Shadowrun S - Simplified System

This article outlines a simplified Shadowrun rule system, designed for players who want to get things done (GTD), and have no love for reason-less complexity. It aims to minimize the number of rules while maximizing expressiveness. The system is distilled from "the best" (whatever that means) of Shadowrun 1-5 (and you are assumed to know at least SR5). Let's start with a better understanding of the different character types that one would actually want to use for a character role:

The biggest variation is that in the official rules, everyone can do everything (e.g. attribute boosts can come from cyber, powers or spells). This has the effect that from an effectiveness perspective, there is e.g. no real reason for a Street Samurai anymore. The SRS (Shadowrun simplified) system raises the esteem of cyber/bioware as the only ones that can boost attributes, particularly reflexes. Adepts are now somewhat orthogonal to samurais (and other cybered combat-oriented characters): They can perform impossible feats like jumping very high and dodging everything, and are the only ones that can boost skills. So they can do everything better, but not faster, unlike in SR2-4 where they essentially replaced samurais.

Sorcerers (shamans and hermetics) and Deckers + Riggers still work on two additional planes of existence, and protect the team there. Spells have been scaled back to not raise attributes, reflexes or skills, and the reach of astral projection is now small (enough to peek through walls, but not extended astral travels). Similarly, deckers have been scaled back to hacking things within their line of sight (and short distances away from their body when in VR). Both measures are intended to keep the characters close to the team action and to avoid solo mini runs which bore the other players.

Adept sorcerers and technomancers exist but should never be playable, much like immortal elves, dragons, vampires and shape shifters.

Dice rolls are like in SR4: Rolls >= 5 are one success. 4 dice are one auto success if the GM wants to use that rule. Dice (dis)advantages can be on the acting or on the defending characters. Threshold modifiers are always on the acting character. The only limits are on weapon precision and spell force.

Much revolves around stealth, so hiding and perception are vital in SRS. Physical stealth can be boosted by way of attributes (cybered), powers (adepts) or hiding from senses (e.g. invisibility spell of sorcerers). Astral and device stealth come by sorcerers and deckers, respectively. Anybody can perceive physically, and to some limited extent magically and matrixally.

Attributes

Ok, on to the basic composition and appearance of your character. Since SR1 did minimize the number of attributes, they are re-used (apart from SR4's Edge), but with a slightly different meaning:

Strength is "athletic prowess" in sports, encompassing both power and explosiveness (so it includes part of what was formerly Quickness). Sprinting, endurance running, swimming and weight lifting are 90% strength. Quickness is coordination and balance, needed by Billard players, Basketball throwers and gymnasts (though the latter two also need a lot of strength for the other aspects of their sport). Body is as in SR1-5 the ability to take a punch/shot, commonly referred to as "chin" in combat sports. High body always indicates a massive frame.

Charisma is the same as in SR1-5. Intelligence includes analytical, practical and emotional intelligence, so a shaman and a hermetic can have the same attribute level but at slightly different meanings (the difference will probably be that a shaman has more Charisma too). You can be book-smart or street-smart, both will help you get things done. Willpower is the same as in SR1-5, mental "Body".

Any attribute cannot be more than doubled by enhancements (i.e. cyber/bioware).

Essence works like in SR5, i.e. both cyber and bioware take away from one essence rating. Every 2 full points lost confer -1 dice on any social test, so you can compensate by being very charismatic or exceptionally skilled at negotiation. The penalty for Essence loss is deliberately small to not devalue cybered characters too much as in SR2-5. Edge is preferred over a karma pool, and also humans should still have +1 Edge to compensate for their other attribute disavantages. Magic works like in SR4, and there are no "power points" for adepts.

Initiative is Quickness + Intelligence/2 + 1W6 and from then on follows SR5 in that an action pass occures every 10 steps. This means that even unaugmented characters can reach 2 passes quite often. Dodge is Strength + Quickness - Body/2, in that it has nothing to do with perceiving an incoming shot (that is Initiative), but denotes your ability to move yourself out of harms way quickly enough. This values Strength more than SR1-5, and also includes Body size so that Trolls are not dodge kings.

Perception is Intelligence + Willpower, meaning that you need to able to study your surrounding in meticulous detail. This values Willpower more than SR1-5, particularly for mundanes. Defiance is Charisma + Willpower and used against social manipulation attempts or mind probes.

During character generation, all attribute values should generally be at 3 (for a human, adjust for metahumans), one at 2, one at 4 and one at 5 respectively. That means all characters are somewhat equal in the attribute domain, and sorcerers are only disadvantaged in the sense that if they want a high Magic attribute, they need to sacrifice something else. Karma costs are comparatively high at L*6 to encourage skill improvement instead of attribute improvement (raising 1 attribute = raising 3 skills).

Skills

Skills were so much simpler in SR1, in fact a skill group in SR4 is often the same as a single skill in SR1. The SRS follows simplicity, so SR1 skills with some modifications are used. The only limits are on weapon and spell force effects. Core skills for each character class are:

Skills are always tied to an attribute, and rolled together, as in SR5. There are no skills tied to Bod or Wil, since they are mostly resistance attributes.

Firearms are all hand-held guns, while Heavy weapons are the big guns that are held at hip level or as gunnery. Both have limits from weapon quality. Projectiles include both throwing and archery, making the formerly exotic skill more useful. Close combat is both armed and unarmed; it is the ability to read opponents that is important here. Projectiles and close combat have no limits, making them more valuable than guns in that respect. Athletics subsumes all swimming, climbing, and acrobatics including free fall and diving.

Stealth is infiltration, tracking and shadowing, disguise, escape artist, and palming in one. It could have been named "Thievery". Survival includes navigation, shelter, finding safehouses and orientation in derelict buildings; use when being lost. Driving includes land, air and seacraft, modelling the principles of acting with a vehicle body, including firing sentry guns; it uses vehicle limits.

Etiquette (Subculture) is always customized towards a specific subculture (no generalized skill here) and represents the ability to blend in. Characters should feel alien in unfamiliar subcultures. It also includes impersonation, useful in combination with disguise (Stealth); you can always impersonate better in subcultures you know. Talking, on the other hand, works on everyone and subsumes all communication including negotiation, con, seduction and intimidation. Animal handling is all communication on half-sentient beings. Performance is singing, dancing, incantation and usually important for shamans, and sometime hermetics.

Computer is both editing and hacking, as knowledge truly is power; it also includes matrix combat and everything on a digital software level. Electronics are a step farther into the real world, concerning signals and wiring, including electronic warfare, device detection, and hardware. Mechanics are one step further into materialism, subsuming locksmithing, vehicle repair, weapon construction (though those often use electronics) and any artisanship. Biotech is human body mechanics, including first aid and medicine (cybertechnology would require both biotech and electronics), and chemistry. Forgery is replaced by either computer, electronics or mechanics depending on what you want to forge. Demolitions is still blowing shit up.

Sorcery is all spellcasting and rituals, as well as counterspelling. Conjuring includes summoning, binding and banishing. Enchanting is alchemy, arcana and artificing in one. There is no astral combat skill anymore: Either attack someone with Close Combat (substituting Cha for Str when astral), or spellcast on them.

Any skill cannot be more than doubled by enhancements (i.e. adept powers).

Knowledge skills are always included in active skills, so e.g. Magic Theory is entirely inside Sorcery, or Chemistry is entirely within Biotech. This leaves more room for street and fun knowledges. Every character receives 6 knowledge skills at level 4 during character creation. There is no link to Int, but less intelligent characters should have "streetier" areas of knowledge.

You may want additional skills that cannot be approximated by the ones above. If you create a skill, just remember that the scope of the skill should be broad, and that learning an active skill implies practical as well as theoretical knowledge, while pure knowledge implies the smartass effect: Knows everything, can't do anything.

Skills go generally up to 12 (not 6) as in SR5 with L*2 karma costs, making them much preferable to improving attributes. Knowledge skills cost L*1 karma. Skills that a character does not have count as 0, so only the attribute is rolled (no need to punish characters excessively).

Specializations give +2 die for one very narrow aspect of a skill (one weapon, spell or vehicle; one decking activity) and can be chosen at 10 karma every 100 earned karma points, so it is only useful for skills above 3 (for 4+6=10, you could raise an entire skill from 1 to 3). That means that a typical reputation 300 character at career end can have 3 specializations. Every aspect can only be specialized once. It should be a "signature move" of the character, not just randomly more dice.

Getting a Run

A shadowrun starts with someone wanting something, and that someone is part of some subculture; this is where the Talking and Etiquette (Subculture) skills come in.

To blend in, the GM first determines how compatible the target's subculture is to your most fitting Etiquette (Subculture) skill (-0 for basically the same group to -6 for strongly opposing groups, such as racists vs. metahuman rights activists; a middle ground like corporate vs. streets is -3). Essence loss is bad for social interaction too, conferring an additional -1 for each 2 points essence loss. Characters then roll Etiquette (Subculture), already using that penalty; each success reduces the penalty by one, so someone from Corporate with very strong Etiquette skills may appear likeable even to a Tribal community. The remaining alien-culture penalty applies to all social action tests, but not to resistance tests.

Using the remaining penalty, we can start Talking, which is either an opposed test or resisted by Defiance (Cha+Wil), depending on the variant:

Negotiation is a friendly chat with the goal of making both parties happy (or at least equally unhappy) about the result. It is used on Johnsons, business partners and connections, and is just an opposed Talking roll. The winning party may dictate the terms to some extent but will usually concede smaller things (e.g. the characters agree to give all paydata to the Johnson for free in exchange for a higher base rate; or the Johnson lowering the price but agreeing to pay damages up to some extent). A tie means the status quo is accepted by everyone. If there is no status quo, it ends in "let's agree to disagree"; in some cases this means negotiations are called off, but the parties are still friendly towards each other.

Con is used for reaching short-term goals at the expense of long-term happiness. Unlike negotiation, your target may get suspicious about what you are doing, leading to a break-off and possible retaliation. Roll Talking, subtracting dice for extra outragous proposals or for asking for very sensitive information, and the target resists with Defiance. More net successes mean the target does not regret helping or telling you for a slightly longer time. A tie means you do not achieve your objective, but the target is not suspicous either. In case both parties try to con each other, just roll opposed Talking.

Intimidation and interrogation both definitely evoke a hostile response; it is also the only social interaction that does not suffer from the alien-subculture penalty. Roll Talking, resisted by Defiance. The roll is cumulative, meaning that if you add to the threat level, roll only the new bonus dice, and otherwise pretend that the same test is still going on.

Seduction is a special case of negotiation that is heavily dependent on the situtation and on the Charisma of the target. If the target is principally willing, roll an opposed Talking test, subtracting each other partys' Cha dice from both tests (in non-political correct groups, men may incur an additional -2); this has the effect that only very little dice are available, making seduction very much a game of luck. Any (non-glitch) result leads to both parties being amiable, and the winning party has the other one more "around her/his finger". If the target is neutral or has some minor objections, roll the same -Cha modified test, but resisted by Defiance, to win the other party over. A target person with major objections (e.g. not sexually attracted to your gender; your sworn enemy) cannot be seduced; you have to be in the mood at least a little bit.

Balancing note: Compared with manipulation magic, social skills should be easier to apply. This is part of the reason that Interrogation (the mundane Mind Probe spell) is balanced to not incur culture penalties.

Observe and Learn

Given a potentially murky scene, roll Perception to learn what is going on. This is usually hindered by a number of impediments, each conferring -1, -3 or -6 dice on the perception test, depending on how severe the condition is:

Counteracting equipment reduces severity, not dice. The worst impediment remaining is taken, so there is no adding of categories and the characters always have -0, -1, -3 or -6 dice on their Perception roll. You need at least 1 success to notice something, more if it is very small, faint, or hidden by stealth.

Magic perception, i.e. noticing spells or spirits, is Perception against threshold 6-Force and is not influenced by the impediments above, but can get more difficult by -1 to -3 dice with astral background. When on the astral plane, roll Perception against threshold 1 (+masking metamagic, if present); this means it is very enticing to be on the astral plane to notice magic. Again, a sorcerer can use stealth to improve the threshold.

Matrix perception is Perception against threshold of the decker's net successes during his last action plus hop distance (e.g. +0 when in your comlink, +1 when in your team mate's comlink, more when e.g. a camera subsystem is farther away). The normal perception impediments have no effect in the matrix, but grid noise can induce -1 to -3. Deckers cannot use additional stealth in the matrix.

Balancing note: Everyone can notice matrix attacks because "the comlink is behaving strangely" and magic attacks because "something is in the air"; this favors characters with good perception instead of deckers and sorcerers only.

Stealth

On a run you want to use Stealth, rolled at the start of a scene. A watching opponent rolls a Perception test with a threshold of 1 + Stealth successes. It becomes easier for her as soon as the character does something like slitting a throat, soldering a maglock or casting a spell: The acting character needs to withhold dice from the test, limited by the previous Stealth successes, to retain the threshold for the Perception test.

So if you e.g. rolled 3 base successes on Stealth, you can at maximum withhold -3 dice on a Firearms test to shoot an opponent sneakily in the neck, setting the Perception threshold to 4. Using Computer via headware comlink or trodes is exempt from physical perception; same goes for drone command via headware rigger control or trodes. A tie means the character is noticed as soon as she moves, but can remain still and wait until the watcher (hopefully) go away.

Instead of hiding, you can also use Etiquette (Subculture) to "behave normal" in plain sight; the same principles as above subsequently also apply.

Magic stealth against magic perception is withholding dice during spellcasting/conjuring to decrease the apparant force (again, up to base successes in Stealth). When commanded to be stealthy, a spirit can roll F*2 for stealth both on the astral and the physical plane, but this uses one service. Magic stealth is harder than physical stealth because magic perception has no visual modifiers.

Matrix stealth against matrix perception cannot be improved by withholding dice. This goes for either AR or VR. Since each subsequent Computer action decreases the decker's dice by -1, staying in a system for long raises your risk of detection the same as sneakily killing opponents gets ever riskier with every additional dead body.

Combat

Delayed actions are only possible if you say which kind of event you are on a hair trigger for (e.g. "if anyone reaches for their guns, tries to hit me, or appears to spellcast..."), and what your reaction will be ("... I will shoot them"). They vanish with your next action pass, but can be renewed with the new pass. If two opponents both delay (the classic stand-off), both roll 1W6 to see who gets off first. All -5 disruptive actions like parry cost -0 for the slower party in that situation, and full dodge costs only -5.

Getting hit.

They shoot at you. Roll a Dodge (Qui+Str) test to see if you can evade their attack completely, applying only wound and bullet salve modifiers, as in SR5, and +1 die if your comlink network is still intact. Ties are grazing shots, enough for poisons or electric contact but not for impact damage. You cannot take Dodge if they are still hidden from you and it's their first attack (this replaces the awkward "surprise" concept). Close combat works exactly the same, but you can take a -5 disruptive "parry" action to add Close Combat dice to the Dodge test; in any case, you get -1 per reach disadvantage (SR5). You can always take Full defense, adding +Wil dice to Dodge while paying with a -10 disruptive action (SR5).

If you cannot evade the shot, roll Bod*2+Armor to reduce base damage + full successes of the attacker (no wound modifiers on resistance tests; and your Dodge successes do not reduce the attacker's successes). You are knocked down if damage received exceeds Bod. Physical damage is converted to stun if the pre-Bod damage is below armor.

Spells cannot be dodged (except indirect combat spells, which work like grenades), and are resisted by Wil*2 only. Sorcerers can take a -5 disruptive action to "astral parry" any perceived spells, reducing the attacker's successes with a Sorcery roll. Spell perception does not require spending an action.

Decking attacks cannot be dodge or resisted. However, a decker noticing the attack can try to "matrix parry" it with a -5 disruptive action, reducing the attacker's successes with a Computer roll. If the targetted character notices the attack herself, she can always reboot the device to eject the decker, but loses all Wifi advantages for 2 combat rounds.

Damage received is either physical (P) or stun (S), with -1, -3 and -6 dice for light, medium and severe wounds, as in SR1. Everyone has 10 boxes, and Bod overflow boxes which fill with 1 per minute when deadly wounded. Overflow stun damage converts 2S to 1P damage box (SR5). There are three special elemental effects:

• Electric damage is S but does -5 action passes for each damage box received, cumulative over combat rounds (balanced such that e.g. 3 boxes should disable a character for one combat round).
• Fire damage is an ongoing fire with (net successes)P damage each combat round, resisted normally by Bod*2+Armor, until doused. Ammo explodes when the cumulative unresisted damage has reached the weapon base damage, and does base weapon damage (e.g. for an assault rifle with base damage 7P, and a fire attack with 3 net successes, the cumulative unresisted damage is 3 upon being hit, 6 one combat round later at the same action pass, and 9 another combat round later. Now the ammo explodes, doing 7P damage, resisted normally). This should make characters try frantically to douse any fire, while avoiding too much exploding ammo.
• Toxic damage makes equipment ugly (i.e. recognizable; no further damaging effects) and is irritating on the skin. Each net success confers -1 dice on all active tests until washed off. Only the biggest toxic damage counts, i.e. the effect is not cumulative.
  

Hitting.

Now you want to strike back. While defending (including Dodge) did not depend on environmental conditions, attacking is hindered by various perception impediments, as outlined above in the Perception chapter. All perception impediments apply to firing, close combat, and spellcasting. Decking is exempt (but can be influenced by grid noise). Spirits and other dual beings can ignore all but range modifiers. Other situational modifiers, which are applied to everything except decking, include: running or in moving vehicle -2; occupied by close combat -3; firing around corners with smartlink -3; blind firing -6.

Firing can be done in a simple or complex action. If you use the simple action, the second simple action cannot be another attack.

• With a simple action, you fire 1 bullet (SA weapons), 3 bullets (BF) or 6 bullets (FA weapons).
  
• With a complex action, you fire 3 bullets (SA), 6 bullets (BF) or 10 bullets (FA).
• Every bullet beyond the first gives the opponent -1 on their Dodge test.
  
• Recoil adds up through actions and combat rounds until at least one simple action is used for some non-firing activity.
• Aiming gives either +1 dice or +1 precision, up to +4 each.
  

Grenades and rockets are always fired onto a (metahuman or object) target. If you reach a single net success, full damage applies. Grenades and rockets lose -1 damage per meter from additional targets. If the target is not hit, the GM decides, based on circumstances, whether the rocket or grenade simply flies by the target and does damage entirely elsewhere, or the grenade does half its damage (e.g. in cramped quarters). Both throwing and firing a grenade takes a simple action; firing a rocket takes a complex action. Grenade and automatic rocket launchers take a simple action to reload (yes, even the MGL-6).

Hitting someone is Close Combat against Dodge, taking a complex action. Reach differences are always applied to dodging (SR5), since longer weapons are not easier to handle, just harder to evade (and if you have the longer weapon, you can evade more easily). Friends give +1 dice during attacking, up to +4; they have no effect on dodging. Subduing is normal Close Combat against Dodge, requiring at least 1 net success to get a hold. The subdued person rolls (in their action pass) Close Combat against threshold of the subduer's brutto (not netto) successes, reducing them over passes and breaking free when the successes have been reduced to 0. The subduer can reaffirm the hold with a simple action, up to the original successes (e.g. when the initial hold has 3 brutto successes, the "freeing yourself" threshold can never be higher than 3, and can be cumuatively reduced over time unless the subduer actively works to keep the hold).

Attacking spirits is Close Combat against the spirit's Dodge (F*2), but the damage dealt is based on Wil not Str; this kind of attack negates the hardening of their armor, meaning that damage can cumulate in small increments, making it time consuming but entirely possible to kill a spirit by hand. Adepts and sorcerers can roll Sorcery in place of Close Combat (mundanes cannot, because Sorcery is linked to the Magic attribute). Ranged attacks better be above F to make any effect. Direct combat spells are generally the best option to kill spirits because they cannot be dodged.

Breaking through barriers is an unopposed Ranged or Close Combat test against an object, ignoring limits. The damage dealt must be at least as big as the objects structure rating (they have no armor, and never roll back) to have any effect. Each success destroys 1dm³ of the material (or 1dm² if the object is less than 1dm thick). For damage at least twice the structure rating, it is 2dm³ per success, thrice 4dm³ and so on. Typical structural ratings are:

Demolitions are the best way to destroy objects, and also an unopposed test without limits. Base damage is 10P for 1kg of C4 explosive. Additional kg add +1P damage and +1 dice to the Demolitions roll, meaning that more is even better if you know how to use the stuff. Using a vehicle to crash objects does (Bod)P damage to the object over the entire area of contact, and conversely (Structure)P damage to the vehicle. Almost the same goes for persons smashing themselves shoulder first through a wall: (Bod)P damage to the object, (Structure)S damage to the character. You better wear armor.

Matrix attacking takes a complex action to hack someone's comlink (usually the item with the highest System and thus master device to all of a person's other devices) and another one to perform a malicious action on any connected device, e.g. ejecting a clip, misadjusting a smartlink to apply a -(Successes) dice modifier to firing, showing irritiating movement on an ultrasound device to the same effect, activating a flashbang grenade or full-braking a vehicle. More details in the Matrix chapter.

Spellcasting also requires a complex action and takes effect immediately. A sorcerer has to wave her hands or make some other obvious movements. Chants and invocations help too. So if the opposition has already noticed your existence, it is now obvious that you are the mage and they should shoot you first. Of course if you are still behind their backs, you can withhold dice in line with the stealth rules above to wave your hands with flourish, but at least silently. More details about spells in the Magic chapter.

[TODO:KR idea to raise F by 2 per action]

Magic

[TODO:KR start with aura and stuff. Magicians have astral perception, initiatives astral projection up to 10x grade meters]

Spells.

Force act as as the limit. Spirits level is also defined as "Force", as is an astrally perceiving sorcerer's magic. Spells cannot do as many different things compared to SR1-5, to make mundane skills more balanced.

There are no area effect spells anymore. The sorcerer can withhold dice from the spellcasting test to apply the spell to more than one person, e.g. to make a team of 4 invisible is -3 dice, to apply a stun spell to 10 opponents is -9 dice, etc. The only exception are indirect elemental combat spells, which work like grenades (and can also be dodged).

Combat spells and drain follow SR5, with drain resistance being Cha+Wil for shamans and Int+Wil for hermetics. Indirect elemental combat spells have an area of F meters. If the attack is dodged, the spell does only half the damage, as for grenades. Unlike grenades, there is no damage fall-off.

Detection spells are always personal, in that they give the sorcerer an additional sense or information. It is important to note that they give information, not understanding, so Mind Probe is possible but Analyze device is not. Clairvoyance covers both video and audio now. Reach is principally F*100m, so all detection spells count as "extended".

Healing spells always require touching, and are the only spells that are permanent. Each requires F combat rounds to complete (one complex action per round suffices). If broken off prematurely, it counts as only casted with a smaller F, and rolled dice are taken back, successes first (just keep the spell up, dude). Adjusting attributes or reflexes is not possible.

Illusion spells are always sustained, and can contain detailed impressions, unlike control manipulation spells. The spell might not be permanent but the effects may be, e.g. sustaining Dream illusion for the entire night while staying within range creates a lasting memory. Beneficial spells give more dice, e.g. Invisibility adds successes dice to Stealth rolls, similar to Ruthenium suits.

Manipulation spells are the broadest class, subsuming transformation and control spells. Control spells cannot manipulate intelligent thoughts, so Control Actions and Control Mood are feasible but Control Thoughts, Influence and Dream are not (and really, Control Thoughts was always awkward). Mind Probe does not count because it is a detection spell. All manipulation spells are sustained.

Rituals.

Rituals can overcome reach restrictions and create lasting effects. They are always a loud, obnoxious and material-depleting affair. At least Force sorcerers must be present for a ritual, and it takes Force hours to conclude. Ritual materials worth 100*F Nuyen will be burned. All participants roll Sorcery and add their results; those are a lot of dice. Rituals include: Find subject, mind wipe, build ward, and evoke natural disaster.

The find subject ritual is the most often sought after. It requires 9-Essence sorcerers and a material link from the body or with a strong emotional attachment. A subject can be found within a radius of successes km. The subject rolls Willpower to resist. If there are magical barriers in the way, the barrier rolls 2*F against the total successes. All participating sorcerers know the location of the subject, and will recognize the area if astrally perceiving. A Survival roll suffices to find the worldly location; extremely confusing labyrinths can get higher tresholds. If blood magic is used (not available to players), the combined Essence of the killed reduce any barriers, and the reach is 10km*Successes.

Used for mostly evil purposes, the mind wipe ritual clears a recent memory from a victim who must be touched by all sorcerers. At least 9-Essence sorcerers are required and the total successes must be higher than the Willpower of the victim. Each success beyond Wil erases one hour of memory, beginning with the most recent. The victim rolls Wil to resist. If blood magic is used, the combined Essence are auto-successes, and the timespan is Successes days.

Spirits.

Spirits have Force and only one damage bar of 10 boxes. All sorcerers can conjure spirits of the place, which are always like NPC, will give tips about moving around the place, know where the guards are etc., but cannot leave the place, similar to SR1. They will not attack anyone directly nor defend the characters in combat, but they will conceal and guard them and make accidents happen. One can alternatively conjure elemental spirits, which have less human personalities, and love to manifest themselves and wreak havoc. They will fight. Typical spirits are:

All spirit attributes and skills are Force, so spirits generally roll F*2. The exceptional attribute gets +2. Spirits have F hardened armor and additionally F normal armor, so they roll F*3 (Bod+Armor) for damage resistance tests, and if the modified damage is not greater than F, it simply pings off.

Engulf is a subduing attack that does F damage each complex action the character cannot escape. Elemental spell is a drain-less range attack that does F damage on a single target. Both can be dodged (Engulf only initially, after that it's close combat). Conceal makes the characters invisible/silent/non-smelly with a threshold of successes, allowing them to sneak off unless opponents can still find the characters. Accident on a single opponent pits their Dodge against F*2 to produce a glitch. It can only be used on persons, not on vehicles.

Other powers are Intimidation of a single target pitting their Perception (Int+Wil) against F*2 to make them unable to attack the spirit for net successes combat rounds; Movement multiplying walking/running ranges by successes on F*2 test for at most F team members (does not work on vehicles, as spirits cannot influence technology very well); Levitation to move at most F*100kg team members vertically by successes m per combat round, useful for jumping out of buildings or driving vehicles; and Digging to burrow through 1m of up to F structure per complex action (e.g. an earth elemental of Force 6 can burrow through 1m of simple concrete with structural rating 6 per complex action, but cannot break reinforced glass with structural rating 8). Finally, Guard can take a -5 disruptive action to add F dice to the Dodge test.

Toxic spirits draw additional F from their domain (typically +3 or more depending on toxicity). Bloods spirits draw additional F from each 3 damage boxes inflicted on any person in the vicinity; this means kill the blood spirit first when it comes in a team.

Advanced Magics.

Initiation works as before in SR5, but always costs 10 + 3x grade. No deeds or magic group can lessen the cost, so they exist mostly for role-playing purposes. On the good side, an initation grants both an initiate power and a Magic point, so a burnt-out mage can principally develop herself back to old form, with great effort.

Astral perception works as in SR5. Astral projection has a very limited range, namely Magic meters from the meat body. This is balanced to avoid extended solo-astral travels, while still allowing peeking through walls and fighting spirits astrally. Metaplane travels and astral portals opened by free spirits are exempt from this rule. Rituals cannot have a spotter anymore, and always need some material link.

Mana walls are the primary means to stop astral perception and projection. They produce -F dice on perception and count as a barrier with F structural rating that an astral being needs to destroy with Close Combat or spells. Mundane persons or items pass unhindered. Activated foci are blocked, i.e. an adept with a magic sword can "hang" at the mana wall. Mana wall spells can move with the characters, but block astral perception in both directions. When installed with a ritual, they are grounded against the Planet and cannot move anymore (except e.g. when the tectonic plate shifts, the mana wall shifts with it). It is not possible to form a mana wall with "small holes that only the sorcerer can look through".

...

Enchanting items takes a long time like constructing weapons or vehicles, and is best left to NPCs; if the characters have the time, use SR5 rules.

Adepts

Force (level of a power) acts as limit. The maximum level per adept power is Magic; and no adept power can more than double whatever it is enhancing (mostly skills).

Upon initiation, adepts can only take the various masking powers, and a personal version of shielding. Adept centering ceases to exist, because it doesn't mesh well with an active skill (and was always awkward anyway).

...

Matrix

You are a decker by cyberware, more specifically when possessing a headware comlink. With it, altering the matrix is like using an additional arm which does not require extra effort. It is the only possibility to jack into VR, which confers a matrix iniative enhancement of up to +3W6. Usually deckers do not look any different from other people.

[TODO:KR duplicate to two sentences below]

System (the device rating) acts as the limit, both for the prospective decker and his opponents. Typically a node (or IC) rolls S*2 with a limit of S.

Central cyberware is the headware comlink. It is the only possibility to jack into VR. VR access can be cabled to avoid any ECM effects, if you have a datajack.

Devices and nodes may be running in stealth mode (a teams' comlinks, hidden security cameras, and other systems that do not need user interaction to function). Finding them is an opposed test Electronics vs. S*2.

While jacked into VR, each hop distance to the decker's meat body confers -1 dice on all malicious Computer tests, since each node tries to detect attack patterns through traffic analysis, slowing down the decker's reaction times. This is balanced such that deckers should stay with the team and must physically come close to their desired target (it is entirely unrealistic, but more fun in the game).

ECM (electronic counter-measures) devices are the primary means to stop deckers. There are directed and undirected ECM devices; each incur -R(ating) dice on the decker trying to act through them. The directed device must be held onto the decker with a Firearms test that the decker can roll Dodge against, and upheld with a simple action each action pass. Undirected devices deactivate the Wifi advantage on all equipment in the vicinity, including the using team.

There are just a few unhackable things. One is a deactived device which has no Wifi advantage at the moment. The second is a vehicle whose rigger is jacked into it via cable, i.e. not a remote drone. The third is cyberware, because you paid essence for it and it is thus a natural extension of your body (wireless smartlinks and internal comlinks, which have to communicate via Wifi, are obviously exempt).

...

Rigging

You are a rigger by cyberware, more specifically when possessing a rigger control. With it, a drone (or vehice) becomes a natural extension of the rigger's body, requiring no extra effort to control. Riggers can usually be spotted by one or more detachable shoulder drones which have become part of their body image. Each level of rigger control allows one drone, and confers +1W6 initative for the drones only.

...

Vehical precision (handling, manveuerability) acts as limit. Smaller vehicles usually have higher precision because you can drive them up stairs, through narrow spots, or jump with them more easily.

Central cyberware is the headware rigger control, which translates the rigger's body into vehicle commands and gives up to (rating) drones superhuman reflexes. The beauty of the cyberware is that normal reflexes run in parallel, so the character can evade normally, though one simple action per pass has to be spent to keep the flow going. The drones have more passes than the character so this is slightly schizophrenic but this is the power of cyberware.

Driving is a relative affair. Two opposing drivers both roll Driving tests, and the number of net successes indicate how much one driver can dominate the other. Driving through narrow lanes is typically a threshold 2-3, jumping over a ramp a threshold 3-5 test. Both drivers roll to keep up. If one of them fails, they crash and are left behind, pursuit ended.

Vehicles have only one damage bar with 10 boxes. They have Bod and equally much Hardened Armor to resist damage, i.e. they typically roll Bod*2 and take only damage higher than Bod. Security vehicles have Bod*2 hardened armor, which is impossible to hide (a SWAT van looks like a beast, no matter what you do). Military vehicles have Bod*3 hardened armor and look like a fortress. Aircraft can only have security armor (except T-Birds), even if they are in military use. Bod/Armor and speed is always the same; manufactures compete on precision and included equipment. Typical vehicle values are:

Speed is meant as comfortable high-speed that you can reach in reasonable time (i.e. a racing bike can go 360, but it takes time to get there; 300 km/h is something it can reach on a typical highway). For simplicity, speed is correlated with acceleration: You can reach maximum speed in 3 combat rounds (10.8 seconds). Obviously very large and heavy vehicles such as cruise ships or aircraft carriers are exempt, needing 30 minutes or so to reach max speed.

...

After the Run: Home Projects

In the pauses between runs, you often want to tackle a big project: Build a new drone, modify a weapon, learn a new skill, improve an attribute, or even heal from severe wounds. These take hours, days, weeks or months, in an extended roll. An overview of typical rolls:

First roll and check against the threshold, which takes the base duration, e.g. one day to build a drone from standard parts. If the successes are not enough, roll 1 die per base duration added, e.g. one die per additional day spent. Given unlimited time, success will come eventually, but in a runner's life time usually runs out at one point...

Working on "gear" might also refer to spell design or other related areas. A few examples: Sally Tsung wants to modify a spell to be exclusive, taking hours. Ghost installs a smartlink into a new Ingram, taking hours. Turbo bunny builds an amphibic kit around her car, which already counts "build from standard gear" and takes days, unlike the weapon turret installed earlier in hours. Dodger constructs a custom jacket with electro-stun spikes, taking weeks. Having retired and acquired advanced research skills, Tikki spends months to develop new toxins and rail-gun delivery systems.

There are minimum skill levels: At least 3 to modify gear, 4 to build from standard gear, 5 to construct from non-standard gear, and 6 to perform research. Additionally, work shops are required to match the gear rating. Work shops cost 1K per rating and have a R availability. A work shop 1 can be easily concealed, 2 can be easily carried, 3 is cumbersome, 4+ are non-portable.

Additional dice for the roll can come from various sources. One die per assistant per base duration, up to gear rating; the assistant must have the appropriate skill level too. If the workshop is better than needed, the surplus is additional dice.

Healing

When resting, healing stun damage is easy: An extended roll of Bod+Wil with each success healing on damage box. It takes only hours so a good nights sleep is usually Bod+Wil+8 hours. Healing physical damage is the same test but takes days instead of hours. A street doc or hospital (100Y and +1 die per day) is needed for severe wounds, and intensive care (200Y and +2 dice per day) for deadly wounds. Severe and deadly wounds should realistically take weeks and months to heal but do not for the sake of gameplay.

On a run, first aid takes the form of a Biotech roll, taking as many complex actions as successes rolled. Each success heals one damage box, but not more than one damage category (e.g. from severe wounds, 6+ boxes, down to medium wounds, 3 boxes, is the best Biotech can do). You can still apply a healing spell, which at best can go down another damage category to light wounds, 1 box. Both need to be applied within minutes of incurring the damage, and partially remove damage boxes when interrupted.

A medkit 1-6 can give additional dice to Biotech rolls, but it has only half its rating without Wifi. The effect is further reduced when used on awakened characters: -1 die for adepts, -2 for sorcerers. When automated, a medkit rolls its rating only. This still counts as Biotech being applied, so no further metahuman Biotech rolls are possible.

Unlike medkits which work less well for awakened characters, healing spells are worse for cybered characters, incurring -1 die per 2 essence lost. This is  balanced to not penalize street sams too much. The spell can be applied after first aid, but not vice versa, as in SR1-5.

Note that street conditions etc. (SR1-5) have been removed due to unnecessary complexity.

Karma

...

[TODO:KR repeat attr/skill costs]

Teaching is subsumed under the pertinent active skill, not under Talking; substitute the pertinent attribute with Cha. Each success gives the learner +1 dice for the learning test. Like all social tests, Teaching also incurs the "alien-subculture" penalty, so it pays to have a teacher that you get along with. Learning requires rolling Int + Skill and achieving as many successes as the new skill value; add 1 dice per day spent, up to 7 days (after that the learning fails). It is only required for skills exceeding 4.

Augmentations

Reflex boosters cost essence 1.6, 3 and 4.8 respectively, making reflex booster 2 the best value for money. Each confers +2 and +1W6 to initative.

Rigging boosters cost essence 1.2, 2.4 and 4.0. Each level confers +1 to vehicle precision, +2 dice to driving tests (including sentry gunnery) and +1W6 initative for drones. The essence costs are deliberately lower than reflex boosters to allow the rigger to have other cyberware for his meat body -- otherwise the drones are king while the meat body cannot stand with the team.

Headware comlinks cost essence 0.2*System and are the only way to jack into VR, which gives +1 dice to all Computer and Perception (Matrix) tests. A complimentary datajack to use VR via cabling is an additional 0.1 essence.

Muscle augmentations are bioware only. If you want muscles by cyber, get cyber limbs; those can have armor too.

Cyber smartlinks confer +2 dice and +2 precision. external smartlinks only +1/+1. The wireless variant costs 0.2 essence, the wired 0.5, conferring Wifi advantages even with a non-Wifi weapon (active ammo such as grenades and rockets excluded).

...

Weapons

Each piece of equipment has a WiFi advantage that is lost when turned off or during reboot. Smartlinks and vision magnification only work with WiFi; laser pointers/tracer ammo are an alternative but they are well visible. Cyber/bioware that does not affect external devices (i.e. not smartlinks or comlinks) are exempt. You paid essence for it, it's yours wholly.

Firearms are light pistols, heavy pistols, rifles (including shotguns and sniper rifles), SMG (submachine gun), and assault rifles; Heavy Weapons subsumes all machine guns and launchers including sub-mounted grenade launchers. Heavy pistols and rifles require minimum strength 3 to use, SMGs and assault rifles 4, light MGs and grenade/rocket launchers 5 (so an Ares Alpha grenade still requires strength 5), and heavy MGs 8. Each point of strength above the limit gives 1 point of recoil compensation, so e.g. with a strength of 10 you can fire a light MG with 5 points recoil compensation. The only other means to reduce recoil are gas vent up to 3 and tripods 3 (cumulative; vehicle mounts typically have both). Gyro stabilizators and all manner of shock pads do not exist anymore. Heavy machine guns have double effect on uncompensated recoil. Hold-outs, automatic small arms, and medium machine guns do not exist anymore. Below are values of typical firearms. Damage, perception threshold, strength requirement and ranges are always the same; manufacturers compete on included equipment, ammo capacity and precision (i.e. limit).

SMGs are basically the automatic version of heavy pistols, assault rifles the automatic version of sport rifles, and light MGs the automatic version of shotguns. Anything with a grenade launcher cannot be concealed (so the Ares Alpha is a little less great now). The ratings are balanced such that each weapon type has its appeal for either power or stealth. If you look at the table and go "hm, which weapon type do I want... can't decide", the balance is done right. Ranges are such that the typical use case is within short range. Sniper rifles have only precision 2 when wielded in combat instead of a real sniper setup, making them some sort of overpowered, even less precise and non-concealable shotgun.

Bows are assumed to be high-tech composite rolling bows, whose damage and reach is strength-dependent; a bow can be adjusted to any strength. Hand grenades do (Str)S damage when thrown like a baseball (i.e. hitting someone with a metal ball). The actual grenade explosion is a second effect. Crossbows have been removed, because the issue of magazine size and reloading time has always been weird.

Gunshot noise and flash results in a Perception threshold reduction. So if you rolled 5 successes on a Stealth roll, and attack while withholding the full 5 dice, the opponent's Perception roll has threshold 6 against a knife or bow (practically silent), 5 against a light pistol, 4 against a heavy pistol, 3 against an SMG or sports rifle, 2 against an assault rifle and 1 against a shotgun. A silencer reduces that effect by +2 for single shots, and +1 for short salves (3 bullets for SMGs, 6 for assault rifles). Heavy weapons and grenades cannot be silenced.

All firearms including bows can have top-mounted, vision-only enhancements. A cable smartlink adaptation for the 0.5 essence cyberware takes that top-mount slot in addition to handle modifications. It costs 1K per weapon, because it is rare. Rifle-sized weapons can have underbarrel enhancements, either gas vents, a launcher or tripod adapter. Launchers take away 2 gas vent slots (so only gas vent 1 is possible), and the tripod adapter 1 gas vent slot.

...

Armor

...

[TODO:KR less armor than SR5 because Bod*2 now]

Other Gear

...

Availability

Bodytech and gear availability is condensed to one number. A connection must have at least the same influence rating as the piece of gear to be able to supply that gear. Therefore, connections' influence rating should be tailored to the campaign: E.g. in a street campaign, no connection should have an influence above 2, and the fixer should be 1.

...

And with that, let's hope that all the rules & regulations outlined above are consistent. Thanks for reading and goodbye!