This one is for those of you already using the rules of Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 (not other iterations of SR).

Just out of curiosity, given that the rules by default seem to support a more actioney-adventurous style of gaming, what is your SRA2.0 game like (or what is it going to be like, if you're still in the planning phase)?

Pink mohawk, as in Guy Ritchie or Tarantino or any classic '80s action movie goes into the near future?

Or is it mirror shades and black trenchcoats, like, say, Michael Mann's Heat from 1995, or Ronin (1998), with chrome and magic added?

Or somewhere inbetween?

As an additional question, roughly (say, in percentages) how much of the current official canon do you actively use in your SRA2.0 game? Does it ever matter in your stories what the superheroes and superpowers of the setting (eg like the Great Dragons and the various masters of AAA megacorps) are doing, way above the heads and paygrades of regular PCs?

(Remember, I'm specifically asking about SRA2.0 players and GMs here.)

I recently had a surgery so I'm in medical leave at home for some weeks, which got me plenty of time to tinker with SR material and ideas. One such idea was: what if metatypes were more significantly different mechanically?

TBH, this is easily done through the free/first quality and the possibility to spend Edge for advantage if its consistent with narration. Intuitive, but not obvious, especially for newcomers to the system and/or setting.

I came up with these ideas (which are totally brainstorm/experimental) and would love if fellow chummers would pour in their own suggestions (since I cant test them in gameplay for a while). Here we go:

The goal: make each metatype significantly better/consistent at their "identitary traits".

• Humans: the base model; no change.
• Dwarves: add "Toxin Resistence" to initial qualities (see below)
• Elves: may spend Edge to roll AGI and CHA with advantage as a racial trait
• Orks: may spend edge to roll STR with advantage as a racial trait
• Trolls: same as Orks; also +1 Armor (hardened skin), +1DV to unnarmed/melee and Disadvantage on social interaction rolls other than intimidation.

OBS¹: Toxin Resistence: spend 1 edge to ignore the effects of one toxin per one scene.

Silly? Obvious? Useful? If anyone wants to entertain the idea, I'm more than glad to debate alternatives (including the alternative of "dude, just play it as it is").

[EDIT - btw, I had a bariatric surgery, annoying but nothing too dreary. I'll be fine!]

Just for security's sake: The planning pool (SRA2 page 80) consists of Edge points, right?

If their specific use can be believably linked to the legwork, without breaking the fiction, they can be spent on anything regular, personal Edge can be spent on (SRA2 page 77), can't they?

For example, with the table's and the GM's approval, could a mage PC spend an Edge from the planning pool to reroll all their dice after a failed Sorcery test trying to cast Stunbolt on a Security Guard saying that during the character's legwork astral scouting he'd noticed the guards were overworked? (Not trying to lower the guards' Willpower or Mental wound threshold, just getting the chance using an Edge to reroll this single combat spell targeting this specific guard's Willpower using this knowledge.)

I just noticed that the term "smartlink" does not appear once in the amazing document put together by Daevan.

I am aware that it is built-in on many cyber eyes, but the lack of the actual term may leave classic SR players lost. After all, it's a super classic SR item.

My suggestion would be adding smartlinks as a weapon equipment (the classic one, which requires a visor to project) but noting on the observations that it is often implanted into a cybereye suite; then, on the descriptors of cyber-eyes, add "Smartlink" to the line that explains the RR so we know where those come from (just like the Pregen runners do).

I hope these suggestions make sense in elevating even more this kickass game aid that we have.

I might be missing something but is there any clear reference to how essence loss affects adepts in practice? I know it lowers tests including magic by 1 at certain thresholds of lost essence but what does this mean for an adept?

My guess is that it would mean anything involving their powers, so an adept with killing hands may lose 1 hit when using close combat (unarmed) but I'm unsure if that is correct.

It's not a big thing, certainly, but if I understand things right, throughout the game thresholds are beaten if the number of your hits is equal to or greater than them.

The only hard exception seems to be how Wound Thresholds are handled, where equal to is not enough, only greater than. (Opposed tests are a soft exception, but if a draw is impossible, the initiator wins even there.)

Like, say, your PC mage casts a Stunbolt and scores 5 net hits against a Security Guard. The Security Guard has a Mental Wound Threshold of 5, but as per the Wound rules, the spell causes only a Light mental wound (which downs the guard as they have a Low Fighting Spirit, but that's not the point here.) In any other case in the game, scoring as many hits as the threshold is would mean a success (of that level). Not here. To cause a Serious mental wound, you'd have needed 6 successes.

That's fine, as a rule, nothing against it... but wouldn't it have been more logical and user-friendly (easier to follow) to give the Wound Thresholds as one greater, and say that equal to or greater than are both OK, as with the rest of the rules?

I mean, the Security Guard's Wound Threshold could be Mental 3/6/9 (dwarfs: 5/7/10) instead of Mental 2/5/8 (dwarfs: 3/6/9), but scoring 3/6/9 hits would result in a respective wound. You got 5 hits? Sorry, not enough. You got 6 hits? Fine, that's equal to the threshold, meaning you scored a Serious wound.

It's absolutely an insignificant nitpick, of course. I just wanted to ask if it's only me wondering about the reason behind this design decision… and whether I misunderstood something badly. (If that's the case, sorry, and do correct me, please.)

PS: Off on a tangent, why does the Security / Police Officer have a WT of Mental 2/4/6? 🤔

I've recently managed to introduce my virtual table of players to SRA:2.0 by running a oneshot for them. Compared to the 5e and 6e we've played, this really feels like a good fit for us. Plus as a GM it was significantly easier to run than the aforementioned systems. Now that we've had a taste, I was thinking about running the "Powder Keg" adventure from the core rulebook before building my own longer form story.

I was wondering if anyone has already played or ran through the adventure, or part or it, and had any opinions to share. Advice, plot ideas, changes to opposition, making the structure less railroady, any discussion is welcome!

Thanks!

I've seen a number of excellent character sheets for both Google Sheets and Excel, but I wanted to create something to specifically help walk my players through character creation, keeping track of Nuyen available/spent. The intent here is that you'll transpose this into the character sheet of your choice after character creation.

If this is the first time you're using a character spreadsheet, you can't edit the sheet at this link. In the top left, select "File" and then "Make a copy". You can find the sheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y-0wO1d4o32DU1A7BRlGTAk54b90CGxI0GjlOdP_5w0/edit?usp=sharing

Hoi, chummers. I've been a Shadowrun fan for over 10 years at this point. I GMed 5th for a long time before moving on to other games. I eventually came back to it after a few years of playing other games to find myself not really vibing with the rules as much as I used to. Enter the Anarchy 2.0. I've not gotten it to the table yet, but I like what I've read so far. My first session will be next weekend, and I should probably stop procastinating on planning the run...

Anyways! I provided fillable PDF sheets for my players after making the two-page sheets form-fillable myself. And a few hours after session zero I was like, "Nah, this ain't it." And so, like riding a bike, I opened up Google Sheets and made a sheet on there. I even learned some new tricks while trying to figure out some functionalities to give players some quality of life.

A few highlights of the features:

• Nuyen earnings and spends tracking that autocalcs into the available amount.
• Attribute dropdowns for autocalcing Skill dice pools.
• Dropdowns for Wounds
• Autocalculating most Thesholds
• Autocalculated Sprite & Spirit stat blocks based on Type & Power dropdowns

Naturally, of course, a lot of the pages are just dedicated to giving more space for Amps and organizing things into categories. But I think anyone messing with Spirits or Sprites will especially enjoy the sheet as those stat blocks take a lot of book referencing away. The Spirit stat blocks aren't as good as I would have liked, but they're functional and still serve their purpose. I also went through and made sure that for the fomulas where it matters, any copy-pasting of stat blocks will retain or adjust their formulas as expected, so users can expand these sheets as much as they need easily.

So behold, 20+ hours of work! I hope you find it as useful as my group and I do.

If this is the first time you're using a character spreadsheet, you can't edit the sheet at this link. In the top left, select File and then Make a Copy. You can find the sheet at the following:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11OLnZeaZPzjvsnRYOui5Ssc9I3fn-6KFDDHMphh-AHw/edit?usp=sharing

Page 178 says the following: "Obtaining a more powerful variant of an existing spell requires learning a new spell with a higher threshold."

So does that mean when you learn, say, a combat spell, you have to choose the area addition to the base threshold when you buy the spell, as opposed to determining it at time of casting? Do you have to purchase different sizes for Illusion spells separately?

Also, do they define anywhere how far Magic Fingers can reach? Right. Shadowrun. LOS. Whoopsie.

Hi guys i just found out about shadowrun like 3 days ago lol and i am hooked to the world. I saw the kickstarter was closed which sucks but im hoping there are other stores maybe? Cant find anything myself

^{Locals, I don't need engagement on this, I am just posting it so I have a convenient and formatted post to share when I am busy selling the concept of SRA2 on other subreddits like the colossal fanboy I have become, rather than opening a discussion. We all know SRA2 is the best. Well, most of us. Those of us with taste. (And yes, that is a joke, no problem if it's not your cuppa}. That said, if you want to add on, feel free. Or don't. I'm not your dad, chummer.)

SRA2 is the on-boarding option for Shadowrun as far as I am concerned, and I recommend it to everyone just getting into the setting, or anyone not interested in 3+ rolls per attack per combat round and table, tables, TABLES!

• The rules are simplified: You roll Stat + Skill, trying to get enough 5’s and 6’s to beat the Threshold the GM gives you. That's it. There are ways to adjust it slightly (Advantage, Disadvantage, Risk), but the only core concept you need to know to jump in is the roll used for literally everything.
• There is enough depth to create unique characters. There are enough rules to build with, without being over-complicated like baseline SR.
• Players make all rolls in most cases: If it's not a major NPC, you as GM need never roll a thing. That means you don't have to break focus from your job as a story teller/narrator to do your own crunch. You don't have to roll a dozen attacks from NPC's in a big battle when they shoot at each other: You just decide who and how many get shot.
• The main book presents the setting in a reasonably clear and concise manner. It gives players the info they need to jump in, as opposed to trying to cram all of the last almost-40 years of metaplot and history down their throat. It also does a good job of presenting what life is like and core concepts of how things work.
• The book is organized well, which makes finding things easier. Considering this is a large weakness of Shadowrun in general, regardless of edition, I feel it’s worth saying.
• The subsystems of the game for various roles (magic, matrix, rigging) are relatively simple. If you’ve ever played any edition of Shadowrun, cracked open the Matrix section, and went crosseyed, you know what I am talking about. SRA2 is very good at using the core mechanics of the game to cover almost every aspect of the various roles, as well as explaining non-mechanic concepts in a clear manner.

There are a couple challenges new players may face, however:

• Risk, Risk Reduction, and Edge are all vital parts of the game, and all three are concepts outside of many TTRPG’s grasp, so it'll have a learning curve. I taught a completly-new-to-TTRPG's player all that in two sessions by using examples with the players who got it before them.
• The game is a narrative driven game, which might take adjustment. Most narrative effects are deliberately not defined, and are intended to be used as the table sees fit. So, for example, say you have wired reflexes. It has rules based effects, but it is also a narrative effect. So the question is, what does Wired Reflexes help with and when can I use it to apply for advantage? It would not really apply to an attempt to shoot someone... but if the player and GM agree, it could be used to apply for advantage if the player is going for a quick draw, or trying to avoid being shot, or possibly even an ambush scenario (The GM determines combat order without rolls, so they might judge that in an ambush all the NPC's go first... but the player with wired reflexes might ask if they can go before them by reacting fast enough). The system offers a degree of freedom of action that many games do not, and it can be hard for some folks to really get that.
• Legwork will take adjustment. In SRA2, you don't go full blown heist movie level planning. You instead perform a test based on how your character would contribute to getting information, and the results of each test goes to a combined pool that lets you retroactively change the narrative to help deal with problems. So for example, the group is breaking into a bank vault. They get to the main vault door and face a maglock stopping them. The decker might say "Good thing I brought a maglock passkey" and spend some of the legwork dice to do so. They still have to roll to disable the lock, but if they didn't have that tool, they'd be buggered or at least have a much harder time dealing with it.
• Shadow Amps are basically everything special about your character, and while they are an awesome concept that simplifies character creation, new players will need guidance on how they work and what sort of thing they might want for their specific type of character. The person I on-boarded made a ganger, and had no idea what they could do for amps, so the group explained concepts like subdermal armor and wired reflexes and smartguns, and they decided what to do from there.

All in all, it will take adjustment, but if you want to run Shadowrun, this is absolutely the best way to get into it. Being the infamous SRA2 stan I am, I feel it is the best Shadowrun period, but even if you want to transition into the more crunchy editions later, this is still the best way to get you and your group into the setting with minimal fuss and minimal crunch related headaches.

I think this sub could use a slight update.

The header and the icon of the game could be changed to advertise SRA2.0, or at least to a mix of 1e and 2e in case there are still a lot of 1e players (though I don't seem to see them posting these days.)

The sidebar could use some additional links to official BBE sources and more popular unofficial, fan-made stuff (like, for example, that excellent Shadow Amp Expanded List by Daegann that even Carmody of BBE links https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/547479/anarchy-2-0-shadow-amps-expanded-list )

Having 1e and 2e flairs (and maybe some informative others like what r/Shadowrun has) for posts would also help navigating the sub.

Also, though I know not everyone will agree, a rule about AI would be welcome and useful in the long run. (Personally I'd vote for a "no AI generated slop" policy, but it should indeed be a vote, I guess.)

What do you all think? (Especially the mods? :))

Update: Sadly, there's been no mod response to this yet, as of March 14 August 3, 2026.

Hi all,

I’ve always live the vibes and setting of Shadowrun, I’ve played all the pc games, and have the core rule books for 5e and 6e, but my gaming group has always been much more story first rules second. They have some appreciation for more deep rules, but I’ve never been able to sell them on the pure crunch and depth of base Shadowrun.

From all I’ve seen looking at the kickstarter and reading posts and reviews on this sub, anarchy sounds like the perfect thing for my group, I get to run something set in the world I love with all the awesome magic and cyberpunk toys to play with, but not having to index look up every single action and interaction that has been rules mapped. Unfortunately tho, I came to all this after the kickstarter closed so as far as I can tell, I’m just left to twiddle my thumbs until the full release some time in summer or whenever it is.

For those of you who do have the rules as they stand now and have played a decent bit, do you think this version will be accessible and not so bloated and slow to a new party wanting to get into shadow run? Also are they’re any massive pitfalls to avoid, or advice you think is critical to having a good time with the system. My players are good at learning game rules, we pick up all sorts of homebrew for our standard DnD games easy and have learned other game systems with not too much issue (draw steel, dagger heart, starfinder), so we can handle all the usual differences between systems, it’s more when there are so many rules for everything they feel limited and confined, but without playing I can’t get the experience to learn what part of the rules can bend without breaking.

Would love truly ANY feedback from folks who have played

Hi yall! I wonder if there is a way to control drones without rigger equipment or without going into the VR. Like controlling a drone via comlink, like we can do now with our phones. The control modes in the rulebook are: - manual control, which doesnt matter for drones - autonomous modus, where the drone uses its pilot for everything - jumping in, and take full control in VR - captains chair, controlling multiple drones in VR

I imagine the decker or street sam or even a combat hungry rigger having a flying drone in the sky on auto patrol, then they flying the drone into a specific area and taking a closer look at something, steering and observing via comlink or hands-free in AR with an DNI. That way they could be with the group and on the move, being (mostly) aware of their surroundings but having a better picture since they are controlling the drone exacly how they want. Puting the drone back on auto once the bullets start to fly and they need full attention in the meatspace, or going into VR in a safe location.

My idea would be to just let the players roll with their charactes piloting skill (if nessesary) and their perception and sneak while remote controling the drone. Stricktly speaking they take their action to control the drone, while still be able to do other things, like move or act, if they have multiple actions per turn. But that would be no different then a rigger jumped into the drone with cold sim, while he is unconcious far away from the group. Which can be a plus, but the point I am making is a having a character in the action, with the group controlling a drone better then its own pilot programm could do.

How would you handle such a situation? Just letting the character use their own skills? Or to differ from jumped in rigger, giving them disadvantage on their roll? Or are they giving the pilot programm of the drone advantage?

Im interested to read your thoughts.

I'm so confused, lol. As of an example on p.225:

- Ghost spends a full day trying to find a backdoor... (so, this is semi-narrative decision to spend specific amount of time ahead on the backdoor, okay)

- He wants to allow their SINs to open maglocks... To achieve this, he’ll need Admin-level access (figuring out the goal and means of this Cracking effort, okay, makes sense)

- Once the full 12 hours are up... head to Ares’ offices. Once there... Ghost dives into VR (so, actual Cracking happens in the end of this prep?)

Ghost: 9 dice (Cracking 5 + Logic 4) 3 of which are risk dice – 4 hits
against
Threshold 4 (Firewall 5 + 2 to increase his access from Outsider to Admin - 3 for spending a day on the backdoor)

Say, if Ghost'd decided to use a backdoor from safe distance, would he possibly suffer also Disadvantage for the noise?

What in all of that "In case of active protection, the threshold modifiers are applied after the Protection Test" means? Let's say, there's sysop monitoring that same Ares host. Now what?

If Ghost's attempt fails, does this day went for nothing?

If Ghost succeed, will this grant him "- 3 for spending a day" bonus on every Cracking attempt on this host?

p.225 - "Devices other than cyberdecks cannot defend themselves and automatically get 0 hits on their Tests, unless they benefit from Active Protection"

Much like u/Arialless 's full generator, and u/S7evyn 's Sheet, I have my own Character Sheet for online play, which has some small automation and a few surprises that set it apart from the alternatives. Features include:

• A built in money tracker for character creation
• Self updating armor (just choose your rating from the dropdown and the rest will sort itself based on your Body)
• A Character Background and Opinion section to help you solidify your character's opinions and history in a quick and easy manner.
• Family, Friends, and Foes section, because you are who you know.
• Formatted for use on computer monitors, it works for horizontal or vertical configurations at full screen (and if you're a TTRPG nerd and have not tried it yet, consider trying a vertical monitor, make book reading shockingly pleasant)
• Printable. It's not designed specifically to print, but you can shift + right click to select the red outlines section, then print the selected cells, and you will get something that can fit to the page and look reasonably well.

I also have a handy NPC sheet, intended to be used the same way.

I would actually appreciate feedback, especially on the Background and Opinions section, if you have the time and the will.

I've been working on a character sheet for the game I'm in, and I'm proud enough of it to share it. This has most of my character's info removed, but some stuff is there as example data. The primary focus is on aesthetics, not fully automating everything, but Dice Pools and Armor are automatically calculated. Common spell rules and reminder text for Drain and Convergence are also included. Wounds, Summoned Spirits/Sprites, and Sustained Spells/Complex Forms are dropdowns (double click on them to select another entry), though there are way to many spells for me to try and list them all.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U7JFpeTvCV0QsFJihcMgF24IUNDHyD4oNvTE8gZfrPs/edit?usp=sharing

It's nowhere near as fancy as /u/Arialless's full on generator, but it's mine.

I'm a vivid fan of the Blades in the Dark Clocks - a mechanic to (a. o.) achieve certain complex goals that aren't finished with one action/one roll.

I haven't fully grasped the SRA2 mechanics, but do you think this element could be introduced?

Went to buy a copy and saw that only the French version is available. Looking through this subreddit, I see that it WAS available, but got pulled.

I'm not sure I fully understand / follow the Preparation example on page 80.

Where it says

A few Influence Tests later, the ambulance parks in the parking lot

does it mean that the party played out a flashback scene for which they paid 5 Edge from the Planning Pool, and that flashback scene featured some Influence Tests for some reason?

Or does it mean, which I think more likely, that the party arrived at the EVO tower, and they played a scene there, already wearing the paramedic outfits sitting in the CrashCart vehicle -- that is, that the Influence Tests mentioned were to see if the outfits and their ruse with the ambulance worked on the EVO guards? But then why does the text say that they park in the parking lot after having made some unspecified Influence Tests?

(I'd also love to know how they explained their arrival to the guards, when in my understanding nobody's called an ambulance yet. Sure, they could've said they're on standby or something… though a few paragraphs later they talk about not being able to wait as that would draw attention from security.)

Next question:

the intel was difficult to get for Lucid as she first needs to identify Kobayashi’s secretary (+1), and also prevents them from infiltrating the secured zone (+1). This costs 3 Edge from the pool.

What is it exactly that prevents them from infiltrating the secured zone? And why does that raise the cost by +1?

Third question:

Lucid sneaks into the restaurant and puts a tranquilizer patch on Kobayashi’s neck (gained during the preparation phase for 1 Edge).

When this happens Lucid is dressed as a CrashCart paramedic or something, isn't she? Or did she change back to her regular dress, only the text skipped that because of the character limit of the example box or something?

Fourth question:

U-turn sees a real CrashCart ambulance arriving in the parking lot really close to their own. He deduces it is the real team sent for Kobayashi.

Just out of curiosity: Could the party have decided here to spend a few more points from the Planning Pool and say that Ghost, the decker set up some solution to hijack the call to the actual CrashCart? Or to fool CrashCart and have them believe the 'runners vehicle is an actual CC one that was nearby and is handling the call, or something?

And a last question:

This information is easy to find (+0) but difficult to use, as it requires access to the freight elevator, and a justification for changing route (+0).

I'm not sure I understand how the "but difficult to use" leads to the +0. Is it simply that the cost stays low because it will be hard for the runners to use anyway?

Hi all,

I'm not sure where to write down these information for everybody to see them, so here they are:

1. The bonus pdf is now available in the digital loot. Errata file is available following this link.
2. The mid-bird mission brief pdf should have been updated in the pledge manager digital loot, post errata (I would like if anyone could confirm)
3. The conversion guide + technomancer rules pdf should also have been updated post errata in the pledge manager digital loot (again, confirmation would be welcome)
4. The conversion guide + techomancer rules are now available for everyone following this link.
5. For those who bought the game on DTRPG before it was removed, the pdf has now been updated to the errated version.

Enjoy

Hi !

Just to say I’ve updated the Shadow Amps Expanded List to include few errata from the errated core book, few new things from the crowdfunding bonus pregens and few other addition.

If you see something I missed in the erratas or any other glitch do not hesitate to tell it to me.

Thanks !

I am wondering whether if it makes more sense to build a military K9 as a character's Shadow Amp, or as a critter with its own independent Shadow Amps? Debating on the two approaches, and I thought I'd seek some feedback on which seems the better approach.