SHADOWRUN, SIXTH WORLD CHARACTER CONVERSION GUIDE Guide developed by J. Keith Henry and Louis Ray Welcome to Shadowrun, Sixth World, chum- another thing of the same type in SR6, then treat it mer. Your paydata for taking your SR5 character just like an Equal Name item. Keep the old name to SR6 is here, so load up and let’s go! and note what it actually is in the rules for future 2 reference. Using this Guide Trix carries a Savalette Guardian heavy While this guide will let you bring a charac- pistol that’s not statted out in SR6. Jane ter from one edition to the other, it should not be decides it’s just about the same as an Ares thought of as a perfect translation. The differences Predator VI heavy pistol. She will just use in the rulesets are too significant to make the tran- the SR6 stats for of the Ares Predator VI, sition seamless. But it will get you up and running, keeping the Savalette Guardian name and so if you value speed, this is the way to go! noting what weapon profile she’s actually To help show how the process works, we’re go- using. ing to follow Jane as she moves her favorite char- acter, an elf face named Trix, through the conver- Rule Three: Gamemaster/ SHADOWRUN: SIXTH WORLD SIXTH SHADOWRUN: sion process. Player Negotiation This guide simply cannot cover every possible General Rules game item, and there may be cases where the trans- lation from one edition to another is not immedi- for Conversion ately clear. But the mechanics might be consistent While there is a lot of common material shared enough that the quality can simply be carried over by SR5 and SR6, the core rulebook is just one book. and function in one edition the same as it did in the With six years’ worth of SR5 material, there are other. The gamemaster and player can always dis- far more abilities, tech, qualities, and magic than cuss and find something that they both agree on, can be carried over into a single new core rule- use it, and move on. (Note that this likely won’t book. To help with all those things we can’t exactly work for characters intended for organized play.) cover, we’re going to use the following Four Rules for Conversions for all of that additional material. Trix uses the quality Too Pretty to Hit in just about every combat, and Jane hates the idea of losing it. She points out to her Rule One: Equal Names GM that it’s basically just switching out If the name of a thing (meaning weapon, gear, Willpower for Charisma in a Full Defense spell, quality, or whatever) is the same in SR6 as it Major Action. After some discussion, the was in SR5, keep the name and use the new rules gamemaster agrees with Jane and Trix can as stated in SR6. No Karma or nuyen is subtracted keep using the quality in that form, even or added in this process, but check your ’ware and though it has not yet been spelled out in a adjust your Essence if that cost has changed. rulebook for Shadowrun, Sixth World. Jane glances over her character sheet, Rule Four: If All thinking about what will move to the new version of Trix. The details of her armor Else Fails, Refund vest in SR5 are completely different from Some things from SR5 just will not work me- the armor vest in SR6, the Sixth World chanically with the new rules, or they don’t work Edition, but they play the same role within with a particular gamemaster’s vision of Shadow- each ruleset, so it transfers to the new ver- run, Sixth World. In these cases, add (or subtract) sion of Trix as an Equal Name item. Jane the original Karma value or nuyen cost of the thing will just use the new rules for it. in question. The player can then do something else with that cash or Karma and move on. Rule Two: Jane notices that all of Trix’s weapons Equivalent Names have personalized grips, a weapon mod Sometimes the only real difference is a slight not found in the new rulebook. Because its name change. We’ll point out some equivalent only use is to increase the weapon’s limit, names in the relevant sections —for example, the and there are no limits in SR6, this item “code of honor” quality is the same as “honor- cannot easily be transferred to the new edi- bound.” For everything else, if you and your gam- tion. Trix will be getting back 100 nuyen emaster decide that an item, spell, or quality from for each one of these that she has on her SR5 is essentially the same, or close to the same, as weapons. CHARACTER CONVERSION GUIDE // USING THIS GUIDE Step One: Step Two: Basics, Attributes, Metatype Advantages, 3 and Racial Maximums Qualities, Contacts, SIXTH WORLD SHADOWRUN: Start transferring your character over with the Reputation, and Heat easy stuff first, as most of this will be the same in Qualities in SR6 have been narrowed some- SR5 and SR6. what, and often their function has changed. The way a character’s reputation is tracked in the The Basics shadows has also changed, so attention must be Copy the basic character information like paid here. We’ll start with the distinct advantages name, metatype, ethnicity, age, gender, height, and gained by the different metatypes. background. Metatype Advantages Attributes The racial advantages that some metatypes re- Transfer the unaugmented B A R S W L I C Ed ceive, such as enhanced vision or dermal deposits, M/R Es stat block over to a new character sheet; have become qualities. don’t record the bonuses from cyber and magic Add the following free qualities to your charac- effects just yet. You can also copy over the Attri- ter sheet based on your metatype. bute-Only Tests, Condition Monitor Boxes, the Initiative rank and Initiative Dice (again, the un- augmented versions of those numbers). metatype advantages Racial Maximums: Some of the racial maxi- TOXIN RESISTANCE, DWARF mums have changed, so they need to be checked. THERMOGRAPHIC VISION If you have an attribute that is over the new racial Elf Low-Light Vision maximum (not counting those advanced with the Ork Low-Light Vision, Built Tough 1 Dermal Deposits, Thermographic Exceptional Attribute quality), drop the rank to Troll the new racial maximum and refund Karma spent Vision, Built Tough 2 advancing to that rank (one place to spend that Karma might be on an attribute that now has a higher maximum, such as Logic for orks or Logic Qualities and Intuition for trolls). For the rest of your qualities, use the Gener- al Rules for Conversions listed at the start of this guide. Equal Name qualities transfer, with a few attributes caveats listed below. There are a lot of Equivalent TROLL ORK DWARF Name qualities, too, also pointed out below. Ne- Max drops from Max drops from Max drops from Body gotiations and Karma refunds are also available, 10 to 9 9 to 8 8 to 7 of course. Max drops from Strength — — 10 to 9 The following SR5 qualities are Equivalent Name items. So what about metatype advantages Metavariants, SURGE, and FIFTH EDITION SIXTH WORLD Metasapient characters? Code of Honor = Honorbound Focused Concentration Focused Concentration = Sorry, chummer, this conversion guide is only [Rating 1–3] [Level 1] Focused Concentration Focused Concentration for the five core metatypes. If you’re playing a char- = acter that’s based on something else, you’ll have to [Rating 4-6] [Level 2] negotiate with your gamemaster until more SR6 Natural Hardening = Hardening Resistance to books come out. = Resistance to Pathogens Pathogens / Toxins Resistance to = Toxin Resistance Pathogens /Toxins Will to Live [Rating 1–3] = Will to Live [Level 1–3] Addiction [Mild, Moderate, = Addiction [Level 2, 4, 5, 6] Severe, Burnout] Dependents = Dependents [Level 1–3] [Karma value 3, 6, 9] STEP ONE: // CHARACTER CONVERSION GUIDE These Equal Name SR5 qualities lose their as- divided by 10, rounded down). If you’ve spent a sorted ranks, levels, and ratings when transferred lot of your Street Cred buying off Notoriety and over to their Sixth World Edition versions and now Public Awareness, you may end up with a negative 4 have a single value. number. People still remember what you did, even though you tried to smooth it over, and it’s coming Gremlins, High Pain Tolerance, Indomitable, back to haunt you now. Insomnia, Magic Resistance, Prejudice, SINner Reputation = Street Cred - After the basics are done, Jane moves to (total Karma / 10, rounded down) qualities. Trix is an Elf and had the SR5 racial advantage Low-Light Vision; in SR6 she now gets Low-Light Vision as a free Heat quality, so Jane writes that down. Excep- In SR6, Heat is all about the unwanted atten- tional Attribute (Charisma) has the same tion you’re getting from the man. name in both editions, so that moves To find your Heat rating, add your current No- straight over. Trix has a mild novacoke ad- toriety and Public Awareness together; that’s the SHADOWRUN: SIXTH WORLD SIXTH SHADOWRUN: diction, so Jane checks the guide and sees amount of Heat your converted character starts that Addiction [Mild] becomes Addiction with. [Level 2]. Too Pretty to Hit has already been worked out with her GM, so it moves Heat = Notoriety + Public Awareness over. Last is Signature; Jane and her GM decide not to house-rule this disadvantage, Jane looks up Trix’s Street Cred, Notori- so Trix has to cough up 10 Karma to buy ety, and Public Awareness.