Blades in the Dark vs Shadowrun
Compare Blades in the Dark and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Blades in the Dark | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Fiction-First, Heist, Playbook-Driven, Collaborative, Low-Prep, Improvisation, Drama, Dark Fantasy, Faction Play, Mission-Based, Character-Driven, Roleplay-Heavy, Cinematic, Open Source | Crunchy, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s equal to your action rating; keep the highest. 1–3 is a bad outcome, 4–5 is a partial success with consequences, 6 is a full success, and multiple 6s are a critical with additional advantage. Before rolling, the GM sets position (controlled, risky, or desperate) and effect level, which determine the severity of consequences and the impact of success. Players can spend stress to resist consequences or trigger flashbacks to retroactively establish preparation. | 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 | d6 dice pool | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Community | High | High |
| License | CC BY 3.0 | No open license |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Evil Hat Productions | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 2017 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups who want structured criminal heists with shared narrative authority, where the crew's reputation and entanglements matter as much as individual characters. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Flashback system lets players establish preparations retroactively instead of planning before a score. Position and effect framework gives the GM a structured way to set stakes on every roll. Detailed faction game tracks rival gangs, noble families, and institutions with their own agendas and territory. | Unique cyberpunk-fantasy setting blending megacorporate intrigue with magic and metahuman races. Dedicated subsystems for Matrix hacking, magic, rigging, and astral space. Edge system replaces many situational modifiers with a spendable tactical resource. Decades of published lore spanning in-world history from 2011 to the 2080s. |
| Considerations | Stress is the currency for flashbacks, resistance rolls, and special abilities, so characters who use these tools heavily accumulate trauma faster. The faction tracking layer between sessions requires more GM bookkeeping than the score phase itself. Downtime phase has several interlocking subsystems (payoff, heat, entanglements, vice, projects) that take time to internalize. | Matrix hacking runs as a parallel subsystem that can leave non-decker players waiting. Multiple supplemental rulebooks needed for full coverage of magic, Matrix, and rigging. Published books have documented editing and layout issues. |