Shadowrun vs Twilight Sword
Compare Shadowrun and Twilight Sword side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Shadowrun | Twilight Sword | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Crunchy, Tactical, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Classless, Espionage | JRPG, Heroic, Beginner-Friendly, Theater of the Mind, Inventory Management, Journey, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d6s equal to an attribute plus a skill, counting 5s and 6s as hits. Reach the required threshold to succeed, or compare hits in an opposed test. Situational advantages generate Edge points that can fund rerolls or extra hits. Dice pool modifiers still apply alongside Edge. | Roll a d12 against one of eight Abilities and score equal to or under it to succeed, so low rolls are good. A 1 is always a critical success and a 12 always a critical failure, whatever the Ability score. Modifiers shift the target by up to 3 in either direction. Advantage rolls 2d12 and keeps the lower result, while Disadvantage keeps the higher. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d12 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary (third-party license pending) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Community content program | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs | Two Little Mice / Free League Publishing |
| Year | 2019 | 2026 |
| Languages | English, German, French, Portuguese, Russian | English, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists and enjoy mastering specialist rules together across a continuing campaign. | Groups who want the feel of JRPG and adventure video games at the table, with a core roll simple enough to teach newcomers. The low-lethality tone suits family or mixed-experience tables running long campaigns of travel and monster hunting. |
| Highlights | Specialist roles divide a heist across physical security, hacking, and magic, giving the team several ways into the same target. Edge turns situational advantages into a spendable resource for tactical choices. Reputation and Heat carry the consequences of conspicuous jobs into later missions. | Eight elements form a cycle where each beats the next, so picking an element against a monster's affinity is a puzzle rather than a flat damage bonus. A monster's Threat rating sets both how many the party should face and how many turns it takes each round, letting one number carry encounter balance and battlefield pacing. Advancement runs off a shared Hope track earned by completing deeds, tying character growth to how much of the world the party has restored. |
| Considerations | Character creation requires coordinating priority choices with detailed gear purchases. Cyberware reduces Essence, which limits magical development. Wireless equipment bonuses expose connected gear to hacking. | Defeated Champions are knocked out rather than killed, and permanent death exists only as an optional rule the table must agree to before play begins. Cooking and brewing each require assembling a dice pool from gathered ingredients and reading it against a tiered effect table, a separate procedure from core resolution. Combat positioning uses four abstract ranges rather than measured distances, and the optional battle-map conversion is a short note rather than a developed ruleset. |