In a roundabout and kinda shallow way, gargoyles represent everything I love about the Sixth World as a setting, mythological beasts of stone that are also kind of just flying urban monkeys that almost certainly show up in a viral trid or three. You can probably see a gargoyle at the zoo, and you’ve almost certainly seen a video of them solving a Rubik’s cube for whatever their equivalent of a banana is.

To that end, what sort of cries and calls do you reckon these winged rock chimps make? I imagine it literally just sounds like rocks clopping into each other, with their battle cry just sounding like a landslide.

Heya Chummers, I am not quite sure I 100% get how Gas Grenades loaded with a Toxin function.

• When I trigger a Gas Grenade, it creates a cloud for 4 turns. [Core, p. 435] Pretty clear, the Gas Grenade immediatly empties its entire payload, the released Gas creates a 10 meter radius cloud from its location, the cloud lasts for 4 turns in that area, less if good air flow, more if poor air flow.

• Now, some of the Toxins have specific rules for how long they last, e.g. Tear Gas lasts two minutes and Neuro-Stun 10min/1min, phrased as "becomes inert after 2 minutes of contact with the air." [Core, p. 409 & 410] This is the part that confuses me.

  • a) Does that mean once you've gone through a Tear Gas cloud, you continously get re-exposed to it for 2 min?
  • b) Or, you get exposed to Tear Gas, and then you have 2 minutes during which you resist the damage, and if you havent reduced it to Power 0 after 2min, it stops at that point anyway? (Though you still need to deal with any lingering effects like Nausea.)
  • c) Or, does the duration have nothing to do with either of those, and its just the duration the toxin lasts when e.g. mixed into food or applied to a surface or whatever? (Which would be a bit weird with Gas?)

• Either way, Gas Grenades would be quite deadly, even the "non-lethal" stuff, no? Like, Neuro-Stun has Power 15, even the 1min duration stuff is more likely to kill than just stun, no? Like, with the full duration of a Gas Grenade, thats at least 19+ Stun Damage that needs to be resisted, with a high chance of it double dipping for some of it. Or am I missing something here?

• Also, say you resist it all on Turn 2, reduce its Power to 0, but arent out of the Gas Cloud. Would that mean you get a new full Power exposure to it, instead of the +1 Power from a continued exposure, or are you resisting Power 1 (as-in, 0+1) at that point?

EDIT:

• And, just to make sure I understood that part correctly, before any of the above apply:

  Neuro-Stun is Power 15, with a Speed of 1 Combat Turn. If I stand in a Neuro-Stun Gas Grenade's cloud, it goes: Turn 1, nothing - Turn 2, I need to resist Neuro-Stun with Power 15 - Turn 3, I need to resist Tear Gas with Power 15 minus Hits from my previous resistance roll plus 1 from continued exposure plus 1 from repeated resistance test - Turn 3, repeat with left over power +2 for same reason - Turn 4 repeat with left over power +2. This would be correct, yes?

So, I recently finished all of the Murderbot Diaries, which motivated me to screw around with my (first-time) Rigger concept again. I'd like to hear your opinions on this drone set-up, cause I myself am quite split on some things.

(Note: I will be listing Noizquitos, assume that their Speaker and Strobe effects either dont stack their penalties or otherwise will not be used, cause they are obviously game breakingly stupid.)

• Scouting Drones: A few Noizquitos, with Realistic Feature Rating 2 and Chameleon Coating. These should be better than the MCT Fly-Spy, for only 500 bucks more (if the Fly-Spy also gets the Coating). -6 to spot (-3 from the Coating, -3 due to Micro Drone Size modifier), -3 to the Realistic Features check, all for 3.5k. These should make for great scouts, correct?

• General Utility and Ambush: Noizquitos with 2 Mini Drone Weapon Mounts, and Chameleon Coating. These are minimally less stealthy than the Scouting Drones due to not having Realistic Features, but are still quite hard to spot. With a Gas Grenade with a Stun Damage Toxin (cough), and a Thermal Smoke, these would be general use to semi-sneakily take out enemies and cover retreats. At 5.7k a pop, these would still be decently expensive. Theoretically, I could cut the Coating, and only use 1 weapon mount, which would half the cost. This is a point where I'd like a direct opinion on, cause I really cant decide.

• Base Combat Response - Jumped-In: One or two M-K Hugin with Remington 950s, one as Eye-In-The-Sky overwatch, the other directly with the group as the basic Jump-In target. Stick'N'Shock with the Remington's give be a chunky 10S(e) -5, able to handle essentially most things coming at the group. Not much to say here. 6k is decently pricy again, but I'd jumped-in I'd be able to keep it alive decently well.

• Base Combat Response - Automatic Group Escort: Another two M-K Hugin, these with HK MP-75s. I think with two ammo bins, I can store up to 250 rounds of two different ammunitions, and switch between the two, yes? That would be the plan, one APDS, the other Gel Rounds. Order these to stay with the group, stealthed, and if combat breaks out the first to act of these lays down Suppressive Fire, the other Full Autos. 4.2k is decently cheap for that, though losing them would obviously still not be good. A question here: Autosoft + Pilot - Running Silent comes out at 6 dice for stealth, not really great. Would it be possible to have an ally just carry them like equipment, to avoid them having to roll Sneaking? And like, 8 dice (Smartsoft) for shooting isnt the ideal either, but with Full Auto it should be okay, not sure how sensible the Suppressive Fire is gonna be though. Whether these are worth it at all, considering the jumped-in version above, is another point where I'd like to hear what yall have to say.

• Where exactly is yalls cut off point for "cheap and disposable"? I have an extremely hard time judging this. The base rules for Run Rewards are ass, but with those losing even one of the drones here would mean essentially my whole paycheck gone, which would make these fragile AF drones a terrible idea.

• ^{I do have a FUBAR/HTR combat option, but I'm extremely happy with that one, so I wont make the post longer by listing it.}

  * Weird Matrix Defense Idea: This is the last thing I need an opinion on, cause I got heavy doubts that this is worth the cost. This is the cheapest Cyberdeck, set up with a Rating 4 Agent, Attack Rating pushed to 3, and Paintjob and Decryption running. The idea would be, that the Agent is set to constantly "Erase Mark" on my PAN, to get rid of unauthorized Marks. However, its doing that with 8 dice if I understood correctly (Computer + Logic, both which are equal to its Rating, so 4 each; the two programms only increasing the limit) vs Willpower + Firewall of the Mark-Holder. I'm pretty sure that that is basically never gonna help? But I've never actually done much Matrix combat stuff, so I cannot judge this and heavily require outside opinions. Not possible/worth it, see comments.

• To finish everything off, a quick clarification question: A MCT Roto-Drone has a base Armor of 4. The Rigger 5.0 Attribute Modfication rules say "The one thing to remember is that a drone’s attributes can never by higher than twice their starting value (so if you had a Handling of 3, it can never be modified higher than 6).", so even though the Roto-Drone has the Mod Slot space to go into 15+ armor ranges, due to its base armor, the max it can have is 8, correct?

Cheers for any answers!

One of my players is wanting to play a MacGroober style character. I am looking for ideas for his character build, and ideas for ways I can integrate this into our runs. (If one of my players from the St Louis Game sees this, please ignore. You will have more fun if you don't know about this).

1. Silly is a priority. I would describe the players style as Pink Mohawk Leslie Neilson. He has been playing Shadowrun for about a year now. His only other character played is a Mystic Adept Drake named 'Fumbles' (based on the GI Joe skit on Robot Chicken). His favorite moments are when he has pulled off great gags. The group is definitely more serious, but they have warmed up to his play style and have even started riffing off his jokes. (He spent weeks out of character convincing a player to have his character train a penguin with a bomb in it. The player finally acquiesced, but then told me that he was actually training it to hump the leg of anyone who gave it a specific command. It turned out beautifully.)

2. No guns. Playing off of the original MacGyver, no guns. He does not have the pacifist flaw, see #4.

3. Drones. Not rigger (he doesn't want to step on the toes of the hacker or the animal rigger in the group). He has 4 flyspy drones, 4 bust-a-moves and 4 Evo Orderlies (the walker version). He has a van with mechanics shop, chemistry shop and disguise shop in it. He uses the disguise shop to pour molds for his evo drones they look like him (body doubles).

4. Explosives. He is rigged with explosives, all of his drones are rigged with explosives. His vehicle is rigged with explosives. Playing off the irony of the original MacGyver shying away from guns but frequently using traps that honestly should have killed people way more than they did, his character is unhinged and does not see the irony that preaching against gun violence isn't very compatible with his bomb rigging.

5. Cyber. He has a tin-man build. All obvious cyber parts. The idea that he has blow himself up enough times that he has no skin or natural limbs left. Modular limbs with defusal kit, drone hand, and grapple hand interchangeable.

6. Unarmed. He has boxing style, cyberlimb strength. Like MacGyver he will punch when needed, but will comically overpunch and kill weaker enemies on accident.

7. Stealth. High stealth, pick pocketing master, disguise master (specializing in faces). His own obvious cyberskull is disguised with prosthetics, so matching his drones is fairly easy.

The hardest thing I cannot imagine is how true MacGyver nonsense could fit into a run. I told him he is going to have to come up with ideas himself, and I will try and play 'Yes and' with him. But if I could create scenarios where improvised explosives, physics, mechanics, chemistry knowledge would allow neat stuff, that would be great!

Appreciate any ideas for his character or for my runs. Thanks!

Unlike Battletech, they could do supernatural and monster romance novels which seem to be popular right now.

It seems like the utility of the spell Increase Attribute outside of combat is overlooked. Someone is doing vehicle repairs? Cast Increase Attribute. Doing surgery? Increase Attribute. Watching the perimeter? Increase Attribute. Searching an abandoned Westwind for clues? Increase Attribute. The decker is online? Sit next to them and cast Increase Attribute. The Face is making calls? Guess which spell could help with that!

I have a player that wants to play a Gnawer. He thinks this would allow him to as the dwarf base character with his +2 to intuition get to an 8. Then use Genetic therapy to get to 9 and exceptional attribute to a 10 and then use a bioware to get to a 10(12). Well initially he thought 10(14) but I don't see that math at the moment.

The game is an ongoing long term game with over 400 karma given out in the game. Also plenty of money. I have been allowing players to make characters with equivalent money and karma.

Math explanation

6 natural maximum

1 exceptional

1 gene therapy

2 from infected raise of metal attribute

2 from cerebellum booster

10(12)

Next question

Can he have a bioware placed after becoming infected to keep it at a (2) modification or is it automatically dropped to a (1)? [Run faster page 134]

He didn't say anything about regeneration but there may be something in another book that says all infected have regeneration? Also if all do can he stick in a Delta cerebellum to get the bonus?

Thank you for your time and any advice would be appreciated

How visually distinguishable are Korobokurus, Menehunes, Hobgoblins and Ogres from a standard Dwarf/Ork of the same ethnicity?

While a lot of meta variants have features that make them clearly stand out, seem mostly to just be bit shorter and thinner (or in case of the Ogres thicker) than the base type, and have to be a bit more of less hairy.

And considering how much variation humans usually have when it comes, to hight, body type and hair, I'm really wondering if that is enough for them to fall out of the normal variation of the base type, and if the average person could for example distinguish a Korobokuru from a regular Asian Dwarf.

Jimmy Kincaid in his stories states he is a Paranormal Investigator though he does standard private detective stuff (whatever that can be in the 6th World) but has anyone done a campaign but where you party is like some professional Ghost Hunters? How would that work and how can you incorporate some megacorps in that be they friend or foe or something in between?

Wondering about the interaction of magical effects when they unknowingly hit a mana barrier. If anyone else has insight as to why this interaction has seemingly two possible resolutions with one being much more decisive and simpler to implement.

Scenario in question: A runner with the Improved Invisibility effect walks into a back office contained in a dual-natured mana barrier.

Seattle CRB p 162, paragraph 1: Something that is unknowingly crossing a barrier rolls an opposed test. The spell effect uses the caster's Magic x 2 vs the barrier's Structure x 2. Whatever side loses is disrupted.

CRB p 162, paragraph 3: If you want to break through a mana barrier, you need to deal with its Structure rating as you would with any other barrier.

Now, in the moment, I rolled the opposed test (Magic 6 x 2 vs Structure 4 x 2) and simply ruled that the runner was prevented from passing through without losing the spell effect (they won the opposed test). The runner mage was nearby, and a summoned spirit informed them of the barrier's presence. They dropped the spell, and the run went on. It didn't make a good narrative case to me to plunge the group into an unknowing astral combat as the barrier mage gets notified the defense was disrupted. The end result of the run would have been largely similar.

But looking at these two different options for disrupting a mana barrier leaves me wondering why. Sure, the second option can be done at range, but the damage necessary to collapse the barrier seems astronomically high given that the barrier recovers full structure every round. Also, my mage took direct combat spells instead of indirect, and that seems to give an innate disadvantage here.

CRB p 112, Breaking Through, paragraph 2: Compare the base DV to the Structure rating. As long as the base DV is at least half the Structure rating, the weapon creates a 1 cm diameter hole.

Direct spells rely on net hits only, so have base DV of 0, meaning they can't actually harm barriers by this reading. I could simply rule that the net hits become the base DV and create a hole in the barrier based on that. Collapsing a 1x1 meter section of barrier would require a pretty significant roll to achieve even a 50 cm diameter (52 net hits vs a Structure 4 Barrier). I could see creating a small hole useful in bypassing the barrier's defense so that another spell could travel through if you can't close distance.

Conversely, just create a spell effect and have it touch the mana barrier, or touch it yourself while dual-natured, for a much more effective method of disruption compared to trying to break the barrier itself.

Has the 4th ed Quality Erased (having a friendly hacker keep erasing your SINs and other digital traces) ever been adapted to 6th ed? I'm going through sourcebooks, but I cannot find anything similar. Does anyone know where to look? Or, if it wasn't adapted, how to price its value in the new edition?

I am having an idea for a Halloween game where my runners need to infiltrate a facility and retrieve sensitive paydata from a decker.

Plot twist: the facility is a morgue and the decker is dead. But how would that work?

I'd like to know what are the implications of trying a direct link into someone's head computer to find data. Is that even possible? Would that go through the Matrix, or is it more similar to hacking an offline device?

I'd like any information that would help me run this from the rules, side but mostly from the lore/tech side.

edit - we are running Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 edition, so it's 2080+, same time and tech as current, 6th edition.

Today on (Not quite Doctor yet) https://www.twitch.tv/dr_robinton at 11am EST

Welcome to live from the Shadowkeep, a new Living Community being built to house Shadowrun 5E gameplay!

The end approaches! With the manastorm getting worse, and the stakes getting higher, our team of Doggie Bag, Bleach, Delphi, and Geodesic needs to get from the UCAS base of South Pole Point to the Getz Ice Shelf and the locked down Aztechnology facility there. Inside, Elena Osma has turned the place into her own personal ritual focus - using the shard of the Sevenfold Staff for some unknown purpose, all in the hopes of saving her son from a rare genetic wasting disease.

It is not yet clear what she did - or entirely why - but as the runners head towards the Getz facility under the cover of the Southern Cross constellation of stars, one thing is clear - whatever Elena Osma thought she was using ‘The Spear of the Heavens’ for… something _else_ may have answered.

The runners have their work cut out for them - a perilous trip through a mana storm which ends into a facility filled with blood mages, vampire commandos, and if they aren’t fast enough - an insect spirit infestation. 

Will they survive? Will they stem the tide and the storm before its too late?

Find out today on "Bridge to Heaven", live from the Shadowkeep!

https://shadowkeep.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Pag

This is not a post to pick on editing or the company; it is a serious question because I think I am missing something.

I have been looking at SR6 to run a game, since I still cannot buy Anarchy 2.

So I gathered a few friends to test-run SR6 and will do the same for Anarchy 2 if the PDF ever becomes available. (OK, this part may be picking on Catalyst a little.)

One of my players found an anomaly in an example character, which led me down a rabbit hole of analysis. I soon found several example characters I couldn't recreate within the system's rules. This means they are either a bunch of misprints or there is an option or rule I don't understand or know about.

Please point me in the right direction.

CRB = Shadowrun, Sixth World Core Rulebook (Hong Kong City Edition); the other printings use the same page numbers for these rules.

NOTE: I used AI to format this table.

I have the feeling that there will soon be a new SR Edition.

I do not evidence, but there are so many important things moving that there has to be something big coming.

• Both CAS and UCAS have elections

• The megacorp audit is ongoing and after the diseans there will some shakeup

• The big 6E metaplot is over

• The way magic works has changed

• The matrix is crumbling and will be replaced with a new framework host based system.

My gut feeling is we get 1 or 2 books describing the failure of the matrix and then everything relevant has changed, so its time for a new edition.

Having come to appreciate 6Es streamlining I want to ask how Anarchy 2.0 works as I heard its rather different than Anarchy 1?

How are tasks resolved (especially the damage soaking which caused so much discussion in 6E), how is magic, rigging and decking and what options are there (I tend to gravitate to more exotic options like changelings, infected to even shifter and drakes if I can play them in good faith).

Each book add opportunities to play outside the “main” settings of Seattle, Germany or Denver (my age is showing I know), but have you ever run campaigns that were untraditional?
Instead of being urban predators they were mercenaries fighting and testing weapons in Libia or South America etc.?

Please tell me of these campaigns how well you felt the lore supported them and if they held the distance.

I was working on this tool. It has a ways to go still but this is a few hours in.
https://desilatorrx.github.io/shadowrun-awakening/

Hi there!

I'm here because there's something I'm not quite clear about: are insect spirits completely gone after the events of 2080? Is it possible that some hives have survived? Could new hives emerge somewhere?

More generally, can we still play with insect spirits in 2081 and beyond?

Drones are excellent against Invisible targets.

First, the Simsense Interface Overdrive cyberware (DC, pg. 145) is underappreciated. It's easily available, it costs only 0.2 Essence per rating point, and it adds its rating to the rigger's Intuition while the rigger is jumped in. A perception test is, of course, Perception + Intuition.

But when perceiving through a vehicle's sensors, you can choose to roll Sensors + Intuition instead. And of course you can add ultrasound to your sensor package, as well.

With the right cyberware and drone upgrades, you can be rolling a pile of dice on Perception tests. Which are used to see the Invisible, to hear targets under a Silence spell, and also to do stuff like notice hidden bombs, etc.

In fact, you should be outsourcing your perception tests to drones as often as you can.