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Myself and Dirk Gently have been thinking of converting Shadowrun to D20 because we hate dice pools. We have come up with a few ideas. I have been thinking of using the D&D rules as a base as opposed to the D20 modern/cyberpunk rules.
What we have so far:
Street Samurai: Use fighter as a base, except every other bonus feat is replaced with a cyberware upgrade.
Street Shaman: Use the Urban Druid rules from the DC.
Eco-Shaman: Use druid as a base.
Mage: Use the gestalt mage rules from UA.
Ganger: Use the gestalt warrior rules from UA.
Any suggestions? Comments? Concerns?
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Any suggestions? Comments? Concerns?
One of the big things in Shadowrun is Essence and the fact that spellcasting and cybernetics do not get along. I would recommend that anyone capable of casting any type of spell has their effective casting stat reduced by 2 for each piece of cyberware they have installed in themselves. If the cyberware would drop their stat below 10, they can't cast anything. This prevents your casters from cheesing out with cyberware.
Also, think about how you're going to implement cyberware. Do they take up a magic item slot? Are you going to even HAVE magic items? Stuff like that.
As some one who loved the original L5R, hated the 2nd edition stuff, and loved that they went back to dice pools in 3rd edition, let me just say:
Don't do it! It's a Trap!
But if you don't like dice pools, that is alright. To each their own.
But I have found that game mechanics go a long way to setting the mood for a game.
And I find D20 to be really strict and restrictive. I don't think it fits well with the Shadowrun world.
But what really gets me is: You want D20, but D20 modern doesn't work for you? I am not certain that you will be happy with your conversion. It strikes me as that you are too hard to please on the mechanics of the game.
And let me officially apologize for not adding anything useful to this thread.
So um... You will have to rewrite the skill system. You need more technical skills, and modern skills. You will have to rewrite every class, at least for its class skill section, and you would have to rewrite the feat section as well.
There have to be at least 3 sections of feats to cover ranged weapons (pistol, rifle, heavy weapon), and Fighters should not start knowing all of them. And Fighters should not start knowing the use of all Martial Weapons either.
Ehh... The more I think about it, the more I don't like the idea.
But good luck to you!
I've thought about it a lot, Shiny. THe primary other game my players play is Shadowrun.
Have you checked out SR4 at all, by the way? If you haven't you should. It actually is a complete overhaul of the system, and fixes pretty much everything that (we always thought) has been broken from the beginning.
In a lot of ways, SR4 : Shadowrun :: d20 : Dungeons & Dragons.
(I heard just today that they don't do analogies on the SATs anymore. What's the world coming to?)
Any suggestions? Comments? Concerns?
Also, as Fatespinner points out, you should find a way to reduce magical capacity with the addition of cyber, though if you're going to reduce a primary spellcasting stat, I would suggest this ONLY apply to spellcasting, and not skill or save modifiers (a virtual reduction, if you like). If for no other reason than that there are ways to concievably raise one of your three mental stats through cybernetics.
Another thing to consider is that Shadowrun has a unique take on spirits that will take a little bit of work to capture in d20, and keep in mind that they have a very specific take on magic, where spells that affect physical things cannot affect the spirit realm, and vice versa. Shadowrun magic also explicitly excludes some standard d20 effects (though I forget how prevelant they are in the d20 Modern magic system) -- specifically, Shadowrun magic excludes teleportation and shapeshifting/polymorph (though they do have some shapeshifting race possibilities, at least in earlier incarnations of the SR Companion, which is technically not possible without allowing polymorph, under d20 rules).
Mr. Shiny,
A few years back I looked at doing a conversion of Shadowrun 3E to D20 Modern. I didn’t get past the initial phase, but I do think that it could have been done more cleanly with D20 Modern than using D&D 3.5.
Now I would actually recommend using True 20 or M&M 2E for a Shadowrun conversion. I think either of these systems will provide you with a more stream lined conversion process that will be more inherently balanced than using D&D 3.5 or D20 Modern.
Many of the needed skill sets are already in place with both systems. In addition, using True 20, allows for the use of their True20Cybernetics and True Sorcery supplements to have the conversion up and running much faster.
Using M&M 2E allows for a far greater degree of customization, but ground rules will need to be in place governing the PL of the game, what powers can be used with the FX being cyberware or magic. This I think is the best option, since by using a point based build; you should achieve more balanced characters that capture the feel of Shadowrun without the complexity of the system.
Finally, both systems allow for fast contest/combat resolution, which should translate nicely to the action one reads in the Shadowrun novels but doesn’t always see play out at the table.
As for all of the nuances of the Shadowrun universe governing cyberware, decking, and magic, I think you will be better off looking to capture the “feel” of the setting rather than a point for point conversion. If you were going to go to that length, I would recommend instead that you use the SR3 or SR4 system and revise the rules there that you do not like. That way you will be faster getting to sit down and play some sessions and have less time spent in system development which might become so disenchanting that you never get around to playing.
Anyway, I hope that the ideas are of some use and good luck with your conversion.
Good Gaming,
Mark
Myself and Dirk Gently have been thinking of converting Shadowrun to D20 because we hate dice pools. We have come up with a few ideas. I have been thinking of using the D&D rules as a base as opposed to the D20 modern/cyberpunk rules.
What we have so far:
Street Samurai: Use fighter as a base, except every other bonus feat is replaced with a cyberware upgrade.
Street Shaman: Use the Urban Druid rules from the DC.
Eco-Shaman: Use druid as a base.
Mage: Use the gestalt mage rules from UA.
Ganger: Use the gestalt warrior rules from UA.
Any suggestions? Comments? Concerns?
Okay, here I go. I have the reservations of magic and spirits. The first thing I'll tell you to do is check out Spycraft 2.0. You can pretty well get the feel you want through that. Next, pick up Spellbound and light of Olympus .pdf's. There's your toolkit, shadowrun's a quick run from there.
If that's not quite your style:
Street Sam: Don't use feats for cyber. EVERYONE can get cyber. What you may want to do is create a "fighter cyberware" type of feat, and make it a fighter only bonus feat. This makes some of the close/mid range cyberware more effective.
Street Shaman: Urban druid fits nicely. Perhaps a bit too nicely, but I won't complain.
Eco Shaman: Druid fits fairly well here. Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine might be a good fit, too.
Mage: Check out defilers from the Dark Sun issues of Dragon & Dungeon. The 2 things that would work well with this without using a Gestalt would be giving it a MEDIUM BAB. The other thing would be using spell points, with overcasting rules based on INT and CON loss.
Start DC's at 13 for 1st level, increase by 3 each level. For a success: 1d3 loss to lower attribute, critical success: no loss. For a failure less than 5: 1d3 damage to both attributes. For a failure more than 5, 1d6 damage to both attributes. For a critical failure: 2d4 damage to both attributes. Focus on MINOR Evocations (no cones/bursts), divinations, and Astral sight type spells.
Decker (SR 3): Rogue. Plain out rogue.
Decker (SR 4): Rogue. (Smart hero/Scientist)
Rigger: Scout from Complete Adventurer might be a good start, although there are some other things that might work better. (Smart/Fast hero from D20 Modern).
Gangers tend to be simple warriors (DMG), or Urban Rangers (UA variant, I believe, book's not handy).
Races:
Trolls= either 1/2 Ogres (races of Destiny), or Goliaths (races of Stone). I'd go Goliaths before ogres.
Elves: Pretty simple
Dwarves: I'd do something more akin to a Gold Dwarf from the FRCS, rather than the normal dwarf
Gnomes: Pretty much as written, minus the spell like abilities.
Humans: As written
Orks: Actually, I think using the normal orc would be fine. If not, try orogs.
for the Undead:
Normal Undead: Intelligent (5) Zombies, minus the slowness. Can have class levels.
Vamps: Pretty much straight forward here.
Those wierd dog things: Vampire Dire wolves.
There. I hope I helped.
Cyberware:
Every character gets a new attribute: Essence.
Use the Essence/cyberware rules as written, so using a base of 6 essence:
Every .25 of essence used is essentially 1 virtual ability score point, preventing the character from casting spells and such, but not preventing any other ability.
This means that a Mage with 5 points of essence an intelligence of 17 really has an ability score of 13 when casting spells or memorizing.
Now, on to OVERCASTING.
Overcasting hurts. Lots. Let's say that above Mage has to cast a 6th level spell. Every level overcasted costs 1d6 points of damage, so the mage is taking 3d6 points of damage. By succeeding the spell roll, the damage die goes down 1 step, to 3d4. This damage goes directly to constitution. Further, the character will suffer damage to the primary casting score equal to the difference, regardless of the spell roll.
The spell roll is essentially a concentration or Spellcraft check, you decide for yourself which works for you.
(this is partially from an Earthdawn d20 conversion I started and didn't finish)
/d
Here is a pretty good site on a D20 Shadowrun conversion.
And I also agree that True20 has potential for the basis of a conversion.
(P.S. Nice avatar Shiny!)
I do think that without finding a way to capture the "casting a spell might damage you" mechanic, d20 magic just won't have the same feel as Shadowrun.
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Honestly I am thinking you might be happier with GURPS.
Drop the whole silly class concept and go to a skills based system. 3d6 is about all you ever need.
Great source material for cyberpunk and magic.
I used GURPS for my own Shadowrun campaign years ago. You keep the adventures and sourcebooks and simply use GURPS for mechanics. Pretty easy really.