I have not been posting updates here for Surprise Threat because I am unsure of the appetite for Anarchy related materials on Dumpshock...

But this piece at Surprise Threat has some SR5 implications too.

Its about making combat faster and about combining NPCs into units.

If you all are interested, I can post more links for Anarchy house rules, supplements, and resources.

Absolutely Love your write-ups...
Awesome Work

Keep it up.

Here is a follow up article with PDF resources for using small units in Shadowrun Anarchy.

https://www.surprisethreat.com/single-post/...n-Anarchy-Units

Very, very cool! Have you thought about creating a slightly tweaked SR5-specific version? What do you think a version would look like for SR5 instead?

I feel like there might be one or two addition items that would give gamemasters more flexibility, like having each unit/team get a set of combat manuevers they can use at each threat level (or even better, a set of simplified combat manuevers that are more RP-friendly and require less dice) or listing out the one long-range or "scary" weapon for each team to make the gang of mooks less faceless.

I'm working on a homebrew supplement that is ideally going to be a SR5-friendly version of Fields of Fire (more usable than Run & Gun or Street Lethal), and was thinking of something similar to what you were doing, but I would love to just have something I could point people towards.

I was thinking about giving the Units a single Shadow Amp that the whole group could use.

The cost of the Amp would be Amp Level 1 for Threat Level 1, Amp Level 2 for Threat Level 2, etc.

Other than that, Units still get access to all the Amps that their mooks get and all of the Plot Points that they get so they can do some cool stuff with that.

I have leaders and specialists (like the scary weapon guys) as separate NPCs from the Unit. That way you can have an Enemy Mage lead a Unit of Corporate Security. Then there could be a Soldier (or a just another Corp Sec but with a heavier gun) that is also run as a separate NPC. They stay safe from being sniped because the Unit can spend a Plot Point to Take the Hit.

When I was running SR5, I had a thoroughly house ruled version of Grunts. I never put them into Units like this though.

Grunts:

• Have identical attributes, skills, and equipment.
• Have a Professional Rating between 0 and 6.
• Have a Group Edge that can be spent (or burnt) on any member of the group.
• Have a Group Initiative Score. Edge spent on Initiative affects the entire group.
• Have a single Condition Monitor which is used to track both Physical and Stun damage. Condition Monitor is equal to 8 + half of Body or Willpower (whichever is greater).
• Never take Wound Modifiers to their Initiative Score and do not take Wound Modifiers to other tests until they have filled at least half of their Condition Monitor with damage. At this point they are considered “bloodied” and take a flat -2 to all tests (except damage resistance tests).
• Never voluntarily take Interrupt Actions.
• (Optional) Take either defense tests OR damage resistance tests but never both.

That really speeds up combat, especially the last 3 points.