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Author Topic: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game  (Read 5635 times)

Offline Yuber Okami

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Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« on: December 17, 2019, 11:32:00 AM »
Hi!
I have been a Shadowrun fan since the release of the SNES game. I have a sizeable collection of "things that look ok to be used in that setting", but no rules. I was thinking: what do you use for playing in that kind of universe? I have seen Zona Alfa lately and it reminds me of the crazy runs on the hyper-radiactive Shadowrun's SOX, but I don't know if it has all the weird rules I'd surely miss (magic, cybernetics...)

Offline Dentatus

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2019, 12:19:00 PM »
Zona Alfa isn't going to work for you. Different setting, no magic.

Why not play the Shadowrun RPG? After that, you might want to look into Savage Worlds/Interface Zero 2.0. SW was originally a minis game and IZ2.0 is a great cyberpunk source book with cybernetics and psionics, etc.

Offline Yuber Okami

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2019, 12:29:40 PM »
Zona Alfa isn't going to work for you. Different setting, no magic.

Why not play the Shadowrun RPG? After that, you might want to look into Savage Worlds/Interface Zero 2.0. SW was originally a minis game and IZ2.0 is a great cyberpunk source book with cybernetics and psionics, etc.

That's actually quite interesting as I happen to be a Savage Worlds GM xD. The Shadowrun rpg is an overly complicated rpg, and I'm looking for something more fast and furious for miniature warfare (Shadowrun had DMZ, but its rules seemed as cumbersome as the rpg itself).

Problem with the SW miniature system is that (aside from being discontinued) almost everyone had the same attributes ("Oh, standard human vs standard human... d6 on everything!"). Maybe the use of different races could change that...

What about the other Osprey rulebooks? They seem to be trying to cover everything!

Offline Dentatus

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2019, 01:24:55 PM »
Not sure about the other Osprey books. You try Rogue Stars? Some folks like it. 

Offline robh

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2019, 02:15:15 PM »
We use Rezolution as the base system with specifics from Shadowrun RPG (3rd ed) and the ICE Cyberspace RPG (these mostly for gear/cyberwear) and a card based hacking system; "Black ICE" that I wrote several years ago (like a very quick version of the excellent Netrunner CCG).

We play skirmish level only so no more than a dozen named figures in the game supplemented with NPC bodyguards, mercs, streetcops etc as necessary.

Finding a Cyberpunk game with Fantasy races and Magic apart from Shadowrun is very difficult, Rezolution was the nearest I could get but the alien races in the game are not fantasy inspired.
My other consideration for a base system was the Wessex Games "Firewall 2136" (it was for Wessex that I wrote "Black ICE") but that does not have magic.

Offline Cypher226

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2019, 02:51:28 PM »
You'd need to add magic in, but Reality's Edge might be worth a look, or Hardwired.

Offline Dentatus

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2019, 09:19:58 PM »
Thanks Cypher226.

Hardwired is simple, fast play, is combat centered and has psionics, but... no races, no magic.

You could always tweak the base stats to differentiate between races. (Boost movement for Elves, armor for Dwarves, melee combat for Orks... stereotyping, I know.)

Offline Yuber Okami

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2019, 08:24:30 PM »
We use Rezolution as the base system with specifics from Shadowrun RPG (3rd ed) and the ICE Cyberspace RPG (these mostly for gear/cyberwear) and a card based hacking system; "Black ICE" that I wrote several years ago (like a very quick version of the excellent Netrunner CCG).

That sounds like an awful (although quite complete) lot of rules - I should have mentioned that I'm looking for a not too complicated set of rules. That's the main reason not to try DMZ.

Not sure about the other Osprey books. You try Rogue Stars? Some folks like it. 

No, never tried it, but a friend of mine told me it was "too restrictive" regarding character choicesc :?

Thanks Cypher226.

Hardwired is simple, fast play, is combat centered and has psionics, but... no races, no magic.

You could always tweak the base stats to differentiate between races. (Boost movement for Elves, armor for Dwarves, melee combat for Orks... stereotyping, I know.)

I could try, but most rulesets tend to be imbalanced, and when you try to tweak things those imbalances increase to absurd level. Let me give you an example: we once tried to use Infinity for playing AvP. The fact that loosing troops rapidly reduce the remaining ones combat capability meant that the aliens were quite easily destroyed if they tried to use massed assaults tactics. Also, predators tended to be annihilated by the far more numerous colonial marines, and so on.

Offline Dentatus

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2019, 02:32:09 AM »
From these comments, it seems you need to write your own set of rules for the kind of games you want to play. Go for it.

Offline Munindk

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2019, 09:34:47 AM »
If balance is important I can see 2 ways to go.

1. pick a balanced skirmish games and file the serial numbers off weapons and races, use a lot of count as. Something like Necromunda or Infinity might work.

2. pick a very simple rules system that abstracts a lot of things.
Troll? Give him armour and some strenght ability.
Fireball or grenade laucher? A long range AOE attack is the same, no matter the weapon or spell used.

Round of Fire or Fistfull of Lead might work. There might be a sci fi version of A Song of Blades and Heroes?


Offline CookAndrewB

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #10 on: December 20, 2019, 03:17:12 PM »
2. pick a very simple rules system that abstracts a lot of things.
Troll? Give him armour and some strength ability.
Fireball or grenade launcher? A long range AOE attack is the same, no matter the weapon or spell used.

This is what I would probably lean towards. You can imagine a grenade bouncing across the ground, a mage holding out his hand to toss a fireball, etc. None of that is important in the grand scheme of things. What is important is how the damage is done and whether it makes sense. I wouldn't imagine a fireball hitting like a bullet, and honestly some non-damage types of effects like: push back (concussive force from a fireball blowing up), half movement for d6 rounds (ice/cold damage?), reduce armor rating by 1 (acid), and so forth don't greatly imbalance anything if you keep it pretty moderate. Knocking back a figure 1" probably won't turn the tides unless that character is standing on the edge of a cliff, in which case they deserve what they get lol. But really, it adds some fun flavor and some tactical options. Facing a tank? Cast some acid spells to make it vulnerable. Facing some mutant dogs? Why not freeze them up and slow down a sprint attack? It's color, but doesn't remove anyone from the field of play by itself. No need to find a rule set that tells you what to do.

Have fun and play! If the rules apply evenly to everyone, then that is fair. No army in history has ever stood across the field of battle and complained that the point counts weren't even. Life isn't fair. Overcoming the odds makes for heroic adventures, and a good commander can negate superior firepower/numbers by using solid tactics. If your made up rules really suck, tweak them and play the same scenario again. Or if the scenario is the problem, fix that and go again. Play and have fun. No need to fuss over this idea of the "perfect" game.

Offline Dentatus

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #11 on: December 20, 2019, 07:08:12 PM »
Have fun and play! If the rules apply evenly to everyone, then that is fair. No army in history has ever stood across the field of battle and complained that the point counts weren't even. Life isn't fair. Overcoming the odds makes for heroic adventures, and a good commander can negate superior firepower/numbers by using solid tactics. If your made up rules really suck, tweak them and play the same scenario again. Or if the scenario is the problem, fix that and go again. Play and have fun. No need to fuss over this idea of the "perfect" game.

This.

Offline Yuber Okami

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2019, 11:52:54 AM »
That's right. You know? I'm going to try the One Page Rules sets: this way I can keep tweaking things around with really simple rules and quite fast actions. Now, if I could only recruit the right people to try it....

Offline Baconfat

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2019, 04:36:29 PM »
I would say use Necromunda.   Most if not all of the old books and scenarios are floating around the internet for free.


For magic and the races, it would be quite simple to convert Warhammer Fantasy or Mordhiem stats and spells. 


In older versions of 40K, especially the siege book, there are scifi meets fantasy elements.

Offline Mr. White

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Re: Looking for a Shadowrun-style game
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2020, 01:08:21 PM »
Looks like the call for a Shadowrun style skirmish game are about to be answered.

https://fraggingunicorns.com/gangs-of-the-undercity/

Some more mini concepts: https://www.artstation.com/kieransart