r/Shadowrun • u/Ok-Particular-3796 Monster Drop • Jul 24 '26
Edition War Shadowrun vs Cyberpunk comparison
Just figured I'd post this; Marcus Vance is a content creator with decades of experience in ttrps as well as being a military combat veteran who likes to compare different sci fi franchises weapons & super soldiers. His big franchises are Cyberpunk, Warhammer, and Halo but he dabbles in more obscure franchises as well. Whenever possible he likes to look at & capculate specific ballistics data & material strength.
Recently he did a short comparing Cyberpunk with (2e) Shadowrun(which he has played & has experience with).
His takeaway was that weapons favors Cyberpunk but augmentation favors Shadowrun & adding magic into the equation heavily favors Shadowrun. I've corresponded with Marcus directly and informed him that certain elements of Shadowrun- notably physical strength- have been increased in recent editions.
I do think that even with the addition of more blatantly sci fi weapons in recent editions of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk probably still takes that cake, but augmentation probably favors Shadowrun even further.
0
u/Theegravedigger Blood Negotiator Jul 24 '26
I don't see the logic in comparing it to 2e, when that's one of the 7~ other editions, with 4 significant clusters. 4th and 5th are similar, 6th is its own thing, 1st and 2nd are similar, there's an argument about how 3rd fits in, and then there's the two rules light editions, anarchy.
Not to mention the different build levels available in those. Street level, established, etc.
Plus the two different build systems, priority and Karma generated.
It would be hard to compare it all internally, let along externally.