Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert vs Shadowrun
Compare Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons Basic/Expert | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Tags | Classic Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Hexcrawl, Resource Management, Deadly, Vancian Casting, Descending AC, Domain Management | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d20 and meet or exceed the attack or saving-throw target supplied by class, level, Hit Dice, and descending Armor Class. Exploration, reactions, morale, thief abilities, and treasure use their own d6, 2d6, or percentile procedures. | 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 | High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | No open license |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Cost | $ | $$$ |
| Publisher | TSR Hobbies, Inc. | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 1981 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English, German, French, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want a dangerous, referee-led fantasy campaign that starts with mapped dungeon expeditions and grows into wilderness travel, retainers, strongholds, and territorial play. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Ten-minute dungeon turns connect mapping, searching, light, encumbrance, rest, and wandering-monster pressure. Reaction and morale procedures allow negotiation, evasion, surrender, and retreat to matter alongside combat. The Expert volume expands the campaign into hex travel, naval expeditions, magical research, strongholds, settlers, and rulership. | 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 | The complete level 1 through 14 game requires both the Basic and Expert rulebooks. Descending Armor Class, class-specific tables, and separate procedures replace a universal action mechanic. Low hit points, poison saves, and other severe effects make early play highly lethal. | 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. |