The Next Shadowrun Game: Decision Time

by Thomas4 Comments

If you haven’t been following along these past few weeks, I’ve been going back and forth between Shadowrun: Anarchy and The Sprawl for my next Shadowrun game. ((Assuming there is a next Shadowrun game in the plans.)) The decision was surprisingly difficult to make. Initially, I was certain that The Sprawl was going to be the game for me, but the more I read Shadowrun: Anarchy, the more I was leaning towards that. Until I looked at The Sprawl again, then that looked better. But then I’d look back at Shadowrun: Anarchy and that one…

It’s close. But I think I’ve finally made up my mind.

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Shadowrun: Anarchy and The Sprawl Comparisons

by ThomasNo Comments

“Can I play Shadowrun in it,” is the question I see asked when a new roleplaying game comes out. Now there are two that are vying for my attention to be my next Shadowrun game: The Sprawl and Shadowrun: Anarchy. I wrote 1300 words on Shadowrun: Anarchy on Thursday and a few more than that on The Sprawl on Friday.

While I tried to keep each post focused on each game system, a bit about Shadowrun: Anarchy seeped into the last post, comparing gear and how one gets it during the game. Here, I’m going to directly compare how the two systems handle certain tropes and note where I’m having difficulties.

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The Sprawl

by Thomas3 Comments

I’m thinking about playing Shadowrun again, but as I mentioned in the first post in the series, I really don’t care for the actual Shadowrun game system. Doing anything in Shadowrun seems to take two steps too many. But I love the setting. I love rolling handfuls of dice. I just wish the game system would stop getting in the way of telling a good story.

A few years ago, Apocalypse World came out and it just blew me away. The game moved quickly: combat scenes were satisfying yet fast-paced. It didn’t seem like we were waiting around for our turn when something exciting would happen. Action sequences in Apocalypse World felt more like watching a movie than sitting around a table, playing a game.

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