Hi folks

As a bit of a spin off to the Sixth Edition discussion thread I though I would throw open a new discussion. Like it says on the title...
Why do you Shadowrun?

There's a fair chunk of Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk-esque stuff out there these days; Eclipse Phase, The Sprawl, Corp X and Cyberpunk (of course) to name but a few.
So, regardless of Edition 1-5 and/or Anarchy why do you play Shadowrun instead of these other games or as well as these other games? What is it that keeps you in or coming back to the Sixth World?

I came to Shadowrun about 26 years ago because it was the second most supported RPG at my local game store at the time. I had already been playing D&D since I was 7.

For a long time, I stayed with Shadowrun because I did not know that these other games existed, and the ones I did know about (Cyberpunk) lacked the magic that rounded out the world setting (namely, the fantasy aspect of SR).

Now that I have embraced Shadowrun: Anarchy, I don't think that I could go to any other system. Anarchy started out as mostly what I needed to keep visiting the Sixth World, but over the last few years, I have molded it to exactly what I wanted and what my table enjoys.

I'll try to sum up with 3 and half reasons:

- Magic back in modern time. By modern times, I mean today's world or the future. Basically, if shadowrun was set in the 90s, I'd probably enjoy it throughly. I'm quite happy with the various sci-fi ideas that are there, but I mostly like the ideas of magic being confronted with modern technologies, and the competition between both.

- The intrications of the mechanics and the fluff. There are generally efforts made so that peculiarities described in the fluff have a rationalization in term of game mechanics rather than just being so. Of course, this is not always the case, but that seems more of a matter with playtesting rather than intent.

- I like the basic mechanisms of SR3. Most of them. A bunch of dice vs floating TN can be very satisfying in terms of both being empowered and still facing difficulties no matter how powerful your character. Sure this is not miraculous or always working, but this has always struck me as a nice way to provide for having both a large array of power as a character and still not having the game break too fast. I like that skills and attributes are well separated, I like the condition monitor, all this is satisfying.

- I like the magic as it is written. It is neutral, it is behaving quite coherently, it's very clear what it can and can't do, and drain, even if poorly applied, is a very nice way to limit magic.

EDIT: I'd like to add something in regard to eclipse phase as an example. Probably I didn't play EP a lot, but despite having obviously a much larger setting, it's always felt very bland to me compared to shadowrun. I think it comes from the decision that were made to limit the sci-fi in shadowrun to some specific ideas. For example, robots are quite limited, you do have some limitations on how much devices you can plug into your brain, and so on. This gives a clear setting where you matter. EP feels like a bucket where every sci-fi ideas people found cool were thrown and mixed up until no one could think of anything any more.

I've always loved the lore of the universe, and the general atmosphere of the game. The way it blends futuristic high-tech conecpts like cyberware, transhumanism, etc, and the blending of magic and traditional fantasy races to me makes it incredibly unique. Add in the cyberpunk aesthetic to the whole thing, and I've never before or since seen another game/universe that had blended it all together in quite the same way. There are plenty of other sci-fi and fantasy games out there, but none that combine the two as seemlessly as Shadowrun does.

That and I love that almost all of the main plots are shrouded in mystery, rumour, etc, so instead of everyone "knowing" a thing, the players can feel pretty damn special when they defeat a big bad, complete that once-in-a-lifetime Big Run, save the world, etc. Maybe no one else knows what they did, but I've always seen the players in my game be pretty damn pleased with themselves afterwards. And when they stumble on hidden knowledge and secrets that only happen behind-the-public-scene, Oh Boy do they get excited.

I have been with the game from the beginning. I loved the first time I saw the poster for 1ed at Gencon. "Where Magic meets Man and Machine". I was hooked. It is my go to game. I love the blend of tech, Magic and fantasy but still grounded in a near possible future. I tend to play a little more gritty then most, runners gliding in the shadows and doing near impossible jobs to try and take down the Mega's. Dragons holding power and the little guy just trying to survive. I love it.

Trevor L.

I came for the classless system, stayed for the stories you get when magic and technology combine.

The balance isn't great, but it works. The episodic nature makes it pretty easy to GM as well.

Basically, because I love playing with the complexity of the real world, with hundreds of nation and cultures and thousands of corporations and gangs. Also, the Shadowrun setting, with magic and technologiy and the diversity of the world history and cultures, can be used to adapt almost any story you can think of, from political thriller or space horror to fairy legend or unknown land exploration, all-out war or world saving prophecy, and even give them a twist by introducing unusual elements from the rest of the setting.

Urban Fantasy is my favorite genre, and I like the SR world more than any other cyberpunk world. It just has a very unique flavor. I also really like the connections to the previous age of magic via Earthdawn.

We play for the lore (up to 2057, that is), the punk and the feeling of sticking it to the man (while we all know we'd be even more lost without a corporate teat to suckle on from time to time). The chance to Do the Right Thing every once in a while - and sometimes we just do petty crime to make it until tomorrow. And for the sense of magic in the world, of knowing that there be dragons, while the endless rain of Seattle seeps through our threadbare boots as we hide in ambush to try to figure out what *really* goes on behind the shiny facade of the mysterious Universal Brotherhood...

I like '80's Action Movie: The Game' and SR does it best.

Started way way back, looked for something different the DnD that i was playing. Magic in cyberpunk was definately different. My interest in the setting is huge, plots.....waxes and wanes depending what they are.

Because Tolkienesque swords & sorcery just doesn't do it for me.

I do EP for the science, and SR3 for the mechanics. At least right now EP is my preferred by a nose, but SR will always be my first and the one I know best.

We started with AD&D 2nd Edition, but wanted something else. So we tried Ninja's and Superspies by Palladium. And that was okay. But then two things happened Operation Mindcrime dropped and the 1st Edition of Shadowrun hit. And that was all it took. We've played since 1989. From 1989 until 2003 we played weekly. Since then we've all picked various career paths (Military, Law Enforcement, computers, aviation, etc...) and the things that come with it, so we've been steadily seeing a decrease.

But we'll never really give it up. It spoke to us at that time. Here was a game that wasn't just swords and sorcerers. It wasn't just D20 Modern. It was so much more. It saw many of our own ideas on technology and warfare implemented. It inspired entertainment. It inspired us. I just started a PB3 game, we'll see if I get any takers!

The depth of the world. A place where you can go from street level to jumping all over the world and dealing with dragons. That and the history/continuity. Even if there are holes/ gaps there is still a continuously advancing story being played out.

It is almost real world, it is magic, it is tech. There's just so much background and so much of the background has a SR spin to real history.

It is pink mohawk black trenchcoat. I can play it over the top or under the radar.

I enjoy it the most.

Like most of the other posters, it seems, I like the mix of cyberpunk and urban fantasy. Also, the open build system, and how you may not start out the very best, but aren't some first-level scrub whomping on giant rats, either. Also, the game is better than most at adapting to different play styles and power levels.

Mostly stuff already covered above. I love the general simplicity of the system, and how easy it is to adapt from a black trencoat to a neon mohawk game. I love the classless system, and the variation you can build into the characters. I really like the lore, the backstory and world setting - and how easy it is to introduce new players to the world, and how most people can relate to the source material quite easily.

I asked my players - Why do you Shadowrun? Would you Pathfinder / D&D / Star-Wars / Cthullu as much? What makes the game for you?

Here's what they have said so far:
Non linear development. Off the top of my head

• Its a different place and a different space to everything else - Unique
• Fantasy and Scifi combined
• The number of possibilities are limited by your imagination... And that of the cultures of every civilisation real and imagined we've still got stories about....And splosions
• The same can be said for lots of other RPGs. But only Shadowrun truly has a real life hook you can hang your plot on via a simple google search on without necessarily having to look for anything that isn't *real*. Every system is fun, every system can be brilliant. But I've never played anything else where you can find that you are bonkers sci fi or fantasy one week with a could-be-any-era crime drama the next, which can at any time spin into glorious movie set piece drama that fits in any of them. And do it all completely naturally and in keeping with the world. No Rifts or Planescape required.
• I'm a RPG slut, I play all of the above and more. Shadowrun however with its' founding in both RL and Fantasy is a wonderful blend and due to its age, has a wealth of source material.

The gun porn and the street talk got me to buy in originally but I stayed because I love professional heist games with future tech and a supernatural element.

Loving the replies nice to see why folks play

Something I really enjoy with Shadowrun is the social environment.

In many games, such as games with medieval or spatial adventuring settings, you keep changing location. The group will often have ties and there might be a few reoccurring NPCs and places, but it's nothing like in Shadowrun where the Sprawl-centric setting allows you to have a fully fledged social environment. And not just friends, enemies and rivals, but also "the nice couple from the apartment below", "the clerk from the Stuffer Shack", etc.
And even if runners are a bit apart from "normal society", they're still "normal" enough to have normal relationships with them, compared to what you have when you play a Vampire/Superhero/Occult investigator in other city-centric games.

I could probably get the same with Cyberpunk, The Sprawl or any other similar game. And the main reason why I play Shadowrun over these is that I played Shadowrun first and met people who play Shadowrun and am now more familiar with the setting than with the settings of the other games. I don't really need the magic, I'm not really looking for Urban Fantasy, but the way Shadowrun does it is really great. It's grounded and gritty so it adds new options and opportunities without detracting from the cyberpunk atmosphere (at least with the good writers/players) so there's no good reason to do without it.

What hooked me was the picture on one of the first pages of the 1st ed rule book when it first came out. The drawing of the troll. The fact that it was viable as a pc just got me. Then the detail the 1st ed source books went into. I also really enjoyed the mixed genre of fantasy and cyberpunk. What has kept me in... ? SR is the game i managed to really find my feet as a GM. 1st and 2nd ed. are where i soaked in info on the world and rules like a sponge. Life kinda got wonky through 3rd and 4th (and the Anniversary ed.) were nice moves forward for rules IMHO. While I do really like (and run/play) 5th ed, not crazy about how overpowered wireless is (just my opinion-not a statement meant to start a fight).