In my opinion, I think the 4th Ed Shadowrun system is one of the absolute best. This doesn't mean its rules have no bugs or work perfectly all the time. While using the RAW (Rules As Written, n00b) is usually sufficient, no game survives its players intact. So here's a list of house rules I may implement in the SR games I run, with my rationales for using them. Feel free to use these in your own games and tell me how they work out. Or, how they destroyed your game. Feedback is feedback, right? All of it's useful.
"Exploding Dice"
While I prefer 4th Edition Shadowrun to previous editions, I miss the die rolls: you rerolled 6s and summed the results, attaining ever-higher numbers as you rerolled -- die rolls "exploded," so to speak. Such a system isn't necessary anymore, as the system doesn't have sliding target numbers; a 5 or 6 is a hit. You can reroll 6s when you spend Edge, and those hits add to what you have. This is simpler, quicker and cleaner. I can't really justify this from a pure mechanical standpoint, but the accumulating successes were fun, and were part of Shadowrun's character. So following is a way to bring that back without breaking the system or messing with the rules for hits too much. (Note my desire to see the exploding dice is a preference, perhaps a holdover of old habits, not an attempt to fix something actually wrong with the system.)
Whenever you attain a result of 6, you reroll and add the result to that 6; as long as you roll 6s, you keep rerolling and adding. If you get a 15 or higher on rerolls, you get an extra hit; if you get a 25 or higher, you get yet another hit, and so on for each iteration of +10 (35, 45, God forbid 55, etc.). So if you manage to reroll your way to a 26, you get two extra hits (one for beating 15 and another for beating 25).
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Do you guys feel luckier lately? > Hex-a-Decimal
I dunno. Looking to make me feel lucky, baby?
Nevermind, dumb question. Guess it's just me.
Well, maybe you might feel lucky. You and that Aztechnology security drone that managed to get a "lucky" shot on a buddy of mine. He was a fully armored moving target, moving through thick foliage and pouring rain... and the drone still managed to put a bullet into the base of his skull, right between the joint where his helmet met his armored vest. While firing wild. I think it was pretty lucky, huh? Maybe you and the drone could compare notes.
...and that concludes the light conversation portion of this evening. I think I'm gonna go have a drink now. |
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As the rules are written, your number of actions per combat turn are set. A character without a power or upgrade of some sort that allows extra initiative passes never gets them (save for Edge expenditures). Meanwhile, someone with Wired Reflexes, Improved Reflexes or similar advantage will always get a set number of extra passes. If you astrally project or engage in cybercombat, you get three passes. While this is simple and easy to manage, it's a little too orderly and so lacks appeal for me. The following rules for Initiative and Initiative Passes borrow from previous editions, and offer a certain randomness to combat. Even if your Initiative isn't that great, if you're lucky and roll really well you could act twice in a Combat Turn (even if you don't have character enhancements specifically permitting this). Meanwhile, some Kung-Fu adept used to going twice a turn might get three actions, or even act just once, depending on how the dice shake out. The number of actions one can take in a Combat Phase isn't set.
The Initiative Roll: Roll 1d6 (the Initiative Die) and add your Initiative attribute. This is your Initiative Score for this combat turn. 'Ware, adept powers, spells and circumstances that allow extra Initiative Passes instead adds an extra Initiative Die for every extra IP they would have granted; those in astral combat or that are hacking add two dice to their rolls instead of getting two extra IPs. These bonus dice are rolled and added to your Initiative Score for the turn. If you roll one or more 6s on the Initiative Roll, roll a single die and add that to the result; you keep rolling and adding as long as you get 6s. Initiative Scores function largely as they're described in the book, determining the order in which characters can act (see pg. 144 of the SR4 core).
Initiative Passes: Characters act in order of their Initiative Scores. After everyone has acted, the Action Phase passes and 10 is dropped from all Initiative Scores. Anyone with a positive Initiative Score (that started with an Initiative Score 11 or higher) can act on their new, reduced Initiative Scores in the second Action Phase. Those that don't have a positive Initiative Score don't act that Action Phase. This cycle repeats, 10 being subtracted from everyone's Initiative Score until everyone's Initiative Score is 0 or less; this means no more passes, and at this point, a new Combat Turn begins and Initiative is rolled again.
Spending Edge: Under this option, Edge spent to grant extra Initiative Passes instead add extra dice to the Initiative Roll.
Weight Problems
The rules for lifting are insufficient, as characters are far weaker than they should be. Look at some real-life weight lifting records; it would take a cybered-out troll spending Edge to come close to performing such feats. And according to the rules, most characters can't even support their own body weight. As far as the amount one can carry with her, the RAW are quite sufficient; you're not going to be able to lug that much around with you, and imposing some sort of "encumbrance" penalties even before this limit isn't unreasonable. What we need are rules for lifting and related feats that are realistic, cinematic and quicker in play.
Rather than your attribute ratings determining what you can lift as a strict kilogram value, your lifting power depends entirely on the hits you attain on a Body + Strength test (and so is variable). This is fairly realistic in that weight lifters aren't always able to lift the same amount each time -- their results form a range, not a precise measurement. You have the potential to exceed your lift allowance on an "average" roll by converting dice to hits (and spending Edge), allowing the occasional truly cinematic feat of strength without throwing the baseline off. A bad roll means a musclemonster may struggle to lift something light, while a lucky result may let a weak character tip over a car... just as in real life, even the strongest people can strain or fall prey to exhaustion, while soccer moms hopped on adrenalin can lift cars off their howling kids. And by replacing actual weight values with lift thresholds, we can gloss over "realism" for the sake of game expediency.
Determining Lift Thresholds: Item weights are abstracted as lift thresholds, which reflect how hard they are to pick up, drag or otherwise manage. This is largely a factor of raw mass; assume a baseline threshold of 1 per 50 kg of weight, rounded up. However, an awkward item may have a lift threshold higher than its raw mass suggests, while a handle, lever or the like can mitigate the threshold of a very heavy object. Dragging or pushing an item is usually easier than picking it up. GMs can "eyeball" a lift threshold based on how hard they feel it should be able to lift or move, instead of determining precisely how much some object weighs then comparing that to a listed number on a character's sheet, then possibly having the player make tests to "bump up" his lift/move capacity.
The Lift Test: Roll Body + Strength against the lift threshold of an item when attempting to pick up, push over, drag or otherwise affect it; if you match or exceed this, you succeed. (A failed roll means the object stays put, of course.) You can convert dice on your Body + Strength test to automatic hits (up to half the pool), but you lose that amount from your pool and take one box of stun damage on the following turn for each "auto-hit": your character draws on her inner reserves and performs an amazing feat of strength, but pulls a muscle or exhausts herself. To continue holding the object up, you must make further Body + Strength checks, possibly taking damage for auto-hits. (Hope your character's Doc Wagon contract is current and paid!) Glitches on lifting tests may inflict a box of stun damage, cause the lifter to bump her ally with the object, or cause some other unforeseen result. And of course, friends always help; use the rules for teamwork tests, pg. 65 of SR4.
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