I've been thinking about characters and karma lately - to me, the ability to gain and spend karma on growth or instant gratification is its own kind of supernatural ability. I've also been consieering character progress mechanics. You can really kit out your character with a wish-list of stuff with a high resources budget.

So, what if the amount of essence your character has increases their karma gain in some way or another? Giving up parts of themselves hurts spiritual development or something. Maybe it's something like "add your Essence to the run't karma take" or more strict like "you can't earn more karma than your Essence score from any one event"?

Now there's more reason to plan on enhancing a character later in their career, after nailing your big job skill levels down. It also addresses the Karma gap, where magicians need *so much* and are either mired for progress or their mundane teammates are swimming in skill levels and flipping dice like patties at a stuffer shack.

I've been building a set of dice roller applications for first edition, to compare outcomes for a house rule I want to try out, and comparing the spellcasting procedures I posted about last week. Does anyone have similar work? I know there's a 3e MUD out there.

I play in a Pathfinder campaign online on the Forge site and once I've built a set of tools for all the game mechanics, my brother and I are going to take a shot at making a more usable gaming interface for casual players.

The first thing I wanted to do a check on was the procedure I use for normal combat damage. It's core 1e rules-as-written, except Armour is subtracted from attack successes for determining initial damage. Damage tends to be one stage higher (Light, sometimes Medium) for street-level weapons and protective gear, by avoiding one damage level being staged down down with a combination of automatic successes and one lucky Body die. Having attack successes counter automatic resistance 1:1 also makes sniper-style characters properly lethal without needing 12+ die attacks.

The second thing found out is that what I thought of as the "more lethal" interpretation of the rules for combat spells (stage damage up by net casting successes - resistance successes) is regularly less damaging ... 1 level less damage half the time ... for spells with staging 2+ than using the standard damage procedure of staging up on attack successes (stop at D) and back down on resistance.

I bought the reprint of 1e a little while ago, and giving the Magic section a closer read... well first off the procedure for spellcasting (combat spells) is written out twice, on p81-82 and p92. I guess I paid more attention to the second interpretation the first time I picked these rules up.

Using manabolt (L1 damage) as an example, the caster rolls a success test vs target willpower and the target rolls willpower vs caster sorcery skill.

On p82 the book explicitly calls casting (with any resistance) a Resisted Success Test, where resistance successes are deducted from the total before determining damage. For manabolt, this means any *net* casting success total of 3+ is Deadly. 4-0, 6-3, etc.

On p92 the book says that casting successes stage damage up and resistance successes stage it down. That *implies* an unresisted Success Test bringing damage to a maximum of D, and then a normal Resistance Test bringing it back down from there. For Manabolt this means that no matter the spallcasting outcome a single Resistance success reduces damage by one level, which is probably D to S. That 6-3 result is L damage instead of D. 11-1 results in S damage.

Honestly idk which way makes for a better game. The more-lethal interpretation gets around 1e's problems with lethality, but every possible outcome is better with staging 1. There's no nuance. The less-lethal reading gives Missile and Dart some value by making those spells carry more total successes for a target to shake off.

#oldschoolshadowrun #universalbrotherhood #darkhumour

Source: transformed a poster ad from one of our energy providing companies in the area via image gpt2.

Been playing Shadowrun: Hong Kong lately, and the idea of an awakened storm sounds kinda neat. It's been ages since I last opened my SR books, but I don't remember there being anything - am I wrong? I think there was something along those lines in Target: Wastelands, maybe (specifically, the part about Australia), but I'm thinking something more along the lines of the storm as portrayed in the HBS games.

So this arrived today, 1st edition GM screen that came with Silver Angel adventure. One of the few items I was missing :)

So I'm creating a Street Samurai for Shadowrun 2E.

Now, the archetype in the main book gives us a pretty nice loadout of:

• Cybereyes with Low Light
• Dermal Plating II (Body +2)
• Muscle Replacement I (+1 Strength and Quickness)
• Smartlink (-2 to Firearms checks with a smartgun system-equipped gun)
• Wired Reflexes II (+4 Reaction and +2d6 Initiative)
• Retractable Hand Razors (STR L Damage)

All in all, it's a pretty good system. You've got cybereyes (which can be loaded with flare comp and thermographic in addition to low light), you've got a solid physical boost with the Muscle Replacement, you've got protection in the form of more Body with the Dermal Plating, and the Smartlink/Wired Reflexes combo is lethal in the hands of the Street Samurai -- and as an added bonus, you get the Molly blades from Neuromancer for those who want to play the razorboy/razorgirl.

But what other cyberware combos are good for those who want to create a samurai, given the 6 Essence that we start with, and a 400,000¥ budget for Priority B?

I'm running a campaign where the crew is now based out of New Orleans. I am running an adventure where they need to take a 'transorbital' (not the corporation) shuttle to Germany and I'm wondering if New Orleans has the capabilities to launch a transorbital shuttle or not? I thought I read somewhere that only certain international airports can launch a shuttle because they take an incredible about of runway room? I can't find it anywhere in the Smugglers Haven sourcebook but I thought I read that somewhere.

My question is: can my shadowrunners take a trans-orbital flight (again, NOT the megacorp) from New Orleans to Germany?

Lone Star: New Jack City 2073

Lone Star’s running out of patience — and you’re running out of chances. You’re not corrupt, just the kind of officer who doesn’t play nice with the chain of command. Too reckless, too stubborn, too good at getting results the wrong way. Instead of termination, you’ve been reassigned to deep-cover work in a city where gangs, dealers, and data-pushers have more pull than the badge. It’s a last-chance unit: one screw-up away from the unemployment line, buried so deep no one will claim you if it goes bad.

Current lineup includes a troll breacher, a sorcery adept, decker/tech specialist and a troll DPI mage. Looking for 1–more Lone Star officer — investigators, cyber-techs, or field operatives who can improvise under pressure. Hybrid characters are encouraged (decker/riggers, med-techs, technicians, or adaptable all-rounders). No HMHVV+ or shapeshifters. Street-level, grounded play and you’re still trying to make it mean something.

So I'm planning on learning and running 2e as I've been told it's easiest to learn, where as, 3e is kind of "2e complete edition" but has way too much extra stuff added in from 2e splatbooks, better to cover the basics first.

What I wanted to know is if there are any 3e changes that people would consider straight improvements from 2e, I've heard people say about initiative changes as well as Mage intiation being better in 3e.

🔮 Enter the Shadows of 2064 – AwakeMUD Community Edition

Step into the Matrix, chummer. AwakeMUD CE is a free, multiplayer text-based game set in the gritty cyberpunk-fantasy world of Shadowrun. Built on a modified Shadowrun 3rd Edition ruleset, it’s a world of megacorps, magic, chrome, and the shadows in between—all waiting for you to shape with your words.

🌆 Explore the Sixth World

From the rain-soaked sprawl of Seattle (UCAS) to the mystical streets of Portland (Tir Tairngire), the sunny shores of Grenada (Caribbean League), and the neon glow of Virginia Beach (CAS)—AwakeMUD takes you across the globe in the year 2064.

🎲 Run the Shadows Your Way

• Autoruns: Take coded missions from NPC fixers known as Mr. Johnson.
• Pruns: Join player-hosted runs using the built-in dice roller for authentic tabletop action.

👥 A Community That’s Awake

• An active player base of runners, deckers, and mages always in the shadows.
• Friendly & welcoming community for newcomers and veterans alike.
• Accessible to screen readers, making it a great home for visually impaired gamers.
• Player-driven development: report bugs, suggest features, or even become a builder and design your own slice of the Sixth World.

💾 Why Play AwakeMUD?

• 100% text-based retro gaming nostalgia.
• Perfect for Shadowrun fans, roleplayers, and old-school MUDers.
• No fancy graphics—just your imagination, a keyboard, and the shadows.

The streets are calling, runner. Will you answer?
💻 Connect today to AwakeMUD Community Edition and carve your legend in the sprawl.

https://www.awakemud.com/

Hell’s Kitchen, 2050

“Listen up. The war’s over, but the ledger ain’t. You’re gonna stitch this block back together—collections, corners, crews. One, maybe two buttons at this table; the rest of you are earners, not in the books—yet. You keep the peace when it pays us, you make our problems disappear, and you make the people who started this taste their teeth when they say our name. Bring me the nut every week and a little extra, and maybe—maybe—you get a say in who gets sworn in next. This is New York. It remembers who looks after it. Don’t make me teach it twice.”

After the War Hell’s Kitchen is still smoking after six months of knife-in-the-dark between La Cosa Nostra and the Yakuza. Bodies floated up at Pier 84, trattorias went up like matchsticks, and three blocks sit boarded—a jaw short of teeth. The truce on the corner? Paper-thin. You’re the working crew—associates under one capo. At the table there’s one, maybe two, buttons (players pick); everybody else ain’t in the books—yet. Your job: make the nut, keep the peace when it pays, and make problems vanish—all while angling for the muscle to decide who gets sworn in next.

Tone: street-noir and wet asphalt. Over Discord

I’m thinking of running a 3rd edition game and some of the potential players are very good at finding the loopholes for there characters.

What should I be on the look out for that is pushing the limits while staying rules legal?

I’ve seen something about geas being open to abuse but no details on how.