Low Fantasy Gaming vs Shadowrun

Compare Low Fantasy Gaming and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Low Fantasy Gaming	Shadowrun
Genre	Fantasy	Cyberpunk, Fantasy
Play Style	Low-Fantasy, Gritty, Deadly, Sword & Sorcery, Corruption, Sandbox, Dungeon Crawl, Random Tables, GM-Friendly, Hackable	Crunchy, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy
Core Mechanic	Combat uses standard d20 + class attack bonus + ability modifier vs. Armour Class. Out of combat, attribute checks roll equal-or-under (1d20 ≤ attribute, with degrees of success), and skills add +1 and grant access to a level-based Reroll Pool that smooths the d20 swing. Dropping to zero hit points triggers an All Dead vs. Mostly Dead check and a roll on the Injuries & Setbacks table (lost eyes and limbs, broken ribs, madness, permanent scars). Spell casting is uncertain: every cast carries a cumulative 1-in-20 chance of triggering the Dark & Dangerous Magic d100 table, which can mutate the caster, sap Luck, or summon hostile aberrations. The Luck attribute itself is a depleting meta-resource that fuels saves, Major Exploits, and Rescue Exploits.	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	Medium	Very High
Accessibility	High	Medium
Runnability	High	Medium
License	OGL 1.0a	No open license
Cost	$$	$$$
Publisher	Pickpocket Press	Catalyst Game Labs
Year	2020	2019
Best For	Groups who want gritty low-magic fantasy where every combat carries real consequences — broken bones, lost limbs, madness — and where casting a spell is a calculated gamble that can corrupt the caster or summon something worse.	Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat.
Highlights	Dark & Dangerous Magic puts every spell at risk of triggering a d100 corruption table — mutations, summoned aberrations, Luck loss, madness — with the chance climbing by 1 in 20 each cast until it fires, making sorcery a calculated gamble rather than reliable utility. Martial Exploits layer creative combat moves (Minor, Major, and Rescue) on top of a successful hit — disarms, decapitations, throwing an ally clear of a fireball — fueled by depleting Luck checks rather than a fixed action menu, so combats are improvisation-driven rather than rotation-driven. Every PC designs a Unique Feature at 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th level in conversation with the GM, working off 36 worked examples (Awakened Host, Faustian Pact, Skill Prodigy, Slippery Bastard) that each scale through low, moderate, and high power tiers the table can cherry-pick.	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	Magic Users are deliberately weaker than other classes — no at-will spells, no teleport, no mind reading, no resurrection, and every cast risks a corruption effect, so spell-focused players have to accept playing a high-risk role that can lose its toolkit mid-adventure. The 12th-level cap shortens the campaign arc — the book trades long-haul progression for keeping monsters threatening and magic spectacular, but groups expecting decades-long advancement curves will hit the ceiling. Permanent injuries from the Injuries & Setbacks table are a regular outcome of going to zero hit points, and short of rare in-setting healing magic those disabilities stay, which can frustrate groups attached to keeping their characters physically whole.	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.