Tabletop games remain some of the most openly imaginative systems of play we have in the world. Games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder allow players to live out their wildest dreams of swinging swords and casting spells. However, both of these games are rooted in fantasy tropes.
Thankfully, there is a game perfect for players who want to explore the realms of science fiction in a computer heavy world like Shirow Masamune's Ghost in the Shell or William Gibson's Neuromancer. If you and your players want to break into the grid and hack in (while also including some fantasy-inspired mutations and augmentations along the way), you call fulfill all of your cyberpunk fantasies with Shadowrun.
The World of Shadowrun
In the future (2050 originally, but the most up-to-date system takes place in 2082), corporations rule over everything, keeping information locked down with advanced digital networks of control and oppression. After a massive computer failure in 2029, corporations set up the Matrix, a new internet connected through neurological implants. When shadowy organizations need something done, they hire Shadowrunners -- elite hackers and criminals who get jobs done without revealing their identities.
At the same time, come the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar (which ended December 21st, 2012), magic and fantastic abilities became a reality. Many people used magic to augment their bodies, becoming goblinized (orcs, elves, and stranger). Native Americans reclaimed the majority of their land back using magic, separating the Native American Nations from the United Canadian and American States.
The world of Shadowrun is a combination of urban fantasy and cyberpunk, balancing the two worlds together in a way that feels edgy and alternative. While the campaigns in the setting can be cyberpunk techno-thrillers, they can just as easily be urban fantasy games featuring dragons, wendigos and other fantastic creatures from mythology and folklore. The game first came out in 1989, with Sixth Edition coming out last year, just in time for its thirtieth anniversary.
Gameplay
While the game is only limited by its modern imagination, the gameplay is very particular. While Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder use a twenty-sided dice system, Shadowrun uses a six-sided dice. Or rather, a number of six-sided dice equal to your skill levels. If players roll a number that matches or surpasses a skill check, they succeed. If they fall below, they fail. Unless at least half of the die rolls are ones, players will enter a "glitch," even if they meet the skill check.
When creating a character, players can choose between a series of archetypes, like the street samurai (combat heavy brawlers), face (charismatic socialites), hackers (hacks systems), riggers (sets traps and controls drones) and magicians (uses magic). Then, you'll establish a set of contacts and networks to better allow you to gain influence over people and organizations. Every being has essence, which is a measure of lifeforce that powers magic. Typically, if your essence reaches zero, you die, though there are certain exceptions to this.
Players will also be awarded karma points throughout the game, which can be used to update and improve your skills as statistics. The karma system is particularly different than the level based system of Dungeons & Dragons, as it allows you to completely customize how your character advances rather than following a set class progression track.
Gameplay beyond that is pretty similar to other tabletop games. You roleplay and engage in missions, the complexity of which depend on the limits of your Game Master's imagination and creativity. However, the game is far easier and more straight forward than games like Dungeons & Dragons, which requires a multitude of stats and equipment to play.
The Expanded World of Shadowrun
While not as expansive as Dungeons & Dragon, Shadowrun has an expanded world of its own and established lore for players interested in engaging in this cyberpunk world. There are over sixty novels and eight games in the franchise, all of which explores and re-contextualizes the events of the world in new and exciting ways.
However, you don't need all of this to run a game in Shadowrun. Like Dungeons & Dragons, the core rules are versatile enough to create your own kind of world. If you want to create a game in the setting of, say, Alita: Battle Angel or Ghost in the Shell, you can. If you want to live an urban fantasy story or futuristic cosmic horror story, you can.
All of the rules open up a network of possible narratives and adventures you can undergo, and this can be done without the sometimes intense power levels of late-game Dungeons & Dragons with a far simpler system of gameplay. If you want to play a different tabletop game after so much Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun might be the perfect game to try out.