Shadowrun vs Tales of Argosa
Compare Shadowrun and Tales of Argosa side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Shadowrun | Tales of Argosa | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy | Deadly, Gritty, Sandbox, Exploration, Combat-Heavy, Low-Prep, Dungeon Crawl, One-Shot Friendly, Atmospheric, Roll to Cast, Open Source, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | Roll d20 under attribute to succeed (roll-under). Luck saves deplete your Luck attribute with each success, ratcheting tension. Combat uses Nat 19 effects, Exploits, Fumbles, Crits, and Trauma tables. Dark & Dangerous Magic risks madness and Veil monsters when casting spells. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Community | High | Very Low |
| License | No open license | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs | Pickpocket Press |
| Year | 2019 | 2024 |
| Best For | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. | Sword & sorcery fans who want fast, brutal combat with diminishing Luck, dark & dangerous magic, and rich emergent sandbox play — group or solo. |
| Highlights | 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. | Distinctive diminishing Luck mechanic, combat with Exploits and Trauma is consequential, large GM toolbox (hexploration, oracles, hirelings, mass battle), solo rules included, Creative Commons license |
| Considerations | 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. | Diminishing Luck mechanic means characters weaken as they succeed, limited magical options in core rules, requires GM comfort with sandbox hexcrawl prep |