Electric Bastionland vs Shadowrun
Compare Electric Bastionland and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Electric Bastionland | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Weird, Classless, Dungeon Crawl, Attacks Always Hit, One-Shot Friendly, Low-Prep | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under attribute (STR, DEX, CHA) to avoid danger. Attacks always hit: roll weapon damage directly, reduced by armor. 100+ unique Failed Careers define your character through equipment and debt rather than stats. | 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 Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Mark of the Odd SRD | No open license |
| Cost | Free / $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Bastionland Press | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 2020 | 2019 |
| Best For | Short treasure-hunting campaigns in a surreal, modern-tinged city. Ideal for groups who love strange worldbuilding, fast character creation via 100+ Failed Careers, and fiction-driven play. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Two pages of actual rules, 100+ varied Failed Careers, detailed GM guidance, free 42-page edition available, spawned an entire design movement | 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 | Tightly coupled to its surreal Bastion setting, minimal character progression, requires a confident GM, narrow genre focus | 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. |