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Valium
Has anyone made a sci-fi (spaceships & stuff, you get the point) conversion of the SR3 rules that have worked out really well? What about rules for massive battles?

I'm considering working on something like that for my homebrewn sci-fi rpg (it's called DAMAGE, go figure) and if some you could give me some good pointers on the subject I would be grateful. The game's basically Aliens -type stuff with big guns, genetically engineered super soldiers (the PCs), mutants and the occasional battle with some rebel scum.. Originally it also had some psionics stuff but it was all storytelling (GM tool, no rules mechanics) but I'm planning on including that also in some sort of metaplot twistie-thingie (Blue Planet style, if you're familiar with the game). sleepy.gif
GunnerJ
Someone around here posted a link to a project of his to do just this. Lesse if I can find it...

Here! And he's updated is seems...

What's with all the SR to Other Genre conversion stuff today?
cleggster

Hey, thats cool.

I stared to use if for a deep space "galactic empire" style game. But I eventually gave it up for a percentage thing.

What Shadowrun did really well for was Dune. We tried using the West End Games Star Wars rules, but Shadowruns ability to stage damage worked out best. And the magic rues were able to help make some of the Bene Gesserit abilities. Problem was how to get a Fremen, Bene Geserit and a Mentat Swordmaster together.

mike_the_fish
Quite frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to use the Shadowrun system if they didn't have to. The rules are ... ok. They are definitely pretty complex and clunky. Personally speaking I tollerate the lackluster rules for the sake of the game world (which is infinitely cool)

If I were you, I would look for a better set of generic rules to use for a space-level sci fi game.
otaku mike
Wow, excellent link.
I almost did something like that long time ago, trying to adapt SR rules to a futuristic version of SR mixed with Macross and Cowboy Bebop...
Needless to say I gave up quickly in front of the impossible task wink.gif

But this guy did something close enough to what I would have liked to do myself. Anyone knows how to contact him? I searched the website for an e-mail address but couldn't find any.
Phaeton
QUOTE (mike_the_fish)
Quite frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to use the Shadowrun system if they didn't have to. The rules are ... ok. They are definitely pretty complex and clunky. Personally speaking I tollerate the lackluster rules for the sake of the game world (which is infinitely cool)

If I were you, I would look for a better set of generic rules to use for a space-level sci fi game.

Hey, man. At least it doesn't have classes. And you don't need to remember 5,000,000 statistics like with d20.
Diesel
QUOTE (GunnerJ @ Dec 26 2003, 06:15 PM)
Someone around here posted a link to a project of his to do just this. Lesse if I can find it...

Here! And he's updated is seems...

What's with all the SR to Other Genre conversion stuff today?



All that's mine, and rather out of date. I have the (wow...) second edition on the computer. Never uploaded it though, I didn't really like the project and it slowly died. If anyone wants to rekindle it, I have all the guns, armors, systems, ships, outfits, and such done. And a neat map too!
otaku mike
QUOTE (mike_the_fish)
Quite frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to use the Shadowrun system if they didn't have to.

I know one good reason... Actually the same reason that D&D players use when asked why they don't try other systems : lazyness.
I don't want to bother learning a new system when the one I know really well works well enought for me. A few twitches here and there, and that's fine with me.
mike_the_fish
QUOTE (Phaeton @ Dec 26 2003, 11:03 PM)

Hey, man. At least it doesn't have classes. And you don't need to remember 5,000,000 statistics like with d20.

Never said SR was inferior to d20. Quite the opposite in fact. It's just not my favorite rules system is all. But to each his own and all that.

And anyways, SR has at least as many statistics as d20, what with all the dice pools, and target number modifiers and all. I hear you on the classes though.
leemur
Having been involved in two sci-fi games using the ShadowRun rules (one set in the Starcraft universe, and one in the BattleTech Universe), I found the game worked fairly well using the rules in different settings.

The only major problem was with spaceship combat. The final solution (which seemed to work) revolved around ships (and, for that matter, Battlemechs) having a 'hull rating' which reduced the final damage down by that many levels (ie your ship with Hull:3 takes deadly damage, the Hull rating reduces it to light. There were also weapons with "Hull penetration" that negated Hull ratings.

On the whole, I don't see what other game system you could use for a sci-fi setting.

"That other game" is the main contender, and is probably one of the better options, given the amount of easily accessable background material (for example, borrow races from the Star Wars books). But I find it appalling that any modern day game still uses classes. And using a single die to determine success? Bleh. I tend to look at TSR's system as something you should eventually graduate from.

The Storyteller system (which most people (justifiably) call the V:TM system) is the other popular game, and to be honest, it could actually work. The system has a repution for angst, but for pure roleplaying, it is a better system than Shadowrun. Howver, it tends to be vague about game aspects, and rely on its modern setting and common sense to create atmosphere. Sci-fi settings intrinsically require numbers to work. If you wanted to create a more atmospheric sci0fi game (like something similar to Firefly, then it could work. But otherwise, no.

There are other options, like creating a hybrid system, or using a less known system, but that means forcing players to learn a while new system. Best stick to what you know.
mike_the_fish
QUOTE (leemur)

There are other options, like creating a hybrid system, or using a less known system, but that means forcing players to learn a while new system. Best stick to what you know.

Your right, god forbid that gamers actually break out of their system ruts and actually broaden their horizons and try something new and different. What a crazy notion biggrin.gif
Cray74
Well, I keep trying to use Shadowrun's rules (minus the setting and magic) for Mechwarrior instead of the Mechwarrior RPG. (MW3: bleh).

The Battletech setting has plenty of vehicular combat rules (which I use instead of Shadowrun's vehicular combat system), including Battle Force (for running large scale ground battles). It just takes a reasonable interface (something like MW2's method) to translate SR's skills into Battletech's pilot/gunnery skills.
leemur
QUOTE (Cray74)
Well, I keep trying to use Shadowrun's rules (minus the setting and magic) for Mechwarrior instead of the Mechwarrior RPG. (MW3: bleh).


Try this

http://members.westnet.com.au/edchow/battletech/

Go to the downloads sections and get the conversion rules.

It's all done by my current DM who, if he spent half as long on DM as he did on creating rules, would be a fantastic DM.
cleggster

If you are wondering, what made the Shadowrun system appealing for our Dune game was the cambat system. Yes, the combat system. I know that a lot of people don't like it, but the ability to stage damage is something the players really like. Nobody likes rolling a wicked attack role and then doing something like 1-8 points of damage. (like with West Ends Star Wars) This thing I liked about Shadowruns was that it is simple to manipulate. A single target number that you can then modifiy for what ever reasons you want. Swordmaster using a faint, + modifier to counterattack. Using voice, - modifier to resist comands.

Maybe not for everybody but worked great for us.

As for D20, I think it works for D&D well. It easy to make a character and to describe them.

And blah blah, old arguments that you all heard before.

Just peronaly love the combat system here. Thought the magic system was the best too untill Mage came out.

Daishi
Well, our gaming group decided to try using SR in a sci-fi campaign. So we did a test run, and it went fairly well for three months until I killed the whole PC party. We went with SR because it is a system we know fairly well and we like it a lot. It is a highly lethal system with a lot of customizability and flexibility. Customization and grittiness are things we like, so it worked well.

Most of the modifications we've made are posted on the "website" for the conversion: Pimps in Space.

For space combat, we've been using standard rigger rules with some modifications. The maneuver score uses speed/100 in space, and more importantly non-rigger characters get a control pool equal to their natural reaction. AV weapons don't halve armor values, and after that, the combat was survivable. Without those modifications, the ships were far too fragile. I will likely be adding further modifications to the ship combat system, since it needs more depth to be a primary combat system. I just don't know how yet. Possibly maneuvers ala the martial arts system.

A lot of the rules and notes are still just in my head or in scrap paper, so I will be adding those to the site as we go along.

The world we use is a liberal mixture of Escape Velocity: Nova, Halo, Marathon, Starcraft, Dorsai!, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Brute Force, Battletech, Renegade Legion, and a bunch of other stuff all wrapped together in my twisted mind.

Also, some parts of Target: Wastelands proved invaluable.
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