I have never gamemastered Shadowrun before and had some questions. I have played on occasion. Right now I only have the rulebook and runner's companion.

Where can I find rules for different environments and environmental effects like extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation exposure and zero-g?

Also are their any rules or guidelines for making custom races and determining their BP cost?

More specifically how would I create a race that is naturally telepathic like fraal, vulcans or asari?

Arsenal has the rules for extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation exposure and zero-g. Runners companion should give you enough to work with if you use the Changling rules as a guideline. Though I'd increase the cost of the race depending on it's rarity in your setting.

Telepathy would be along the lines of a spell knack for the mindlink or mindnet spell.

spell knack? Is that a quality? What book is that in?

5 BP IIRC, Street Magic

It is also tied with Astral Sight for the worst quality in the books, by far.

I strongly advise against accounting for a species rarity in their Build Point values. The Build Point costs for playing a given race is a mechanical balancing factor, and as such, should only ever take into account mechanical benefits & penalties of the race in question. To do otherwise is, put simply, fucking retarded.

Player characters are, by default, rare. They are experts in their fields, they participate in an occupation that pays no attention to global, regional, or even local population demographics, & most importantly, should reflect what the player wants to play. To punish someone for playing a "rare" species, while giving free points to someone who plays a "common" species is absurd, & is exactly what happens when you take the supposed "rarity" into account for determining values.

In regards to this, below are my suggested values for the Metatypes & Metavarients, along with a breakdown of how these costs where determined. These values are house rules, and are in no way official (although unlikely, I do hope they become official through errata). I suggest using them as a guideline for generating new racial options.

I have compiled costs in the same manner for the Infected, & may post them later. I have not yet done so for Shapeshifters, Drakes, Synthetic Intelligences, non-Metahuman Sapients, or Free Spirits. In regard to Synthetic Intelligences & Free Spirits, I advise against their use in general - not only are the costs absurd, but the mechanics equally so. I will eventually get around to re-writing them, but for now advise avoiding them.

Each racial option receives a "Racial Discount" to their Build Point value. This is to maintain Humans as a baseline with a cost of 0, accounting for their +1 Edge, & is then applied to all other racial options to maintain balance. It should not be applied to Templates, or racial qualities, such as the Infected or Drakes; you select these in addition to a standard race, & thus have already received this discount.

These costs also include a few house adjustments to the value of Qualities - particularly the Pathogen/Toxin Resistance quality for the Dwarf.


Metahuman & Metavarient Build Point Values:

Thanks. Great post and great breakdown or the racial options. That will be a tremendous help.

Just BP thoughts on Drakes (Runner's Companion):

I think that 65 BP is too high. I mean, sure you get some nice perks (fly speed, enhanced senses, some atribute bonuses), but the complications that come with them and the low level of armor offered in dracoform don't nearly add up to 65.

50 BP is probably closer. Or raising their base armor to 6/6 hardened.

Not entirely off topic, as it's another example of a RAW metatype.