Shadowrun without future tech= modern horror setting?

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:10 am

I often see "what if Shadowrun didn't have magic" discussions, but how about the other way around? Setting Shadowrun in a modern setting but keeping all of the magical elements in it.

Obviously this makes magic users far more flexible than mundane dudes with smartphones, but is the system robust enough without cybernetics and the matrix to run as a "World of Darkness" kind of game?

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:43 am

If you port over shadowrun magic as-is to 2015, it will be very, very powerful. You're not looking at a horror setting, you're looking at a superhero setting, and not a low-end one.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:50 pm

The core mechanics have long been rather close to those featured in WoD, so if that's your basis of comparison I'd say sure. That's part of why the Shadowrun influence on After Sundown is so unobtrusive.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:01 pm

Yeah you want to talk about magic = win button. I mean, in shadowrun history that's literally what happens. Magic comes about, and the NAN basically take a sledge hammer to the USA with the Ghost Dance.

And that historically happened in 2017.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:37 pm

What about the inverse? What would shadowrunning be like if neither side had magic?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:45 am

More like today?
No dragons going on rampages, no great ghost dance creating hurricanes, volcanoes, earth-quakes and the such . . Australia would be only as lethal as today and not even more hillariously so . .
China does not have a magocracy, there is no ghoul state in africa, there are no elves stealing countries wholesale for themselves, the night of rage has never happened, there are no devilrats worldwide as a carrier of VITAS . .

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:59 am

virgil wrote:What about the inverse? What would shadowrunning be like if neither side had magic?

Well, without mages to kick around people may finally realize how much worse they are than riggers.