Let's Make Shadowrun

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by 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.

They changed it to anything that is dual natured (like Awakened Ivy, Wards, or the Earth).

[Kesendeja]

Magical Skills

For my game I decided that most interactions with mana require a skill check.

The skills use IQ, unless you use Quintessence, and are Very Hard.

Skills

• Sorcery: This covers the active use of spells.
• Conjuration: Calling spirits from their metaplaner homes. (Getting them to do your bidding on the other hand requires more mundane skills.)
• Enchanting: Binding magic, or spirits, into a physical object to create a permanent effect. (Making the item may require a mundane Art or Craft roll.)
• Assensing: Interpreting sensory information from the astral plane.

All skills may default from their basic attribute at a -7. They cannot default from each other.

[Flyndaran]

That does strongly increase their setting effectiveness and subsequent Gurps point cost, I'd say.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Kesendeja

From the wiki, a brief description of the astral.

I don't know if they changed this later, but at one time there was a risk associated with a mage projecting. If somebody hit his astral form with a spell, under some conditions that spell could 'ground' into his physical body, damaging it, and potentially damaging the surroundings (say if fire magic was used).

[Kesendeja]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

I don't know if they changed this later, but at one time there was a risk associated with a mage projecting. If somebody hit his astral form with a spell, under some conditions that spell could 'ground' into his physical body, damaging it, and potentially damaging the surroundings (say if fire magic was used).

Think they did away with that in 5th.

[AlexanderHowl]

4e, if I remember correctly. Either way, magic is quite powerful in Shadowrun, as is any augmentation. For example, Wired Reflexes can allow characters to fire at eight separate targets during a turn.

[dataweaver]

Shadowrun's Matrix is in many ways a technological counterpart to its Astral Space, though later editions (starting with 3rd, I think) started putting a more mystical spin on it with the introduction of Technomancers: humans (and, later, animals) that can access the Matrix without technological assistance. The parallels are numerous, from things like a Decker's library of programs being roughly analogous to a mage's spells to there being “entities” that reside in the Matrix which are analogous to spirits. In GURPS Shadowrun, Is recommend handling these through Powers, too.

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

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).

I built a low-tech space setting with Ultratech slug throwers. The work is a lot easier than you'd imagine. You take the basic templates and slightly tweak the stats. This Medium Automatic pistol has 30% more ammo, but lower acc by one. This Large Automatic pistol has acc+1 But Bulk is 1 higher. This light Civilain Rifle has Lower 1 Lower Accuracy and 1/2 magazine size and -2 Bulk. This Heavy Military Rifle has -25% magazine size and a flamer mounted under the barrel. Tickle the cost up or down a little. Give them cool names and include one-or-two exotic weapons in the list. Before you know it 8 different gun types becomes 40 guns.

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by Kesendeja

Here's how I handled the astral problem.

Astral Perception 60 pts
Detect (Very Common)
Precise +100%

Astral Projection 85 pts
Jumper (Spirit)
No Concentration +15%
No Fatigue +20%
Projection -50%

Yeah, that's similar to the route I took. It means Mages with no totem abilities or spells is about 125+ points depending on how you wiggle limitations. That's kind of unbalancing as a mandatory feature for a major character type.

The other struggle I had was how to define Astral Space's and Cyberspace's interaction with the physical world. Unthinkably, the ability to combat a spell being cast or loop security cameras isn't even figured into the basic cost of these jumper-like abilities and I don't really know how to fairly represent them.

[AlexanderHowl]

You forget that they cal move at 1 mile per second with instant acceleration and perfect maneuverability. I would model it as Warp (Accessibility, Only while astrally projecting, -10%; Range Limited, two miles, -30%; Reliable, +10, +50%) [110], as it is much less expensive than the comparable Enhanced Move.