The thing I’ve always loved about Shadowrun is not the the dystopian grit. I am all about the team dynamic and the grift. In short, I liked the Leverage (TNT show) aspect of Shadowrun. Apparently I wasn’t alone. Margaret Weis studios stripped away the heavy cyberware and magic to create an elegant criminals and masterminds experience in a tidy tabletop setting. The thing is, she didn’t need to do that. Leverage is Shadowrun. It just needs the right massaging.
Leverage brings together a team of highly skilled specialists to work on the vigilante side of the law. There is the mastermind, the grifter, the cat burglar, the soldier, and the hacker. In shadowrun parlance this would be the mastermind, the face, the physical adept, the samurai, and the hacker. By adding magic and cyberpunk to the mix you create an opportunity to deepen the story. Given the longstanding roots of magic in our culture, the physical arrival of magic in that culture creates for some very interesting storylines–especially when tied to the Physical Adept (widely considered a hybrid bastardization of mage and fighter).
Magic giveth and magic taketh away. Shadowrun reintroduces orks, trolls, dwarves, and even elves to the world. This worldview is antithetical to a magical world. Cyberpunk is all about an oppressive dystopia under the control of sometimes malicious technology. Magic-based stories are generally about an oppressive world under the control of a power hungry magic user.
Wait… There’s a connection. So where does leverage fit in? You have this world where magic and technology are battling for supremacy and a select fe control both from the comfort of the corporate high rise. Down in the shadows of iron spires these Leverage style crews work to carve out a life for themselves and take a little slice of the pie from the corporators.
Leverage is Shadowrun. The difference is the level of the villain. The Leverage crew deals with top level baddies. A shadowrun crew might get there on occassion but they’re usually dealing with middle-men who never smell the 70th floor. Either way, the team dynamic still exists. The roles still exist. The desire to do something that matters in a world that means to convince you that you don’t matter still exists.