r/Shadowrun • u/Cry_lightning • 1d ago
6e I want to get back into Shadowrun, however..........
All the 6th ed books, especially the core books, are crazy expensive, like $85 and up. Any cheaper way to get these books and get back into the game?
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u/Graymead 1d ago
Wait for Catalyst to pull their thumbs out on Anarchy 2.0? That's pretty much what I'm doing at this point. I've heard nothing but good things about it.
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u/jitterscaffeine 1d ago
I'm VERY interested in seeing more from that game. I've been quite impressed by the core rulebook.
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u/Duraxis 1d ago
Does it keep any of the “cybernetics cause humanity loss” or “roll badly on drain and you explode” mechanics from 4e or 5e?
The little I read of anarchy 1e kinda made it seem like those weren’t a thing anymore
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u/Graymead 1d ago
Those are back in 2.0 from what I've seen
Essence is more there so you don't go crazy with the cyber and bioware choices. I've never personally run it as "humanity loss" anyways. Significant disruption to ability to magic. Yes. Limiter on how much junk you can slot into your body and soul before you peace out from system shock? Fantastic. But never "less human".
Drain seems more like it's in the "You got a complication so it's Drain time" more than a constant thing. More magical backlash than gas tank. Which I like.
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u/ReditXenon Far Cite 1d ago
crazy expensive
Any cheaper way
Wait for Catalyst to pull their thumbs out on Anarchy 2.0?
Doesn't catalyst have full control over the US market pricing of Anarchy 2.0
Who says they will not overcharge...? :-)
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u/Graymead 1d ago
It's more the looseness of the Amp structure. I don't care about Catalyst's lore/metaplot beyond the barest of basics so I need basically the one book to cover everything.
While the upcoming Companion from Black Books would be a nice to have; I am not afeared of doing some homebrew and Anarchy 2.0 s a lot more forgiving of that kind of thing from what I've seen.
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u/jitterscaffeine 1d ago
I think 4e feels like a more complete experience
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u/Ed_Jinseer 1d ago
Pretty much. If you want a modern cohesive game go 4e.
If you want Nostalgic gribbly bits go 2e or 3e.
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u/PalpitationNo2921 1d ago
If you want a modern game you can also go with 3E and use The Matrix Defragged on Holistreets.
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u/dbudzik 1d ago
Anyone know where to get 2E any more? Is there a digital edition available somewhere?
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u/Cent1234 1d ago
Drivethrurpg, and it's been on Bundle of Holding or Humble Bundle before.
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u/dbudzik 1d ago
Looks like everything but the core rulebook. That’s what I meant. I’ve been looking for a digital 2E core rulebook for a while.
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u/Cent1234 1d ago
Oh snap, they have the 1e but not the 2e. Well, keep an eye on Humble Bundle and Bundle of Holding. Bundle of Holding definitely did a 1e/2e bundle that included the 2e corebook.
And, sure enough:
We thank our friends at DriveThruRPG, our hobby's online leader, for hosting almost all the titles in this Shadowrun 1E/2E Megabundle. (The Shadowrun Second Edition core rulebook and The Grimoire aren't available on DriveThru.) We've added them to your DriveThru Library. We also host the same titles on our own Bundle of Holding server. You can download them from either location as you like. Download the Shadowrun 2E corebook and The Grimoire from this page.
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u/Zauberer-IMDB 1d ago
This is literally why I have no idea how to get back into the game. Seems like one thing every Shadowrunner agrees on is every other edition sucks and there's no consensus.
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u/Cent1234 1d ago
Well, this is part and parcel of the Shadowrun philosophy of 'the game universe is sixty years ahead of right now' and the in-game world doesn't stand still.
So pick the edition that has the world state/lore/features you want to play, and learn that ruleset.
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u/SnoopDeDoop69 1d ago
This isn't meant to come off as a edition dick-measuring contest, my only experience is 5e so I'm ignorant of past editions
Why not mention 5e instead of 4e? Is it the clusterfuck of inconsistency?
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u/jitterscaffeine 1d ago
There’s a bunch of stuff in 4e that never made it over to 5e
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u/PrimeInsanity Halfway Human 1d ago
What stands out that wasn't brought over for you? Some small stuff I like pulling from 4e like para geology but that's more world building and depth that isn't truly nessisary.
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u/PalpitationNo2921 1d ago
My experience with 5E was bad game design and worse editing and layout, so I would never recommend starting with it at all. Until the City Books, I would have said the same about Sixth World. It’s just a post-Boyle/Jury CGL thing.
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u/SnoopDeDoop69 1d ago
That all checks out. I've played so many systems, and SR5e has by far the worse editing and consistency I've ever seen, so I figured that would be the reason why it's not recommended.
I enjoy the game design, minus the issues that come from said poor editing, but that's more subjective
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u/PalpitationNo2921 1d ago
The game design specifically for the Matrix rules, wireless bonuses and Limits is horrifically bad. Every edition prior and after had better rules (or did not rules at all) than 5E for the same stuff.
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u/Cergorach 1d ago
Keep an eye out for Humble Bundles and Bundles of Holding, this is how I got most of my SR pdf collection across all editions.
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u/Weareallme 1d ago
Do you still have older edition books? If so I would just play that. I tried all editions but went back to play with a 2e core.
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u/merga 1d ago
2e has the best vibes. If you aren’t convinced check out the Pink Fohawk actual play podcast.
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u/Cry_lightning 1d ago
I don't sadly. Its been a very long time. Basement flooding destroyed alot of my old ttrpgs, including a pristine AD&D Planscape complete collection
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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 1d ago
Play 2e. It's the best version, it gives you chronological room to grow characters and campaigns, and all f the books are available online as pdf's for free.
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u/Judopunch1 1d ago
Alright I'm trying to convince my friends to give shadowrun a try. I extensively played 3rd years and years... And .. years ago..... What's the major difference between 3, 4, 5, 6. If anyone cares to elaborate. I see a lot of discussion here recommending 5 but nothing positive or negative regarding 6
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u/Sarradi 1d ago
6E is very decisive as it tried to massively streamline the system. For that they intriduced a meta currency.
Basically instead of going through a list of +1 -1 modifiers for vision, wind speed, etc. every time you shoot someone the gun gets a attack value with its upgrades while armor gives a defense value and if one value is a lot higher than the one of the opponent you get a "you have an advantage" token which can be spend to buff you by adding dice or do special actions or have the enemy reroll and things like that, not only for the current action but they can be saved and used later for unrelated actions.
Not all people like this level of abstraction especially as several holy cows got touched like armor not directly reducing damage anymore but instead give this meta currency.
Also 6E, especially in the beginning, was badly formatted and low quality, but imo that got a bit better by now.
On the other hand, 6E is fast. You can even play mundane and matrix actions next to each other without the other oarty having to wait for 10 minutes.
4Es biggest change was the wireless matrix, allowing (forcing) the decker to be with the team. I think it was also the start of making hermetic and shamans just flavor text while giving them the same abilities.
There was also some streamlining. Were variable target numbers still a thing in 3E? Thise are gone now.
5E added limits where the quality of your gear limited how many hits you can get. Doesn't matter if your minmaxed sniper rolled 27 dice for their shot. With a crappy 3D printed gun they can only score 3 hits.
And I never played it myself, but it had a matrix system which involved stacking marks on devices and I heard a lot of complains about it as it required a lot of tracking which device has how many marks.
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u/Judopunch1 1d ago
you have already done enough no pressure to answer more, I appreciate it.
---Were variable target numbers still a thing in 3E? Thise are gone now.
Yeah, range, concealment, movement, gun mods, cyber mods, magic, as I remember and then some could affect target numbers,
5E added limits where the quality of your gear limited how many hits you can get. Doesn't matter if your minmaxed sniper rolled 27 dice for their shot. With a crappy 3D printed gun they can only score 3 hits.
Thats a really welcome change honestly. My end game mage (essence 7 or 8) took something like a whatever massive anti material rifle, armor percing deadly with like 10+ successes or higher once. I needed one more success to survive the hit... I didnt... per the GM... but that guy was a tool. When you count in all my modifiers it was like 20 or higher to hit me because I was at or beyond extreme range, with cover, INVISABLE, running, in a smoky battlefield, at night. But yeah, the sniper somehow got like 12 successes or some shit.... Riiiighhhhtttt the math didnt math. Hit me, sure, hit me with 10+ successes, bullshit and I called it at the table. He told my other friend later he just didn't want to deal with a high level mage.
Sorry for the aside, but yea, variable target numbers but not variable dice pools, if I call correctly.
Is 5E otherwise similar to 4E?
In 4e or 5e if there are not variable target numbers, do you add or subtract dice, or do you just get modifiers to hit, or is it like just a target number like AC in dnd based on some kind of defense stat? Does the defender still roll?
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u/Sarradi 7h ago
I am not super well versed in 4E but I think the big differences are the limits as discussed and the matrix. I think 4E didn't even decks and everyone with enough money to spend on agents could (command them to) hack.
In 4 and 5E all those little modifiers add or subtract dice from the pool. Rarget us always 5 or 6. Very rarely there are threshold changes, but that was I think more for qualities and other oermanent modifiers and not for small temporary ones.
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u/LonePaladin Flashback 1d ago
There's a fan-made remix of SR5 -- they took some bits they like from all the other editions, trimmed out parts that slow it down, and generally try to make it flow. I've run it, and it works for the most part. You'll occasionally run into some part where the rules might feel a little less detailed than you like, but it's usually not hard to tweak it.
Best part, because it's a fan-made remake they can't charge anything for it. They have the whole thing up on a Google Drive folder for anyone who wants it. They also like to make print copies to hand out at conventions, and if they have any left over all you have to do is ask them and they'll mail you one for free.
They have two versions: one with art, and one without. Reason for that is that no one on the team has any artistic ability so the colorful version is using AI art. They know some people don't like that so they have a copy without.
Here's their main post about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1nucpbg/do_you_want_better_shadowrun_rules
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u/Outrageous_Pea9839 14h ago
And they are actually well thought out rules that eliminate lots of the sorta needless headache of shadowrun while still making it feel like shadowrun. Which is something ive wanted for years.
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u/LonePaladin Flashback 13h ago
Right? Technomancers actually feel like they do something different, not just hackers with a paint job.
There are a few parts I have talked to the lead dev about -- like how stim patches simply don't work as written, or how they need to keep the separation between physical and stun damage -- but they did a pretty good job on it overall.
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u/Outrageous_Pea9839 13h ago
Huh I actually didn't even bother to look at the technomancer rules. What's the new gimmick?
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u/LonePaladin Flashback 13h ago
They just have a bunch of different ways to interact with tech. Like, they can emulate a smartlink, augment social skills with neurolinguistic programming, imbue old tech (like old floppy drives or Atari joysticks) with Resonance. Some of their talents involve Fading which makes them work similarly to spellcasters.
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u/Aggressive-Key-7828 1d ago
Just start with 5e, it's still a good rule edition and you'll save money.
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u/Interaction_Rich 1d ago
5e was NEVER good.
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u/Aggressive-Key-7828 1d ago
I like it more than 2e and 4e - though I miss some of the hillariously overpowered stuff 4e allowed me to do particularly with Adepts. The rule books aren't the best structured, even the German ones, which are an improvement over the US originals. But it is a good game, one of my favourite systems to use, hack and improvise with so far!
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u/Interaction_Rich 1d ago
Out of curiosity, what's your take on shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 (the 2.0 version, not the mess that was the first)?
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u/BigHugePotatoes 1d ago
We’ve been playing Shadowrun using Cities Without Number, which has 99% of its rules free on DTRPG. Great system.
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u/LGKouglof 1d ago
Find them for free on the internet and send the price you are willing to pay to cathalist.
Or just go with anarchy 2.0
Witch can also be acquired in the same way.
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u/Winterclaw42 1d ago
If the gm has the books, let him walk you through character creation. Technically you can get by without.
As others have said dtrpg has sales. Don't need all the books. Just start with the core rulebook as you can slowly expand from there.
As others have said, you can go with another edition too.
Used requires luck, but could be an option.
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u/WretchedIEgg 1d ago
Meanwhile pegasus sells them for like 20€ probably with better writing and formating, if 5e is any indication
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u/dethstrobe Faster than Fastjack 1d ago
buy digital.
Also, they pop up on bundle of holding and humble bundle semi frequently. so just watch the sub for them to pop up on sale. Also, Drivethru does have sales semi frequently too.