Shadowrun Reloaded - Homebrew Crunch Overhaul

Hi everyone! I've been working on simplifying Shadowrun 5th Edition's crunch over the past few months and I figuired I'd share my progress here. These rules focus on speeding up play, minimizing bookkeeping, and curbing min/maxing. In order to accomplish these goals, I've made some controvercial changes to the system.

It might be best to approach these rules as if they were a new system (even though I've tried to keep a lot of the Shadowrun "feel" intact). If you use these rules, you can ignore everything in the core rulebook that isn't realted to story. I know a lot of Shadowrun players love the original system's complexity, and these rules are not for them.

I posted these rules on the Shadowrun subreddit last week and have since made significant changes. All of the biggest issues with the system have been resolved and some mechanics that I originally omitted have been added back in. If you saw my post there, please give these rules another look-over before jumping to any conclusions.

Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/xj15zkpxtx2kd/Shadowrun_Reloaded

I apologize if any of my notes are confusing or difficult to read. I will happily answer any questions you have. Also note that Mediafire butchers my character sheet in its previews. Here's what it actually looks like: http://i.imgur.com/Fr2m7js.jpg

#Biggest Overall Changes

Base Mechanic: Instead of rolling [Attribute Rating + Skill Rating]d6 and counting the hits, these rules use 1d6 - 1d6 + Skill Rating. This change is the biggest factor in speeding in speeding up play, as rolling 4 dice to resolve a single gunshot (2 to hit/dodge + 2 to soak damage) is FAR faster than rolling 60d6 and counting the hits (at least when playing without a digital die roller). I've created a spreadsheet comparing the success and failure rates of 1d6 - 1d6 to the original rules, and the differences are minimal. See "Probability Comparison.xls".

Attribute And Skill Relationship: As you may have noticed in the bullet point above, a character's Attribute Rating is no longer factored into skill tests. This is a side effect of converting to a 1d6 - 1d6 system. Because the variance of 1d6 - 1d6 is so much tighter than the original rules, I had to reduce all numbers found within the system by a factor of three. If I had reduced Attributes and Skills by this same amount, it would have resulted in Attribute Ratings of 0 to 2, and Skill Ratings of 0 to 4. This would have course, severely limited the granularity of character progression and I didn't like how it felt. What this system does instead, is use Attributes to limit the maximum value of their linked skills. For example: the Firearms Skill Group Rating cannot exceed the character's Agility Rating (including bonuses from adept powers and augmentation).

Matrix Rebuilt From Scratch: I have always found the Matrix described in the 4th and 5th edition rules difficult to conceptualize. The Tron-esque version of the Matrix that the books use worked for earlier editions of the rules, but it didn't translate well to the wireless world. I'm using Crash 2.0 as my excuse to rebuild the Matrix, using today's technology as a baseline. Decking is now relegated to a support role, but requires far less character investment. The "Matrix Summary.pdf" document replaces all the Matrix fluff in the core rulebook.

#Biggest Combat Changes

Combat Actions: The original system of 2 Simple Actions or 1 Complex Action has been replaced by 1 Standard Action + 1 Movement Action. This change was made to simplify attacking (it now always takes 1 Standard Action) and remove unusual scenarios (you can now draw your melee weapon and attack in the same turn). Free Actions, Interrupt Actions, and Movement are relatively unchanged.

Initiative Passes: In the old system, the highest Initiative Score would determine how many initiative passes take place in the round. If you weren't fast enough to participate in a paticular initiative pass, you character was frozen is a sort of statsis, unable to react to anything going on. In the new system, there are always 3 initiative passes and every character always has the chance to participate in each pass. However, actions are now limited per 3 second combat turn (now called combat rounds for my sanity) rather than per action phase (now called turns). Drugs, powers, spells, and augments that used to increase initiative dice now increase Attacks Per Action (APA) instead. If a character uses their Standard Action to attack, they can perform up to APA attack rolls in that round, with a limit of one attack roll per initiative pass. This shift from initiative score to APA allows non-combat characters to ignore APA boosts without becoming sitting ducks in combat.

Removal of Ammo: Characters no longer need to keep track of how much ammo they have (with exceptions for Grenades and Missiles). Guns no longer have an ammo capacity and characters are assumed to reload whenever they need to. Characters can switch between the two remaining ammo types, lethal and non-lethal, as a Free Action. This change was made to minimize bookkeeping. Shadowrun combat rarely lasts long enough for characters to reload and I don't enjoy punishing my players for failing to restock ammo. The most popular ammo types in the core rules were APDS, Explosive Rounds, and Stick-n-Shock. I feel that simplifing this down to two options doesn't remove too much from the experience.

#Biggest Misc Changes

Simplified Skills: All skills have been reorganized into 15 skill groups. Players can choose one "Skill Focus" per group if they want to specialize further. This reorganization improves bookkeeping and prevents the number of options available from overwhelming newer players.

Fewer Modifiers: The original rules suffer from modifier overload. These modifiers all makes sense, but they significantly slow down the pace of play. The modifiers that remain are now much more significant, with bonuses/penalties equivalent to 6 dice in the old system.

Temporary and Lasting Damage: Temporary damage can be healed by magic or first aid, Lasting damage can only be healed by rest. These two different damage types exist in the original rules, but players are never given a good way to keep track of them. There are now explicit rules for how these damage types work and interact with each other.

Combined Spells: Many similar spells have been merged together. Combat spells have been affected by this most severely, with all indirect and direct combat spells simplified into two spell picks: Elemental and Direct. This minimizes bookkeeping, as there are now fewer spells to track, and puts more weight behind each spell pick.

#Removed Gameplay Mechanics

Limits: I've always found limits to be more of a hindrance than an interesting gameplay mechanic. Getting insanely awesome rolls is part of the fun in tabletop gaming. Removing that part of the experience just felt wrong.

Mystic Adepts and Aspected Magicians: Mystic Adepts felt too powerful, too many bonuses with not enough downside and the obvious choice for many min/maxers. Aspected Magicians can be represented by Magicians that only increase one of their Magic skill groups. Removing these options also encourages players to create characters that can use astral projection and contribute more to mission prep.

Knowledge and Language Skills: Knowledge skills have been replaced by a simple Intuition Test. If it is reasonable that a character could know something (typically judging by their backstory), the GM should let them roll for it. The GM should also decide how language will be used in their campaign (if at all), but I typically assume everyone can understand each other. Even when there is a language barrier, I assume anyone with a commlink has an effective two-way translator. I have seen a lot of knee-jerk negative reactions to this change, but I'm not going to add these back in. I don't want to punish players because they can't summarize their character's entire life experience in 3-4 knowledge skills. If they really matter that much to you, spend 5 minutes to make a house rule and add them back in. (Sorry for the rant.)

Elemental Damage Types: I have never come across more complicated elemental damage rules in any system. All damage types now work the same, and any special effects are up to GM discretion. Elemental damage was just another complication in an already complex combat system.

Recoil and Firing Modes: I've always found these mechanics to be a bookkeeping nightmare. Machine Guns and Assault Cannons now have a minimum Strength requirement to represent their massive recoil when used unmounted. All automatic and semi-automatic weapons now simply get a flat bonus to hit (which works exactly the same as a penalty to dodge in this system, but feels better from the player's perspective).

Ritual Spellcasting: There are no longer any mechanics for Ritual Spellcasting. You can cast ritual spells at GM's discretion, but I've rarely found them to be useful. The two most used rituals: Watcher and Ward can now be performed by individual Magicians.

Enchanting: The rules for alchemy are extremely cumbersome considering how crappy preparations are in comparison to simply casting a spell. Artificing (along with most other crafting skills) has also been removed. It rarely seems worth it to craft your own equipment when the items you're creating aren't all that expensive to begin with.

Reagents: Reagents were mostly used for increasing limits, which no longer exist. Reagents are also no longer required to bind spirits, and Ritual Spellcasting has been removed. Because of all of these factors, reagents have been removed.

#Comments Are Appreciated

Did I leave out a mechanic that you really like or is super important to the Shadowrun universe? Did I tweak something is such a way that it is now broken or nonsensical? Is there anything I can do to improve these rules? Let me know in the comments below.