Shadow Run

[altpersona]

I guess there are a half dozen versions out there, anyone have thoughts on the different editions?

[Blue Rose]

Not sure what you're asking.

5e is far and away the most coherent and playable, but it's still super heavy and has a lot of problems.

Matrix is better integrated into everyone else doing things.

Relatively easy to GM on the fly, as numbers tend to be from a relatively narrow range that's easier to improvise.

Chrome Flesh includes an augmentation called Liminal Body: Tank!, for which the exclamation point is part of the spelling, and that is awesome.

It's still MagicRun.  There's no reason not to be a mage, and this edition, it's not a downward spiral of, "How long before your mage hits magic zero from bad rolls permanently costing you magic rating?"

[altpersona]

coherent is and playable is good...

i know very little about the systems they have tried over the years / content...

so, your input is just what i was asking about...

[Archon]

4e edition is also good - it has a bit higher power level (because skills scale to 6-8 rather than 12-13, which means you much more rarely encounter NPC's which outclass you without trying). It also has a lot more content, especially if you want to be a technomancer. (5e technomancers are kinda terrible, in many ways).

And to be completely honest, I'm going to dispute the "No reason not to be a mage". There is lots of cool stuff you can do with a big pile of cash as a starting character.

But I would definitely go with 4e or 5e. Both are good (and quite similar, I find). 5e is probably simpler, especially in character creation.

[Arz]

Personally, never quite got used to change from tn system. Spending edge just doesn't recompense.

I agree on the overwhelmingness of magic in 5th. Also 4/5th are both much less racist/factionalist in tone of writing. Also neither of them fixed one of the big SR problems of consistent rulesets that allow for a faster speed of play.

But its still true that good GM is good game. The rules are just a toolset.

[Skyrock]

I have mostly played 3rd back in the 00s. It was a massive, massive mess, but gambling with the various die pools was fun, and magic was oozing with flavour, especially with the domain-based nature spirits and the "ACFs" introduced in Magic in the Shadows.

4th managed to suck out much of the wrinkles (especially in the more complicated sub-systems of vehicles and computers), but also most of the unique quirks that made Shadowrun fun and stand out. 5th edition SR just seems to be mostly a slight clean-up and streamlining of 4th, much as 3rd edition SR was to 2nd.

I also had some fun with CP2020 and Savage Worlds conversions.

[altpersona]

Excellent, thanks

[Stratovarius]

For those who know the table vs the CRPG, what's the differences between them/what edition are they based on?

[Skyrock]

Shadowrun (SNES): Very, very loosely based on SR1.
Shadowrun (Genesis): SR2, very close to the P&P both in rules and setting even if dumbed down. Most faithful adaption I have played so far.
Shadowrun (2007): FPS that has hardly anything to do with the P&P other than "there are guns AND magic!!!".

I've also grabbed the new Harebrained games on a Steam sale, but haven't given them a whirl yet.

[Garryl]

I'm not at all familiar with tabletop Shadowrun, but my understanding is that the Harebrained Schemes CRPGs have little to do with the tabletop rules. Mechanically, they play out more like X-Com games.

[Stratovarius]

I've played and enjoyed them which is why I was curious - and they are very turn based tactical combat, much like X-Com. Except easier.

[Bloody Initiate]

My group played 3e, 4e, and 5e.

We liked 4e the best, and it has most of my fondest memories for gaming at a con (Origins) as well as the coolest characters I ever played in pretty much any system ever.

5e kind of lost us. We’ve recently discussed trying it again, but basically they copy/pasted a ton of 4e (you could actually find identical paragraphs) and screwed some stuff up so they could release a new edition for some money. After that it was just a matter of new systems not having as much material as old systems, so why bother?

Also only 2 of our players knew the game well enough to run it, and one of them left. AND we loved going as a team to Origins and laying the smack down. When half the GMs left, and the version that lets us show off in public is smaller and plainly shittier, we ran out of enthusiasm for it.

Perhaps when I have some time tomorrow I’ll include descriptions of my favorite 4e characters. Not just because I love talking about them, but because it helps to understand what the system allowed on the street level.

I loved all my Shadowrun characters, and it’s amazing what you could do. It’s all well below the power level of D&D, but the delight is in the details. You don’t compare an Avengers movie to Enter the Dragon. They’re both action, but they’re not trying to do the same things at all.

[Archon]

Oh yeah, I think that's a fair assessment, though I haven't played 3e.

5e has a simpler char-gen system, though?

[Skyrock]

I've played and enjoyed them which is why I was curious - and they are very turn based tactical combat, much like X-Com. Except easier.

I've finally caught up on Shadowrun Returns during the holidays.

The game is borrowing elements from SR2 and SR3, and some concepts of it such as using cover or different fire modes, but overall it has little to do with the P&P rules of any edition. The P&P system has no HP, no action point mechanic, no abilities with cool-down, no special abilities unlocked at certain attribute/skill tresholds, summoning works completely different, hacking works completely different, rigging drones works completely different... None of the editions comes even close to the Harebrained system.

The module structure is also very different from the normal Shadowrun module.
Harebrained plays more like a conventional dungeon module, expects you to go from room to room, slay a conveniently sized encounter and then rinse and repeat.
The P&P generally expects you to do legwork and scouting, advance unseen and undetected as far as possible, and only get into open combat once it becomes unavoidable (and then to fulfill the objective ASAP and bolt out and flee as fast as possible before alarmed reinforcements, drones, FRTs, SWATs and the like overwhelm the runner team). - The ground level of the infiltration of the UB compound in the last mission comes closest to a typical SR module, only switch back to hack&slash mode in the underground levels the latest.

(SR Returns also felt more like an extended tutorial to the game mechanics, rather than like a complete CRPG.)