NexusShadowrun
From Nexus D20 Wiki
Races - Elves, Orks, Dwarves, and Trolls - oh my!
Cyberware - Cyberware for Shadowrun
Equipment - Economics and equipment
Weapons List - Various weapons
Shadowrun is my favorite cyberpunk setting with man, magic, and machine meeting in a dark future. Nexus is based on some of the concepts from Shadowrun but expanded out to work in many settings. The Shadowrun games I ran were a little different from the standard setting and this conversion reflects some of that.
Shadowrunning
Shadowrunners are a type of corporate espionage mercenary. I took the broad strokes but made a few changes. Instead of independent Fixers all the Fixers in my game were either Mafia (Yakuza, etc.) or Megacorp. They acted like agents for the runners. They made the deals and negotiated. At the street level the low level corp types and the various blackmarketeers didn't want to get to know some random Street Sammie. Fixers had a list of 10-15 runners that they would call on to do various jobs. They would call you up and ask if you were available. You said yes or no. Then you got the job from him and got paid by him. The Johnson was not involved and was never seen. However no one would try and shake down the Mafia or Yakuza on the Fixer's end. The Fixer would send someone to kill a Johnson who double crossed his people. The Mafia is big enough to be open enough so that the various jobs could find them in a way that most Fixers couldn't afford to be open. Basically the independent Fixer died out because of too many double crosses. Now it's all underworld deals.
Low level corps would deal in street level runners but Megacorps would just create their own runners from the ground up. Think more of CIA agents then street runners. They would have their training and provide their equipment but they can never say no to a job.
Magic
The Nexus Magic System works differently from Shadowrun but it is connected. Full Magicians from Shadowrun have the Astral Power. This covers all the Astral magic and the Metamagic from Shadowrun. Shamanic Magic uses Astral as well as some Totemic Magic. Physical Adepts use Totemic Magic. Shift would not be available. Using Alchemy is up to the GM. Technomancy is the magic of the Technomancer. Nexus sees this differently then base Shadowrun but I like my version better. It makes Technomancers different from Hackers.
Computers
Nexus is based on the fact that a good Hacker is about skill and not stuff. A good Hacker can do his hacking with crappy equipment just for a challenge. This is the opposite from Shadowrun were it's all about the gear. Nexus makes the Hacker an important character type again.
Hacking and base line computer use is based on command lines and not VR. The VR and AR is a GUI and not the place that hackers and programmers actually do their work. They don't see guards with guns in cyberspace. They write lines and line and lines of code. Technomacy uses the metaphor and turns it against the sysadmin but the actually hackers do it just like today.
Cyberware
Nexus treats larger amounts of cyberware similar to races. A certain amount will change the stats of the person and provide higher damage thresholds. Cyberware is gained by spending LA for larger cyberware and merit points/feats for smaller kinds.
Each major piece of cyberware has a monetary cost but you also have to pay the merit point cost. The Merit point cost reflects the power level of the character. If you gain cyberware in play you have to pay for the feat as the cost of learning how to use it correctly. However you don't have to pay any feats after that. Any addons just cost money. The interface and controller are a part of the base system. You can add all the addons after the fact that you want but you only have to pay the base feat cost once.
Essence
Cyberware in Shadowrun has a trait called Essence which represents limitations on how much cyberware a person can take and a corresponding limitation on Magic use by cyborgs. Then they give you a rating so that you can try and overcome that limitation with min/maxing grades of cyberware. Nexus tries to keep things simple.
You can have as much Cyberware as you want to pay for in feats and levels. If the GM wants to limit it he can.
You can't have magic if you have more then +2 LA in cyberware. Each LA of cyberware increases your error range by +1. Errors can include shorting out a piece of cyberware. You can't channel magical energies through cyberware so if you have two cyberarms or two cyberlegs then you can't do any direct magic.
Character Creation
Shadowrun Races run from LA 1 to LA 3. Street Samurai are LA 3 and heavier cyborgs are LA 4. A full magician would have Astral and at least one or two other powers so LA 2-4. If you want characters to just be starting level then you are going to need to start them at 4th to 5th level. If you want them Trained characters then start them at 8th to 10th level. Veteran characters would be 10th class level so add 3 to 4 levels to that to get a good prime runner group.
Shadowrunners should aquire the Streetwise skill as soon as possible. Scroundrels make good Shadowrunners. Adepts are good for magic users. Spies and Soldiers are good for Megacorp Runners.
