Shaowrun Conversion

**MisterVimes** · Jul 21st, '03, 10:06 AM

Obviously with FH on our heels, someone (besides me) has thought of this. But I'm looking for imput. One of the things I always liked about SR was the essence system.

For those that aren't familar, a character starts with 6 essence points. A mage/shaman has a Magic stat equal to their essence. (Ex. if you have a 6 in magic you can cast up to force 6 spells... force being an indicator of power level Healing-1, healing-2 etc.).

Conversely, radical invasive surgery (specfically the addition of cyber and bioware enhacements) reduce the amount of essence (and as a result magic). This keeps a Mage from having a crap-ton of bio/cyberware.

How would one handle this in HERO? My first thought was an Active point limit.

Example: A character can have (arbitrarily determined) 60 active points in a combination of Magic and/or Cyberware. Therefore, 60 points in Magic or 20 points of Cyberware plus 40 points of magic.

Of course, this all depends on the recommended method of dealing with spells in FH.

Thoughts?

**johnflang** · Jul 21st, '03, 10:13 AM

I have not figured out how to do or if I will do a magic attribute. I have decided that for every 10 active points of cyberware/bioware there is a permanent -1 to the skill roll for magic. I have also decided that instead of reducing drain (Shadowrun) I will use side effect on failed skill rolls.

**MisterVimes** · Jul 21st, '03, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by johnflang
I have not figured out how to do or if I will do a magic attribute. I have decided that for every 10 active points of cyberware/bioware there is a permanent -1 to the skill roll for magic. I have also decided that instead of reducing drain (Shadowrun) I will use side effect on failed skill rolls.

I figured side effect was the best way to handle Spell Drain. And the Skill roll penalty has merit (and is less artificial than my arbitrary point limit)

**AnotherSkip** · Jul 21st, '03, 09:05 PM

well i kinda like a limit on the SR Cyberware making it cheaper, probably something on the order of -1/2 all the time (doubled) for a -1.
I would likely split it up into Cyberpsycosis: 5 point Psy Lim disad (cumulative with all other Cyberware) and -2 to Magic Skill rolls(not offsetable by PSL's!), both are permament(for the "equivalent" of +1 cost multiplier) unless bought off with points after the Cyberware is removed. but that is a bit closer to the spirit of the game

**Lord Liaden** · Jul 21st, '03, 09:39 PM

Having no experience with Shadowrun, I should perhaps just keep out of this discussion; but FWIW, I gathered all the past threads on this subject from the discussion boards that I could find. You might glean something useful from them:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...ight=shadowrun

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/Ot...es/000129.html

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/Ot...es/000201.html

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/Ot...es/000229.html

One of those threads also included a link to a short conversion of some basic Shadowrun stats, skills and concepts to HERO:

http://www.patric.net/morpheus/house...o/sr2hero.html

BTW MisterVimes, nice avatar. I wondered if someone would take advantage of Destroyer's colored illo from the "Showdown" boards. You cropped just the right portion to give it an interesting perspective. I considered taking on the visage of the CU's preeminent menace myself, but in the end I lacked your... well, let's call it "elevated self-image."

(That's a joke, Ah say, that's a joke, son!)

**Damon_Dusk** · Jul 21st, '03, 11:16 PM

I had been fervently building a workable conversion of Shadowrun for quite some time, but kind of ran out of steam as my group fell apart. But I do have finished documents detailing:

-Cyberware (12 pages)
-Bioware (4 pages)
-Weapons (9 pages)
-Magic (10 pages) Includes rules for Adepts, Aspected Magicians, Full Magicians, Conjuring

I'm nearing completion on The Matrix (8 pages so far)

I noticed a question on how to do Cyberware so I've included an excerpt from my doc here:

edit: I wanted to preface this by saying that I wanted to include all the "realistic" aspects of cyberware as presented in Shadowrun and it is the reason for the list of Limitations to Cyberware.

CYBERWARE

Cyberware is the term used for pieces of high technology grafted or implanted within the body of a human being, many of which are computers that use the body’s own nervous system as a circuit board, and the brain is the central processor. Cyberware has its drawbacks, though, as those who are heavily “chromed” tend to disassociate themselves from humanity, which makes them distant and cold at times. Magical characters suffer heavily as it lowers their abilities with magic.

Some pieces of cyberware are built with the Limitation: Does not work in a magnetic field (-.25). These are pieces that rely solely on computer chips to operate and as a result cannot function within a strong magnetic field. All other pieces of cyberware are built with the Limitation: Cyberware (-2). This reflects the fact cyberware has to be implanted (-.25), can be detected when not in use (-.25), can be removed (-.25), can be damaged (-.25), reduces the characters social and magic skills and ability (-1).

-Characters start with an Essence score of 50. Each piece of cyberware implanted reduces this score by its Essence Cost.
-Characters may have no more than 50 points of Essence lost with the exception of Cybermancy. Losing over 50 points is death.
-For every 10 points of Essence lost, the character suffers –1 penalty to all Interaction and Magical Skills.
-For every point of Essence paid for cyberware, the character loses 1.5 points from his Magic Attribute, which in turn reduces the power of magic that the character may cast.

Now an insight into the inner workings:

Characters are based on 150 points in Heroic Level with an "invisible" pool of 50 points that is their Essence Stat. Essence is then paid for implanting Cyberware. As long as Essence remains at 50, the character (if he has paid the cost to become one) can be a magician (type determined by cost). If the character does not implant Cyberware or pay to become a magician, then that 50 points goes unused but can always be tapped by either. And Essence is directly related to magic power, so reducing the Essence of the character also directly reduces the Magic Stat of the character.

A note on Spell Drain - I didn't go with this method as I thought the END costs would be enough considering an END Reserve is not an option. I did have one aspect of Drain and that is while casting spells in Astral Space. Just something that needs to be done to prevent abuse.

In any case, I'll be here if any of you want to check it out. I have hard copies of an old system for vehicles and equipment that I need to retype and retool, but if there's sufficient interest (and help), I'd be willing to do that.

**Delthrien** · Jul 22nd, '03, 05:41 AM

If you could zip them up and post them, I'd very much like to see 'em. I keep stumbling on the way that spirits are handled for conjuring. The bestiary added the "services" limitation which helped a lot, but Spirits are often better described as SFX for enhanced movement or even just an EB. I'd like to see someone else's take on them...

Charlie

**Damon_Dusk** · Jul 22nd, '03, 06:34 AM

Ok, I'm putting it up here in zip format with 5 pdf files in it. I've included the Matrix doc though it is nowhere near finished, it's edited very poorly, and really has no flavor text at all. For that one, you need to already know the Shadowrun Matrix system for it to probably make any sense. If you have any questions about anything, let me know here or in email. Enjoy!

Well, dang...Just looked at the Maximum Size for Attachments and NONE of them will fit. I can certainly email them to whoever wants them. The zip is 829K. Let me know and I'll send them off right away.

**MisterVimes** · Jul 22nd, '03, 08:18 AM

Originally posted by Damon_Dusk
Ok, I'm putting it up here in zip format with 5 pdf files in it. I've included the Matrix doc though it is nowhere near finished, it's edited very poorly, and really has no flavor text at all. For that one, you need to already know the Shadowrun Matrix system for it to probably make any sense. If you have any questions about anything, let me know here or in email. Enjoy!

Well, dang...Just looked at the Maximum Size for Attachments and NONE of them will fit. I can certainly email them to whoever wants them. The zip is 829K. Let me know and I'll send them off right away.

E-mail them to me at codesmith@silentempire.com and I'll FTP them to my website so you can share them out.

**MisterVimes** · Jul 22nd, '03, 08:21 AM

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
Having no experience with Shadowrun, I should perhaps just keep out of this discussion; but FWIW, I gathered all the past threads on this subject from the discussion boards that I could find. You might glean something useful from them:

BTW MisterVimes, nice avatar. I wondered if someone would take advantage of Destroyer's colored illo from the "Showdown" boards. You cropped just the right portion to give it an interesting perspective. I considered taking on the visage of the CU's preeminent menace myself, but in the end I lacked your... well, let's call it "elevated self-image."

(That's a joke, Ah say, that's a joke, son!)

Thanks for the links.

I was originally going to use this avatar

<center><img src="http://userpic.livejournal.com/6022025/182031"></center>

But opted to trim it rather than reduce it to 50x50. The angle of the shot maintains the arrogance of the pose.

And my self-image is PLENTY elevated... I'm an elevator... yup

**Damon_Dusk** · Jul 22nd, '03, 08:30 AM

Done! And I can answer any questions about them here or at my email: damondusk@cox.net, though I'd prefer it here to keep the thread alive and interesting.

**MisterVimes** · Jul 22nd, '03, 08:36 AM

For those interested, the Shadowrun file can be found here:
http://silentempire.com/Hero/

**johnflang** · Jul 22nd, '03, 08:53 AM

Thanks for the info, once I have a had a chance to read it I will post questions.

**Damon_Dusk** · Jul 23rd, '03, 12:30 AM

Well, I've finished touching up the Matrix section and I was going to move on to the Equipment section. But I have a quick question for everyone. In Shadowrun, Armor ratings are separated into Ballistic and Impact sections. I've done that in my original equipment doc, but I was wonder how everyone felt about it. Should I do that again to be true to the nature of the source, or is it needlessly complicated?

It really doesn't affect the Active Point value of the item as I put the Limitations of rPD: Only vs. Ballistic Weapons and Only vs. Impact Weapons as a -1 Limitation. It's more of a semantics thing and whether people feel that hand to hand weapons (which typically go against Impact Armor) need that slight boost in damage against the (usually) lesser Armor value of Impact Armor.

**johnflang** · Jul 23rd, '03, 12:30 PM

As regards to armor I am going to use standard Hero PD/ED. I am not going to worry about impact/ballistic. This is personal prefernce.

I reviewed your bioware section which is well done. For my campaign I belive I am going with no disadvantages, DF, campaign limit of body *10 active points, and for every ten active points of bioware -1 skill roll for magic.

For the magic attribute I am going to use the Power Skill magic as my magic attribute. For every 2 points of int above 10 you can increase the skill by one. Every level of initation will include an increase to magic skill, conjuring skill, and enchantment skill.