/srg/ - Shadowrun General

Are Harleys in the Sixth World loud as fuck? Is there a way to make them louder or quieter? I have a Harley, and sometimes I want it loud, sometimes I don't.

The point is to be a good feels mission (Renraku has been feeding Humanis a lot -> Humanis has been more trigger happy on the trogs as of late -> Ork underground is having trouble keeping everyone patched up -> Ork Underground asking the group to rob a Renraku hospital for medical supplies -> Target Renraku VA so that there is plenty of supplies, and the hospital get restocked fast enough not to be a danger to innocent people)

The actual payment for the group is going to be low. Probably about 60-70 grand (depending on how many people show up, which equates to about 10 grand apiece)

However, there ARE stores of things that could be stolen for additional payday. not 100% sure just how much, but getting some alpha grade cyberwear, among other things, is certain to increase the payday.

Clearly you need to trick that fucker out with a sound amplifier you can turn on or off. Turn it on to shatter the windows of the surrounding buildings, and then turn it off when you round a corner to get away from the angry cops and escape unheard

>60-70 grand
>there ARE stores of things that could be stolen for additional payday
>some alpha grade cyberwear, among other things

nah I think it fits

and again, what amount of karma would you give them? If it's dependent on their actions: What range?

Where are stats on a sound amplifier? Core book?

Oh, whoops, I forgot you asked about that too.

If they can find a way to completely ghost the thing, I'm gonna give them 12 karma.

If they get everything done without ghosting it, probably 8 or 9

If they go murder hobo and kill the entire hospital, I'm only gonna give them 5 karma, and make the Ork Underground not so happy with them (Because they didn't want murder, they just wanted supplies)

Or is that too much karma?

I don't remember where I saw it, honestly. It didn't really blow out windows, that was an exaggeration. But, being able to make things obnoxiously loud shouldn't be difficult or expensive.

nah, that seems to me like a good reward

>Price and modification slots are missing for Ram Plate in Rigger 5
>"I know what I'll do, I'll just look at the rigger books from previous editions and get the cost from there."
>"Hahaha, I'm so clever!"
>apparently ram plates didn't exist before Rigger 5

>tfw you will never make people roll Body with your loud-ass motorcycle

How much do you think it would cost though?

They're loud, but artificially loud because people want their bikes to be loud. There's a bit of fluff in Rigger 5 that talks about this.

hardy wanted it to be hard to acquire, didn't you know? Now load up those stun 'n shock rounds and wrangle yourself up a Ram Plate.

Chummer, you do know that Rigger 4 was an april fools joke?
All the mods are in Arsenal

Thanks. All i have left to do now is Finish up the Matrix (I just need to figure out what the Host rating would be, and throw in some IC, and get a neat map for the decker to look at for immersion) and everything is good.

Honestly, I have no idea. But, as a GM, just Bullshitting, I'd make it... 2000-4000 nuyen, and anyone who doesn't have dampeners or a Select Sound Filter needs to roll body (1) or be deafened, if they're within 10 meters of your bike.

>april fools
No. Rigger 4 is as canon as Rigger 5.0.

Oh thank goodness, I was ready to hunt down the writers and editors. Now let's see how much it cos-
>Bodyx250
Muh Roadmaster.

Are you comfortable with bending the rules of the setting slightly to make things more interesting for your players? My group wants to run a game as turbo snowflake prime runners, and one guy wants to play someone who is literally mostly chrome without being a cyber zombie because reasons he hasn't yet fully elaborated on. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and am probably gonna let him because the group is good and I like all of them as players.

So has anyone else bent the rules a little? I think it can have some fun results if done right.

>without being a cyber zombie
But becoming a soulless killing machine is half the fun of being mostly chrome.

The small problem I see with "Bending the rules" is the fact that small changes propagate fast
how is it possible that he could cross the essence limit and still live? Most reasons you could give would mean that the AAA also have the technology
and let me tell you: they would fuck the shit out of it

>I can dump magical theory, metaplanes, spirits and parazoology because I have arcana?
Yes. Active skills can always be substituted for relevant Knowledge skills without a penalty.

Someone with 6 points in Pistols, for example, can roll (Logic/Intuition)+Pistols for pistols-related Knowledge (Firearms) tests.

Between that and its essential role in Initiation, only a a delta-grade retard would make an Awakened character without at least one rank in Arcana, unless they're specifically supposed to be a deeply ignorant fuck when it comes to all things relating to magical lore/theory.

Depends. I created a special piece of nanoware, available as alphaware and up, that reduces essence cost of all other chrome bits. It was hella expensive and required a hard as fuck run through a zero zone to get access to the plans, but they made it.

Getting it installed could have been a quest in and of itself, but the Johnson gave them a contact at a facility that could manufacture and install it.

Each rating reduces all essence costs of chrome by 25%. It's really powerful, but rating 1 costs 300,000 nuyen. Each subsequent rating costs twice as much as the rating before. It uses .5 essence, not reduced by itself.

>I created a special piece of nanoware, available as alphaware and up, that reduces essence cost of all other chrome bits
so adapsin?

What was your fluff justification for it? It sounds interesting.

Sorta, but it works better and stacks with adapsin, additively.

>its essential role in Initiation
could you elaborate on that for me? Is it a 5e thing? cause from what I see in 4e you only need it for one specific Initiation Ritual

yeah. So long as it's not completely breaking the setting or playing heavy favoritism to one member of the party, I don't see the slightest problem with it. The point of any game is for people to have fun, and if you need to tweak one of the rules to allow for that.

So, this guy wants to be mostly chrome without being a cyberzombie? That doesn't even seem all that challenging.

If they're prime runners, and he's going street sam, he will probably have Bucket and Buckets of Nuyen. Let him have access to Betaware, but without increasing the Max Availability (Which is at 15 IIRC, though, if you have a higher standard than the rest of the party, let him have that instead)

He can grab himself Adapsin(.2 essence) and Biocompatibility (cyberwear), and then he can get cyberwear for effectively .5 Essence cost. 2 cyberlimbs, and 2 cyberlegs is 2 essence, Grab yourself some wired reflexes, (R3 would be 2.5 essence), R3 bone lacings is .75, and there you're sitting at .55 essence left and that is pretty damn cyber.

You could, alternatively, only have R2 Wired Reflexes (and some jazz to boost to that sweet sweet 5 initiative dice)(1.5 essence), and then you can grab yourself a Cyber Torso and Cyber Skull (.75 and .375 essence respectively), and that will total up to... Lets see... .2+2+1.5+.75+.75+.55... that equals out to 5.75 essence in total.

So, recount: 2 cyber arms, 2 cyber legs, rating 3 bone lacins, rating 2 Wired Reflexes, Cybre Skull, Cyber Torso, and Adapsin. That is a LOT of chrome, all with the only rule being bent is that you can buy Betawear at character creation.

The best part is, that shopping list I gave you totals up to 433,500. Prime Runner priority A Nuyen is 500,000, with the ability to get up to an additional 50K if they spend Karma on it (Even more if you go in debt).

that's 66500 to buy guns and stuff to fill your cyberlimbs which admittedly isn't a lot, but hey, you're chromed as fuck!

That's probably a little light on the doctors, but I'm sure there will be plenty of nurses to compensate.

>No. Rigger 4 is as canon as Rigger 5.0.
No, it isn't. It's literally an April Fools joke, published on April 1st and offered for free.

The doctors are the only ones Packing heat. There are plenty of orderlies and staff, but they aren't packing any weapons themselves. Docs only do stun damage because of the Hippocratic oath.

>The time it takes to complete initiation is determined by an Arcana + Intuition [Astral] (initiate grade, 1 month) Extended Test.
You need to pass Arcana tests to Initiate, and if you can't accrue enough successes fast enough, it can require months or even years of training time before you manage to pass that hurdle.

That test and training time is required regardless of whether you undergo additional rituals to reduce your karma costs.

So, like I said, any Awakened character who doesn't have the bare minimum of 1 point in Arcana - just to ignore the untrained penalty - is bad, and should feel bad.

>but they aren't packing any weapons themselves
But can and will alert people who are packing weapons, or scavenge weapons off of dead guards, or come up behind the runners, put them in a headlock, and inject them full of sedatives the same way they would any other violent patient.

Just because they're not 'serious' combatants doesn't mean they can't have serious effects.

It's still canonical. Or are you telling me that the Renraku Nadeshiko in Rigger 5.0 is an "April Fools"?

So, you're telling me to give stats to all the orderlies, and make the job even harder?

It's a prototype created by Renraku that works by integrating the chrome with the flesh, making it hard to determine where flesh stops and chrome begins. This tight integration is intended to be the foundation for a new generation of cyberware, chrome that melds with flesh in an all new way give the user the best experience possible.

READ THE FUCKING CONVERSATION
WE ARE TALKING RIGGER 4
4!
4th EDITION

I'd imagine that makes it much harder to remove and quickly swap though. Upgrades especially would be a pain.

I'm telling you that Rigger 4, in its entirety, is a non-canon literally-released-on-April-Fools-Day joke book. Any content that was also introduced in an actually-canon book is obvious canon.

But Rigger 4, in and of itself, is not.

Rigger 5.0, on the other hand, is a canon, main-line book, in every way more canon than Rigger 4 ever was, because unlike Rigger 4 it's not a literal April Fools Day joke.

Ah, so a 5e thing

Just because it was released on April 1st doesn't make it April Fools.

Most of the orderlies won't do shit. Composure tests will abound, and morale usually leans towards 'evacuate.' But some people will be determined or foolhardy enough to play the hero and create complications.

Fuck off, retard.

Alright. So, Narcoject?

What's the AP on a Syringe?

chummer, did you even read it?
here's the front page
and it doesn't get better

This makes me giggle and it shouldn't.

I want some crazy troll rigger with a cyber chariot in my game now.

I'd run it more with the Subduing Combat rules. If an orderly manages to get to the point where they've dealt damage with Subduing Combat, after having prepared an appropriate syringe, they'd manage to inject them.

I'd go for Dopadrine, though. It's what they'd be more likely to have on hand. It's an anti-psychotic sedative which cancels Berserk effects and applies physical penalties while it's in effect. That way you're not just knocking your players straight out either.

MAYBE the people working in the pharmacy and the ultra-high security wards would have access to tranquilizers as potent as narcoject, but mostly you'd see sedatives intended to get people under control, rather than shit intended to knock people straight the fuck out.

>I want some crazy troll rigger with a cyber chariot in my game now.
you can
with pic related

>Ctrl+F'd Dopadrine

Hm. I like it.

Do you think the slap patches would work out better? Or just use the rules for slap patches, and say it's a syringe instead? Honestly, getting hit with some of this shit wouldn't be damning, and would be kinda funny. Funnier if we happened to have someone in the party who actually berzerked.

>Or just use the rules for slap patches, and say it's a syringe instead?
Actual slap patches for the dopadrine. Syringes following the rules for slap patches for the narcoject. Slap patches make a lot of sense for emergency supplies prepared in advance, but for something prepared by a medical professional on the fly a syringe works a lot better.

So, the Matrix is definitely one of my weak spots.

>Rating 5-6 hosts: Social media, small colleges and universities, local police, international policlubs

>Rating 7-8 hosts: Matrix games, local corporate hosts, large universities, low-level government

I'm inclined to believe the hospital would be a rating 6 or 7 host. But, we only have 1 decker, and fighting 6-7 IC (including Black IC) that are all rolling between 12 and 14 dice, it just feels like she's gonna be fucked by the IC.

Also, if I mark 1 IC, or the Host, does that put a mark on the other IC as well? Or can you only mark one of these at a time?

Yeah, but I never told the runners that. Adding bits to existing gear is easier since you can do it like normal and they'll be cyborged in after a little while, but if you need to fully remove something you're fucked. Increasing the rating of the nanoware makes the integration tighter, increasing the difficulty and cost of removing existing chrome. At rating 3 (75% essence cost reduction) removing cyberware or modifications is more difficult and expensive than removing an organ.

It also would hurt like hell (and have a longer recovery period) since your cyber is now a part of your body. I called the nanomod the Nano-Cyber Weaving System (NCW System), but the players called it the cyborg system.

I'd thought about having some weirdness where if you get NCW 3 and Adapsin installed your chrome would start becoming fleshy and your meat would start getting metallic as the nanites spread and your body let them. It'd start making you harder to heal, warp your presence in the Astral, and mark you as something other than metahuman. I wanted to show the character becoming a post-metahuman, which I based on a short story I concepted with my dad several years ago. In the story, the guy was really freaked out by it, which I was going to have the NPCs do. The character died before I could really do anything fun.

Just use the unofficial alternative rules for the matrix instead.

Where are they? I've only got the book as is, and suddenly throwing a different set of rules at the decker out of left field kinda seems unfair.

check a few threads back

basically you roll your dice pool and set the threshold to (relevant attribute). If you succeed you do what you wanted, if not you don't succeed, succeed with an alarm or don't succeed with an alarm

>unofficial
You just have them roll normal fucking skill checks to make things happen. Want to open a door? You roll Hacking with your deck's Sleaze as your Limit against a Threshold of the door's Device/Firewall rating.

No hosts or marks or other bullshit like that. You just make it into a normal fucking skill check, instead of using the default system, which is unfun in a manner not unlike nailing your dick to a table.

And then when you roll up on somewhere, you just add a simple Firewall modifier. Secure, like somewhere that has an IT guy on staff to make sure shit's not stupid? +1 Firewall over its normal score. Highly secure, like a police station or anywhere else that has a permanent professional security presence? +2. Milspec, like a military base, a secret corporate research facility, or a space station? +3.

And that's it.

Just make it normal.

Was it ever like this in previous editions? Because this makes a lot more sense than the bloated shit that makes up the Matrix rules for 5e.

No. In most previous editions, it was actually even worse. 1e-3e, for example, had the decker run entire solo dungeons in decker-time while the rest of the party fucked off and got a pizza or something for two hours out-of-game.

And yes, this 'unofficial alternative system' - i.e. just using the normal, default dice resolution mechanic instead of the subsystem garbage - is in every way better.

5e is actually the least shit it's ever been.

Let that sink in.

In 4e, hacking was done exclusively by being a script kiddie and buying a commlink with hacking software. This is something that the mage would usually do with all of the money they weren't spending, because the 'hacker' side of the hacking equation was completely extraneous to the situation.

And before that, it was so bad that 'the decker problem' is still common slang for an entire class of shitty game design.

5e has such a bad hacking subsystem that it actually makes the game actively less fun whenever it comes into play, and yet it's the least shit hacking in Shadowrun has ever been.

Jesus Christ

You can even see this in the Returns games. Full-on Cyber dungeons. Pretty cool... As long as you're the one playing.

Which shadowrun 5e content books are worth getting?

All of them. Any of them. Whichever pertains to the archetype you want to play.

Want to be Awakened? Get Street Grimoire. Want to be a Street Samurai? Get Chrome Flesh. Want to be a Rigger? Rigger 5.0.

Everyone should have Run and Gun and Run Faster.

...Data Trails is bad.

what said with one exception: Don't pay for them.

Do you have links to pdf for them? I make $$ so buying doesn't matter, but I also would like to save said $$

Check the pastebin in the OP for links to DLs.

Where does a Security Spider usually leave their meatsuit, anyways? I imagine it's probably not very smart to leave it in the same building you're protecting, on the off chance you fuck up, but on the other hand the further you are from that place the more Noise you have to deal with.

Probably in the Security Office, where he is surrounded by a bunch of locks, cameras, and buddies with guns backing him up.

What said; in a very secure room who's locks are likely controlled from the Security Station itself.
As for the Noise problem, it's 5e bullshit created to artificially force deckers to join people on runs physically (despite the last four editions having rules for things like that) and isn't accounted for in the fluff because fuck rules that make internal sense, right?

Could someone make 3e character sheets for tabletop simulator?

No.

So are those braincase cyborgs actually player playable, or what?

>and isn't accounted for in the fluff
Can you give an example?

Signal strength is not a major problem for four editions. And then it is. You will not hear talk of "noise" in any fluff at all.
The issue is that the Mega-Grognards who run and write 5e are so ridiculously old-fashioned that they assume that the Matrix NEEDS it's own super special rules because that was what it was like when they were kids.
Never mind that every time they "fix" the problems with hacking they ALWAYS (as in 100% without fail every single time) overlook and outright ignore the primary problem with the rules they had and assume the "taking the Decker with you" part is the issue.

The issue isn't forcing the Decker to physically be there because there has ALWAYS BEEN RULES AND REASONS FOR THAT, the issue is an entirely separate and completely arbitrary rules system that a player and GM needs to learn on TOP of the existing rules which THEMSELVES are already incredibly arbitrary!

While we are on the subject of glaring/longrunning flaws, what are some other things that can be cleaned up or cut out of the next edition when/if its released?

Most everything else is stuff that some people don't like (Essence limits for augmentation because they want more traditional cyberpunk for example) as per subjective opinions rather then rules that outright don't work well.

Maybe cut down on all the useless modifiers for simplicity's sake.

Magic
Cut out EVERYTHING Magic related or Keep it in the Background/NPC only and you have a very nice game that is actually playable, compared to CP2020.

Like I said, is an example of people who just super wish SR was a regular cyberpunk game even though there are several of those.

Like playing D&D and expecting it to be run like Chutes and Ladders or something.

Gunslinger adept guy here with a couple more questions:

1. I have 15 dice in Pistols, 17 including my semiauto specialization. Should I bother pushing that higher at chargen? I think the only way to do it is Brand Loyalty.

2. I hope to eventually dual-wield, probably once I have 20 or more dice (or when we ambush some goons). Is Ambidexterity worth taking?

3. Sharpshooter, yea or nay?

4. Ares Predator V, best non-revolver heavy pistol?

I feel like 6e will be a complete reevaluation of the ruleset. They'll simplify all their rules, chuck a bunch of shit (swimming, chunky salsa, noise rating) and make it consistent. Personally, I'd like the team to include some new blood that isn't super attached to the crunch of editions past but likes the fluff.

If they want to return to the classic 2050 setting, that'd be cool. If not, then I hope they retcon some of the weird shit (naga, drake, changeling) and only add interesting shit for advanced runners (PC AI characters, optional rules that emulate the feel of current shit for the crunch fans, non-Mary Sue options for character creation).

If you've gotta dual wield, Ambidexterity is a must...but dual wielding really, really sucks. Would you rather throw 20 dice at one guy or 10 dice at two guys/one guy twice?

>Cutting magic out of SR would be like cutting Dungeons out of D&D.

>1. I have 15 dice in Pistols, 17 including my semiauto specialization. Should I bother pushing that higher at chargen? I think the only way to do it is Brand Loyalty.

Its going to be super expensive and honestly you'll likely find other things worth building upon. 17 dice is nothing to sneeze at and it really won't get too much better unless your game runs long term.

.2. I hope to eventually dual-wield, probably once I have 20 or more dice (or when we ambush some goons). Is Ambidexterity worth taking?

Never ever. Dual Wielding is garbage and Ambidexterity doesn't make it any better. Spend the karma on literally anything else.

>3. Sharpshooter, yea or nay?

Useful if you are a trick-shotting kind of guy or if you are specializing in sniping (why tho). With a dicepool as high as yours you might get some play out of it but it's not essential.

>4. Ares Predator V, best non-revolver heavy pistol?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

>15 dice in pistols

That would be... what, 6 agility, 6 Guns, 3 Improved ability (With the assumption that you choose the interpretation of the 1.5x improvement being the final score, not how much you can... ya know... improve by)?

Something I'd reccomend you getting anyways is Goggles/glasses/contacts/something with Smartlink. It will still give you +2 accuracy and, if you're using the wireless bonus, you get +1 dice (If you go cyber eyes/implanted smartlink, you get +2 instead). that's something that's super simple to do.

As a gun adept, if you've got 6 Magic, I suggest putting 1 point in Improve Attribute (Agi). you roll 7 dice, and however many successes you get, you get +1 to all agi rolls, only rolling... 1 drain, I think, the next turn. It's a good way to increase your stats from there.

Sharpshooter is okay. if you have the spare karma, get it, but don't force it.

People ( and ) Think that Dual Wielding sucks, and to a point, it does, but, there is something that you can do if you decide to go for Machine pistols/Automatics instead: Full Auto, and Full Auto Burst.

Full auto burst offers a -9 penalty to the target to avoid. Sure, you may only be rolling 10-ish dice between each attack, however, unless someone has, like, 20 dodge dice, which I HIGHLY doubt you'll ever encounter (What, 10 reaction w/ wired reflexes and reaction enhancers, 6 Intuition, and then going full defense, and at least 4 willpower?), you're almost always going to be nailing that damage.

Granted, this is far from optimal, but it could be pretty fun to just hose down two mooks at the same time, especially when your average mook is probably gonna be using 11 dice at best to dodge? drop that to 3, vs. your 10 dice to attack, and you're gonna have a good time.

Good to know, Ambi, Brand Loyalty, and Sharpshooter are out. One more question: Can you install a gas-vent system on an Ares Light Fire 75, considering it's silencer is 'integral' and not an accessory? Chummer says it's legal, but chummer is also kind of retarded when it comes to gear.

Yeah, 6 Agi + 6 Guns + 3 Improved Guns + 2 Specialization. I already have smartlink contacts and a personalized grip, probably not gonna go for an implanted smartlink though. I'll consider picking up a machine pistol though.

I thought they were mutually exclusive. They would be in real life, but since when does SR have to make sense?

Alright, so that brings you to 18 dice. Handy, and you've got more than enough Accuracy now. probably won't ever hit those limits.

Everyone has their own opinions of dual wielding. you CAN make it work, honestly, but it isn't optimal. If your whole party isn't optimal, and your GM isn't throwing your ass against the wall every encounter, I'm sure you could pull it off.

"I don't like it" is different from "it needs to go"
It's true that the magic system is broken as all fuck, though. It needs a complete overhaul.
Spirits are too good. Spells aren't good enough. Nobody gives a single flying fuck about enchanting.

Too bad I can't play him because he's fucking working for Ghostwalker now

So, the Control Rig states that it increases your handling AND speed by the rating of your Control rig.

This means you can dive into a dodge scoot, and rev that fucker up to 320 meters per turn (Which equates to 384 Kilometers per hour, or about 239 miles per hour).

I'm just wanting clarification that, yes, that is exactly what you can do, not something that was put in there by accident by CLG being dumbfucks, and it was later errata'd out.

Question: If I wanted to read the wonderfully dated Shadowrun novels, where would the best place to find a torrent? Or does such a thing not exist? I haven't read them in over a decade and I miss them.

The writer for the vehicle section specifically designed driving without number values, but they sneaked them in without him knowing after the fact.
>CLG
How do you do, fellow shadowwalkers?
Check Pastebin

>The writer for the vehicle section specifically designed driving without number values, but they sneaked them in without him knowing after the fact.
Not only that, but the core book numbers have been fucked off entirely, as of Rigger 5.

Don't use the numbers. If your GM is smart, they'll reduce the effect of the control rig to altering the *limit* of Handling and Speed, not the attributes themselves.