Andrew Pontious

Maybe it was just how it was explained to me, but, man, the #Shadowrun #TTRPG seems like a lot of complexity for not much upside.

I'm finding in this time of my life where I'm trying a ton of #DnD5e alternatives, I like the ones the best that are simple and opinionatedly different.

But systems that try to match D&D's complexity, often older games, leave me cold.

Jul 30, 2023 at 5:12pmWeb
Show threadLuigi Jul 30, 2023
@apontious I bought a copy of Shadowrun back in the 90s hearing people raving about it, read it, and gave it away. Found it boring and convoluted, and at that time we were playing only GURPS in various settings
Show threadYoraJul 30, 2023

@apontious No, it's always been a cool setting with awful mechanics.

Just like Vampire.

And probably plenty of 90s RPGs.

Show threadSix Possums In A TrenchcoatJul 30, 2023
@apontious Shadowrun has a great setting and awful rules. Luckily, there are plenty of hacks of other systems to get the good parts without the bad.
Show threadAndrew PontiousJul 30, 2023
@dbendit Loooool the campaign I tried (and bailed on) was using the Shadowrun rules for an entirely homebrew campaign, none of the setting at all.
Show threadkatreJul 30, 2023

@apontious @dbendit Noooo, why?

I run a Shadowrun campaign using Savage Worlds (and the Sprawlrunners splatbook) and it's great, I'm not a teenager I can't deal with the actual rules anymore.

Show threadAndrew PontiousJul 30, 2023
@katre @dbendit None of us are teenagers anymore, katre.
Show threadAndrew PontiousJul 30, 2023
@katre Soooo....you like Savage Worlds? What do you like about it?
Show threadkatreJul 30, 2023

@apontious I do like it! It's not as combat-focused as D&D, it's got more tactical depth than Fate, and it's a lot easier to learn than SR, so it's at kind of a sweet spot.

Also it's pretty easy to stay up random NPCs ("this guy's pretty lame, he's got d4s for everything, this lady's a serious threat, she's got d10s for a few things and d8s for everything else). Since my GM style is "seat of the pants sandbox", that's really useful for me.

Show threadAndrew PontiousJul 30, 2023
@katre Yeah, I really love #Genesys #TTRPG but the minion rules are a horrorshow if you're trying to do it by hand, and http://rpgsessions.com which does have support for it, doesn't do maps…
RPG Sessions

Show threadRawwwbJul 30, 2023
@apontious @katre I had a great Genesys game that ran for about 2 years, but we had to homebrew entire systems and totally disregarded anything to do with vehicles or minions.
Show threadBroxenJul 30, 2023

@katre @apontious I'd echo this. My current group is in our 3rd Shadowrun campaign. The 1st one was Shadowrun 5E and the rules were just so terrible. One player actually quit because he just couldn't figure it out.

We moved to #savageworlds for the 2nd and 3rd. The group absolutely loves it. While I typically GM, I'm playing now and my Face character has been so much fun. I'm able to essentially Buff/Debuff in combat with my social skills by rallying my allies or taunting/intimidating goons.

Show threadAetherJul 30, 2023

@apontious part of shadowrun's appeal to a lot of people is how ludicrously in depth you can get with the gear options and such

Unfortunately this also leaves it a bit of a nightmare mess.

Show threadDigital Mark λ ☕️ 🚀 🌗Jul 30, 2023

@apontious I loved classic 1E-2E #Shadowrun, and I've been rereading a 2E bundle. Rules are fine, really. Big chunk of dice, count those over a target, see what you do with those successes. The way I played 1E was with the DMZ boardgame for combat, seems like 2E is more playable as written. It's really not that complex, just very different from D&D-like games.

3E was complex, but better balanced, haven't read later ones.

The setting is *fantastic*, tho. Read some of the novels/short stories.

Show threadJason.Myth-forgedGamesJul 30, 2023
@apontious I like the setting okay, but mostly feel like I prefer either cyberpunk or fantasy when I sit down at the table. I have had fun with it though. My group are very adverse to gear in general, so we avoided a lot of the mess, but it still was really not great for us. This was 4e. I have since run SR in Hero and my homebrew system and had fun, but still, I have to be in the right mood, lol.
Show threadTzigJul 31, 2023

@apontious I started #ttrpg with D&D3.5 and I've been DMing a #Shadowrun 5E compain for the last 2 years. So I kinda get where you're coming from.

To me, the roll system isn't really that bad, you have a dice pool of d6s made of an attribute and a skill level and then you count the 5s and the 6s and there you go. A lot more painful than a single #d20, granted.