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Cues (thus the name) are described as “building blocks players can use as a basis for Narrations.” For example, one of the premade character sheets has a hacker with tag lines like “I've been left for dead by people a lot smarter than you.” There is also the concept of Plot Points, used for a variety of things, like what other games call hero points, but one of their specific uses is to interrupt the otherwise set turn order and take over a Narration. There are certain core elements that are used with this narrative-based system. In this process, the turn starts with the GM, who then turns to the player on their left, then around until everyone has had a Narration, at which point a new turn starts. In a game turn, a given player's actions are referred to as a Narration, or what most of us oldsters would call a “player turn”, although it includes the opportunity for the acting player to add elements to a scene. The difference between the rolls is the “net hits.” All the Kewl Powerz stuff you get in Shadowrun – cyber implants, magic, technomancer abilities – is placed under the rubric of “Shadow Amps.” This is on a scale where a Very Easy test is 4 Opposing Dice and a Very Hard test is 12 dice. Differing from SR 5E, the PC's dice roll is compared to an opposed roll of either an NPC or based on the difficulty of the test – these are called Opposing Dice. Likewise characters roll their dice pools looking for “hits”, or a 5 or a 6 on each d6. The Attribute number is added to Skill rating (if any) to determine the number of d6 used to roll an action, similar to regular SR. Willpower is used for the Stun Condition Monitor.
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Notably, Strength is also the “Stamina” type stat used to determine your Physical Condition Monitor (hit points). So how does it work? Well, the game uses Shadowrun-like Attributes – Strength, Dexterity, Willpower, Logic, Charisma, Essence and Edge – but simplified. Likewise the game book is loaded with a LOT of premade characters, so one doesn't have to spend very much time at all looking things over before starting a game. Like Valiant, the game is front-loaded with a lot of scenarios (here called 'Contract Briefs') that almost take the place of actually writing your own adventures. Shadowrun: Anarchy doesn't rotate the role of Gamemaster (the way Valiant RPG does) but the book says the GM's job is more about “facilitating the story” than controlling it, which it promises to explain in a later section. In this iteration of the Cue System, all rolls are on xd6, as in regular Shadowrun. Rules of the Street is the section with rules mechanics, and it is indeed very simple and to the point. Tags for Aztechnology, for example, include “Aztlan,” “blood magic” and “Stuffer Shack.” This section also mentions gangs, crime families and actual governments, but none of these get tags. One of the subjects is the Top Ten list of megacorps in the setting, and in this book, part of each description includes “tags” which are Cue System game terms not really explained at this point. Of course that isn't necessarily a bad thing.Īfter the introductory stuff (including, of course, a fiction piece), the book starts with The Bleeding Edge, reviewing some of the setting material, including 21st Century history, that Shadowrun 5E glossed over. Shadowrun: Anarchy isn't quite that obsessed with narrativist ideology, but it's definitely not Shadowrun 5E. Well, I was not a big fan of that game, however well-made it was, because it was so narrativist that it almost defeated the purpose of having rules. As it turns out, Cue System is the same system used for the Pulp SF game Cosmic Patrol and also the Valiant Universe superhero RPG, which I'd already reviewed. I'd heard of “Cue System” before but was uncertain where. As a hobby-game retailer myself, I have also witnessed no shortage of gamers interested in playing tabletop Shadowrun but utterly intimidated by the massive rulebook.” In this regard, he says that Shadowrun: Anarchy is designed to be a rules-light, “freeform” version of a “traditional” roleplaying game. In the Preface, Randall Bills, one of the authors, makes the same points that a lot of Shadowrun fans have: “I find that my tastes have changed over the years, and while I have lost no love for the Shadowrun world, these days I prefer RPG game systems that are lighter on the rules and more focused on story and character. Goodness knows, this game could use that approach, right? The back cover describes it as: “Based on the rules-light and easy-to-learn Cue System”. While it uses the Shadowrun game universe, the game is actually a completely different rules set. Shadowrun: Anarchy is a Catalyst Game Labs book for their 5th Edition Shadowrun setting. Currently Smoking: Our first stop is in Bogota/To check Colombian fields/The natives smile and pass along/A sample of their yield