Rules Breakdown: Shadowrun: 2nd Edtion

[@Jimalcoatl]

Very excellent breakdown. One thing I would have mentioned is that, especially for defense rolls, you should use an alternate color of die for your combat pool, as if you roll enough successes to cancel your attacker's successes with only the combat pool dice, you dodge the attack and take no damage regardless of the damage code of the weapon.

[@RPGGamer]

Either I never noticed that rule, or it never came up (as if you negate the attacker successes, then you're likely to counter the damage with what is left). But many thanks for bringing this up. I'll pin this comment to bring it to the notice of anyone who watches in the future.

[@Jimalcoatl]

@RPGGamer I went back and rechecked; it's correct, p. 91 for the ranged rule. In melee in only applies if you sacrifice your opportunity to counter attack and go full defensive, which seems odd.

[@RPGGamer]

@@Jimalcoatl Sorry if it appeared that I doubted you, because I certainly didn't. Was just that I have no memory of that rule, but since we were coming across from 1st edition, we possibly skipped a few of the rules just adapting the changes to what we were already doing. Thanks for checking, much appreciated.

[@Jimalcoatl]

@RPGGamer Oh no, I was just doubting myself when you mentioned you never noticed the rule and felt compelled to check for my own piece of mind. I get rules that are easy to miss in old SR; there are so many of them, and they aren't always organized or presented in the best way. Hell, as a kid, I always forgot about dice pools entirely, which feels like a huge oversight now.

[@benchapins108]

The fact that you somehow are able to calmly and efficiently explain the rules of Shadowrun, especially an early edition of Shadowrun, has earned my sub and like. Kudos to you, chummer.

[@RPGGamer]

Cheers, much appreciated, glad it was useful.

[@benchapins108]

@@RPGGamer Do you plan on going over Matrix or Rigger rules from the core rulebook or any of the source books at some point? Would love that!

[@RPGGamer]

@@benchapins108 I'm definitely going to get around to them sometime. Actually I've covered the Shadowtech book for next week.

[@benchapins108]

@@RPGGamer I'll be sure to check it out! Cheers!

[@kidren50]

As someone who started in shadowrun by DMing 2e, this video is SUPER helpful. Thank you!

[@RPGGamer]

I'm glad it was useful to you, and thank you for the kind comment.

[@unfortunately.not.a.psyduck]

Thanks for this! Exactly what I was looking for. I'm having my new players watch the whole video before session 1

[@RPGGamer]

Glad it was useful to you. Have a great game.

[@orinking8064]

that casual 19 roll was very funny, thanks for the video! i've been reading the older versions of shadowrun as i was suggested them after learning 5e and 6e, and these videos on 1-3 have been very useful!

[@orinking8064]

it seems like karma pool was replaced by edge in later editions, pretty neat

[@RPGGamer]

It's the fun thing in these videos, that because I'm rolling dice on camera, the results are totally random meaning anything I'd planned to say can totally go out the window as I have to improvise to a wildly massive success or fail. Fortunately in this event it didn't make much of a difference. Glad the videos have been of some use.

[@Dasharr]

I wasn't a fan of how they did reach for melee weapons in SR2, because it made reach a "god stat". From memory the normal target was 4, made as an opposed roll (instead of the turn-about of ranged combat) as the target would counter-attack. If there was a reach difference between enemies, the one with longer reach had their target reduced by 1 per point of extra reach, and the other one had their target increased by the same amount. That meant that if you had a reach disadvantage of 2 (a human with a sword vs a troll with a combat axe, for example) your target would be 6 versus the opponent's 2, so you'd need 5 times as many dice to even the odds. Overall, I do like how SR2 was similar enough to the first edition that a lot of books could be used with minimal conversion. The concept of an edition change has shifted a lot since those days - it's more common now for new editions of RPGs to be major reworks with little backwards-compatibility.

[@RPGGamer]

Yeah, a Troll with a Combat Axe and therefore a reach bonus of 3 was pretty much undefeatable, especially if you were silly enough to face them using only Spurs :(

[@anthonyhansel9175]

When taking a hit, i'm pretty sure any and all points in the Combat Pool are used automatically since they all come back on the character's turn anyway. Pretty sure that's somewhere in the book.

[@RPGGamer]

Page 84, "Dice from the Combat Pool may be allocated to any offensive or defensive combat-related tests. . . It is also possible to use them to augment Damage Resistance tests against normal attacks." So you can use any or all points if you want, but it's your choice.

[@BDRCADE]

Great video chummer! I haven't played SR2nd since 1997 and my group wants to play this edition so I'm of course the GM (I've never GM'd before, only played). I've been pouring over the sourcebook, videos, etc etc, and this video has helped the most. However, I may have missed it or misunderstood, but during the combat section, why would the Merc need to roll eight 2's? Since it was 7S damage upped to 7D damage (thanks to the 4 successes) and then dropped to 2D damage thanks to the 5 ballistics on his jacket, I am confused where that "he needs eight 2s" comes into play.

[@RPGGamer]

You need 2 sucesses to drop the damage by 1 level. So 2 to reduce the damage to serious, 2 to moderate, 2 to light, then 2 to nill damage. Hence 8.

[@BDRCADE]

@@RPGGamer I can't believe I didn't understand that. Thanks man, appreciate it!!!

[@RPGGamer]

Not a problem. When you questioned it, I had to do a double take as I became uncertain I'd gotten it right. Always good to be sure.

[@dharmainthenorth]

Thanks! Super concise breakdown!

[@RPGGamer]

Thank you, hope it was useful.

[@amarelopiscante]

Thank you so much for this video

[@RPGGamer]

My absolute pleasure, hope it was useful to you.

[@RickJaeger]

thank you kindly, again, for the breakdown. informative

[@RPGGamer]

My pleasure!

[@jonathanchappell9503]

I cannot find anything on adding attribute to a skill like in 4e, am i correct in concluding that you only roll skill dice, and do not add attribute? if so i can wrap my head around skill tree circumventing a specialization skill and stuff, but i cannot find this answer anywhere. Do i add quickness to firearms skill when attacking?

[@RPGGamer]

In 2e, no you just roll the Skill itself. However, you do have your combat pool which you can add to your attack, or use for your defence which refreshes every action.

[@jonathanchappell9503]

@@RPGGamer Thankyou kindly, havent played yet but im a spoiled srd user and these books is a real pain for me to navigate. im enjoying the feel though!

[@amarelopiscante]

What happens if two or more players roll the same initiative?

[@RPGGamer]

Whoever has the highest Quickness goes first between the two.

[@realMindmelter]

Absolutely great review! Are you able to do another one for the popular third edition?

[@RPGGamer]

Yes, I intend to cover 3e as soon as I cover Shadowrun again. Although I never played much 3e (my group kind of took a break from Shadowrun after 2e, and didn't pick it up again until 4 + 5e), I do like it and intend to get around to the books, although I've so much 1st and 2nd edition stuff left to cover.

[@realMindmelter]

@@RPGGamer Thank you

[@braddoc4087]

Oh yeah, made my first SR char in 2nd; mostly played in 2060 thought....

[@RPGGamer]

It's strange to think that we're now closer to the 2050 starting date for the Shadowrun game, than the current Shadowrun date is (I believe 6th Edition is set in 2082).

[@mclang5932]

Great game - except that the first wound, even if it was a light one, resulted in one pip increase in the target numbers, which usually screwed up the rest of the combat for my character. This made me enjoy the game less than I would otherwise had :/ Adding damage boxes in the front fixed this a little, but general consensus in our group was that the rules would have been better if they used d10s instead of d6s.

[@RPGGamer]

2e was so much more deadly than 1e, and healing was slower as well, so wounds would hang on for an entire adventure giving your characters disadvantage right through. I've recounted a couple of times that in the first session of 2e, our group got attacked by a sniper who serious or critical wounded the entire party (except my Mage), and although I kept them all alive, everyone was suffering from +2 or +3 target numbers throughout the rest of the adventure, made us far more cautious in 2e after that, changed the way we played Shadowrun.