Shadowrun vs The One Ring
Compare Shadowrun and The One Ring side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Shadowrun | The One Ring | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy | Exploration, Licensed Setting, Roleplay-Heavy, Low-Fantasy, Journey, Drama, Corruption |
| 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 a Feat Die (d12) plus Success Dice (d6s) equal to skill rating vs. Target Number. Special icons on the Feat Die trigger automatic success or failure, and elvish runes on the d6s grant superior results. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d12 + d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | No open license | Proprietary (Middle-earth Enterprises license) |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs | Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2019 | 2021 |
| Best For | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. | Tolkien fans who want to adventure in Middle-earth with mechanics that capture the tone of the books. |
| Highlights | 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. | Closely models the tone of Tolkien's world, Hope/Shadow corruption mechanic drives character arcs, well-structured journey and fellowship phases |
| Considerations | 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. | Tightly bound to Middle-earth setting, limited character options compared to generic systems, requires buy-in to Tolkien's tone |