5 priorities, but no magic or metas, Modern Day Action w/SR3 Rules. Options

[Catsnightmare]

I've been thinking of running a D20 Modern/action heros type of game, though my gaming group doesn't like D20 outside of D&D, so I've decided to try it using the SR3 system rules. The problem is there's no metahumans, and no magic in this game. That leaves the question of what am I gonna use to fill those two priority slots?

I've considered making Contacts it's own priority separate from Resources.
Also possibly making Edges out of the SRC as a priority as well (for those knacks and talents that set the hero apart from everyone else. Kinda-sort of a replacement for feats).

I'm also oppen to suggestions on this as well.

[Moonstone Spider]

Well, the easiest thing to do in my mind is just trim off the bottom and top priorities, leave B,C,D and have resources, skills, and attributes. Of if you want a higher/lower power game trim off hte top two or bottom two and just leave ABC or CDE.

Or, as you said, replace them with Edges and Contacts but I don't really see how edges work, giving up the magic section means a lot of edges are meaningless and if this is modern day a cyberware is absurd and can't exist so a lot more edges and flaws become meaningless. Contacts, well just make them points like skills an attributes. Something like this:

A: 20
B: 11
C: 7
D: 4
E: 2

An L1 contact is 1 point, an L2 is 4, and an L3 is 9.

You only have two archetypes left, the Street Samurai and the Face. Granted you can make "Drivers" to replace riggers but TNs are so fragging high on Driving lots of people won't trust a car that doesn't have a rigger jacked in, so you might want to lower TNs there a bit.

[Arethusa]

Better approach yet would be to just use the build point system. You'll already have your work cut out for you everywhere else. Believe me, I would know; I've been working on assembling a modern day system, and I started with SR3.

[Firewall]

personally, I would just cut out B and D priorities. Or possibly allow them to drop A to B if they wanted E to become D.

Or the points system works....

Without cyberware, you may want to allow higher stats. They have no way of increasing them without karma...

[Arethusa]

Stats aren't really the main issue. It's skills that become far more central to the game.

[Catsnightmare]

The whole driving issue, and TN's and edges. I planned on adding a slew of new Edges, such as Vehicular Reflexes, (in 3 levels, like Boosted Reflexes, but only applies when driving), or Natural Ace (-1 to TN for vehicle tests with a specific class of vehicles).

That and I've considered coming up with Manuvers for vehicle skills (and others) that can be purchased in the same way as Martial Arts Manuvers

[Beast of Revolut...]

Make contacts one of the priorities, like he said. Remove the ability to buy contacts with money. This way, contacts will be more important than in regular SR. As for the fifth priority, how about psychic abilities? Nothing major, just give players the ability to read surface emotions, or levitate pencils, or something like that. Of course, even that much is more rare in real life than magic is in Shadowrun. Hmm... How about balls?

A: Steel
B: Brass
C: Stone
D: Wood
E: Normal human testicles

Add ricochet rules for when people get shot in the balls.

[Diesel]

Or racial modifiers if you're black! Asians can be smarter, Samoans have mad body, and Canucks...heh.

[Digital Heroin]

We Canucks can hold our liquor... well, most of us, I tend to black out and give $50 tips to cab drivers...

[A Clockwork Lime]

Here's my recommendation. It's one I've been tinkering around for a similar idea for a while now.

Priorities: Attributes, Skills, Equipment, Contacts, and Lifestyle.

Equipment: Same as Resources, but cannot be used to purchase Contacts or Lifestyles without taking some kind of Edge to do so.

Contacts A: Charisma + 20
Contacts B: Charisma + 10
Contacts C: Charisma + 5
Contacts D: Charisma + 0
Contacts E: <Hung Out to Dry>

Contact Points can then be used to purchase your starting contacts. Point costs are Level 1 (2 points), Level 2 (4 points), and Level 3 (10 points). Adding +50% of the cost makes the contact a Superior contact while doubling the cost makes it a Superhuman contact.

Lifestyle A: Luxury + 1 High Safehouse
Lifestyle B: High + 1 Middle Safehouse
Lifestyle C: Middle + 1 Low Safehouse
Lifestyle D: Low + 1 Squatter Safehouse
Lifestyle E: Squatter

Lifestyles can be traded in for twice as many lifestyles of the next lowest category. Thus a single Luxury Lifestyle could equate to two High Lifestyles, four Middle Lifestyles, eight Low Lifestyles, sixteen Squatter Lifestyles, or any variation in between.

If using the rules in the Sprawl Survival Guide (preferred) award Lifestyle Points instead following a similar theme. Some work would need to go into altering the way Edges & Flaws work with this system, though.

[Chance359]

You could use BECKS 2, lower the amount of Karma and remove the race and magic options.

[DigitalMage]

Also remember that without the need to buy expensive cyberware, cyberdecks, rigged vehicles and contacts (if you make them a separate priority) you may want to change the actual amount that each level of resources provides.

It may simply be a case of giving them enough to buy a vehicle, lifestyle and some personal gear (wepaons, armour, tools etc).

[Arethusa]

What I really suggest doing is putting a lot more emphasis on skills and allowing people to go a lot crazier with them than SR canon does. That doesn't mean pistols 12 at creation, but it does mean that if you have a character who will likely never make a parachute drop throughout the game, he'll still have enough points to put in parachute(combat jump) or something because he used to be in the 82nd.

[Austere Emancipa...]

Many players would still rather put that 1 Skill Point into Pistols to raise it to 12 from 11 instead of buying Parachuting-1 with it. I suggest the same as Chance359: Use BeCKS. It's Good™.

[Arethusa]

It beats the ever loving shit out of the very narrow canon systems and it doesn't force specialization on you like those do, but the bigger problem is why would you spend 10 karma on skills you'll never need as a runner but should have as part of your background when you can instead get SMGs 4?

[nezumi]

I would also consider letting people purchase edges after character creation.

Since it really is all about skills now, perhaps diversifying the skills and making complentary skill rolls more integrated into the system would help.

[A Clockwork Lime]

BeCKS is outright annoying and way too number-crunching heavy. The Build Point System is just boring and lacks any real charm. The Priority system is what first distinguished Shadowrun from other character creation systems and is a great concept. You're forced to prioritize your character's abilities, thus forcing you to make comprimises in some areas so as to gain boons in other areas.

With Sum-to-Ten it's even better in that it becomes more versatile. Throw in Edges & Flaws with a requirement for them to equalize out to 0 opens up all the customization you really need, especially if you simply add an "Extra Skill Point" edge on a 1:1 basis.

[Panzergeist]

I have obsidian balls.

[Arethusa]

I'd like to point out that BeCKS is very number crunching light if you use the SRCG. Besides, it beats SR's standard systems because it doesn't force specialization you. That changes the face of the game right there, and it definitely is for the better.

[Austere Emancipa...]

[TinkerGnome]

The problem with point and priority is that having one skill at six and six skills at one are the exact same cost, but when you get into the game, there's a 24 point difference in the karma required to go to one skill at six and five skills at one. BeCKs keeps the same ratio of costs as advancement in the game itself, which is the strong point of the system.

[Glyph]

BeCKS is good for some things, and bad for others, but I think it would be good for this particular game because 1) Resources are broken down by increments, and 2) Contacts are already separate from Resources. Plus, the Karma-based skill costs encourage players to take more low-end skills. They will still take 6's on their primary skills, but since they can get 2 - 4 point and 2 - 1 points skills for the same cost as a single 6 point skill, they will only take the 6 when they really need it, and will tend to have more lower-rated skills to round them out. Also, since it is a point-based creation system, all you need to do is simply cut out the magic and race options (perhaps adjusting the starting Karma point total down, too - although you might be better off leaving it as is, so that you will have a wide variety of extra skills and edges instead of just umpteen cookie-cutter characters with the same "essential" skills and not much else).

[Kagetenshi]