/srg/ Shadowrun General

>>53759714
That an Ares subsidiary in 2079?

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>>53759714
>Just now started to read about Shadowrun.
>Always did DnD 3.5
>SR5 has magic and I wanted Cyberpunk instead.

Reading the way they got magic 'n shit is so fucking goofy. Just bewildered how hand wavy it is. Not to mention the native american nonsense. Having confederate states is kinda cool.

How does them getting augs even affect them? Is it that they lose "humanity" and die? Cyberpunk had it where they went insane, correct? Seems a lot more logical and cooler.

>>53760709
How didn't you know about the magic?

>Reading the way they got magic 'n shit is so fucking goofy. Just bewildered how hand wavy it is. Not to mention the native american nonsense. Having confederate states is kinda cool.
Yeah, it's really goofy at times. That's part of the charm for some people like me.


>How does them getting augs even affect them? Is it that they lose "humanity" and die? Cyberpunk had it where they went insane, correct? Seems a lot more logical and cooler.
Everyone has essence, which is something like the glue holding your soul to your body.
Augmentations and other unnatural tinkering damages your essence, having scarce essence bottlenecks your access to magic and makes you more and more distant from what a human "should be", to the point where interacting with people will give it away that there's something "missing".

>>53760709
you have 6 Essence, which in-game represent your holistic integrity, but is mostly a game-balance concern
Augmentations, Essence drain and some other stuff reduce your essence
If you reach 0 Essence you die, unless you take a extremely rare and expensive procedure that lets you "survive" below 0 ESS
Magic users and Technomancers lose Magic/Resonance when they lose essence

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>>53759714
That is a funny, funny picture.

>>53760878
>>53760867
I'd have to just make them go crazy and send in the Psycho squad. Dying just seems anti-climatic for some reason. Guess it depends how you set it up.

Bought some books for reference, but they are pretty old.

>>53760942
>Dying just seems anti-climatic for some reason
unless they are extremely stupid and/or suicidal, why would they die?
It's more of a concern ("Hmm, I want to buy some upgrade to my Wired Reflexes, but my Essence isn't enough. Should I get better grades in my other ware, remove some other ware or wait until I can get the WR at a higher grade?")

>Bought some books for reference, but they are pretty old.
DO NOT BUY CGL BOOKS
DO NOT GIVE CGL MONEY
ALL SR BOOKS ARE IN THE OP PASTEBIN

>>53760985
If they're pretty old, they're unlikely to be CGL books (or if they are, they'll be second hand).

>>53760709
>>53760942
Honestly, why don't you just play CP2020 instead?

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>>53759820
They haven't been referenced in the canon that I'm aware of, but it'd make sense for them to be a AA subsidiary.
>>53760709
Don't think about it too much. Essence is a mechanical limitation, the same as Cyberpunk's Empathy stat. Cyberpsychosis is a common affliction with older cyberware, particularly things like Wired Reflexes.

>>53760942
Going crazy is definitely an option but doing it automatically hurts the cyberguys and enforces the power of magic even more.
Superhuman psychosis is something players can get if they feel leagues about the normal humans.
Cyberpsychosis can be got if you start acting antipathycly towards other metahumans and are below 1 essence
Dying is not anticlimactic if you stuff yourself with cheap low grade augs. Its one thing to put Wired Reflexes 3 you just took from a dead guy and whole different if you put ones designed for you.

>>53761040
And now that I've written this I remembered my own experience with the Superhuman psychosis.
It was after trying to stop a bounty hunter that have gotten in our faces home. I managed to sneak right behind this guy and was planning to interrogate him. But how do I do this? He had cheap assault riffle with him an armored jacked while I was using my machine pistol.
So I shot him in the back and told him to stop. The bounty hunter survived and started running for his car. I kept yelling for him to stop and that I dont wanna kill him. He didnt stop so I shot him down. All stun damage of course.
Later asked the GM "Why didn't this guy just stop" he answered "Because you shot him!"
It occurred to me that I acted like I was trying to hold down someone on my level and not a regular metahuman. If someone have pointed a gun at my head I would have turned around and kill him. I could take the bullet and still tear him to pieces. So in my head I expected the same to happen and acted one step ahead. Shot before he can turn around and shoot me.
But a normal human can't do this. Normal Human cant resist a bullet or act this fast.
It was a strange feeling

>>53759820
What isn't at this point, besides the fine firearms from Colt (Trust the Legend™)?

>>53760709
Shadowrun suffers from the "It isn't an RPG without elves, magic, and dragons" mindset. Because DnD is overhyped and has the arguably incorrect distinction as the first RPG

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>>53760999
>Honestly, why don't you just play CP2020 instead?

Not as balanced. Wish there was a middle ground.

Is it possible to take anything from RIFTS books? Never read them.

>>53761405
>Not as balanced.
I'm not sure I believe you.

>Is it possible to take anything from RIFTS books?
Yes, but why in the fuck would you want to?

>>53761405
If you want something anywhere less then "Several dozen times the magnificent clusterfuck that is SR 5e" You stay far, far away from RIFTS

>>53761404
I wouldn't say Shadowrun "suffers" from its most unique aspect that sets it apart from every other cyberpunk setting.

>>53761532
but anon, it has an aspect which that anon doesn't like, so it's OBVIOUSLY suffering, don't you know?

>>53761532
Funny thing is, Shadowrun managed to become the cyberpunk RPG, so now it's more that SR having magic is what allows every other cyberpunk setting to differentiate themselves from it.

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You know, I realize this general doesn't have the storytimes most other ones do. Is this because the tabletop doesn't tend to have an overarching campaign? Players swap characters too much? Or does the high lethal setting discourage people from growing too attached to their character? I'm curious, since I hardly ever hear about retiring characters or characters that swap careers once they do score 'the big job.'

>>53761787
You what chummer? We have dozens of smaller storytimes all the time and we also have the best storytime of them all, the 2D storytime (in the OP mediafire)

>>53761787
My campaign has been running for a year and I plan on doing a story time at some point.

Oh hey, official forums are back up. Woop woop.

>>53761787
Nobody actually plays Shadowrun, we all just make characters and bitch about the rules.

>>53762068
This is painfully true.

>>53762068
Nobody plays anything on /tg/. We just come here to complain about rules and settings of stuff we never play and long for a group that isn't crap.

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>>53762068
>>53762262

I played Shadowrun like a year ago, no bamboozle.

>>53762068
I play SR every other weekend. It's awful. I hate this game. I love my friends and the characters and the stories that play out, but this game sucks ass.

>>53762262
News to me
I guess I have to go cancel everything and double the salt

>>53761787
Missions do tend to be self-contained. The characters are not heroes; they're scumbags that take odd jobs to make ends meet. There's not going to be a "final mission" that the characters' struggles have been building towards; they're the grunts that do a corporation's dirty work. I think the best way to get storytime out of /srg/ is talking about TPKs. That's the closest to a satisfying conclusion you can ask for.

>>53764304
>There's not going to be a "final mission" that the characters' struggles have been building towards
unless of course you are preparing and improving for the metaphorical "Death Run" that will leave them SO RICH and POWERFUL and KNOWN, that they can retire to a tropical island with a mercedes full of cheerleaders or [insert alternative big dream here]

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Hey guys, a friend of mine wants to run something a bit different and I wanna help him... except I have no idea how to build it.

He wants to basically run the mastermind from Payday 2. Like, the guy who is calling the shots, teamwork, and shit like that.

My initial plan was to make sure he had high charisma and Intuition, and then giving him a lot of points into Leadership, intimidation, and Small Unit Tactics.

But, like... That feels super flimsy so I'm really not sure what to do besides that.

Small Unit Tactics, while it DOES give mechanical benefits, feels super weak, all things considered.

Leadership gives some nice benefits, but they seem... kinda miniscule, given they take up a whole turn to use. Command... I dunno, I am not sure it would work for anything except metagaming asshole players to be forced to listen to you. Direct feels like a trap because most of the times you're gonna be dealing with composure tests, it's gonna be catching someone off guard. Inspire seems nice out of combat, but in combat... Not so much. Finally, Rally seems shitty because only getting 1 initiative every 2 hits seems really bad as well. It could be handy if someone only needs 1 or 2 points in order to get another pass, or if someone is already out of points for the round and are at 0, then you could give them one turn in exchange for your own, but otherwise, I don't see a use for it.

All in all, I feel like there should be a way to make this kind of shit work, but I have no idea how to do it.

>>53764451
Face builds (and subtypes) are usually secondary archetypes, built in tandem with another one, usually mages, since you don't need that big of an investment for them
Maybe a rigger with Information gathering capabilities? Uses his drones to give oversight, can search well in the matrix, is good with asking people about stuff, though it doesn't really overlap with rigger attributes

>>53764451
Sounds like an Arm of God face to me. Have you read the Run & Gun parts about tactics?

>>53764451
You wanna support people be a mage and pick the right spells. Or be Social Adept
You want to be a mastermind? Actually be one. Put thought in it and come up with plans and things for the team to do. Get gear. Be creative.
There is no mechanic for being smart.

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>>53764304
>The characters are not heroes; they're scumbags that take odd jobs to make ends meet.There's not going to be a "final mission" that the characters' struggles have been building towards; they're the grunts that do a corporation's dirty work.

My group has been doing Shadowrun really fucking wrong, then. Our goals tend to be about stopping bad shit like Technomancers being kidnapped, Metahuman right's activists being targeted for assassination, and doing some vigilante justice to a serial killer Wendigo. That, and our final run has been hinted at to involve stopping a Horror from coming to full power.

>mfw last session I skipped getting paid 200k for a job just so a woman would have enough money to live off of for the rest of her life, and all my contacts have 6 loyalty

>>53764645
>Playing as the Boondock Saints in Shadowrun.

...I want to see where this idea goes.

>>53764304
So much cyber you have grown cold and jaded omae.
Where is the punk in you? Where is the desire to stick it to The Man? Where is the personality? The wrong runner at the right time can move the world!

>>53764672
>Where is the desire to stick it to The Man?
Chummer, who the fuck do you think gives you the money?
You don't hurt The Man, you just shift wealth from one ruler to another

>>53764668

2nd'd

>>53764304
>The characters are not heroes; they're scumbags that take odd jobs to make ends meet.
Not entirely. You can be a pro-liberty idealist who opposes corps out of principle just as well as a gun for hire.

So, an idea has come to me... There are a number of instances where an Adept can be an Adept without KNOWING they're an adept.

This might sound stupid, but... do you think it's possible for a mage to be a mage without realizing it either? Where they're not, like... casting actual fireballs or shit like that, but more subtle magic, and they just associate the drain they take with either stress or exhaustion from effort of doing something?

>>53764697
Do you have idea how many money I have lost and how much hurt I have taken to do the right thing. I'm living in a shithole and have ton of heat behind me but once in a while, when sitting on my busted couch, I get a call from a girl that would have been sold as bunraku doll. Its nothing big, she just ask how I am doing, am I taking care of myself and I smile a little bit and I keep going.

>>53764884
sure thing but someday someone would have told them : Chum you are a mage

>>53764884
It would be rare to impossible for a person to not know they're Awakened. Even if they have a "Muscle Wizard" Tradition where Magic is an extension of physical prowess or something along those lines, people who can Assense or ways of testing for Magical abilities are common enough that anyone Awakened would be screened, formally or informally.

>>53764668
>>53764699
An early grave when they step a bit too hard on something with the means to track them down and terminate them with extreme prejudice, giving them the motive to do so.

>>53764945
>>53764971

Alright, that's a fair point, i suppose. Yeah, eventually they'll be told...

>>53764980
I'm not really seeing this. They can be the hardest S.O.B.s on the market and just choose to be doing 'the right thing' with their skills.

They don't have to be pussies to have morals.

>>53764980
That's why they have powerful connections with the Catholic Church, omae.

>>53765057
>powerful connections with the Catholic Church
How would you represent that?
Wanted(Pedophile)?
Neoteny?

>>53765119
Show us on the doll where the priest touched you anon.

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>>53765119
Being a member of the Order of St. Slyvester, to answer straight in response to your tired, worn-out joke.

>>53765119

How about magic 12 bishops with force 20 Fire Spirit that looks like Archangel Michael with his flaming sword.

>>53764884
They'd need a large helping of delusion to maintain the ignorance past the first time they were told they were a mage.

>>53765181
>magic 12 bishops
I think there are countably many MAG 12 mages around, even less of those being Christian Theurges
They'd have to initiate at least 6 times which at best would cost 75 Karma (at worst 123 Karma) + the cost of getting your MAG to 12 which would cost another 285 Karma if they start at MAG 6 (and more if they don't)
It would cost them at least 360 Karma just to get there, which probably only few have managed.

Additionally: Unless they snort Reagents and/or Adept Veins like a crack whore they'll most likely die just trying to summon a F20 Fire spirit

>>53765418

Well, an NPC high bishop can be bullshitted by the GM to be anything they want.

>>53765461
Sure, but if your players are high enough that a MAG 12 bishop takes his time of day to deal with you, then you don't have connections at the church, the church has connections AT YOU

>captcha: calle Ancienne
No captcha, leave the gangs out of this

>>53765504

Friend in High Places. In theory, you could have the god damned pope as a 12/6 contact. Under the right circumstances and with the right characters (Players, roleplay, etc.) calling in a favor like that wouldn't be completely unreasonable.

>>53765535
>you could have the god damned pope as a 12/6 contact
but why would I want a contact in the black lodge?
Why not the normal, god blessed one?

>captcha: hotel only
Lewd, captcha! Lewd!

>>53762068
I actually played shadowrun for 5 years with a couple of friends until recently
We play Traveller and L5R now

>>53762068
I GM a SR 4e game
We have a face that can't face, a pacifistic Druid Mage and a vory sammy with a taste for blood

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>>53759714
>Not playing vantablack trenchcoat

>>53765535
There is a point where a contact stops being a contact, and YOU are HIS contact instead

>>53765830

In theory, there is no "point" where this is the case, as it should "always be"

You have a 1/1 contact that is a drug dealer in the barrens. The guy sells low quality novacoke and nothing else, but you get information from him and pay him for it. It's a functioning business contact. Nothing more.

So, you can call him for information or coke or whatever you want at (almost) any time. But, just like you have his number in your phone, he has your number in his, and has every right to call you for a job.

Now, you have the right to turn down that job, for either legitimate reasons (Not enough money, on another job at the time) or illegitimate reasons (don't give a shit) but be enough of an asshole and he will stop being your contact. Be nice to him, and loyalty goes up, and even connection if you feed him the right way. (Give him some money on loan so he can get better equipment for better drugs. Take out rival drug dealers. Send good clients his way. Defend him from other runners who are hired to take out rival drug dealers)

Contacts should ALWAYS be a two way street, or at least, should always have the understanding that there is the potential for it. 1/1 Druggy might not really need the help of a prime level hired mercenary, nor the budget, and he may never feel the need to call you, but he should always have the right to.

Even if its just something like "Hey, boss, word on the street is you's gonna be shooting up that mafia safehouse. I'll buy any coke you find over dere. Extra payday for you, more coke for me, and you don't have to worry about finding a fence!"


So, no, even at 12/6, the pope is still your contact. Sure, you're his contact as well, but at no point does he stop being your contact and it becomes a one way relationship.

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>>53764645
I would murder ten men to play or run in that game.

Is there a way to change the range of spells?

Like, if I want a healing spell that is LoS or something?

I know it really wouldn't make sense for everything (Like a non touch range Punch spell) but, there are a number of support spells that would be nice if the were more than touch range.

>>53765998
Everything you said is true, let me put it this way:

At some point the contact so far outstrips the character in power and resources that the character becomes almost irrelevant to the contact. If the pope has one runner on his contact list, he has another dozen or so that can do any given job just as good or better than the character. Depending on the character, he might just not bother with some two bit sam anymore.

You might go for the "been friends since childhood" or "saved their life" angle, but even then, the head of some major religion or mega corp will be way too busy to put much care into the relationship. At this point, the character will mostly deal with their underlings that are acting on their order, and the contact becomes not they themselves, but the organization they represent, with maybe the occasional face-to-face meeting to say "yes, mr. runner, we are still very grateful to you" or "we should go for drinks some time"

>>53765998
>>53766358
That said, I definitely would someone play with that kind of contact. They'd be an extremely powerful ally, but the character should have to work really hard to stay relevant to the contact

>>53766329
Eh...don't think so?
Alchemical preparation could do the trick. Just need the stuff from Forbidden Arcana for it to be worth it.

So, a character becomes a member of/otherwise involved with the Black Lodge. What do they then have to do? What kind of responsibilities or tasks would they be sent on? What's the initiation process like?

>>53766358

You're also not wrong. I think the circumstances are also important as to what is going on with that phone call.

If you call the pope because a coke deal goes wrong, that is a gross misuse of his time and power.

Now, if there was something that was super relevant to him or the world at large (Hey, your Holiness, I need a favor. There is a powerful Shadow Spirit that is planning on destroying seattle with a bomb to feast upon the pain and misery) then by all means he would be able to assist.

Yes, it might be assistance by sending underlings or something, but, it is an important contact to be had in said scenario.

Its a fine line that you need to walk as a player and as a GM you need to make your players remember that. "This IS the pope, leader of an entire religion, and while you and him are close personal friends due to one reason or another, he's not exactly going to throw a major portion of the world population into turmoil for you. There are other people with 6 loyalty he has to think about. Calling him over every bad run is a way to just make him feel like you're using him."

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>>53766289
It's really great, I especially like my contacts in the game, they're actually good characters in their own right: like the owl shaman that took care of my character once he Awakened later in his life (Latent Awakening in 4th edition), that is kind of a kitsch salesman, but also provides sagely advice and moral support when my character is down, and a 10 logic scientist troll that is a father figure to him.

Favorite game I play at the moment, honestly

>>53766358
Friends in High Places + Latent Dracomorphosis
Backstory: Lofwyr illegitimate child
>MY FATHER WILL KNOW ABOUT THIS!

>>53766542

Malfwyr?

>>53766467
Doesn't it make the contact less useful to the character if they can only call on them in extreme situations? It's not like Seattle gets threatened by nuclear annihilation every other tuesday, even in Shadowrun.

On the other hand, it would be kind of awesome when your character gets arrested by mall cops for shoplifting, and suddenly a swiss guard officer shows up and says "Yes, this man is an official dignitary of the Holy See and a close personal friend of His Holyness the Pope, he has diplomatic immunity. We'll be taking him off your hands now"

>>53766669

I don't need to bring my RPG to every run, but I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not want it.

But, yeah, funny situations like that are also options too.

>>53766735

"need it and not have it" fucking typing on autopilot.

>>53766735
In the end, it depends on how the GM wants to play it, I guess.

Now I kind of want to play the childhood friend of the pope that picked up running as a hobby, partially because he knows he can always flash his State of Vatican City SIN if he gets into trouble. Cue monthly meetings with His Holyness, formerly The Kid Next Door I Play Soccer With, to ask my character to cut that shit out

>>53766948

I like this idea.

I also like the idea of your character buying monthly "Indulgences" with enough money to actually be worth the time. Like, being a runner who is donating thousands of dollars to the church on a montly basis sounds like fun.

Fuck, I wanna make this now.

>>53767001
DO IT
Then post it here for peer review

>>53766948
>My son, your life of violence is a sin in the eye of God...

>Yeah, yeah... Look, Your Holiness, the orphanage ain't gonna run itself, and someone gotta keep the streets clear of dealers and other scum preying on the weak.

>>53767044

God damn it. Brb, making this.

Question is: What should this runner be? Mage? Adept? Street sam? I'm really leaning towards street sam.

>>53767107
I'd say street sam too. Gives a nice contrast to the Leader of the Catholic Church. And it gives opportunities for conversations like >>53767051

>My son... look, Kyle, I'm just going to drop the ritual for now. You really have to stop chroming up. It gives my awakened cardinals the chills, and my camerlengo keeps asking why we keep a 'travesty unto God, who damages his Immortal Soul with metal and plastic' as a dignitary

Would I do a vatican SIN?

Corporate?

>>53767349
National

>>53767349
He could probably be a citizen of any nation, as members of the catholic church often are, but with a seperate means of identification as a church dignitary.
Since the catholic church (the Holy See) is a souvereign political entity, I'd go with National

Quick question:

Was there ever a final decision on how Red-liner works?

Do you get+2 to your strength and agility attributes as well as +2 to your strength and agility in your limbs (With the assumption of 4 total limbs)?

And CAN it surpass the normal 9 that a human is capable of achieving with their limbs?

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>>53764645
>read this
>mfw my players don't even bother to question the shit they do that could have incredibly bad consequences
>they do it for basically nothing

>>53767554

Did you mean 10? 10 is the aug limit for humans physical attributes.

I always read it as a cheaper way to get to 10.

>>53767983

Well, a while back there was the argument: "Cyberlimbs can normally go all the way to 9 through customization. would this +2 get you to 11?" and then there was "Humans can only go to 10" and a lot of conversation back and forth and blah blah blah.

Just gonna go with chummer and say that it's still a cap of 10. And yeah, it IS a cheaper way to get to 10, but having all your limbs be 5/5 base, as well as improving your natural strength and agility is pretty handy.

>>53767554
You can't surpass the augmented maximum without GM fiat.

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Alright, and here is Kyle, the Pope's childhood friend.

I ran out of money, and if i'm being honest, I could probably remake him with only C stats and A money, instead of B in both.

all in all, He's not a bad guy, he does the right thing... for the most part. donates a lot of his money to the church (Which I think running out of funds can reflect), and... while he does do a lot of things he's not proud of, that's also why I have him Pie lesu domine to show that it does affect him.

Give him a little more money so he can round out his lack of gear, and you've got yourself a competent runner... if a bit of a glass cannon since he's got kinda shitty Initiative, and low HP due to Redliner.

I'm pretty new to the game and I'm having a bit of trouble finding a good picture representing my character's face. Would any of you happen to have a picture of a an elf with a heavily scarred face?

>>53768414

How scarred?

Scarred how?

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What's the secret ingredient of Shadowrun, /srg/?

I like Shadowrun, and I've been playing on and off again it for quite some time. I'm not blind to the flaws of the system, though, and I am not a great fan of some pieces of the lore. So, some time ago, I've read through CP 2020 to see if maybe it would be more fun to get my dose of cyberpunk that way.

And... shit. I'm not a great fan of magic-heavy SR, and CP has no magic. I do not really like the geopolitics of SR (as my games rarely take me to North America or Germany, which are two pieces of the world with any though put into it even if it possibly was not enough), and I kind of prefer the ones of CP. I am okay with the 'everything wireless' of SR, but I do prefer the technological aesthetics of CP. Also, it's much easier to find CP2020 group than SR group where I live.

And for some reason I still prefer Shadowrun.

I mean, CP as system is kind of shit, but I don't think it's mechanics that make me stick to SR. What is it then? What makes this clusterfuck of a universe so compelling?

>>53769373
Subliminal messaging.

>>53769373
Subliminal massaging.

You seem tense.

>>53768507
As I described my character to my GM he was in a horrible car wreck like car flipped 10 times, fell 20 feet, and then caught on fire. I'm more machine than man now. I also have the elf poser quality so I have scars from the hasty back alley cosmetic surgery.

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>>53769373

Cyberelf pussy

My cyborgization and technological mind control fetish

>>53769373

It's us, anon! It's us that make Shadowrun fun!

>>53769373
I'd say enthusiasm and modernity
SR is like that kid you know, that has a shaky grasp on the world and fundamental things. He often does things that are dumb, where people say that he did it in the worst way possible
But if you look into his face you can see that he LOVES this. He has a childish enthusiasm, going into it with 100 %, loving all the stuff he does.

The second is both a boon and a curse
Yes, new things coming out are introduced, which is the reason that you don't have to pay half a point of essence just to get a phone installed
And it's shit because current events influence it (politically and otherwise)

>>53769567
Awwww

>>53769373
Shadowrun is very charming and 80s. CP2020 doesn't have Native Americans occupying most of North America, a neo-confederate state, or a literal troll kingdom.

>>53769373
I find that the fact that you can make nearly any type of character at will that can do anything, who's from anywhere and was anything before he became your character.

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>>53769660

That's pretty compelling, true. You can be ten different kinds of ass-kicker, at least three variants of hacker, drive cars, spam drones, be a faceless shapeshifter, Solid Snake, Jackie Chan, Stainless Steel Rat, Machiavelli, or Merlin. And you will always have something to do.

>>53769589
I would say CP2020 is more 80s, by virtue of dying in 2001 and not having anything updated to the new century. CPv3 isn't real shut up. There's a lot of 90s in both, though.

>>53769878
Shadowrun has more silly 80s stuff, especially the Indian magic and having an entire species of hair metal elves.

>>53759714
So any good tools for making shadowrun maps, I know there are some in the pastebin, but I'd like to make some myself more to my taste.

As temporary fix I could use a map of seedy urban bar with a concrete floor. But if anyone can point me to best tool to make it myself I'd appreciate it.

>>53770020
Paint.Net
Copying maps off the internet
Doorkicker Editor
r20 editor

>>53770020
Visio and the like are good for making building floor plans.

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Okay whose stupid idea was this.

>>53770561
Mine

>>53770648
Stop it. Redraw those borders, now!

>>53770663
It's a war zone, not a happy country.

>>53762035
Please do, anon. We would all appreciate it.

>>53764884
They can't cast 'subtle' magic because they need to learn spells. Formulas exist for a reason. You don't just start casting spells without learning them first; innate magic is the whole point of adepts.

>>53772279
Is it in such a state of perpetual civil(?) war that there can no longer be defined borders in the entire Indochinese peninsula?

Are there any good map tools? I don't need anything super fancy, just something that has a unit by unit grid and things snap to it.

I need to make big yachts and ships.

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>>53764451
>they seem... kinda miniscule, given they take up a whole turn to use.

Whoa, chummer. They take a Complex Action. Which means a high Initiative Leadership monkey can do 3-4 Leadership tests a turn.

A properly specced Leadership monkey can also have ~24 dice in Leadership. Which averages 8 hits per roll.

8 hits on Direct gives any other party member 8 extra dice (and +1 limit) on ANY skill test, not just Composure tests. That's a shitload of dice, and it's can be used constantly, even outside of combat.

With Rally, 8 hits is 4 extra Initiative for your whole team. If you spend all 3 passes on Rally, the whole team gets +12 Initiative (that's at least one additional pass). If he's got 3 teammates, that's at minimum net neutral on action economy, or net positive if someone was able to get 2 extra passes. If he's got 4 or more teammates, shit gets B A N A N A S

I can throw a disgustingly min-maxed sample build together if you want.

>>53773383

So... 6 charisma, 6 Leadership, 6 from Adept power (Skill focus or something I don't remember what it's called). that's 18... where's the other 6 coming from?

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>>53773661
It's a bioware adept, because bioware adepts are dumb.

9 - Charisma (Dryad with Exceptional Attribute)

1 - Glamour (from being a Dryad)

1 - If your team lives within your Dryad Symbiosis radius

6 - Skill Points

3 - Adept Power, Improved Ability Rating 2

3 - Rating 3 Tailored Pheromones

2 - Mentor Spirit (Dragonslayer or Wise Warrior)

1 - Wireless Bonus from Argentum Coat

2 - Specialization in Rally or Direct

That's 28 dice for either Rally or Direct, 26 for raw Leadership. With a double-digit Social Limit.

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>>53773661

Here's a pdf of a build I just threw together.
Sum-to-10
Attributes B
Resources, Magic, Metatype C
Skills D

Still has ~60,000¥ to spend on more gear, lifestyle, fake SINs, etc.

>>53773973

Don't like the dryad bit, but, there's a lot to work with here.

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>>53774201

Dryad's only worth 2 dice, so it's really not a big deal. Throwing anything above 20 dice for Leadership should be enough to have serious impact.

The high Initiative is the real important thing. If Leadership is only getting used once a Combat Turn, it's not nearly as good.

>>53774281
yeah, exactly. Love it.

>>53759714
I need an image of a brutally murdered businessman. I'm running a murder mystery run as an intro for my group. I'd prefer one that looks like he died to axe wounds, but I'll try not to be picky, thanks,

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>>53775326

You can crop this one?

>>53770054
Doorkickers is pretty good for making floor plans desu

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>>53775326

If he died outside in the snow, this could work.

>>53761586
>every other cyberpunk RPG differentiates itself from Shadowrun ... by being the same as every other cyberpunk RPG

>>53775728
Not having magic and elves and shit is how they differentiate themselves from SR, not how they differentiate themselves from each other.

Can AI's be given bodies?

>>53776125
They can use drones. There are anthrodrones if you want something human like. There are some that are hard to tell from humans iirc.

>>53776125
Not really. They can inhabit a drone and do shit in meatspace with that, but it is 'theirs' as much as it is a meatbag rigger's.

>>53776200
I'm doing an island hopping story in the Caribbeans and if none of my runners take a boat, their first run will involve acquiring one that has a trapped and slaved AI controlling various elements of the ship.

Is that a thing that can happen in shadowrun?

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Planning on making a fomori street sam that uses bioware for 5e. How would I make this work? This would be the 2nd character I'd be making.

>>53776330

Seems easy enough.

Muscle toner and muscle aug work together, I believe.

Don't forget bone density augs.

>>53776280
It could... Extreme care would need to be taken to ensure the control system where the AI is trapped in is ALWAYS kept disconnected from the Matrix at large in order to keep the slippery bastard in (and this is really not easy to do by the time of 5e), but it could be done.

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>>53776330
You called?

>>53776330
Only bioware, primarily bioware or a mix of bio and cyberware?

>>53776330
I'd let her augment my pelvis any day of the week.

>>53776462
>>53776336
Mostly bioware, I wanted her to be a whole "flesh is better than steel" sort of highlander chick with a claymore but now I realized if some jackass cuts off my arm I'm going to have to replace it with cyberwear.

What would be better for my secondary role, face or infiltrator?

>>53776737
Umm, Replacement Limb is a thing, you know. Chrome & Flesh pgs 114-115.

>>53776737
If you want mostly bioware, consider being an adept. An adept covers the primary weakness of not getting cyberware - initiative - and gives you the bonus of being better in close combat than most street sam. However, if you're building with priority, either your skills or resources is gonna tank hard.

If adept is not your thing, you should definitely consider getting at least wired reflexes. You can do the rest in bioware, but at least get wired reflexes since the bioware version is both expensive and not very good at char gen.

If you want more specifics, let me know. I'll be here a while yet

>>53776737
>There are people who play Shadowrun and don't go cyber
Fucking disgusting.

>>53776778
That's what I get for skimming through the books and not reading them.

>>53776832
Was considering getting wired reflexes since synaptic booster is too expensive for me. What other bioware should I get? Like I said I'm new as fuck and building a character in Shadowrun is advanced roleplaying compared to what I played before.

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>>53776867
>when you play a mundane and get no cyberware or even bioware.

>>53766439
Speak backwards and collect Garmonbozia.

>>53776873
What are you worried most about? Initiative modifiers?

>>53777293
For my character or mechanic wise?

>>53777338
Character. You said it was a claymore-wielder, so you're going to want Initiative boosts for more attacks, right? Initiative is Reaction + Intuition, so anything that bumps Reaction or Intuition's going to bump Initiative. Synaptic boosters are hella expensive, like you said, but it's like the catch-all for Initiative, which makes it convenient, but you can fake the funk with cheaper methods. Cerebellum Booster from Chrome & Flesh bumps Intuition by its rating (only goes up to 2, though), and Boosted Reflexes from C&F adds +1d6 to your Initiative modifier. That pretty much apes rating 2 Synaptic Booster's capabilities if your Intuition's not too far below your Reaction.

>>53777476
To be honest anon, I have no fucking idea what I should be worried for or what I'd even need for my character. I wanted to gm some Shadowrun but I wanted to at least get a few sessions under my belt before I did that.

>>53777508
I guess the real point is that if you have a ton of starting money, you can go bioware and be able to do most of what cyberware can do.

But yeah, don't overthink things too much. A street sammy is a Fighter, so think of Fighter things: Body, Agility, Reaction, Intuition, and Strength are your bread and butter stats for your job, which is to take hits, give hits, hit fast, and hit hard. Having some Willpower won't hurt, either. Bioware can amp up almost all of your bread and butter stats to make you more effective than what your starting stat points can afford.

Has anyone translated the Mitsuhama Honson anthro drone from the latest German book? The stats look useful, but I'd like to know the fluff.

>>53777573
Thanks anon. I'd ask about going as an adept but I think I'll just read about it now and ask another time.

>>53777616
For instance, it's an Anthro drone but in Chummer it doesn't have arms or legs. Is that correct?

>>53777643
I know virtually nothing about adepts anyway. Someone more magically inclined would be more helpful than I.

>>53759714
please post more images of things edited into looking enough like weapons that you might see them in some comic book or gamerulebook or expansion art.

>>53775755
Nah, dude. The group does not differentiate itself from a singular example. It differentiates itself from the group.

I'm going hard mode. I'm making a combat character with no ware, magic, or drugs allowed. Taking 7 edge and Lightning Reflexes, any other tips?

What would be a good sum to ten priority array?

>>53777908
A DocWagon Super Platinum contract for sure.

>>53777908
Grab Revels in Murder and Lucky for 8 Edge. Save up 12 Karma after character creation to grab Daredevil as well. You'll be able to edge pretty much every roll, non-stop.

Buy him a custom ballistic mask that looks like a charicature of Johnny Spinrad. Finally, go and be awesome.

>>53777908
make a sneaky gekko gripping sniper.

>>53777908
Sum to 10: A Atributes, A skills, E Mundane, E Resources, C metatype
Combination of Lucky, Reveals in Murder and Daredevil. Sadly you can;t take all
Drop lighting reflexes and take crazy amounts of Jazz. Drug Tolerant if you have free karma/qualities space

>>53767349
I'd say that you should look into the VolksSIN from the latest German book. Base it off that.

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Genji Best Street Samurai

>>53777908
get Revels in Murder. Ask your DM if he'll even consider handing out edge for Daredevil. Be dramatic, create tension, do stuff that would get you killed.

In all honesty, just play as Max Payne.

>>53778984
Too bad he got fucked up by an minmaxing bow Adept.

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>>53779032
>In all honesty, just play as Max Payne

Can confirm. Payne best runner, especially if you have a film noir love story to go with it

>>53776125
Yes, via CFD. Upload into nanites, infect WIMP clone, congrats. AI in a meat body.

>>53779548
Can CFD create new neural pathways or just modify them? Because WIMPs are underdeveloped (which is why you can't just strap ASIST gear to it)

>>53779685
Indeed they can, it's specifically mentioned that they can develop the needed pathways. CFD not just re-writes the brain, it makes the entire neurological structure compatible. It would be useless if it didn't.

>>53779827
So if you make a character with this in their background, give them 'Big Regret (Headcase)' if it's a secret. 'One of Them' if others suspect.

My group fell apart a while ago and Im ready to jump back into SR
Where do you people find games? I don't mind playing on Roll20, but don't like looking there

>>53779867
>Where do you people find games?
see
>>53762068
>Nobody actually plays Shadowrun

>>53779881
That is sad. Are people interested in playing at all? Could a group be organized from here?

>>53780167
problem is more that you have a flood of players but almost no GMs
If you want to GM? You'll have bigger problems NOT finding players, whether here or elsewhere
You want to play? Tough luck. Try the game finder threads, r20 and of course Reddit (though those are "living missions" aka "You come here for a run with a character. We play the run. The End.")

>>53780251
Okay.

Would people want a pretty inexperienced GM (with SR) running the game? I'm willing to GM, but am not an expert on the system.

>>53780313
Inexperience is no problem in and of itself, but you should definitely know the system, or everything will take ages and kill pacing.

To have combat be bearable you need to know your rules - or your players have to be ok with handwaving a lot of stuff.

>>53777842
It does when the singular example has become the flagship for the genre.

>>53778984
You mean a recovering Burnout Adept with 4 Deltaware Limbs,a Torso, and a Partial Cyberskull?

>>53780313
Players wouldn't mind an inexperienced SR GM much at all. A caveat would be that setting mastery would be preferred going in, or at least reading 4th World Almanac, the Seattle books, etc. System mastery comes with time.

I have joined one shots where the GM doesn't know his shit and the run has a simple/obvious solution, it kills me. I'm a forever GM so these few times I play stick out

>>53780590
I might be willing to GM a play-by-post in 4th edition. I wont use voice because my voice sounds like shit due to medical reasons
However, I need to leave for my IRL group soon, so I won't be able to discuss details until tomorrow

What buffs should I give to lasers to make them not suck? I'm already going to make them use the skill of the equivalent gun (pistols, heavy weapons, etc), but is there more to it than that? I want to give one to my players as a run reward.

>>53781445
Lasers don't suck, you just rarely run into the things they're meant for fighting like tons of bug spirits or HTR.

That armor penetration.

I suppose you could let them go paracritter hunting?
>Calle Pedro

I dunno captcha, going down into Aztlan to hunt blood mages is probably a bad idea.

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>>53781445
Lasers are supposed to be 'high AP, low damage', but are outclassed by anti-material rifles with APDS (which also don't suffer from the same range/smoke penalties). The only thing they have going for them is mounting them on a drone/vehicle for unlimited ammo.

Don't bother with a handheld one, because it is trash and will continue to be trash unless you entirely rewrite the statline and laser special rules, at which point why are you even bothering. Give the group a kitted-out Roadmaster with an Archon on the roof for a team tank.

>>53769373
Shadowrun is hilariously stupid.

>>53772279
And? So is syria and they still have defined borders.

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>>53781445
>thinks lasers suck
There is nothing suck about lasers unless you're thinking they have to be like Killy's graviton beam emitter from BLAME! or some such monstrous weapon of mass destruction.

>>53779218
His own fault for not edging half those shitty rolls.

>>53781665
They're more expensive than normal weapons, require a special skill, and do on average lower amounts of damage. By comparison, another exotic weapon, the monowhip, does insane damage (I think it was 14p?) and has -6ap.

>>53782228
Monowhip is close range and still has shittier AP than a laser. I think it balances out, all told. Besides, the nice thing about a laser is all you need is a wall socket to recharge your ammo, which is more economical in the long run when you're not shilling for bullets after every op.

>>53781551
It's neighbours are saying where it's borders are (which are not acknowledged by all sides of the conflicts), and for geopolitical reasons those declarations are respected in the West (you'll note that the Chinese States and other powers in the region still exist, and are limiting what is considered the South East Asia War Zone). If you wanted to, you could redraw vast parts of the Middle East from Libya to Syria down to Yemen as part of a Near Asia War Zone and wait for it all to shake out 20 years from now.

>>53782228
They also have decent range and -10ap, which eliminates on average 30 dice from body+armor.

>>53782389
What ? No
-10ap means eliminating 10 armor
10 DV means you need 30 armor and body to resist it on average
3 AP = 1 DV

>>53782420
My bad.

So, from my extensive research, I've found that cyberpunk is made mostly from anime and noir.

What percentages of each do you like in yours?

Alright, I had fun making Kyle, the Pope's childhood friend yesterday

( >>53768348 )

Anyone got any other off-the-wall character concepts I could build (And then have critiqued)?

>>53782517
I like noir with anime tones, like how Technomancer ended up being. The anime vibe was like background music or wallpaper, while the noir was the bedrock and structure. That level of flawless blending makes it so that both belong together without having to compete for dominance.

>>53782351
Bullets are by far not the most expensive thing you're going to be spending money on regularly, especially when you compare that to the laser pistol only having 10 shots and needing 400¥ packs, and the rifle having 10 shots using two regular packs or a 900¥ double-pack). Unless you're firing an assault cannon, it's a very long-term to make (the extremely expensive) laser weapons more economically efficient.

It can be recharged, at the rate of one power unit per 30 minutes, so if you are shooting so much that bullet cost is actually a significant factor you're either spending thousands on having a bunch of batteries hung around your body, or you're carrying another weapon and only using the laser as a backup for high armour targets. And using a handheld laser for that is a bad idea, because there are several rifles that can be modded for more AP, do better damage, and can take other ammo so you can switch from high AP to high damage to nonlethal as needed.

Plus the DV of lasers goes to shit in any sort of conditions, from not shooting at Short Range to Visibility penalties (so good luck trying to shoot one in any smoggy city, let alone in rainy Seattle). It doesn't have the damage to spare.

Not to mention the high visibility and extra expense of using a cutting edge, highly illegal military prototype. Monowhips are illegal, sure but at least you can hide them easily and are used by multiple criminals, not just the ones who are Ares' best friends.

So, why don't more people play technobarbarians who just wandered in from the wastes?
I mean, you can go FULL samurai jack with this shit, but I never see it.

So some of my players that I GM for have expressed their interest in having me run an SR game for them. I actually have very little experience playing SR (been in a handful of games but they always fell apart early) but have a pretty firm grasp of most of the rules. All but one of my players has never touched the system though. So I figured since they are not really knowledgeable on the setting or even the flavor of the game, it wouldn't make sense for them to be "experienced" Runners. So I thought it would be a better idea to run a more low powered game where they stat off as either gangers trying to move up in life and/or people who are only taking their first steps into becoming Shadowrunners.

Since I don't really have the time or willpower right now to write up an entire custom campaign for them, I figured I could just run some SRMs with a few tweaks here and there. I downloaded a bunch of modules and stated reading through them and I've run into a bit of a problem. It seems like every modules is inter connected with another one; there are a lot of persistent NPCs and event chains that tie events together. The modules also seem to expect the players to have a large and varied amount of contacts, to the point where its suggested that if they are having issues with some aspect of the run, they just call someone and have them deal with the issue. I'm also finding that while most of the modules consist of pretty mundane work that would make sense for a beginner to do, there always seem to be one really over the top scene, like breaking someone out of prison or getting into a fight with a helicopter gunship that just seems very out of place.

So the tl;dr is that I'm looking for the "root" SRMs or suggestions for modules that would be good for a beginner team, both from a character and player standpoint.

>>53782517
I'll be honest, I like to keep anime at slightly larger than noir, but then drown them both in stupid. Last session, I had my players fight a ED-209 knockoff that was wearing a cowboy hat. (Lone Star y'all! Hire us, criminals will be too busy laughing to run away!)

>>53782681
It's not "cutting edge, highly illegal military prototype", you sperg. You can buy the shit on the fucking market at lower availability than you can certain conventional firearms, especially some of the machine guns and sniper rifles.

>>53782565
A mage who owns a flamethrower and pretends all his spells are cool flamethrower tricks. (Needless to say, they should all be fire themed.)
>>53782798
The first module you're supposed to run is Food Fight, that's just a given.

>>53782870
Food Fight is fucking retarded and should only ever be used for players who have never played a TTG before. I'm looking for modules that are real runs.

>>53782870

pretends, as in, deluded? Because we already had the conversation about mages not knowing they were mages.

Or, like, he tries to convince other people that he's not a mage, just using a flamethrower?

>>53782851
>>53782584
I myself like the noir to be slightly in excess of the anime.
I mean, I still need my flying red motorcycles and neon vomit cityscapes, but I vastly prefer if the guy we follow through with this is practically black and white himself.

>>53782865
The fluff specifically states they aren't supposed to exist outside Ares's security forces tho.
>>53782923
Pretends as in he's trying to convince other people that he's just a dude who does cool flamethrower tricks.

>>53782798
I'd say maybe start with the ones in Firing Line. They were originally summer convention missions so they seem like they'd be good for starter missions. Maybe. I dunno, I've never had a group run a mission from a module.

>>53782865
t. guy who never read the fluff text

Lasers are highly illegal (that's what the F means). Yes, other military-grade guns are also illegal. That doesn't make lasers less illegal. And with a 14F pistol, 18F rifle, and all ammo packs starting at 14F, it's very illegal to have and get parts for.

>>53782993
Oh snap. It is F. My bad, never mind, that's a toughie to get on the street. I thought it was R.

>>53783040
Ares using their own products in corp propaganda?!
Do tell.

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>>53783040
You mean the actor in an Ares-created, Ares-produced show about how a guy who uses Ares products is the best? And how the text still mentions that the show is popular but that hasn't led to any more improvements/increased production of the Redline?

>>53783040
You are a special kind of stupid. That F in the rating means its FORBIDDEN for civilians, as in, it's straight up not allowed to be sold to regular people.

Real companies like FN, General Dynamics, and pretty much every other military contracts and arms manufactures have sales brochures and promotional material for what they build. Their target market is governments and law enforcement though, they are trying to get people to buy their shit, but they still only sell to people who are allowed to have it.

And don't even get me started on characters in movies getting to use things.

>>53781311
You wont find a shortage of players, You could make a discord and post it and people can join if they are interested.

>>53782992
>>53782798
Forgot to mention, I'm going to be running 4E if that makes a difference.

>>53782911
Then go build one if nothing meets the exacting standards you've set for your completely green party, you lazy shit.

>>53783250
Well, Firing Line was written for both 4e and 5e, so it should suffice.

>>53781311
I'd be down for a pbp game. I work really weird hours so live games are hard or me to find time for.

>>53782517
https://youtu.be/ugrFTySNeQk About this mix here.

If you want games, why not go the /pfg/ route and hype game applications up so it becomes a competition to get in? GMs get slathered in attention and players can get the chance to bust out their A game in applying themselves, and games get people who have invested time and effort into wanting the game to work, so overall it produces a number of decent games.

>>53782870
>>53782911
I'm playing food fight right now and it feels INCREDIBLY forced to combat.
I expect to make bank after I brutally murder everyone in the building, But still I thought our face could at-least convince the one guy that we weren't there to murder him.

>>53783373
It's SUPPOSED to be forced combat, becasue that's what it is, a tutorial module that gives players a chance to try every mechanic out. It just so happens that 80% of SR mechanics is combat related.

>>53783352
That's not a bad idea. Despite all the memes and general autism that /pfg/ has they do at least have a ton of games.
A party of "lewd foxgirls" wouldn't be all that out of place in the Shadowrun universe either.

>>53783311
Man, Perianwyr's been booking some strange acts in his club circuit. He might want to keep an eye on the middle management, though, that dude's got a serious cram addiction.

>>53783499
>>53783311
Man, that fat guy gets me thinking.

How much of a bro does one have to be to offset being a giant tub of lard hooked into a drug machine with 50 robot hookers?

Assume he's a fixer I'm trying to sell the players on. And that the betrayal in the video probably doesn't happen.

>>53783535
He doesn't need to be a bro so much as he needs to have cred and longevity. If he's actually good at his job, he can be a wretched fuck who kidnaps trog kids off the street to sell for sex and people will let it slide because he gets shit done and his connections sweep his (incredibly few) indiscretions under the rug in exchange for results.

A joke may have gone too far.

So, me and my friends had been joking about how things always get out of hand when shadowrun is involved, and someone made the joke about "You know, EVENTUALLY, gamefreak will try to make ACTUAL pokemon." And the next thing my group knows, we've started making characters that are science experiments and 'failed attempts to make pokemon'

We've mostly been using changeling rules and applying what we can. We haven't actually played with any of these characters but we've already got 3 and I'm not sure if we're actually going to stop.

>>53783942
Well, you're not wrong. Designer pets are already a thing in Shadowrun.

>>53784405
Not to mention stuff that's not pets, like spider rats. Gotta catch 'em all, right?

>>53784405

we have a 'pikachu' mysadept that uses elemental punches and lightning bolt attacks.

>>53784463
>spider rats
what?
I know Devil and Demon rats, but Spider rats are new to me

>>53784497
Imagine a rat that can crawl along the ceiling, and web you down before it starts chewing on you.

>>53784497
Well, the book calls it a glow rat, but it's a fucking spider rat to me.

>>53784755
Spider rat, spider rat, does things no just god would ever allow

>>53784968
A just god wouldn't allow it, but apparently a radioactive god is down with that sickness.

>>53766467
>If you call the pope because a coke deal goes wrong,

You say this now, but have *you* ever had to call his Holiness and tell him he can't have any snow? It ain't pretty, i tell ya.

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>>53765119

>>53785242
Ignore him anon, he's just upset he wasn't the prettiest choir boy.

Wait
The Void Wasp from Howling Shadows
It grows only in foveae and produces poison that can sap magical abilities. But from Howling Shadows we know that the Foveaes are actually bridges to the horrors.
So there is a wasp that poisons you and saps your magic directly to the Horrors.

>>53785534
We already knew wasps were evil fucks, this isn't surprising.

So, spider spirits aren't insect spirits. In fact, in older editions insect spirits were scared of them.

What other not insect spirits are there? Scorpions? Centipedes?

>>53785534
Fuck, I mean from Forbidden Arcana.

>>53785582
I think it's just Spider and Scorpion.

Centipedes are technically insects, though Mantis spirits tend to go after other bugs.

>>53785648
Centipedes are not insects. They're as close to insects as shrimp are.

>>53786057
Yeah, but without a dedicated centipede spirit in SR, they count among Insect Spirits.

>>53777817
>>53781665
>some such monstrous weapon of mass destruction.
How would you stat the Napalm Laser from Red Faction: Armageddon?

>>53783450
Are the other newbie modules from First Run as useful as tutorials, or is there a good reason they never reappeared?

>>53786145
Might as well say naked mole rats are insect spirits as long as there isn't a dedicated naked mole rat spirit.

>>53786557
>naked mole rats are insect spirits
[LoveLoveAnon's module intensifies]

>>53786557
Well, they do live in colonies with a queen so...

>>53786609
>live in colonies
>have a queen
Are British expats insect spirits?

>>53786751
They are now.

>>53786751
No they have dedicated mentor spirit
Its called The Queen

>>53786751
No, as a general rule insects don't like caffeine or nicotine.

>>53787076
I can see why. Nicotine Caffeine was one of the trickier monks of the Koka-in temple.

A true nightmare to deal with if you weren't able to lure him out and weren't powerful.

>>53780251
Reddit ruined finding shadowrun games with their living missions. I don't want some random faggot telling me that my character isn't focused enough or that I can't change anything because muh status quo.

>>53785138

Not gonna lie. I would stab 7 children and a dog to play in a game where this is a call I legitimately have to make.

>>53787660
>hearing someone say this
Maybe...
Maybe I should un-give up on running shadowrun.
People don't truly care if I fuck with the setting if I just make it over the top enough.

>>53787752
To be fair, you have to fuck with the setting pretty hard to outdo CGL

>>53787752
>if I just make it over the top enough.
over the top in the right ways
Explosions everywhere and constant gang fights? Lame
Having to call the pope cause his snow ain't coming? Cook

>>53787764
Well, I intend to. Fuck anyone who says the aztechnology pyramid isn't a giant pyrimidal beam weapons system.
>>53787783
That's the tricky part, right there.
Hopefully, if I just scum it up enough, the second will be forced to happen, and the first will happen if it happens to be natural.

>>53787820
Beam weapons system? Prolly not.

Mana weapon system? Oh definitely.

How do you guys feel about two player slots being taken up by near identical builds?

Are things like the puma sisters doomed to NPC only status?

>>53787905
What if it's some kind of squamous mana beam?
You know, the kind that elder gods barf everywhere.

>>53787752

Dude, the best bit of advice I ever got on GMing shadowrun was: Nobody plays the cannon setting. Even CLG doesn't play the Cannon setting. Make it your own. If you want to say that an economic crisis has screwed Saeder Krupp so much that they're on the verge of losing their seat on the council, fucking go for it.

If you want his holiness to have a cocaine addiction, that's hilarious, and not exactly completely unreasonable, IMO. Have fun with the setting.

Some things are important to the setting, like... Lofwyr is a dragon. A ghost dragon owns Denver. Elves are assholes. Ares macrotechnology is the most 'Murica of the megacorps.

But, if you wanna fuck around while keeping in those most basic rules? Go for it.

>>53787924
>How do you guys feel about two player slots being taken up by near identical builds?
Depends
If they can work together that should be fine.
Two deckers working against the same host
Two riggers covering each other
Two sammies wreaking havoc
etc.

>>53787942
Sounds like The Horrors to me!

>>53787924

It's OK. Good place for a bit of friendly competition and character development.

Thiis, of course, also means that the group will be strongly specialized in certain area, so the DM will have to prepare appropriate runs, or chug helpful NPCs their way.

>>53787924
just like >>53787986 said, if your group is small you are focusing on one area while probably ignoring another.
In large groups however this is the norm, since at some point you have all the big areas covered and it would make sense to take an area multiple times

>>53787977
Yeah, good aztech weapon. Very cursed.

>>53787972
Man, I can't think of an example of a more archetypal pair of gunbunnies than the puma sisters.

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Hey /srg/, forever GM that loves the setting and related the vidya. Finally decided to read the rulebook and gamemaster it, got any tips for someone new to the system, both for my and players ?

I have to ask, what's usually better for a party: focusing on a role or being versatile ? By focusing I mean investing most points into magic as a mage, talking as a face, fighting as a street sam and so on with only minor branching so say everyone can use a pistol, and by versatile I mean everyone gets a bit of everything they think it will help them to be the lest dependent on each other. If the answer is "depends", which is *usually* preferred then ?

>>53788468
>got any tips for someone new to the system, both for my and players ?
in the OP Pastebin is an appropriately titled PDF. READ IT

>focusing on a role or being versatile?
SR mostly rewards specializing over generalizing. You have a team of 3 to 7 people, so making one specialized in magic, one in fighting, one in decking and so on is going to be better than a group where everyone can do everything, but nothing WELL.

Coupled with the fact that costs increase exponentially while generally getting linear karma increase means that the system favors people that start out special and fix their deficiencies
The sammy that learns how to lead and talk well
the couch potato decker that gets some physical training
the mage that learns how to fire a gun well

So yeah, specialization all the way. None of you can do this on their own. But together you can do it.

>>53788468
Focusing on a role. Specialize, but everyone should have a few points in Con and Stealth so they don't default on sneaking or lying.

Being versatile is a great way for no one to be especially good at anything.

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>>53788468

Focus on stuff. The enemy will always greatly outnumber the runners; what you've got goig for you is first move advantage and being better than them.

What counts as 'being focused' on something differs froim group to group. Still you should roll at least 12 dice on your speciality (20+ in some groups), and have 8+ on another skill or two. Then, there is also the mandatory smattering of various skills (first aid, con, computers, etc)

Also, it'd actually be pretty hard to create a generalist team in Shadowrun. Decks are horribly expensive, mages/ technos need to spend quite a lot of chargen juice to be able to spell/techno good, and full-on riggers requie quite a lot of funds as well.

Take a look at the GM advice pdf in pastebin.

>>53788468
If you are getting into 5th edition then I have nothing for you because I've never looked at it.

If you are doing 4th edition and don't want "stay on 4chan at first" do an archive binge of 2d's shadowrun storytime.

In addition to the storytime itself, Some of the threads have a lot of Q&A and game/system discussion in the middle or toward the end.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=2D


Some of the threads were not tagged right. you can find them by messing with the tags. Here are two early ones you may have trouble with

session 3 http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/18244120/
session 7 suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/18421888/
No

>>53788697
>what you've got goig for you is first move advantage and being better than them.

is that what the GM has going for them in combat or what the runner have going for them to counter the enemy pretty much always outnumbering the runners or being a phonecall away from outnumbering the runners?
(unless the PCs have been hired to do something that involves stopping another similar or smaller sized group of runners of course.)

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>>53788784

It's a piece of runner advice. I'm used to talking to players, sorry.

>>53788784
The runners
The corps have dozens of people, but most of them are pretty crap at this stuff so putting 5-6 against one isn't such a big thing. Especially if the runners have better initiative

And while the corps have dozens of combatants while the players are few, you also have to remember that normally these aren't there. The elite troops (HTR) usually are at hold, which means that if the players surprise them (which they most likely will) it will take some time for the heavies to catch up, get ready and get there. And normally the runners are gone before the HTR even arrives

>captcha: Auto crime

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>>53788832

please start over and try again. It sounds like you have a good deal of knowledge and wisdom to share and I, and I'm sure the soon-to-be-GM who asked, would like to hear what you have to say.

So anyone house rule alchemy to make it less shitty? What do you change?

>>53780560
Still gonna go with "nope" on that one, brah.

>>53781311
Expressing interest.

>>53789093

Only houserules I've ever seen are generally ones that decrease the time before they lose potency. One of them was having a magic bag that, as long as they were in the bag, they didn't lose any potency. Personally, I like it. No idea how to actually stat it though.

>>53781311
I'mma show this post to other people.

>>53789238
>Only houserules I've ever seen are generally ones that decrease the time before they lose potency. One of them was having a magic bag that, as long as they were in the bag, they didn't lose any potency. Personally, I like it. No idea how to actually stat it though.

can you ask the person you saw it from to give stats?
Or was it an anon?

>>53764451
I *NEED* A MEDIC BAG

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>>53759714
iz funny cuz Dewalt make power tool!

>>53789238
Vault of Ages from FA?

>>53789238
One idea I liked was removing the separate spells mechanic. If you know fireball or whatever, you also know the alchemy recipe.

>>53789376

This makes a lot of sense to me. Don't rituals not require you to know separate spells if you're going to be casting a spell through a ritual (As long as you know the base ritual too)

>>53789343
I haven't the foggiest.

>>53789311
It was an anon, and it was, like... last year, so I can't really dig through logs to see if there was anything there involving stats.


IF I WERE TO STAT IT, I'd have it be some kind of box where the size and force were relevant. Size, in the sense of, Making an entire house a 'box' would be unreasonable, but a fridge might not be a bad idea for something to keep at home. And the Force would be the force of spell it is able to keep. Forces above that would deplete and lose potency, down to that force. So, if you have a force 6 lunch box, spells up to force 6 will stay at that force, but if you put a force 8 spell, you're subjected to normal rules, until it tics down to force 6 and then it stays there.

>>53789465
Effect: A vault of ages may store a number of alchemical compounds or preparations equal to twice the Magic rating of its creator. The Rating of these items cannot be more than twice the rating of the vault. While within the confines of the vault, these items do not degrade. The degradation clock starts ticking as soon as they are removed.
Price: 2,000 nuyen per Magic Rating to a max of 5

>>53790120

honestly, yeah, sounds legit enough to me.

>start running Shadowrun for some friends
>none of us have played it before, a few of us know the setting and system
>usual GM who runs Star Wars and Pathfinder wanted to be a player for a bit
>still giving me help
>decide to do an utterly stupid thing and set their first campaign shortly after Goblinization with mild lore fuckery to get it to work
>do another stupid thing and have them make human characters and roll for metatype at the start of the campaign
>players are starting off with simple jobs that seem like cakewalks but gradually ramp up in mechanical difficulty
>party is mostly adepts or mages for simplicity's sake, but rolling out early cyberware to tempt certain players into becoming burnouts
>to ease them into how contained sessions tend to be I'm keeping a light overarching story involving terrorist pixies but mostly fun job ideas
And all I can think of is how much I want someone else to GM.

>>53781311
>>53789271
I was shown this post by other people.

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>>53759714
can someone explain to me the narrative purposes of cyberzombies?

I can't tell what roles they fulfill in the GM's toolbox.

>>53791821
I guess aside from being quite dangerous they serve the narrative purpose of showcasing how evil and inhuman megacorps can be.
Shadowrun is pretty dystopian in a lot of ways and human life isn't exactly much worth to begin with in the first place, but the cyberzombie is man who literally (whereas the dystopian undertones do that metaphorically) has had his soul destroyed and body stolen.

As for how or even if you should use them as GM I can't really give an advice on that, but the thematic undertones are probably the strongest reason to bring one up in the first place.
If someone employs a team to create one you know for a fact they are irredeemably evil.

>>53791821

The narrative purpose is a lot as >>53791972 said. But, as far as what they fill in the tool box: 1, they can offer an opponent that is literally beyond what most runners are capable of (Since they can have more ware shoved into their throat than runners).

Another tool they serve is an opportunity of a dark mirror to the runners.

Mages have it easy with 3 "Dark mirrors": Blood mages, Toxic mages, and Asshole mages (Typically ones who abuse spirits).

These show "People like you" who can use many of the same tools the players use, but taken to some extreme that the usually wouldn't go... but could.

A mage could be tempted by blood/toxic magic for power, or by the power they could acquire by not caring for the 'lives' of spirits.

But what does a street sam typically have going for them? They just have other street sams doing the same thing as them, just under a different banner. But the Cyberzombie offers a stark reality of something that they could be come, someone who is just a machine that isn't a man anymore, a warning for someone who would go too deep down the cybernetic hole.

>>53792143
Adepts confirmed for incorruptible.

>>53792239

Adepts have blood and toxic variants as well.

>>53792143
>>53792239
>>53792465
Mundies confirmed for pure

>>53792465
Really? How the hell does that work?

>>53792548

page 90, street grimoire:

CANNIBALIZE (ADEPTS ONLY)
Adepts and mystic adepts who follow the path of blood
may learn a unique metamagic technique related to
Sacrifice. When using Cannibalize, the adept drawsblood from a victim and then consumes it to gain a measure
of power. In game terms, the adept inflicts physical
damage on a willing or unwilling victim exactly as
per the Sacrifice metamagic to generate Blood Magic
Points. The adept can then increase a physical attribute
by 1 for every 3 Blood Magic Points they spend, up to
the individual’s augmented maximum in that attribute.
The same or different attributes may be increased in
any combination with one Simple Action. This increase
lasts (Magic x initiate grade) Combat Turns, but if the
adept immediately spends Karma equal to the total
number of attribute points increased, the duration is
increased to (Magic x initiate grade) days.


POWER BLEED (ADEPTS ONLY)
Prerequisite: Cannibalize
Power Bleed is an advanced metamagic technique
that builds upon the Cannibalize power. Power Bleed
functions the same as Cannibalize, except that instead
of generating 3 Blood Magic Points, the adept can siphon
one critter or adept power possessed by the victim
(if they have one), and may then use this power as
if it were their own. The effect lasts for (Magic x initiate
grade) Combat Turns, but the adept may immediately
spend 3 Karma to extend the duration to (Magic x initiate
grade) days.

>>53792548

Street grimoire page 85:

TOXIC ADEPTS
Turning to the toxic path is not exclusive to magicians,
though they are the most likely to do so. Adepts can
also turn to, or be corrupted into, the path of the toxic.
They are driven by the same kinds of motivations as
magicians, but draw and manifest their toxic powers in
ways more in keeping with their abilities. Due to their
magical abilities being so closely tied to their physical
bodies, toxic adepts are universally loathsome in
appearance. Drawing the raw essence of the polluted
magic into their bodies, the physical form of the toxic
adept warps and mutates to match the nature of the
corrupted mana flowing through them.
Some toxic adepts will become covered in boils,
warts, and sores as their skin takes on a sick and diseased
look. Others seep puss, bile, or filthy chemicals
from their very pores. Drawing the toxic magic may give
some a greatly enhanced physique, with their bones
and muscles swollen and distended to enormous proportions,
pulsing with malicious power. Others gain
a sickly and emaciated appearance, mirroring the sick
and shriveled aspects of the poisoned land. Their skin is
pallid and drawn; their eyes sunken and discolored. Yet
this appearance belies the fact that they still possess the
same supernatural quickness and strength as they did
before (if not more).
Toxic adepts have the same motivations and goals as
toxic magicians, but they often favor more direct and aggressive
means that suit their abilities. As a result, they
are equally dangerous or frightening to encounter. Toxic
adepts follow all the normal rules for adepts, with access
to the additional powers and abilities for toxic adepts
(see Twisted Arts, p. 87).

>>53792239
So much for 'incorruptible', snowflakes.

How would Warstocke Cache and Carry from GTAV exist in SR? They are a retailer that sells tanks and Milspec vehicles to anyone with disposable income

"Whether you're a private security company, paramilitary force, rebel militia, hot housewife, radical insurgent, unhinged lottery winner, over-zealous neighborhood watch group, or just a military hobbyist with a worrying amount of disposable income, we've got you covered."

Does this sound Shadowrun like?

>>53792471
>Mundies
>pure
Pure shit, maybe. Your kind had best learn it's place in magicrun, friend.

>>53792660
>>53792678

what edition where these introduced?

>>53791972
>>53792143

Thank you very much.

>>53792913

5th ed.

Street grimoire

I gave the related pages in the posts

>>53792854

Drebin from MGS4 is probably a better model for an arms dealer.

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>>53793008
I was wondering because I play 4th.

Any suggestions on how to make 4th edition versions of them?

I'd like to have something I can show my GM so that he can add it to his collection of inspiration stuff.

>>53780560
It's not the flagship for the genre. Cyberpunk encompasses more than just tabletop games.

>>53793008
They're in 5e, but they were introduced in 4e.

>>53792913
4e Street Magic, 139.

Best boat for a carrib. league rigger?

>>53793421

My bad. Only ever played 5th edition.

Have a interesting and complex musical instrument.

https://youtu.be/JqdVQ9VdoAg?t=2m27s

next time I make a musician I'll seriously consider this.

>>53793421
>4e Street Magic, 139.

thanks boss.

>>53793295
What's the flagship? GitS and Blade Runner?

SR, I think, has more market share than all other cyberpunk TTRPGs put together. I wonder how many people who are looking for a straight cyberpunk RPG try to hack SR into one, as opposed to looking at the others out there.

>>53790471
That's the official stats for the Vault of Ages in Forbidden Arcana. No good guidelines for size, though, or even what it's actually made of, so you might have a suitcase in the trunk that keeps everything magically fresh.

The bigger problem with alchemy is that you get way less bang for the buck; the multiple contested tests kill your success rate for anything like a Direct Combat spell. If I was inclined to houserule, it would be a lot of spending reagents to get more hits at every stage, letting you actually make alchemical spells that are as good as on the fly spellcasting - then you're trading money and flexibility for drainless magic, instead of money and flexibility and more drain than usual for lesser magic.

>>53793295
I'm aware, but in the context of this discussion I was referring solely to TTRPGs.

>>53794450
I think a lot of people discount CP2020 simply becasue of how old it is. Even the 2027 rules feel really dated. And while I love a little retro, CP is SUPER retro in it's setting. SR is a lot easier to get into, and also very easy to tweak. I've played plenty of SR games that were magicless and it worked fine.

>friend running Shadowrun 4e
>first time playing Shadowrun for us 3 players
>ran through some character creation today
>separate and independent of each other we rolled; a Troll Shotgun Samurai, a Russian Elf Mystic Adept, a Human Technomancer-Decker
>technomancer has so many qualities for staying off the grid
>he will never be caught for something
>ever
>troll is a physical beast, nuff said
>elf summons spirits, entertains with illusions, and creates waves of sonic blasts using the Nordic tradition and has a Seductress Mentor Spirit aiding illusions and tempting him to drugs
>already addicted to alcohol and deepweed
>technomancer drives us around in his inconspicuous van
>decided to be roommates to save money
How badly did we fuck up? And where did we fuck up?

>>53793182
Take the 5th edition stuff. Remove mentions of limits. Print.

>>53794730
You fucked up playing 4e. Then again with a Techno who also wants to be a decker. Then deciding that saving on rent was worth being the most easily arrested runners of all time. And again playing 4e.

>>53794803
The friend likes 4e and knows how to run it, it's looking like we're going to be a bitch to catch if techno's bonuses apply to our home.
Techno is doing more than those two, he's also running drones, I have no idea what he's planning.

what is the difference between weed, deepweed, and havenlilly in 4e?

>>53795428
I don't know what weed and havenlilly do, but deepweed lets you see into the astral plane and makes you better at magic and astral combat for a bit.

>>53794704
>Even the 2027 rules feel really dated.
Isn't Cybergeneration pretty much a straight clone of CP2020, just with nanomachine superpowers? CG1e was a CP2020 supplement.

>>53795557
Nah. There is a blurb in the book that gives advice on using the CP2020 rules, but CyberGen is a little more watered down and streamlined to reflect that kids have much more general skillsets and combat is simplified a little.

>>53794803
Honestly, the whole "always cover your tracks becasue you don't want corporate kill teams kicking in you door" is way overblown. I've spent all fucking day reading though SRMs and most of them have nothing to do with the characters running against corps. Getting pinched is only an issue if your GM makes his own games. The official books all say that if you piss of a Mega, just leave town for a few months until things blow over and/or you can get some new cover SINs.

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If you are GMing
what are the up and downsides of the two approaches to toxic adepts for SR4 listed below from the perspective of where you can start throwing them at your runners without it just resulting in a TPK?
>>53793421
>4e Street Magic, 139.

>>53794733
>Take the 5th edition stuff. Remove mentions of limits. Print.

>>53781311
>>53783212
>>53783297
>>53789214
>>53789271
>>53791237
Alright, here goes. Discord is up at https://discord.gg/CwQXkC. I'll cap this at 4 players for now, first come, first serve. This is the first time I use discord, so please be gentle.

>>53792143
>But the Cyberzombie offers a stark reality of something that they could be come, someone who is just a machine that isn't a man anymore, a warning for someone who would go too deep down the cybernetic hole.

Its a lot harder to become a cyberzombie then to become an evil mage (though not a toxic). Since normally just losing all your essence does not make a cyberzombie.

>>53795764
Normally losing all your essence just makes a corpse. You need obscure, dangerous and complicated magic to bind someone to their body after that point and even then, they (it?) are alive in only the vaguest sense

>>53795893
I know. It's only thanks to the average runner's ignorance of that fact in universe that the "holding up the cyberzombie as a dark reflection of the street sammy" can work. Otherwise it's more just a disturbing thing that looks kind of similar.

>>53795893
>and even then, they (it?) are alive in only the vaguest sense
They're still functional and present as the person they were before, if more than a little off-putting.

>>53795739
>shitcord
Yeah, no, fuck off.