Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition vs Shadowrun
Compare Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Tags | Classic Fantasy, Crunchy, Descending AC, Dungeon Crawl, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Tactical, Vancian Casting | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d20 on combat attack matrices to determine whether an attack hits a descending Armor Class. Characters advance by class level through experience, and spellcasters memorize specific spells before using them. | Roll a pool of d6s equal to attribute + skill, counting 5s and 6s as hits. Meet or exceed a threshold to succeed. Situational advantages generate Edge points rather than modifying dice pools directly; Edge is spent on tactical effects like rerolling dice, adding successes, or imposing penalties on opponents. |
| Dice | d20 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | No open license |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | TSR Games | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 1977 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English, German, French, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want a demanding, referee-led fantasy campaign with class-and-level advancement, resource pressure, and detailed combat procedures. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Class, race, level, alignment, and prepared spells establish distinct adventuring roles. The Dungeon Masters Guide supplies encounter, treasure, dungeon, and campaign procedures for referee-built play. Reference sheets and extensive tables consolidate combat, spell, and campaign data. | The setting fuses megacorporate intrigue with magic and metahuman races, so a single team mixes street samurai, mages, and deckers. Distinct subsystems model Matrix hacking, spellcasting, drone rigging, and astral space, each carrying its own rules depth. The Edge economy converts situational advantages into a spendable resource for rerolls, extra hits, or penalties on opponents. |
| Considerations | Combat relies on class and monster attack matrices instead of a single universal action procedure. The core delivery distributes rules across three books and reserves substantial procedures for the Dungeon Master. Optional psionics and detailed special-case rules add rules to learn before using them. | Matrix hacking runs on its own timescale and can leave non-decker players idle during a run. Character creation spreads across attributes, skills, magic or resonance, gear, and lifestyle, making the first build long. Dice pools grow large at high skill, so counting hits on a fistful of d6s slows resolution. |