Recently got back into SR4, and I had a couple of half-finished documents lying around. I noticed my old post had fallen into the abyss (broken links, contradictory files, etc.), so I might as well repost with updated material and better links. Without further ado, here's my complete collection of SR4 game aides that I hope you might find useful.



The VegPacket
By far the biggest project, this 16-pg printable (and bookmarked) PDF contains a complete run-through of many of the SR4 combat rules in short-hand tables. Thoroughly updated with material from the official FAQ and errata, it's designed to be colorful and organized, including the book's page numbers for each section. Excellent to have nearby if you're a GM, or if you're a player, it's a great idea to print off the most relevant pages for your character.

Highlights: Combat sequence, combat mods, firearms and fireworks, advanced combat, vehicles (2pgs), spellcasting, damage types, matrix (3pgs... yes, YOU can learn it too!), social skills, perception, surprise/initiative, glitches (compiled list of glitches from throughout the book!), and a page reference for actions. Also some pretty pictures.

(If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, or youcan read PDF notes): I'm also putting up an alternate annotated PDF, which includes notes that you can click on to read more. Basically, the notes are my thoughts on the rules presented and some proposed house rules (borrowing heavily from Serbitar). For regulars, you're probably familiar with (and sick of) some of the topics in the notes, but you might learn something new anyway.

VegPacket_SR4.pdf --- VegPacket_SR4 (annotated).pdf



NPC Sheets
If you like creating your own bad guys, or if you would rather have a cleaner and more detailed description of your NPCs during those hectic battles, this is for you. This customizable character sheet can be fitted to any villain you want to make, because you can delete all of the unnecessary sections before you print it or save it. Generally you can fit two NPCs per page, but the particularly nasty ones might take a whole page.

I've tried to include big sections for you to write in your own notes, like weapon enhancements and spell descriptions. Some sections, like gear, expand the more you type. You can add more rows if you need them, or delete them if you don't. Finally, there is a section for "dice pools" (i.e., defense rolls, attack rolls, spell rolls, etc.) so that you don't have to remember to cross-reference 4 or 5 numbers from around the sheet to get a final number.

I've made two versions: black&white and colored. The sheets were originally created in OpenOffice, but I tried to save them in MS Word too. No guarantees, though (good luck).

--- (for OpenOffice users)
Veg_NPC_bw.odt --- Veg_NPC_c.odt --- Veg_NPC_sample.odt (sample sheets w/3 different enemies: devil rats, elven tribal patrol, and a vampire shaman)

To delete a section: If you're making a street sam, you don't need the "Spells" section, right? Highlight every row you don't need. Right click, go to Row, then Delete (make sure you make a new copy of the table first!).
To expand a section: Right-click on one of rows in the section you need, go to Row, then Insert. It should make a copy of the above row, while maintaining the same font.
To add more condition monitors: If you're making a group of go-gangers, you'll need plenty more hit-boxes for your players to cross off. Select the entire Phys or Stun row, press Ctrl+C to copy, then click below the table. Press Ctrl+V to paste, then close up the gap by removing the space. Rename "Phys" or "Stun" into "#1" or whatever you want. Optionally, if you right click on either table, you can click "Merge Tables". This'll let you move the whole block around easier.
To grey-out /Edge/Ammo/CM boxes: Select the cells that are unnecessary. Look for the paint bucket at the top of the screen with the tooltip "Paint Bucket". Click the arrow and select "Grey 40%".

--- (for MS Word users)
Veg_NPC(B&W).doc --- Veg_NPC(CL).doc
Sorry guys, I don't own Word, so I'm not familiar with it. Still, I've provided converted versions of the files. Hopefully they'll work. If you follow the above instructions for OpenOffice, you should be able to figure out how to customize the sheet.



Miniature Movement House Rules
I've brought this up before, but I've updated it with better colors, more readability, and the 1m ranged table. In a nutshell, this PDF describes a slightly more complex figurine/map system for those who still like to play with their toys. If you don't like minis or maps, feel free to give this a pass, but I find minis useful for determining things like cover, grenade explosions, distance between characters, etc.

Heavily inspired by d20, these rules show you how to split up movement between initiative passes and handle interceptions. Three new actions (one-square-move, withdrawal, and tumble) and three ranged weapon tables (broken down by squares instead of meters, for different grid-scales) are also available.

Veg_MiniMove.pdf



Grunt & Lieutenant Creation Guide
Fast-and-dirty rules for creating your own squad of grunts, optionally led by an even gruntier lieutenant. Mostly there's little difference from creating a regular SR4 shadowrunner, except you're under tighter restrictions for ability scores, skills, equipment, etc. (assuming you're not creating a platoon of elite Red Samurai cyborgs). More-or-less rough guidelines that I've found after extrapolating the abilities of some of the core book's enemies.

Veg_NPCgenerator.pdf



OpenRPG+ (SR4 Initiative Tool and SR4 Dieroller)
If you remember my last post, I showed you the two plugins I wrote for OpenRPG. One of them handles initiatives in a fairly clean and quick fashion (along with a number of houserules and customization options), and the other lets you roll SR4 dice, instantly counting hits and comparing rolls versus thresholds. Well, you no longer have to download and install them separately, because now they're included in the open-source gaming software itself. Yay!

For downloading and installation instructions, head to the OpenRPG+ Wiki.

To activate the dieroller, type "/dieroller sr4" (without quotes) into the chat window.
To activate the initiative tool and learn how to use it, go here.

While you're carousing the OpenRPG site, how about some free SR4-inspired maps?
sr4_backroom.png --- (quick and cruddy, yeah, but it could be just about anything, which is its strength)
sr4_cave.png --- (okay, so it's a VOLCANIC cave... with lava and paracritters... use your imagination)
sr4_codaclub.png --- (great for a bar brawl in any neighborhood; based off of the "On the Run" adventure)
sr4_mtsthelens.png --- (it might not LOOK fun, but when you're pinned in a cave with elven tribal snipers outside, camouflaged in trees and taking potshots at you... okay, it definitely wouldn't be fun then)
sr4_junkyard.png --- (MY FAVORITE by far and definitely the one I put the most time into; based off of the "On the Run" adventure)
sr4_warehouse.png --- (so-so; based off of the "On the Run" adventure)



PBWiki (House Rules & Character Sheet)
I'm a big fan of PBWiki.com, a free wiki-hosting site, and I've used it to organize numerous games. I've even used it for two college projects. My SR4 site is pretty lousy-looking, but I've got two things up that might interest people.

House Rules: Mostly a rehashing of Serbitar's document, but I've added (and reworded) and number of things myself, such as the "capping" of attributes in the Matrix/while rigging, helmets impeding perception tests, and modified cover & blind fire bonuses. Not a lot, but I'm working on it!

Character Sheet: Haven't had anyone construct a full character with it yet, but the capability is certainly there. My pbwiki D&D site has some striking similarities (I wonder why?), so you might want to see some of the things there to see what this service is capable of (make sure wiki javascript is enabled, at bottom). Oh, if you want to use the character sheet or any of the other stuff for your pbwiki site, just go to the bottom of my page and click "view page source", then copy it over.


---

If you guys got any suggestions or critiques, I'd be happy to hear them. I'm still looking for other creative projects to get into, and I'm willing to get my hands dirty.

edit1: updated NPC sheets (OpenOffice only)

Well I was pokeing around on the NPC stuff I get unknown file type.

Unless you have a Mac or something, I'm guessing you have MS Word. Make sure you download the NPC Sheets for MS Word (.doc), not for OpenOffice (.odt/.ods).

Tried that still got unknown file type.

All your links go to files that end in .ods

Ah, my bad. Fixed.

I'm also working on some updated NPC sheets with ammo counters, etc. Should be up soon.

Sweet all works thanks and looks good.

...this is a big help. Especially the VegPacket. I tend to run from my notebook PC and this eliminates a lot of "oh wait, let me get the book...what page is that on?"

I like the NPC sheets, simple yet versatile. This would work well for PC contacts. The Grunt Creation guide is pretty helpful as well, especially when you need to come up a group of oppos the night before the session.

The Mini-Movement HR looks like a nice set of tactical management tools. Especially helpful when you have a large team or lot of NPCs. I'm still working on an active "Electronic Battlemat" where the GM can see the things the PC cannot like the Merc crouched behind the dumpster down the alleyway.

Looked over the PBWiKi sample character sheet. Again nice concept, since most character sheets I've seen are locked PDFs and if you don't have the full blown Acrobat you're still stuck to printing them off blank and filling them in by hand (pencil & paper is so retro). So far the only SR4 Chargen database i've seen that sets up a relatively useful character record is WizDoc. However, since it is in Excel, you have to do a bit of "re-engineering" if your gear list goes beyond the number of cells provided or you want to include new items (such as adept powers and mage spells from Street Magic).

Again, nice work.

UPDATE
- (OpenOffice-only) NPC Sheets have been reorganized, and now they include mark-off rows for Edge & Ammo.
- Got rid of the full-color NPC sheets. I feel bad if you had to witness them. OTOH, the new "colored" label sheets look much nicer.

I have an MS Word version, but I'm about 75% sure it will crash as soon as you mess with it and/or save it (at least, that's what it does in OpenOffice). If you'd like to help me test it and figure out what's wrong (if anything), download this file:

Veg_NPC_bw.doc

Where is the initative plugin i cant find it for download.

-Josh

Also how do I install Python, I am not a programmer and haven't the foggiest idea of what I need to DL, i use XP.

-Josh

Umm, not entirely sure, to tell you the truth. It looks like Dj changed the site layout. It should be included with the OpenRPG download package. Once you load up the program, make sure the InitTool2 plugin is loaded and type /inittool2.

Also, Dj wrote his own GUI-based initiative tool which looked pretty good, but I haven't had a chance to mess with it. No idea if it supports SR4 or not.

EDIT: Try: http://openrpg.com/index.php?page=install
It's a little out of date with the latest dev version of OpenRPG, but my plugin is in there somewhere.

That helped, i was able to get in installed, thank you.

-Josh

Great stuff.
Thanks for sharing.

Could we make this sticky? We should have a sticky thread listing the best tools announced here (preferably, listing them all in the first post, because if they'll be spread throughout several pages the sticky thread will loose much of its usefulness).

http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/openrpg/InstallingWindows