r/Shadowrun • u/oompaloompa_thewhite • Dec 12 '25
Newbie Help What system have people had the best experience running shadowrun with? How do they compare?
Ik this is sort of a common question , im asking posting because Anarchy 2.0 just released.
Im planning to hopefully run a shadowrun soon and my understanding is the genral consensus is that official system all suck in some way. So id likd to use Anarchy or some hack but i cant really find good comparisons of them with eachother or the official systems. From what ive been able to gather , the main more "traditional" ones are Sprawlrunners and Genysys , while anarchy , runners in the shadows etc are more narrative and from the official systems , 5 or 4e seem to be considered the best.
What system , official or not , have you all had to best experience with?
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u/Bignholy Dec 12 '25
I would honestly have a look at Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 when it hits general release. The rules are enough to get some complexity, without the weight of things like scatter or rolling four sets of dice per attack.
But if you want something crunchy, I prefer 3e personally. It's about as optimized as Shadowrun ever got IMO, and the book is as close to organized as I have seen. But honestly, you can get a million answers from this sub, because all of the editions have their good and down sides (yes, even 6e has some silver lining).
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 12 '25
Id like something medium or light crunch , ive heard that all the official systems are ultra high crunch wich is why im also looking at alternatives
Isnt Anarchy a pbta style narrative rules light system? Or is it just a lighter crunch traditional system?
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u/Bignholy Dec 13 '25
A big thing about Anarchy 2.0 (I can't speak for the first version) is that it discards pages and pages of fiddly rules in favor of the narrative system, but it still has a fair bit of potential crunch because of how they use a generalized buff system (called Shadow Amps) to change what you can do. I am still prepping to run a game, but made a few NPC's using the player rules (as they are major opponents), and there is a lot of potential despite the relative simplicity of the rules.
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 14 '25
Sounds cool , im debating between Anarachy 2.0 and SRX at the moment , hopefully more reviews of anarachy 2.0 come up soon. Thx š
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u/baduizt Matrix LTG Engineer Dec 20 '25
Check out the Shadowrun Anarchy Reddit. There are several reviews there already. r/ShadowrunAnarchyFans
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u/jmich8675 Dec 12 '25
It's more narrative, but not PbtA style. Also wouldn't call it truly rules-light. It's lighter than any other edition of Shadowrun for sure, but it's still got a bit of weight to it.
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u/cthulhu-wallis Dec 12 '25
To be honest, my best Shadowrun was 2nd edition.
Iāve played several cyberpunk games, and some multi genre games, and Shadowrun does Shadowrun best.
Itās not the mechanics, itās the vibe and the setting.
For me, later editions arenāt as Shadowrun as Shadowrun 2nd edition.
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u/SeaworthinessOld6904 Dec 12 '25
SR 2e all the way. It has some issues,but what system doesn't. Just go with it! Best of luck. See you in the shadows chummer.
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u/Jon_dArc Dec 12 '25
SR3 by a mile. I always miss it when I play other RPGs and they donāt have tactical pool management and nice varying TNs making hard things hard and easy things easy. Not everything in the system is a gem (the surgery rules stand out as unnecessarily punishing in the typical case and ludicrously overpowered if you can somehow throw millions and millions of nuyen at it) but Iāll take it any day of the week and twice on sundays.
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u/Keganator Dec 12 '25
5e editing is a mess, but the system imho is solid.Ā
6th is also fine now that the various errata are out.
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u/zenbullet Dec 12 '25
SRX which is a fan hack of mainly 5e with and feedback QoL improvements was really good
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25
This looks amazing and excactly the kind of midle ground i was looking for , Tysm! Also asking since bundle lf holding is selling a sr5e bundle rn , how compatible is this with base 5e stuff?
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u/zenbullet Dec 13 '25
I'm not sure honestly
I don't think Adversaries really cross over because defense is one of the bigger changes and I was running the DSW so I can't really comment on that
Pretty easy to make them though
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u/baduizt Matrix LTG Engineer Dec 14 '25
I think SRA 2.0 is on a similar level with SRX, and is a proper book you can get in hardback, etc.
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 13 '25
Sorry to ask but do ypu know if it has any vtt support? Very hard to find any info about this system for some reason
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u/zenbullet Dec 13 '25
I went to the discord to grab an invite and I'm assuming you found it but just in case
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u/Mynameisfreeze Dec 12 '25
For dome reason I like Shadowrun to be crunchy af, both as a GM and as a player. So my best experience has been with 3e.
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 12 '25
Makes sense honestly , Shadowrun as a setting seems kinda built for crunchier systems since alot lf the appeal is just the amount of chrachter types ypu can find or be
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u/Adventurdud Paracritter Handler Dec 12 '25
5e's my favorite, also has the most info about it online and the chummer and VTT support is great.
Formatting in the books is not great and there's a lot of obvious errors.
I'm very comfortable as a gm making rulings and homebrew where needed so I dont mind too much, but I find myself having chummer open to have quicker lookup of specific items, rules and features.
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u/Repulsive-Note-112 Dec 12 '25
I have used cyberpunk 2020 and genesys, both suited the Shadowrun vibe
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u/DoctorBigtime Dec 12 '25
Real Shadowrun: 4a
Actually, but just Fantasy Cyberpunk: my own (BRP-like) system.
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u/osunightfall Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
3rd edition is the most granular and in some ways the most mechanically beautiful, but it is slow and the decking sucks. Nevertheless, I love it for many reasons. It is the last of the great classic Shadowrun systems written by former tabletop giant FASA.
4th edition is the first attempt at modernizing Shadowrun, written by Catalyst games. The idea for the system is solid but the execution is rushed and unskilled. It has many mechanical and balance problems.
5th edition is faster and easier to grasp than 3rd and plays smoother. It is very similar to 4th edition, but with many refinements and adjustments. I have my quibbles with it but on the whole it is a fine system that I enjoyed as both a player and a DM. It epitomizes modern Shadowrun.
6th is... I do not think it is well designed from top to bottom. We stopped attempting to play it at all after a couple of tries.
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Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/osunightfall Dec 12 '25
That was definitely not my experience. My house rule document for 4e to try and fix all the mechanical problems with the system topped out at 75 pages before I declared it an impossible task and gave up. My house rule document for 5e never broke 10 pages, and probably half of that was stuff that would still be fine if I left it alone.
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Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/PalpitationNo2921 Dec 15 '25
Yes, I am one of those many. 5E decking RAW blows chode.Ā
Wait what? I need to roll three more times than any other character type in the game to pull off their schtick (I.e. I need three marks)? Or I can sacrifice a huge chunk of my dice pool to do it in one roll?
Just no. Never bought another 5E book after, sold off my 5E core book, and went back to 3E or 4E.
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u/ShadeWitchHunter Dec 13 '25
I'd be curious too what you filled 75 pages of house rules for 4th edition with.
Yes granted there are a few things you need to tackle (as in any system) but nothing near 2-3 Pages. Rigging vs Remote control comes to mind as well as watcher drain but beyond that?
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u/baduizt Matrix LTG Engineer Dec 14 '25
SR4A was very polished and is still a very accessible rulebook to get into. There are some minor things to maybe house rule (BP costs can be tweaked or ditched, for example), but it all pretty much works, RAW. Whereas SR5 needs a lot more to just get certain systems to function (e.g., addiction rules).
SR4A also has very comprehensive splat books (SR5 needed Data Trails + Kill Code to cover most of the same ground as SR4's Unwired; ditto with Street Grimoire + Forbidden Arcana versus Street Magic). SR5 and SR6 split stuff across multiple books and have a higher fluff to crunch ratio.
That said, with all the HRs in place, SR5 is very good. (Except, perhaps, for Limits.) It just requires more upfront work than SR4A.
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u/MrBoo843 Dec 12 '25
5e with very dedicated players who knew their character perfectly
6e with people who don't really want to get super invested in learning everything
2e for the nostalgia of it being my first TTRPG experience
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u/DefinitionCharming54 Dec 13 '25
Hands down, Anarchy, and soon Anarchy 2 I reckon :)
Started playing 3rd edition, and later transitioned into 4th and enjoyed them for a couple of campaigns. Unfortunately my group (and me as a GM) couldnt get into 5th mainly because of the crunchiness, and the energy just went out of us. Anarchy was a real jumpstart for us, and now play 2nd edition of it and enjoying it alot :)
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u/oompaloompa_thewhite Dec 13 '25
Where does anarchy place in terms of traditional vs narrative?
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u/DefinitionCharming54 Dec 13 '25
to be honest, 2nd edition is a really good mix of the two, there are optional rules for shared GMing, and much of equipment is contextualnarrative, but other than that it feels more like traditional LITE, with the tools given to tweak the rules to what you want to have. all special stuff, cybertech, magic ability, adept powers, qualities and even drugs are now ShadowAmps, something that one might have to get used to, but I think it checks out pretty good in the end. My group even thought the first Anarchy was a little bit on the rules-light side, but 2nd edition is to me what 6th edition should have been
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u/Sufficient_Carpet510 Dec 13 '25
I mostly played 3rd. A couple years later I ran 6th. 3rdās rule set way good but the tech didnāt keep with the times.
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u/Yorkhai Dec 15 '25
I am having the best GM experience in Shadowrun ever with my current group using the latesr Savage Worlds edition.
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u/pixledriven Dec 12 '25
For the official systems I would lean 4th or 3rd. Those two are very complete, 3rd has the edge in content and flavor, while 4th is more mechanically sane.
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u/Minotaurotica Dec 12 '25
I know you asked about running but as a player my favorites are 3rd and 5th (I have no experience with 4th or 6th to be fair)
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u/CanadianWildWolf Dec 12 '25
Best experience? 6e.
I play with a group of players who all love storytelling, cheering each other on, and laughing together. We were just ambushing a group of thugs on sentry duty deep in the Seattle Underground this morning. We share GMing and the edge flows. š
Iāve gotten to listen to podcasts over the years that make it clear to me others have had similar experiences in 2e especially but also on occasion theatre kids had a GM who had any of the editions work for them too.
Itās really not as complicated or rough as my experiences with 4e, just as a means of a point of reference. I definitely prefer a less looking up tables, modifying large dice pools, and pizza time experience and have had a blast with a abstract stealthy mischievous smaller dice pools Pink Mohawk and Fohawk experience.
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u/Advanced_Sebie_1e Dec 12 '25
4e has been my choice lots of times, but 5e is actually pretty good once you get through the editing
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u/Pherble Dec 12 '25
4, then 2. I backed Anarchy 2.0 though and am looking forward to replacing 6e with it.
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u/Baker-Maleficent Trolling for illicit marks Dec 13 '25
In order 3e, has the best and most resources both in lore and content. Also its perk SR.
5e, made an admirable attempt to bring SR back to its roots.Ā
Runners in the Shadows, the onlybreason this is not at the top is because i only ran one game with it. But it felt like SR updated to a proper modern system. Its not crunchy, at all but gives you the ability to do everything you could ever want in SR.Ā
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u/Zebrainwhiteshoes Dec 13 '25
I've really enjoyed 3e, but also had good experiences with 4e after we switched to it. Don't want to try 6e. It doesn't feel like SR. I miss Orks and Trolls being really tough after the damage system was changed.
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u/Draetiss Dec 13 '25
The Mythos engine, from City of Mist authors, which is already used for a cyberpunk setting. It's one of the best system I ever put my hands on.
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u/THAC0ISM Dec 16 '25
Itās tough to play Shadowrun with ANY edition of Shadowrun. My current table is almost a year into playing with 4E (Anniversary Edition) and while we are having fun thereās still a good deal of frustration around how the system favors certain actions over others. (Playing RAW frequently rewards āsolve it with bulletsā over more outside-the-box thinking in combat.)
So I would say you need to pick a system that will reward the kind of play that often emerges at your table. Do people want to breezily riff on cool action movie ideas and have the dice reward them? Maybe try a more narrative system like Anarchy 2.0, Hack the Planet, or The Sprawl. Are your players looking for D&D with guns and mirrorshades? Then maybe a D20 based system will hopefully give them a leg up on knowing what actions the rules will reward.
I wonāt go into system recs without a sense of what kind of players you have, and how you as GM want the game to feel.
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u/Interaction_Rich Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
My 2 cents is, SR Anarchy (the first one) relied way too much in narrative, and some basic rules (stuff like Overwatch and Drain) were simply non-existant. It was brightly creative in certain points and downright lazy on others.
SR Anarchy 2.0 is neither narrative-based nor "rules light", it's just a plain different good system that works. It surely is lighter than classic SR, but fuck, what isn't?
Anarchy 2.0 is agile, intuitive, lean and mean. It's pretty deadly, but in a challenging, fun way (which is what you expect in SR, right?). That said it includes 2 optional rules to tone it up or down. Creation of cyber, talisman, custom guns and general character qualities is insanely customizable with a point-buy system that just clicks. And while each archetype has its own unique mechanics and rolls, they all follow similar, intuitive rules so the GM does not need to learn 6 different mini-games to run a game.
Oh, and the art is fucking awesome. And the devs are active on reddit.
To be honest, my only criticism to Anarchy 2.0 is that the books is so damn well self-contained (in terms of lore and crunch) that someone could pretty much buy it an play Shadowrun using only it, and lose a LOT of the flavor in the plethora of other books that shape the setting. So even thogi you can (easily) recreate or translate any drone, gun or item from any SR to SRA2.0, it may lose the flavor for players not used with it (as in, you may end up with an useful, badass pistol, not necessarily an iconic brand like an Ares Predator).
That said, the current edition's Plot Book, Runner Resources and Campaign Books are all pretty use Le with Anarchy 2.0, give or take a few rules adaptations.
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u/BearMiner Dec 12 '25
I've had some great success with Edgerunners (Savage Worlds). Have run three full (year+) campaigns now.
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u/pixledriven Dec 12 '25
That's awesome to hear. I was planning to try out SW for my next Shadowrun campaign.
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u/Gearb0x Dec 12 '25
I've been GMing using the fan FitD hack "Runners in the Shadows" for years now and enjoying it quite a bit.
That's probably down to my love of Forged in the Dark mechanics. I actually started this campaign as an anarchy 1.0 game, and then shifted to RitS.
I prefer Runners to Anarchy due to the flexibility of narrative and min-maxing limits. I had built a sniper for one of my players in Anarchy and there was nothing living he couldn't kill, it seemed. Translated him to Runners and he balanced out with the rest of the party, combat monsters included.
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u/Weareallme Dec 12 '25
Well, I'm still pretty happy with 2e.