Old-School Essentials vs Shadowrun
Compare Old-School Essentials and Shadowrun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Old-School Essentials | Shadowrun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Cyberpunk, Fantasy |
| Play Style | Dungeon Crawl, Deadly, Sandbox, Low-Prep, Beginner-Friendly, Gritty, Ascending AC, Descending AC, Vancian Casting | Crunchy, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 vs. descending AC via attack matrix (THAC0). Five-category saving throws. Side-based d6 initiative each round. | 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 | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | OGL 1.0a | No open license |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Necrotic Gnome | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Year | 2019 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups wanting a clean, beautifully organized take on classic B/X D&D with decades of compatible old-school content. | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. |
| Highlights | Clear layout and organization, wide B/X and OSR compatibility, modular supplements, highly hackable | 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 | No domain play or mass combat in core rules, treasure-as-XP requires careful GM economy management, limited character options in Classic edition without Advanced supplements | 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. |