House Rules

Method

Standard Priority generation as per SR3 core: five Priorities, A–E, maximum Availability 8 (but see below).

Edges and Flaws

Edges and Flaws (from Shadowrun Companion) are allowed, up to 10 points, balanced — the same point value in both Edge and Flaw — but I want specific prior approval of all of them.

No Day Job; don't bother asking. That's not to say that you can't have a day job — work out the details with me if you want one — but you won't be getting build points for it on top of the free money.

Bonus Attribute is not allowed to raise your base attribute before racial mods above 6, unless you also have Exceptional Attribute in that attribute.

Don't take Common Sense; I treat all PCs pretty much as if they had it.

Metavariants

No dryads. As described — all-female, smaller than dwarves, all magically active with tradition and totem restrictions, rules-enforced environmental restrictions and strict roleplaying restrictions (that basically mean that they can't be shadowrunners), innate semi-magical powers — they make absolutely no sense as a metahuman elf variant. They're some kind of critter, or possibly a forest spirit.

Koborokuro are Priority C, and still get the Distinctive Style Flaw when operating outside Japan.

Cyclopes receive a +2 TN penalty to melee attacks instead of the standard +2 TN penalty to ranged attacks. Binocular vision contributes very little to depth perception beyond about ten meters, and precise ranging matters very little for ranged combat inside that range. It is, however, very important for hand-to-hand combat inside arm's reach.

Other metavariants (from Shadowrun Companion) are allowed, at the same Priority cost as their base metatype. However, they receive the equivalent of the Distinctive Style Flaw, for no build points, whenever operating outside the area in which the metavariant is normally found. None of them are native to the East Coast Sprawl that's my usual campaign setting.

Note that metavariants are rare, and imply a specific geographical origin and ethnic background.

Metavariant Origins

Cyclops (Troll)

Mediterranean

Fomori (Troll)

British Isles

Giant (Troll)

Scandinavia, British Isles, Iceland

Gnome (Dwarf)

Central Europe, Asia Minor

Hobgoblin (Ork)

Middle East

Koborokuru (Dwarf)

Japan

Menehune (Dwarf)

Pacific Islands

Minotaur (Troll)

Mediterranean

Night One (Elf)

Central Europe

Ogre (Ork)

Continental Europe

Oni (Ork)

Japan

Wakyambi (Elf)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Other Races and Variants

No shifters, no ghouls, no otaku, no albinos — at least not as starting characters. It's possible to become a ghoul the hard way after play begins. This may also be the case for shifters...

Weapon Skills

I've messed with the breakdown of the weapons skills considerably; see below.

B/R Skills

I may be amenable to merging closely related B/R skills together. Firearms B/R rather than separate Rifles B/R, Pistols B/R, SMGs B/R, etc., is an example. If it seems reasonable, ask.

Language Skills

No Sperethiel. I don't have all the Earthdawn-legacy metaplot in my games (which is not to say that it isn't there in the backstory, but if so, anything that knows about it is keeping it real quiet, not going around taking over Oregon, pretending to be historical figures, and teaching people long-dead languages). Elves who like to pretend that they've actually got a distinct culture tend to learn Sindarin/Quenya.

Knowledge Skills

Knowledge Skills are fairly free-form, and largely fluff-oriented. They can be most anything you can come up with, but I've compiled a list of examples that show up in various canon sources.

New Stuff

All the weapons, armor, cyberware, bioware, vehicles (but see below), deck accessories (but no otaku), and so on from Cannon Companion, Man and Machine, Magic in the Shadows, Rigger 3, Matrix 3, Sprawl Survival Guide, SOTA:2063, and SOTA:2064 are available (modulo normal Availability rules).

Vehicles and Availability

The Availabilities for vehicles are severely broken — far higher than is reasonable in some cases, and ridiculously low in other cases. There are, in fact, some vehicles that have lower Availabilities than some of the equipment they carry ordinarily does. As such, ignore vehicle Availabilities; if you want anything more complicated than a basic car or bike, just ask me.

The FAQ

Don't trust the official Shadowrun FAQ. Many of the rulings, particularly FanPro-era, are nonsensical, game-breaking, clearly wrong by the actual rules, or self-contradictory. In at least one notable case (the Invisibility ruling), it manages to be all of those simultaneously. If you've got a question, frequently asked or otherwise, ask me.

Magic

Initiation (but see below), geasa, new spells, alternate paths and totems, and so on from Magic in the Shadows are allowed. I may mess with the orichalcum economy, though.

Martial Arts

Cannon Companion has an alternate martial arts system. We won't be using it; it's silly (in my professional opinion).

Surgery and Healing

Man and Machine has an alternate healing and surgery system. We'll be using the healing part, but not the surgery part. It's entirely too easy to go in for simple cyberware installation and wake up dead because your incredibly skilled doctor failed one of the series of ridiculously high TN tests. If anyone has surgery in-game for whatever reason, I'll just wave my hands and give you a time that you'll be out of action.

Detailed Lifestyle

Sprawl Survival Guide contains more elaborate rules for Lifestyle. These are available for anyone who wants to use them (they work out identical to the basic rules in SR3 core if you don't do anything fancy with them, but allow a lot more flexibility), but work out the details with me.

Weapon Skills

Melee skills

Melee combat skills are re-divided as so:

Unarmed Combat (Reaction)

Unarmed, includes cyber-implants and natural weapons

Knives (Reaction)

Knives, daggers, other Reach 0 stabbing or slicing weapons. Includes the sai.

One-Handed Weapons (Reaction)

Swords, axes, maces, clubs, other Reach 1 weapons that don't fit elsewhere.

Two-Handed Weapons (Reaction)

Pole arms, claymores, quarterstaves, spears, and other two-handed, usually Reach 2+, weapons.

Whips (Quickness)

Whips, monofiliment and otherwise.

Chain Weapons (Reaction)

Flails, morning stars, nunchaku, heavy chains, other jointed weapons.

Shields (Strength)

Shields and similar primarily defensive blocking implements.

All of these skills except for Whips and Shields form a default group.

Hand-and-a-Half Weapons

Hand-and-a-half weapons, like katanas and combat axes, can be wielded either two-handed, using the Two-Handed Weapons skill, or one-handed, using the One-Handed Weapons skill. They get a +1 Power bonus when wielded two-handed, as per the standard rules. This bonus is presumed to already be figured into the katana's damage code.

Two-Weapon Combat

There are no restrictions on what can be a primary weapon and what can be a secondary weapon, other than the combatant's ability to wield said weapon one-handed.

Wielding a secondary weapon requires an appropriate Off-Hand (Weapon) skill, probably Off-Hand (Knives) or Off-Hand (Single-Hand). Two-weapon combatants gain half of their Off-Hand skill's dice in melee combat tests. These dice should be kept distinct from other dice used in the combat test. If successes scored on the secondary weapon dice make the difference between winning and losing the success contest, the attack does damage as per the secondary weapon's Damage Code rather than the primary weapon's.

Shields

Shields are treated like secondary weapons, with a few exceptions. In Full Defense, shields provide the full dice rating of the Off-Hand (Shields) skill rather than the normal half.

Firearms Skills

Firearms skills are consolidated and re-divided as so:

Pistols (Quickness)

Most pistols.

Light Automatics (Quickness)

SMGs, any pistol with a BF or FA setting.

Rifles (Quickness)

Rifles — Sport, Sniper, or Assault.

Shotguns (Quickness)

Shotguns. Pistols that fire shotgun rounds, like the Remington Roomsweeper, can use Shotguns or Pistols at the user's option.

Laser Weapons (Quickness)

Laser weapons.

Heavy Weapons (Quickness)

Machine guns and assault cannons.

Spray Weapons (Quickness)

Flamethrowers, spray guns, firehoses, and the like.

Launch Weapons (Intelligence)

Rocket, missile, and grenade launchers. Launchers mounted on other weapons, such as the under-barrel grenade launcher on an AK-98, can use that weapon's skill.

Gunnery (Intelligence)

Anything mounted on a vehicle.

Pistols, Light Automatics, Rifles, Shotguns, and Heavy Weapons form a default group.

Launch Weapons and Gunnery form a default group.

Encumbrance

Shadowrun's encumbrance system is ridiculously broken, as are many of the equipment weights. We'll be using the common sense method.

Initiation

I require an ordeal for the first initiation — this is largely for roleplaying purposes. I invite creativity here, and will cooperate to any reasonable extent to make your ideas work mechanically.

Gear

Combat Axe

The combat axe is a Reach 1 hand-and-a-half weapon. It can be wielded with one hand, using One-Handed Weapons and doing (Str)S damage, or with two hands, using Two-Handed Weapons and doing (Str+1)S damage.

Katana

The katana is a hand-and-a-half weapon. It can be wielded with one hand, using One-Handed Weapons and doing (Str+2)M damage, or with two hands, using Two-Handed Weapons and doing (Str+3)M damage.

Bo Staff

The bo staff does (Str+2)M Stun damage, just like staves that don't come from Japan.

Laser Crescent Axe

The laser crescent axe is not only just plain goofy, it's far, far too heavy. The weight, therefore, is reduced from the listed 5.2 kg (almost twelve pounds) to a heavy but managable 2 kg. The laser crescent axe is a hand-and-a-half weapon, doing (Str)S damage when wielded one-handed and (Str+1)S when wielded two-handed. The damage level is reduced to M if the weapon is knocked out of alignment, but the Power doesn't change.

Rattan Stick

Rattan stick base damage is reduced to L against armored targets and M against unarmored. Seriously, I get hit with these things repeatedly every week. If they were M/S damage, even with armor, I'd be getting beaten unconscious every fighter practice.

Vehicle Ramming

When one vehicle attempts to ram another, both vehicles must make Handling Checks. If the defender wins, the attack misses. If the attacker wins, both vehicles must resist damage based on their relative sizes and speeds, with net successes on the attack roll staging damage to the defender (but not the attacker) up as per a normal attack.

Vehicles with Body 0 are automatically Destroyed if the ramming attempt is successful, and do not damage vehicles with higher Body.

Otherwise, base damage for the attack, for both vehicles, has a Power equal to the other vehicle's Body, and Damage Level M. Each two points of difference between the attacker's Body and the defender's Body stages the damage to the larger vehicle down by 1 Damage Level, and the damage to the smaller vehicle up by 1 Damage Level, to a minimum of L and a maximum of D. Each 10 meters/turn difference between their relative speeds increases the Power of the damage to both vehicles by 1.

If either vehicle fails to soak any of the damage, it must then make a Handling Check or crash.

When a vehicle attempts to ram a metahuman, the metahuman can attempt to avoid the attack with Dodge rather than a Handling Check. For purposes of damage calculation, trolls (and troll metavariants) are treated as if they had a Body of 2, and other metahumans as if they had a Body of 1. The final Damage Level against metahumans is staged up 1 Level, and the final Power of the attack is doubled. The damage is resisted with Impact Armor.

Damage and Vehicles

This is not exactly a house rule, just a clarification, because the rules as written are completely incoherent:

When a vehicle takes damage from an ordinary, non-anti-vehicular source, the Power of the attack is halved, and the Damage Level of the attack is reduced by 1 (D→S, S→M, M→L, L→nothing). If the modified Power of the attack does not exceed the vehicle's Armor Rating, or if the Damage Level is reduced below L, the vehicle does not have to make a soak test; it simply takes no damage from the attack. Power increases from burst or full auto fire, or Damage Level increases from staging by successes on the attack roll do not apply to this check.

Attacks specified as anti-vehicular do not have their Damage Level or Power reduced. Instead, the vehicle's Armor Rating is halved, and the base Power of the attack (again, not including Power increases from autofire or the like) is compared to the vehicle's modified Armor Rating. If the attack's Power does not exceed twice the modified Armor Rating, the attack bounces. (This is not how the book explains it; it's a simpler but mathematically equivalent explanation.)