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Where to start?

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Tan Tin Geile

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« on: <06-12-19/1504:03> »
Greetenigs fellow users.

Fisrt of all - I would like to say Hello, as this is my first post here.
Second thing is more complicated. I would like return to Shadowrun as a GM and player. I had a small experience with this system, but  is strongly outdated (my last game was in middle '90). Well, the question is: if I want to return, should I start from 5ed ( in my opinion mature and well established) or I should wait for new edition? If 5ed, can you please advice what books I should have at the beggining?

Thanks in advance.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #1 on: <06-12-19/1514:10> »
Well, with Sixth edition coming so soon, I'd just start with that.  The Quick Start Rules should be available any day now, and the Core Rulebook is due next month, with more expansions coming the month after that.

However if you prefer to go with 5e, the main must-have is of course the core rulebook.
The other rulebooks:

Run Faster: expansion rules (recommended)
Run and Gun: more combat toys, and combat rules (recommended)
Data Trails: Matrix expansion book (recommended for Deckers and GMs)
Kill Code: Expands on Data Trails (recommended for Technomancers)
Rigger 5.0: The rigger book. (obviously, recommended for riggers)
Street Grimoire: The magic book (recommended)
Howling Shadows: The 5e Monster Manual for shadowrun (recommended for GMs)
Dark Terrors: Expands on Street Grimoire and Howling Shadows (IMO it's a meh.  Nice for GMs tho)
Cutting Aces: The face book (meh. not needed unless you go all in on 5e)
Hard Targets: The munchkin gear book (recommended if you like to optimize)
Stolen Souls: The black trenchcoat playstyle book (meh, but there's really great fluff about how to play black trenchcoat-y)
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Rapier

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« Reply #2 on: <06-12-19/1523:52> »
I would wait for 6th, hopefully it will be clearer and easier to play than 5th as advertised.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #3 on: <06-12-19/1530:24> »
SR5 Core suffers from shoddy editing in places, which combined with massive crunch can be really confusing. SR6 Core is way smaller, better edited, and hopefully will have a quick turnaround on any errata/faq that pop up. So I'd put my faith in SR6, especially since it's less of an initial burden.

I would avoid QSR (Beginner Box) if you know for sure you're getting Core and are willing to wait, but Beginner Box is good if you want to introduce a new group and give it a shot before making the final call.
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Marcus

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« Reply #4 on: <06-12-19/1652:01> »
I would take it slow. The jury is very much out on 6e. I’d recommend not committing until the 6e CRB is reviewed by the community at large. SSRD and Chandra are demo team and strong proponents  of 6e, just full disclosure. Take your time the 6e crb isn’t out until after gencon. I’d recommend taking a look at the 25th anniversary edition which sort like 4.5 it’s  pretty good. 5e has lots of material some which is indeed not so great but there are many good books in 5e. You can always go back to 6e when it actual rules are released.

Anyway take your time there is lot of editions you can find all of them on drivethru rpg or similar vendors.
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mcv

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« Reply #5 on: <06-12-19/1707:16> »
If you want to play now, and not wait, I wouldn't wait until 6th edition. If you have 2nd edition books, you could still play that edition of course.

If you decide to get the 5th edition, I'd just get Core for now. There's plenty in it, and more stuff just makes the system that much harder to learn. Maybe have a look at 6th when it comes out, so you have a basis for comparison.

If you do want all the extra books, Run & Gun, Street Grimoire and all the others, you should definitely go with 5th, because it will be years before 6th has caught up with 5th on that front.

On the other hand, if you want to start small and are willing to wait, you might as well wait for 6th.

I'm sticking with 5th for now. I just started a couple of months ago and have sunk a lot of money in 5th, so I'm not eager to drop that investment. Maybe I'll have a look at 6th when it's a year or two old.

Singularity

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« Reply #6 on: <06-12-19/2152:55> »
As someone completely new to Shadowrun, I've decided to go with the 6th edition of the game. Fifth edition is ending and new material will be for 6th edition, with the possible exception of a few items in the works still (I think I remember people mentioning a book or two for 5th still due to be released?). I plan on grabbing the beginner's boxed set first, so that I can get a taste of the rules and see if my group likes it.