Shadowrun vs Wanderhome
Compare Shadowrun and Wanderhome side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Shadowrun | Wanderhome | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Cyberpunk, Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Heist, Character Building, Faction Play, Lore-Heavy, Skill-Based, Mission-Based, Urban Fantasy | Cozy, Narrative, Diceless, GM-Less, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Atmospheric, Rules-Light, Roleplay-Heavy |
| 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. | No dice, no GM. Belonging Outside Belonging engine — earn tokens by inconveniencing yourself or stepping outside your comfort zone; spend tokens to help others, reveal secrets, or achieve difficult actions. Violence is explicitly absent. Playbooks define each character's nature through lists of things they can always do, things that earn tokens, and things that cost tokens. Seasons and nature guide the journey. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | Diceless |
| Complexity | Very High | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Community | High | Medium |
| License | No open license | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs | Possum Creek Games |
| Year | 2019 | 2021 |
| Best For | Groups who want cyberpunk-fantasy heists with deep mechanical subsystems for hacking, magic, and combat. | Groups who want gentle, non-violent storytelling about animal-folk journeying through a pastoral world — exploring themes of community, seasons, and small acts of kindness. |
| 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. | Best TTRPG 2021 from Polygon and Dicebreaker, token economy — earn tokens by stepping outside comfort zone, spend them to help others — mechanically enforces non-violent play, Belonging Outside Belonging engine removes dice and GM roles, seasonal calendar structures the journey |
| 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. | Token economy is the only pacing mechanism which can stall play, shared narrative authority can lead to uneven participation, playbook Natures may feel constraining over long sessions, limited published supplemental content |