Races/SURGE

Shadowrun features several unique races (and SURGE variants). Races are best modeled with a simple distinction, such as Orc or Troll. The advantages and disadvantages of such distinctions should be pretty obvious, such as a Troll having an advantage when bulk or strength is in question and a disadvantage when trying to act nimbly or in a suave manner.

Distinctions can also be used to model especially prevalent SURGE qualities, be they positive or negative. Try to keep the distinctions short and focus only on the qualities which are most important. If a SURGE quality would particularly help a single role, it can also be modeled as a Specialty.

Characters without a racial distinction are considered to be humans.

Cyberware/Bioware

Cyberware and Bioware can be modeled with signature assets. Such assets follow all the normal rules for signature assets, save for the fact that they cannot be lost or stolen (except in dire and messy circumstances). Characters with extensive ‘ware assets should consider taking a Distinction that signifies their modified nature (such as Chromed Up).

Awakened Characters

Magic is modeled with custom talents that have a few special rules. Once a character takes an awakened talent they are considered to be an awakened character and are subject to a few special rules.

1. All awakened characters are required to take a distinction related to their magical paradigm and outlook (such as Rat Shaman). The player and Fixer should outline just how the magical paradigm can come to a characters advantage and disadvantage.
2. An awakened character can perform a special assensing notice action. Unlike a normal notice action, the stakes are set by the character being assensed (use Intelligence + Willpower as a default). If the awakened character is successful, he immediately learns if the character possesses any awakened talents or ‘ware-based signature assets. At the Fixers discretion the assensing player may also learn the target’s current mood and physical health.
3. A fully awakened (defined as any character with both the Spellcasting and Summoning talents) can astrally project. While doing so the character’s body is inert and the only actions the character can take are Notice Actions, as they have no physical form. The upside is that the character is completely hidden form unawakened characters and they can pass through non-warded physical objects. The downside is that the Fixer gains a shiny new Comatose Body (d6) asset to play with.
4. Any complication that arises from the use of an awakened talent is considered to be magical in nature. Perhaps the character makes a great deal of noise, or suffers spell drain. Or maybe that spirit they just summoned isn’t quite as obedient as it first seemed. Fixers are encouraged to get creative with awakened complications.

An awakened character can use magic to enhance their roles. Whenever an awakened character uses an awakened talent they are using their magic to cast a spell or summon a spirit. In terms of game mechanics nothing changes, but any player of an awakened character is encouraged to describe just what spell they are casting and how it helps. As a general rule of thumb, the primary role of an awakened character can be used to describe their magical style.

• Grifter: The character is skilled with Illusion spells that can confound an enemy or mask his true appearance.
• Hacker: The character is skilled with Detection magic that can ferret out hidden information.
• Hitter: The character is skilled with Combat magic that can blast foes and alter the physical world.
• Mastermind: The character is skilled with Health and Manipulation magic that can enhance his team and deal with unforeseen obstacles.
• Thief: The character is likely a bit of a magical generalist who focuses on spells that make him harder to spot or that get him past physical obstacles.

Awakened Talents

Adept

You use magic to augment your already impressive skills.
Role: Any
Activation: You are performing an action that includes your Primary or Secondary role. You can activate this talent only once per scene.
Effect: Add an extra d8 to your roll.

Spellcasting

You can cast spells to aid you in a task. But be careful: such spells can sometimes have unintended effects.
Role: Any
Activation: You’re performing an action and wish to cast a spell; spend a Plot Point for extra effect.
Effect: If you wish, add an extra d6 to your roll – but if you do, you must also add a d4. If you spend a plot point you can step the d6 up to a d8.

Summoning

You can summon spirits to aid you or your companions in a task. This sounds great, but sometimes the spirits are a bit uncooperative.
Role: Any
Activation: Spend a Plot Point.
Effect: You can spend a Plot Points to give a spirit-based asset to any other member of the Crew (including yourself). If this asset is used in a roll that results in Complication, the resulting Complication is automatically stepped up by 1 die. Fixers are encouraged to flavor the complication to the type of spirit summoned.

Technomancy

Technomancy is modeled with custom talents that have a few special rules. Once a character takes a Resonance talent they are considered to be in resonance and are subject to a few special rules.

1. All characters in resonance are required to take a distinction related to their stream and outlook (such as Infomancer). The player and Fixer should outline just how the stream can come to a characters advantage and disadvantage.
2. Characters in resonance can interact with the virtual world without the need for a commlink asset.
3. Characters in resonance can sense the presence of each other with a standard Notice test.

Like an awakened character, a character in resonance flavors their hacking with the tools of a technomancer. Most of the time this will simply be flavor, but with the proper talents a technomancer can often find a distinct edge when in the matrix.

Resonance Talents

Compiling

You can compile sprites – living programs that can aid you in the matrix.
Role: Hacker
Activation: You are in full VR and the Fixer gives you an Opportunity.
Effect: You can create a sprite asset to aid you in your next roll taken when in full VR. If this asset is used in a roll that results in Complication, the resulting Complication is automatically stepped up by 1 die. Fixers are encouraged to flavor the complication to the type of sprite summoned.

Threading

You can compile new complex forms on the fly, letting you adapt to changing situations.
Role: Hacker
Activation: You may activate this Talent at any time when you are in full VR, once per scene.
Effect: You may replace one of your existing Hacker Specialties with a different one. The change last for the duration of the scene, at which point the Specialty reverts back to its previous form.

The Matrix

The Shadowrun universe contains a massive digital world known as the matrix. Any character can enter full VR with the right equipment (or mentally if they are a technomancer). While fully immersed in virtual reality, characters can perform almost any action they could in the physical world, with one difference. When performing a non-hacking action a character replaces any Attribute die with their Hacker die. This represents the importance of skill when interacting with the matrix.

While immersed in full VR, most of the roles can be used for additional digital actions. The following list details some of the most common actions by role.

• Grifter: Spoofing, Redirecting Traces, and other acts of digital subterfuge.
• Hacker: Most digital actions should default to the Hacker roll. Even when the Hacker roll isn’t being used, it is used in place of the default attribute when using other roles.
• Hitter: All forms of Cybercombat.
• Mastermind: Analyzing a system, encrypting files, and other forms of digital analysis.
• Thief: Decrypting files, cracking hidden files, or other acts of digital subterfuge.

I plan on doing actual play reports of the sessions, but for now I wanted to share my formatted Setting Rules and some new character sheets I made. The sheets are as fancy as the one by Cheyenne Wright (http://arcanetimes.com/), but they are highly functional and form fillable. I share them in case other folks want to use them. I even included a blank and generic Savage Worlds sheet.

Sundered Skies Setting Rules
Sundered Skies Character Sheet
Savage Worlds Character Sheet

DM Cheat Sheet

I think for most of us, attributes are seen as a given in an RPG. That likely stems from the games we were trained and raised on: the Storyteller System or Dungeons & Dragons. I’m not saying that every gamer started with one of those two games, but I’m betting that the majority of them have. And the one thing that both games have in common is that they use attribute scores to represent the raw physical and mental characteristics of a character. I’d be willing to bet that attributes are likely one of the most common elements of all RPGs.

But they’re not the only way to represent the raw attributes of a character. Take a look at FATE: it doesn’t have attributes at all. Instead the game relies on skills to represent your capabilities and aspects to represent anything extraordinary about your character. There are other examples, but I think that FATE is likely one of the better ones I’ve personally experienced and played.

Which is all just a way to say that lately I’ve been thinking a lot about attribute scores and what they mean. When thinking back though my old characters I don’t remember which D&D character had a 13 Strength or which one had a 12 Constitution. But I can tell you, even now, which ones I rolled a natural 18 or a natural 3 on. Those are the characters that stand out to me, because they had attribute scores that were clearly exceptional or inferior.

You see, with attributes all that really matters are the extremes, not the average. It’s usually assumed that a PC is going to be mostly average with a few areas that are clearly above average. Those are the attributes we care about, the ones that make your character special or unique. No one cares if you have an average strength, but if you’re the strongest there is (to paraphrase the Hulk) that becomes a central aspect of your character.

So why are we still mucking around with ability scores at all? Why not assume that everyone is average until they take something that makes them clearly above or below average. In one of the systems I’m developing with my friends we’re using the idea of traits. When you take a trait you’re clearly saying that your character has something about him that’s remarkable. That the trait you’ve chosen is important and you want to use it. Which I think leads to really interesting situations.

Which to me is starting to lead us in really interesting directions. When you start worrying about the exceptional suddenly you can design around those high and low points, not the boring median points. Only time will tell if we can really pull it off.

And the reason for this? In this day and age the mechanics feel pretty darn clunky. It never even made it to the revised edition, so it’s got some pretty big mechanical warts when you get down to playing. But the potential is absolutely there, just waiting to be polished up and uncovered.

I’ve seen a few fan revisions on the ‘net, but for the most part they never sat right with me. And while Lost is a great game, it doesn’t feel much like Dreaming to me and so that’s not a suitable replacement. Which means that I’m likely going to have to do the revision work myself.

Right now I’m leaning toward one of two approaches. The first is a more faithful recreation using the new World of Darkness engine. Most of the work is already done for me and I can snag most of the Kith abilities directly from Lost, which will save time. The only big bugaboo would be the magic system, which was pretty unique. At first thought I’d make both Arts and Realms the main magical abilities, with dice pools being Art + Realm + Skill as the dice pool. Rather than limit your targets by Realm I’d instead use Realm as a dice pool bonus, with higher difficulties for different targets.

The second option would be a thematic conversion using either Dresden Files or Strands of Fate. I’m thinking that Strands would likely be better for this sort of conversion, given that it’s more modular and less tied to a specific setting and mode of magic. If I go with Strands I’ll likely drop the Realms and make the Arts much more general in application.

Just a few thoughts to keep the blog alive, since I’ve been slacking a lot.

I didn’t always have such a caring outlook toward my players. Back when I was a wee apprentice GM with his first handful of d20s I thought it was my job to destroy and hamper my players at every turn. That they weren’t having fun unless I brutally beat them down and pounced upon every little mistake. In short I was an utter bastard of a rules-lawyer and I cringe when I think about the first few games I ran back then. It’s taken me years and quite a few good examples to break out of that mold. I’m hoping that I can help others learn from my many mistakes.

When my friends and I gather around the table each week we’ve gathered to have fun. And what’s more fun than using all of your shiny powers and abilities to hack your way through hordes of enemies? Not much, if my own opinions and the words of my friends are any example. Every player crafts a character that can do awesome things and as such they would like to do those awesome things as many times as possible. If the character is dead, horribly mutilated, or otherwise shut down they can’t use their cool powers and thus the fun is reduced.

Now, this is not to say that I let my players walk all over me and my encounters. If every battle is a foregone conclusion there’s no fun in that either. No, a GMs job is actually quite a bit more difficult than you’d think. As a GM it’s your job to make winning hard but not impossible. You have to enter each fight with the idea that you’re going to be defeated every time. The real trick is making your defeat difficult and challenging without denying your players their fun (or your own fun, either). It takes a particular mindset to really get okay with the idea that you’re going to lose every time.

When you sit down at the table you have to wail, and gnash your teeth, and shout grandiose predictions of doom. You have to make the players sweat at every turn while knowing deep in your heart that the battle has already been won – unless the players get stupid or the dice go really wonky. You have to design fights and encounters that are beatable and designed to highlight the awesome abilities of each character. In boxing terms you have to be an “opponent” – a fighter destined to lose the fight and make the guy across from you look good.

While there are a great many skills required to really be a good GM, I’d argue that this mentality is one of the most important. You have to want the players to not only succeed but succeed in an awesome manner. You gotta lace up your gloves, step into the ring, and let them beat the crap out of you for ten rounds before finally falling to that knockout punch. In short, you have to learn how to lose.

Brother Roderick, Human Cleric of the Silver Flame
Alrik, Dwarven Invoker
Alarich Hellekanus d’Deneith, Human Fighter
Lillithana, Kalashtar Avenger of the Path of the Light
Knappe Truc, Changling Rogue

It was a tough fight and I could see the DM realize what was happening. I think any DM who’s run for any amount of time knows that you rarely really want a TPK. Sure, we may wax poetic and threaten such actions, but ultimately all they do is derail a game. All rolls were made out in the open and it was just one of those things. But man, I feel for my friend and it makes me realize just how bad things can get with a few bad/good dice rolls.

This situation also showed me just how deadly swarms can be in 4th edition. The Catoblepas was tough, but it was the swarms that doomed us all. We just didn’t have enough burst powers and the terrain was very disadvantageous. Still, I hold no grudges and now I get a chance at playing a leader, which should be fun.

Here’s the short list of what I have now:

Ghoul
Requirements: Human
Your character is immune to the effects and hazards of radiation. If he is exposed to large amounts of radiation he may, at GM discretion, become a glowing one or feral ghoul. In addition, the character is completely sterile and practically immortal. You may not take the Attractive edge.
Suggested Hindrances: Chem Resistant, Decrepit, Elderly, and Ugly.

Cast Iron Stomach
Requirements: Ghoul or Super Mutant
Your character can survive on material others wouldn’t even throw away. He is immune to food and water-born diseases and poisons. He also rolls Survival at +2 when foraging for his own food and water.

Enhanced Healing
Requirements: Ghoul or Super Mutant
Your character heals much more quickly than usual. He may make Natural Healing rolls once per day, instead of once every five days as normal.

Rad Regeneration
Requirements: Ghoul
Your character really has that healthy glow about him. He may make Natural Healing rolls once per hour in areas of low radiation and once every 10 minutes in areas of high radiation.

Super Mutant
Requirements: Human
Your character is immune to the effects and hazards of radiation and disease. In addition, the character is completely sterile and practically immortal. You may not take the Attractive edge.
Suggested Hindrances: All Thumbs, Arrogant, Delusional, Mean, Outsider, Overconfident, Ugly, Vengeful. Nightkin all possess the Addiction (Stealthboy) and most also suffer from Delusions.

Cast Iron Stomach
Requirements: Ghoul or Super Mutant
Your character can survive on material others wouldn’t even throw away. He is immune to food and water-born diseases and poisons. He also rolls Survival at +2 when foraging for his own food and water.

Enhanced Healing
Requirements: Ghoul or Super Mutant
Your character heals much more quickly than usual. He may make Natural Healing rolls once per day, instead of once every five days as normal.

Large and in Charge
Requirements: Super Mutant
Your character is especially large and knows how to throw his weight around. He gains a +1 to Size (which also increases Toughness) and his Load Limit is doubled.

Mutant Cunning
Requirements: Super Mutant
Your character’s intellect has been improved by his exposure to FEV. He gains a +1 bonus on all Smarts-linked skill tests.

Mutant Physique
Requirements: Super Mutant
Your character is an especially strong and vigorous specimen. His Strength and Vigor are increased by one die. Unfortunately these physical gifts have come with a downside: you must choose one additional Major hindrance. You do not receive any benefits for taking this hindrance.

Beast [+1]
Description: You’re an animal of some sort. Granted, you may be an unusually intelligent animal, but you’re still not human.
Musts: You must take a high concept reflecting the fact that you are an animal that does not possess the ability to turn into a human.
Effects:
Keen Senses. Being an animal isn’t all bad. You have finely tuned senses (as defined by your species) and get a +1 bonus on Alertness and Investigation rolls when using those senses.
No Hands. You don’t have hands or opposable thumbs, which makes many tasks much more difficult. The difficulty of all actions that require fine motor skills by is increased by 2 and some actions might be outright impossible.
No Speech. You cannot speak beyond barks and growls and the occasional “smart animal trick.” The difficulty of all social actions requiring speech is increased by 2 and some actions might be outright impossible.

Focused Study [–0]
Musts: Channeling and/or Ritual.
Description: Experienced focused practitioners learn in time how to refine and focus their abilities, gaining a deeper understanding of their one particular area of study.
Skills Affected: Discipline, Conviction, Lore.
Effects:
Intense Focus. You have chosen to focus heavily upon one particular application of spellcraft. When you take this power you forever give up the ability to upgrade Channeling to Evocation or upgrade Ritual to Thaumaturgy.
Focused Specialization. You may now choose to gain specialization bonuses when buying the Refinement power.

Focused Mastery [-1]
Musts: Focused Study
Description: With experience comes eventual mastery. A few focused practitioners have learned how to unlock their full potential and gain an incredible amount of mastery over their chosen area of spellcraft.
Skills Affected: Conviction, Discipline, Lore
Effects:
Esoteric Lore. You roll Lore at +1 when dealing with magic particular to your area of focus (as determined by your element, ritual, or theme).
Potent Specialization. You no longer need to structure your specialization bonuses for each ability according to the same “column” limits for skills (see page 65). You still cannot have any specialization bonuses higher than your Lore skill.

Rote Reliance [+1]
Musts: At least one rote spell.
Description: You aren’t very good at improving with your magic, preferring to stick to a few well rehearsed and known spells.
Skills Affected: Conviction, Discipline, Lore
Effects:
Improvisational Block. You suck at casting any spell you haven’t worked out ahead of time. When casting non rote spells, consider your Conviction and Discipline to be 2 steps lower than the actual ratings.
Total Reliance [+1]. You are totally reliant upon a few well rehearsed spells. The only spells you can cast are rote spells. When casting such spells you must roll to control the power as if you were casting them normally.

Signature Spell [-1]
Musts: At least one rote spell.
Description: You are well known for one spell in particular. You might be a one trick pony, but it’s a damn good trick!
Skills Affected: Discipline, Conviction, Lore.
Effects:
Choose one of your rote spells when you buy this power. This spell then becomes your signature spell and gains the benefits listed below when you cast that spell by rote. You may only have one signature spell at a time. At the game masters discretion you may be able to change your signature spell after a Significant or Major milestone.
Efficient Spellcraft. You’ve refined one spell so greatly that you can cast it with incredible efficiency. When determining the mental stress cost (page 250) of your signature spell, consider your Conviction to be 1 step higher than its actual rating.
One Last Spell. You’ve learned to keep a little bit of energy in reserve for your favorite spell. You may spend a Fate Point instead of taking metal stress when casting your signature spell.

In some respects I think that race is often substitute for personality by lazy or uncreative players (not that I’m accusing my players of this). Non-human races quickly become shorthand for an interesting list of traits that you don’t have to think about or develop yourself. I’ll firmly agree that they can be utterly boring, as their culture is so diverse that it becomes a blank canvas. But all it really takes to make an interesting human is a bit of work. Some of which has to come from the GM, of course. I’m just as guilty as my players of making humans uninteresting. Which is why I’ve been developing faction benefits for humans.

When I actually get to play I almost always make human characters and often times I’m the only human in a party of 5 to 6 characters. That strikes me was utterly odd in a setting where humans are supposed to be largely dominant. At least 4th edition gave them a niche beyond versatility, which did go a long way toward making them more attractive. Maybe that’s what more settings need: a niche for humans. Because from where I’m sitting they’re just not all that attractive when other races are available. Which is a shame. After all, Bruce Willis wasn’t a sentient ape or an elf: he was a human!