Honestly I think the dice are both the high and low point of Shadowrun. At low to mid level, when everything that happens requires 6-15 d6, it can drag a little bit.
Counterpoint, once you have your build running, sniping a guy in the head from three blocks away for 162d6 damage is very empowering. Or being able to cleave a man square from head to asshole right through his dermal plating with a vibro katana.
But by and large though SR is loved for its setting more than for its mechanics. Cyberpunk is probably just generally a better TTRPG, no matter how much of a sordid love affair I have with SR.
Cyberpunk has magic. They just call it things like “ice”, or “virus”, or whatever, and use some technobable to explain why it technically isn’t actually magic.
Oh you mean Shadowrun without magic and dragons?
More like a fancy Deus Ex.
I never asked for this.
Funny story, they added magic and dragon to shadowrun because cyberpunk released first, and they knew they were cooked without a USP.
My group tried Shadowrun, but we kept falling asleep. Counting dozens of dice for every fart you do was just too relaxing for us.
I’d love a shadowrun style setting with 5e or pf2 style rules. Even if I wouldn’t be able to find anyone to play it
Honestly I think the dice are both the high and low point of Shadowrun. At low to mid level, when everything that happens requires 6-15 d6, it can drag a little bit.
Counterpoint, once you have your build running, sniping a guy in the head from three blocks away for 162d6 damage is very empowering. Or being able to cleave a man square from head to asshole right through his dermal plating with a vibro katana.
But by and large though SR is loved for its setting more than for its mechanics. Cyberpunk is probably just generally a better TTRPG, no matter how much of a sordid love affair I have with SR.
Shadowrun has consistently had a great setting and a terrible system
You just need to know how to use a marker and then you throw two handful fo dice and can see the successes instantly…
You still need to count the successes and failures to see the result…
Just the successes. And up to around one handful is what basically everyone can grasp with just one look.
And the 1s are only relevant if they make up more than half of all roles and there are no successes. Which doesn’t happen with more than a few dice.
Cyberpunk has magic. They just call it things like “ice”, or “virus”, or whatever, and use some technobable to explain why it technically isn’t actually magic.
I picked up Cyberpunk when RED came out. Mostly because my table was into it. Compare to the lore and flavour of Shadowrun, it feels anemic.
I mean hacking is basically like magic and nothing stops you from making a cyber dragon or robo dragon or whatever.