Bite the Hand vs Shadowrun
Compare Bite the Hand and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Bite the Hand | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Scifi, Horror | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Character Building, Deadly, Fast-Paced, Gritty, Hackable, Horror, Resource Management, Theater of the Mind | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d100 under a relevant stat or save. Equal or higher makes a check fail or succeed with a consequence, while an equal-or-higher save fails and incurs harm. Doubles trigger critical results based on success or failure. Advantage or Disadvantage rolls twice and keeps the better or worse result; uncomplicated actions usually work without a roll. | 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 | d100 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | No open license |
| Cost | $ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Spellbook Gaming LLC | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 2026 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups seeking lethal cyberpunk missions about vulnerable rebels, with room for hacking, social maneuvering, and direct action. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Tiered cybernetics raise Minimum Stress as they expand a character's capabilities, linking augmentation directly to emotional resilience. Completing a mission against a corporation, harming law enforcement, corporate assets, or government officials, and every $2,000 of debt each raise Heat; after a day of noticeable crime, a secret d20 roll at or under the highest-Heat character's score produces a Heat consequence. Uncomplicated attacks hit automatically, reserving checks for dangerous complications and keeping firefights moving. | 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 | Random stats and unequal starting loadouts deliberately create uneven characters. Wounds and failed Death saves can remove characters abruptly. Several procedures rely on Warden judgment: hacking, social checks, cover, and carrying capacity. | 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. |