Article 263 of rec.games.frp.announce: Xref: teetot.acusd.edu rec.games.frp.announce:263 rec.games.frp.archives:258 Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.announce,rec.games.frp.archives Path: teetot.acusd.edu!network.ucsd.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!cwatters From: [l--a--d] at [husc8.harvard.edu] (Lester Ward) Subject: Shadowrun FAQ Message-ID: <[1992 Nov 24 161225 1087] at [magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu]> Originator: [c--tt--s] at [photon.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu] Sender: [n--s] at [magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu] Nntp-Posting-Host: photon.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Organization: The Ohio State University Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 12:43:10 GMT Approved: [c--tt--s] at [magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu] Lines: 886 This will be the last Shadowrun FAQ in it's current format. All five files are contained in this post. Most of the questions are about the First Edition of Shadowrun, which is why this FAQ list will be getting revamped. Good luck, Wordman "Tell him you and Fudgie were playing with the Cuisinart." -- Grendel's advice to young Sally, whose dog he killed with cyanide >>>>>>> **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * General * **************************************** Post Name: ShadowFAQ -- General As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post and those like it (which are posted all at once, at the beginning of every month) are meant to answer some FAQ (frequently asked questions) about Shadowrun and to suggest some house rules which hope to fix some of Shadowrun's deficiencies. Entirely new rules systems and/or long, radically different rules are not included in these posts, for the sake of brevity, if nothing else. So, you will not find, for example, rules for martial arts or new types of spirits in these posts. The house rules were put together from the posts of the people posting to rec.games.frp, rec.games.cyber and flashlife. They are divided into separate posts by category: armor -- armor gets its own category. combat -- guns, melee and initiative decking -- matrix, decking, deckers, decks magic -- sorcery, phys ads, enchanting, conjuring mechanics -- dice, metahumanity, misc. general -- this post, intro and questions about real world stuff At the beginning of each of these posts is an outline of what the post contains. Generally, each entry in a post starts with the general FAQ, then attempts to answer the question under vanilla Shadowrun rules, if applicable. Following this are house rules relating to and/or answering the question or concern. Many of the house rules go very well with other house rules. The intent of these posts is to modularize each house rule into simple components which may be mixed and matched. None of these house rules has anything at all to do with Shadowrun II unless explicitly stated. CHOICES: Where two very similar house rules existed, either the more complex of the two was used, or two sub-variant were listed. Some subtleties were left out to cut down on the length of these posts. FEEDBACK: The vanilla answers to some FAQs may be in error or dispute. Usually an SR rule is specific as to meaning, so conflicting interpretations of a rule should be rare. If you disagree with a vanilla answer, mail [ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu] and state your alternate case. Please note that this is if you disagree with the listed vanilla INTERPRETATION of a rule, not the rule itself. An attempt was made to give vanilla answers in the way which seemed to be consensus when disscussed on rec.games.frp If you disagree with a posted house rule, please do NOT send mail to [ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu.] Just don't use it. If you have a house rule that seems reasonable, please post it to rec.games.frp. If it is general enough, it will find its way onto these lists. PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE COMPILER: My apologies for not including the names of the authors of the house rules. I feel that this had more cons than pros (not the least of which was, quite honestly, my having to keep track of who did what). I do not necessarily agree with or use the house rules in these posts. I have attempted to take my opinions out of these posts all together, but I'm sure they seep in anyway. Again, my apologies. Enjoy, Wordman [ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu] ******* G1: When is Shadowrun II coming out? ******* It's out now. ******* G2: Where can I get the Neoanarchist's Guide to Everything Else? ******* This net.book (not to be confused with the FASA product "The Neoanarchist's Guide to Real Life, which is in production) is compiled by Jerry Stratton and contains SR articles of every description. Available by anonymous ftp from teetot.acusd.edu in rpg/shadowrun. Submissions can be sent to [j--r--y] at [teetot.acusd.edu.] The current issue of NAGEE is number 3. ******* G3: What other SR resources exist on Internet? ******* Flashlife: Send name and email address to [flashlife request] at [kpc.com] CyberRPG: (mailing list of rec.games.cyber postings) Bunch o' stuff: [archive server] at [vertas.com] Send a mail message with a body of "send help" on one line and "send index" on the next Jayhawk: Mary Kuhner's fiction at ftp.white.toronto.edu /pub/frp/shadowrun/jayhawk Discussion Group: [shadow r n] at [hearn.bitnet] ******* G4: What are all the Shaowrun products currently out? ******* RULES & TECHBOOKS: Shadowrun Shadowrun II GM's screen GM's screen for SRII Grimore Paranatural Animals of North America Rigger Black Book Shadowbeat Shadowtech Sprawl Sites Street Samurai Catalog Virtual Realities SOURCEBOOKS: Seattle Sourcebook London Sourcebook Neoanarchist's Guide to North America Native American Nations (volumes 1 & 2) RUNS: Bottled Demon DNA/DOA Ivy and Chrome Dragon Hunt Dreamchipper Elven Fire Harlequin Mercurial Total Eclipse Universal Brotherhood FICTION: 2XS Changling Choose Your Enemies Carefully Find Your Own Truth Into the Shadows Never Deal with a Dragon Never Trust an Elf RUMORS: (These have all been mentioned as being in production, but the validity of such claims is unknown). Denver Sourcebook Harlequin II map pack Neoanarchist's Guide to Europe Neoanarchist's Guide to Real Life Paranatural Animals of Europe Grimore II (This one .is. definately true) **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * Armor * **************************************** Post Name: ShadowFAQ -- Armor As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post contains FAQ (frequently asked questions) and standard house rules about the Armor portion of the Shadowrun gaming system. Posted simultaneously with this post is a post titled 'Shadowrun: FAQ General' which contains more information on what the point of this list is, where it came from, et cetera. Outline I. Weakening armor II. Layering armor ******* A1: Armor is too powerful. What is to be done? ******* HOUSE 1: Treat the current autosuccesses from armor as auto-sixes. HOUSE 2: Armor does not give auto successes. It gives it's rating in dice (used as body dice) to damage resistance. VARIANT 1: Light armor gives 1 autosuccess in addition to dice. Heavy armor gives 2 autosuccesses in addition to dice. Form-fitting just gives dice. HOUSE 3: Armor as vanilla, but impact of attack can bruise. Resist damage with Body and dodge. If this does not get rid of the damage, then armor reduces damage. If any real damage gets through armor, the person takes that wound as normal, but if the armor absorbs all remaining damage, the character takes a STUN wound equal to one wound category less than the damage that the armor cancelled. HOUSE 4: Armor gives no autosuccesses or dice. Instead it subtracts its rating from the Power of the attack. Zero power attacks do no damage. [This will be how SRII works. --Word] HOUSE 5: Armor degrades one point (permanently) if a) a weapon hits with a deadly damage code (regardless of whether the character resists the damage or not) or if b) the character inside the armor takes any damage at all. Note that both conditions can be satisfied from a single hit, degrading the armor by 2 points. This is the most that armor can be degraded by a single weapon hit. HOUSE 6: Roll a number of dice equal to armor rating. Add them together and divide power level of the attack (dropping all fractions). The result becomes the number of autosuccesses. ******* A2: If I wear a lined coat over a secure jacket, do I get the benefits of both? ******* VANILLA: No. Only the highest rating is valid. Armor is not cumulative. (Many feel that even though this rule has some logical holes, armor is already too powerful to warrant changing it.) HOUSE 1: Use most powerful armor, as normal, but other armor gives extra dice at 1/2 its rating. No other armor may be worn with Heavy Armor. Helmets are as normal. HOUSE 2: Each additional suit adds 1 to the rating of the toughest armor. If the additional armor has no rating in the category it is resisting, it gives no bonuses. **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * Combat * **************************************** Post Name: ShadowFAQ -- Combat As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post contains FAQ (frequently asked questions) and standard house rules about the Combat portion of the Shadowrun gaming system. Posted simultaneously with this post is a post titled 'Shadowrun: FAQ General' which contains more information on what the point of this list is, where it came from, et cetera. As mentioned in the General post, many house rules are effective when used together. This is especially true of this section. Armor rules are included in their own post. OUTLINE I. Reaction and Initiative II. Speedier/Deadlier Combat A. Pools III. Damage locations IV. Grenades ******* C1: How do I stop magicians with Increase Reaction Spell Locks from riding circles around cybered people? ******* VANILLA: Since you are limited to a maximum of four actions, characters with very high initiative scores will likely run out of actions, dodge dice and defence dice very early on in combat, leaving them open to multiple attacks resisted without aid. PSEUDO-VANILLA: While not actually in the rulebooks, the following has been mentioned by Paul Hume and Tom Dowd: when "stacking" spells over cyberware, only the highest rating holds. Reaction enhancements are not cumulative. HOUSE 1: Disallow Increase Reaction spells. HOUSE 2: Change Increase Reaction spells to only gain one die for every TWO levels of the spell. Thus Inc. Reac. 2 is equivalent to Wired 1, Inc. Reac. 4 is equiv to Wired 2. HOUSE 3: Change the number of phases between a character's actions from 7 to a variable number, based on cyberware/spells. Everyone gets only one die for Initiative. The value of the roll is added to Reaction (cyber/spell adjusted). Normal characters get an action every 7 phases, other characters by this table: wired boosted Increase Physical _level_______reflexes____reflexes____Reaction____Adepts__ 1 4 5 6 4 2 3 4 5 3 3 2 3 4 2 4 - - 3 1 VARIANT 1: This same idea, but limiting the Reaction bonuses of the types of cyberware and/or spells (+1 per level of wired, for example, in stead of +2). VARIANT 2: This same idea, but limiting the maximum number of actions to four. HOUSE 4: Roll initiative normally. You get only ONE 'dice' action (shooting, spellcasting, etc), which can occur on or after your initiative number. You get a number of 'non-dice' actions (reloading, aiming, movement, drawing weapon, etc) equal to 1 + levels of any reaction enhancements. ******* Does the rule of 6 apply to initiative? ******* VANILLA: No. Initiative is not a test and the rule of 6 applies only to tests. [This can be found in the eratta sheets]. HOUSE 1: Yes. HOUSE 2: Yes, but only to the natural die (the 'free' die that everyone gets for initiative; extra dice from cyber are as normal.) ******* C2: How do you speed up combat and/or make it more deadly? ******* VANILLA: Use the new combat rules from the Rigger Sourcebook. HOUSE 1: Change the armor rules you use, to make combat more deadly. See the FAQ Armor post for these. HOUSE 2: Eliminate the dodge and combat pools. Use a Combat Pool instead, equal to your reaction. Dice from it may be used to help dodge (up to Quickness in extra dice) or help a combat skill (up to present level of skill in dice). VARIANT 1: Set the combat pool = (Quk+Int+Will)/2 (round down). [This is what Shadowrun II will use.] HOUSE 3: Dodge pool is no longer used to resist damage, but to avoid being hit. The target number for the dodge is 4 for melee attacks and thrown weapons, 5 for projectiles, and 6 for bullets and explosions. Dodge successes cancel with attacker successes. Getting more successes than the attacker means a clean miss. VARIANT 1: As above, but the successes reduce damage. (Yes, these two are different. This variant allows some of the attackers successes to sometimes be wasted by incomplete staging.) VARIANT 2: As above, but the target number is the skill level of the attacker. HOUSE 4: Only dodge pool OR defense pool may be used between actions. HOUSE 5: If a character elects to dodge, one dodge roll is made with all dice and holds for all attacks on him until his pool refreshes. HOUSE 6: Attacks stage up at set values by type of attack, but stage down normally. VARIANT 1: Melee attacks stage up at 1, down normally. VARIANT 2: Gun/missile attacks stage up at 2, down normally. VARIANT 3: Heavy weapons stage up at 4, down normally. ******* C3: Shouldn't there be a hit location system? ******* VANILLA: The amount of damage done by shooting someone in SR is based on a skill roll. The more skill you have, the more damage you are likely to do. Since the amount of skill you possess does not change how hard the bullet hits, the only way to explain this is by saying that the more skill someone has, the more likely they are to shoot someone in a vital and/or exposed location. HOUSE 1: Use DMZ-like hit location system. Mark two damage tracks (one mental, one physical) as follows: +1 +2 +3 +4 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 D When a character is injured, roll 2d6 to determine where on the track the damage is applied. Wounds do the same number of "boxes" as in Shadowrun. For example, a Moderate wound with a 2d6 roll of 6 fills in boxes 6, 5 and 4, giving a +2 modifier to all the character's die rolls thereafter. Skip any boxes that are already filled in. At 0 the character is just unconscious; at D, comatose (mental) or dead (physical). Additional boxes on the Mental track wrap onto the Physical track. ******* C4: Why are grenades so wimpy? ******* VANILLA: Good question. HOUSE 1: Increase the base damage of grenades to D. ******* C5: What are all the modifiers to ranged combat? ******* Recoil (Rigger Black Book, pg. 131-32) Burst +2 per burst Full auto +1/round Heavy Weapon 2*uncompensated recoil compensation -1/rating Reactive trigger extra shot for sngl shot wpns (Street Sam pg18,20) Blind Fire +8 (SR. page 65) Cover, Partial +2 Cover, Full +4 Target Running +1 Attacker in Melee Combat +1/Opponent (see ALSO, pg65, col 2, para 5) Attacker Running cannot shoot Attacker Moving +1 Attacker Moving on difficult ground +2 Visibility norm LL Therm Full Dark +4 +2 0 Glare +2 +4 +4 Mist +2 +2 0 Reduced Lgt +2 0 0 Smoke/Fog +4 +4 +2 Ultrasound Sight negates visiblity mods (Street Sam, pg 36) Smartgun +2 (SR. pg 136) Smart Goggles +1 Image Magnification (SR. pg 65, col 1, 2nd paragraph) Target standing still -1 Laser sight -1 (SR. pg 136) Wounds Light +1 Medium +2 Serious +3 **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * Decking * **************************************** Post Name: ShadowFAQ -- Decking As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post contains FAQ (frequently asked questions) and standard house rules about the Decking portion of the Shadowrun gaming system. Posted simultaneously with this post is a post titled 'Shadowrun: FAQ General' which contains more information on what the point of this list is, where it came from, et cetera. Outline I. Starting Deckers ******* D1. Using Virtual Realities rules, how does a starting decker use Tech to get a deck? Does he pay street costs? What about programs? ******* VANILLA: Continue to use the prices in the original rules for purposes of beginning equipment. HOUSE 1: Use street costs in Virtual Realities for decks and programs. Remember street decks do not come with MPCP chips. HOUSE 2: Use tech money to buy hours of deck-making/programming time. 300Y will give you one day of time. There are no skill rolls to cut the time nor can time overlap (i.e. no saving days by designing one component while another's chips are cooking). ******* D2. How to you keep non-decking players from being bored while decking is happening and vice-versa? ******* VANILLA: Use the quick and dirty resolution system from Virtual Realities. HOUSE 1: The Practical Approach: Create deckers that have combat or other skills. This keeps them in the action. HOUSE 2: The Practical But More Limiting To Your Players Approach: Use only NPC deckers. Have all decking happen behind the scenes. HOUSE 3: The Theatric Approach: Handle decking as a role-playing encounter, rolling dice only occasionally. A creative GM can keep all the players interested in the description of the place (use lots of sculpted systems) as well as have the decker interact with the Matrix the way it is intended to be -- on a human level. HOUSE 4: The Intellectually Unsatisfying but Very Effective Approach: Have the decker character run by himself. Literally. Give the player the node map (or make him make one up using the random tables in SR) and let him make all rolls for himself as well as IC. This requires trust worthy players, but works well for many campaigns. ******* D3: Do Persona programs take up storage space? ******* No. They are hard-coded into optical chips in the deck. The size ratings given in the rules are useful only when you are writing one of these programs. ******* D4: What, exactly, makes up the hacking pool? ******* Hacking Pool = Natural React + Skill + (2*Response Increase Level). Cyberware (except for some of the new goodies in Shadowtech like the Math SPU) has NO effect on hacking pool. This includes cyberware which increases reaction unless otherwise stated (e.g. Wired and Boosted reflexes don't help at all). ******* D5: How the hell does decking work? ******* This example uses full Virtual Realities rules, inc. modes and load. Decker with Reaction: 5, Computer: 6, Intelligence: 6, Hacking Pool: 11 Deck: MPCP: 6 Attack: 6 (72Mp) Bod: 6 Auto-Execute: 4 (16Mp) Evasion: 6 Deception: 4 (32Mp) Masking: 6 Sleaze: 4 (48Mp) Sensors: 6 Hardening: 3 Response: 0 [Note, this deck is actually illegal. The sum of the persona ratings can't exceed 3 times the MPCP (in this case, 18). This error will not be fixed to keep the numbers a bit more managable.] Decker loads all utils to start with. Enters in Masking Mode with MPCP set at 6. This gives effective ratings of: Bod/Eva/Msk/Sen: 3/3/9/3 Load: 5 (MPCP/2 + (Mp in active mem)/100)) Decker tries to sleaze into a Green-4 SAN with an Access-4. SAN Green: 2 Threshold Rating: 4 Max Load: 8 IC Load: 2 Decker enters node to contact range, Load goes to 7 which is 'normal load'. SLEAZE with Auto-exec: Execution Test: none. SAN Rating - Auto-exec rating = 0. No T# penalty. Opposed Success Test Decker IC # of Dice 4 (Sleaze Rtg) + pool 4 (IC Rtg) Target Number 4 (Node Rtg) 9 (Deckers Masking) Decker wins if Her Succ - Node Succ > 2 The node wins if the same value is < 0 All other results (difference being 0,1 or 2) are 'ties'. SLEAZE without Auto-exec: Execution Test: Decker Node # of Dice 4 (Sleaze Rtg) + pool 4 (Node Rtg) Target Number 4 (Node Rtg) 9 (Deckers Masking) Decker wins if Her Succ - Node Succ > 2 The node wins if the same value is < 0 All other results (difference being 0,1 or 2) are 'ties'. Then as Opposed Success Test above. Pool does not refresh. Next situation: Datastore with Black IC:4. Black IC swarms out and attacks. This situation will almost never happen. The Black IC needs a trigger, like Access or Barrier or it will either a) never activate, or b) always activate when anyone -- even legitimate users -- enter the node. It could also come in, activated by an alert. If activated by alert, the Black IC acts as Probe IC, and would interrogate the decker when it found her. For the sake of the argument, let's say the decker failed to sleaze or deceive the Black IC. Since she was in a datastore scanning for data, she was probably in Sensor Mode. All utilities are still in active memory, giving her a load of 7. Let's say the Black IC has Shifting Defence (VR pg.22) When the IC activates, its load gets added to the node's. Assuming that its load rating is 2*rating, its load is 8; however, it also has Shifting Defence which increases the rating (ONLY for the purpose of determining load) by one, making the rating 5, giving a 10 load. When the IC activates, this 10 load is added to the 7 of the decker. 17 is 2 more than the Maximum Load of the node (see below). This sends the node into overload. This triggers a passive alert (but since the decker is being attacked, this is somewhat academic). IC behaves as if it were 2 rating points lower than normal, as do utilities. For simplicity (too late!), the events of this paragrph will be ignored in the following example. Datastore Orange: 3 Threshold Rating: 5 Max Load: 15 IC Load: 10 COMBAT Initiative: Decker gets 1d6 + Reaction. No pool. IC gets 7 (Orange Node) + 4 (IC's rating) = 11 (IC probably wins) IC Attack (The VR Black IC says "once the Black IC scores a hit the decker may Hang Tough or Jack Out." I take this to mean that the IC needs to score a hit in normal combat before it gets nasty; like having to touch someone for Poison Touch to work. This is not explicit in the rules, but my guess is the IC needs one net to start its process and DOES, incidentally, damage the DECK when it does so): Resisted Success Test: IC Attack: T# = 3 (Deck's current Bod (in Sensor Mode)) dice = 4 (IC Rating) Decker Resist: T# = 5 (Node Rtg) dice = MPCP + pool. Deck's hardening gives 3 auto-successes. If Decker gets more successes, no damage, Black IC hasn't got hold of her. Decker gets to attack. If the IC gets more successes, net successes apply to the damage track of the deck, Black IC gets hold. Black IC Effects (see below). Decker Attacks (w/ Auto-exec) Decker's pool refreshes Execution Test: none. Node Rating - Auto-exec = 1, so +1 to all Decker's T#s with the attack utility. Opposed Success Test Decker Attack: Decker IC # of Dice 6 (Attack Rtg) + pool 4 (IC Rtg) Target Number 8 (5(Node Rtg) + 2 due 3 (Deckers Bod) to IC's Shifting Defence + 1 due to Auto-exec) Side with greater number of successes damages the other. Decker must overcome threshold, IC must overcome hardening. If the attack program had a staging and Decker did damage, the damage would be the staging plus the net successes. If the Black IC hits, it gives the net successes in damage to the deck. Black IC Effects (see below). Decker Attacks (without Auto-exec) Decker's Pool refreshes Execution Test (aka Aiming): T#: 5 (Node Rating) dice: pool Total successes - 3 (for Node Threshold) add to the Attack Program's Rating for next step. If 0 net successes, attack misses. Resisted Success Test for Damage Decker: T# = 5 (Node rating) dice = 6 (Attack rtg) + # successes from Execution test + remaining pool. IC: T# = 6 (Decker's Computer skill) dice = 4 (IC Rating) Net successes apply to IC. If the Utility had a staging, the damage would be base staging plus net successes. Black IC Effects Decker's pool doesn't refresh Hang Tough Resisted Success Test IC: T# = Decker's Body (not Int in Virtual Realities) dice = 4 (Rating) Decker Resist: T# = 4 (IC Rating) dice = Her Body + remaining pool, Hardening Auto-succ. IC net successes do damage (one box/succes) to Decker. Jack Out Unresisted Test Decker: T# = 4 (IC Rtg) dice = willpower Any successes and she's out, but must use Body to resist 4M2 stun damage. Then she must resist Dump Shock (SR 102). **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * Magic * **************************************** Post Name: ShadowFAQ -- Magic As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post contains FAQ (frequently asked questions) and standard house rules about the Magic portion of the Shadowrun gaming system. Posted simultaneously with this post is a post titled 'Shadowrun: FAQ General' which contains more information on what the point of this list is, where it came from et cetera. Outline I. Reaction spells II. Spell locks 1. grounding 2. vs. quickening 3. karma costs ******* M1: How do Increase Reaction spells work? ******* VANILLA: Each level of the spell adds to the casters Reaction and gives him an extra die for initiative. The number of successes scored is irrelevant. HOUSE: For ways to control this spell, see the Reaction section of the FAQ Combat post. ******* M2: How does grounding spells into a spell lock work? ******* VANILLA: Spells and spell locks behave like living things on the astral plane. When the come in contact, they fight. If the spell wins, it grounds into the lock. Spell locks fight with a rating of 1 (regardless of what force the spell they are locking was cast at or how many successes were made during the casting.) If the attacking spell was a mana spell, the astral portion of the lock is destroyed, and the spell it was locking dissapates; the lock itself will have to be rebonded, but is intact. If the attacking spell was a physical spell, it grounds into the lock (in real space), destroying it. If the attacking spell was (in addition to being a physical spell) an area spell, the spell effects those around the lock in a normal way. ******* M3: What is the difference between spell locks and Quickening? ******* VANILLA: Only Initiates can use Quickening; any full magician can bond a lock. Locks have and astral rating of 1; quickened spells have a rating equal to the force they were cast at (actual force, not how many die were used). Quickened spells have no physical component. ******* M4: Can anyone pay the karma for bonding a spell lock? ******* VANILLA: No. The same magician must a) cast the spell to be locked, b) lock the spell, and c) pay the karma. The magician does not have to lock the spell TO himself, however. There is an astral link between the caster and the lock. ******* M5: The rules for First Bonding in the Grimore (pg. 48) allow PCs to bond powerful foci for nearly no karma if enough Arcana and Orichalcum is used. How can that be stopped? ******* VANILLA: Remember First bonding only applies to foci that have never before been bonded by anyone: foci just produced, generally specifically by and/or for the bonder. Second, Arcana and Orichalcum are really expensive (weather the cost is measured in nuyen or time). Making foci can take a long time. HOUSE 1: Apply the modifiers to final cost of the foci, not to the base cost. That is ((base*rating)-modifiers), not ((base-modifiers)*rating). In other words, bonding a power foci rating 3 using 4 units of orichalcum would cost (7*3)-4 = 17, not (7-4)*3 = 9. HOUSE 2: Keep the rules as is, but make the First Bonding mean bonding the magic to the focus, not the focus to the magician. In other words, the First Bonding makes the focus a focus (gives it it's astral presence and abilities), then the focus needs to be bonded to the magician as per the tables on the next page (pg49). ******* M6: Which are better, Shamans or Mages? ******* VANILLA: Just the facts: _category_______________________Shaman_______________________Mages_____ Spells Cast identical Sorcery Bonuses Totem dice, always avail elemental service Category By totem only by elemental type Sorcery Penalties by totem none Conjure Nature Spirits Elementals Time of summoning One action Force * hours Length of service Until sun rises or sets continuously or until services used or until services used Abilities Limited Extensive Range Limited to domain summoned in no limits Types restricted by domain by materials used Initiation Extras Grade added to totem dice Great Forms can cross domains Astral Quests to totem plane to all elemental planes **************************************** * SHADOWRUN * * Frequently Asked Questions * * Mechanics * **************************************** Post Name: Shadowrun: FAQ Mechanics As of: July 1, 1992 Version: 0.4 Compiled by: Wordman ([ward 1] at [husc.harvard.edu]) This post contains FAQ (frequently asked questions) and standard house rules about the general Mechanics of the Shadowrun gaming system. Posted simultaneously with this post is a post titled 'Shadowrun: FAQ General' which contains more information on what the point of this list is, where it came from et cetera. Outline I. dice A. 6 vs. 7 B. High rolls = extra success II. priorities III. Metahumanity construction IV. Skillwires and cumulative ratings V. Concentrations/Specializations ******* Q1A: Are a six and seven (or 12 and 13, etc.) Target number the same? ******* VANILA: For the most part, yes; howvever, if someone has, say a +2 modifier to do something, six and seven become 8 and 9, which is quite a differece. This works both ways -- with target number of 4, a +2 modifer is effectively the same as a +3 modifier. Six and seven are can be different in opposed success tests, as well (rating 7 IC is different from Rating 6 IC). HOUSE 1: The rule of six is altered. When 'rerolling' sixes, the value added is the face value minus one. A six on the reroll adds 5 + a new die under the same rules. Thus (with one die) rolling a 6 then 4 yeilds 6 + (4-1) = 9. Rolling a 6 then 6 then 4 yields 6 + (6-1) + (4-1) = 14. ******* Q1B: When your target number is 4, but you roll an 18, do you get any bonuses? ******* VANILLA: No. Only the number of successes matters, not the highest number rolled. HOUSE 1: You gain an extra success for every multiple of six over the target numer. Thus T# + 6 is two successes, T# + 12 is three successes. HOUSE 2: Multiples of the target number are extra successes. With a T# of 4, an 8 gives two successes, a 12 would give three total. VARIANT: Only applies to target numbers 5 or greater. ******* Q2: How does the Priority system work? ******* VANILLA: An archetype must be composed by assigning each priority value (0,1,2,3,4) to a category; NO category OR value can be used more than once. This is the system from the Third printing of the SR rules. HOUSE 1: Use the system from the First printing of the rules; each category must be chosen only once, but the only restriction on which values may be used is that they must add to ten (for example, using 0-3- 3-3-1). VARIANT: As HOUSE 1, but only one category may be taken at 0. ******* Q3: The way the Priority system is, Metahumans end up very weak. ******* HOUSE 1: Metahumanity takes Race priority 3, not 4. Metahuman mages take magic at 4, Race at 3. Methuman adepts can take Magic at three and Race at 2. Optionally, make Trolls use the vanilla system (Race 4). HOUSE 2: Metahumanity takes Race priority 2, not 4. They get NO special discounts for magic. HOUSE 3: Eiliminate the Race priority and choose only priorities 1 through 4 (that is, eliminate 0). VARIANT 1: Make metahumans subtract 3 from attributes. ******* Q4: If I have level 3 skillwires with a rating 3 firearms skillsoft as well as a firearms skill of 5, when I slot the chip is my firearms skill 5 (normal skill level) or 8 (the sum of the chip and normal level)? ******* VANILLA: Neither. Your skill is 3, the level of the skillsoft. Skillwires override existing skills. The normal Shadowrun guideline is when two skills/systems are operating at once, use the highest of the two, do not sum the ratings. For example, a samurai with Wired Reflexes 2 and a Increase Reaction +1 spell on him only gets 2 extra dice (from the higher of the two systems), not three. Note that Skillwires are an exception to this rule as they always use the skillsoft rating. ******* Q5: How do concentrations and specializations work? ******* VANILLA: The mechanics of concentrations and specializations (c/s) differ widely depending on when in a characters life they are used, either during character creation or after character creation. During character creation one concentration can be chosen per skill (if desired). This gives the character what amounts to two skills. For example, Bob spends 6 skill points to buy Firearms 6. He then decides to concentrate in Pistols. Bob now has a Firearms 5 skill and a Pistols 7 skill. A character can also take one specialization per concentration. Bob chooses to specialize in the Preditor II, giving him Firearms 4, Pistols 6 and Preditor II 8. Note that no extra skill points were spent. After character generation, the only difference between normal skills and c/s (apart from the narrowness of focus, of course) is karma cost to improve them . Treat the normal skill, the concentration and the specialization as different skills. Bob has some karma points. He could increase any and/or all of his normal or c/s skills. To increase his Firearms to 5, he'd have to spend 8 karma (current rating (5) x 2 (normal skill)). Bumping his Pistol skill to 7 would cost 9 points (current rating (6) x 1.5 (concentration)). Moving Preditor II to 9 would take 8 points (current rating (8) X 1 (specialization)). Note the increasing any one of these skills has _no_ effect on the other two. [blame me for crossposting - mod]