Using Other Systems For Shadowrun?

Do you love the Shadowrun RPG as a setting but hate the system? I've seen several comments to this effect on a few of my videos so I know there are folks out there who don't particularly care for the Shadowrun RPG system but still want to play in the Sixth World. Do you have any alternative systems that you use for your Shadowrun RPG games? Let me know in the comments and I might just check a few of them out in a follow up video!
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[@Darklight689]

I have run shadowrun using savage worlds, it has plenty of supplements that have rules for hacking and magic. It plays very quickly and your characters are very competent out the gate. I enjoyed it and it felt like shadowrun, very pink Mohawk feel to it. The one I had my eye on is cities without number, I flipped through it and all the tools are there to play shadowrun. Magic, conjuring, hacking, metahumans etc so if you know the setting it will run out the box.

[@lyinggod9421]

Genesys works great for Shadowrun. Using the core rule for its highly flexible magic combined with the Genesys cyberpunk setting book "Shadows of the Beanstalk" make an easy Shadowrun setting (or a couple of fan conversion). Its full 2 axis (pass/fail + and/but) resolution system makes dice results highly dynamic, blowing away every game out there. Mechanics are less cumbersome than Shadowrun allowing for more RP and less micro sheet management. The only shortcoming is that there are not many hundreds of cybernetics defined (third party books extend this a bit with rules tweaks) but there is still a lot. The system is not designed to be super tactical (counting hexes for range or movement or individual bullets) but it can be easily tweaked for those who want excessively cumbersome combat slogs.

[@GamingWithADHD]

I’m curious about Cities without Number. But honestly, I’m of the opinion that you can use whatever rules you want.

[@CarnaghSidhe]

Started our first session of a Shadowrun campaign, using Cities Without Number. The players started having formed a punk band in Camden, London... when the power goes out... I'm using the 30 Nights campaign, much modified, as a starter. It'll be good to root them in what is going to become their home manor. The system is really light, as in, it's just very quick and easy, with the focus maintained upon the game itself, which is what I was after. The players like it, and I like it. I intend to run it as part of a sandbox into which I can drop old favourite SR adventures. I'll also in the future be running both a fantasy and a space opera with these players -- we've been playing as a group for over 15 years -- so World Without Number and Star Without Number, giving us essentially the same system across campaigns, is quite a bonus. We're getting older. We're going grey. So, we really just want to focus upon the game. The Without Number system, really is not the best. There's a lot for me to take issue with, but I don't really care. It works, and we're having fun. The supporting material in the game is top-notch, and the system is good enough, light, and quick. We're done worrying about the rules. It only took 4 decades of gameplay. We just want to play now.

[@LtCdrRoyFokker]

After 30 years, I finally understand the criticism regarding Shadowrun's crunch. I started back in 2e and played up to 5e intermittently and the crunch was something that I appreciated. After not playing for several years and hearing bad things about 6e on its release, I decided to try Anarchy during the pandemic. While Anarchy has its own serious issues (it's frequently rules MISSING instead of rules light!), I was surprised at how the feel of the game translated to a lighter system. Recently, I tried joining a 5e campaign and created my first 5e character from scratch in over five years... and boy did it feel shockingly tedious and nitpicky in the amount of gear and rules that do almost but not quite the same things. I never expected that change in my perspective to happen but I don't think I can go back. I'm looking at other cyberpunk systems that aren't d20 based as a replacement.

[@the-patient-987]

May I suggest you try Cypher System? It's d20 based but nothing like D&D. It's a lot more narrative and flexible, and the rules don't get in the way.

[@MySqueezingArm]

I'm personally going to try and shove it into Cypher, SWADE, or Cortex Prime. Although I love SR4E, it's hard to find other players who love crunch.

[@kokokakanomane]

The same. I played several times Anarchy but you have too much work to fill in the gaps. And you loose the importance of 'ware which gives a bad feeling at the table. I'm trying to adapt d100 system to Shadowrun with latest improvements (direct reading, critical result on double, levels of achievement with the tens die) brought by the latest version of Cthulhu, Wharhammer v4 or Nephilim (I'm french).

[@Buzzerker_1775]

I've used Savage Worlds a few years ago for a short Shadowrun campaign, and started another last year that is still ongoing (after a 3 month break that will be over around August). I've made a HUGE adaptation that keeps some of the crunch of SR (which many SW players would see as sacrilege) and does make SW more complex, but it is working like a charm for my table

[@Christophecj]

Hi there! Any way you could share your version or main changes? I'm also looking at using Savage Worlds but there are too many things I dislike in Interface Zero and Sprawlrunner to use them out of the box

[@gordonofgecko]

I'm personally using GURPS for my Shadowrun game. The trick is to not try to port all Shadowrun mechanics to GURPS. Furthest I've gone is adding a limitation on traits to represent them as Cyberware where it makes the trait cheaper but make it harder to use magic.

[@Bargeek]

Adding my voice to the Savage Worlds Shadowrun group. I have loved the setting since 1E, and kinda even liked the system up through 2E, but kinda fell out of RPGs for a few years. Got back into it with 5E, and that was okay, but man, did the system take away from enjoying the game for me. I was intrigued by the Savage Worlds system, and decided my first run with it would be set in the 6th world. Ran it for a couple of buddies from work who had 1.) Never played Savage Worlds and 2.) Didn't know much about the setting. It was pretty intuitive, although there were a couple of systems we didn't really interface with (both played Physical Adepts). They enjoyed it, and I had enough fun with running it that it will probably take another stab at it just to see how Street Sams, Riggers, and Spell Slingers play. Hell, I might even let someone run a decker. That wouldn't happen with any of the SR Official rules. That said, Cypher System, Cortex Prime, and FFGs Genesys system were also considered. I went with Savage Worlds just because it seemed like less work to convert for a one shot. Waiting on Kevin Crawford's Cities Without Number to go live because the beta versions look amazing and I really like Kevin Crawford's work. Great video! Keep up the great work!!!

[@C0ldIron]

I’ve started looking at porting Shadowrun into savage worlds. A couple people have made some books based on Shadowrun for it so I might use that as a guide to adapt as much of my collection as possible.

[@witchdoctor1394]

I've ported ShadowRun over to Chronicles of Darkness and thats worked pretty well for me. It takes the action down a notch and bumps up the character interaction with the world itself. Combat is fast, fun and deadly and there's rules for the footwork (Matrix and meatspace) before a Run to make the chances if success better.

[@TheSixthWorld]

Interesting. Never would've thought of using that particular system.

[@witchdoctor1394]

@@TheSixthWorld ShadowRun and WoD/CoD use a lot of the same DNA. IIRC, some of the WoD crew worked on ShadowRun in its early iterations. I put some of my own tweaks into the system and adopted the CoD spirit system. That really brings a lot of uniqueness to Shamans and spirits overall. I also treat the legwork for researching a Run as a Mystery and the mystery mechanics in CoD can let players earn extra dice to use during the Run if they succeed in their research but can also provide complications if they mess up. Gives them a great incentive to not just go in guns-a-blazing.

[@jonberry2083]

I have played in a 1st edition D&D game where the DM converted 1st edition Shadowrun into D&D rules and it worked out pretty good for an interesting adventure where our D&D characters ended up in the world of Shadowrun for an adventure. As a DM and GM though, I have never wanted to convert Shadowrun to another system because my core players and I enjoy using 3rd edition Shadowrun because it is a different system from other games and that difference is one reason we play it. We also really enjoy the setting and its continuity (at least during the first 3 editions).

[@jasonGamesMaster]

So, I've played 4e and 5e, and I've played Shadowrun in Hero and my own homebrew system, and I have to say there are really only two aspects that you have to be able to support for it to feel like Shadowrun. The magic needs to have that "cast at the level I want and risk the damage" thing, in some form, and the ability to take more than 1 action a round. Hero does both of these out of the box, with Endurance and the Speed chart. I had to create a rule for my homebrew system to let you take additional actions at a cumulative -3 penalty (its a dice pool system, so that hurts enough that most won't do it) then make abilities to reduce that penalty to let the wired nerves folks have at, lol. It worked really well both ways. I think the setting works fine in anything, let me add, but if you want thr RULES to feel right you need those things.

[@JasontheStoryteller]

We're using ShadowFate. It's got direct analogues from sr5 to fate that makes it simple to convert. Our group is continuing the work begun in 2017 by the original author with his blessing to further flesh it out. The Sprawl was a close second for swapping systems for us, but it didn't quite capture the feel. Technoir is super-neat, but would require writing a whole new hack before getting it to the table.

[@Watafakmatafak]

I will be buying the Shadowrun 6e core book soon. I really love the lore of Shadowrun and to be honest i don't know if i will like the system itself but i will have something to read :)

[@TheSixthWorld]

I've heard mixed reviews about 6e. Some people love it, some people hate it. I got a buddy of mine that's been running it since it came out and he loves it. Only way to figure out if you're going to like it is to try it!

[@spacelem]

When I first got into roleplaying, in my early 20s (I was a late starter!) I was playing SR3 and also a in a campaign of Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, running Cinematic Unisystem. I remember struggling with SR3's combat and feeling that that Unisystem would make a great alternative, with just the right mix of flexibility and crunchiness. It wouldn't be too difficult to replace Unisystem's exploding 1d10 with a d6 dice pool either. Nowadays though, I'd be tempted go much lighter than Unisystem. We actually played something resembling Shadowrun using the OSR game Whitehack (with some extra gun and combat rules), and that worked really nicely.

[@Gulgalogos]

The nice thing about playing 2e (as opposed to later editions) is that you can play using just the rules of the relatively slim core rule book and only add sourcebook material as desired or not at all. Once you get to 3rd edition, all of the sourcebook material gets rolled into the core rule book and the bloat and crunch really intensifies. If, at 14-years-old, I could pick up the 2e crb, having never played another ttrpg, teach myself to run a game and then teach my fellow 14-year-old friends to play, I think the system is pretty manageable without porting it to something else.

[@colemcmullen3904]

I've never gotten to play or run it for the Shadowrun setting, but I've always liked the idea of using the Fate or Fate Accelerated system. There's a cyberpunk specific version called Interface Zero 2.0 that could serve as a base system. Just add in a magic system.

[@the-patient-987]

I've been trying for quite a while to bring Shadowrun to Cypher System. And I am currently in analysis paralysis, overwhelmed by the amount of source material along the editions of the game. What I really want is to capture the spirit of the game. I want to be able to run a game for a seasoned Shadowrun player and have them feel like the rules for the player are different but the world for the character feels the same. And I don't even know where to start, the most experience I have with Shadowrun is through Returns and Dragonfall.

[@jonwooley3370]

I’m a recent Cypher convert and with their cyberpunk book (Neon Rain) coming to backerkit and modern magic book (It’s Only Magic) I’m ready to bring back my old Shadowrun campaign in Cypher with those two books.

[@the-patient-987]

@@jonwooley3370 That's awesome! You might also want to take a look at Godforsaken. I have a little experience with Cypher System but never run or played Shadowrun. I watched/listened to some actual plays but lacking first hand experience I think I'd struggle to capture the essence of the world.

[@jonwooley3370]

@@the-patient-987, I’ve go back to when the pamphlets from FASA was coming out explaining Shadowrun. Ran games 1st through 3rd, even playtested 3rd with my name in the credits. I did stop after I bought 4th core book. I’ve been building up to a running Spelljammer campaign in Cypher using all the existing white books somewhere. I had the modern magic book supported from a previous backerkit but didn’t have a use for it until their announcement of their cyberpunk book. While my Spelljammer game is going on once I get It’s Only Magic I can figure how much can apply to Cypher Shadowrun and what I’ll still need to add. I love this channel and trying to get my current players excited for the Shadowrun setting as well.

[@the-patient-987]

@@jonwooley3370 If you ever consider writing some notes or guidelines in capturing Shadowrun 2nd/3rd Ed vibe in CS terms I'd be very interested. In Godforken you'll find details for fantasy creatures, species, and options for magic. And Voices of the Datasphere is for Numenera but has some very interesting ideas that could apply for the Matrix. I'm also very excited for Neon Rain.

[@jonwooley3370]

@@the-patient-987Neon Rain made me have value for It’s Only Magic. I’m glad I will have some time to think about those rules and setting and how to apply it to Shadowrun. I just became active in Cypher Unlimited’s Discord channels. I hope to expand things there. I’m in the process of finding out what been going on with world building since my 3rd Ed days but it seems all the world building I loved stopped at 3rd. Really trying to find good resources to share with my group that has no understanding of the setting on why I love it

[@rlbink2498]

That pause before … “crunchy”. 😂

[@TalesFromTheShadows]

I used Savage Worlds for Shadowrun during the waning end of SR4 back in the day. The plan was to use it for a whole mini campaign (6 adventures), but we tossed it after the first session and went back to 4e. Maybe we were unlucky or were doing Savage Worlds wrong, but the amount of time my players had trouble rolling a effin 4 was ridiculous. The system felt too... uh... wibbly wobbly... for us and we decided to embrace the crunch. I'm still thinking about running my next SR campaign in another system (GURPS? Interlock? Fuzion? D20?), but I'm not sure. I don't what to submit to 6e, but the weaknesses of older editions became more and more apparent over the last years. And still I would LOVE to "patch" 2e or 3e for play in the 2080s...

[@allones3078]

Man if I only had the time to do that much content. I can barely do one video a month

[@landoe2846]

I’m looking into running it in the FFG Genesys system

[@davidogden2260]

If i can ever get a group together, I plan on using savage worlds, modifying the sprawlrunners supplement. which is basically shadowrun with the serial numbers filed off.

[@TheSixthWorld]

I've had a bunch of people recommend Savage Worlds. I looked at it years ago when it first came out. Maybe I need to check it out again.

[@GamingWithADHD]

I just picked up Critical: Foundations at Free RPG Day. This has some interesting potential.

[@MrErebusDarkness]

I have looked at some fan made conversions of Shadowrun into other systems, mainly generic systems like Genesys, and I find that there is often things in them that I feel is a compromise that takes away to much. I have not played Shadowrun using any other ruleset, only looked through them, so my impressions from reading them might be wrong and it would feel differently actually playing using the various rulesets out there.

[@TheSixthWorld]

Good point. I've gotten that impression with a couple I've seen myself. Just seems like a lot of them lose some of the character of the setting.

[@MrErebusDarkness]

@@TheSixthWorld Exactly what I meant, it might be different when actually playing using the rules, but from simply reading them that is the impression I got and at that point I just rather use the official rules.

[@thomassnider9360]

I have considered porting SR into StarFinder... but I've not gotten off the ground yet

[@allones3078]

Shadowrun GURPs was unofficial and I knew a few folks who played it in the day. But GURPS did have a GURPS cyberpunk game that the FBI raided them for because they thought it was real

[@TheSixthWorld]

That's pretty fraggin funny, lol.

[@allones3078]

@@TheSixthWorld It is a rather funny story and i may do a video on it one day but unitll then there is always the song about it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYCTiYaomqyJfrs

[@TheNehebkau]

Interesting discussion, personally we are using a homebrewed Shadowrun 5e on roll20(Mainly to keep things fairly Neon Anarchy compliant). Main issue we run into is that Chummer will export to our VTT service but the VTT not back to chummer. So we are using roll20 basically for rolls and chummer for inventory/progression. I don’t think shadowrun is quite as crunchy in play as people make it out to be, just seems more like people don’t have that wealth of experience they usually draw from for other RPGs. Few chances I have played with experienced players, the games flows quickly and satisfyingly. That said, if you do have to look up a rule set, I pray you have a digital rule book with your own annotation and bookmarks cause core book is abysmally laid out and utter mess.

[@robertlaib908]

I got into Shadowrun ages ago, around 2nd edition (maybe just before 3rd) and, despite loving the setting, I could never get into the rules. Kept trying up through 5rh, but at the time, my Cyberpunk rule system love was for R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk 2020. However, recently a company called Fire Ruby Design put out Wetwired. It's an homage to Shadowrun using their own system influenced by old-school British RPGs. So I'm currently using a 2nd edition SR PDF and converting weapons and gear to Wetwired. Hoping to try it soon.

[@TheSixthWorld]

Hmm...I'll have to check that out.

[@kat_boss5520]

Really hyped for Cities Without Number

[@TheSixthWorld]

I'll have to take a look at that.

[@sunendskou5273]

GURPS Shadowrun does indeed exist. I made it in the late ninetees. Maybe I have my pdf somewhere. 😅

[@tonysmoot3712]

There's a large 5e supplement book called the Technomancer's Textbook by Mogrit that converts quite a bit of content from Shadowrun. Really good start for anyone wanting to play DnD in the Sixth World

[@Alex-cq1zr]

A crunchy combo i've seen mentioned is combining Witcher rpg with Cyberpunk RED. As for my sr5e experience... I only played fifth edition of shadowrun so far. Was fun. I low-key hate the priority system, since it encourages min-maxing and sets a bit excessive limits on classless levelless freedom shadowrun seems to have. Also, priority system is full of trap options (like how getting 6 rank 1 skills has the same cost as getting 1 rank 6 skill, but results in your character effectively losing a ton of karma before the game starts) I like point buy, but... sr5e seems the best modern shadowrun mechanically. Of courae, shadowrun, as per tradition, is very easily broken, which puts extra pressure on whoever runs it. It feels like the system was rushed. Like, core rules are decently good, even if a mage casting increase reflexes with edge is nightmare fuel. Supplements feels low quality, which might be explained by the rate at which they are put out. Even so, one can find a lot of useful stuff there. Still, settling for mostly core rules seems best, at least for newer game masters. As for dice... i, for one, embrace out dice mount overlords XD I suppose that i would've wanted a system like shadowrun 5e, but with polish and refinement. To be fair, if you have dece t experience game mastering shadowrun, you might just do the dnd5e hobby of fixing up the system. Still, as pf2e fans say "if wotc wants me to finish their system for them, i can send them my freelancing fees" Having a system which just works good is nice. Kinda why pathfinder 2e is what i use if i wanna play something dnd-ish To be clear, i do like shadowrun 5e

[@TheREALIzludez]

I play shadowrun but heavily change how the game operates.

[@hellentomazin6488]

But the best thing about shadowrun is the system... the bad part is the setting.