CONVERSION GUIDELINES: SHADOWRUN (1ST ED.) TO CYBERPUNK: 2020 by Jordan H. Orzoff 73617,3344 Would you like to speed up your Shadowrun game's mechanics? Would you like it to be deadlier? Would you like the rules to be easier to understand and use? Then pick up R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk: 2020 game and read this file. I converted my online Shadowrun game, WOT, to CP:2020 rules. After a few years, I just got sick of keeping track of all the six-sided dice, and pool refreshes, and multiple rolls needed for single actions ... not to mention the zillions of modifiers in decking. CP:2020 gives me some big improvements: 1) Die rolls go from multi-d6 to single d10. That's a time- and effort-saver right there. 2) The Matrix/Net rules for CP:2020 are neater, to my mind, than the SR system. SR is more detailed, but the CP:2020 rules incorporate a grid-like net (no more dungeon- crawling!), Virtual Reality rules, Artificial Intelligence rules, rules for portable cellular cyberdecks, and rules for using your 'deck to take over local systems like doors and alarms. Deckers are able to deck while walking around and can control local systems without doing a whole ice- penetration shebang. It lets deckers join the group and be mobile. 3) The combat system is, overall, faster and deadlier than SR. SR is designed for "cinematic" combat....lots of bang- bang-boom, but the heroes are tough enough to take it, for a while. With CP:2020, generally, you shoot someone and they fall down. No more of those silly street samurai who are immune to submachinegun fire. 4) I rewrote the magic system for CP:2020 (a game that has no magic system of its own), and I'm very pleased with the results. Magic is now as deadly as it's supposed to be. Generally, a mage with a manaball can kill numerous enemies in a single combat round. Mages are much more fearsome, though, of course, they're still vulnerable to bullets. This is the outline of my conversion of Shadowrun's magic system to the CP:2020 rules. This system is not for everyone. If you want to know if you'd prefer using CP:2020 to run Shadowrun games, go down this checklist. 1) You like the Shadowrun world, but you find the mechanics confusing, difficult to remember, and time-consuming. 2) You have a preference for rules systems that are easy to learn and run very quickly. 3) You find that your shadowrunners are becoming too damn cocky. The essence of a shadowrunner is survival, and the essence of survival is keeping your head down and staying *out* of trouble. You want your shadowrunners to re-learn the value of those lessons, but the combat system pampers them and keeps them alive. 4) You like the Shadowrun concept of magic being an irresistible, frightening force, unless other magicians are around to oppose it. But you find that Shadowrun's mechanics generally make mages no more deadly than the average street samurai and often overwhelmed by drain before they can make themselves noticed. You want magic to *scare* shadowrunners again. If all that is you, then you'll like my system. [Most of this won't make sense unless you're already familiar with the CP:2020 mechanics.] CP:2020 has attributes that range, generally, from 1 to 10. Mages start out with a Magic attribute of 10. It's a freebie, but it goes down in exactly the same manner as Empathy. The "special skill" for any Mage or Shaman is Sorcery, which they have to buy from their package points. Note that mages start with 50 points, not 40. (I'll get to that shortly.) Other magical skills which can be purchased as part of the package are Conjuring and Magical Theory. Spells transfer over directly, with the Force of the spell becoming its +number. (Ex: Manabolt at Force 4 becomes Manabolt +4.) Spells are purchased from the package points, with a ceiling of as many as 20 points that can be spent on spells and as few as 10. (In other words, a "weak" mage can spend 40 points on the package as normal and then 10 on spells. One who wants to be a tough spellcaster can use an extra 10 from his package points, but then won't have as many points to spend on skills.) The actual die-rolling is tricky. I attempted to stay faithful to the basic concept of Shadowrun magic without aping its every aspect. There really wasn't any way I could see to mimic the complete system while staying within my goal of simplifying it and bringing it in line with the CP2020 mechanics. For spellcasting, the mage rolls Sorcery+Force+d10 (plus any modifiers that apply), where Force can be set by the mage at any level up to his maximum known Force. For damage, I am using something similar to the weaponry damage modified by Force. (More on this later.) More powerful spells with have a larger "base" damage, and every spell's damage will be increased as its Force increases. The Target Number is determined by the type of spell. Combat spells, for example, get their Target Number from the range of the opposition. I set the range for all spells at an arbitrary 200 meters. If you roll a 10, you get to roll again and add to that 10. If you roll a 1, the spell fails. The TN of non-combat spells is determined by the difficulty of the task, just as you do for skill rolls. The TN of Healing spells equals the difficulty rating minus the subject's EMPathy. Thus, subjects with less cyberware will be easier to heal. The drain roll is Magic+Empathy+d10 vs. a Difficulty rating + Force. The Difficulty rating is based on the "base damage" of the spell. If 2*Force is less than the mage's Magic Rating and he fails the roll, he makes a Stun Save (subtracting the Force of the spell) or he is stunned. If it is greater, he takes physical damage equal to the Force. All other appropriate rolls (death saves, etc.) apply. Damage is calculated from a table I have generated. (Wait for it... ) Area Spells affect everyone in the area the same. When you reach the point where you are subtracting SP points (armor or cover) from damage, DOUBLE the SP of high- tech cover or armor. This reflects the disruptive effects high-tech has on magic. If the target of the spell is a mage, subtract the mage's Magic rating from the damage in addition to the BTM. Mages can still aid their friends with their own magic defenses -- if the mage chooses, each companion of the mage can subtract up to 6 (+Initiate rating) points from spell damage. Moving on to the effects of other types of spells... The results of non-combat spells depend on how many points the mage rolled over the Target Number. (0-1 marginal success, 2-4 adequate success, 5-7 good results, 8+ excellent, the best, superb, wow...) The actual translation of these numbers depends on the spell, of course. I generated some simple tables of all Shadowrun spells. There are five columns: the spell's name, type (physical or mana), difficulty rating, damage (if combat), and if it's an area spell. Difficulty is roughly equivalent to drain staging in the SR system. A Mana Dart spell has an easy difficulty for reducing drain, while Fireball is very difficult, and Manablast is nearly impossible! Damage is a number of six-sided dice...get this...MULTIPLIED BY FORCE! Mana Dart does 1d6 * Force. So, Mana Dart cast at Force 1 is peanuts. At Force 4, it does 4-24 points of damage -- pretty impressive. But, take a Manablast, which does 4d6 * Force. Sure, the drain is almost impossible to resist -- but the damage of a Force 4 Manablast is 16-96 points of damage! Almost certainly lethal to everyone within range. Stun/Sleep spells cause the targets to make Stun Saves, minus a fraction of the Force. So, a Stun Touch requires a Stun Save at minus a quarter of the Force, while Stun Bolt requires a Stun Save at minus the entire Force. Assorted manipulation spells also do damage, though not multiplied by Force. Examples: Flame does 3d6 damage (with fire damage effects); Flame Volt does 4d6 damage (with fire damage effects). Anti-Bullet Barrier adds Force + the die roll to SP ratings. Anti-spell Barrier provides Force + the die roll to BTM. I think that covers all the major points about my spell charts. Assorted miscellaneous rules: 1) If any spell is being sustained, you take a -3 to ALL rolls. Just like performing double actions. 2) I have assorted modifiers for shaman types, pretty much converted straight from SR. Just change "dice" to + or - numbers. Ditto for effects of foci, magic weapons, etc. 3) Conjuring: Simply roll Conjuring skill + d10 vs. the Force of the spirit + d10. If you roll higher than the spirit, you summon it. You get one service for each number by which you beat the spirit's roll. (Ex: I have Conjuring +6 and I'm summoning a Force-4 spirit. I roll a 4, and the spirit rolls a 2. I get four services out of it.) The drain test is your EMPathy + d10 vs. the spirit's Force + d10. If you fail, you make a Stun Save (minus the Force, just as above). 4) Watchers: conjure them by rolling a d10 vs. the # of hours of service desired. If you beat that number, the Watcher's Force equals how much you beat it by. (Ex: I want a Watcher for 2 hours. I roll a 6. The Watcher has Force 4.) Drain roll is d10 + Empathy vs. Hours of Service + Force. 5) MetaMagic in brief: Add your Grade to your Magic stat and to Totem advantages. Centering vs. Drain: Add your Centering skill and your Grade to the drain roll. Centering for Spellcasting: Add your Centering skill and your Grade to the roll. Shielding: Like your spell defense points, but instead you add your points to the To Hit # of an enemy mage. Makes it harder for them to roll to hit you, instead of making your BTM work to reduce damage. As you can see, magic is going even more powerful. Combat spells kill lots of people, very fast. Drain *may* not be as powerful, but the mages are much more vulnerable under the new combat system. ***