There are also 2-3 knowledge skills for each character, but that’s not really pointed out anywhere in the Quick Start rules so it’s mostly just for background in this. The pregens start with between five and nine different skills and none of them start with a rating higher than 6. It also seems as though some other skills have been combined, as Con seems to have replaced a lot of the social-related skills. For example, rather than having separate skills for each different type of gun (pistol, SMG, assault rifle, sniper rifle, etc.) or different type of melee weapon (edged, bludgeoning, unarmed), there are just two skills: Firearms and Close Quarters. Skills range from 1-9 and the skill list has been greatly reduced in number from previous editions. Attribute ratings typically range from 1-6, though the pregens include one character with a 7 and another with an 8. Every character has the special attributes Essence and Edge, while magically-active characters will also have Magic (for Shadowrun fans, the Quick Start doesn’t make any mention of technomancers at all).

The main attributes are Body, Agility, Reaction, Strength, Willpower, Logic, Intuition, and Charisma. But first, I want to talk about what hasn’t changed.Ĭharacters have eight main attributes and two to three special attributes. A good deal of the crunchy mechanical nature of Shadowrun has been shifted to the new Edge System, which I’ll go into later. In fact, the Quick Start rules are only 24 pages long and well-organized by section so you’re not flipping around too much the first time you’re reading through trying to figure out stuff. The rules themselves are, in fact, streamlined from previous editions. There’s also a giant poster map, one side featuring the two locations from the adventure and the other side a map of Seattle, the game’s default setting. There are also 12 dice included which is enough for the Beginner Box characters if the group passes them around, but you’re going to want more dice (particularly for the Face pregen who has a dice pool of 14 for some skills). The purple-on-black design makes these about a 7/10 on the readability scale.

They fall into that category of dice that look awesome but aren’t quite as readable as standard dice for playing. The dice are the same style as Catalyst has sold for years. The deck of reference cards are a bit smaller than standard poker size, but are incredibly thick stock with a strong coating, meaning they’re unlikely to bend and may be resistant to modest liquid spills (but don’t hold me to that). The character dossiers won’t really work as character sheets on their own because they’re also on the thick, glossy paper which means they can’t be written on by anything other than a felt-tip pen or a marker, but they are good for references for each of the characters. The pages are thick and glossy, the cardstock covers are sturdy, and the binding tight so it won’t fall apart if you look at it funny. The two rulebooks – the Quick Start Rulebook and the included adventure “Battle Royale” – are very nice quality.

Shadowrun 5e simple character sheet