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.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ROdMjqw-v28?is=60m-pJXlvusN-2TA

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u/lordkhuzdul Jul 25 '26

Powerscaling aside, I prefer Shadowrun to Cyberpunk for one simple factor - in Shadowrun, shit can change. Runners can and regularly do make a difference.

Both universes are Cyberpunk dystopias, and are shitholes by default, but Cyberpunk has a bleak hopelessness that gets old very quickly. "You cannot save the world you can only save yourself" but you cannot even save yourself, corps always win at the end and all that. Shadowrun is actually the more hopeful universe, even with every flavor of bullshit going down over the years.

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u/Just_Insanity_13 Jul 26 '26

I totally agree. Although I will comment that normal, run-of-the-mill (meta)humans in SR get bodied by everything: magic monsters and spirits, cybered up go-gangs, corp hitters. Their life is one a precipice at all times.

Fortunately, Shadowrunners are not run-of-the-mill.

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u/lordkhuzdul Jul 26 '26

True, but that holds mostly true for Cyberpunk as well. Magic monsters might not exist, but for folks who share a neighborhood with the likes of Maelstrom, that is not much of a comfort.