Is there any interest to play Shadow Run 5th? I am new to 5th edition, but the recent video game on Steam really peaked my interest again.
I have been doing PbP on this site for a while now, like 3 years I guess. New to the system and we can learn it together.
There's too many holes in 5th still. They've left out a bunch of rules and haven't put out enough splat books to cover the holes.
I'm not just talking about expansion rules, most of the base skills don't have rules for using them on a daily basis (software and mechanic skills come to mind, they have no effectiveness to actually be used except for field repairs and hacking, despite software saying it's used to write software).
Rigging rules for modifying/customizing your vehicles (something that all Riggers do) are also barely present.
Honestly I still consider 3rd edition to be the best set of rules. It had issues (especially decking), but at least the rules were written. As it is, 5th requires a ton of house rules to bring it to the same level.
Fourth isn't quite as bad, it's workable, and the matrix rules aren't horrible. The biggest problem was probably how overpowered Otaku were.
There's too many holes in 5th still. They've left out a bunch of rules and haven't put out enough splat books to cover the holes.
I'm not just talking about expansion rules, most of the base skills don't have rules for using them on a daily basis (software and mechanic skills come to mind, they have no effectiveness to actually be used except for field repairs and hacking, despite software saying it's used to write software).
Rigging rules for modifying/customizing your vehicles (something that all Riggers do) are also barely present.
Honestly I still consider 3rd edition to be the best set of rules. It had issues (especially decking), but at least the rules were written. As it is, 5th requires a ton of house rules to bring it to the same level.
Fourth isn't quite as bad, it's workable, and the matrix rules aren't horrible. The biggest problem was probably how overpowered Otaku were.
That's too bad. I had not played since 2nd and was surprised to find a 5th was even made. Drive Thru is having a sale on the PDFs so figured I would take a look. They seem to have a lot of books, so if they have not covered those holes you mentioned that is not good.
I'm a fan of 4th. 5th has some rules that I really don't like. Plus I'm not willing to go out and buy all these new books for one game.
Don't get me wrong, the 5th has some nice rules in it. But it feels rushed (they left out pricing on gear for example and had to put it in an errata, in fact, if you look at the errata it is pretty hefty for such a short core rule book), and they left out basic stuff like skill usage and such.
That could be forgiven if they fixed it in a splat book, but they still havent' fixed it and they've put out the splat books for matrix and rigger...
Also, be careful on Drive-Thru, they list a lot of the 4th edition books as 5th edition, even though they aren't. Catalyst's website isn't much better (which is probably why Drive-Thru is off).
Wikipedia can help you differentiate. 5th only has about 6 or 7 books out for it. Everything else is 4th edition.
I could be interested. I don't have the books, but if the game looks to be happening, maybe I'll pick them up.
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I'm a huge fan of Shadowrun. However, 4th edition's shift in mechanics was frustrating. (I'm not a huge fan of Catalyst's shift in tone either, but most of it I can go either way on.) The change in the core mechanics meant that the game went from one where the characters were highly skilled operatives to superhero style adventurers. And it's very upsetting that the designers didn't seem to notice.
Having been part of the early discussions about the changes to come in 4th edition, they made it clear that their intent was just to make a "better game" with no regard to how mechanics influenced style. I'm sympathetic to that, of course, but part of shadowrun's allure (to me) has always been its style (both mechanically and within the setting).
I also second the warning to check between editions. It's possible to cobble together things between 4th and 5th but it takes a lot of work in some places.
With all that said, I'm always interested in a shadowrun game of any kind and any edition. Also, it's a game that is almost meant to be played in an online setting. Pbp makes splitting the party much easier, and while the new edition does try to make things run at the same "speed", it's still easier to run a group like this.
I still think 3rd edition is a much more solid and complete system than 4th, and 5th is just sad.
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I agree with you mdt and aptinuviel. I played lots of 3rd edition when it was first out and had a blast! Yest the decking rules sucked, but we just made an NPC decker who we could call in if needed. Fourth was ok, and it did make the decker more a part of the game as a pc, but it needed some fixes, not a whole new edition! Maybe you should try for a 3rd, or 4th edition game. I would love to play....
I'd roll in a 4th, and rock in a 3rd. :)
Hmm well I wish I had those versions, I only have 2nd or 5th ha. I really enjoyed the Shadowrun Crossfire game Catalyst put out so I am sad to see so many negative reviews of the RPG.
Are you saying you would run a 3rd or 4th edition game mdt??? (or am I just putting (hopeful) words in your mouth) :-)
Had I the resources I would. I just got the 5th Edition so I need to read over it. Maybe I could assuage some fears once I am more familiar with the system.
No, I was saying if he ran 3rd or 4th I'd enjoy it. :) I'm buried in running right now. Maybe if one of my current games shuts down.
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To be fair, I think 5th edition is workable. The only real issue at the moment is the lack of material for Deckers/Riggers. Which is normal whenever a new edition of Shadowrun comes out. Though I cannot stress enough how much you should not use the priority system from the main book. Get Run & Gun and use the point buy system. It's always been the best way to make characters. More complicated, sure, but it's a bit ridiculous how much better it is. (It vastly encourages spreading out rather than up, which is a massive issue in 4th and 5th edition SR to begin with.)
Try 'it's been better since 3rd edition' which is where they introduced the point buy in the Runner's Companion book.
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Actually, I also meant Karmagen. I completely forgot (for whatever reason) that 3rd edition had point buy. (Which, if we're being technical, was introduced in the 2nd edition companion. Though I'd have to dig it out to find out if they had karmagen back then. It's been close to 20 years since I used it, so I have *no* idea.)
I do, of course, prefer point buy to priority. But I prefer karmagen to them all. As it actually encourages spreading out rather than up. But as long as it's not priority, I'm good to go with it.
I dunno, I've seen some really bad pizza's before (usually involving tofu). :)
If you're that excited though, I suggest the recruitment thread (see up thread).
I'm not seeing a link to a recruitment anywhere in the thread. Am I just missing it? That said, I'd be down for a Shadowrun game. If it's 5E I'll just have to read through the rules again, but I wasn't super happy with the book itself. I've never read/played 3E Shadowrun, but I'm a big fan of 4E and I could get behind that.
Oh, sorry, this isn't my thread. :) I had an interest thread up as well. Got confused on which one I was in. :)
Cool, well I have had some interest so I will pursue making a game then. I have not started actual recruitment yet as this was just an interest check, I have made the mistake of putting a lot of prep time into a game that there was no interest for so I always start with that now. I will be finally getting a few days off after working 10 straight so give me a day to look over things and I should have a proper thread up soon. Thanks.
Good enough. If you go 5th, I might be interested anyway, but it mostly depends on how you'll be handling creation and the missing rules (writing software, fixing your own vehicles, etc).