Forbidden Lands vs Shadowrun
Compare Forbidden Lands and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Forbidden Lands | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Sandbox, Hexcrawl, Gritty, Survival, Deadly, Exploration, Base-Building, Random Tables | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s (attribute + skill + gear dice). Each 6 is a success. You can push your roll for extra dice, but risk damaging gear and taking conditions. Gear dice degrade on 1s. Year Zero Engine. | 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 | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Year Zero Engine OGL | No open license |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Free League Publishing | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 2018 | 2019 |
| Best For | Sandbox hexcrawl campaigns with stronghold building, resource management, and a dark fantasy tone. Great for groups who want to explore and carve out their own corner of the world. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Detailed sandbox tools and hexcrawl structure, stronghold building adds long-term goals, push mechanic creates meaningful risk, low-prep with random encounter tables and legend handouts | 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 tied to its Ravenland setting, push mechanic can frustrate cautious players, stronghold rules require the full boxed set, hex encounters can feel repetitive without GM preparation | 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. |