#shadowrun 2e

While as usual, I'll be focusing on the older editions for this-it can easily copy over to the newer(given that the same basic generation systems exist.) I will touch on differences, of course, when applicable. Mostly this is for 'Hey, I hear 3rd is awesome, I wanna play.'

I'll go over the ups and downs of each generation system before moving onto the tips section.

Okay, so first we have Priority. The classic core rulebook method(and the 3rd edition rulebook takes you through it nicely).

Priority can be summed up as:

+Clean and simple

+The fastest method(note: 3e chargen can take awhile anyway but this part will go a bit smoother)

+Fairly generous for the high areas but not completely terrible for the others either

-Sometimes you just can't pick the 'right' priority

-Can be limited if you play a meta/mage due to forced priorities

-If you use Edges and Flaws they have to cancel each other out since there's no points to earn with Flaws and nothing to buy Edges with

Okay, so what do I mean by some of these disadvantages?

My own character-Downfall-is an elven adept. He's made with BeCKs(Karma system, which I'll go over too) since that's what we use now, but his original incarnation was made with Priority.

So how he worked, B and C were taken up. Elves/Trolls have to be taken priority C under the book system(Dwarves and Orks D), and Adepts are priority B Magic. (Full mages/shamans are A.) This left A, D, and E for Attributes, Skills, and Resources. Well, Priority E resources was only 5k; not quite enough(I have made 5k work for a street shaman and a sprawl ganger, but this guy's got a bit more.) 1 million was far too much(his parents were millionaires but he's long been separate from them.) 20k felt right. He REALLY didn't need the 50 skill points offered from A, but the 18 attributes of E were far too little, so it was Attributes A and Skills E. I didn't really need all 30 points, and I'd have liked a few more skill points, but all in all, he worked out. I was happy.

But Karma allowed me to tweak him to drop a couple attribute points, grab those extra skills and even a couple thousand more nuyen, making him more balanced and about perfect.

Now this is just one example; I've built many successful characters using the Priority system, and you can too; but it does have that drawback. One biggie you see is money. Sometimes you need a big chunk(Riggers, Samurai, and especially Deckers), but you blow through like...550k or so. That's more than the 400k, but way less than the million...so you start inventing shit to do with money. (Deckers just take priority A resources 99% of the time anyway. And yes, they blow through it. ;))

It does a good job with Attributes and Skills I feel. Skills to 50/40/34/30/27, and Attributes 30/27/24/20/18. It's a good spread, and you're bound to find something that fits.

Again, simple, but you might find it stifles you in regards to money, forcing you to take too much(or scrap.) The last point with Edges and Flaws, if your table uses them, is minor; you may see your character with a flaw but don't feel the need to take an Edge, or vice versa, but you have to with this method(unless your GM devises a houserule for taking care of this.)

Point-Buy

Featured in the Shadowrun companion, this is where you get around 120 points(3e)-the example in the book gives 123 build points and that's what I personally use-and you purchase your things that way. Metatype has a cost, you pay for skills 1 for 1, Attributes 2 points for 1, and money you buy in chunks(like, 1m for a certain amount, then 650k, 400k, 250k, 90k, 20k on down to 0 points for 5k and you GET 5 points if you take only 500 nuyen-fun fact: this used to be Priority E in 2nd edition.) You do need to pay for having magical ability(depending on full mage, adept, etc.)

There IS a maximum of Attribute and Skill Points you can purchase(30 Attribute points and 60 Skills), but it's pretty generous.

Benefits and downsides are as follows:

+More customization(you can have odd numbers of points and the like)

+Generous maximums(you can really make that skill nut with 60 points!)

+Money has a bigger spread, allowing some of those big gaps to be filled in with more amounts

+Edges and Flaws can be taken independently(Flaws to gain more points, or you can spend points only on Edges, or offset the two either way.)

-Can lead to more number crunching

-Brand new player may find it more overwhelming simply due to more choices

-Some archetypes have a blatantly better time under it

Okay, so its a lengthier list, but I'll go over it. It does open up customization. Basically when you can take numbers like '26 Attributes' and '42 Skills' and such, it allows you to be more freeform with your builds, and it's really welcome to have those 650k and 250k nuyen 'price points' in there for people. It gives a much wider array of money and prevents having to take the million for spending 500k, or to take 400k for wanting to spend 150k and so on. It's also nice to be able to take Edges and Flaws independently(you pay for them on a one-for one basis, so a 3 point Flaw gives you 3 points, and a 2 point Edge costs 2.)

Now it also has some more downsides. Giving more stuff means it's a bit tougher; new players may feel a little overwhelmed with choices, and more experienced ones may take more time to crunch numbers, taking from here, adding to there, and so on. Now I do some number crunching myself, I don't mind it, but it's something you might want to be mindful for if you're the type that does.

There is also that last thing mentioned; some archetypes get noticeably more powerful under it than the Priority system...while others a bit less so. Take a human sam. If I were making one up under Priority, I'd probably take nuyen A, Attributes B, and skills C, for one example, giving me 1m, 27, and 34.

Under the point system? All that just cost me 30(Money), 54(Attributes, 27x2), and 34(Skills), or 118 points total. Even using the 120 Build Point allotment, I have like two more points to spend on more skills. If we use the 123 Build Points used in the example, this un-named sam would have 5 more points to play with beyond Priority(I could use it for Edges if I wanted to as well.)

Meanwhile-take my main dude-my adept. He's already 35 points in the hole with Magic and Race total, and even if I used 27 Attributes(54), and 27 Skill Points with the 20k nuyen(5 points), he's up to 122 already. He could get 28 Skill Points. But he's actually less adept than his Priority build, where he at least got 30 Attribute points to offset the lower skills. Some characters can get even hairier under this system. (an Ork Full Magician who happens to take A Magic, B Resources, C Attributes, D Race and E Skills-a completely legal and non crunched character-would end up having spent a whopping 130 Build Points.)

(In any case, whatever you decide to run at the table, make sure for this reason that characters all use the same system. It ensures they're balanced against each other.)

Sum-to-10

This is an interesting system based on the Priority system, and first popping up in the Shadowrun 2nd Edition Companion(and it was based on the original 1e method of chargen, too.) So what happens is each Priority has a number attached: A is 4, B is 3, C is 2, D is 1, and E is 0. You can pick and choose any of these to add up to 10. It didn't appear in 3e(though folks used it, given a lot of old sourcebooks were interchangable), and returned in 5e again as an option.

A quick rundown:

+Decent customization

+Still fairly fast for new players

-Power levels can vary greatly depending on humans or metahumans

-Still has the edge/flaw issue

So like Priority it allows you to pick and choose, but it has a hair more customizing since you can say, go, 4,4,2, or 3,3,2,2, or 4,3,1,1,1, and so on. Humans cost 0, being mundane is 0, so a mundane human, as you can see, has their pick: a human sam could have A Attributes AND resources, and still get 34 Skills in 3rd edition. Or a human can take Attributes and Skills A and still get 90k. Or they can go with mega nuyen and skills and still have solid attributes(24, which used to actually be priority B in 2e.)

As usual people might end up crunching more with Metahumans and magically active folks. To use again my fellow, he needs Adept and Elf(which is 3 and 2 points respectively.) But it does give me some leeway; I could go 4(Attributes), 1(Resources), and 0(Skills)...and he'd end up exactly how he was over the basic Priority system. Or I could go 3,3,2,2,0, if I wanted a bigger chunk of nuyen; however, if I made him under this system, I'd probably go 3,3,2,1,1. This would give him 3 more skill points above his Priority build to play with, and given his Karma build uses 28 attributes anyway, the 27 + the bonus point Edge would work out just fine.

Someone making a human combat mage might be 0(human), 4(Full magician), and maybe opt for the 3/3/0 spread(Attributes, Resources for 3 each, and Skills for 0, opting for someone with decent magical skills, a couple of good combat skills and then a small rounding of others.) It's a neat system that's easy to understand, but again, if you're a table that runs into numbers issues, you might be wary of it, as mundane humans can end up pretty crazy.

Karma(called BeCKs in the older days, you can see the original PDFs here: http://www.nerdprideradio.com/Content/Downloads/BeCKS.pdf )

So Karmagen(which I'll call it now), got its start back in BeCKS, or Bethyaga's Complete Karma System, and it dates back to the 3rd edition. It was a set of houserules that were widely adopted, very well received, and finally moved into the official rules for 4th edition and up(though used in companion books, rather than core rulebooks.)

To give an example of how it works, in 3e, 450 Karma is given. You then proceed to make your character as if you were advancing them with Karma. A Body of 3 costs 10 Karma(1 comes automatic since you have to have a 1, a 2 costs 4, and a 3 costs 6, for 10.) And so on. Skills go by their book costs(again, see the chart.)

Karmagen rundown is as follows:

+Easily the most customization, from start to finish

+The creation method is the same as the advancement method, which cuts down on minmaxing

+Encourages spreading out rather than hyperspecializing

+Edges and Flaws, like the point system, are separate and you can get extra Karma with flaws, spend Karma on edges, or however you want

-Can be lots of number crunching(though not minmaxing, will explain)

-Can be very overwhelming to new players

-Can take awhile

So, going down the line-you can see from the descriptions, and the PDF, that its very number intensive and takes awhile. Simply put, if you want fast generation, you're not going to find it here. But the degree of customization is unmatched(you buy Nuyen by small bits), and a huge thing I like is that the creation method is same as the advancement; so you don't feel it necessary to minmax.

What I mean is this. In Priority, or even point-based systems, its usually cheaper to start with your specialities very high, since they cost more Karma to raise. For example: say you're making merc, for the hell of it. In this case you took Priority B Skills and are filling them out.  You want them to be good at assault rifles and pistols.

You probably eventually want a 6(say you don't want to specialize, you might even want higher, but let's say six for now.) So you have the chargen choice of two 5's, and use those two points to get, say, a Computer skill of 2 to round out the character, or two 6's.

Going from 5 to 6 in game with Karma costs 9 points(its New Skill x 1.5, assuming your attributes check out and aren't too low, remember they're linked.) So raising both of those 5's to 6's would cost you 18 Karma in game. That's...quite a bit.

That computer of 2 though, that only costs 4 Karma. 1 for the first point, and 3 for the 2. HUGE difference. This makes people lean toward more frontloading, since that 14 Karma could easily go somewhere else. Under Karmagen, though, all the costs are the same at the beginning as they are later; you advance the same way. It puts less emphasis on total number squeezing(though it does lend itself to crunching, since it's just a more math intensive system.)

All in all it's why we really favor this system.

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So Shadowrun has been a part of my role playing life for a very long time; I'd say it was around the 10th grade that I met it(I was in the 10th grade from '93 to '94.) Yeah, that's a long time(SR dropped in 1989.)

We started on 2nd edition. It was me, four of my best friends at the time(whom, btw, we are still incredibly close, even if we only see once a year now due to location, one I see sadly less but we still keep in touch), and other good friends too; some lost contact, one sadly passed away(He was the guy who was helping us the most directly make our first characters, too.) We had the pile of books: SR2e main book, and a ton of 1st and 2nd edition sourcebooks-Fields of Fire, Street Samurai Catalog, Rigger Black Book, Grimoire, Shadowtech, Shadowbeat...I'm forgetting some of them. I think the GM even had copies of KA-GE.

Our first group had a ton of people in it, too. The GM, the aformentioned four friends, and...six others, if I recall. The group was massive. A couple people picked archetypes, but myself and several others wanted to build our characters from scratch, and that we did.

The more I read the books the more enthralled I was. I decided on a street samurai; my buddies suggested, knowing my tastes, that I'd like one of those, and they were right. I went with Human.  I still remember my priorities: A Resources, B Attributes and C Skills in the 2e book(the fellow helping us out suggested that I take Priority A resources with the Shadowtech book.)

I don't remember all his stats offhand, I remember maxing out Body for the Bioware(as per suggestion, yeah, they suggested this stuff), and had okay other stats. He was more specialized in unarmed combat and armed combat(the skills used to be more grouped together in those days, so you took Armed Combat and could concentrate in, say, Edged Weapons or specialize in the katana, which of course he did). He was named Gemini because I was a 10th grader who thought it sounded cool. XD

It took me a week to make that damn character. Playing with books, gear, ware, bits and bobs, and the 20 questions(which I loved doing and I filled that shit out in my notebook.) I mean we had those 3 ring binders and spiral notebooks. We had those folders where we kept our character sheets. I could probably remake him in a similar manner, though wow he wasn't exactly optimized. Not that I cared, of course. He did what I wanted him to do, which was kick ass.

I mean, after all of that, the campaign didn't last too long; maybe six weeks and it was extremely chaotic and it changed GM's like three times because the GM who took it on ended up getting quite busy with his non-gaming life.

It was still an amazingly fun experience though(that we still look back on and laugh.)

As we played more and branched out, we learned the rules better and better. We got more books(like the Companion) which opened up more stuff, like different character creation method, and Edges/Flaws. I've played a lot of different characters over the years(my favorites tend toward adepts, street samurai, mercs and combat mages, but I enjoy about any role depending on my mood. I suppose face is my least played, unless it's a hybrid combat face type.) We're actually looking to get some play-by-post done with some of those old buddies on a forum I made specifically for the purpose.

I admit I still have a soft spot for my first samurai. I mean he had a lot of stereotypes but he has mad nostalgia attached. I think a lot of us have some attachment to those first characters.

Anyway I felt like indulging myself with some Shadowrun tales of how I got my start in this game. I think my cyberpunk obsession and general feel of cyberpunk worlds was why this one always stuck with me more. I mean I love a lot of games, but nothing can really get me to put aside a big chunk of time like Shadowrun can.(I do really like CP2020, but SR had all of those extra bennies that made it hella interesting.)

I’m still actually hashing out the time frame I sorta want these little series to take place in. I know I want it to be somewhere between 2053-2060, I’m just not exactly sure when.

Worst that can happen is that it just doesn’t take off!

WELL it’s certainly been a hot minute since I’ve written here. Stuff has been busy the past months. I’ve been writing a lot of my Tekken fanworks, been busy with real life, been training in my fighting games trying to get to a point where I won’t make an ass out of myself if I have to play on camera next month during a Tekken 7 test(it’s not a tournament, but it’s a location test/tour for the game and they may want to record shit so I don’t want to look like a noob since I’m still competitively rusty), and just this past month the minion had a bit of an injury(he’s fine, toddler stuff, he’s more than fine now actually but we still did of course have to care for him), and then I’ve been trying to shake a plague that decided to hit about 11 days ago. Finally we’re visiting the US in less than a month now, and we had to get that trip settled(and there are still aspects to the trip I need to hammer out!)

Soooo yeah.

I’m going to try to get back into this blog, even if I’m not doing creative writing with the characters/NPCs at the moment, I will of course do mechanical/game talk or even like world talk, or character talk from a mechanical, game standpoint! (Basically, more gamey stuff rather than fiction oriented stuff for now.)

Figured I’d open with a little chat about why we actually DO play in the old days!

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Like any good RPG person I get involved in discussions of why I picked the edition(s) I do for Shadowrun. In my case as most know it's 2e/3e, sort of a mash-up(hell, I use 1e sourcebooks too. By the by, I found our copy of Virtual Realities the other day, an original, very good copy as well. That made me happy.)

What is it I like about these more than the newer editions? I like 5e more than I do 4e, but I think it's a mix of mechanics, setting, and tone. Really though it's mechanics, since setting and tone I can always borrow; I mean, if I wanted to, I could use 4e or 5e's mechanics with the old setting/tone. It's easy. But 3e's mechanics even stick out more to me.

For one, I like pools. Combat pool, spell pool, etc. Sure, they're fiddly, but I like how they give you a strategic choice. Occasionally you get the 'Obvious All In' situations, but in my experience, there is some nice strategy here. Go all in? Go 'tanky' and go all defensive? Half/half? It's worth thinking about. I also like how skills and attributes are alloted, how in 3e your skills aren't completely based off of attributes, but the latter do matter somewhat in terms of cost. Where in a skill + attribute sort of setting it seems more ideal to just pump the latter, in 3e's case I always felt like when I'm dealing with priorities that I always had a real choice to make.

That and while decking and rigging were a bit messy to say the least, for me, they had some fun to them. And I love the old way Magic worked overall(though it could get particularly powerful.) I mean my dislike of how expensive cyberlimbs were back then is no secret, but those were easily houseruled to be cheaper-since for me, as I've mentioned before, cyberlimbs are like, THE cyberpunk item to me along with datajacks and cybereyes; IMO, they shouldn't be like the most expensive thing to get, but actually one of the cheaper ones, even if they are unfriendly toward Essence.

My PoV was always, for body augmenting-Muscle Augmentation/Toner-friendly but expensive, Muscle Replacement=Middle priced, Essence heavy but at least economical in the way that it affects your whole body, and Cyberlimbs should be fairly inexpensive but also very Essence unfriendly and not very economical as you have to get stuff limb by limb. But prices are easily adjusted, as said.

Once again done in ‘short’ background style before I do the big ones proper with all the goodies.

OC 1(Downfall): http://azaaelsr.tumblr.com/post/126037978807/shadowrun-oc-1-downfall

OC 2(Talon): http://azaaelsr.tumblr.com/post/126038736597/shadowrun-oc-2-talon

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Name: Brian 'Jolt' Bower

Race: Human

Age: 20

DOB: June 12, 2040

Height, Weight: 5'9'', 160lbs

Hair: Black, long braided triple-mohawk

Eyes: Gray cybereyes(natural-looking)

Current Location: Seattle, Auburn district. Has a loft-like thing he converted to a pretty impressive place where he does his tinkering.

Basic Description: Jolt is a slightly lanky black human male of average height; he's not overly skinny or anything, but isn't much interested in extreme working out on the physical end. His hair is grown long and worn in a double-mohawk, and his cybereyes are picked to resemble normal human eyes, though a dark gray color. He can swap the color if he wants, but he generally sticks with these. He sticks with basic clothing; usually seen in some sort of t-shirt of sleeveless loose shirt with some sort of weird logo or punk-rock band, jeans, and sneakers; he wears a black synthleather jacket if it gets cold out; this is covered in buttons and patches. He looks about as old as a college student would, which is accurate to his age of twenty. He has two datajacks(one on his right temple and one on his neck behind his ear), and a four-slot chipjack on the shaved left side of his head as well. His ears are pierced, but he doesn't have any tattoos(yet, he's interested, though.)

He has a well-tweaked cyberdeck and a backup one; he'll take the weaker one around with him for everyday things(usually in a pack slung over his shoulder), and his big, souped-up one is taken on runs.

Quick Background: Brian Bower was born in Detroit, Michagan(which in Shadowrun time is actually a pretty amazing place) to two corporate scientists who worked for Ares; his father was in the weapons division, and his mother in the bio-labs. They did not discuss their work with their son, as they did have to work in some rather hairy things, being part of an AAA corp. They were well paid and Brian lived a rather nice neighborhood in a large condo with real food and a lot of tech on demand. He discovered an interest in computers very young-he was highly intelligent and curious. His parents figured he would be game to join up with Ares as a computer and electronics expert after university.

He went through highschool with flying colors, spending most of his spare time learning hacking, tweaking stuff, and other fun things like pirate trid broadcasting. He did not like the things he learned of corporations, and knew his parents worked for Ares...but did not know some of the darker things they were working on. After discovering this offhand(due to his abilities), he hated what he saw; as far as he was concerned his parents were doing things for blood money and he wanted no part of it. He confronted them about it, and they chastized him, saying that the corporation is giving them a damned good life-he should be proud to be able to possibly work for them in a good position.

Wanting to get out-knowing his parents were far too sold out(and honestly, they had been fairly distant his whole life, as much of his time was spent with their old French-Canadian butler, Renauld-whom he knew he'd miss), he decided to start figuring a way out. He knew Seattle was a place where his skills could go to use. Using his hacking skills, he stripped a very large sum of nuyen-stuff he almost felt guilty using but figured it was a good cause-that his parents had put aside for him undercover and managed to put a false trail up, disappearing. (His parents have tried to find him the past couple of years but have not been lucky there.) He set up in Seattle with the cash he had, his skills in very high demand given that good deckers are always excellent to find(as well as an electronics expert.)

Strengths: A near-prodigy with computers and electronics, he has a knack for finding the data rather quickly, given his penchant for enjoying breaking into various data havens to swipe extra for more cred. He's also experience in matrix etiquette; he knows the virtual hideouts and hangouts of various people in-the know and can be relied upon to track down sometimes hard-to-get information. He also frequents some of the dive bars and the like, keeping his ear to the ground there as well. He also has a fairly impressive network of contacts built up despite his youth.

Weaknesses: Jolt can get impatient; he can be a little impulsive especially when fishing around in the matrix for things. He likewise gets a bit daring in the matrix(not so much IRL) in terms of hacking things; this, of course, can be a bit dangerous. He's not the best in a stand-up scrap; he's not a weakling or anything-he's a typical person in good overall health-but he's simply a bit lazy to bother with combat skills(though he has asked the team-mates for some lessons in a billy club which he's decent with now, as well as getting to be a better shot with his chosen shotgun and a pistol.) His youth gives him a bit more inexperience in the 'field', so to speak.

Cyberware/Bioware:

Jolt has a fair bit, but it's mostly headware that helps out his decking and such. He still has about half his essence left or close to it.

2 Datajacks: Lets him plug into the Matrix and other devices.

Chipjack(4 slot): Lets him plug in various data chips or the like.

Cybereyes: Like anyone elses, he has these tweaked with vision enhancements, including microscopic vision that he can use to better do super-fine work with.

Ear Damper: Just helps cut down loud/sudden/damaging sounds.

Encephalon: A big brain booster and his 'biggest' piece. This makes him better at learning skills, technical skills, and hacking.

Math SPU: His already high skill in math is greatly increased with this device. It's also a boost to his hacking and even comes with an alarm clock, go figure.

Knowsoft Link: Allows other knowledge skills to be downloaded into his memory. Headware Memory: 200 megapulses of memory that he can always take with him.

Sleep Regulator: His only piece of bioware, this enables him to get by with only 3 hours of sleep, and he can go for up to two days without needing it. Very handy in his line of work(though he does sleep sometimes just because he likes it.)

Likes: computers, decking, punk rock music(both retro and new), online video games, electronics, building and tinkering with all manner of it(it's almost a compulsion with him, he can't let something go off the shelf), sleeping in, energy drinks, soycaf(like the only person in the party who can stand the fake stuff), stuffers/junk food, his electronics warehouse and loft, surfing around the matrix for hours, live gigs, laid back dim bars, pirate trid broadcasting

Dislikes: general corporate greed, the idea he has family who sold themselves out for a rich life to making nasty stuff, bullies, Black IC, any sort of hostile IC for that matter, being forced into hiding, bad/poor news outlets, being separated from his toys for too long, being unable to fix something, off-the-shelf goods(he sees them as inferior and things everything needs a special touch), being forced into harsh combat

Moral Code: Generally good.  Jolt has real ammo for his guns but chooses usually to bring along stun or gel rounds instead and sometimes tries to convince the others to do so as well. However, and the others have been known to point this out, he will set Black IC around to protect their most precious information, and Black IC can do serious damage-if not kill-a decker that is not equipped to deal with it. He prefers to use Gray or White IC when possible but he understands sometimes you need to bring out the real stuff. He does tend to have a fairly high standard for a shadowrunner, which his team respects.He’s almost idealistic at times.

Revisiting some favorite old websites, and I had come across one that I LOVED back in the day that was Shadowrun-based, and I forgot I had loved reading it even later on.

http://www.amurgsval.org/shadowrun/

I don't know who exactly this was, but I remember reading this site way back in college. It's been around at least since the late 90s; it was based on a 2e campaign that I believe upgraded to 3e. I wish I knew more about the background of the people who did it. Not all of the characters have as amazing breakdowns as the first few but this template is a great one. (Barry and Talks-With-Cats, IMO, are the two most detailed written.)

The template I use to do character descriptions is actually taken from this amazing old website. Ever since I saw it, I started doing detailed character write-ups based on this site, and had been encouraging my players to use it, too! (The fact that it's so old-school is another benefit.)

The detailed character-writeup template runs:

1. Numbers/etc 2. Details 3. Gear 4. Appearance and Personality 5. Quotes 6. History 7. Contacts

I'll be leaving out 'plans' for now since that, IMO, is kinda campaign dependent as well.

(Besides the 'template I've been using for a decade and a half to write up characters', this site just has all sorts of awesome stuff on it. Now a lot of it is sort of campaign dependent so I enjoy reading it more than using it, but I really like the added Edges and Flaws.)