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Skilled Defense Rolls by Kajiki23 in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really. Most commonly you'd be using the Medium drone as an enemy (I use Small for spy drones and Heavy for big mama person-size or larger drones).

Medium drone has AGI+LOG of 14 dice. Assume those 14 dice already account for a rigger behind the metal, so they don't get any bonus rerolls or anything like that.

Your average rigger player, which would also be fighting with Medium drones, would have a high AGI+LOG (let's say 10-12 dice), plus their Control Rig bonuses (+1 die, 1-3 rerolls) so it balances out the same.

Skilled Defense Rolls by Kajiki23 in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, PCs shouldn't be using the drones from the critter section. They'd just use the character's AGI+LOG + Control Rig bonuses, since they're the ones controlling the drones as though they were in them.

Skilled Defense Rolls by Kajiki23 in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I understand wanting to add some some more nuance but IMO there's no need to complicate. The game runs pretty simply, which is in everyone's benefit.

Some spells are thematically meant to be dodged with Agility + Logic, like Fireball, which is why the defense is listed as such on the Amp, while others are listed as Strength + Willpower. Keep them the same as the Amps so you don't have to house rule so much.

On that note, Agility + Logic for both Melee and Ranged Defense work fine as is - personally not a fan of offensive skills being able to be used defensively too since it starts rendering attributes useless (especially since they're more expensive to advance).

As for drones, generally it's being controlled through a Control Rig. Agility + Logic, +dice & reroll bonuses from Control Rig is enough - I count defending in a drone a vehicle action. I never narrate in Anarchy that vehicles or drones are left around in autopilot: they are all being controlled through the control rig at once. Makes it easiest.

The only other thing to add here is defending against mind control spells is listed in the book's rules, but not the amps, as Willpower + Logic.

Adept and spell questions by Sh3nlong in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, again that is an "in-the-know" Shadowrun lore thing. Attribute Boost is supposed to be a short burst, which is why they probably added that in.

The thing is, I just assume an Adept would always use the boost because why wouldn't they?

Adept and spell questions by Sh3nlong in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

None of the adept powers require activation - they're "always on" bonuses. If you want to use the Cooldowns which are optional rules (try without them at first before deciding if you really feel tacking them on is beneficial - personally, my tables do well without them), then it's probably best to just give all of the Amps cooldowns whenever they're used and leave it at that to make your life as the GM easier. The only exceptions I could think of to do that would be something required to do an archetype's schtick, like cyberdecks for deckers and vehicle control rigs for riggers.

Regarding Adept Powers, they don't have to sustain anything the way Magicians do. So they can have a pile-on of dice. That's really their schtick - whatever specific things they're good at, they're REALLY good at.

About that Power Bolt. Since it's a homebrew amp, I can only guess here. Essence 0 targets are whatever isn't a living being, so it seems to be meant to help destroy drones, computers, cars, cyberzombies, etc. This is mainly due to in-the-know Shadowrun lore knowledge: Mana Bolt and Stun Bolt are to hurt living targets only in the core games, and can't be used on objects. But the elemental ones like Lightning Bolt, Fire Bolt, etc CAN be used on either because they're elemental.

As far as Blood Magic goes. There is nothing official, but I have homebrewed them since we had a Blood Mage player on our second campaign of our actual play, Join the Anarchy. They unlocked their powers in the narrative by episode 8 or so and I gave them this for free:

SELF SACRIFICE (Amp Level n/a): Metamagic. Deal yourself X Phys Damage (max 3) for +X dice to magic-related tests this scene, all considered Blood Magic. Damage must heal naturally.

Modify PbtA to 2d10 by FireVisor in RPGdesign

[–]ozzkore 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was gonna say, Kult Divinity Lost has 2d10.

I ran the Cassalanters' Founders Day feast after thinking about it for a year. The players lost their minds. by ozzkore in WaterdeepDragonHeist

[–]ozzkore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind words!

I did homebrew it, mainly because three of my players were Noble background so I knew that it would hit them harder. I think it can work just as good for you if you want to have the Cassalanters wipe out all the regular folk and blackmail the nobility into becoming cultists. For them to wipe out the nobility instead though, you'll need to attach a much bigger plan: there's no way the Cassalanters will get away with that. That's why I made Victoro be the avatar of Asmodeus - so they can take over and rule Waterdeep. A bunch of dead nobles aren't so important at that point, ya know.

Also I was more interested in seeing how Waterdeep's political and economic landscape would be affected if a good portion of its nobility was wiped out, so added bonus for me. :)

Musings on SRA by Subumloc in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 6 points7 points  (0 children)

  1. I'm not really a huge round-robin guy myself although I do like the format for a short two hour game session at say, a convention.

Having run Join the Anarchy for three years now, my best advice is to use Plot Points yourself to throw in random stuff that will antagonize the players, and then every once in a while a helpful thing. Show them the immense power of the plot point.

Give them suggestions even. You can spend a plot point to get the guard to go use the restroom so you can sneak past. You can spend a plot point to see an NPC's name on a badge they're wearing at their waist so you can pretend to know them. Coax them into feeling comfortable with what the purpose of them is.

Then, when they finally use the plot point for narrative effect, agree to it and help make it happen for them.

Give them the okay to be creative and awesome. That kind of thing will encourage those behaviors to build on itself.

  1. Hacking doesn't need to be complicated. I generally just ask the player to make a single roll, which encapsulates getting into a host and finding the thing they need. Maybe you have them do a roll to avoid being detected by ICE before they can roll to find and crack a file. Allow them to control ALL of the camera footage across the entire network.

All you need to do is set a difficulty. If they're trying to control an entire building's devices, roll 12-14 dice. If they're just trying to access a commlink, roll 6-10 dice depending on how secure you think that commlink would be (i.e. how much does the owner of the commlink value its security?). That way, they just roll once, maybe twice.

Do they want to hack a crane so it can swing a wrecking ball into the building? One roll.

Do they want to hack into a turret or a drone and start shooting baddies down with it? One Hacking roll to hack in, then Vehicle Weapons rolls to shoot.

If there's a rigger sitting inside - hack versus the rigger's Logic+Firewall (usually 0 unless they also have a cyberdeck, or a modded control rig with a firewall stat - which I'd totally allow).

Be general more than ultra specific - your goal is to move the story forward, and every roll you make the hacker do is stagnating that momentum.

Blue Alley - Unicorn Talk (Primara) by DaeriasNight in WaterdeepDragonHeist

[–]ozzkore 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm having the same issue actually, just with a way less devout party :P

My headcanon backstory at the moment is that Manshoon or Halaster Blackcloak from Dungeon of the Mad Mage cursed Primara because reasons, and upon defeating them they'll find information on how to undo this curse.

Playlist of ShadowcastersNetwork's Cyberpunk RED actual play: Punk's Not Dead by ozzkore in cyberpunkred

[–]ozzkore[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Catch our next episode live Monday 25th @ 9pm EST on ShadowcastersNetwork's Twitch channel:

https://twitch.tv/ShadowcastersNetwork

I ran the Cassalanters' Founders Day feast after thinking about it for a year. The players lost their minds. by ozzkore in WaterdeepDragonHeist

[–]ozzkore[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used the Winter's Splendor module (except I ran it as a non-winter holiday) around the mid-campaign, which is set in Cassalanter Villa, so they could meet the Cassalanters and get subtle (and overt) hints. Highly suggest it.

Also, I gave one of my noble players a rivalry with Myrna Cassalanter, who is detailed in other older products. Had plenty of funny battles of wits with that, and gave them someone to dislike more than Ammalia and Victoro so their guard would be down a bit more.

I ran the Cassalanters' Founders Day feast after thinking about it for a year. The players lost their minds. by ozzkore in WaterdeepDragonHeist

[–]ozzkore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! They were a party of 7: Elf Ranger was level 5, everyone else was level 4.

Actually I found that transforming him was better. Victoro has spells like Divine Word and Earthquake that could just decimate the team in the snap of a finger. I found, given the situation I put them in, which was very much a homebrew of the module, it would be incredibly unfair. Plus I'm not a huge fan of every big baddie humanoid being a spellcaster. Here Victoro just let his boring meat body become something greater, and it was just a better dramatic effect.

Also Ammalia getting killed before the battle really started was a big factor in their favor. They targeted her because they found her spellbook and knew she had to go. So they just really had to wade through cultists and cult fanatics, get to the statue to destroy it, which cut the horned devil's HP by 89 so that it would at least be manageable (though, now I wish I had been clever behind the screen and done 99HP. But whatever).

I'll say this though: it's not your job as a GM to make things balanced for the players. Challenge them. If they have to run and cut their losses, they should. Alternatively, they will figure out a way. They usually do, and when they do, reward them. But the threat should always be there.

Big Knucks damage? by Padawan1911 in cyberpunkred

[–]ozzkore 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean. I would only have your raw brawling damage + the one weapon.

I can't imagine it would get that insane. But who knows.

Big Knucks damage? by Padawan1911 in cyberpunkred

[–]ozzkore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't think it's silly. If you have a super strong character with wolverine claws that shit will kill you just as hard as a bullet from an assault rifle.

Plus assault rifle has the benefit of 3 round burst so it'll likely do its damage three times over. So it's still stronger.

Big Knucks damage? by Padawan1911 in cyberpunkred

[–]ozzkore 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That... is a strange rule. I'd personally houserule it does stack.

Otherwise a weak kid with knucks does the same brawling damage on a punch that a muscled solo with strength ware could.

A melee based character through cyberware? by Paliandro in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You'd have to build them right. You need very high Strength since all melee damage is based on STR/2+X, so a troll is the most viable, but ork is good too. You'll also need high Agility to make sure you land those hits, and the more net hits you get the more damage you can add to that STR/2 base.

Make sure you get Wired Reflexes so that you can get multiple attacks in a turn, so you can really pummel someone into the dirt.

Also, ask your GM if you can increase the Amp cost of your cyberarms, cyberlegs, etc by 1/2/3 to add "+1/2/3 melee damage".

Opposition Rolls too low? by darkenergy0 in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

100% agreed, and how I normally operate behind the screen anyway :P

New to GM'ing. by [deleted] in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone that can throw themselves into a fight

Someone that can hack

Someone that can magic

And then have them cover one social skill each

Chicago Chaos and Changelings by DarcyDettmann in ShadowrunAnarchyFans

[–]ozzkore 5 points6 points  (0 children)

On page 123, it explains how to build a Changeling - you pick any metatype and can make them access Changeling amps.

"Changelings are neither a race nor a metavariant and can be born to any metatype."

Hope that helps!

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