I started Shadowrun Sundays to talk about the basics of RPG writing, but today I’m going to discuss rewriting. Specifically (in case you haven’t heard) my upgrade of Sacrificial Limb from Shadowrun 4A to Shadowrun Fifth Edition.
Sacrificial Limb was proposed at GenCon 2011, written in the last half of the year, and came out in 2012. Even as I wrote it, Catalyst Game Labs was planning 5e. All the freelancers were involved in some level of those discussions. But we were bound by NDA and couldn’t discuss it. What was worse, was I couldn’t write it as a dual-statted adventure because there were no rules for 5e at the time. So I wrote SL using Fourth Edition Anniversary rules using Unwired, Street Magic, Runners Companion, and Arsenal for some really kick-butt spells, gear, and rules.
About a year after SL came out, it became defunct. For those who embrace 4A rules, it still works. It’s still a grand campaign. But I hated the idea that people who upgrade to the new rules wouldn’t buy it because it was “old material.” So I came up with the brilliant idea to upgrade the adventure myself. I just didn’t realize what a massive undertaking it would be.
Rewriting an RPG adventure requires meticulous attention to detail. Not only do stat blocks need to be updated, removing old skills, adding new skills, fixing gear stats, changing out spells and weapons, but the document has to be combed for page references to other books, Opposed Test notations, nuyen (Shadowrun money) and karma (experience point) declarations, and miscellaneous typos that managed to pass by the proofreaders the last time this was printed. This is not a task for the faint of heart. My printed version is dripping with red ink. It looks so bad, that if it were a person, it would crying out for emergency aid.
Here’s a few examples of what I’m doing.
In the spells department, the following spells have not yet made it into Shadowrun 5e:
Slay
Wreck
Night Vision
Mindnet
Demolish
Decrease Reflexes
Foreboding
Hot Potato (one of my favorites, sigh)
Alter Memory
Bind
Borrow Sense
Chaotic World
Eyes of the Pack
Glue Strip
Napalm
Some of these spells are used by multiple NPCs in the book, and some NPCs have almost nothing but these spells. That means I have to come up with completely new spells for these NPCs to take their place.
The new Matrix rules do away with nodes. Now we have grids and hosts, and currently no slaved hosts (only devices). Additionally, programs no longer have their own stats, and some of the programs in question have become actions instead. So I get to clean up issues like this:
Knight Errant Node Security (Visible)
Response Signal System Firewall
4 4 5 5
Knight Errant Node Security (Hidden)
Response Signal System Firewall
5 0 5 6
Black IC: Three Musketeers Suite
This suite from NeoNET is actually three IC programs used in conjunction: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Each IC program has a different task. The Athos program runs a Track program on the user, while the Aramis program runs Attack against the intruding icon and Porthos runs its own Attack program to crash the invader’s programs (selected at random).
Loaded Programs: Attack 5 x 2, Track 5, each with the Ergonomic option.
I don’t even remember what the Ergonomic option was! Now I have to go look up all the 4A stuff, compare it to the 5e stuff, and see what can be substituted.
I’m nearly done with this rollercoaster ride, which is good because it’s giving me a non-metaphorical headache. Still, I think it’ll be worth it to know that Fifth Edition players will still be able to play Sacrificial Limb. Fifth Edition Sacrificial Limb will be available as PDF Only (though a big enough sales surge might see it printed, hint, hint). And if you don’t yet have the Fifth Edition Shadowrun core rulebook but have been wanting one, there’s still one week left in my SR5e PDF contest. You can enter on Blog.
And if you want to buy the current 4Ae version of Sacrificial Limb, it is still available on Battleshop or DriveThruRPG in both print and PDF formats (and the combo print / PDF product too!).
#sfwapro
One Response
Catalyst did make a Shadowrun Conversion Guide that is available as a free PDF on both Battleshop and DriveThruRPG, but that is not helping me much because it’s aimed at upgrading PCs, not NPCs, and doesn’t really have a gear, drones, vehicles, and spells section. I have to go through each one by hand.
The most aggravating thing right now is that Adobe has a nasty habit of not letting me highlight, cross out, or replace the text I’m trying to work on and instead insists on doing the task several sentences down from where I originally placed my mouse. Apparently I have a lot to teach myself about Adobe layers before I can finalize all this.