Hello community!

Hello community!

Hello community!

I’m going to hold a Shadowrun like one shot game soon and want to use AW for that. I know there are PtbA games out there who specialize for this genre, but my impression is that AW should work fine and it’s the system I’m most familiar with.

The only problem I see is cyberware. Prosthetics in AW are mostly cosmetics and only bring a character back to “normal” functionality. Can you tell me about modifications you (un)successfully tried to fit vanilla AW and Cyberware which have stronger influence in the game? It would be great if you also can tell me why you (dis)liked the changes you tried.

My own approach atm would be something along the following lines: each Implant gets a benefit tag which gives +1 to test in a certain circumstance. Leg implants e.g. give +1 for Acting under pressure when the character tries to get from point A to point B quickly, but not when willpower is concerned for a Act under Pressure check.

Cheap implants always come with a drawback tag which applies a -1 modificator in the same way.

All implants are visible and get a descriptive tag. Depending on the description and the people you interact with, this could be a hindrance, bonus or does not matter. This is a handy approach to apply Hard Moves into the game.

High quality Cyberware can choose one bonus: no weakness, wetware or less limitations to apply their bonus.

Any feedbacks and experience reports are highly welcome!

6 thoughts on “Hello community!”

  1. Your solution would probably work well, but it would be better to write a move for every kind of cyberware, eg Wired Reflex (translation from French, sorry) would be When you react faster than light, …

    You’ll need to write a dozen of such moves, that’s a lot of work, but that would allow you to use different quality of cyberware. (bonus to roill, or add options for different sensor).

  2. I’m not sure I’d do a +1. It seems a little uninteresting. Mostly what cyberware would give you is ability and permission to do things. Got a dermalink brain chip? Cool, you can hack into things with a touch.

    If you want mechanical weight, I might say: if the tag applies, a 6- roll is treated as a 7-9; if a drawback applies, a 10+ roll is treated as a 7-9. You either cannot fully fail or cannot fully succeed.

  3. Got cyberleg? You will outrun anyone, no roll.

    Got cyberarm? I’ll give give you a Devastating tag on your blows.

    Got cybereyes/ears? Well, I’ll describe you things you should have no access to.

  4. That’s why this community is great. I totally forgot about the whole “gain ability” function of Cyberware. Thanks for that!

    My first idea how to implement this is: Cyberware can either be “Booster” or “Ability” ware. The first works like I described. The later enables a character to perform otherwise unavailable actions, like you guys described.

    I think writing whole moves is a little bit to much, at least if Cyberware isn’t the main focus of the game. But a decent number of new and genre specific tags seems handy to have. Players will come up with a lot of stuff, but often you want descriptions quickly available. I’ll do that.

  5. All the above advice is sound, I’ll just add: think about what happens when that cyberwear fails.

    I have a fondness for Shadowrun, but if you’re using AW as the framework, that means looking at things through crosshairs. You may decide that for your one-shot cyberwear just plain works, every time, period. That’s cool, just think about it and make that choice.

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