Homebrew Theater: Dragon’s Breath Shells

Some days shooting a guy just isn’t enough. But flamethrowers are so illegal and so hard to concealed-carry.

Isn’t there a better way to light a man on fire for the rest of his life?

The fine folks at Cavalier Arms were thinking just of you.

Initially released as “Big D’s Temper Shells,” to commemorate the untimely passing of President Dunkelzahn by enabling ordinary citizens to know the joys of roasting their enemies alive. Naturally, the pesky anti-gun lobby pushed for them to be taken off the market based on some misguided notion that no one needed to set someone on fire from 30ft away.

Rejoyce, home-defence lovers, because after considerable lobbying Cavalier Arms has returned freedom to the UCAS!

Dragon’s Breath Shells

• Damage Modifier: +3
• AP modifier: -6
• Availability: 16R
• Cost: 300 nu/10 shells

Special Rules: Dragon’s Breath Shells’ AP replaces the AP of the shotgun they’re used for, the way Stick-n-shock rounds do.

DBS use both shotgun choke rules and taser ranges. Anything hit/damaged by Dragon’s Breath Rounds must make an Armor + Fire Resistance – 6 AP test with the threshold of the net hits of the attack. If they fail, they’re on fire as per SR5 pg 171.

In addition, every time you fire them, roll 1d6. On the roll of a 1, the barrel which fired said shell is now warped and cannot be fired again without causing an unfortunate backblast.

This may be fixed with a Armorer Shop, and a Armorer + Logic [mental] (12, 1 day) test.

Conversion notes:

Big D’s Temper Shells are from the second Shadowrun book I ever bought, the Cannon Companion. I’ve increased the DV modification to account for how armor has changed, given a guess as to a up to date build/repair time, and jacked up the price to enjoy inflation. The initial AP of “Half Impact armor” translates around -6 anyway. Plus, SR5 specifies non-magical fire attacks half said AP.

This is one of my favorite pieces of SR gear. SR4 and SR5 both disappointed me by not bringing it back. It’s about making an impression.

Just the tip:

The best reason to use a break-action shotgun is to have a pair of these loaded up. That way, if the barrel warps, you’re not out much more fire than you were going to have before reloading anyway. Slap a sling on it and carry it under your coat.

Homebrew Theater: Combat Virtuoso (Combat Skill)

Our first Homebrew content is a simple adept power geared towards adepts who are sick of low-accuracy weapons taking their jobs and their women.

Combat Virtuoso (Combat Skill)

Cost: .75 PP

Pick any combat skill where a weapon’s accuracy comes into play (Any other than throwing weapons or unarmed combat). For any weapon using said skill, the adept uses her physical limit as a limit instead of the weapon’s accuracy.

Combat Virtuosos are known for taking seemingly clumsy weapons and wielding them with uncanny skill, as if their awkward bulk was a strength instead of a weakness.

Virtuoso is not compatible with anything else which changes a weapon’s accuracy such as a laser sight, smart link, or the enhanced accuracy power. You may still use Improved Potential to raise your physical limit. A wireless-linked Laser sight or smartlink may still provide its usual dice pool modifier.

Character Library: Ivy Mike, Sledge Hammer Adept

“The first rule of Club Club is everything is a club.”                                                                  -Big Caper, Your Friendly Neighborhood Ork Bouncer

Ivy Mike

People over-complicate things. There’s wrong and there’s right, even in the shadows. Show respect, protect those who can’t protect themselves, and beat the living fuck out of anyone who thinks the previous two are optional.

Ivy Mike would think of himself as a modern Paladin, if he wasn’t such a thug. The son of an exiled, cancer ridden Tir Na Nog noble, Ivy strives to live up to an ideal hollow even in the home country he can never know. IM’s natural optimism and exuberance are tested by the shithole he lives in.

His inner nobility is undercut by his natural love of nasty, nasty fighting. Disdaining overly formal styles for a more vicious approach, Ivy Mike has learned the joys of beating people senseless for fun and profit. He prides himself on being able to hurt people with unusual things. Things not necessarily made as weapons.

He grew up surrounded by crippling poverty, his father’s bitter rage, and legends of noble elven warriors. Ivy Mike dreams of being an ascendant hero. Life is not obliging him.

You can check out his sheet here.

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Using Ivy Mike

Some characters are built for subtlety. Ivy Mike isn’t really in their number. He’s a straight forward brawler made fun by the contrast between his natural optimism and the depressing world he lives in.

It should be noted that while he favors a sledge hammer, his skills allow him to use most anything hard enough to survive being used to beat someone.

I’ve used an adept power from Shadowrun 4’s Street Magic book on page 179. Nimble Fingers gives a +1 bonus on palming and makes Insert Clip, Pick up/put down object, Remove Clip, and use simple object free actions. If you don’t want to port such things, feel free to swap it for a level in Attribute Boost Strength.

IM’s big weakness is, sadly, accuracy. Because he focuses on weapons with naturally low accuracy, he can’t do too much damage without spending a little edge extra. This does have the benefit of giving him lots of room to play with called shots, however.

Compensating for that, though, is his helmet. With 6 points available for + Armor accessories and using the Most Important House Rule in R&G, Ivy Mike can make himself quite a bit harder to hurt. When kit up for a fight, he’s got form fitting body armor under some regular clothes, with an armored Jacket, and his Green Man-themed Ballistic Mask. This combination gives him a hefty 16 armor. 18, when his mystic armor Qi Foci is on.

If you want to use him as a NPC keep his Code of Honor in mind. He doesn’t hurt women or children and reacts badly to those who do. His ability to Riposte effectively from many attacks allows him to be an effective counter to melee-focused characters. Have him use push the limit when doing so. If wielding his sledge hammer while doing it, he’d be rolling 21 dice without a limit. Especially have him do so when he has initiative ending in an 8, 9, or 0 which allows him to keep his number of actions solid.

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Creation/advancement notes

This is my second experiment with creating a character heavily skewed towards attributes and away from skills. I got the idea from a guy I play with and it seems to work out pretty well. Despite his awful skills, he has enough to manage one overwhelming skill and a few solid ones.

Basically, since it’s easier to raise skills than it is to raise attributes, it makes sense to go light on them if you can spare it.

Ivy Mike got his name from the testing of the world’s first Thermonuclear device. A  85-ton, 10-megaton son-of-a-bitch. It’s a badass name and needed to be used. Ivy Mike’s actual name is some nigh-unpronounceable creole of Sperethiel and Gaelic. He’s accepted no one wants to speak his actual name.

I imagine his Astral Beacon quality comes from his emotions being large and flaring. He isn’t really a subtle person.  And he legitimately doesn’t understand people who try and make things more complicated than they are. If he was a SR4 Adept, he’d almost certainly be a Way of the Athlete instead of a Way of the Warrior adept. IM is all about the joy of using his body rather than winning fights.

Long term, he’s probably going to be moving towards picking up Arnis De Mano to get Multiple Opponent Combat(Defender has defended), Two-weapon-Style Attack, and Two-Weapon Style Defense. Then picking up enough arcana to initiate so he can make out his improved reflexes. So many martial arts options give new uses for initiative nothing else really makes sense

 

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Ivy Mike- Sledge Hammer Adept

A Attributes 24
B Magic – Adept Magic 6, one R4 active skill
C Race – Elf (3)
D Skills 22
E: Money 6k

“The first rule of Club Club is that everything is a club.”

Karma: 25
-7 Natural Athlete
-4 Ambidextrous
-7 Martial art and maneuver (Bartitsu; Called Shot(Disarm))
-5 Mentor Spirit(Eagle)

+15 Code of Honor
+10 Astral Beacon
+0 Allergy (Pollutants, mild)

-10 for 20k in money
-6 to raise sneaking to 3
-8 to bond w/ Qi Focus
-3 Carry Over
Attributes 24

B 5
A 7(8)
R 4(6)
S 5
W 4
L 3
I 5
C 3

E 4

Initative: 11+3d6

Defense: 12
-Riposte: 7(+2) Clubs + 6 Reaction +1 Combat Sense: 14(+2)

Armor: 12 Armored Jacked +2 Ballistic Mask + 2 Form Fitting Body Armor + 2 mystic armor: 18
Soak: 23
Skills 22
-Clubs (Improvised) 6(+2) +8 Agility +1 adept = 15(+2)
-*Gymnastics 4 + 8 Agility + 2 NA = 14(+2 Jumping)
-Running 2 +5 Strength +2 NA = 9
-Perception 1 +5 Intuition + 2 Eagle = 8
-Unarmed 2 + 8 Agility
-Automatics(Machine Pistols) 1(+2) +8 Agility = 9(+2)
-Throwing Weapons 2 +8 Agility = 10
-**Etiquette 2 + 3 CHA = 5
-Negotiation 1 + 3 CHA = 4
-**Sneaking(Urban) 3(+2) + 8 Agility = 11(+2)
-Palming 1 + 8 Agility = 9

*= Free from magic
** = Raised with Karma

Knowledge Skills 16
-Sprawl life 2
-Area Knowledge 2
-Tir Na Nog Lore 4
-Sperienthiel 2
-(Area) Gangs 3
-Street Fighting 3

Adept Powers 6:
-Enhanced Accuracy(Clubs) .25
-Critical Strike (Clubs) .5
-Improved Physical Attribute (Agility 1) 1
-Improved Reflexes 2 2.5
-Light Body 2 .5
-*Combat Sense 1 –
-**Nimble Fingers .25 (SM pg 179)
-Danger Sense 2 .5
-Improved Ability(Clubs) 1 .5

**If you’re using our Combat Virtuoso power, he drops Enhanced Accuracy (clubs) and Critical strike (Clubs) for Combat Virtuoso(clubs). Giving him a hefty 7 limit with improved weapons.

*Free from Mentor Spirit
** = From SR4’s Street Magic

Gear: 26000
-Sledge Hammer 40
-Stun Staff 1000
-Ultimax 70 800
-Concealable Quick Draw holster 275
-Gecko Grip 100
-Force 4 Qi Focus( Mystic Armor 2) 12,000
-Fake SIN R1 2,500
-Form Fitting Body armor 1,300
-Customized Ballistic Mask 300
*Note: Styled after the Green man
-Gas Mask 200 [2]
-Trodes 75 [1]
-Ultrasound Sensor R3 300 [1]
-Low-light Flashlight 25 [1]
-Armored Jacket 1000
-Fire Resist 6 1500
-Nonconductivity 6 1500
-Squatter Lifestyle 500
-Meta links x5 500
-Respirator R6 300
-Chain Mail 900

885 left

Contacts 9
-Kroc, One armed Troll martial Artist Bartender. 4/2

-Skippy, newbie fixer 1/2

The Most Important Run and Gun House rule

On Page 65 of Run and Gun, Catalyst added an old standby for armor in shadowrun: The Form Fitting Body Armor.

Yet, for some reason, they decided not to let it be stackable, despite having excellent rules for just this purpose.

To Chicago with that noise.

This house rule is simple: You change “Custom fit” to “Custom fit(Stack)” and change the armor rating from “8” to “8/+2.”

There. All is right in the word.

Review: Run and Gun Part 1

They finally released Run and Gun, first of the Shadowrun 5 core supplements. This is wonderful news for those of us who are waiting for the kinks in SR5 to be ironed out.

Sadly, R&G tackles the more-clearly defined area of combat rather than the murkier waters of magic, the matrix, and the doomed reaches of Rigger-land.

What it does, though, is expand combat with tremendous style. Let’s take a close look. And I mean close. This beast topped out over 5,000 words.

Overview

If you’re looking for a new pile of options for SR5, buy Run and Gun. I know it’s a bit gauche to put the bottom line at the top, but we’re going to be here awhile. This is your chance to get out quickly before I pick this bird apart.

Some background on myself and the book: My name is Steve and I’ve been playing Shadowrun since 2002. I started out as a GM, stopped playing after high school, and have *finally* found a stable group that lets me swap out GMing/playing duties in a manner I like. Which is the SR GM holy grail.

Run and Gun is the first major supplement for SR5. As you might infer, it’s about being able to shoot at people in new and more interesting ways. There are new guns, new armor, new ways to customize both, a few new qualities, a whole slew of new/modified actions, revamped martial arts, and 30 godforsaken pages worth of demolitions rules.

It looks good, and the rules seem good. There are too many new options to be sure how it impacts game balance, but my first read through didn’t find anything standing out as too unbalancing. In short, it’s an excellent pile of more ways to be awesome.

R&G is a dense read with lots of new additions to SR5. Part of what this means is I can’t really be sure my first impressions on how rules and the like are going to work out in actual play. Just because something strikes me as awkward or bad doesn’t mean it is so. Your mileage may vary.

There is one other disclaimer we need to get to before proceeding. I’ve been playing shadowrun for 3 editions now. Many of the things I don’t like about R&G are differences between previous editions and SR5. Feel free not to care about these. Another set of gripes comes from things which are awkward or annoying for my current character: Vicar, the Mercenary/Face/Drug Dealing Dwarf. I’ve included those comments because every player looks at new information with the question, “How does this impact my character?”

In some places I’ve even broken out the old Cannon Companion from SR3 and Arsenal from SR4 for comparison.

Gives a good bit of SR flavor and thinking without taking away from the “crunch”/hard rules. SR2 still wins for this stuff, but I think SR5 does a good job of balancing the two.

One of the strengths of R&G is the sense of humor which pops up. From random digs in the flavortext to a camouflage suit’s wireless bonus of, “Um… you draw in curious hackers?” R&G will bring more than a few chuckles to mind.

Fiction and Examples

There are 2 full stories in R&G and an opening piece for each chapter. Cat’s Paw is a heartwarming (Really!) tale of selling out and betrayal. Good stuff. I wouldn’t lie to you. OK, it’s actually a gritty clusterfuck but if you didn’t like that sort of thing you’d probably be playing some sunnier RPG like Kobolds Ate my Babies.

The second story, Hostile Extraction, actually is a heartwarming tale of a mildly psychotic professional grenade-tossing dwarf adept and his quiet assault-cannon wielding troll. It’s pretty much fantastic. The two of them have staked their rep on being noisy specialists who get the job done as long as you don’t mind extra chunky salsa.

The chapter-starting shorter stories were also mostly fun. Nothing really stand out, but good fun to get you in the mood for the subject matter.

I’m of two minds about the examples. First, with all the new mechanical tweaks there should be more. I’m sympathetic for space requirements and all that. Maybe Catalyist would find it a good idea to release a pdf of examples to show how all the new mechanics play with eachother.

The examples they do have though, are pretty solid and fun to read. The end of the martial arts section is out and out hillarious. It has some mouth breather starting a fight and getting beaten up by the well trained people he wanted to bar-fight with

The demolitions section has more reasonable amounts of examples and they’re a lot more fun. One series of them takes an almost, “good idea/bad idea” format showing the difference between the competent Twitch and the foolish Tic.

Remember: A little skill in demolitions is just enough to get you and everyone you know dead. Or arrested for a long time!

I’m just happy they saved their examples for the detailed-demolitions rules.

Check out part 2: Here

It’s 12:34 AM. Do you know where your meatbody is?

Welcome.

This is Power-Walking In The Darkness, a blog by Shadowrun GMs for anyone who enjoys the special mix of madness, desperation, technology, crime, and fantasy that is Shadowrun.

Back in the end of 2010, I was on a wild meditation retreat in the Washington State. Ten days of silent contemplation.  Among the many creative rushes I experienced over those all-too-long days was, “Power Walking In The Darkness” a Shadowrun themed sitcom I imagined done as a flash cartoon.

But even then flash cartoons were dead. But the name is fun, so what the fuck. Let’s run with it. See what I did there? Not impressed? Well, fine. You jaded jagoff, you.

You’re probably in the right spot.

Thing is, this blog isn’t just for me. We’re looking for other fans of Shadowrun to contribute fiction, art, blog posts, gear, reviews, house rules, etc.

Welcome to the show.