ShadowrunHero game?

[mallet]

has anyone played or GM'd a ShadowrunHero game?

If so were their any big problems you ran into? Anything you would do differently this time through?

My friends and I are big fans of the Shadowrun setting and have played it for years, but we all love the Hero System better, so now that we are starting up a new campaign I was thinking of Gming it and using the Hero System for the rules.

So any advice would be appreciated.

[Ocelot]

QuestionMan? KillerShrike? Either of you want to show up with some links?

[TheQuestionMan]

Shadowrun HERO
http://www.starherofandom.com/h_shadowrun/index.php

Cyber Hero Resources
http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...71#post1419371

Post Apocalypse Resources
http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...50#post1510450

[Compilation] "to Star HERO Conversions & Adaptations"
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24969


BC Boys know best!


QM

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

There ya go. The only real problems would be in putting together the Matrix forms, but that's EDM (Matrix) + Multiform (cyberdeck).

Honestly, however, I'd build it all as a 'superhero' game -- i.e. I'd require points for everything, otherwise the gunbunnies are going to get away with murder.

[mallet]

Thanks, QM!

SOme of that stuff kicks-ass, but I usually do my own conversions.

This is more of the kind of info I need:

Honestly, however, I'd build it all as a 'superhero' game -- i.e. I'd require points for everything, otherwise the gunbunnies are going to get away with murder.

Why is that Wyrm? In the normal Shadowrun game gunbunnies get to buy what they want with cash while the magical guys have to pay points for their powers.

Wouldn't changing that change the dynamic of the game away from source material where money is a big form of power?

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

This is exactly my point. Shadowrun is imbalanced against magic.

Gunbunnies aren't sinks unless they're cybered; then they're money sinks.
Riggers are money-sinks.
Deckers are money- and time-sinks.
Mages are karma-sinks AND money-sinks AND time-sinks.

In short, Mages get 100% shafted. However, in the HERO system, if you have everyone paying for everything out of points, then you have this:

Street Samurai pay towards cyber enhancements and Weapon VPPs.
Riggers pay towards specific cyber enhancements and Vehicles.
Deckers pay towards specific cyber enhancements and the Matrix (i.e. EDM & Multiform).
Mages pay towards a magic VPP, plus specific tools to enhance it (i.e. foci).

It becomes much less 'screw the mage over'. Ever play long enough to the point where the gunbunnies and faces are sitting around wondering what the hell to spend their money and karma on because they've gotten man-portable lasers and the best cyberware on the market, as well as skills in the double digits? While the company mage is still working on enchanting and binding that Power Focus 4?

[Thia Halmades]

Having just done this, I'm with WO 100%; he could not be more right. If you have money as a viable purchase mechanic in a system that runs on points, then you can go on a few runs, rob a bank, and have a Panther Cannon on your hip by game four. Yuck. For my part, I use the Resource Pools from Dark Champions. I also started them very low (30 equip, 15 vehicle, 5 contacts) which I called: "A gun, a car, and a best friend." Now when the Samurai wants to carry a minigun, he has to have room in his Resource Pool for it.

It's basically a VPP that everyone gets "for free." The complete rules are in DC (I don't know to what extent I can reprint them, and additionally, I don't remember them all). Now that the Mage is buying spells straight (or in a VPP, what have you) and your Cyberware costs points to install, and your Physical Adepts have to buy Martial Maneuvers and Multi-Power Frameworks, you'll have a much more balanced campaign. And I learned that lesson because I had a gengineered brick who was getting out-done by a guy with wealth who had a Fixer for a contact.

Woops.

[eternal_sage]

honestly, i wouldn't "convert" so much as use the setting as it stands and make a new magic system (although SR magic is sorta close to HERO power use, if you require "Costs END to activate" and maybe "Costs 2x END", so it shouldn't be to hard to accomplish, really), and just play it as a Dark Champions game with a bit of magic and the different meta-types.

of course, it all depends on which version you are using. i'm most familiar with 4th, although i know abit about 3rd, just not as much, and nothing before that, so my help may not even really be related.

when converting DnD settings, though, this is the method i use: racial (meta) template, cultural package, and a magic (hacking) system, and call it a done deal. i've found that converting specifics (like alignments, etc from DnD) is more trouble than its worth. if you want that stuff, i strongly suggest you stay in the normal system.

and i have never had any problem with using cash in a heroic game, but a good alternative is the Resource Points varient from Dark Champions (especially since SR has more to do w/ DC than SH, imho)

[Maur]

I've never had an issue in SR with Mages vs Deckers vs Street Samurai. Maybe it is because the players learned to spend more of their resources on not getting noticed vs. being the biggest gun collection in the city. Lesson One they all learned, not matter how many guns you have, THEY always have something Bigger to deal with you... This wasn't me being a pain in the ass GM, but one using the setting as written.

Drive into a AAA rated neighborhood in a black armored van and see how Knight Errant or Lone Star react... The mages had no issue building up enough Karma from runs to improve their powers and even used money to obtain low powered foci for various tasks.

[eternal_sage]

i've had similar expiriences, personally. i never have seen the issue of using currency in a game. as long as you actually place limits on what is obtainable (so that some 1st level rogue doesn't snatch a Holy Avenger or something on a routine shop heist) then its all in the wash.

[Maur]

Well, I just used the availability chart and a roll from the player for items. So making that Availability 40 roll (with d6) wasn't likely to happen that fast. The odds are about 1/70000 for a single die to make that roll for the one success needed to get it. They could try again after the time (IIRC the laser was a roll of 30/week or something like that).

[eternal_sage]

thats not a bad idea!! never really tought of that!

[mallet]

Yah, I never had a problem with giving the players too much money or for things getting out of hand that way. I mean, as a GM, you control what the players can and can't get access to.

And it also keeps with the setting where Money = Power. If money didn't equal power then mages would be running the world, not megacorporations.

Also, money and gear can be lost, stolen and broken and it is hard to walk into a 'corp with a panther canon hanging over your back.

[Killer Shrike]

MetaCyber

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

I've played 4th edition, and at least coming from starting characters, and only playing a few games (mostly disconnected adventures, primarily pre-generated), Shadow Run seems biased towards magic. The only defense against being magically screwed is having magic yourself (or killing them first, before they do something bad, like mental drain), and with some sustaining foci, you can get a few people in the party extra initiative passes nearly all the time (so they can use their essence for other implants).

Summoning is all sorts of broken, (I saw a starting level character summon a force 12 spirit, about 50% of the time he'd survive and binchslap whatever he wanted), and Detox is the most broken power (or at least to me).

Hacking is also pretty broken, because you can hack from nearly anywhere (at least according to the fluff where almost everything is wireless (including cyberlimbs), and if you have some wired-reflexes you can cold-sim and be immune to black ice.

I'd love to hear how a hero game set in a shadow run environment goes though, as I like the genre, but find 4th edition not what i want.