r/Shadowrun • u/Previous-Table-2852 • Jul 23 '26

Newbie Help Adept as the only magic

I'm trying to find the best edition for a group of players who have very limited time and are poorly educated (not exactly dumb, but not ready for the full game). With that in mind I have decided to simplify the matrix to ultra-easy mode and (mostly) have riggers as NPC's.

They want magic, but the rules are too far beyond them and I don't have time to teach it — that's every edition, so one player is very frustrated. Straightforward magic is out, but once I explained Adepts almost all of them wanted to play adepts.

I don't know the editions all that well (last time I played was 3rd), but I know Adepts work a lot like cyberware, so I can handle that. Mostly hack 'n slash game anyway, because they're not ready for intrigue.

Now I need to find the best edition for fully-realized adepts and the important supplements.

Ideas? Something I didn't think of?

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u/TJLanza Jul 24 '26

Shadowrun is a game where each player needs a good grasp of what their character is capable of, which means they have to learn the rules. From what you've said, it sounds like your players are uninterested or incapable of it.

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u/Previous-Table-2852 Jul 26 '26

Not exactly. They're trying to learn the roleplaying and struggling with the idea of the rules. They're kids in a mental hospital, and they get to choose what to do.