Well, I just had a look at Shadowrun 4, the latest edition of the classic cyberpunk fantasy game.
I’m less than impressed.
It’s not a bad game now and never has been. I can’t say that. It’s just that they really “dumbed it down.” (Now, for those of you who don’t know me very well, I hate those words and dislike using them. But that’s what it amounts to.)
The Problem I have with it is that they simplified things to the point where it’s not very interesting anymore. They do write it more clearly, which is a plus and may attract new players. But for us old-hands, there’s nothing here to care about. It’s not real interesting and offer very, very few new options. I haven’t checked out every nook and crany, but it seems that the only major change (in the system) doesn’t actually alter the final dice pools very much.
They basically stole the White Wolf System, except they use d6’s and stats and attributes go to 6 instead of d10’s and 5. You add your relevant stat and skill together for most tasks. Cyberware and magic can add to this number (the dice pool), but can only add +50%. Also, the character creation scheme (now fully point-buy, Yaaay!) makes your characters pretty, well, average (Noooo!). Even a starting Shadowrunner was once elite. All rolls of 5 or 6 succeed, and is rated solely on the number of successes.
It also adds in one of my pet peeves, which was not present under the old system: it’s mathematically best to be start good in a few areas, since it’s easy to buy up low skills and attributes. But a starting character is not longer distinctly better, even doing this, than a reasonably bright, fit adult.
The problem? White Wolf’s system is made for this. Shadowrun is not. There’s now relatively little difference between a supposedly runner and a thug. Their “common security guards” as written aren’t so hot, but that’s solely because they went out of their way to give them useless skills. OK, so clubs aren’t the worst weapon ever made, but why do have Clubs 3… and Pistol 1?
One nice thing which I do like is that magic works like all other attributes. Characters can simply buy it up. This was needed, because in Shadowrun mages are literally one-in-a-million. Except that every fraggin’ book forgot that, so even minor, local policlubs often had multiple high-powered mages on-call. Heck, even street gangs often had some hanging around for kicks!
I also like the introduction of skills groups. Firearms was old Shadowrun problem. They didn’t like having all guns as one skill, because that was too easy for the mages to use them. In 3rd edition, they split it up into so many subskills that it was impossible to even be decent with them all, even though it’s not that difficult in real life. Now you can buy groups of skills at a bargain price, which is a good thing all in all.
Last notes on things I didn’t like: Having a luck attribute (Edge) instead of dice pools is fine. Unfortunately, it’s just not nearly as useful. It also takes out most of the tactical thinking. You have no real reason to save points here and use them to accomplish something cool. I think most players will (if they’re smart) never use it for anything except saving their hide from enemy’s attacks - and maybe that one skill roll they need. In other words, it’s fine, except that it only gets used once or twice a session. Maybe actual play will prove different, but I doubt it.
It also means that people trying for a neat trick or stunt have no real chance if they’ve a low skill in it, even if they once might have been able to toss in some Combat Pool dice or something.
Armor is the same, but guns seem much weaker. I’ll have to do some math to double check, but it seems to me that combat could take a VERY long time.
Pricing. They didn’t even think about what changing the costs of some things means to the world. For example, everyone alive should be getting skillwires. It’s so cheap and useful that there’s no reason not to do so now. I’m not limiting this to Shadowrunnners, either! Even corporate wageslaves should probably have skillwires. It’s cheaper than training them and easier than looking for new, experienced ones. There are other problems with costs, but I won’t go into it. Also, since starting money comes directly at the costs of skills and attributes, I thinkmost players will try to pass on it as much as possible.
The initiative system is a little more simplified. This is alright. Nothing really changed that much, though I had to glance through it.
The books looks nice, but the interior is bland even by my standards. The actual amount of art is pretty low. Fortunately it is fairly well-done, with none of that awful cartooniness that plagued early 3rd edition.
Ultimately, it disappoints. I even like less powerful games than normal Shadowrun uses, but this isn’t that interesting to me. It looks like somebody’s weird Shadowrun homebrew, and it certainly doesn’t make me want to play. The rules might be a bit more accessible to a new player, but Shadowrun was hardly the most esoteric system.
I may be being too hard because I’ve seen homebrew’s which were much better. All I can hope for is that the upcoming Shadowrun 4 “more complicated edition” is going to be better. As it is, I’m certainly not going to buy the print edition of this book. I already own Shadowrun 2 and 3, and this isn’t even enough to make me want to play a new game of Shadowrun with them, much less a game of Shadowrun 4.
