, dogs were buried with their masters when their master died. Flash forward to the time of Rifts, and the dog has been genetically engineered to become a two legged biped with human intelligence.

Then the book touches on how to create dog boys (what the Coalition calls the mutants) for your game.  The book goes into different breeds of dogs, and how they are used within the Coalition States.  The book also touches on the creation of other mutant animals -- like big cats and apes. And also other mutants.

My Game

I ran a short lived game of Rifts.  It was a playtest of Rifts Lone Star.  The players had to create characters that were all Canines.  And we had fun playing in southwest Kansas.  The dog boy rules seemed to work and, keeping balance, we managed to do combat well.  The game was balanced, for Rifts that was saying something.

Like Rifts World Book 14: New West this book has something to contribute to your Rifts game. Whether it be Savage Worlds Rifts or original Rifts.  The balance wasn't all over the place, and it stayed on one locale.  You should go on Drivethru and pick up a copy. I recommend it.

Shadowrun: 4th Ed. 20th Anniversary Core Rulebook Review

 Today, I'm reviewing the Shadowrun: 4th Ed. 20th Anniversary Core Rulebook by Catalyst Game Labs.  Alright, to me this is the best incarnation of Shadowrun since FASA first published Shadowrun in 1989.  In this game, you have a lot of options to make your character unique to others.  And strangely enough, 2019 marked the 30th Anniversary of this game, and so Catalyst Game Labs has since released Shadowrun: Sixth World.  Or sixth edition, to be fair.

 Shadowrun is a Roleplaying Game like Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, and Rolemaster.  Although its set in a dystopian world where magic has returned and there is high technology in the form of cybernetics, computers, and other things.  Shadowrun is a mixture of Dystopian Cyberpunk and Tolkien Fantasy.  The game is inspired by Bladerunner, Minority Report, Neuromancer, and the Tolkien novels.

Man Meets Magic and Machine

The premise of Shadowrun is simple.  You play a character called a Shadowrunner.  Someone who lives in the outskirts of society.  The world has changed in fifty years. Corporations weild the power of nations, the cities are sprawling metroplexes, and as I said before, magic has returned.  The USA lost it's western states to the native Americans in a great war of magic and machine called the Great Ghost Dance.  And humanity has changed since the awakening in 2011.

Elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls had thrown off their human disguises and joined the ranks of humanity.  And other things changed since the coming of Halley's Comet.  Humanity even further changed, introducing the Changelings into the mix (which have strange genetics, some even have reptilian appearances.)  As magic returned, so did the means of using magic.  Magicians -- from hermetic mages to shamans -- do magic in the streets.  And there is a world wide internet called the Matrix, which has become wireless.

As a Shadowrunner, you run the streets doing missions for the Corporations. These can include industrial espionage missions, bounty hunting, magical investigations, and other missions.  The GM should be inspired by James Bond, the adventures of Jack Ryan, and a host of other movies and television shows.  There is a cold war between corporations, and your character is in the thick of it.

Shadowrunners are originally thought of as terrorists, but they are operatives that are typically outside of the law.  They run the shadows, they are in the shadows, and they are equipped with magic, guns, computers, cyberware, and bioware.  Enhancements that allow them to do their job.

 

The System

Shadowrun uses simple six sided dice as it's core mechanic.  You roll six sided dice to resolve tests. The GM may set a target number, and usually you have to roll 5 or better to get a success.  The more successes you have, the better you are at that test.  Although sometimes lady luck can go against you, and if you roll more 1s than 5s or 6s, a glitch can happen.

Frequently asked questions: 

Are there classes?

No, there are no classes.  There are some sample characters which you can draw inspiration from.  From a Bounty Hunter to a covert ops specialist, to a combat mage, to a hacker, to a technomancer (someone who can interface the matrix without a Comlink), to a street samurai, and others.  They show what can be made with the system.  Unlike D&D, Shadowrun doesn't use classes.

Are there alignments?

No, and that's part of the game's charm.  D&D introduced the concept of aligmments, and games could be black and white.  In Shadowrun, there are only shades of gray.  Your character has no alignment, so you can play the character the way you want.  Want someone like James Bond? You can.  Only you aren't pigeon holed into playing a character in a way that Aligments can.  It's your character, you're free to play that character the way you want.  Of course, you have to deal with the consequences of your character's choices.

How does Magic Work?

Magic works differently in Shadowrun.  Every spell has a force rating that you can normally cast.  These ratings are typically from 1 to 6.  And sometimes can go beyond that. A magician can know many spells (typically about twice your Spellcasting skill at character creation).  And there are many spells to learn. Magic typically has a line of sight range.  You can cast an unlimited number of spells, but eventually that can take a toll on your character.

 

  How does the Matrix work?

The matrix works like a wireless network across the whole world.  Just like we have wireless phones, and wireless networks, so the Matrix is a vast wireless network.  It's been wireless since 2064 in Shadowrun.  Your character is a hacker or a technomancer.  The hacker still relies on a computer called a Commlink to access the matrix.  While the technomancer can do it instinctively without a Comlink or other computer.  The hacker uses programs to interact with the Matrix, while the Technomancer uses complex forms and sprites.  Programs (and their technomancer counterpart, complex forms) can have ratings up to 6.

 Conclusion 

Shadowrun is a good game, it has been for nearly 40 years.  It has been a cyberpunk RPG that has endured beyond other games like it.  Like Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk Red.  It's premise is simple, and you can create a whole number of characters using SR4A.  Thankfully it's on Drivethru, the game is cheep to get into.  The core rulebook only costs 15 dollars on Drivethru, and you can get the core sourcebooks for less than 60 dollars.