Let's Make Shadowrun

[Daigoro]

Psionic Powers has a good treatment of various Astral Powers, but I don't know how much it lines up with Shadowrun's version of the astral plane.

[Kesendeja]

A good place to read up on the setting is the Shadowrun Wiki. https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I started work on Shadowrun and got stuck on Astral Space and Cyberspace. They have so very little impact in the game but they're very expensive ideas in GURPS.

There are 3 canonical ways to build Astral Projection in GURPS, each with thier own flavor and feel in how they work.
Insubstantiaility is probably the most common build, Basic uses this for Spirit and Astral Entity metatraits plus its in Powers and other books.
Jumper (Spirit) is another version but works best if the spirit world is another plane with no interaction to the physical plane.
Clairsentience with the Projection modifier is another option.

GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits uses Insubstantiailty and has 2 examples, under Dove and Fox respectively. The Fox one can be tweaked for cyberspace as a net shaman by adding the Digital modifier.
Its not the full shaman as powers book I hoped to write (maybe someday) but it gives the kernel and enough clues to do so if your familiar with Powers.
If you want elementals I'd pick up DF9: Summoners for a lot of elemental templates. Totems does not include elementals but tells you how to adapt other things, including those elementals to it.

[Sorenant]

I don't know how magic is used in Shadowrun, but using Powers with Ultra Tech will favor tricky abilities (eg affliction w/ malediction) over more straightforward ones (eg innate attack, damage resistance). For the cost of an affliction giving extra attack (~35) you could only get about DR 7 (for yourself, or DR 5 as affliction), which is almost pointless when guns are dealing 5d+ damage, with potential for multiple hits and armor divisor.

[Phantasm]

As far as magic goes, SR3 had a the Conjuration skill for summoning and controlling elementals and spirits, and a Sorcery skill for generic spellcasting with a handful of spells; the spells themselves were a small selection. The spells I remember offhand were Powerbolt, Manabolt, and Healing, though I'm sure there were a few others.

In GURPS terms, I'd consider using either Sorcery or Ritual Path Magic for SR-style magic. Either one would suffice for both the summoning and casting elements, as well as the astral projection. Do yourself a favor: do not use both at once.

And I agree that shamans should probably flavor their magic with the stuff from Totems and Nature Spirits in relation to their selected totem.

UT's monowire options fit SR nicely, IMO. The biggest concern IMO is the lack of a wider selection of UT slugthrowers at TL9 (the overall TL for SR, IME).

[Kesendeja]

From the wiki, a brief description of the astral.

Astral Space

The Astral Space or the Astral Plane is a mana plane of existence that mirrors the physical world. All physical objects create shadowy representations of themselves in astral space. Living things have brighter forms on the astral plane, which is called an aura. The awaken have auras that are brighter and more colorful than their mundane counterparts. Nothing has a "physical" presence in astral space unless it has an astral form, though even then, nothing is truly physical on the astral.

Astral Perception

To see Astral Space usually requires that a person must be awakened. Adepts and mystic adepts need the adept power of astral perception, while full mages (including hermetic mages and shamans) can naturally see in to the astral at will. Using astral perception will make the awakened person become dual natured, which means that, like awakened critters such as ghouls, hellhounds, dragons, etc., they now exist on both the physical plane and have an astral form, so exist and can interact with both the physical world and astral space. Another possibility for awakened character to see the Astral Plane is to use the awakened drug called deepweed.

Astral projection

The next step up from astral perception is known as astral projection. In this process, a mage can separate their astral form from their physical form. This is only freely accessible to full mages, such as hermetic mages and shamans. It frees the magician from their physical limitations and projects their very psyche into the astral. This allows them to move at the speed of thought. It is possible for non-magicians and the mundane to astrally project if near an astral rift or with aid from a powerful free spirit with the astral gateway power, though this can be very dangerous for mundanes.

What Happens on the Astral Stays on the Astral

Spells on the astral plane can only be mana spells and cannot interact with the physical plane unless targeting something with an astral form. Targeting a mundane's aura is not enough to establish the link to cast a spell, for example. Likewise, a spell cast on the physical plane cannot affect the astral plane, though the spell will leave disturbances in the ambient mana, which will leave a magician's astral signature in astral space.

You still need to project to get to the meta planes. Which are where most spirits are from.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

It is fair to say that Denver GURPS has visited this discussion. I've run several one-shot games using my conversion, which could probably be best described as a bucket of insane action candy..

[rkbrown419]

Totems and Nature Spirits has some good materiel for shamans in Shadowrun. Any manifestation should include whatever form of magic you're using be it Magery or Sorcery. You also might want to include a pact limitation with the required disadvantages geared toward the personality of the totem.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

It is fair to say that Denver GURPS has visited this discussion. I've run several one-shot games using my conversion, which could probably be best described as a bucket of insane action candy..

Astral projection is really powerful in Shadowrun 4e. A projecting magician can move 1 mile per second (~Move 1,800), meaning that they can support their team from hundreds of miles away, and they can summon spirits and cast spells while doing so if they manifest. Of course, they cannot really go underground, which is why anyone worth their salt puts anything worth anything under 100 yards of Earth, with very powerful mana wards protecting the entrances.

[Flyndaran]

They also can't pass through living things meaning no penetrating ivy terraces or gas station bathroom walls. Ha.
At least that was the edition I played back in the day. I don't know if later books changed that rule.